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I'll just begin reading in 2 
Corinthians chapter 8, we'll read verses 1 to 15. 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 urge 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 and speech and 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 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. But as there was a readiness 
to desire it, so there also may be a completion out of what you 
have. For if there is at first a willing 
mind, it is accepted according to what one has and not according 
to what he does not have. I do not mean that others should 
be eased a new burden. 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 gathered little had no lack. Amen. The gospel, 
as we have considered often, is the good news of our Lord 
Jesus Christ. It's explained in various places 
in the New Testament. Obviously, Matthew, Mark, Luke 
and John record the life and the ministry and the death and 
resurrection of Jesus. Paul explains the gospel very 
clearly in First Corinthians, chapter 15. The gospel is not 
simply a message that we believe once. in order to be saved. We 
do believe we believe what the Bible says concerning Jesus Christ 
and then we are saved. We are declared just by God or 
righteous by God, not for any words in us, but for what Christ 
has accomplished. But we ought to look to the gospel 
each and every day. And in this context, one that 
seems a bit mundane or seems a bit very physical or earthly 
or tied to tangible need. Paul sets the cross right in 
the midst of the Corinthians as a motive or as a reason why 
they ought to give liberally to the churches and to the Christians 
in Judea. Again, he uses the example of 
the generosity of the Macedonian churches in verses one to six. 
And then in verse nine, he uses this statement or uses this example. He says, for you know, the grace 
of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your 
sake, he became poor, that you through his poverty might become 
rich. What's he saying there? In light 
of what Jesus has accomplished at the cross, in light of what 
Jesus has done in terms of history and in terms of redemption, are 
you going to hoard your money? Are you going to keep your money 
when there are people that are suffering in Judea? Paul uses 
this example as a pattern for the Christian church so that 
they will give liberally to those who are suffering. Later on, 
he writes the epistle to the Romans and Romans 15. He alludes 
to the general generosity of the churches of Macedonia and 
Achaia, which would have included the Corinthians. So, by the grace 
of God, for the glory of God, they responded favorably to Paul's 
instruction in this section of 2nd Corinthians. But, of course, 
2 Corinthians 8-9 sets forth something of the glory of Jesus 
Christ that I think is very fitting for our meditation this morning 
prior to participation in the Lord's table. Paul speaks of 
the riches of Christ. He speaks of the poverty of Christ. And then he speaks of the blessings 
that Christ secures for his people. Those are the three observations 
will make on the tax notice. First of all, he speaks of the 
riches. He says, for you know that you 
know that grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich. This is a reference to Christ 
prior to his incarnation. The incarnation means when Jesus 
came into this world, when he was born or he was conceived 
in his mother's womb, he was born of a virgin. He lived a 
life of holiness and righteousness and obedience to God. But the 
riches of Christ here speak to his pre-incarnate glory, to what 
he had with the father prior to his coming in the world. It's 
an amazing reality. He left that glory, he left that 
majesty, he left that beauty and perfection to come into a 
cesspool of sin and depravity and wickedness. He left those 
riches, he took on poverty, and he did this so that sinners could 
be rich in him. That pre-incarnate glory is referred 
to by Jesus in his high priestly prayer in John 17 and verse five. He says, and now, oh, father, 
glorify me together with yourself, with the glory which I had with 
you before the world was. And of course, that pre-incarnate 
glory speaks of his communion with the father. Is that what 
he says there? Oh, father, glorify me together 
with yourself, with the glory which I had with you. Jesus delights 
in his father and he left those riches and he took on poverty 
so that we might become rich in him that that pre-incarnate 
glory involved worship. Remember that scene in Isaiah 
chapter six when the prophet is rehearsing his call to the 
prophetic ministry. What does he say? He says in 
the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord lofty. I saw him 
exalted. I saw him enthroned on high, 
says the robe of his trade filled the entirety of the temple complex. Angels were crying out in antiphonal 
praise. Holy, holy, holy is the Lord 
of hosts. The whole earth is filled with 
his glory. You say, what does that have 
to do with Jesus Christ? Well, in John 12, 41, the apostle 
there tells us that Isaiah said these things when he saw his 
glory speaking of Christ and he wrote of him. Those are the 
riches that Jesus enjoyed, praised by the angels, worshipped by 
the angels. Obviously, Jesus enjoyed the 
riches of having created all things. This is what John tells 
us in John 1, 1 to 3. In the beginning was the word 
and the word was with God and the word was God. This one made 
all things, John says. We read in Hebrews chapter one 
that he sustains all things by the word of his power. You see, 
when Jesus came into this world, it wasn't like it was a better 
gig. You know, sometimes we might change jobs or we might move 
because it's a it's a step up, right? It's a better thing. The 
whole point of our text is that the one who was rich became poor. He voluntarily condescended. He voluntarily took on poverty 
in order for our spiritual benefit. That's the glory of the gospel, 
isn't it? I always think of that, that that complaint made by the 
scribes and the Pharisees about Jesus. When the multitude of 
sinners were gathering near him and the scribes and the Pharisees 
said, this man receives sinners and eats with them. Absolutely. This man left the glory of heaven, 
came into this world, and he sat down with sinners in order 
to receive them, in order to make them spiritually wealthy, 
spiritually rich. So, Paul's first statement there 
concerning the Lord of Glory is that you know the grace of 
our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich and then he moves 
on now to consider the poverty of Christ. He says that though 
he was rich, yet for your sakes, he became poor. Is that great 
for your sakes? He didn't do it for himself. 
