Every year Forbes magazine publishes a detailed list of the richest people in the world and sometimes you think I might Like to be one of those on that list, but they are described as the members of the three comma Club The three comma Club that is commas with a whole bunch of zeros interspersed, right? So if you have four commas to your net worth that means you are a billionaire Right if you have one comment a thousand there if you have two commas, it's a Millionaire. So three commas make a billionaire. Now, of the 2,208 billionaires that made this year's list, they have a combined worth of over $9 trillion. And that's four commas, in case you're counting. And that's a lot of money. That is what we would consider, or the world would consider, real wealth. Or is it? Listen to what Paul tells Timothy in 1 Timothy 6, 17. He says, "...Charge them who are rich in this world..." Members of the four-comma club, the three-comma club, the two-comma club, or even the one-comma club. "...Charge them that are rich in this world that they be not high-minded nor trust in uncertain riches." Uncertain riches. but in the living God who giveth us richly all things to enjoy." You see, the riches that Forbes magazine celebrates are uncertain riches, which means that they are here today and they can be gone tomorrow. Much of their wealth is in the stock market, which as we all know can go up one day and down into the dumps the very next day. There are people that fall off of this Forbes list every single year, and people that are added to this list every single year, because easy come, easy go, it would seem, with these uncertain riches of this world. But we also need to remember what Jesus taught in His Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 6, 19, when He said, Lay not up for yourselves treasures on earth. whether you have three commas or two commas or one comma to your net worth, don't lay up those treasures on earth where moth and rust doth corrupt and where thieves break through and steal, but instead lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt and where thieves cannot break through nor steal, for where your treasure is, you know the rest, there will your heart be also. So we see that there are earthly riches and there are heavenly riches. There are riches that are uncertain and corruptible and there are riches that are certain and incorruptible. So it is quite clear to us that God measures wealth quite differently than we often do, right? But according to God's standard, it's not those 2,208 billionaires that made the Forbes list this year. According to God's standard, do you realize that Christians are the richest people in all of this world? And if you have Jesus Christ as your Savior, you may not be a member of even the one karma club, but you truly are one of the richest people in all of this world. because God doesn't measure our wealth according to the world's standards. In fact, the verses that we will look at this morning from 2 Corinthians 9, we are actually told that we have been enriched in everything. We are truly enriched as the people of God. And now there is a reason for our riches as Christians. So if you're not there already, please open your Bibles with me to 2 Corinthians 9. And we're going to read in the middle of this chapter, beginning in verse 6 through verse 11. Again, Paul is continuing to encourage the Corinthian Christians to give to that special collection for the poor saints which are at Jerusalem. And he adds this, beginning in verse 6. But this I say, he which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly, and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully. Every man, according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give, not grudgingly or of necessity, for God loveth the cheerful giver. And, verse 8, God is able. He's able to make all grace abound toward you, so that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work. as it is written, he hath dispersed abroad, he hath given to the poor, his righteousness remaineth forever. Now he that ministereth seed to the sower, both minister bread for your food, and multiply your seed sown, and increase the fruits of your righteousness, because, verse 11, being enriched in everything, to all bountifulness, which causeth through us thanksgiving to God. You see, Paul understood, as he's writing these words to the Corinthian church, that this was a great opportunity for them to show their unity, their love, and their service for their fellow Christians. And so, as we've read already in chapter 8 and chapter 9, Paul tells them to finally finish that offering that they had started with some eagerness, with some enthusiasm. But the key reason why even they could do any of this, we find in verse 8 of what we just read. It was because God is and God was. God continues to be able to make all grace abound towards you so that ye always having all sufficiency in all things. In fact, you may want to underline or highlight anytime you see a word that says every or all, because that is the emphasis here. You have all that you need so that you may abound to every good work as a child of God. So this morning, we need to remember that as Christians, as