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You can turn with me in your 
Bibles to the book of 2 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians 8. 2 Corinthians 8, I'll read verses 
1 to 15, and then our focus this morning will be on verse 9. So 
beginning in 2 Corinthians 8 at verse 1. Moreover, brethren, 
we make known to you the grace of God bestowed on the churches 
of Macedonia, that in a great trial of affliction, the abundance 
of their joy and their deep poverty abounded in the riches of their 
liberality. For I bear witness that according 
to their ability, yes, and beyond their ability, they were freely 
willing, imploring us with much urgency that we would receive 
the gift and the fellowship of the ministering to the saints. 
And not only as we had hoped, but they first gave themselves 
to the Lord and then to us by the will of God. So we urged 
Titus that as he had begun, so he would also complete this grace 
in you as well. But as you abound in everything, 
in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in all diligence, and in your 
love for us, see that you abound in this grace also. I speak not 
by commandment, but I am testing the sincerity of your love by 
the diligence of others. For you 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 become rich. And in this I give advice. It 
is to your advantage not only to be doing what you began and 
were desiring to do a year ago, but now you also must complete 
the doing of it, that as there was a readiness to desire it, 
so there also may be a completion out of what you have. For if 
there is first a willing mind, it is accepted according to what 
one has, and not according to what he does not have. For I 
do not mean that others should be eased and you burdened, but 
by an equality, that now at this time your abundance may supply 
their lack, that their abundance also may supply your lack, that 
there may be equality. As it is written, he who gathered 
much had nothing left over, and he who gathered little had no 
lack. Amen. Well, let us pray. Our 
gracious God and Holy Father, we thank you for the Lord's Day. 
We thank you for this wonderful privilege to gather before our 
great and glorious God. We acknowledge that you are most 
high, even Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, from everlasting to everlasting. And we rejoice in your constancy. 
We rejoice in the fact that the Scripture refers to you as a 
rock. We know that you are God for 
us, and we rejoice in what you have provided in terms of the 
Son of your love. We thank you that in the fullness 
of the time you sent him forth, born of a woman, born up under 
the law to redeem those under the law. May we muse upon, may 
we reflect upon, may we contemplate this great, wonderful truth that 
Christ, the Son of God, took on our humanity. for us men and 
for our salvation. May this be a great encouragement. 
May you build us up in our most holy faith. And may those who 
are dead in their trespasses and sins be awakened by the power 
of God Almighty. May you call them forth. May 
you give them the graces of faith and repentance to lay hold of 
Jesus Christ, that wonderful savior for sinners. Forgive us 
now and cleanse us from all unrighteousness, guide us and fill us by your 
Holy Spirit. And we pray in the name of the 
Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Well, as Paul has to do 
often in his letters to the Corinthian church, he has to correct problems. He has to deal with particular 
issues. He has to set in order the things 
that are lacking. Remember, in 1 Corinthians, he 
certainly has to do that. There's all kinds of abuse going 
on. 1 Corinthians 6, he has to tell them, flee sexual immorality. 1 Corinthians 8-10, he has to 
tell them and caution them about the issues concerning Christian 
liberty. 1 Corinthians chapter 11, they were basically abusing 
the Lord's table by their conduct or treatment of one another. 
1 Corinthians chapters 12 to 14, he had to deal with the issue 
of spiritual gifts. And then in chapter 15, the issue 
of the resurrection. So then as we move into 2 Corinthians, 
we know that he has a pattern with this. We know that he is 
speaking to specific issues that are affecting the church there 
in Corinth. And real simply, what we have 
here specifically in this section is that the Apostle exhorts the 
Corinthians, the Christians in Corinth, concerning charity to 
others. He wants them to be large-hearted. 
He wants them to be cheerful. He wants them to have an eagerness 
to give out of their resources to alleviate the other churches, 
the others that are affected by perhaps famine in Judea. He 
urges them to persevere basically in what they had already started. 