Obviously, there was that sense where there's a God-word reference, 
where he is obeying the covenantal terms laid out by his father, 
where he is yielding up perfect obedience to bring glory, honor, 
and praise to his father. There is a God-word reference, 
to be sure. In this particular text, however, 
Paul is focusing on the man-word reference. And notice the language. He was rich. He became poor. He was rich always. He became poor. John uses a similar 
convention in John 1.1 when he says, In the beginning was the 
Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. He always 
was. John 1.14 The Word became flesh 
and tabernacled among us. There was a point in time in 
history when he when he when he became poor on behalf of his 
people. And notice a heresy or an error 
that is often taught specifically in conjunction with Philippians 
2 is that this becoming poor means that he laid aside his 
deity. That he emptied himself of deity. I realize Philippians 2 says 
he emptied himself, but it doesn't mean that he stopped being God. You cannot mistake this when 
you look at the life and ministry of our Lord Jesus, you are struck 
with the realization that this is the God man. He raises the 
dead. He speaks to the waves and they 
start swelling over. He speaks to the wind and it 
ceases to blow. He is able to feed multitudes 
with just a few fish and a few loaves. He is able to heal blind 
people and to heal lepers. He didn't lay aside his deity. 
He didn't stop being God. His poverty is not seen in that 
he ceased to be God. I like what John Murray says. 
He says when he became man, he did not cease to be rich in his 
divine being, relations and possession. He did not become poor by ceasing 
to be what he was, but he became poor by becoming what he was 
not. He goes on to say he became poor 
by addition, not by subtraction. He added manhood to his immutable 
and eternal Godhood. So, his poverty is not seen in 
him ceasing to be God. Another commentator says it this 
way, Christ himself chose to exchange his royal status as 
an eternal inhabitant of heaven for a slave status as a temporary 
resident on earth. You may say, wow, that sounds 
pretty bizarre. Jesus refers to himself in those 
terms. His poverty is not seen in ceasing 
to be God. His poverty is seen in the incarnation 
and what the Westminster divines called the state of humiliation. So I don't think we think about 
this very much what Christ went through on our behalf. This is 
what Paul is appealing to. You got a lot of money in your 
wallet. There's people suffering in Judea. 
Think about Jesus. You're saving up for that special 
thing or that whatever. Paul's not condemning riches. 
Paul is not saying you shouldn't have anything. You should pour 
ashes in your soup. You should wear hair shirts, 
and you should go live in monasteries. That's not Paul's disposition. 
That's not his mindset. But when there is a need, and 
there are brothers and sisters that are dying, or there are 
brothers and sisters that are hungry, when a famine hits a 
people group, you should cough up. And the genuine living wonderful 
pattern. An example of that is the one 
who was rich and he became poor for you. What's his poverty look 
like? The state of humiliation. How 
does Christ and what did Christ's humiliation consist? Christ's 
humiliation consisted in his being born and that in a low 
condition. made under the law, undergoing 
the miseries of this life, the wrath of God and the curse of 
death of the cross in being buried and continuing under the power 
of death for a time. His virgin birth, his life marked 
by sorrow. Isaiah describes in Jesus wasn't 
this hippie-ish character that was sort of just dancing around 
life, singing zippity-doo-dah and leading the multitudes astray. 
