There was a famine that hit the empire in the first century, and Judea was hit very, very hard. And you'll see Paul's allusions to this situation in the book of Romans, as well in the book of Galatians, and of course here in 2 Corinthians chapter 8. And essentially, he exhorts the Corinthians concerning charity toward others. They are to give of their resources, their temporal goods, to try and alleviate the suffering of other brothers and sisters.
And he makes an appeal first to the churches in Macedonia, sets them forth as an example, primarily the church in Philippi is the church that he appeals to here. They are a great example of giving. to those in need, and then he appeals to the example of Christ. Now, Christ in the first place is not an example. The Lord Jesus Christ is a sacrifice, he is a substitute, he lived, he died, he rose again, so that we might have everlasting life.
But there are instances in several places in the New Testament where Christ is exemplary, and it's instructive for us here that Paul appeals specifically to who Christ is in his essential deity, and in the humanity that he took on in the incarnation. So I just want to read beginning in chapter 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. But thanks be to God who puts the same earnest care for you in the heart of Titus, for he not only accepted the exhortation, but being more diligent, he went to you of his own accord. And we have sent with him the brother whose praise is in the gospel throughout all the churches.
And not only that, but who is also chosen by the church is to travel with us with this gift, which is administered by us to the glory of the Lord Himself and to show your ready mind, avoiding this, that anyone should blame us in this lavish gift, which is administered by us, providing honorable 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 often proved diligent in many things, but now much more diligent because of the great confidence which we have in you. If anyone inquires about Titus, he is my partner and fellow worker concerning you. Or if our brethren are inquired about, they are messengers of the churches, the glory of Christ.
Therefore, show to them and before the churches the proof of your love and of our boasting on your behalf. Amen. Let us pray. Father in heaven, we thank you for the Word of God and we thank you for this place that you have given us to come out of the world to gather with the saints of Christ and to worship Father, Son, and Spirit.
We pray that tonight you would be glorified and exalted. that we would honor and praise you, that we would acknowledge your graciousness and your mercy to us. God, as the Apostle says, you have blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ. And as the psalmist reminds us, it's not only the spiritual blessings, but temporally you load us daily with benefits. We thank you that we have liberty to worship you.
We thank you for food and shelter and clothing and all of the things that you have given out of your abundance to us. And we would ask that you would just fill us now with the Holy Spirit. We would ask that you would cleanse us in the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ and that you would help us to appreciate the Apostle's argument in this passage as he sets before us the glory and the majesty and the excellency of the Lord Jesus Christ. And it's in his name that we pray.
Amen.
Introduction
Well, as I said, he appeals first to the Macedonians, primarily the church in Philippi, and it is intriguing. Notice in verse 2, he says that in a great trial of affliction, the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded in the riches of their liberality. So the Philippians, the Macedonians gave out of their poverty. They gave when they did not even have it to give.
That is genuinely sacrificial giving. And then as I said, he appeals to Christ. And verse 9 sets before us both the riches of Christ and the poverty of Christ. He says, for you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, He Yet for your sakes He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich." A fitting text for a remembrance of our Lord's incarnation.
Well, we'll just simply look at those two things. First, the riches of Christ, and secondly, the poverty of Christ. But notice in the first place, there's an assumption made by the Apostle Paul. He says, for you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Say whatever we may about the church in Corinth, and certainly there's a lot to be critical of, especially as we read 1 Corinthians. There's a whole lot of sin that the apostle is dealing with in that space, but this specifically is a good sign, it's a good indicator. It appeals to something they know. He appeals to the reality that Christians know Christian theology.
That is absolutely crucial. We are not saved because we're good. We are not saved because we are better than others. We are not saved because we obey a code of conduct.
We are saved by grace through faith. And that faith, as I mentioned this morning, isn't a blind leap, but rather that faith lays hold to objective, propositional revelation. And so the apostle is able to say to the Corinthians, you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. That is commendable.