Notice in verses 10 and 11. He wants them to continue in 
the pattern that they had already adopted. And then to that end, 
he gives them two examples of Christian liberality. The churches 
in Macedonia in verses one to five, and then the example of 
our Lord Jesus in verse nine. And it's intriguing because the 
churches in Macedonia had nothing. They were impoverished, they 
had poverty. And yet from that poverty or 
from that vantage point, they nevertheless redoubled their 
efforts and were able to give. They were able to provide for 
the needy. And in like manner, he speaks 
concerning Christ. And he says what I think captures 
the very heart of the Incarnation. So I don't want to grab verse 
9, take it out of its context, and preach a sermon on the Incarnation, 
but that's kind of what I'm going to do. Basically, the emphasis 
is on charity. Christ serves as the pattern 
for them to be charitable-minded with reference to others. And 
so Paul speaks of the riches of Christ and the poverty of 
Christ. Notice in verse 9, he says, For 
you 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 become rich. Now, as I said, I think that 
captures, in essence, what the mystery of the incarnation is 
all about. So I want to look first at the 
riches of Christ, and then secondly, at the poverty of Christ. But 
notice first, with reference to the riches of Christ, Paul 
assumes something in verse 9. Notice the assumption that Paul 
makes. It's an assumption that I think 
holds for today, and it's not out of the ordinary for a preacher 
or an evangelist or other Christians to assume this. Notice that he 
says, for you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. He 
assumes that the church in Corinth knew a couple of things about 
the Lord Jesus Christ. And I would suggest that he assumes 
that they understand that the Christian faith is a redemptive 
religion. They understand that Christianity is not like Buddhism. Christianity is not like Hinduism. Christianity is not some man-centered 
attempt to try to get at God, but rather it is a redemptive 
religion. The reality is that God is holy, 
He's righteous, He's just, He's perfect, and we are made in His 
image, but we in Adam fell. As a result of that fall, we're 
not holy, we're not righteous, we're not good, but we are now 
open and liable to the just judgment and righteous punishment of God 
for our sins. So you see, we don't need just 
a little help from on high. We don't need just a little better 
education. We need redemption. We need salvation. We need rescue. We need deliverance. And so Paul assumes that his 
hearers understand that. But he also understands or assumes 
that his hearers realize that the Christian faith is a Christ-centered 
religion. Imagine that! It's built right 
into the terminology. Christianity, right? Why do we 
call it Christianity? because it focuses in on that 
central mystery of our religion, the incarnation of the Son of 
God, the fact that the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, the 
fact that who was in the form of God took on the form of a 
servant. The one who was rich yet for 
your sakes has become poor. So the apostle assumes that the 
people of God know these things. It is a valid assumption and 
I think an encouragement to us to wrap our minds around it, 
to try to understand what is going on in the pages of Holy 
Writ when it speaks concerning that wondrous activity of the 
Son of God coming down for us men and for our salvation. So 
then notice that he speaks concerning the riches of Christ. For you 
know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, 
that though he was rich. Now this participle points to 
what he is essentially. He was and always will be rich, 
as he is God. The contrast in the verse is 
very clear. He was rich. He remains rich. He'll always be rich. Yet, for 
your sakes, notice the terminology change. He became poor. He became 
what he was not so that he could confer upon us life eternal by 
what he's always been. And so we're talking about this 
wondrous thing in Christianity called the one person of Christ 
with two natures, both divine and human. He assumed our humanity. I've often thought about this 
for anybody that would wander into a church. I'm not picking 
on anybody if you happen to wander in here this morning that was 
not sort of in tune with the idea of incarnation. Like, why 
do you Christians celebrate the incarnation? Why do you think 
about this? Why do you contemplate this? 
Why does your hymnody reflect a commitment to this reality? 
You've got to think about this reality. So as I said, Christianity 
is not like the other religions of men, where men are trying 
to work their way up to God. Christianity is where God Most 
High, the Father, sends His Son. And the Son takes on our humanity 
to Himself, and He lives for us, and He dies for us, and He's 
raised again for us. I guess the better question is, 
why wouldn't you sing about that? Why wouldn't you praise God for 
that? Why wouldn't you rejoice in that? 
Why wouldn't you celebrate that fact that God Most High sent 
His rich Son into this world to assume our humanity, and thus, 
through His impoverishment, He confers upon us great riches? This is something that should 
make the saint of Jesus Christ jump in the air and click his 
feet together because it's wonderful. It's amazing. So notice again 
what Paul says, for you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, 
that though he was rich, if you turn to John's gospel for just 
a moment, John chapter one, you see a bit of a parallel going 
on. For those of you who come every Sunday morning, you'll 
know this because we cover this material a lot as we work our 
way through the gospel according to John. I just want you to see 
the same sort of convention. The one who was has become. The one who was has become, not 
by sacrificing or by getting rid of what he was, he was that, 
he is that, and he'll forever be that. The glory of the incarnation 
is that he assumes to himself or takes upon himself our humanity. So again, I think that's John's 
movement here in the prologue. Notice John 1.1, "...in the beginning 
was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." 
So John says three things about this Word. This Word is Jesus, 
just for those who maybe not have figured that out. Notice, 
"...in the beginning was the Word." That speaks of Jesus' 
eternality. Eternality is a tough thing for, 
you know, our finite minds to get around, right? We're creatures, 
we're built, we're in space and in time. When we talk about eternity, 
I think we kind of look at it like this way. Here's this ball 
of creation, and there's time, and then above that is this eternity. 
