Good evening, everyone. It's nice to see everyone who could gather back with us this evening for the worship service. We'll begin by reading. We'll be reading this time from Psalm 98, please. Psalm 98. Psalm 98, and we'll begin by reading the title. A Psalm. O sing unto the Lord a new song, for he hath done marvellous things. His right hand and his holy arm hath gotten him the victory. The Lord hath made known his salvation. His righteousness hath he openly showed in the sight of the heathen. He hath remembered his mercy and his truth toward the house of Israel. All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God. Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all the earth. Make a loud noise and rejoice and sing praise. " Then reading there at the end of verse 4, and here again, God calls us to worship to sing unto Him His praises. For the Lord has openly showed to us His salvation. You see that in verse 2. The Lord hath made known His salvation. And surely there's no other way more greatly that God has showed us His salvation than in the person of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, as we've been thinking about today. In His incarnation, He revealed unto us the way of salvation. And therefore, let us make a joyful noise unto the Lord. But before we go any further, let us just pray and ask for God's blessing. Our Father in heaven, We come again to worship our God in this public fashion, and we pray as we've gathered together that you will have your hand upon us, that your Spirit will be here and bless us, and we may know that you drawing alongside us and encouraging us as we would seek to worship our God. We have much to be thankful for. We have many reasons to be joyful here this evening. So then help us then to make a joyful noise. and to sing your praises and help us as we worship. First, in Jesus' name, I ask and pray. Amen. Our opening hymn this evening is hymn number 76. Hymn number 76. This is my favorite Christmas carol, so I thought when I had the opportunity, I would just take it when I could. So hymn number 76, Hark the Herald Angels Sing Glory to the Newborn King. Hymn number 76 and we'll stand to sing please. The herald angels sing, glory to the newborn King! Peace on earth, and mercy mild, God and sinners reconciled. O'er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming? And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air, The angels sing, glory to the newborn King. Sion, you said, my Lord, I still ever ask thee, Lord. Chained in time, behold him come, the Son of the Virgin's womb. ♪ Hail and praise to God and King ♪ ♪ Hail in God and deity ♪ ♪ Jesus, Lord, in heaven to die ♪ ♪ Jesus, Lord, in heaven to die ♪ ♪ And the herald angels sing ♪ ♪ Glory to the newborn King ♪ ♪ Hail the Lamb, the Prince of Peace ♪ ♪ Hail the Son of Righteousness ♪ ♪ Light and life to all He brings ♪ ♪ Highly praise his glory high ♪ ♪ Hark the herald angels sing ♪ ♪ These are our own nation's law ♪ ♪ It seals us from our own ♪ ♪ Rise above the stumbling sea ♪ ♪ Pursue us, the shipwrecked sea ♪ I. The last time I sang that hymn, I was in Kenya in the middle of July, but we do not believe that the incarnation of Jesus Christ should be resigned just simply to sometime at Christmas, for it brings great glory to our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. What a doctrine the incarnation of Jesus is that God became man. It is a hymn that we can sing any time of the year, but it is good for us to take some time to consider this wonderful doctrine and truth as a blessing to be able to sing it together. But we will come now again to prayer, and let us all pray, please. our Father in heaven, we come before you this evening in the name of our great Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, our Emmanuel, our Savior that is God with us. And we thank you that you sent your only begotten Son into this world to be our Savior. And this evening we have much to sing about. We can sing a new song. We can have joy in our hearts. We can make a joyful noise unto the Lord because our God has done all things well. And what a wonderful story this is. What a wonderful plan that you have made. And we thank you for our Savior. your own precious Son that you sent to this world to live for us, to fulfill that holy law that none of us here have been able to keep. In fact, we have broken it many, many times. We feel miserably at keeping your most holy law, but we're thankful that we have one who is willing to come, willing to put upon himself human flesh. What a wonder this is, that we have a Savior who is not just God in heaven, but He is the glorious God-man. and the One who was willing to go the whole way to the cross to die for us, to shed His precious blood, that we may have our sins forgiven, that we may be united to a holy God, and this day we stand before you as your children and say, thank you, Lord, for saving us and for bringing us into your family. and we pray that you will come and help us and bless us as we've met together this evening to praise our God. We thank you for these hymns that we have and the ability that we have to sing, and it is a blessing to our souls, but we come primarily to praise our God in heaven, for you're worthy of all our glory, all our praise, and all of the worship that we can offer to You. And we pray that You would accept it because we come in Jesus' name, not in our own righteousness, not from our own good deeds, but rather we rely upon a mediator, an intercessor who makes all of our imperfect works perfect before a holy God. So we're