The Christian church must know Christian theology. The Christian church can't make heads or tails out of such exhortations as these unless they appreciate what we will discover in this particular passage, the incarnation. of our Lord Jesus, what has been called the hypostatic union. That's just a big word to say that the human and the divine natures of Christ unite in the one person of Jesus Christ. But you can't appeal to that knowledge if someone doesn't have it.
There is an assumption by Paul that I hope would be a fitting thing for all of the churches of Christ. Hodge says, the fact referred to including the highest mystery of the gospel, specifically the incarnation of the Son of God or the manifestation of God in the flesh and the love therein manifested, is assumed to be known and acknowledged by all who call themselves Christians. I think in some sense the bar has been radically lowered. Christianity is no longer seen as a doctrinal situation or doctrinal religion.
It's just a feeling. It's an experience. It's a mystical thing. What we need to recover is what the apostolic church set forth.
We believe the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. That belief is founded upon, grounded in, targeted upon certain truths revealed to us in that gospel. The importance of private Bible study is here in joint. The importance of prayer.
Whenever you read your Bible, whenever you look to the Word of God, you ought to be a prayerful sort. As well, the importance of the public means of grace. Remember that when Paul wrote 2 Corinthians, they didn't have this. They didn't have a beautiful Cambridge Bible.
They didn't have the sorts of Bibles that we have put together. The Corinthians heard Christian doctrine when they came to church on the Lord's Day Sabbath. This is why Paul tells Timothy to give attention to the reading of Scripture. Yes, for Timothy's personal growth.
Yes, for Timothy's ministerial progress. But in that context, in 1 Timothy 4, the reading is most likely public reading of Scripture, because that's where the people of God came into contact with the Word of God. Certainly, they would memorize the Scripture. Certainly, they could meditate upon it during the week.
Certainly they would contemplate that word and roll it around in their minds and in their hearts, but they probably didn't have the sorts of Bibles, well they didn't have the Bibles and the resources that we have. So it was absolutely crucial that persons attended church so that they could in fact learn the truth as it is in Jesus. As well, this assumption indicates that we ought to thank God for the Apostle Paul. We ought to thank God for the Apostle John.
We ought to thank God for all of the apostles that were committed to preaching truth, that were committed to teaching doctrine. Remember that blessed snapshot that we find in Acts chapter 2. On the day of Pentecost, when the people of God are saved, they continued steadfastly in what? not in religious experience, not in mystical and ecstatic experience, but they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine. We also ought to be thankful for the history of the church that has yielded to us wonderful creeds and confessions that at this time of the year are a wonderful thing to revisit.
Those ones that dealt with the incarnation. Those ones that dealt with the hypostatic union. Those ones that deal with Christian doctrine and truth. Brethren, Christianity is a doctrinal religion and we need to appreciate that.
As well, this assumption indicates that when men and women understand the truth, when we appropriate it in the mind and in the heart, then the practice should follow suit. In other words, we can't be genuinely practical people unless we are radically doctrinal people. Orthodoxy leads to orthopraxy. Right knowledge leads to right practice.
The Riches of Christ
Now note what the apostle goes on to say, for you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, this is an indicator of the riches of our Lord Jesus Christ. And it is intriguing, he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor. The participle, the type of the verb that is used here, points to what he is essentially. He was and always will be rich.
He was rich, yet he became poor. There is a parallel sort of a thing in John's gospel. And you can turn there, just to highlight the essential deity of our Lord Jesus Christ. He was rich, and yet in time and in history, he became poor.
Notice in John 1, in verse 1, in the beginning, was the Word. That same idea. He was rich. He was the Word.
And the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He didn't become the Word. He was the Word. He has everlastingly been the Word.
He is the eternal Word of the living God. He, in the beginning, was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. Now drop down to verse 14. It says, and the Word, the same Word of John 1-1, the One who was God, the Word became flesh.
So He was rich, He became poor. He was the Word, He 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. Paul is doing the exact same thing in 2 Corinthians 8, verse 9.
He's appealing to Christ in His essential deity. He's appealing to Christ in terms of the incarnation as an example for the Corinthians to give money to the churches in Judea. The explanation specifically, what is highlighted in the riches of Christ in this particular situation, does not point to what is His by virtue of His exaltation after His resurrection. Remember this morning we talked about the ascension.