children of God, we are rich. We are rich. We have been enriched by God and His grace. Now, it may not be according to the way the world measures wealth, but according to the way God does, we are rich. Because the root of our riches, according to verse 8, is God Himself and His abundant grace. Remember, verse 8, it is God who is able to make all grace abound towards you. This means that when you think about giving, whether it's financially or otherwise, maybe just using your gifts, your spiritual gifts, or maybe wanting to encourage someone or serving in any capacity as a Christian, all of the resources of God are available to you if you are His child. all of His resources. And of course, we know His resources are infinite as He is. They are inexhaustible. You cannot exhaust the supply of God's grace and His goodness. In fact, we're told this in Philippians 4.19 when it says, But my God shall supply all your need according to what? Not my riches. not the nine trillion dollars of the richest people in all the world, but according to His riches, His riches in glory by Christ Jesus, the riches that are infinite and inexhaustible. So now, as a Christian, you can measure your wealth not by what you have, but by what God has. He provides it to us. So if you remember as a Christian, you're rich. But we also find in verse 8 the reason for your riches. He doesn't just give us this grace, give us these riches that we have in Christ to hoard it to ourselves. It is rather so, in verse 8, that you may abound to every good work. In other words, use what God has given you. This shows us that the riches we have are not necessarily financial. They are the resources of God that enable you to abound to every good work. That could be your giving. And every time we pass the offering plate, that's an opportunity to share what God has prospered us with. But it includes everything about your life. It includes your activities. It includes your service for the Lord, your walk and your witness and your way of life. So what we discover here is that God pours his abundant grace into your life so that you might pour it back out to others. It's kind of like this cup that I come to every single Sunday. Brother Ed fills it with fresh water normally, anytime he's here anyways. But I'm also thankful that he doesn't fill it all the way up. But when we think about God's inexhaustible grace, we ought to think of the cup as not even half full, not even three quarters full, but all the way full, full to the point of overflowing, so that when he pours in, we pour out. When He pours in His grace, we pour out in giving and serving and loving to others. That is what we discover from this verse. There is a reason for our riches. Is that how you look at what God has provided to you this morning? Are you pouring out what God has been pouring in to your life and to your heart? That is the true measure of Christian wealth. Not what you have, but how you give. How you give. And that is why Paul also shares with us there in verse eight the results of these riches. These are some precious promises to us as believers. In verse eight, God pours out the riches of his grace to you so that you might be always having all sufficiency in all things. So yes, God wants to provide for His people. He promises to do so, and He does. But what this means is that at all times, in all things, you have all you need for every good work that God calls you to do. You don't need anything else. He's provided those things for you. This means that your cup will never run dry, even as you pour out to others what God has given to you. I've talked to some people who say, It's hard for me to give or it's hard for me to serve. It's hard for me to share. And sometimes we think, well, it's a loss if I give. The fact is, again, God does this so that you will always have all sufficiency in all things so that you can do everything God calls you to do. But even more in verse 11 as we drop down just a few verses because there is a parenthetical phrase in verses 9 and 10, God also reminds us that we are being enriched in everything to all bountifulness. Do you realize in three verses you find seven times the word all or every? God is trying to show to us that there is absolutely no need that we have that He cannot supply with His infinite inexhaustible resources of grace. So this means that even though it may not always seem like it at the time, you have all you need in order for you to give and to serve the Lord. Again, this does not always mean financial giving. In fact, if you go back to the book of Acts and you remember the story of Peter, they were not very rich people as far as the world is concerned. But when someone came up to Peter and John and said, hey, can I get some money from you? What did Peter say in Acts 3, 6? He said, silver and gold have I none. So he really was a poor fisherman. He really didn't have a whole lot, but that didn't mean he couldn't give them something. What did he say? Silver and gold have I none, but such as I have, give I thee. And that is the way it is for us. We may be wealthy according to world standard, but such as I have from God, I give. As He is poured in, I pour out. So it is true, according to that