thankful we have one in heaven that yes, that was born for us, that lived for us, that died for us, but rose again and ever lives to make intercession for us. So we're thankful this day we have a Savior praying for us tonight. And I pray then that you will send us a blessing. We cannot do this ourselves, but we need Your help, and we long for Your presence. We want You to be with us, and we want to know Your blessing upon our gathering tonight. So we pray that You will help us and be with us and continue with us as we seek to worship our God. So bless us now and do us good as we seek to praise our God in heaven, For us in Jesus' name I ask and pray, amen. Amen. The women of the congregation, some of them anyway, have said they will come along and sing, so I'm just gonna ask them now if they will come and sing for us, please. Bethlehem, high still we see thee lie. Above thy deep and dreamless sleep the silent stars go by. Yet in thy dark streets shineth the everlasting light. and fears of all the years who are met in thee tonight. For Christ is born of Mary, and gathered all above. While mortals sleep, the angels keep their watch of wondering love. O morning stars, together proclaim the holy birth, and praises sing to God the King, and peace to men on earth. I silently, I silently, the wondrous gift is given. So God imparts to human hearts the blessings of His heaven. Though a weary year is coming, but in this world of sin, where many souls will receive Him, still the dear Christ enters in. O Holy Child of Bethlehem, descend to us, we pray. Cast out our sin and enter in, be born in us today. We hear the holy angels, the great glad tidings tell. O come to us, abide with us, our Lord Emmanuel. Thank you very much. Ladies, that was very nice. I appreciate you coming and singing for us this evening. We're just going to ask now if the announcers could be brought up, please. Thank you. I want to welcome each one to the service this evening. Thank you for coming. And we pray that we know God's blessing to hear this evening. And those who are visiting us online, we welcome you as well this evening. It's good to welcome back to our pulpit this evening, Mr. Thomas Hannah. As I mentioned this morning, our minister, is unwell at the moment. He's very sorry he can't be here, especially this day with the children this morning and the congregation taking part this evening. Unfortunately, he's unable to be here, so we owe a lot to Mr. Hannah for stepping in and filling the pulpit again this evening. We thank him very much for doing that. The services during the week. This week, our midweek prayer meeting is changed to Tuesday night. Remember that, please. If you're free, come along, please, on Tuesday night at 8 o'clock, our Bible study and prayer time. And that takes us through to Next Lord's Day. And Next Lord's Day is a day of prayer in the church with the extended times of prayer. It's also Missionary Council offering Next Lord's Day, just to remind you of that. The prayer sessions start at 9.30 in the morning through to 11. And then we'll have a break on the morning service at 11.30, the evening service at 7. And our minister will be here, God willing, next Lord's Day. There will be a time of favorite hymn singing just before the evening service. Then you're familiar with the times of prayer during the day, the normal format. Remember, please, in your prayers, those who are sick and laid aside in our congregation. We have quite a number unable to be out. Remember them, please, in your prayers. Now, I mentioned this morning, on Saturday, the 3rd of January, is the senior citizens' meal. Remember that, please, if you fall under that category. Remember that Saturday, the 3rd of January. And then the watch night service on the 31st, that's Wednesday, the 31st of December, will be in our Carrick congregation. That'll start at 9.30. There will be supper served during that meeting, and it will conclude just after 12. I didn't thank the ladies for singing. That's already been done. But just to add my voice to that, thank you for singing. And the young people who will be taking part very soon, I want to thank them too for helping in the service this evening. These are all the announcements. They're all in the will of the Lord. We'll hand back now to Mr. Hannah. Thank you very much for making those announcements this evening. I would ask you please, at this stage, we'll turn in our Bibles to Luke chapter 2. Luke chapter 2, I love this passage of Scripture. I think it's one of the most exciting passages that we have in the Word of God. For as you read through your Old Testament, you read of time and time again of the prophecies the two girls were reading to us this morning, the many prophecies there is in the Old Testament of the coming Savior. And then when we get to here in chapter 2, finally our Savior has arrived on the scene. And I think it's so exciting just our Savior is coming for us to make redemption for us. And I like to read this passage with our children on Christmas Day. It's something just to help focus our attention on the importance of our Savior's birth. So, we'll read from verse 1. So, Luke chapter 2, and the first verse, please. And it came to pass in those days that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed. And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria. And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city. And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth into Judea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, to be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child. And so it was that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered. And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn. And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them, and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, Fear not, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you. Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men. And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us. And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in the manger. And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child. And all they that heard it wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds. But Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart. And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen as it was told unto them. And we end our reading there at the end of verse 20. I'm just going to ask now, the young people have also volunteered to come and sing for us this evening, so I'm going to ask them if they would come to the front now and sing for us, please. you Who is seen in yonder stall, At his feet the shepherds fall. Tis the Lord, the wondrous story, Tis the Lord, the King of glory, At his feet we humbly fall, ♪ Who is he to whom they bring ♪ All the sick and sorrowing ♪ Tis the Lord, O wondrous story ♪ Tis the Lord, the King of glory ♪ At his feet we humbly fall ♪ Crime him, crime him, Lord of all ♪ Who is he in deep distress ♪ Fasting in the wilderness ♪ Tis the Lord, O wondrous story ♪ Tis the Lord, the King of glory ♪ At his feet we humbly fall ♪ Grind him, grind him, Lord of all Who is he that stands and waits at the grave where Lazarus sleeps? Tis the Lord, a wondrous story! Tis the Lord, the King of glory! At his feet we humbly fall, cry him, cry him, Lord of all. ♪ Who at midnight, who is he? ♪ ♪ Strays in dark Gethsemane ♪ ♪ Tis the Lord, a wondrous story ♪ ♪ Tis the Lord, the King of glory ♪ ♪ At his feet we humbly fall ♪ ♪ Kind and kind, and Lord of all ♪ ♪ Who is he on yonder tree ♪ Dies in grief and agony ♪ Tis the Lord, a wondrous story ♪ Tis the Lord, the King of glory ♪ At his feet we humbly fall ♪ Grind him, grind him o'er the wall ♪ Who is he that from the grave ♪ ♪ Comes to succor, help, and save ♪ ♪ Tis the Lord, O wondrous story ♪ ♪ Tis the Lord, the King of glory ♪ ♪ At his feet we humbly fall ♪ ♪ Pride and pride, immortal all ♪ Who is he that from his throne rules for all the world alone? Tis the Lord, O wondrous story! Tis the Lord, the King of glory! At his feet we humbly fall. Grind him, grind him, Lord of all. Thank you very much, young people, for coming and singing this evening. We enjoyed that very much. We will sing together now from hymn number 82. We'll make this our offering hymn. Hymn number 82, while shepherds watch their flocks by night, all seated on the ground. Remain seated while the offering is collected, and then stand to sing at the end, please. ♪ The shepherds watched their flocks by night ♪ ♪ All seated on the bride ♪ ♪ The angel of the Lord came down and glory shone ♪ ♪ Here I'm standing o'er my dearest friend ♪ ♪ I've ceased their troubled mind ♪ ♪ And I don't rejoice in heaven or hell ♪ ♪ And in this my blessing is for all the earth's God ♪ ♪ A Savior who is Christ alone ♪ ♪ And it shall be just another year ♪ ♪ Who can repay me ♪ Final verses, please. ♪ Of the ash-shining throne ♪ ♪ Of angels praising God at night ♪ ♪ And whispered joy to the soul ♪ ♪ O glory be to God almighty ♪ ♪ And to thee every peace ♪ ♪ The earth is full of thy glory ♪ Just please turn your Bibles this time to the book of 2 Corinthians. 2 Corinthians and chapter 8, please. 2 Corinthians chapter 8, and we'll begin from the first verse. 2 Corinthians chapter 8 and verse 1. Moreover, brethren, we do you to wit of the grace of God bestowed on the churches of Macedonia, how that in a great trial of affliction the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded onto the riches of their liberality. For to their power I bear record, yea, and beyond their power they were willing of themselves, praying us with much entreaty that we would receive the gift and take upon us the fellowship of the ministering to the saints. And this they did, not as we hoped, but first gave their own selves to the Lord, and on to us by the will of God, insomuch that we desired Titus, that as he had begun, so he would also finish in you the same grace also. Therefore, as ye abound in everything, in faith, and utterance, and knowledge, and in all diligence, and in your love to us, see that ye abound in this grace also. I speak not by commandment, but by occasion for the forwardness of others, and to prove the sincerity of your love. For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for our sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich. And herein I give my advice, for this is expedient for you, who have begun before, not only to do, but also to be forward a year ago, Now therefore perform the doing of it, that as there was a readiness to will, so there may be a performance also out of that which ye have. For if there be first a willing mind, it is accepted according to that a man hath, and not according to that he hath not." But by an equality, sorry, for I mean not that other men be eased and ye burdened, but by an equality, that now at this time your abundance may be a supply for their want, that their abundance also may be a supply for your want. that there may be equality, as it is written, he that hath gathered much hath nothing over, and he that hath gathered little had no lack. We'll