And I'm not sure that's an altogether bad way to sort of conceive of 
it. But you see, it's an attempt 
to conceive of something that we really can't process. From 
everlasting to everlasting, thou art God? Well, when we read this 
first phrase, in the beginning, was the Word, what is John telling 
us? The Word identified in verse 
14 is the Word who always was. And then he says the word was 
with God. That indicates there's a distinction 
between the son and the father. That's crucial that we maintain 
that reality when it comes to interpreting scripture. But then 
it underscores that the word is of the same substance with 
the father and the word was God. See, John tells us that this 
one who is the very substance or has the same substance with 
the father. Now notice what he says in verse 14. The word became 
flesh. So he was always this, but he 
became something in the fullness of time. So the word became flesh 
and he dwelt among us. And we beheld his glory, the 
glory as of the only begotten of the father, full of grace 
and truth. When Jesus in his high priestly 
prayer prays in John 17, five, return to me the glory that I 
had with you before the foundational world. He's not saying there 
was no glory. He's not suggesting that there 
was nothing wondrous about him. We beheld his glory in the incarnation, 
as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. And then notice, he moves from 
this discussion of theology to what we call in theology, the 
economy. And economy just simply means 
not the messed up state of current inflation, not the high gas prices, 
but economy in theological language means God's work to save his 
people from their sins. So he lays out the relation between 
the son and the father in John 1 and then verse 1 and then 1 
verse 14. And then in verse 29 he says, 
behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. How 
does that make sense? Because the Eternal Word, who 
was with the Father, and who is of the same substance with 
the Father, took on to Himself our humanity so that He could 
live for us, and that He could die for us as the Lamb of God, 
and thus take away the sin of the world. So John is answering 
the question, who is it that does what he does according to 
verse 29? He goes behind the scenes to 
show us the glorious God and the reality that the Son of God 
has taken on to himself our humanity. Paul is saying the same thing. 
In 2 Corinthians chapter 8, he refers to that. He says, for 
you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he 
was rich, We know that Christ is rich when 
we consider the scripture. He's rich in his identification. He's the son of God. And he's 
the son not by creation. He's the son not by adoption, 
but he's the son by nature. So naturally as the only begotten 
son of the father, he has the same substance. He's equal to 
him in power and glory. to also see that divine nature 
in the works that he does. What does John tell us that Jesus 
is responsible for in John 1, 1, 3? He created all things. This is also stated by Paul in 
Colossians chapter 1. It's stated in Genesis chapter 
1, verses 1 to 31. If you have ears to hear, it's 
by the word of the mouth of Yahweh that he calls into being the 
creation. The psalmist muses on that in 
Psalm 33 verse 6 and basically says the triune God built the 
earth. Well, that's exactly what Genesis 
chapter 1 says. So Christ is sovereign in the 
matter of creation. Christ is also sovereign in the 
matter of government. In him, Colossians 117, all things 
consist. How do we know he's got the divine 
nature? Well, because John tells us under inspiration of the Holy 
Spirit, Jesus tells us all throughout his ministry, the Old Testament 
prophesies that such is going to be the case, but then look 
at what he does. Look at how he functions. Look 
at the things he's able to do. Now, I know that Moses and the 
prophets and some of those men did wondrous things, but it wasn't 
by virtue of their identification with God Most High. Christ does 
it by virtue of his relation to God Most High. He walks on 
water. He hushes the wind. He hushes 
the storm or the waves. He's able to raise dead people. 
He's able to forgive sins. That's his emphasis there in 
Matthew chapter 9. I want you to know that the Son 
of Man has power on earth to forgive sins. So this Lord Jesus 
Christ was rich. This Lord Jesus Christ remains 
rich. This Lord Jesus Christ can't 
be anything but rich. As John Gill makes the point, 
he says, in the perfections of his divine nature, having the 
fullness of the Godhead in him, all that the Father has, and 
so equal to Him, such as eternity, immutability, infinity, and immensity, 
omnipresence, omniscience, and omnipotence. In other words, 
everything true of God is true of the Son of God in this particular 
clause. For you know the grace of our 
Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, now let's move to 
the poverty of Christ, yet for your sakes He became poor. We'll 
deal with the for your sakes in a bit, but first I want you 
to understand that the poverty of Christ here refers to his 
true humanity. He was rich and he takes to himself 
our humanity. That's the nature of the poverty. 
That's it! How did this One, who was in 
the beginning, the One who was with God, and the One who was 
God, impoverish Himself for us? Well, the Word became flesh and 
dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the 
only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. So he 
was rich and he takes on this poverty. This is the incarnation. This is the glorious truth of 
Christianity. The fact that the one person 
of our Lord Jesus Christ has two natures, divine and human. And the human didn't just appear 
to be human. The human didn't just kind of 
feel a bit human. The human was in fact real. As our confession says, with 
all the essential properties and the common infirmities thereof, 
yet without sin. In other words, everything true 
of humanity was true of Christ, yet without sin. Everything true 
of divinity is true of Christ, without change, without messing 
it up, without any sort of an impact or negative impact at 
all. So we've got the poverty of Christ 
that refers to his true humanity. So the riches and the poverty 
of Christ points to that reality. The one person in two natures. Again, the central mystery of 
Christianity. And by mystery, as our brother 
reminded us this morning, that's not something we can't understand. 