We said that Christ was incarnate and then Christ ascended on high. What happened when he ascended on high? He led captivity captive, he gave gifts to men. We see that God was pleased, the Father was pleased to raise Christ from the dead and to set him at his right hand.
The Father conveyed an exalted status upon Christ as mediator. That's not what's in view here. It is the essential deity of our Lord Jesus. You know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ that though He was rich, though He had everything, though He possessed all, though He still in His incarnation possesses all, nevertheless became poor for us. so that we through his poverty might become rich.
This is an evidence of the graciousness of our Lord Jesus. So if we follow Paul's argument, the Macedonians, out of their poverty, gave liberally. Christ, out of his riches, gave liberally. So Paul's argument essentially to the Corinthians on a practical level is, You need to give.
You need to cough up. You need to send money to Judea. You need to help the brethren. You need to give like what you see in Jesus and what you see in those Macedonians.
But as we consider Christ, He was rich. His divine nature is on display in this particular instance. As well, with reference to His divine nature, He's got divine authority. Christ is the Creator.
When we say that He was rich, yes, it is an appeal to His essential deity. It is an appeal to the reality that He is divinity, and as God, He is Creator. that the creator of heaven and earth would humble himself and become obedient to the point of death. Even the death of the cross ought to serve as a great example to the Corinthians as to why they ought to give liberally to the churches in Judea. Christ is creator.
Christ is sovereign in providence. Everything consists in him, Colossians 117. There's nothing that exists that his hand hasn't made. There's nothing that exists that he doesn't sustain and support.
And yet he became poor for us. So he was rich, Paul says. Again, he doesn't stop being rich. He doesn't divest himself of his deity.
He doesn't lay it aside, more like what we sang this morning. Veiled in flesh, the Godhead see. Hail the incarnate deity, or as John Gill says, not that by becoming man he ceased to be God or lost his divine perfections, though these were much hid and covered from the view of man. In other words, if you were walking around and in the first century, and you saw the Lord Jesus Christ, you wouldn't see that radiance and that beauty and that majesty.
There were glimpses on the Mount of Transfiguration, for instance, but for the most part he was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. He was rich, Paul tells us. He never stopped being rich.
The Poverty of Christ
Then Paul continues, notice secondly with reference to his poverty. You know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor. Yet for your sakes he became poor. I mentioned earlier what's called the hypostatic union.
Again, that's something that you should just know, not intuitively, but because we talk about it a lot here. And some might go, wow, there's that word again. I've never taken the time to Google it or listen to Pastor Kim or Pastor Butler or whatever. It just refers, as I said, to the two natures, the divine and the human in the one person of our Lord Jesus Christ.
It's a blessed reality. It is a blessed truth. that whether you saw it or not, in that first century context, when you looked upon that man of sorrows who was acquainted with grief, he was nevertheless very God of very God. Light from light, true God from true God. He is two natures in one person.
That's called the hypostatic union. As I said, it's good when we refer to the theology of the incarnation to rehearse our creeds and our confessions. And London Baptist Confession, Chapter 8, Paragraph 2, I think is a beautiful and a wonderful display of Christology. It says the Son of God, the second person in the Holy Trinity, being very and eternal God, See, no other religion offers a Savior like our Savior.
Our Savior is eternal God. It says, The brightness of the Father's glory, of one substance, and equal with Him who made the world, who upholds and governs all things He has made, did, when the fullness of time was come, take upon Him man's nature, with all the essential properties and common infirmities thereof, yet without sin. That means He was a real man. See, there were those who said, he wasn't a real man.
He just appeared to be a real man. No, he was a real man. He was a real man who wept. He was a real man who ate.
He was a real man who suffered. He was a real man who bled. The true humanity of our Lord Jesus Christ has always and ever been upheld by the church. It goes on to say, being conceived by the Holy Spirit in the womb of the Virgin Mary, the Holy Spirit coming down upon her, and the power of the Most High overshadowing her.