end our reading there at the end of verse 15, and we'll come before the Lord in prayer and ask for his blessing upon his word this evening. our Father in heaven, we give you thanks this evening for having this opportunity to gather together as your people to worship and praise the Lord together. And we thank you for all those even who have ministered to us this evening in singing, and I pray you'll bless them and bless even what they're singing to our hearts. We thank you that we have a great Savior. We have a great deemer who was born in Bethlehem, lived for us, suffered many things, and went to the cross and shed his precious blood that we may be forgiven. And one day he is coming back again for us, the one who is the ruler of heaven and earth and the sea and all that in them is. We thank you for a great Savior and a great Redeemer. So I pray you bless us as we would consider your word this evening. Each one that's here, all of us, your people, encourage us from your Word, bless us, and whatever you would have us to take away from the message this evening, I pray that you will come by your Spirit and you will apply that Word to every heart that is gathered here this evening. That you would take what is said and apply it to every person's need here, for everyone has different needs. and is struggling with different things. So I pray, Father, that you'll do the work that no one can do here. And I pray that you'll apply this message to every heart. And I pray that then you'll forgive me for my sin today. You'll cleanse me and give me clean hands and pure heart this evening. And I pray you would bless me as I would seek to bring your Word. Fill me with the Holy Spirit. Fill us all here with your Spirit. that we may rightly worship the Lord, taking care to what you would have to say to us this evening, and bless every heart, whether it's your people or those unsaved. There's a message here this evening for those out of Christ, and I pray that anyone that is here not yet saved would see the Lord Jesus Christ as the answer to their greatest problem in life. So I pray, Father, you'll have your hand upon us as we consider your word, and also those who are not able to be with us. And we know that from the congregation here, there's many who's unwell, many who are sick. And I pray that you'll have your hand upon them and encourage them today, even as they be in their own homes or wherever they would be. We ask that you will encourage them and comfort them and bless them and warm their hearts from your word. And we also pray for Mr. McClung again. Bless him and return him back here even to preach your word again. And I pray you'll bless his ministry continually here from this pulpit and that he would see many souls saved as a result of preaching the gospel here and being faithful to your word. So I pray you'll bless all of those here all the people in the congregation that are unwell at this time, have difficulties and troubles and trials, maybe a test or an appointment coming up, I pray You'll comfort every heart and bless each one that is connected to this congregation. I pray You'd bless them. But I pray now for Your Word. I pray You'll bless it now as we take time to consider it. For it's in Jesus' name I ask and pray. Amen. Most of us here today will have a gift to give to someone over the Christmas time. Now, I don't usually have too many gifts to buy or hand out. I usually leave that to my wife. But most of us here will have bought something or will have received something in order that they will be able to give it to others and to bless them at this Christmas time. Now, the one main thing I think about buying presents for people is that oftentimes we don't really know what to get the other person. We want to buy them something because we have a love for them, but we don't really know what to get. And often you can even go to the person and you say, well, what would you like for Christmas? And they say, well, to be honest, I don't really know. I don't really need anything. And that can be a problem. But that was not the case in the New Testament church. They could not say they didn't really need anything, for they were in great poverty. And we read of that this evening in the passages that we read, 2 Corinthians and chapter 8. The church here that we read of in Macedonia, we're told were poor. They had very little material wealth, but yet we see here that Paul uses them as a case study, and he presents to the Corinthians, this church in Macedonia, how that they, in their deep poverty, were still willing to give gifts to others. And they were in poverty, but they saw other ones who were worse off than themselves. And they saw a need, and they sought to provide it, even though they were poor themselves. They sought to provide for other people in order to alleviate other people's suffering. And so it is here in this passage that Paul points us to this church, that we are to seek to bless others. And we should have an eye open for those around us who are worse off than ourselves. that we, in our riches, may be able to bless someone else who are poor, even at this time of the year, with a gift in order to bless them, to alleviate their poverty and their suffering. And Paul would encourage us to do that, to look out for those who are in need. He tells us in Galatians 6 and verse 10, as we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith." So the church's main priority is to the believer. But here the apostle Paul is saying, well, that doesn't mean you can forget all the rest. He says, do good unto all men. we