The prophet Isaiah tells us that he was a man of sorrows and acquainted 
with grief. The Lord Christ himself, when 
calling men to discipleship, he says very clearly and vividly, 
you know, the foxes, they have their holes and the birds of 
the air have their nest. But the son of man has nowhere 
to lay his head. Now, remember, this is the same son of man that 
was hearing throughout eternity. Holy, holy, holy is the Lord 
of hosts. Consider his earthly ministry. 
Did everybody just bow down to him and receive him and love 
him and honor him? No, John tells us in John 1, 
he came to his own and his own received him not. In fact, in 
that final week, instead of hearing the antiphonal praise of angels 
singing, holy, holy, holy, it is a pagan. It is a Gentile that 
confesses the thrice holiness of Christ. An unconverted pagan 
Gentile named Pilate. Three times, what does he say? 
I find no guilt in this man. I find no guilt in this man. 
I find no guilt in this man. So why does he knuckle under? 
Because instead of the crowds chanting praise to Jesus Christ, 
they're chanting away with him, away with him, crucify him. They want Barabbas, who's an 
insurrectionist and a murderer. You wonder what it means for 
Jesus to be poor. He left that to come and do this. His lowly life is sorrowful ministry. I mean, I think Jesus would fail 
today in terms of church planting. And I say that speaking. I don't even know the word. The 
language today or the thought today is, if you don't amass 
a horde of followers and have a huge church after a year, you 
should just throw in the towel. What happened in Jesus' ministry? 
Oh yes, crowds followed him. John 6 is one place I'm thinking. 
Crowds loved him. Consumers loved him because he 
was giving them bread. Right? You can't miss that in 
John 6. The crowds are following because 
he feeds them. But when he starts to get into 
doctrine, when he starts to get into discipleship, when he starts 
to get into God's sovereignty, when he says things like all 
that the father gives me will come to me and the one who comes 
to me, I will certainly not cast out what he says. This is the 
will of my father that you believe in him who he sent when he spoke 
these hard things. What happened to the following? 
They left. They departed. They turned from 
him. People today would look and say, Jesus, you had them. 
They were in your midst. You gave them bread. They were 
following you. You should have just closed the deal. Don't teach 
them about high doctrine at a time like that. Tell them good things 
that they want to hear so that they'll continue to follow you. 
What's Jesus then do? He speaks to his own closest, 
the disciples, the twelve, says, Do you also want to go away? 
Praise God for Peter. Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou 
hast the words of eternal life. See, Peter was thinking more 
in terms of spiritual riches than a bit of bread in his physical 
belly. You ask about the poverty of 
Christ. Brethren, it's good to understand that the shorter catechism 
for anything or for these current small brief descriptions, it 
consisted in his being born and that in a low condition. Think 
about that, do we? Remember, we had a brother in 
our church here before, and he had a dairy farm. One time, my 
brother-in-law, Matt, was here, and we were visiting. We went 
into, you know, where the calves are born. It isn't like the pictures 
you see in December. You know, the stately animals 
just looking on, and everything all peaceful and serene and calm, 
and payloads around everybody's head, and the babe there, you 
know, clothed and laying in the manger. It smells in there. It's nasty. Who of us would want 
to go and have a baby in a stable? That's not our first choice, 
is it, brethren? That in a low condition, made 
under the law. I don't think we feel the way 
to that either. The fullness of the times God 
sent forth his son, born of a woman born under the law. We whine and we cry and we rebel 
and we're insubordinate with reference to all kinds of God, 
God's law. Not Jesus, he says, I delight 
to do by will. He epitomizes that blessed man 
of Psalm 1. His delight is in the law of 
the Lord, and he meditates upon it day and night. He never broke 
it. He never violated it. He never, 
ever engaged in sin. Undergoing the miseries of this 
life, we've already touched on that. He had no place to lay 
his head. His life was marked by difficulty. A man of sorrows 
and acquainted with grief. Jonathan Edwards has a sermon 
is very powerful on sinners or or or people condemned taming 
the glory of Christ. And one of the things that he 
says in there is that we are just put out when people don't 
just receive us and praise us and love us and honor us. We 
get upset, man, if people don't give us our due. It never dawns 
on us that maybe they are. He says, Jesus was praised by 
angels. And what is he here in that passion? 