And so was made of a woman of the tribe of Judah, of the seed of Abraham and David according to the Scriptures. That encapsulates what Brother Steve read at the outset of worship. What's Psalm 89? It's the covenant psalm.
It in many ways is an exposition or at least a reflection upon 2 Samuel chapter 7, where God promises to David there will be an an heir, a royal heir of the seat of David, one will rise up who will occupy David's throne and his kingdom will have no end. You see, it's not some fable, it's not some devised myth, but rather it is the objective reality of God incarnate coming into the world, fulfilling what the prophets spoke. It goes on to say and describe this hypostatic union. I'm going to give everyone a quiz tonight when they leave.
I might stand right at the door and say, what's the hypostatic union? So pay attention, be alert. This reflects Chalcedon. Our London Baptist confession here reflects the Council of Chalcedon when it says, so that two whole, perfect, and distinct natures were inseparably joined together in one person.
Remember that? Two natures, one person. It's not a 60-40. It's not an 80-20.
It's not a little bit of God, a little bit of man. It's not God in a flesh suit. It's two distinct natures in one glorious person. Without conversion, composition, or confusion, which person is very God and very man, yet one Christ, the only mediator between God and man?
Outside of scripture, I don't think you can do much better in terms of a definition or a description of the person of our Lord Jesus Christ. He was rich, yet for your sakes, he became poor. He became poor in the incarnation. John Murray makes this observation.
When Jesus became man, he did not cease to be rich in his divine being, relations, and possessions. He didn't stop being rich. He didn't put it on a shelf in Mary and Joseph's pantry and say, I'll come back for the deity when I've done what I'm supposed to do. Murray again, when he became man, he did not cease to be rich in his divine being, relations, and possessions.
He did not become poor by ceasing to be what he was. It's very important that you get this. He did not become poor by ceasing to be what he was. We don't look at Christ and highlight his poverty by saying he laid aside his divinity.
That's not what the Bible teaches. That is not what Scripture confers. Murray goes on to say, but he became poor by becoming what he was not. He became poor by assuming our nature with all the essential properties and the common infirmities thereof, yet without sin.
You see, Christ became poor taking on the seed of Abraham. Murray goes on to say
Poor by Addition, Not Subtraction
he became poor by addition, not by subtraction. You get that? We usually become poor by subtraction. We become poor by more money going out than money coming in.
I think that's a common understanding of how poverty occurs. You say, I've lost everything. Probably it's rational to conclude because you didn't put back into the kitty. If you just take it out and you spend it and you don't replenish, then you will be poor.
But not so with Christ, He became poor by addition, not by subtraction. Murray ends by saying He added manhood to His immutable and eternal Godhood. He became poor through addition. Again, we need to understand that Christ didn't lay aside His divinity.
The divinity didn't energize the creature, and the creature didn't diminish the divinity. Augustine 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. Two distinct natures in one glorious person, such that He is very God and very man, yet one Christ, the only mediator between God and man.
Two Natures, One Person
So before we move on, with reference to teasing out the state of humiliation, we learn from this passage that the Lord Jesus is eternally God. He was rich. The Lord Jesus in the incarnation became poor. He didn't give up his deity.
Remember, he became poor by addition, by taking on humanity. And as well, the Lord Jesus is one glorious person in two natures. One of those ancient creeds called the Athanasian Creed. says, this is the Catholic faith. And Catholic there doesn't mean Roman Catholic.
It means universal. That's what the word Catholic means. It's a good word. It's unfortunate that we don't get to use it as much as we ought because of associations with Roman Catholicism.
But the Athanasian Creed, summarizing the reality, which is Christ, says, this is the Catholic faith, which except a man believe faithfully, he cannot be saved. It's an amazing thing. Those early creeds were called ecumenical creeds. Does everybody understand what ecumenicism is today?
Ecumenicism is that desire to bring the most people together in unity. Well, the way ecumenicism is pursued today is by sacrificing truth. It's by getting rid of truth. It's by shelving truth, what's the lowest common denominator available to us so that we can have this religious unity.
