Bible. The 2 Corinthians chapter 8. 2 Corinthians chapter number 8. There's a reason for this. It's a verse that's very interesting. We've referred to it many times, but I want to look at it really just as a matter of encouragement to one and all and challenge at the same time. 2 Corinthians chapter number 8. If you look at some of the salient verses in this chapter, I like this in verse 2, how then in a great trial of affliction the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty." You mean you can be rejoicing in poverty? Absolutely. Absolutely. That's one of the works that God does in our lives. But it says, "...and their deep poverty abounded under the riches of their liberality." In other words, even though they were impoverished, They were very generous in giving to special needs. That's one of the fruits of the Spirit, isn't it? Charity actually is the manifestation of God's love in our life, and that is giving. And so you can see that in verse 5, this they did not as we hope, but first gave their own selves to the Lord and unto us by the will of God. And all these other verses, but I want you to notice in verse 9, 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. I want you to see the context of that, to see how wonderful this is, because it is showing us the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and that's what brings us up. For by grace are you saved through faith. What gets us salvation, what maintains us each day, is the very grace of God, isn't it? We can paint pictures of how good God is, but this is a contrast written to people that are revived. Why do I say revived? Because 1 Corinthians deals with a problem in their midst in every chapter. They were followers of men. They were divisive. They were enduring sin in their midst, and they were cheap, and their marriages were shot and all those things. Paul wrote a strong letter to them, and the reason I'm reciting all these things is that's what's covered in 1 Corinthians. We saw this last week. 1 Corinthians deals with the problems in their midst, which isn't really that much different than any church. People have problems that they have to deal with. And after he sent it, he was sorry he sent it. He was afraid it was going to alienate them. And yet they repented and their whole church turned around, isn't it? That's why I say it was a revived people. The difference between first Corinthians and second Corinthians, not only that, they were responsive because we just read verse two, how that despite their poverty, they were generous in giving to others needs. Now, maybe other people gave them more. But what God cares about is the spirit of your giving. that you give, you give cheerfully. They were responsible in service. That's when they got things right after 1 Corinthians was delivered to them, they were responsible not only in correcting some wrongs, but serving God as they should. That's the immediate context of God saying, you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Grace is God's riches at Christ's expense. It's an acrostic. God's riches at Christ's expense. That's how you can remember what it means. In other words, God paid the price for the riches he gives to us, and that's what we'll look at today. It should be encouraging to you. But it's not only that. Just simply put, grace is favor that you don't merit. It's getting something good that you didn't deserve. Think of the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus left heaven to come here for us. We didn't deserve that. That's what grace is. We didn't deserve that, and this should give you a heart of thanksgiving for every day of your life. But remember this, In the midst of all this, He gives us a reminder of the grace of God. Now, I like faith. I like faith. I think faith's a wonderful thing. Faith is the only thing that pleases God, isn't it? But it's by grace through faith that we're saved. Grace is God's riches at Christ's expense, and I am always marveling at how good He is to us. And I'd like to just remind you of some things today. Let's pray. Lord, would you bless our time together? Father, we thank you for all the things that brought us to 2 Corinthians 8 and verse 9. Would you help us to put the cares of this world aside? Each one of us has burdens, Father. Whether it's health or family or whatever it might be, Father, we have burdens. Would you let us just set them aside for a few moments so that we might think about how good Jesus is for us? Just bless us. Give me liberty of thought and speech that you would be lifted up and glorified. In Jesus' name, amen. Well, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ should be one of the greatest subjects you can speak on, isn't it? The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, how good He is to us when we certainly do not deserve it. I want you to notice, first of all, remember how it's worded? For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. I want you to see the scope of His submission. the scope. If you want to talk about the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, you see him before he comes here, he's in the highest