We read from the Holy Scriptures this evening from Paul's second letter to the Corinthians, chapter eight. Second Corinthians, chapter eight. In this chapter, the inspired apostle addresses very practical matters, exhorting the Corinthian saints to continue and the taking of collections, alms to help the poor saints in Jerusalem at that time. Our text this evening is found in verse 9, where we see the spiritual realities of poverty and riches. We hear the word of God in 2 Corinthians 8. 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. And so much that we desired Titus, that as he had begun, so he would also finish in you the same grace also. Therefore, as ye abound in everything, in faith, and utterance, and knowledge, and in all diligence, and in your love to us, see that ye 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 had gathered much had nothing over, and he that had gathered little had no lack. But thanks be to God, which put the same earnest care into the heart of Titus for you. For indeed, he accepted the exhortation, but being more forward of his own accord, he went unto you. And we have sent with him the brother whose praise is in the gospel throughout all the churches, and not that only, but who was also chosen of the churches to travel with us with this grace which is administered by us to the glory of the same Lord and declaration of your ready mind. Avoiding this, that no man should blame us in this abundance which is administered by us, providing for honest things, not only in the sight of the Lord, but also in the sight of men. And we have sent with them our brother, whom we have oftentimes proved diligent in many things, but now much more diligent upon the great confidence which I have in you. Whether any do inquire of Titus, he is my partner and fellow helper concerning you. For our brethren be inquired of, they are the messengers of the churches and the glory of Christ. Wherefore, show ye to them and before the churches the proof of your love and of our boasting on your behalf. Thus far we read from God's holy word. As I said, our text this evening is found in this beautiful passage, 2 Corinthians 8, the 9th verse, verse 9, where we read, 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. Beloved congregation in our Lord Jesus Christ, this is an amazing word of God, for ye know, for ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. The Savior is held before us in all the beauty and significance of his threefold name. He is Jesus, the Savior, the only name under heaven whereby we must be saved. He is the Christ, the eternally anointed one who is ordained of God and qualified by the Holy Spirit to be Jesus, the Savior of his people. He is Lord. As he stands eternally before the face of God, we hear the beautiful confession of the Apostle Thomas as he beheld the risen Lord, my Lord and my God. We see him with the eye of faith exalted and unto him entrusted all power in heaven and on earth, Lord of lords and King of kings, our Lord Jesus Christ. Ye know his grace. And we would behold this evening his awful poverty, Though he was rich, yet he became poor. For our sakes, may shame flood our souls. Be mindful of our sins. Our sins. My sins. Your sins. Our guilt. That awful burden laid upon Him. Our curse He bore. The wrath due unto us swept over Him until He had borne it all away. The judgment that rested upon me and still stings in my conscience, He took upon Himself to deliver me from it. A marvel of love, of mercy, compassion. For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that He suffered for our sins while we were yet enemies. He became poor for our sakes, that we might be made rich, that we might be lifted up from the awful poverty of our sin and misery. It's in this light that we look at ourselves and our attitude in this Advent season. It's so easy to be almost totally preoccupied with the mundane and worldly aspects of the holiday season. the busyness, the shopping, the decorating. And yet from an earthly point of view, it's often a letdown. And many people struggle with depression in this season. They may try to put on a good front with carols and tinsel and the like, but that's all it is, a pretense. But fundamentally, the reason for such is very simple. They see not the reality of Bethlehem, the real wonder of it. They do not hear and lay hold upon the good tidings of great joy. The eye of faith must be upon Bethlehem, upon the wonder, the mystery there. It's only that that provides true joy and blessedness in this season and throughout the year. And even you young children know what happened there in Bethlehem in the fullness of time. In this season, in your concerts and in your programs, you speak and sing of these things, how according to God's decree, In order to bring to pass God's promise, under God's sovereign direction, there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed. And you know how Joseph took his espoused wife Mary, and they traveled to Bethlehem. And there they found no room in the inn. The weary couple took shelter in a little stable there at the edge of town, Mary gave birth to her firstborn son, the Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And it was announced to the shepherds who were in the fields nearby watching their sheep by night. They were given a sign. You shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger. Signs. of his poverty. We hear a lot about poverty and riches in this season. The poverty of many who are homeless, many who have financial hardship due to inflation, the economy, but also riches, the extravagant gifts purchased by the rich and famous As I mentioned, the context here concerns the material, the matter of the collections taken to assist the poor saints in Jerusalem. In this context, our text directs us to the spiritual realities as they are in Christ. This Word of God directs our attention to spiritual poverty and spiritual riches. 