old adage, you really never can out-give God. The more you pour out, it's because of what He has poured into your life. And now, because of these truths, These truths in verse 8 about the root of your riches, God Himself, the results of your riches from God, you are now free as a child of God to focus your undivided attention on the reason for your riches. The reason why God has granted you His grace. The reason why God has poured into you and your life. It is so that, verse 8, you may abound to every good work. That you may abound in every way, shape, or form to live for the glory of God. And in the rest of our verses this morning, we find four key ways how you can abound to every good work as you remember what God has poured into your life. The first thing is that you need to pour yourself out in a bountiful way, a bountiful way, according to the principle that we already read in verse six, a familiar principle where Paul shares this common proverb about two farmers, two different sowers of seed. And he says, but this I say, he which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly. And he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully. So we have a tale of two sowers, two farmers. The first sower, in verse 6, is a closed-handed sower. Now, they didn't have the John Deere tractors like we do today. They would have a bag full of seed and they would take that seed with their hand and they would broadcast that seed into the ground that has been prepared in some way. And of course, Jesus explains and illustrates how this would have been done in ancient times through his parable of the seed and the sower. And so we have here the first sower, someone that is tight-fisted. He doesn't spread and broadcast the seed as he normally would. He sows sparingly, in a miserly and even a half-hearted way, according to this proverb. Now, we're not sure why this farmer sows his seed in this way. It could be because he's lazy. Maybe he just doesn't have the strength to throw the seed as far as other farmers. Maybe it's because he's greedy, and he realizes how pricey those seeds were that he went out to buy. And he realizes that if he just throws it on the ground, some of it might go by the wayside, some of it might go into the rocks, some of it might go into the pathway, and he's not going to get any credit for that. He's not going to get any growth from those seeds, and so he's just kind of throwing it here and there where he thinks it might get some good grip and some good soil. It could be because he was a discouraged farmer. You know, last year he threw out a huge crop and he didn't get a whole lot because there was too much rain or too much sun. Either it was drought or all of these things could happen. He just was discouraged. It really doesn't matter. We don't know. But no matter the reason why he is tight-fisted and sowing sparingly, this principle still holds true. He which sows sparingly will reap also sparingly. As it says in Galatians, you will reap what you sow, and if you don't sow anything, you're not going to reap anything. If you sow a little, you're just going to reap a little. But then the opposite is also true, because we have a second sower in this proverb in verse 6. And this second sower is the opposite to this first sower. This one is open-handed. He sows his seed with an open hand, and he broadcasts it as far and as wide as he can, and he does so, according to the word here, bountifully. Now the word translated bountiful in this verse is the same word for bounty that we looked at last week in verse 5. And the underlying word means blessing. It means blessing. In other words, this second sower sowed his seed based on the promise of great blessing. He knew that he wanted a blessing when the harvest came, so he blessed as well, and he threw as much seed as possible into the ground ahead of him. He sowed his seed based on the promise of great blessing, and he was a very positive and optimistic farmer. He saw this new season of planting as a new opportunity for a bountiful harvest, no matter what happened last year, no matter what happened the previous year. He was hopeful. He did it according to blessing. And as a general rule, he's right. He which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully. But even though this principle works very well in the natural world, it is also at work in the spiritual world. As a Christian today, there is no reason for you to sow like the first sower. There's no reason to sow sparingly. Why? Because God is the one who provides all the seed It comes from Him anyways. In fact, the seed that He gives us to sow, the Gospel, and His grace, and the opportunity to share love, is really not that costly for us. It was costly for Him, but not for us. We come by faith, and we receive it by faith, and we spread it. As we freely receive, we freely give. So instead, you can sow, and you ought to give, and you ought to serve in a bountiful way with all you've got. And that's why Paul tells us further in Galatians 6-9, let us not be weary in well-doing, for in due season we shall reap if we faint not. It might not be this harvest season, it might not be the next harvest season, but there is a harvest coming where