We got away with him away with him. Crucify him. You see what 
Paul is doing here? Taking the cross and he's planting 
it right in Corinth. And he says, you know what? Your 
summer home, your vacation, your this. I'm not condemning that. 
I'm not saying it's wicked and evil and you're Satan and you 
shouldn't have anything. In fact, Israel was judged severely because 
when they were in the land, they were enjoying the gifts God gave 
them. They were not thankful to God. 
Paul takes the cross, plants it in Corinth and says, you've 
got brethren in Judea that need help. For, you know, not just 
the kindness of the Macedonians. I mean, that should have just 
leveled them versus one to six. Paul says about the Macedonian 
churches that in great trial of affliction, the abundance 
of their joy and their deep poverty abounded in the riches of their 
liberality. They didn't have much, but what 
they had, they gave it to Paul so that he could go back to Jerusalem, 
so that when Paul and James meet, Paul and all of his entourage 
could say, here's what the Gentiles, here's what our fellow believers 
think about our fellow Christians in Jerusalem. And there's great 
rejoicing at the unity, at the solidarity, at the beauty of 
Christ's church functioning together. Paul takes the cross and he says 
to the Corinthians, you know, that's the grace of our Lord 
Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake, 
he became poor. And of course, that poverty is 
supremely demonstrated at the cross. Paul deals with this in 
Philippians two, which in many respects is parallel to second 
Corinthians eight, nine Philippians two at verse five. He says, let 
this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who being 
in the form of God did not consider it robbery to be equal with God. 
I think that phrase gives people a bit of difficulty at times. 
What does it mean? What does Paul mean when he says 
who being in the form of God did not consider it robbery to 
be equal with God? I think the idea is, is that 
he is God. He's in the form of God. He is 
deity. He is creator. He is governor. 
He is redeemer. He is Lord of the universe. He 
is the object of angelic praise. He is the Lord of hosts, among 
whom the whole earth one day will bow down and confess as 
Lord. But he didn't exploit it. He didn't press it. This is part 
of his poverty. He has the riches, but he doesn't 
come into this world and say, wait a minute, I'm this. You 
can't do that to me. This poverty is seen in that 
he does not exploit the deity. He does not press it into people's 
faces. He's not like us when we are 
wrong. Then you say, wait a minute, 
don't you know you're dealing with here? That's what Paul means 
when he says, who being in the form of God did not consider 
it robbery to be equal with God. Notice in verse seven, but made 
himself of no reputation. That's where the King James translates 
it. He emptied himself. The word 
is Kenosis. A whole theory has been developed 
that Christ emptied himself or divested himself of his deity. That's not the case. This is 
better. He made himself of no reputation, 
taking the form of a bond servant and coming in the likeness of 
man 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. See what Paul's referring to 
here. Remember the Passion Week, the way he's treated, the way 
he spat on. The way he's beaten with wreaths, 
the way he's mocked, they clothe him in the garment of purple. 
They say hail to the king. It's a big joke to them. What's 
Paul saying? He became obedient to death or 
to the point of death, even the death of the cross, the worst 
form of punishment in that day. See, we decorate our Bibles and 
we decorate our homes and we decorate our necks with images 
of the cross. You wouldn't do that in the first 
century. If Canada practiced capital punishment 
and they use the electorate chair, you certainly wouldn't wear one 
on your neck. It was shameful. Do you know 
that a Roman citizen couldn't even be subject to crucifixion? It was that bad. It was reserved 
for the most heinous of offenders. In certain instances, the Emperor 
could say that a Roman citizen could get crucifixion, but it 
had to be approved from on high Roman state. You wouldn't adorn 
your walls with images of the cross. People would come over 
and it would be akin to having, if they use a lethal injection, 
you'd have a syringe on your wall. What's that? Oh, I'm celebrating 
the fact that criminal offenders are executed with a syringe. That's weird. You see what Paul is saying here, 
speaking of his poverty. He was rich, he became poor. 