heaven. And you see him as he comes here, he's in the lowest pits of this earth. Why? Because he was despised and rejected and crucified by men. you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Where was He before? In John 1, 1-3, the Bible says, In the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, the Word was God, the same was in the beginning with God, all things were made by Him. If He was in heaven before, we know He was, He created everything in that first day of Genesis chapter 1, whenever that might be. He created everything. Can you imagine the power that he commanded when he could say, I'd like a galaxy over there, and that's when it appeared. I don't know if he did it a little bit at a time, just said he created the heaven and the earth. And the heaven you can see, there's one where the birds fly. There's a heaven above that where the stars are. And you see the third heaven where Jesus, where God lives. We see that, but he created the heaven and the earth. And I suspect you can look at that and say, first of all, that's the heaven where the stars are. I don't know if he said, let's put a galaxy there. They say there are countless galaxies. Isn't that millions of galaxies? If you look at our galaxy, it's 93 million miles to the sun. And we're, Mary's Violet Eyes, Mercury, Venus, Earth. We're the third planet. They said there were nine counting Pluto. We're only a third of the way out. And it's 93 million miles. I think it takes eight and a half minutes for the sun to get from the sun, for the light from the sun to get here. Eight and a half minutes. So that sunlight that you're feeling out there left a while ago. Okay? And our galaxy's enormous. Our solar system's enormous. The Milky Way galaxy's enormous. You can see that in the night, can't you? But there are thousands, I think there are millions, maybe billions of other galaxies out there. Jesus Christ went back and sat on his throne when he was finished in Acts chapter one, but he sat there with all the power of creation at his disposal. Think about speaking the worlds into existence. He not only did that, he created man. He crafted man. And think about that. I often wonder what Adam must have looked like, what Eve must have looked like, because we are curious about that, aren't we? But he fashioned man, and man is his masterpiece, is he not? He went back to heaven where he fashioned all those things, but there was a day when he was there before he left. He made all things by him. Psalm 115 verse 15, He made the heaven and the earth, which is a reiteration of this. He made all these things. Imagine creating the earth. Now they send us back pictures of all the planets and the moons and all that stuff, and they're interesting looking, but nothing has the life we see on this earth, does it? And we'll watch some travel documentaries sometimes, and they'll show the camera going through Ireland. They'll show the camera going through the German Alps or Swiss Alps or whatever it is. We saw some pictures of Italy the other day. I've never been there. I may never be there. But isn't that beautiful? And there's a day when Jesus spoke that into existence. He spoke it. He said, but yes, it's been compromised, the damage of the flood. Yeah, if it's beautiful now, how beautiful was it before? How beautiful was it then? He spoke all the worlds into existence. Remember, it says, Though he was rich, when was he rich? He was rich in heaven, wasn't he? Job 38 verse 4, he says, he laid the foundations of the earth. Now as a builder, that thrills my senses. He laid the foundations of the earth. The Bible speaks of chains and bars and keys and all of that as to the foundation of this earth. He set it all up, didn't he? He set that all up from heaven, didn't he, in Job 40 and 41? I think I mentioned this Wednesday night. It tells us, under the name of Behemoth and Leviathan, Leviathan in particularly, that Leviathan obviously is the devil. It says he plays with him as a fisherman plays with a fish. When he left heaven, he left with the power of toying with the devil. The devil was his adversary that came on that night of the crucifixion, and Jesus said, he has nothing in me. He's going to be defeated tonight. The devil is nothing but a toy. He poses no threat to God, and that's the position of authority that Jesus left in heaven to come here so that he could save us and we could complain about things that go on every day of our lives. Isn't that amazing? He toys with Behemoth and Leviathan. Colossians 1.17 says, he upholds all things by the word of his power. Well, it says, by him all things consist. When I was in physics and chemistry, both, they'd tell us the model of the atom. And we could tell the valence, and these are some words I haven't used in a long time, the valence, and we knew the number of these different atoms of gold and silver. I still remember AuH2O, that was gold water. Okay? I remember Hg is mercury, isn't it? We remember all that stuff. And they would say each one of those things, like H2O, hydrogen has just one electron. running around that thing. So it's got a valence of one, plus one. Oxygen has minus two. No, hydrogen, what