should seek to bless others around us. And here, Paul would seek to encourage us to do that, for we are very well off. The majority of us here have many things, and we should seek to bless others with what we have. But although this is a great example Paul brought here in this chapter of good Christian giving and of great gifts that they give, Yet, that was not the greatest example that he gave to this church in Corinth. Rather, the greatest example of giving that has ever been demonstrated in the history of this world, Paul brings to us in verse 9 of this chapter. And that is where our text is found today, 2 Corinthians chapter 8 and verse 9. So let's look at that together. For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich. This is the greatest gift. that is ever recorded in Scripture and has ever been known in all of history. And I want then this evening just to take a little time to consider with you the greatest gift for man's greatest need. The greatest gift for man's greatest need. And first of all, I want to think with you this evening of the sinner's problem. the sinner's problem. There are many things that mankind has to face, and we've sort of been thinking about them this evening. The problem of poverty, or ill health, and hunger, all of these things, they're problems that mankind has, and serious problems. And there are many people across this world who are in real poverty and in real need of help, and who have poor health. And these are great needs. But that is not the greatest problem that man has. That is not the greatest need of mankind across this world. Instead of the physical, the spiritual is man's greatest problem. And you may be rich here today, you might be rich, you may have a lot of this world's goods, but if you're not right with God, then you are spiritually poor before God. And this is the greatest poverty that man can know. We read in Luke chapter 21, verses 1 to 3, of the time that the Savior was in the temple. And we read there, And he looked up and saw the rich men casting their gifts into the treasury. And he saw also a certain poor widow casting in thither two mates. And he said, Of a truth I say unto you, that this poor widow hath cast in more than they all. Jesus knew, Jesus knew that these rich men had cast in more money than this widow. He wasn't here oblivious to the fact that this widow had only cast in so very little. And instead, He looked and He saw the whole situation. He wasn't deceived. In those days, I believe, The case was, in the temple, what you would do is that when you were going to give your money, you would throw it into a pot, and what was, there was a metal pipe that your money would go down And they say that as someone would put their money in, if you listened carefully and you were used to the sound, you could tell how much money there was that someone was throwing in. And you could tell the difference of noise. Because you know what it's like, you drop a pound coin or a penny, you can tell the difference in the noise. And that was the case here in the temple, that as they put their money in, you could tell what one person was giving compared to another. And as Jesus was watching the giving of those around Him, He knew that the rich men had cast in lots of money. And you see here that in this verse, verse 1 of Luke chapter 21, it says, And He looked up and saw the rich men casting their gifts into the treasury, but He noticed also the widow. She had two mites. But what was his analysis? He said, the widow has cast in more than they all. Well, how does this all make sense? Well, it's how she gave. It's not what she gave. And instead of looking at the physical, God, our Savior, was looking at the spiritual. It is not what you have makes you rich before the Lord. It is the heart that you give. For this poor widow, she was giving to the Lord from a faith, a heart of faith. But these men, these rich men, were casting in to be seen of men, and they got their reward. People thought highly of them, yet not God. He saw them as being very poor in his sight. And your money, no matter how much you have, will mean nothing to you on the day of judgment. It doesn't matter if you have six pound or six million pound. On that day of judgment, it'll be worthless to you. For we're told in Matthew chapter 16, verse 26, For what is a man profited if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange? for his soul. For then, even if you could be the richest man on this earth, what difference does it make? It means nothing in light of eternity." I came across this quote, and it says, no man can tell whether he is rich or poor by turning to his ledger. It is the heart that makes a man rich. He is rich or poor according to what he is, not according to what he has. He is rich or poor according to what he is, not according to what he has. So, this is the main issue here. It is what a man is, not how much money He has. And this is the problem then all mankind has when they're born into this world. They have this great spiritual poverty. For we're born in sin and sheepened in iniquity. Our heart is not right before Almighty God. And we're all the same. Everyone is born the same way. And we all live the same way. Romans 3.23, for all have sinned. and come short of the glory of God." We've all broken God's law. We've all fallen short of the glory of God. And therefore, we were all born into this world as spiritually poor in the sight of the Lord. But man, he tries to think himself better than others and tries to look at God's commandments, His ten commandments, and