It's not something only for the initiates. It's only for the 
esoteric? It's only for the Gnostics to 
have the certain pipeline into the divine throne room? No, it's 
a mystery in the sense that we can grasp it, we can understand 
it, it makes sense theologically and philosophically, but to fully 
explore the depths of that? The fact that he was rich and 
for your sakes he became poor, I think it's better to understand 
mystery in the language of that final stanza in Newton's Amazing 
Grace. When we've been there 10,000 
years bright shining as the sun, we've no less days to sing God's 
praise than when we first begun. In other words, our minds are 
not going to get to this point, well, we got it all figured out, 
I got the nuts and bolts down, I can answer all the hows. Brethren, 
there is a chasm that exists between the infinite God and 
finite man. Again, not that we don't have 
true knowledge, not that we have to, you know, walk around, you 
know, kind of banging on our lips and in our minds, you know, 
monkeys banging cymbals. I'm not suggesting that. We learn 
truth from God's 31,000s of propositional revelation, but I'm suggesting 
that there is the concept or the doctrine of divine incomprehensibility. We cannot fully explore the depths 
of the divine. And brethren, that's a good place 
to be. It's humbling. It promotes a righteous understanding 
of who we are before a great and awesome God. If we could 
figure Him out, if we could explain Him, if we could domesticate 
Him and put Him in a box and set Him on a shelf, He wouldn't 
amaze us anymore. He wouldn't fascinate us anymore. 
We wouldn't sing praise to Him. We would have it all figured 
out. We don't throw him on the little slide that you put in 
the microscope and just sort of examine him to satisfy our 
own carnal desires. No, we stand in awe and worship. 
We glorify, we praise, we honor. The one that was rich, for your 
sakes, became poor. But there's something that you 
need to understand. He didn't become poor by getting 
rid of the riches. He didn't become poor by doing 
something different in terms of his divinity. As Augustine, 
the famous father in the life of the church says, the divinity 
is not changed into the creature, so as to cease to be divinity, 
nor the creature into divinity, so as to cease to be creature. 
It's the beauty of the hypostatic union, two natures, one person. 
They're not mingled, they're not combined, they don't make 
one super person, but what you have are the two natures in union 
in the one person. In theology, we call that the 
hypostatic union. That's not a big word. A hypostasis 
simply means person. There is a union of natures in 
the one person. That's what Paul's getting at. 
The one that was rich became poor. But he became poor not 
by getting rid of his riches. He became poor not by adding 
something to him that wasn't there to begin with. The change 
or the newness of the incarnation doesn't come at the level of 
God. It's not divinity that's affected. It's not divinity that's 
changed. It's in the person. It's in the 
flesh of the Son of God. That's where the innovation, 
that's where the change takes place. It's not that the divine 
can be changed. If you have a God that can be 
changed, may I suggest you find a new God? Remember those heathen 
back in the prophet Isaiah's day, when those heathen are carrying 
their gods on their carts, and they hit a bump in the road and 
the god falls off of the cart? What do the heathen go do? They 
pick up the god and put him back on the cart. Remember Dagon, 
that half-man, half-fish idol of Canaanite religion? When they 
put the Ark of the Covenant, the Philistines capture the Ark 
of the Covenant, and as an obvious image and declaration, they put 
the Ark of the Covenant into the temple with Dagon. That wasn't 
just the most handy place to store things. That wasn't just 
a big closet where, you know, put your other boots in Dagon's 
temple. There was a message there. Dagon 
won. Dagon bested Yahweh. Dagon beat Yahweh. You see, that's what they were 
saying. They capture the Ark of the Lord, 
which was by God's design, by the way. He's teaching Israel 
a lesson. He's not trying to exalt the Philistines or make 
them actually believe that Dagon is real. But as warring factions 
would do, they want to prize their God. They want to display 
their God. They want to show the supremacy 
of their God. So they bring the Ark of the Covenant, put it into 
Dagon's temple. What happens when they go the next morning 
to sing praises to Dagon? Well, Dagon's fallen over. So what do they do? They dutifully 
put him back upright. And then the next day, what happens? 
