Good evening. Turn with me, if
you will, to Second Corinthians, chapter eight. My message this evening is from
verse number nine, but I want to begin reading in verse one. Second Corinthians chapter eight,
beginning in verse one. Moreover, brethren, we do you
to wit of the grace of God bestowed on the churches of Macedonia.
How that in a great trial of affliction, the abundance of
their joy and their deep poverty abounded unto the riches of their
liberality. For to their power I bear record,
yea, and beyond their power they were willing of themselves, praying
us with much entreaty that we would receive the gift and take
upon us the fellowship of the ministering to the saints. And
this they did, not as we hoped, but first gave their own selves
to the Lord and unto us by the will of God. in so much that
we desired Titus that, as he had begun, so he would also finish
in you the same grace also. Therefore, as you abound in everything,
in faith, and utterance, and knowledge, and in all diligence,
and in your love to us, see that you abound in this grace also.
I speak not by commandment, but by occasion of the forwardness
of others, and to prove the sincerity of your love. For ye know the
grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet
for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might
be rich. And herein I give my advice,
for this is expedient for you who have begun before, not only
to do, but also to be forward a year ago. Now therefore perform
the doing of it, that as there was a readiness to will, so there
may be a performance also out of that which ye have. For if
there be first a willing mind, it is accepted according to that
a man hath, and not according to that he hath not. For I mean
not that other men be eased and ye burdened, but by an equality,
that now, at this time, your abundance may be a supply for
their want, that their abundance also may be a supply for your
want, that there may be equality. As it is written, he that hath
gathered much had nothing over, and he that hath gathered little
had no lack. So as I said, my message this
evening is going to be primarily with verse number nine. But before
we close, I'd like to say a few things about the context of this
verse as it concerns Christian giving. But verse number nine,
if we go back, we'll read it again. For, you know, the grace
of our Lord Jesus Christ. I want to pause and consider
this for a moment. Do you know the grace of our
Lord Jesus Christ? Are you interested? Not everybody
knows. This verse isn't directed to
all mankind. And by nature, people are not
interested. We are born into this world spiritually
dead. And the glorious gospel of Jesus
Christ is of no interest. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ
is nothing to a lost man. It ought to be everything. It
ought to be everything. But man is so lost, so depraved,
that the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ is nothing to a lost man. But if you are sitting here this
evening and this verse is speaking of you, doesn't that just floor
you? Austin, you know the grace of
our Lord Jesus Christ. If you can hear that voice as
it's speaking to you. Who are we? The Lincolnwood Baptist
Church. Nothing. Nothing. Sinners, ungodly by
nature, born with a carnal mind, which is enmity against God,
but God who is rich in mercy. Brethren, we know the grace of
our Lord Jesus Christ. Many churches have the word grace
in their name. A lot of churches do. In Houston,
you could Google it. But it's a strange grace. It's a grace that doesn't save.
It's a grace that's not sovereign. It's a grace that can be lost.