It's very intriguing that in these ecumenical creeds, again designed to bring believers together, they always end with anathemas. A pronouncement of condemnation from God Most High upon anybody who rejects the truth stated in the particular creed. You see, for them it wasn't the lowest common denominator, it was what does the Bible say? What is the truth concerning the triune God?
What is the truth concerning our blessed Christ? If a person does not confess that truth, then let him be anathema. It was truth that was designed to bring the people of God together, not just in the early church, but in the scriptures as well. They continued steadfastly in the apostle's doctrine.
This is what bound them together. This is what gave them their identity. This is what brought them from various walks of life to commune with the same savior and to glorify his most holy name.
The State of Humiliation
Now, as we look at this particular passage, we have considered briefly his riches, but consider his poverty. Referral to Christ's state of humiliation. The Lord Jesus took upon Him man's nature with all the essential properties and common infirmities thereof. Matthew 1 and 2, He was born of the Virgin Mary.
The Word of God highlights to us again that He was a real man. And as well, the humanity of Christ did not destroy, it did not diminish His deity. He never ceased to be God. Pastor Porter handled ably that section in Philippians chapter 2, Christ the form of a bondservant, Christ the form of God.
Brethren, we need to appreciate what's going on in such passages concerning our blessed Redeemer. Well, that state of humiliation is seen in His life lived on earth. What does the prophet Isaiah say concerning him way back when? 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. For your sakes, he became poor. He was rich.
He never stopped being rich. He never divested himself of deity. He became rich by or he became poor by addition, taking on humanity. And he was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.
He himself says foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests. But the son of man has nowhere to lay his head. You see, the creator of all couldn't get a place to lay down. The creator of all couldn't get treatment that was consistent with even normal human beings.
The creator of all is despised and forsaken.
Poverty in Suffering and Death
But perhaps we view this poverty of our Lord Jesus most vividly in his sufferings and in his death. Again, this is, I think, encompassed by the apostles' appeal. You know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, Everlasting God, yet for your sakes he became poor. Paul doesn't develop this because I think he assumes that the Corinthians knows what he's talking about.
And we ought to know that as well as sufferings in his death. The poverty of Christ was something that Peter could not conceive. Remember that bit in Matthew chapter 16 when the Lord Jesus announces that he's going to go to Jerusalem, he's going to suffer, he's going to die, and he's going to be raised the third day. What does Peter do?
Peter tries to stop him. Peter couldn't get his mind wrapped around a Messiah suffering and dying. As well, the Jews after the resurrection continued to see the concept of a suffering Messiah as a stumbling block. 1 Corinthians 1, 23, the Jews seek after a sign, the Greeks seek after wisdom, but we preach Christ and Him crucified. To the Jews, what?
A stumbling block, a scandal. This just wasn't known or thought through with reference to the Messiah that was promised to come. Again, a great misreading of the scriptures, because Isaiah tells us he's going to be a man of sorrows. Isaiah tells us he's going to be cut off.
Isaiah tells us that Yahweh was pleased to crush him. Isaiah tells us all these things, so they misread the scriptures. You see, they couldn't get their minds wrapped around a poor Messiah. As well, the apostle traces the trajectory of Christ's humiliation in Philippians 2.8.
And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Philip Hughes makes this observation. He says, from highest heaven, Christ descended to Calvary and the grave. None was richer than he, none became poorer than he.
That's the apostle's argument. Christ was rich, never stopped being rich, yet for your sakes he became poor.
The Riches Believers Receive
Now note the redemptive benefit here, that you through his poverty might become rich. For your sakes and that you through his poverty might become rich. This morning we sketched briefly why Christ came into the world with reference to the destruction of the devil. Again, that is an appropriate and obvious response to the question, why did Christ Jesus come into this world?
There's other answers. Why did Christ Jesus come into this world? Because He made a covenant with His Father about the salvation of the elect. In other words, when he comes into this world, the father sends him, the son willingly submits himself to the father in the economy of redemption.
The son always does what pleases the father. That's a great answer. Somebody says, why did Jesus come into this world? It is a perfectly appropriate answer to say, because the father sent him.