Well, Dagon had fallen over, but this time he broke some things 
off. So did they have super glue, 
gorilla glue? I'm not sure what they did to 
fasten these appendages back onto Dagon. What's the point, 
brethren? If your God is like us, you are 
in the wrong religion. There was no change that occurred 
at the level of divinity. There's no addition. And again, 
addition isn't the worst possible language that one can use, but 
you can add to divinity. You can't increase divinity. You can't make divinity more 
divine. So when we talk about the assumption 
of a human nature, we use that language with theological emphasis. Some say, well, he added humanity. And again, it's not the worst 
thing in the world. But the better language is the 
language of Paul in Philippians 2.7, taking on the form of a 
bondservant, taking on. See, all addition is assumption 
in theology, but not all assumption is addition in theology. We need 
to make sure we keep that clear. So it's not that the divinity 
was added onto by the flesh of the Savior, as again, to make 
some super divinity now. But the more problematic approach, 
based on Philippians 2.6, is that he emptied himself of his 
divinity. He got rid of some of his divinity 
so that he could really be like us and save us. Though he was 
rich, yet for your sakes, he became poor. But he didn't do 
that by getting rid of the riches that we desperately need. He 
does it by an assumption of our humanity. When Paul says, you, 
or have this mind in you, which was in Christ Jesus our Lord, 
who being in the form of God, did not consider it to be robbery 
or to be seized upon, to be equal with God. It says in the New 
King James, he made himself of no reputation, no account in 
the Old King James. The Greek word there is emptying. He emptied himself. So guess 
what people have done? They've emptied Jesus of His 
divinity to make Him a fit Savior for us in our humanity. You see, 
when you empty Jesus of His divinity, He's no longer a fit Savior for 
us in our humanity. The glory of the Incarnation 
is that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, 
that you through His poverty might become rich. He doesn't 
divest himself, that's a big word that means got rid of. He doesn't empty himself in terms 
of divinity. He has what he's always had when 
he's assumed our humanity. So that as I said earlier, he's 
one person in two natures, both divine and human. Turn to Philippians 
chapter two for just a moment, just to sort of see how this 
particular argument goes. And again, in the context, Paul 
is holding forth Jesus in an exemplary fashion. In other words, 
be like Jesus here. Just like he's doing in 2 Corinthians 
8. Never forget, the main emphasis in 2 Corinthians 8 is to let 
go of that wallet, brothers, sisters. Let those pennies wipe 
their eyes when they see the sun of the day, and you start 
coughing up to the churches in need. That's Paul's point in 
2 Corinthians 8. You know the grace of our Lord 
Jesus Christ. As though He was rich, yet for 
your sakes He became poor, that you through His poverty might 
become rich. Again, grander emphasis, I want you to give to the churches 
in Judea that are suffering famine. The same sort of attitude here. 
Notice in chapter 2, verses 1 to 5. Therefore, if there is any consolation 
in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the 
Spirit, if any affliction or affection and mercy, fulfill 
my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of 
one accord, of one mind. Let nothing be done through selfish 
ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others 
better than himself. Let each of you look out not 
only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others. 
Isn't it incredible and very concrete, real-life, real-world 
applications the Apostle invokes Christology at its highest levels 
to bring to bear upon the people of God their necessary duty in 
terms of charity and in terms of humility? Let this mind be 
in you. Notice in verse five, which was 
also in Christ Jesus. The next time you feel full of 
yourself, the next time you think you're it, the next time you 
think that everybody is below you, let this mind be in you. The one who was in the form of 
God could certainly act that way, couldn't he? Couldn't he? Absolutely, positively, but he 
doesn't act that way. Let this mind be in you, which 
was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God, which 
he can't not be in the form of God. He can't cease being in 
the form of God. In the beginning was the word, 
the word was with God, and the word was God. It's another glorious 
thing about our religion. Our God can't stop being God. 
Our God can't deny himself. Our God doesn't go on holidays. 
Our God doesn't sleep. Our God doesn't take breaks. 
Remember, this is how Elijah challenged the heathen of his 
day. Where's your God? Maybe he's gone on a visit. Maybe 
he's gone on a holiday. Maybe he's in the latrine relieving 
himself. I betcha Elijah, I can't say 
this under inspiration, but he probably had a smile on when 
he was mocking those heathen. It was a knee slapper, brethren. 
It was funny. Why? Because our God doesn't 
need to go to the latrine. Our God doesn't go on holiday. 
Our God doesn't slumber. Doesn't Isaiah invoke that principle 
in Isaiah 40 when he wants you to find confidence and rest in 
your God? He's neither weary nor slumbers. Our God is everything specifically 
that we need, and why would we want to divest Him of those riches 
in order to get something? Look back at verse 5. Let this 
mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who being in 
the form of God did not consider robbery to be equal with God. 