Notice in verse 9, Therefore, God also has highly exalted him 
and given him the name which is above every name, that at 
the name of Jesus, every knee should bow of those in heaven 
and of those on earth and of those under the earth, and that 
every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory 
of God the Father. So it didn't stop with his poverty. His poverty ultimately led to 
exaltation. That's what the Apostle speaks 
of there in Philippians 2 and in Ephesians 1, 20 to 23. God, 
therefore, has been so pleased with the work of Christ that 
he has highly exalted him and put him at his right hand, so 
that thrones, dominions, principalities, powers, everything is subject 
to him, both in this age and in the age to come. I'm always 
rebuked by what God did with Jesus, because I don't think 
we treat him that way. This is God's divine sanction, 
God's divine approval of Jesus' life, death and ministry. What 
does he do? He exalts him to his right hand. 
He gives him the name which is above every name. Do we treat 
Jesus that way? Is he exalted in our lives? Or 
is he an afterthought? Is he Lord and sovereign of our 
universe? Or, oh yeah, I'm a Christian. 
Could it be said of us, therefore, having prized the mission of 
Jesus Christ, we've exalted him. He is Lord, he is Savior, he 
is King. We do submit to him and that 
happily because we know what he went through on our behalf. 
Paul speaks of his riches, Paul speaks of his poverty, and now 
he speaks of the blessings he secured or the riches that he 
brings to his people. Notice in 2 Corinthians 8, 9. 
Second Corinthians eight nine yet for your safety became poor. 
What's the reason that you through his poverty might become rich. Now it is to misread the tax 
to think that they all have, you know, summer homes and big 
cars. The richness here is spiritual. And you know, the analogy ultimately 
breaks down. Paul doesn't want them to give 
everything they have to the churches in Judea so that they have nothing. 
He treats that in verse thirteen. 13 and following, he says, no, 
I want everybody to have something. So it's not going to be Corinthian 
church that you take all your riches, you get rid of everything, 
and then you live as monks and put ashes in your soup and wear 
hair shirts and walk around and say, well, as me. The richness that is in view 
here is our blessedness. It's that riches are the riches 
that Paul speaks of in Ephesians 1. Blessed be the God and father 
of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has done what? Who has blessed 
us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ. The Bible is very clear. You 
may be a poor man. You may be a poor woman physically, 
economically. You may have trouble meeting 
your needs each and every month. The Lord, as it were, may just 
give you enough so that you eat out your existence. But if you 
have looked to Christ, if you have believed in the gospel, 
the Bible says you are rich beyond belief. You are rich beyond comparison. This is the riches that he is 
alluding to with these dear brethren. Again, remember the backdrop, 
you know, hard that dough. Paul is all but safe. Give. You've been the recipients of 
this kind of grace. You have been given this kind 
of riches. You have been blessed with every 
spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ. And you're 
going to be a grudging, miserly, Ebenezer Scrooge type person. 
Well, praise God, they responded, as I mentioned, Romans 15, you 
can see that later for yourself. Paul commends the churches of 
Macedonia and Achaia for giving. What are the riches that we possess? 
that you through his poverty might become rich. Well, of course, 
he is our righteousness, our sanctification and redemption. 
We just can't confine ourselves to a few places in the Corinthian 
correspondence. First Corinthians chapter one, 
you talk about riches. Here's our riches in the Lord 
Jesus Christ. First Corinthians chapter one, 
verse twenty six. Do you see your calling, brethren, 
that not many wise, according to the flesh, not many mighty, 
not many noble are called. But God has chosen the foolish 
things of the world to put to shame the wise. And God has chosen 
the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which 
are mighty and the base things of the world and the things which 
are despised. God has chosen and the things which are not 
to bring to nothing the things that are. that no flash of glory 
in his presence and notice, but of him, you are in Christ Jesus. 
Never forget that of him. You're not in Christ Jesus this 
morning because you made a good decision. You're not in Christ 
Jesus this morning because you're wiser than your neighbor. You're 
not in Christ Jesus this morning because you acted more favorably 
towards certain data. You are in Christ Jesus by sovereign 
grace. It is by grace alone that we 
stand. Never forget that this ought 
to be a check to any pride that would ever well up in our hearts 
of him. You are in Christ Jesus. You 
didn't put yourself there. What was Jesus' words to Simon 
Peter. Blessed art thou Simon Barjona 
for flesh and blood did not reveal this to you but my father who 
is in heaven. Grace we stand by grace we enter 
in. Why, tonight, when we study Colossians 
2 and the specific heresy that Paul is dealing with in 16 to 
23, anything that adds to the work of Christ strips from it. Paul speaks of ascetics, those 
who starve the body, and in that they feed the flesh. Because 
when we starve the body, thinking we are meriting favor with God, 
we are proud, we are arrogant, and we are standing contrary 
to the cross of our Lord Jesus. But of him, Paul says, you are 
in Christ Jesus. Now notice who became for us 
wisdom from God. And I believe the next statement 
is to explain what he means by wisdom from God. We might read 
it who became for us wisdom from God. That is, here is where we 
see that is our righteousness and that is a righteousness. 