all that was sown by God's people for him and for his glory will be harvested richly in a way that will be indescribable for you and for me. Are you sewing and sharing today what God has given you in a bountiful way? Again, it's not just talking financially, though it includes that. If it includes your life of service, your life of commitment to the Lord, your life of witnessing and testimony and all of these things. But what we have, we ought to give. What He has poured into you, you pour out. Do so bountifully. But then second from verse 7, we see that we ought to pour ourselves out from a willing heart. And we see this pattern again in verse 7. A willing heart. Every man, according as he purposeth in his heart, willingly, so let him give, not grudgingly or of necessity, for God loveth a cheerful giver. Now this is always how God wants his people to give. Out of a willing heart. A heart that is ready and saying, God, I'm so thankful for what you've given to me, now I'm going to show you that gratitude, I'm going to give back to you. We don't want people when the offering plate goes by to put something in when they are struggling with that, when they are worried about that and they're not willing to do so. Instead, it's something that you can plan. It's something that you can purpose. It's something that when you give, you do so out of a cheerful heart, out of a willing heart, because that is the kind of heart that God desires of his people. A willing heart. You see, God is after your heart. So do not give or serve from the pain of loss. Do not give grudgingly or reluctantly or regretfully. Kind of like that sower, the first sower. Oh boy, the seed was so expensive and I can't stand just throwing it out on the ground. And we remember that all that we receive comes from God's hands anyways. As He pours in, we will pour out. Do not give or serve from the pressure of others or of necessity as it says here in verse 7. That means a feeling like it is a have to instead of a get to. Instead, give and serve for the pleasure of God. Give because you want to please Him. Why? Because God loveth a cheerful giver. Now this means, as Charles Hodge once wrote, God blesses and loves and delights in the joyous giver. That word cheerful is translated from a Greek word that can also be translated hilarious. You've ever heard some of Andy Hegdahl's jokes? Some of them can be pretty hilarious. And that's the idea here. You're so overjoyed because you can give that it comes from a heart of true hilarity. You're so cheerful because of how God has loved you and how God has delighted in you. And so you give. So Christians who have been enriched by the grace of God beyond measure, we need to feel it as an honor and a joy to give and to serve the Lord. So is that how you are giving and serving today? Are you doing so willingly? Out of a cheerful heart? A heart that shows God that it's about His pleasure and not about your own? Pour yourself out from a willing heart. Another way that we can abound in every good work according to verse 9, is to pour yourself out in a Christ-like way. A Christ-like way. Verse 9, we read a direct quote from Psalm 112, verse 9. In fact, the entire psalm deals with this concept and with this truth. As it is written, Paul writes, he hath dispersed abroad, he hath given to the poor, his righteousness remaineth forever. Now we're not going to take the time to read through Psalm 112. But the entire psalm from which Paul quotes describes the man that feareth the Lord. And so the entire psalm describes what that man is like and what that man does. And really, that should describe Christians, right? We should be people, men, women, who fear the Lord. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and instruction, right? So when you look at Psalm 12 and you look at Paul's quote in 2 Corinthians, you can see it in one of two ways. First of all, it does describe what every Christian aspires to. I want to be like this man. I want to be one that fears God and pleases God. I want to be someone who pours out what God has poured into my life. I want to distribute widely. But is that the truth about us in reality if we're honest with ourselves? Do we really have the fear of God every single minute, of every single hour, of every single day in our life? If we're honest with ourselves, Psalm 112 does not really describe us in its entirety. It's what we want. It's what we aspire to. Oh, I want to be like Jesus as I walk in this pilgrim way. But we know that we have not achieved. We are so far away from where God wants us to be. So I think the second way of looking at this psalm and this quote is probably better, because it describes not just what we aspire to, but what Jesus Christ alone has fully achieved. He really has the fear of the Lord. As He walked in this life, as He served His Father, He had the fear of His Father, and He portrayed that in everything that He had and in everything that He did. And now, because Jesus achieved what we only aspire to, He becomes our example and the only one who can enable us to become like Him. And so the reason why Paul quotes Psalm 112 verse 9 here in this verse is to show us how Jesus Christ Himself has poured out His grace to