And if the Father sends you, you do what you're supposed to do. Christ evidences that desire in John's Gospel to do what the Father sent. But as well, why did Christ come into this world? For us. for guilty, helpless, vile sinners.
That's the emphasis of our passage. Yet for your sakes. He became poor that you through his poverty might become rich. One more ancient creed.
The nice scene, we confess, and in one Lord Jesus Christ, we believe in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all worlds, God of God, light of light, very God of very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father, by whom all things were made. And then I love this next clause, who for us men and for our salvation came down from heaven. That's what Paul is saying. He was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor.
He is everlasting God, but for your sakes he became man. Who for us men and for our salvation came down from heaven and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the Virgin Mary and was made man and was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate. He suffered and was buried. And the third day he rose again according to the scriptures and ascended into heaven and sits on the right hand of the Father.
And he shall come again with glory to judge the quick and the dead. whose kingdom shall have no end. It's for us men and for our salvation. That is the conspicuous emphasis of Paul in 2 Corinthians 8, verse 9. You know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich and never ceased to be rich, yet for your sakes he became poor.
Why, Paul, did he become poor? that for you or that through His poverty you might become rich. It's a blessed reality.
Forgiveness and Imputed Righteousness
Those riches include the forgiveness of sin and the imputed righteousness of Christ, doesn't it? Again, think of the psychological appeal of such an appeal, or the psychological effect of such an appeal. And it's for us, too. If we are ever stingy and tight-fisted and tight-wadded and we don't give to the brethren, we don't evidence the compassion that our Lord Jesus Christ demonstrates, that our Lord Jesus Christ commands, that His apostles command, ponder Christ.
Think about Jesus. Think about the riches that you have received from his poverty. Think about the fact that as it were, he took out his whole wallet and he threw down everything he had so that you could become rich. And shall we be tight-fisted?
Shall we be misers? Shall we hear of the suffering churches in Judea and not send them checks? Shall we send the apostle Paul back to Jerusalem empty-handed as far as Corinth is concerned? You see this in Acts 21.
Paul returns to the church in Jerusalem, and Paul has brought fruits of his missionary endeavors. And the fruits specifically are believers, Gentile believers. And James hits him up and says, Paul, we hear that you're teaching people that they don't need to obey the law. You know, when Paul steps foot in Jerusalem, he not only comes with that fruit in terms of the spiritual ministry, but he comes with money.
He and his compadres bring money and they give it to James, and James and the elders, the leaders of the church in Jerusalem, start to manifest the compassion of Christ through his servants to the people in need. Brethren, if we are a stingy people, 2 Corinthians 8, 9 is for us, that you through his poverty might become rich. The forgiveness of sin, the imputed righteousness of Christ,
Adoption as Sons
the adoption as sons unto God the Father, Again, Pastor Porter read this morning in Ephesians 1, what's one of the purposes that God has for us in terms of redemption? We are adopted as sons. We have received the spirit of adoption in Galatians 4, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. Do you know what a blessed privilege that is that we get to call God Father?
I know it's commonplace in liberal professing Christianity to stress the universal fatherhood of God. Now, if we parse it out and make distinctions, we can say that because He's over all, He created all things, everybody's subject to Him. But when the Bible uses the terminology Abba, when the Bible uses the terminology of Father, when it refers to the people of God calling upon God as Father, what is assumed is adoption. We are adopted sons and daughters of God Most High because of the poverty of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Sanctification by the Spirit
As well, we have sanctification by the Spirit. It's another rich, one of the riches that we possess, that you through his poverty might become rich. We have the Holy Spirit. Not only can we not blame the devil, like I mentioned this morning, but we ought to blame ourselves that we don't appeal to those things and resources that God has given us.
Romans 8, 13, if by the Spirit you demortify the deeds of the body, you will live. If by the Spirit you stop looking at porn, if by the Spirit you stop smoking pot, if by the Spirit you stop doing the foolish things that you're engaged in, if by the Spirit If you're not going to the Spirit, if you're not asking the Father to send the Spirit, if you're not pleading that redemptive benefit that Christ has secured for you, not only should you not blame the devil, you certainly ought never to call into question God Most High. I don't believe He's not helping me. Well, the help is there for the taking.