I don't want to get into trying to explain that, but just see 
what He is. He's equal with God. Forma of God equal with God. Notice in verse 7, but made himself 
of no reputation, no account. Again, the Greek word kenosis 
is to empty oneself. This is a good rendering. This 
is a good helpful interpretive call. But made himself of no 
reputation. How did he make himself of no 
reputation? How did he make himself of no account? How did he empty 
himself? Well, Paul tells us that by virtue 
of two statements. Notice the poverty or the making 
himself of no reputation is in the form of taking the form of 
a bondservant and coming in the likeness of man. He assumes our 
humanity, verse 7. And he comes in the likeness 
of men. Now likeness isn't this kind of appeared or almost was 
a man. He's using language to say that 
he came with all of our essential properties and common infirmities 
thereof and yet without sin. So going back to our particular 
text, this one, form of God, form of a servant. That speaks 
to the two natures, the divine and the human. When we come to 
2 Corinthians 8 and verse 9, it speaks of two natures, divine 
and human. Though he was rich, yet for your 
sakes he became poor, that you through his poverty might become 
rich. Again, brethren, it cannot be 
the case that Jesus is able or would take his divinity and throw 
it on the back burner. Again, this is a very common 
way to approach Christology, and it's a very commonly incorrect 
way to approach Christology. The beauty of the Savior is that 
He doesn't get rid of the riches that you and I need. Imagine 
if I called you, or imagine better, you called me and you said, I 
ran out of gas. I'm over on Highway 1, just off 
on Whatcom. OK, I show up, and I say, you 
know, I had this great big can of gas in my garage, but I didn't 
bring it. Why not? Because I want to identify 
with you in your gaslessness. This is what we're doing when 
we're divesting the riches of Christ with reference to his 
impoverishment. You see, that's what we may be 
doing. That's what heretics in the church 
may have done, but that's not what the Bible does. The Bible 
presents to us the one person in two natures. We quite need 
that gas, don't we? We quite need those riches, don't 
we? We quite need His power, don't 
we? We want Him to come and save 
us from our sin. You know the grace of our Lord 
Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes, 
He became poor. Again, not by getting rid of 
His riches, but by taking to himself our impoverished state." 
Aquinas says, he says, being and not having been, lest it 
seem that Christ lost his spiritual riches, would he assume poverty? 
For he assumed this poverty in such a way that he did not lose 
those inestimable riches. See, again, the glory of the 
incarnation is that the Word became flesh, and we beheld His 
glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full 
of grace and truth, the exact sorts of riches that you and 
I need to rescue us, to vindicate us, to redeem us from the bond 
slavery of sin and depravity. So just get this in your head 
when you're celebrating the incarnation. Don't celebrate it in the sense 
that he stopped being what he was in order to be just like 
me. He's just like us, yet without 
sin, but without ever having stopped being what he is. The 
Word became flesh. He dwelt among us, and we beheld 
His glory. So going back to our text in 
2 Corinthians 8-9, For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, 
that although He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor. 
We've seen the sort of theological exposition of that in Philippians 
chapter 2, the form of God and the form of a bondservant, divinity, 
humanity in the one person. We've seen it in John's prologue, 
the word God, verse 1, became flesh, man, verse 14. Again, 
they're not mixed and mingled. We don't make a super-Jesus, 
a super-God, or a less-than-God. He takes on our humanity. But what does that look like 
in terms of His own ministry? Well, a quick, brief trip through 
Scripture will educate us on that. The theologians of yesteryear 
used to refer to this as the state of humiliation. His state 
of humiliation. Now, we hear that and say, oh, 
I was humiliated when my son or baby, you know, let one fly 
in church. Oh, we were humiliated. That's 
not what theologians are referring to. It refers to the lowliness 
of Christ in our humanity. His impoverishment when he assumes 
our humanity. Notice, according to scripture, 
the Lord took upon him man's nature with all the essential 
properties and the common infirmities thereof and yet without sin. 
He was born, like we are born, of not royalty, not in a palace, 
not attended by servants, but in lowliness, right? As well, 
his human life, or his life rather, according to his humanity, was 
prophesied by Isaiah in chapter 53 at verse 3. It says concerning 
Jesus, he is despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and 
acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our face 
from him. He was despised and we did not esteem him. I think 
I read it in Lloyd-Jones once, where he argued that Jesus never 
smiled. It's a bit much for me. Maybe I'm giving it a bit more 
crass than the spin he put on it. But the idea was, in light 
of Isaiah 53, verse 3, Jesus didn't walk around with a big 
smile on his face, the way Jesus Christ's superstar, the kind 
of effeminate character, having tea all over the Israeli countryside. No, no. He was a man of sorrows, 
and he was acquainted with grief. But I know that when Jesus, I'm 
not going to say needed, but I'm going to say needed, a child 
for an illustration, they had no problem coming to him. Children are pretty good judges 
of character. Somebody that's always dour and sour and scolding 
and mad. Kids don't typically run to that 
person. So I wouldn't argue that he never 
smiled. In fact, the mark of true humanity 
is smile. But I get his point. He is despised 
and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. 
And we hid as it were our face from him. He was despised and 
we did not esteem him." Again, Paul says, you know the grace 
of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your 
sakes, he became poor. Again, what does that poverty 
look like? Remember that man that wanted to follow Jesus, 
according to Matthew chapter eight, Jesus says, foxes have 
holes and birds of the air have nests, but the son of man has 
nowhere to lay his head. State of humiliation. state of 
lowliness, state of impoverishment, to use the language of 2 Corinthians 
8-9. Again, not ever ceasing to be 
what he is, as divine, but assuming to himself our humanity. As well, 
when we consider it, the poverty is most vividly seen in the sufferings 
and death of our Lord Jesus. Right? Divinity can't suffer. Divinity can't die. Jesus does 
that according to his humanity. The one person operating according 
to his humanity in those instances. We see it come to culmination 
in his suffering and death. It came up in the last hour, 
Jesus in Gethsemane. My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, 
even unto death, he says to Peter, James, and John as they enter 
into Gethsemane. Well, why is he saying that? 