And it's certainly not the grace of God that bringeth salvation. So how does somebody come to
know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ? For you know the grace
of our Lord. How does someone come to know
the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ? Is it by much studying? Is it
by following a certain church program? Or is it by doing many
good works for God? It's not from anything that we
do or something that we can earn. It's by revelation. It's the
work of God. It takes the power of God. For
you to know the grace of God, it takes the power of God. Turn
back a few pages to 1 Corinthians. 1 Corinthians chapter 2, beginning in verse 7. But we speak the wisdom of God
in a mystery. That's the gospel. The wisdom
of God. It's not something that men have
come up with. The world by wisdom knew not
God. The gospel message is the wisdom
of God. He is the author. And gospel
preachers speak the wisdom of God in a mystery. Not in a mystery
as in trying to make it complicated. Gospel preachers are to use great
plainness of speech. But the gospel contains truths
that are beyond our ability to fully comprehend. I'm thankful
that it's not comprehend and believe. It's believe. But we speak the wisdom of God
in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom which God ordained before
the world unto our glory. which none of the princes of
this world knew, for had they known it, they would not have
crucified the Lord of glory. But as it is written, I have
not seen nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of
man the things which God hath prepared for them that love him,
but God hath revealed them. revealed them unto us by his
Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things,
yea, the deep things of God. If you know the grace of our
Lord Jesus Christ, it's by revelation." It's by revelation. Well, do you? You know, we confess
that we know so little, for we see through a glass darkly. We
see through it, but then face-to-face. When's that? Soon, when we get
to glory. But while we are here, we desire
to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus
Christ. And that's my desire for this
evening. So if we look at our verse again
in 2 Corinthians 8, verse 9, In reading this verse, we see
that the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, as described here, has
something to do, first of all, with Him being God. It says that
though He was rich, it has something to do with His incarnation and
work. Yet, for your sakes, He became
poor. and the results of his work, that ye through his poverty
might be rich." That's the gospel. That's the gospel. His person
and his work. And I want to use the commas
here in our verse as our outline. So the first one is, that though
he was rich. What is this talking about? That
though he was rich. This is speaking of the time
before our Lord and Savior came into this world to complete his
mission. From eternity past, he was rich. Our Savior did not begin when
he was born into this world. You know this. He is from everlasting. He is the lamb slain from the
foundation of the earth, and his people were chosen in him
before the foundation of the world. And our verse says that
he was rich. And how can we begin to describe
the riches of Christ? You know, we tend to think of
riches in terms of possessions, like that's how we think of riches.
So let's, let's start there. Turn with me to John chapter
one. You know, these verses, but let's
read them together. John chapter one. In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was
in the beginning with God. All things were made by him,
and without him was not anything made that was made. In the beginning,
rich." What kind of rich are we talking about? The Lord Jesus
Christ is God. All things are his. All things
are His. He is the creator of all things
and He upholds all things by the word of His power. It's more
than just possessing everything. He has the power to create anything
to possess. That's the riches that we're
talking about. The stars, the planets, the galaxies,
the universe. What is gold in comparison to
that? But even that is all His. Everything. All things are His. All life
comes from Him. Human, animal, plant, spiritual. Every living thing belongs to
Him. He is life. He said, I am the way, the truth,
and the life. No man cometh unto the Father
but by Me. So He was rich in possessions. and rich in honor and glory. Look over here in Isaiah chapter
six. In the year and Verse one, in
the year that King Uzziah died, I saw also the Lord sitting upon
a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. You know, this train, you all
know what a train is. If you have a robe behind it,
the portion of the robe that is basically drags behind the
person that's walking, that's the train. And I read that in,
I guess, long time of those trains, the longer the train, the more
glory and the more honor that king had. And I read that they
used to, in battle, if, say, I was a king and I defeated another
king, then I would take and cut off some of his robe, and that
would get sewn onto my train. So you'd be able to see, if I
were a king, all the victories that that king had had. So the
longer the train, the more victorious, the more honor, the more glory
for that king. Well, it says here, his train
filled the temple. There's no room. There's not
even any room for anybody else. This is the king of kings, the
lord of lords. And he filled the temple. And above it stood the seraphims.
Each one had six wings. With twain, he covered his face.
And with twain, he covered his feet. And with twain, he did
fly. And one cried unto another and
said, holy, holy, holy is the lord of hosts, the whole earth. is full of his glory." Rich, rich in glory and honor. What else? Rich in titles, the
titles of the Lord Jesus Christ, rich in wisdom, rich in power,
rich, rich. Let's go back to our text. 2nd Corinthians 8, 9. That though he was rich, yet
for your sakes he became poor. For verily he took not on him
the nature of angels, but he took on him the seed of Abraham. And without controversy, great
is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh.
We really cannot comprehend the magnitude of his condescension.