We need a righteousness with God. Jesus provides that. See, God doesn't grade on the 
curve, God doesn't wink. at our indecency. God doesn't turn a blind eye 
on the day of judgment when we stand before his throne. God 
has a sovereign gaze and he demands a perfect righteousness. We have 
it in Jesus. So, Gloria, the book of Romans 
alluded to Martin Luther a few weeks ago. Luther hated the concept 
of God's righteousness until he understood It's used in the 
Book of Romans. Very often in the Book of Romans, 
Paul speaks of God's righteousness as God's, the righteousness that 
he requires and that he provides. For in it, the righteousness 
of God is revealed. from faith to faith, not just 
the rightness of God, not just the purity of God, but the righteousness 
that God requires and that he gives us in and through the Lord 
Jesus Christ. We are rich because we have a 
righteousness, not our own. We are rich because we have an 
alien righteousness that has been imputed to us. As Adam's 
sin was imputed to us, so is Christ's righteousness imputed 
to us. God took our sin, heaped it upon 
the Savior, punished him, took his righteousness and heaped 
it upon us so that we will stand clothed in a white garment that 
he has provided. Jesus is our righteousness. Jesus 
is our sanctification. He is our sanctification. You 
try to live the Christian life apart from Jesus. Or do you say 
with Paul in Galatians 220 in the life that I now live in the 
flesh, I live by faith in the son of God who loved me and gave 
himself for me. We need the gospel to be holy. We don't just start by faith 
in Jesus, we keep going by faith in Jesus. We're always looking 
to Jesus. And then he describes it as redemption. The redemption here I take as 
a reference to the future, that final day of judgment, that day 
of redemption that Paul speaks of in Ephesians. In other words, 
when we look at these three terms, Christ is the Alpha and the Omega 
of our salvation. When we look at these three terms, 
Jesus is the A to Z of our salvation. We need him at the beginning, 
we need him in the middle, we need him at the end. Paul in 
Hebrews 12 calls him the author and the finisher of our faith. 
Isn't that great? It's not the author and then 
leaves us to ourselves. He is there active in the midst 
of it. Yea, though I walk through the 
valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil. Why? Doesn't send you into the valley 
of the shadow of death and say, I hope you make it out on the 
other side. If you if you have a trouble 
or you have some difficulty, you know, give me a call to misread 
Psalm 23, though I want. It's an acknowledgement of the 
reality of the sin cursed world that we live in. The Bible is 
not a document that lies. One of the most blessed, comforting, 
and kind songs in all of the Bible tells us that we will walk 
through the valley of the shadow of death. But I will not fear. Why? Because thou art with me. Thy 
rod, thy staff, they comfort me. That's interesting, isn't 
it? We don't usually look at the 
rod as a means of comfort. It is when our Father is employing 
it. Jesus Christ is our A to Z. Paul says in the Corinthian Epistle, 
1 Corinthians 5, 7, that Jesus is our Passover. Jesus is our 
Passover sacrifice. You want riches in Christ? Or 
you want to know what your riches in Christ are? You have a Passover 
that is Jesus. The angel of death is going to 
pass over you because you've been marked with precious blood. 