is it? H2, two H's, yeah. Oxygen is minus two. And so they know that these things are going around that atom. It sounds like the universe, doesn't it? And all the bombs do, the nuclear bombs, all they do is release all that energy that holds all that stuff together. The scientists and the physicists will tell you, we don't know what it is that holds not only that electron's nucleus together, but the whole universe. How does it hold together? How is it so predictable? The Bible says, by him all things consist. I can tell you how it stays together. He's what holds it all together. By Him, all things consist. Again, that's present tense. He holds it all together. They have centripetal force, and you don't usually hear that early in high school or college, but that's the, I guess, kind of imaginary, but it has to be there, a force that if something's gonna keep, gravity's gonna keep it from, If the string keeps a stone in a sling from leaving, then the force that holds it in there is centripetal force. They know all these different forces, but they don't know how it all stays together, so much so they can predict to the minute when a solar eclipse is going to happen next. The Bible says, by him all things consist. When he was in heaven, He not only created all things, but he holds all things together. I suspect he didn't lose that power here, but he left that power in heaven, didn't he? And he came down here. Now it would be really wonderful. I've often thought it would be great. I don't have the ability. I think it would be one of the neatest things to do to direct an orchestra. Because when you watch a good director, they have that wand out there, and when I attempted to play the trombone, I was there being directed by them, and you'd watch them to see, or make sure you're on time, and he would bring in another section, and it just seems to me that it would be so neat. to be able to control when the trombones come in, the violins change, the cello gives, the drums make their stuff. In other words, you're directing everything that happens. He has that power. My Savior directs all the world and holds it together. And he left all that to come here. He left it all to come here. He upholds it all. The Bible says in Acts 17, verse 24, 17, 24, that He's the Lord of all. He's Lord over the entire domain. And your Bible tells you he was rich. He was rich. That means he was rich in power. He was rich in the praise of heaven. He was rich in the right perspective. He was rich. If it just comes down to the palaces that were there in heaven, and remember this, the Bible says, we become joint heirs of all that he possesses. I saw a picture of a vineyard with a big fancy house somewhere in the Napa Valley a couple days ago. It's on this market for $35 million. Probably won't sell right away. but that doesn't hold a candle to what my Savior oversees. And he welcomes us, I think it's Romans 8, 17, I think it is, that he welcomes us as joint heirs in all that he owns. And yet, with all this wealth, because my point is this, the scope of his submission, that's where he was, he was in heaven. And He came to this earth. And you read the verses that speak of His existence on this planet, on this earth. The Bible says, the Son of Man hath nowhere to lay His head. You know, today it's popular to have a tiny house. It can be not even the size of a garage, or even a one-car garage. Twelve by thirty is a big one. Or ten by thirty. He didn't even have that. We tease about the doghouse being dad's second home, okay? He didn't have that. He didn't have that. He had no place to lay his head. Remember when he went to the crucifixion and all those things were happening? He went and stayed with Mary and Martha and Lazarus. He didn't have his own home when palaces awaited him in heaven. He left all that for us. So he went from a palace to being a pauper. He went from praise in heaven. Remember, you look in Isaiah 6, holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth sings his praises. All of heaven resounds with a chorus as a praise to Jesus Christ. And God gave him a name above every name that every knee would bow to him. And you went from that praise to absolute condemnation in this life. I mean, it's not bad enough to let him die. They still had to torment him and berate him and revile him while he was dying for us and suggest that if he could come off that cross, they'd be glad to believe in him, which they wouldn't have. He did all that for us. He was a man abandoned in this life. When in heaven he has all of the multitude singing his praise. He suffered grief here. grief that I don't think a man can describe, a grief here because he could know what bad decisions people were making, he could know the fruit of bad decisions, and he could look at someone and see that he's going to go away because his riches mean too much to him, and he knew exactly what wealth was. He knew grief, didn't he? He knew burdens like you and I would never know. He bore our burdens away, didn't he? He was even abandoned, not just of his disciples, but he was abandoned of his father too. So you're seeing a contrast in just a few