us. Listen to it again. Verse 9, as it is written, He hath dispersed abroad, not with a closed hand, but with an open hand. He hath given to the poor, and His righteousness remaineth forever. This means that when Jesus pours out His grace to us, He has done so fully. He hath dispersed abroad. He's not like the first sower in verse 6. He's like the second sower. He has scattered the seed of His grace with an open hand to everyone. Everyone! In fact, we see this in Matthew 5.45 when it says that He, God, makes His Son to rise on the evil and on the good and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. There is a common grace that God and Jesus Christ has scattered all over the world. And the reason for that grace is to call men to repentance of sin and faith in Jesus Christ. And he did this fully. When Jesus was in this world, He would actually heal people that did not believe in Him. People that He knew would leave ungrateful for what He had done to them. And yet He still, with open hand, passed that seed of His grace to anyone and everyone who was there in the land of Israel and abroad. He gave His grace fully. But even more, He has poured out His special grace to us freely. It goes on, He hath given to the poor. Do you realize that God's grace is so valuable? God's grace is so rich that it cannot be earned. And it can't be bought. It has to be given. And it was. This is what Jesus Christ has done for us through the Gospel. If you go back to verse 9 of chapter 8, remember this. Paul says, You know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, so that you through His poverty might be rich. That is where it must begin. In order for you to be able to pour out what God has poured in, there must be a pouring in of that special grace in your life. Without Christ, you are and will forever remain poor. Even if you ever get to that three comma club, you're still poor in the eyes of God. you are spiritually poor and lost forever because of your sin. But through Christ alone and faith in Him, you can become rich, truly rich, spiritually rich, eternally rich, because Jesus humbled Himself to become poor like you and like me, and to sacrifice His own life for your sin. But when Jesus came back to life, according to His promise three days later, He did so, why? What we see next in verse nine, so that he could continue to pour out his grace faithfully, faithfully to all those who believe in him. It is said that his righteousness remains forever. You see, because Jesus Christ now lives, he can remain forever faithful to his word and to you and to me as his people. Oh, what a wonderful Savior is Jesus, my Lord. The hymn sings. Is he your Savior and your Lord? You can never pour out unless you've received by faith alone that grace that you cannot buy. You cannot earn. You must receive by faith. And once you have it, He continues to pour in. He's faithful to you so that you can again pour out. Are you living and giving in a Christlike way today? To give freely and fully and faithfully. He is our example and He will enable you to give and serve others just like Him according to His unending supply of grace. But then there's another way that we are to abound in every good work. And that is in verse 10. We are to pour ourselves out in an utterly dependent way. A dependent way. In verse 10 we find a prayer. Now, other translations of verse 10 may read a little differently. There is an underlying textual issue. This verse is probably best read as a prayer. So Paul basically says what God is going to do, what Christ has already done, and then he says, in spontaneous prayer, he prays that God would do this for them. So look at verse 10 as a prayer, not just a promise, but a prayer. Now may He that ministereth seed to the sower both minister bread for your food and multiply your seed sown and increase the fruits of your righteousness. It's a prayer because He knew that we can't do it by ourselves. We can't do it in our own strength. We can't do it in our own might. We have to rely and depend on God who is the one who ministers seed to the sower. This means that in order for us to give in a bountiful way, in order for us to serve from a willing heart, in order for us to pour out in a Christ-like way, we must depend completely on the Lord. Because God is the one who provides all the seed that we need to sow. It's not of what we have grown, it's what He has provided. This means that God is the source of all you need. God is the source of all you have. God is the source of even all you give. And that's why you don't have to be like the first sower in verse 6. Because God is the source of all your seed. God is the one from whom all blessings flow. We sang earlier, He is the fount of every blessing. He is the source of your life. But also, it means that God is the sustainer of your life. He's the source and the sustainer. He also, according to verse 10, provides your bread for food. So it's not just the grain that you need from God. And that's what a lot of people think. Well, God has given us the initial resources so that we can use those resources to accomplish what he wants us to do. So he gives us kind of what we need to start, and then we have to go and finish