You just need to pray, you need to read, you may need to fast, you may need to cut off limbs, metaphorically speaking. You may need to deal radically. That's how the Spirit will guide you and lead you and direct you with reference to that holy endeavor.
Glorification and the Age to Come
And then we have the glorification and the age to come. That Children's Sunday School song or that children's song, it is cheesy as all getup, but it's true. We are bound for glory. This train is bound for glory.
There are better days ahead for the people of God. Whatever your trial, whatever your circumstance, whatever your hardship, whatever your woe, There are better days coming. We are going to be in glory with God Most High. This is what we were created for.
In Adam, we died. In Adam, we resisted. In Adam, we rejected. In Christ, we've been made alive.
Now, we want this. We want to be in the presence of God. We want to be able to say, 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. Though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that you through his poverty might become rich." Gil says that they through his poverty might be rich, not in temporals.
That means food and shelter. But brethren, we ought to thank God. If God's given you food and shelter, thank Him. There's a lot of people in this world that don't have food and shelter. that they through his poverty might be rich, not in temporals, he highlights in this text, but in spirituals.
And by his obedience, sufferings, and death in his lowest state, he has paid all their debts, wrought out a robe of righteousness, rich and adorned with jewels, with which he clothed them, and through his blood and sacrifice has made them kings and priests unto God. That is a blessed reality that our text affords, 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.
Application
Well, brethren, in conclusion, we need to know our Christology. We need to understand who Jesus is. We need to understand the work of Christ with reference to atonement, with reference to the cross. We try and provide opportunities for persons to learn.
There are confessions of faith that are excellent compendiums of truth. You can take those, you can study the passages, you can see why and where these authors put these doctrinal statements together. They're all rooted in the text of Holy Scripture. Paul is able to assume that the Corinthians already knew this.
He wasn't teaching them new doctrine. He doesn't expound each point. He doesn't say what it means that Christ was rich. He doesn't say what it means that Christ was poor.
He assumes they already got this. They already know that what they're dealing with in Christ is a unique individual. He is indeed the God-man. Paul assumes that his audience knows Christology, and it's on the heels of that assumption that he appeals to them practically.
And I want you to appreciate that as well. Practical Christian living flows out of doctrinal appropriation. There is such a disconnect in our day. Well, I don't want to give God my head, but I'll give him my heart.
I mean, you reformed people. You're so cerebral. Everything's up here with you. Just let go and love Jesus.
Well, if I'm letting go and loving Jesus, if I'm not asking which Jesus am I loving, there's going to be a ton of false ones in his place. Doctrinal appropriation, understanding the truth, is what leads to practical application. I just wish we'd get this. Why all this doctrine?
Why all this theory? So that you'll love your wife the way you're supposed to. So that you as a woman will submit to your husband the way you're supposed to. So that you as children will obey your parents the way you're supposed to.
So that you fathers and you mothers won't beat your kids, but you'll love them and rear them in the training and the admonition of the Lord. If we don't understand the doctrine, we're not gonna have the practice. If we don't understand who Jesus is, we're gonna be tight-fisted misers that won't part with a cent in helping to alleviate the suffering of others. But when we ponder that one who was rich, who for your sakes became poor, that we through his poverty might become rich, there's a great impetus for us to open up our wallets and to give.
Doctrinal Christianity is the foundation and does produce practical application. Listen to John Murray again. This is from a sermon, by the way, on 2 Corinthians 8-9. He says, the simple logic in verse 9, is that the most transcendent mysteries of our holy faith, we might call the hypostatic union one of those transcendent mysteries, one of those most transcendent.
And there's a lot of things that are pretty cut and dry. The sixth commandment's not hard to understand, is it? You shall not murder. Seventh commandment, not hard to understand.
Eighth commandment, not hard to understand. There's a lot of things in the Bible that when you open it and you read, there's no, well, what do you mean is there? That's why it always puzzles me when people say, oh, the Bible is so confusing, I can't understand anything. What do you mean, you can't understand you shall not murder?