The blood of the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the 
world. In 2 Corinthians 5, he describes these riches. He says 
they have been reconciled. God and sinners reconciled. Reconciliation means there was 
a problem. There was a problem. Sinners 
have an axe to grind against God. But contrary to popular 
thought, God has an axe to grind against sinners as well. In fact, 
in Romans chapter five, when Paul is speaking of our enmity 
or our beings being enemies of God, he's not speaking that God 
is our enemy. He's speaking that we are God's 
enemy. How do you bring those two erring 
or warring parties together through Calvary's cross? A blessed peacemaker 
secured reconciliation. And Christ is our Savior. Second 
Corinthians 521, for he made him who knew no sin to be sin 
for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in him. You see, so when Paul comes to 
these Corinthians and said and says something that they know, 
you know, you know, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, though 
he was rich, yet for your sake, he became poor. And why did he 
do this? That you through his poverty 
might become rich. They didn't have to sit there 
and go, what does he mean? I hope you don't have to sit 
here this morning and say, what does he mean? What are these riches? I don't feel any richer. Your 
sins are forgiven. You're justified. You're going 
to heaven. I'm sorry if you don't count 
that as riches, I can't convince you otherwise. It's like saying 
to somebody, here's a big sack of gold. I don't want gold. I 
can't take it to Walmart and buy anything. It's gold. It's what all that paper should 
point to. Well, I don't know about that. We have Christians who I'm convinced 
operate that way. I think I'm one of them. Very 
discouraged, very downcast, very melancholy a lot because I don't 
reckon riches in Christ. I reckon riches in this world, 
I don't mean gold or silver or money. I think of big churches 
or successful ministry. I got to come back to a text 
like this and say, wait a minute. I have a righteousness, I have 
sanctification, I have redemption, I suspect it's the same for you. 
Come Wednesday or Thursday, man, I just feel like a big blob. 
My friend Vince Nixon, one time preacher, said sometimes we feel 
like the spiritual equivalent of a big cold fish. Where should 
we go? Not to our performance, not to 
our works, not to what we've accomplished, not to whether 
or not we went to Bible study, we should go back to Calvary. 
We should go back to consider those riches in Jesus. We ought 
to be familiar with these words. They ought not to be like, I 
don't want to hear theology. You should want to hear righteousness. You should want to know what 
sanctification is. You should really value and prize justification. You really ought to know what 
propitiation means and expiation. This is our gospel glossary of 
blissful words. These all carry freight of God's 
dealings with us. It's like a big train. It's all 
going the same direction. It all accomplishes the same 
thing. But in this car, you might have forgiveness. In this car, 
you have righteousness. In this car, you have imputation. 
In this car, you have covenant surety. In this car, you have 
redemption. You should study those trains. 
You should learn those things. If I started the Westminster 
Shorter Catechism, you shouldn't say, oh, that again? That is 
rich. It's one of those freight trains 
or a vehicle carrying Those truths and concepts. See, Paul knew that the Corinthians 
knew what they possessed in Jesus Christ, and I don't want to sound 
like a pragmatist, but it worked. So he didn't come to them and 
say, look, I'm going to guilt manipulate you, I'm going to 
harangue you, we're going to have a big fishbowl in the back 
and you drop your pennies in there and we'll raise money for 
Jesus. No. He said, this is what Jesus 
did for you. There's an account of Benjamin 
Franklin. He was a good friend of George 
Whitefield. Franklin wasn't a Christian. 
So this idea that they were all godly Christians. No, they weren't. 
Franklin resolved that when Whitefield began to ask for money for his 
orphans, Whitefield began an orphanage in Georgia when he 
went to America. Franklin resolved I'm not giving any money when 
Whitfield starts asking for money for the orphans. So as Whitfield 
was finished preaching Benjamin Franklin emptied his pockets. 
Now he was a humanist and a pagan and it didn't secure any favor 
with God. We heard that and he coughed 
up. That's not what's going on here. That's not what Paul is doing. Paul is appealing to believers. 
With reference to gospel riches. And the natural outflow is obedience 
to God. Is that the case with us? Is 
that the natural outflow? Do we hear of what we possess 
in Jesus Christ? Focusing, thinking, contemplating 
on that, do we then go and serve and love and obey? That's gospel 
motives. Not because we're trying to make 
it for our final salvation. He secured that. We're not adding 
to. We're not helping. We're not 
contributing to our final salvation. That's been done at the cross. 
We are, however, living in a manner worthy of the gospel. Well, let 
us pray. Our father in heaven, we give 
you thanks for your word. We give you thanks for the riches 
of Christ and for the poverty of Christ, the exaltation of 
Christ and for all that he has secured on behalf of all that 
you have given him. God, how we praise you that you 
have saved us. How we praise you that you made 
him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become 
the righteousness of God in him. I pray that you would remind 
each and every one of us daily with these riches that we possess 
in the Lord Jesus. And we ask in his most blessed 
name. Amen.