words between what Jesus left in heaven to come down here to endure the exact opposite. That's the scope of his submission. Number two, notice what it supplies the center. Notice what a supply is the sinner. First of all, a sympathetic Savior. Look at Hebrews chapter 2. We've looked at this. Hebrews chapter number 2. And I want you to see this and meditate upon it because this is the grace of our Lord that gave us what we enjoy today. In Hebrews chapter 2, look at verse 14. For as much as the children are partakers of flesh and blood. By the way, that's what we are. We're children. We partake of flesh and blood. If you look at me, I'm flesh and blood. Because the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same. He became flesh and blood like we are. that through death, he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is the devil. In other words, he became like we are to suffer like we do, to be tempted like we are, and yet to always be victorious over all those sufferings and temptations. He left the glory of heaven to come here and be treated like he was. He was a sympathetic savior, wasn't he? He took part in our flesh. Now I know, The Holy Spirit of God was his father, but he became flesh like we are, didn't he? Why? How do I know that? Because he was tempted just like we are in every way without sin. He was tempted. Luke 9.31 speaks of him going up to Jerusalem for the death he was going to accomplish. I've said that many times, but think about that. Most of the times we don't think that death is an accomplishment. It's the end of a life of accomplishment or even failure. But Jesus came to die. The only human that's ever come into this world for the express purpose of dying. He accomplished death. Hebrews 4 verse 15, it says, for we have not a high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but was in all points tempted as we are yet without sin. In other words, he left heaven where he was praised to come down here, excuse me, to be tempted like we are, to be tempted like we are. And this verse stuns me every time I read it, Hebrews 2 and verse 9, but we see Jesus, almost the exact introduction to the verse of our text, we see Jesus, who is made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death because angels don't die. You wonder who those spirits are in prison? Those are fallen angels because angels don't die. Okay. For the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor. Now notice this, that he, by the grace, there's the word grace again, by the grace of God should taste death for every man. You can just look at that on surface value. And yes, his death was a sacrifice for every man, woman, boy, and girl that was ever born into this life. There's more than enough blood. The blood will never run dry. But he tasted death for every man. Tasted death for every man. I wonder, you know, he still was God while he was on that cross. Does he remember distinctly bearing my sins there? If I had to bet, I bet that he did. Why? He knows everything. There's no giga anything to describe his memory. I wonder if he remembers distinctly my sins when he bore them there. I wonder if he recalls yours. They sing that song, when he was on the cross, I was on his mind. I have no doubt that that's true. You say, well, how could he have billions of people on his mind individually? Because he's still God, isn't he? I know this, he's supplied by leaving heaven a savior that feels what we feel. When I know he has a physical body, it's because when he was speaking to the woman of the well, he was weary and hungry. He got weary and hungry like we do. As you get older, you just get weary and hungry sooner. Okay? But he supplied symptomatic suffering. What do I mean? He was despised and rejected. How could the humble and precious Jesus, the Bible says in Peter, to you that believe he's precious. When you think of Jesus hanging on the cross, probably your mouth hangs open and you just look with wonder and awe at that. You can't stop it and it'd be bad if we could stop that because that was my redemption. but he's despised and rejected. The one that went about doing good so that the whole world couldn't contain enough pages to record what he did for people. Despised and rejected. Deserted. Denounced. Denounced. You who say you're the king, come down off that cross. You who say you're the son of God, come down. And he bore all that in, according to first Peter, he never responded in kind. So yes, he left the realm of heaven, but he came here and provided a suffering that kind of mirrors what we might suffer from time to time. And then he bore the sorrows of life. You don't have to live too long before you realize the burdens that people bear, the burdens that people bear. And I never share the burdens we get by phone. Hey, there are people hurting out there. We've had bus kids coming whose mother passed away while we knew those kids. We've had bus kids come bringing all kinds of burdens with them and we watch them sometimes fade out to go to some bad decisions and it breaks our hearts. We'll get a phone call of someone that isn't conquering the problems of this life. You know, he