Praise God you live inconsistently. Praise God that at least in your heart of hearts, you've got some appropriation of that truth. But with reference to the hypostatic union, looking at Gregory recently and he said, to explain eternal generation, The hows? No, you can't do that.
The reality is taught in Scripture, but the hows? You're dealing with Father and Son in eternity, as Pastor Porter reminded us this morning. There's no eternity past. You see this addition of past to eternity really flies in the face of eternity.
Eternity doesn't have, you know, points on the line. There's no segments in eternity. There's no past, there's no future. It's, you can't even do that.
It's eternity, right? But here's Murray, the simple logic is that the most transcendent mysteries of our holy faith are the fountain springs of the most common and practical of Christian duties. The streams of Christian liberality are fed from the ocean of the mysteries of God. Love that.
Brethren, it's this high doctrine. It's what the church has trafficked in for 21 centuries that'll get you out of bed tomorrow morning and make you a better you. How does Paul say husbands are supposed to love their wives? Just as Christ loved the church and gave himself for her.
Substitutionary curse bearing at Calvary ought to move the hearts of God's men to treasure, to value, to prize, and to love their wives. Just as Christ loved the church and gave himself for her. You see, these most transcendent mysteries become the springs from which practical Christianity flows. And if you are not a believer here this evening, may I encourage you to look at 2 Corinthians 8, verse 9.
Christ is eternal God. Christ comes into this world. Christ is born of the Virgin Mary. Christ lives a lowly life.
Christ is a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. Christ is despised by his own. He comes to his own and his own do not receive him. Christ lives in obedience to his father's law in terms of a covenant made with his father way back when?
Again, in eternity. Christ goes to the cross. Christ dies on the cross, not as an example, not as a moving picture of things that ought to warm our hearts, but as a substitute. It is there that the Father punishes us in his place.
Christ takes the punishment of God for sinners. I love the children's version of the shorter catechism. It is the, what is atonement? It's the satisfaction of divine justice.
See, many years ago, it wasn't atonement that was the word that was more often used. It was satisfaction. God's justice needs to be satisfied, and this is what Christ does at Calvary. And then he goes into the grave, and on the third day, he rose from the dead.
He ascended on high, he sits enthroned at the right hand of God Most High, that you through his poverty might become rich. All those who by his grace look to him in faith will have everlasting life. Don't end the day. I know we say this every Sunday.
We say it Sunday morning, we say it Sunday night, but at some point in your life, whether you're young or old, you gotta come to grips with this. This is the reality. He that hath the Son hath everlasting life. He who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but what?
The wrath of God abides on him. It's an amazing reality. If you're outside Christ right now, the wrath of God abides on you. If we had a can of spray paint and it was something tangible, we could paint around you and see this cloud.
That's what's happened. That's what's going on. You have sinned against a holy God. You need Christ.
You need the one who satisfied divine justice. You need the one who accomplished in his own life all obedience to the Father's law. Because when you believe, you are forgiven and you are given that perfect righteousness. Don't end the day.
I would say don't leave this place. This is most important, for the wrath of God abides. Well, let us pray.
Closing Prayer
Our Father in heaven, we thank you for your word. We thank you for the riches of Christ. We thank you for the poverty of Christ. We thank you for this blessed union in one person of the divine and the human.
And we thank you that he ever lives, as Steve reminded us in his prayer, that he ever lives to make intercession for us. He is enthroned at the right hand of God Most High. He is there for his people, and he is there to save those who come. He has said, he has promised, that all that the Father gives me will come to me, and the one who comes to me I will certainly not cast out.
God, provoke in the hearts of men, women, boys and girls this night here in this place and in other churches in Chilliwack and all over the earth, God, we pray that you bring the conviction for sin and point sinners to this one who is able to save to the uttermost. We ask that you would go with us now. We pray that you would watch over us in this coming week. Again, bless our brothers and our sisters who are going through trials and difficulties and hardships.
We just commit them to you and to the word of your grace. And we pray through Christ our Lord. Amen.