But his condescension is the first part of understanding this
statement. He became poor. You see, in order
for him to represent his people, in order for him to represent
me, for him to represent you, he had to be made bone of our
bone and flesh of our flesh. He came in the likeness of sinful
flesh. He experienced things like thirst,
hunger, being tired. Almighty God, and at the same
time we read in John, Jesus therefore being wearied with his journey.
Wisdom himself, and we read in Luke, and Jesus increased in
wisdom and stature and in favor with God and man. Now, you know
that he did not cease to be God. He did not cease to be God. The
Lord Jesus Christ is the God of man. He is 100% God, 100%
man, one person, two natures. For in him dwelleth all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily. But as a man, he experienced
these things. Just for, for the Lord of glory
to experience, to, to come to, to experience these things. Hunger,
thirst, being persecuted, being despised. They're in glory. The angels singing to them here
on earth, despised and rejected. Man of sorrows. What a name. For we have not a high priest
who cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but
was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. What a condescension for the
eternal son to be made flesh. Not only was he made flesh, he
wasn't born into this world to rich parents to go to prep school
or something. He was born in a manger. And
he worked with his earthly father, Joseph, as a carpenter. He did
not come to be ministered unto, but to minister and to give his
life a ransom for many." Turn over to Philippians chapter 2. Philippians 2 beginning in verse
5, let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who
being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with
God, but made himself of no reputation. No reputation, as I said earlier,
he wasn't born in a palace, he didn't grow up in the finest
institutions of the best cities, he grew up in Nazareth. And apparently
Nazareth was a place that was looked down upon because you
remember Nathanael said, can there any good thing come out
of Nazareth? You're from of no reputation
and took upon him the form of a servant. He took upon him. He wasn't forced, this wasn't
forced upon him. He took upon him the form of
a servant willingly. He is the servant of Jehovah.
Behold, my servant, whom I am uphold, mine elect, and whom
my soul delighteth." He served his people. He went about doing
good, healing all manner of diseases, preaching the gospel to them,
and working out the salvation of his elect. And then put these
two together, form of God, form of a servant. What an amazing stoop. Form of
God, form of a servant. And we've just barely touched
on what all could be said concerning this truth, he became poor. But
if we don't consider what is said here at the end of verse
eight, then we would really miss the whole point. Verse seven,
but he made himself of no reputation and took upon him the form of
a servant and was made in the likeness of men. And being found
in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto
death, even the death of the cross. When the Lord laid on him the
iniquity of us all. When he bore our sins in his
own body on the tree. When God made him to be sin for
us who knew no sin. When the Lord cried out, my God,
my God, why has thou forsaken me? He became poor. He became alone. Alone, suffering
the wrath of God. suffering the penalty of sin
that we deserve. You know, for the most part,
people think very lightly of sin. And we are often guilty
of this as well, but sin is a serious, serious matter. Consider this. First of all, all sin is committed
against God. And Psalm 51, David says, against
thee and thee only have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight.
Number two, God hates sin. God is angry with the wicked
every day. And the scripture says that thou
art of pure eyes and to behold evil and cannot look on iniquity. And number three, the penalty
or wages of sin is death. If a person were to be found
with just one sin on judgment day, that would be enough to
earn him separation from God for all eternity. And lastly,
to put away the sin of his people, God had to send his son into
the world. Thou shalt call His name Jesus,
for He shall save His people from their sin." How did He save
His people from their sin? He paid the full penalty and
suffered the wrath of God and died for His people that they
might go free. That's how serious sin is. Well, why did He do this? Why
did he do this? Our verse tells us, for ye know
the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet
for your sakes, for your sakes, he became poor, that ye, this
is for us, that ye through his poverty might be rich, for your
sakes. If you are one of his people
who knows the grace of God, for your sakes, he became poor, that
through His poverty you might be rich. Now, I'm just going
to mention three ways, and then we're going to look at a verse
in Galatians, but three ways in which we are made rich through
His poverty, and there's many, many more. But think of these. First of all, we are rich in
forgiveness. We are rich in whom we have redemption
through His blood, even the forgiveness of sins. How rich are we in forgiveness? God said, their sins and their
iniquities will I remember no more. And they're gone, they're
put away so much that he said, speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem
and cry unto her that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity
is pardoned, for she hath received of the Lord's hand double for
all her sins. That's how rich we are in forgiveness.