endured the sorrows of this life. He left heaven for that. That's our text. He lived among men. Am I just the only one that as I get older, I like quiet more all the time? Isn't quiet wonderful? It's wonderful, isn't it? But he lived among men and If even thoughts were open to him, because he is the word of God, he would know, and he demonstrates it, he knows people are ready to kill him. They didn't say that, they didn't have to, he knew that. He knew the sorrows of men by living among men. And he could know, you can ask people, and I've done this many times, how are you doing? You can tell something's wrong. I'm not talking about asking your wife, is everything all right? Yes. Anything wrong? No, it's fine. When you know it's not, okay? I'm not talking about that. We can somewhat laugh about that, only somewhat. But I know this, he lived among men and knew even if they didn't want to talk, what burdens they bore. What must that have been like for him to walk for 33 and a half years here? knowing those burdens. He lifted our burdens, didn't he? He's one of those men that I am certain, I am certain, would have refreshed you when you were around him. Unless you're one of those devils that wanted to antagonize him. I told my brother yesterday, by the way, they've got our old Sunday school bus over at Bible Baptist. They've peeled all the old address and the church name off, but they left our Bible verses up there and they're getting ready to run that and bring kids to church. And I told Scott that and he said, man, I wish brother Hampton was alive so we could tell him he'd be so happy about that. I think that I said that to Art yesterday. Why? He had a heart for people. And when you walked in the door or walked out the door, he'd say, how are you doing? And it seemed like he looked through you. Well, that's just a redeemed man. That's not the Savior. The Savior knew, didn't he? He lifted our burdens and all those burdens that we had, the burden of sin and guilt and shame, he carried all those burdens, tasted our death and deposited them in hell. This is the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. But then read the verse one more time. For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that you through his poverty might be rich. It stands to reason, the last point is the security of the saint, that we might be rich. It doesn't matter what we own in this life. I have a mansion in heaven. I'd take that over any mansion in the Napa Valley, any one of them, wouldn't you? Though that ye through his poverty might be rich, he sacrificed that we might be blessed. The security we have, that all comes because we recognize that he died in our place. And the greatest day in your life was the day you trusted Christ as Savior. There's a big difference. Remember, the Bible says the devil believes in God and trembles. It's not the same just to believe in God. It's, I'm a sinner. I'm a sinner. I don't deserve heaven. If I got what I deserved, I'd be in hell right now. I need a Savior. And God takes our sins, and formally it puts it in the account of Jesus dying bearing sins, and takes the righteousness of Jesus Christ and puts it upon us. You know why I know I'm going to heaven when I die? Because I didn't earn it. I don't maintain it. It was a gift given to me by my wonderful Savior. and this wonderful church in 2 Corinthians that weathered the storm of a strong worded letter from Paul and repented, got some things right, they're reminded just how wonderful Jesus is and what his grace is like. What his grace is like. He promises us riches. We're joint heirs with Jesus, Romans 8, 17. Joint heirs with Jesus. So all that he had, he was rich in heaven, he shares with us. Think about that. Joint heirs. I know what a joint account is. Two people have the same account. Well, this account is all of our brethren with Jesus Christ together. The wealth of this world stands as insignificant next to what he's got for us, doesn't it? The redemption of our body is yet to come. In Romans 8.23, that's an interesting verse where it says, even creation is waiting for the redemption of our bodies. Because sin didn't just besmirch man, it besmirched all of creation. And one day we'll get a new heavens and a new earth. And the picture of that is how he makes us new creatures. Look forward to that new heavens and new earth, don't you? The redemption of our body is yet to come. When I mentioned that Phyllis passed away last night, she got healed. She got a new body. To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. You know what would happen? We're talking about the grace of God, but if I dropped dead, I'd see God in His grace that quickly. It's a done deal. I know I'm going to heaven. It's not because I'm proud. I just have a wonderful Savior. Redemption of the body is yet to come, when my body will no more be tainted by sin and temptation." Look forward to that. And the security of the saint includes this, all the rejoicing, all the rejoicing. Think about the rejoicing that's yet to come. Think about that, where we can join in the chorus of heaven. You know, maybe God would let me lead a chorus someday. I'm