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. That is what we must see with the eye of faith. In this light, we consider our text under the theme, Christ's Poverty, Our Riches. We notice, first of all, his poverty. Secondly, his poverty for our sakes. And finally, our riches. Our text emphasizes that Christ was rich. We read, though he was rich. And of course, there can be no question about that. Christ was rich in a way which really transcends all human thought. The apostle refers to the riches of Christ's eternal Godhead. Christ is the second person of the Holy Trinity, God the Son. And as the second person of the Holy Trinity, Christ is co-equal with the Father and with the Holy Spirit. And that co-equality means, first of all, that all of the virtues of the Godhead belong to Christ. All that makes God the infinite, almighty, transcendent, sovereign one belong to Christ within the Trinity, as well as to the Father and the Spirit. And within the eternal Godhead, Christ possessed all the fullness of the blessedness of God's covenant life. He was truly rich. All the perfection, the joy, the blessedness, the supreme happiness of that full and perfect covenant life, which is God's very nature and life, was the full possession of Christ. But, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor. And the meaning certainly cannot be that when he became poor, Christ left behind the riches which he eternally possesses as God. We might receive that impression, but that cannot be the idea. Bethlehem does not mean that when Christ was born, he left behind the glories and riches which were his, so that he ceased to be God. Nor did he deliberately lay aside his riches. That would be in conflict with what the Apostle John declares at the beginning of his gospel account. And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. And we beheld, notice, His glory. The glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. Christ Jesus did not become poor as a very wealthy man might lose his riches through some sort of financial disaster or economic collapse. As paradoxical as it may sound, the idea is really that He was poor being rich. And the point is that Christ remained God even when in the fullness of time he was born of the Virgin Mary in the cattle stall in Bethlehem. And of course, that's precisely the wonder of the birth of Christ. It's not as if he who was God became man, leaving his Godhead behind. The wonder is that Christ became man, all the while remaining God. Christ, the second person of the Holy Trinity, unites in this one divine person a complete human nature, a complete divine nature. We have before us the mystery of God become flesh, of which the Apostle speaks, Immanuel, God with us. It's true, the fact remains nonetheless, that Christ's divinity was hidden behind the veil of his human nature. It was somewhat, we might say, obscured from us by the fact that Christ became a man. The Apostle Paul speaks of that The connection with Christ's humiliation. In the letter to the Philippians chapter 2, in verses 6-8, referring to Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation and took upon himself 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." Remember, he became a man who is like unto us in all things, with the exception of sin. We read in Hebrews 4, tempted like unto us in all things, yet without sin, without sin. He became a man who bore a weakened human nature, a human nature which was subject to hunger and thirst, to disease and weariness, to sickness and death. What the Apostle expresses when he tells us that Christ became poor, poor, oh so poor. You must contemplate the poverty of Bethlehem. The signs of that poverty there In lowly Bethlehem, the city of David, no room to be found. Joseph and Mary compelled to find shelter for the night in a stable, probably nothing more than a cave. on the outskirts of the town where passing caravans would shelter their animals for the night. The squalid and dirty stable was the only shelter for the Christ child. All attempts through the ages to make that a pleasant, lovely place are failures. It was dirty. It was ugly. was smelly and sour, dark and foul. Most of our modern day barns are clean and bright and sanitary, even luxurious compared to that smelly stable. Christ was truly born in abject poverty, could scarcely have been any worse. But this poverty, which was his lot when he came into this world, continued all his life. Christ never possessed anything at all which he could call his own, not even the clothes on his