Why is he verbalizing that? Because he knows what lied behind 
Gethsemane upon the cross. And that not necessarily connected 
to his divinity. He read the prophet Isaiah. He 
understood that he was a man of sorrows and acquainted with 
grief. He understood from Daniel 9 that he must be cut off. He 
understood from the typology in Genesis chapter 22 that a 
ram had to die as a substitute in order to provide atonement. 
Jesus knew all this according to his humanity. He knows that 
he's the target, and he knows that this is where he's going. 
Of course, true humanity would say, my soul is exceedingly sorrowful, 
even unto death. And then, of course, that death 
on the cross. You see that impoverishment being 
a vehicle by which He conveys to us the riches. We don't want 
Him devoid of riches. We don't want Him empty of riches. 
We want all the riches with the necessary impoverishment to enable 
us to receive all that He is in God. It is a beautiful, wonderful 
thing. Remember, Peter could not conceive 
of the Messiah suffering and dying. Remember in Matthew 16, 
Jesus makes his announcement, I must go to Jerusalem, I must 
be tried, I must be arrested, I must be crucified. What does 
Peter say? That's a good idea, Lord, that's the way it's gonna 
fulfill all the type of... He says, no, I don't want you 
to do that. I don't want you to go. So Jesus 
says, get behind me, Satan. You're not thinking God's thoughts, 
you're thinking man's thoughts. What about post-resurrection 
and ascension on high? What about Jews today? Do they 
look at the cross and say, what a wonderful, beautiful depiction 
of God's love for his world? No, they see on that cross a 
revolutionary. They see on that cross a heretic. 
They see on that cross one that may have had love for people, 
but the divine son take on our humanity, die in our place. They 
don't see that. 1 Corinthians chapter 1. What 
does Paul say? We preach Christ and Him crucified. 
To the Jews what? To the Jews what? A stumbling 
block, a scandal, and to the Greeks, foolishness. But to those 
who are being saved, Christ, the wisdom and power of God. 
See, this has always been a bit of a hurdle for people to get 
their minds wrapped around when it comes to biblical truth, that 
God the Son takes on our humanity without ever stopping to be God 
the Son in order that he can live for us and die for us and 
be raised again for us. That is amazing. That is wondrous, 
and it is glorious, and it should evoke from our hearts great praise 
and worship and adoration. And then finally, notice the 
redemptive benefit involved. Again, he's not just this one 
person in two natures. He's this for us. So when you think about the Nicene 
Creed, for instance, you've heard a lot of that, you know, in our 
studies in John's gospel, probably gonna hear a lot more of that 
in our studies in John's gospel. It talks about who the Father 
is, it talks about who the Son is, and it talks about who the 
Spirit is. And you can't, you know, sort of accuse them of, 
well, that's just abstract, sort of out there theology. Who? For us men and for our salvation. It's not just an abstract theology 
out there for us to sort of gaze upon and wonder, it is that, 
but it's a for us men and for our salvation theology that is 
designed, if we're the people of God, to elicit praise, worship, 
and adoration. If you're not a believer, it's 
designed to communicate to you the great lengths that God has 
gone to to save sinners. In other words, sin is so bad 
and God is so holy, the only way available, I don't like that 
word necessarily, but it works for the moment, for God to breach 
that chasm is in the sending of the Son of His love, who takes 
on our humanity, who lives for us and dies for us and is raised 
again for us. See, that doesn't communicate, 
well, you know, God really isn't about saving sinners. That's 
precisely what it communicates, that God is about saving sinners. God so loved the world that he 
gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should 
not perish but have everlasting life. The whole Bible is designed 
to call you sinner to Jesus Christ, to call you sinner to faith in 
Him, to call you sinner to look from yourself to the one in whom 
there is forgiveness, to the one in whom there is redemption, 
to the one in whom there is salvation. So it's not that, well, you know, 
this handful of people are going to end up in heaven. The Bible 
says a great multitude that no man can number from every tribe 
and tongue and people and nation. God's about saving. In fact, 
the word Jesus, the name Jesus, guess what it means? Yahweh saves! Imagine that. The very name of 
Jesus carries for us the mission of Jesus. This idea that there's 
no hope for me. I'm too far gone. I'm just outside 
the pale of redemption. I could never be saved. I could never come to Jesus. 
I've heard these extra hyper preachers tell me that there's 
no way I could come. The whole Bible tells you come. 
The whole Bible in some sense is encapsulated in Jesus' words 
in Matthew 11 and verse 25. Come to me, all you who are weary 
and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. What part of that don't 
you get? What part of that is hard? Come 
to me. You understand the nature of 
that command when you give it to your child. Child's on the 
other side of the room, you want him to bring a cookie to you, 
and you say, come to me. Well, Daddy, I don't know what 
that means. I've never... You do know what 
that word means. For whatever reason, there's 
a disconnect. Well, I don't want you to be disconnected, sinners. 
And I'm not saying sinners like I'm not. I'm a sinner, redeemed, 
saved by grace. Maybe a whole lot worse than 
any sinners out there unredeemed and saved by grace. I'm addressing 
unbelievers. Everything in the Bible converges 
at this reality. You know the grace of our Lord 
Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes 
he became poor. Why? That we through that poverty 
might become rich. There's riches held out by God. It is the empty hand of faith 
that receives it. It's not your works, it's not 
your doing, it's not even the strength of your faith. If you 
have faith the size of a mustard seed, Jesus says, there is blessing 
there. It is an instrument to receive 
the promised blessings of God Most High. What we see in this 
passage is called the riches of Christ. Ephesians 1 verse 
3, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who 
has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places 
in Christ. It's a beautiful statement, isn't 
it? These are the riches conferred upon us by God's grace received 
through faith alone. Justification by God's grace 
through faith. We're justified freely by His 
grace. Romans 3 23. The gift of sanctification. See, brethren, sanctification 
isn't first and foremost you trying harder, you being better. 
If the work of Christ is for us, the work of the Spirit is 
in us, conforming us ever unto the image of our beloved Savior. 
It's a work of God. He is at work in you both to 
will and to do according to His good pleasure. And of course, 
glorification. That's what awaits us in the 
future. These are the riches that are conferred by Christ. 
These are the riches that are secured by Christ. These are 
the riches that come as a result of His having become impoverished 
for us, so that we can become rich through Him. So brethren, 
listen to the text, let it inform your idea of the incarnation, 
and let it elicit praise and worship and glory and honor given 
unto our great God. Because in the fullness of the 
time, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the 
law, to do what? To make sure nobody would ever 
be redeemed? To make sure that there's only five people that 
are going to heaven? To redeem those who are under the law. 
See, you cannot prove hyper-Calvinism from an open Bible. You cannot 
prove it from an open Bible. There is just too much contrary 
evidence in terms of the graciousness, the large-heartedness, the benevolence, 
and the glory of God in the salvation of sinners. Do you understand 
that that's what the scope of Scripture is? The Scripture speaks 
to science. I'm not going to tell you otherwise, 
but is it a science book? The Scripture speaks concerning 
history. I'm not going to tell you otherwise, but is it a history 
book? Scripture speaks to biology. Is it a biology book? It's a 
book of redemption. It's about God in Christ reconciling 
the world to himself. The scope of the whole is to 
give glory in the salvation of sinners by the son of God, who 
though he was rich, yet for your sakes became poor, that you through 
his poverty might become rich. Now the $64,000 question, how 
does he connect this to baptism? I don't want to neglect Rebecca, 
who's going to enter the waters of baptism momentarily. I would 
suggest first, with reference to a specific application of 
baptism, I'll read presently in the water, chapter 29, in 
our confession of faith from paragraph one. But then the general 
application, if we ask the question, why is Rebecca going into the 
water today? You might be tempted to say, 
because Rebecca is a fine young lady. Rebecca is very nice. Rebecca can play a mean piano. 
That might be the temptation, but that's not the answer. Rebecca 
is going into the waters of baptism today because the one who was 
rich became poor for her sake, that she through his poverty 
might become rich. It's about God's grace, it's 
about God's glory, it's about God's honor. This tank does not 
exist to celebrate the Rebecca's of this world. She's got two 
parents that do that probably profusely on their own. This 
tank is designed to promote the glory of God Most High. The tank is there to preach to 
us in an external form what God the Lord does internally. He 
changed her heart. He gave her the graces of faith 
and repentance. He conferred upon her the riches 
acquired by our Lord or through our Lord's impoverishment. It 
is because of God's kindness, love, mercy, and grace that this 
young woman today is baptized in the name of the Father and 
of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. This we'll preach 2 Corinthians 
8, verse 9. You 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 become rich. She has been made a rich woman 
by God's grace. She has been made a rich woman 
by the power of the Spirit, applying the finished work of our Lord 
Jesus to her. And that will be conveyed when 
she identifies publicly with our triune God in baptism. Well, let us pray. Our Father in heaven, we thank 
you for your word, we thank you for its clarity here in 2 Corinthians 
chapter 8 and Philippians 2 and John 1. Not necessarily simple, 
not necessarily easy for us to get our minds wrapped around, 
but when we behold the infinite God of glory and majesty and 
power and honor, that word who became flesh for us men and for 
our salvation, certainly there is a learning curve involved. 
but what we may not know fully or wholly, may we receive what 
the written word tells us concerning this reality, and may we stand 
in awe and worship and praise and glorify you, our great and 
sovereign God. We thank you for this wonderful 
doctrine of the incarnation of our Lord, We thank you for its 
redemptive benefit on our behalf, and we pray now that you would 
be glorified and honored as we see the gospel in Christian baptism. And we ask this through Jesus 
Christ our Lord. Amen.