not even being silly. Wouldn't that be something? To be able to lead a chorus where your musical ability is perfect and everyone else's is too. And everyone sings the praise of Jesus. That song I mentioned the other day and Steve sent a copy of it to me. When I get to heaven, for a million years, I'll just sing the glory of God. Now I've slaughtered it. For a million years, I'll just think about and sing about the glory and goodness of God. Why? Because not one of us deserves this. Not one of us does. We'll get to rejoice in all those things, rejoice in his goodness, rejoice in the praise that's finally, that he gets, that's due his name, and all the others that are redeemed. Think about the joy in heaven of seeing that thief that died on the cross in faith. Think about the joy in heaven. I'd sure like to think that Barabbas got saved. I have no way of knowing. But Barabbas should have been on the other cross. And if there's anyone that Jesus immediately died for, it was Barabbas. He should have suffered death. Wouldn't it be horrible if he never came to know Jesus as Savior? Maybe we'll get to see Barabbas. We'll get to see people that died in prison at the hands of other men because of their crimes. Yes. Some of them come to Jesus before it's too late. We'll get to see the most hardened of criminals that were blood washed by the blood of Jesus Christ. And then we'll get to see all those saints that served him all those years. Paul the Apostle and Peter and John. And I suspect like you, I know this, most people probably love the gospel of John like I do. I'll get to see John one day. I was thinking of my uncle Archie today and how he was just crazy and six foot four and blonde and just sweet written all over him. I'll get to see him and walk the street of gold with him, probably singing together. Neither one of us was a singer. Get to see my dad. He could sing. You just never heard him, but he had a voice. He played the guitar. He just rarely did, but he could pick it up right now and play it. I'll get to see all those people in heaven. Why? Because Jesus is back on that throne. He's back on that throne. We get to rejoice. One last passage, look at Romans 8. You should go home and read Romans 8 because the whole chapter is wonderful. Romans 8, when I lead someone to Christ, I turn them to Romans 8. Verse 37, now in all these things, we're more than conquerors through him that loved us. In other words, we don't conquer, but we conquer through him, don't we? For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." You know why he left heaven? Because he loved sinners. And he died to be the propitiation, that is, to appease the holiness of God because of our sin and willfulness. Always turn them to that. You know what happens when you believe you can lose your salvation? You can never have the confidence that you really are saved because your life's not over. Well, if someone believes you can lose your salvation and they know they won't, that's arrogance. But when I know I didn't earn it and I can't keep it and I know I'm saved and I'll stay saved, that's praise to my wonderful Savior. Now, why did he write all this stuff? Why did he write all this stuff? It is to remind us the price that was paid to get us the joy we have. To get us the promises we have, the security we have. To remind us once again that if we sacrifice here, we'll never outstrip the sacrifice he made for us. And probably to encourage us this one way, that others need to hear the gospel before your dying breath leaves your body. You need to tell someone else. I said last week, I hate to see empty chairs. There are more empty chairs today. We need to tell other people about Jesus. The fact is we have loved ones and neighbors and friends that aren't saved. If you've never told them, you're just ignoring the grace of God. You're saying, thanks a lot for leaving heaven, coming here and saving me. I don't care about anything else. Isn't that right? And by the way, maybe it's because you're not reveling in His goodness each and every day, because if you revel in His goodness, His promises, the joy He gives you despite your circumstances, even the direction He gives you by His Spirit, then you're not as enjoying it and willing to share it with someone else. Man, I want to see everyone saved, don't you? There's nothing I'd rather see than revival in our country again before I pass this earth. Let me ask you today, if you trust yourselves, then you're saying you don't need what he did for us. Do you follow the crowd? And even if you don't join in them, but you're with a crowd that condemns him, I don't want to be there. Do you see your need and just trust him? He reminds us once again you know the grace of our Lord Jesus that though he was rich he became poor for us. What a wonderful Savior we have and how it demands really that we faithfully serve him with every breath. Words can't describe what he sacrificed for us. It's absolutely incredible. Let's pray. LORD, THANK YOU FOR YOUR GOODNESS. BLESS YOUR WORD TO OUR HEARING, FATHER. BLESS EACH ONE OF US AS WE SERVE YOU, LORD. LET US SEE SOME VICTORIES THIS WEEK IN JESUS' NAME, AMEN.