back. When a would-be disciple clamored to follow Jesus, Jesus reminded him, even the birds have nests, And the foxes have holes, but the Son of Man hath nowhere to lay His head. And when finally He was crucified, His clothes were taken from Him by the brutal soldiers who enjoyed their gambling there in the shadow of the cross." Already through the psalmist, Christ had spoken of this. When he cried, they parted my garments among them, and for my vesture they cast their lots. Yes, at his birth we see Christ's poverty. All he has are swaddling clothes and a manger. Presently, even these will be taken from him. He was hated so completely by all his enemies that at last they robbed him of everything he possessed and even of his life itself. And yet that awful poverty of Bethlehem was a sign. Again, we recall the word of the angels to the shepherds. told them of the birth of Christ. At that time, the angel made it quite clear that this poverty was a sign to them. And this shall be a sign unto you. Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger. Now what was this poverty a sign? It was a sign of the poverty of the human nature into which Christ, the very Son of God, entered. And we struggle to comprehend the full reality of this poverty and the suffering that Christ endured because of it. God became a man. He who was omnipotent became weak and helpless, a babe in his mother's arms, a mere man among men. He who created food and drink became hungry and thirsty. He who had the very source of life in himself was dependent upon no one. He grew weary, required sleep. He who was king became servant. He who was above the law, who had created the law, now was born under the law and was obligated to perform all the requirements of the law and was subject to its penalties. Yet all this was not by any means the worst of Christ's suffering. For he had to endure all his life long the burden of God's wrath. He who had tasted and experienced the blessedness of communion with the Father and the Holy Spirit now had to experience the horror of God's wrath. And here, too, there's an element of the mystery of the incarnation which we struggle to grasp. For we know from Scripture that God's Word concerning Christ was, Thou art my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Yet at the same time, Christ bore God's wrath all his life long, and Bethlehem and its poverty were a sign of it. And yet all this was because Christ bore the sin and guilt of his people. His poverty was because The burden of sin and guilt rested upon him. That poverty reached its climax at the accursed tree of the cross. He became poor by making sin and guilt, which belonged to us, his own. And it's that amazing truth that receives the emphasis here. The Apostle Paul is not merely discussing the birth of the Savior and the wonder of the incarnation, but he is insisting in a most emphatic way that this was all on our account. Yet for your sakes he became poor." All his poverty was for us. That's why Paul speaks in this light of the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. As our text begins, For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, And the fact that here grace is ascribed to Christ indicates that grace here refers to undeserved favor. It is that which stands opposed to debt or to works which earn or merit something or to obligation. Grace is unmerited. Completely undeserved. It is a favor bestowed upon someone, though the object of that favor is completely unworthy of it. The idea is therefore that Christ was manifesting towards his people a favor completely undeserved. when he came into this world in the fullness of time and became poor, though he had been rich. That appalling poverty which was characteristic of Christ's life was something which he willingly took upon himself because Christ was gracious toward his people. And the emphasis falls upon Christ's perfect obedience and willingness to suffer for us, for our sakes. It speaks to us of that glorious truth that although it was painful beyond description for Christ to become so poor, nevertheless, he eagerly anxiously seized upon this poverty because the deepest motives of his heart was for the people given him of the Father whom he loved. And no price was too great to pay for them, no humiliation too bitter, no suffering too great, no poverty too lowly. But what makes this grace appear so wonderful is the fact that He became poor for us because we were so very, very, very poor. Well, that's not necessarily the case in a material sense. It may be true that not many of us are materially wealthy. Some of us may have a financial struggle. But we, for the most part, have an abundance of material things. No doubt, we may receive some nice material gifts in this season. But let us remember, material riches mean nothing. But from a spiritual perspective, we are very poor by nature. Yea, we are poverty stricken. We are spiritually bankrupt in ourselves. That poverty is the terrible poverty of sin, of death, of the curse of hell. It is a poverty far more awful than the worst of material poverty. Do you recognize that poverty as yours? The whole church for which Christ died is poor, spiritually very poor. Think of the corrupt host for which Christ died. the wretched sinners which we all are, even now. You think of your own terrible poverty, even the poverty of a sinful nature, an old man completely depraved, Then you can see something of the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ that He, being rich, was made poor on our behalf. And there's no other explanation for it. But grace. Undeserved favor. Christ was under no obligation to enter into our poverty. He did not have to come to Bethlehem. He did not have to save you and me. It was grace in connection with God's marvelous purpose to save It was our poverty which created the necessity for that horrible, foul-smelling stable in Bethlehem in which Christ was born. And let us not attempt, like so many do, to make of that stable a pretty, lovely, cozy place. That stable speaks of our sins. and of the depths of our poverty. It is our shame. And yet, beloved, through His poverty, we are made rich. Christ's poverty was the only possible way to riches for us. God had to become man. Christ had to enter into our poverty. He who was very God was no other way, for he had to bear our burden. He had to pay our debt. It's only through his poverty that we can become rich. Of course, Christ himself became rich first of all, for he fully bore the burden of God's wrath. And the prophet Isaiah could prophesy he was with the rich in his death. And Christ was raised from the dead, exalted to highest glory. exalted to the right hand of the majesty on high, made prince and king of the universe, filled with the spirit, yea, with all the blessings of salvation, given the inheritance of heaven as his own possession. He was made rich, given a name which is above every name, for he He was the poorest of the poor and becomes through it in that deep way the richest of the rich. And it's in this way that we are made rich. Because He became poor for us, we become rich through His poverty. We are delivered from the terrible poverty of sin and death, guilt and hell. We are raised into the great glory of the heavens, given riches beyond our wildest imaginations. May all the blessings of salvation taken to heaven to inherit the whole redeemed universe. even to reign over it with Christ forever. You can't fix a price tag to such riches. You can't place a dollar value on them. They are greater than all the world. And they are ours by grace, because Christ became poor for us, entering into our poverty that we might share in his riches. Let us ponder these things in this Advent season. Like Mary, let us keep all these things and ponder them in our hearts. Ponder the wonder that took place in the fullness of time. See the shame of that lowly stable in Bethlehem, of the swaddling clothes and the manger. Remember that that is your shame and mine. And remember too that it's only in this wondrous way that Christ could make room in our poverty-stricken hearts and reveal himself as our Savior and Lord. Make room? He does. in the hearts of all his elect people as he comes through his spirit and grace and efficaciously forces his way into the hearts of his own. He comes to dwell with us, makes room in this sad world because all the wicked he shall cast into eternal desolation and he lifts this Cursed creation to the new heavens and the new earth by the power of His atoning blood. He makes room for Himself. The truth of sovereign grace. Which the Apostle Paul sums up so beautifully here in our text. The simple story of Bethlehem. The stable, but also the cross. The story, the account of salvation. Salvation by grace. And let this be then our focus in this season. Let this be what we see as we would contemplate that manger. in Bethlehem. Beware lest we deny the Christ with sick, sentimental, hypocritical religion. For the stable, the manger, the swaddling clothes must lead to the cross. And it's at the foot of the cross that our hearts cry out in the agony of our sin and misery. But the cross leads us beyond to the garden of Joseph and the empty tomb where the Lord once lay. And from there to the Mount of Olives to see him ascend up to the Father. And ultimately, it leads then to heaven where Christ is. It's there where our tears are changed into doxologies of praise. Worthy is the lamb that was slain. Let us rejoice then. Rejoice in the unspeakable riches that we have in Christ Jesus. Thanks be to God for his unspeakable gift. Amen. Most merciful and gracious Heavenly Father, we thank Thee for that unspeakable gift, even of Thy own dear Son, upon whose birth we meditate in a special way in this Advent season once again. We give all thanks and praise unto Thee. We rejoice in Christ. in His lowly birth, the awful poverty that entailed, but also in His riches in that deep way, and the victory of His cross and resurrection, ascension into heaven. We thank Thee, Father, for the riches that are ours in Him, merely of grace. We ask it with the remission of our many sins. In Jesus' name, Amen. Let us sing together Psalter number 262. 262. From Psalm 98, unto God our Savior, sing a joyful song. Wondrous are his doings, for his arm is strong. We pray that you were edified by the preaching of the gospel today. Please join us for worship if you are ever in the area. 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