We are rich in righteousness. Back when our Lord was on this
earth, people used to look up to the scribes and Pharisees. If you looked at a scribe or
Pharisee, they lived a very outwardly righteous life. People used to admire them and
that's what they wanted. False religion always cleans
up the outside and looks down upon other people. But everyone thought that if
anybody was going to be saved, it was going to be a Pharisee
or a scribe. But our Lord said, except your
righteousness shall exceed that of the scribes and Pharisees,
you shall in no case enter into the kingdom of God. Well, we are rich in righteousness
because it's not a righteousness of our making. It's not one of
our making. It's not about our works and
our efforts. We have the righteousness of
God without the law. The righteousness that Christ
worked out as a man, the perfect life that he lived, always doing
the will of the Father, never sin, knew no sin, and the spotless
lamb, lived a perfect life, and that righteousness is ours. We
are rich in righteousness. And we are rich in hope to be
with Christ for all eternity in glory. For the hope which
is laid up for you in heaven whereof you heard before in the
word of the truth of the gospel. People can hope in a lot of things,
but our hope is based on the word of truth. As Peter wrote,
for we have not followed cunningly devised fables when we made known
unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but
we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. And let's look at one more verse
in Galatians about the riches we have in Christ. Galatians chapter 4, beginning in verse 4. And you'll notice this verse
says the same thing as the verse in 2 Corinthians, as the verse
in Philippians, because it's the same message over and over
and over again. And we could go to the Old Testament,
it would say the same message, just in more verses. This is
just convinced. But it's the same thing. Look
at this. It said, but when the fullness
of time was come, that though he was rich, God sent forth his
son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that
were under the law, yet for your sakes he became poor, that we
might receive the adoption of sons. And because you are sons,
God has sent forth the spirit of his son into your hearts,
crying, Abba, Father, wherefore thou art no more a servant, but
a son. And if a son, then an heir of
God through Christ, that ye through his poverty might be rich. an
heir of God through Christ. That's everything. That's everything. All things are yours. All things. Well, back in our text, I said
I would say a few things about the context of this verse In
2 Corinthians 8 and 9, we have the teaching on Christian giving. And it provides us with instructions
on how believers are to give. So we're not going to just in
closing, let's look at these four things. First of all, the
example of the Macedonians and verses one through five, Paul
says that the Macedonians were poor and they were going through
great afflictions. They were going through great
afflictions and they were poor, but the grace of God worked in
them. And that's really the key. The
grace of God worked in them the will to give, and not just some,
but liberally. He says liberally and above what
he had even expected. Paul expected them to give something,
but they went above and beyond what he had imagined. And their
giving and their desire to give was because of the grace of God. It wasn't that they gave and
therefore they had grace, no, no, no. It was because the grace
of God in them, that's why they gave and they gave abundantly.
And we are to look at that as an example as to how we are to
give. And we ought to seek to abound in this grace. In verse
number seven, it says, therefore, as you abound in everything,
in faith, and utterance, and knowledge, and in diligence,
and your love to us, see that you abound in this grace also.
We are to see to it. See that you are bound in this
grace also, and we are to give willingly, not like a tax or
a duty, but cheerfully and according as God has enabled us. We see
that in verse 12 where it says, for if there be first a willing
mind, that's the first thing. It is accepted according to that
a man hath and not according to that he hath not. But when
we consider, and this is really this verse here in the middle
of this teaching on giving, I think is this, when we consider Christ
and how he gave everything for us, how can we not also be gracious? And so I pray the Lord would
bless this word to you.