it. That's not what this verse is teaching at all. He's not just the source of what we need, He's the sustainer of what we need. You see, it's not just the grain that you need to make your own bread. We need the Lord not just for the grain, but for the water, the oil, the fuel, the fire, even our hands and the strength to make that bread for food. He is the source of all we need and He is the sustainer of all we have. And so you must never forget that you are completely dependent on the Lord for any growth you might have and for any fruit you might bear. It's so that He will get the glory and not you. Again, verse 10, God alone is the one who can multiply your seed sown. And He alone is the one who can increase the fruits of your righteousness. And that's why we ought to pray as Paul does, Oh God, will you do this for me? Will you continue to pour out and pour in so that I can be full, and then use the riches that you've given me for others? Psalm 37 5 says, Commit your way unto the Lord, trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass. And that is how you as a Christian can abound to every good work, as we're told in verse 8. You need to give and serve and pour yourself out in a bountiful way, from a willing heart, in a Christ-like way, but always dependent on the Lord. But you can only do this when you remember just how rich you truly are in Jesus Christ. Are you pouring out what God Himself has been pouring into your heart and life? We all know what happens to something that is constantly being poured into and then never pours out. It's called the dead sea. or it's called Salt Lake. We see these lakes as an illustration, a living illustration of what happens when water flows in but cannot flow out. It gets salty and no life can live in that water. As God pours into you His abundant and exhaustible resources, pour out those riches of Christ's grace. That's the reason for our riches. George Mueller, who lived from 1805 to 1898 in England, was a man who never forgot just how much grace God had poured out to him to save him. And so, George Mueller sought to pour himself out for the Lord and for others. One of the greatest burdens that George Mueller had was for the orphans in England. In fact, he was eventually able to build five large orphan houses and cared for over 10,000 orphans during his lifetime. In fact, some of the orphanages that he had founded are still in existence today. There are some calculations that over 100,000 orphans have been cared for by George Mueller's orphanages. And yet, when George Muller died, he died penniless. Even though he was able to help thousands of children, and preach thousands of times, and encourage thousands upon thousands of believers, he died without a penny to his name. Now, how could this be? Well, it's because as God poured out His grace to George Muller, George Muller poured it back out to others. He never asked anyone directly for money. You might know his story. He never took a salary in the last 68 years of his ministry. Instead, he trusted God to put in people's hearts to send him what he needed. He never took out a loan and he never went into debt. Yet, neither he nor a single one of the orphans he cared for ever went hungry, not even for a meal. It has been estimated that George Mueller had prayed in more than $150 million in today's money, but he gave it all back out in service for the Lord. You see, this is the true measure of Christian wealth. It's not what you have, but how you give. It's not even what you give, it's how you give. And this is the reason for your riches as well, to pour back out what God himself has poured into you. Well, you rely on his infinite and inexhaustible supply of grace. How are you pouring out what God has poured into you today? Let's close in prayer. Our gracious Heavenly Father, I thank you again for the privilege that we have in looking to your word which, Lord, we know is sharper than a two-edged sword. And, Lord, I pray that it is pierced into our own hearts today to show us that you are the one who has provided all we need according to your riches and glory. That, Father, as Christians, we are rich. We are wealthier than the wealthiest person on the Forbes list because we have the resources of God. that are constantly and continuously being poured into us, not just in a monetary way, but, Lord, in a gracious way. And it's not something we've earned, it's not something we've bought, but, Lord, it's something that you've given to us because we believe in your Son, Jesus Christ, as our Savior. And so, Lord, we're thankful that Jesus, when he came, he poured out his grace fully and freely and faithfully. And Lord, he continues to pour out his grace to us as his people fully and freely and faithfully. And now, Father, since we are so full, even though it sometimes may not feel like it, yet we are. I pray that you will help us and enable us to give of ourselves in the same way, in that same Christlike way, fully and freely and faithfully. Because as we read earlier, the Lord You love a cheerful giver. And so, Father, I pray that today you will impress upon our hearts to give out even as you have given in and poured in to us. And we ask these things in Jesus name. Amen.