tries to see how good he is. And we were considering this last week. At the youth rally, looking at the Ten Commandments, a man tries to look at them and say, well, I haven't killed anyone. I'm doing okay there. I haven't stolen anyone's money or car. I'm doing fine there. And then they try to compare themselves, but they bring God's standard down to their own, and they try to make themselves right before the Lord. But that's not the case. No man can be justified in the eyes of the Lord by his own deeds or keeping of the law, for we have all broken. God's holy law. For instance, if you're telling a lie, if you've ever told a lie, God says, that makes you a liar. And in Revelation 21 and 8, we're told that all liars have their part in the leg of fire. Also, for those who have hated someone else, if you've ever hated someone in your heart and you have that bitterness towards them, what John tells us in 1 John 3 and verse 15, Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer. and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him." This is a serious matter. No one can be justified before a holy God, and that means, then, that we are spiritually poor in the sight of the Lord. And as a result, if you die in your poverty, you will be cast out, you will be cast into the lake of fire, and you will know God's judgment for all eternity. being separated from God and spiritually poor for all eternity. So what difference does it make if you're physically rich on earth for a few years, if for eternity you will live all of your time in the lake of fire, spiritually bankrupt before Almighty God? Therefore, we and our sin or have a serious condition, we are poor before God. And this is man's greatest need. This is the sinner's greatest problem, the problem of sin. And the greatest need is to have that sin then removed from them. But this can only happen through the substitute. And that is where we'll look at secondly then this evening, is looking at the substitute's poverty. And here in our text, we have a wonderful revelation. I want us to look back again at our text, 2 Corinthians chapter 8 and verse 9. And it tells us, For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich. The only substitute who can deal with man's greatest need is the Lord Jesus Christ. And look what our text says. It tells us, He was rich. He was rich. The Lord Jesus Christ is the eternal Son of God, and the glory that God the Son had from all eternity is past all of our imagination. He was rich. in His divine attributes, rich in love, in mercy, in truth, in power, in holiness. God the Son is a great God and a wonderful God. He was rich in His authority over the creation. He created all things, and He is the owner of all things. And we're told that He is the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the Lord of lords. He is the King of kings and Lord of lords. No one was ever as rich as the Lord Jesus Christ. But then look at the comparison here in our text, where it goes on to say, He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor. So, yes, God the Son was rich beyond imagination, but it's also true to say that the Lord Jesus Christ, the man Christ Jesus, was the poorest man that ever lived on this earth. There was no one as poor as our Savior. For while He did not lose His attributes or His glory as God the Son, yet He took upon Himself human flesh. Imagine God in heaven, taking upon Himself human flesh. It's not even a comparison like a man becoming a worm to save a worm. And you wouldn't even consider it. If someone says, you could become a worm to save a worm, what would you say? You'd say, well, that would be madness. But it's not even comparable to that. The difference is infinite. It's infinite in difference. It's just beyond our comprehension. how God the Son would become man in order to save those who were enemies of Him, who hated Him, who did not love Him. What a wonder that God the Son would become man, who would become poor in order to save us. And that is what happened. God the Son became man, and He was contracted to a span in the womb of the Virgin Mary. He that is the sustainer of life was sustained in life by Joseph and Mary. He that owns the cattle on a thousand hills, the wealth in every mine, had not a single possession to His name. As He was making His way through this life, what did He say? Nowhere to lay His head. The foxes have their holes and the birds their nests, but He had nowhere to lay His head. And you think even there at the cross, He had not a single thing, possession. There He was on the cross naked, nothing. He owned nothing at the end of his life, and what he had throughout his life was given, and he was given by others and ministered to others from their wealth. And if you consider this, what condescension. Believer, if we just take time to consider that, our Savior was willing to do for us in order to save us. He had no obligation to save us. No, He didn't have to. He had no reason to, because we are so guilty and so poor and such wretched sinners. But in His humility, He became man in order to save Himself a people. Robert Hawker makes this comment on the verse, and he says, Jesus, who though Lord of heaven and earth, and rich beyond all calculation of riches, yet made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and became poor, that his redeemed through his poverty might be rich. This is a precedent unheard of and an example unparalleled. What a wonder that our Savior would be so willing in love to condescend to come to this earth and live for us. And so we see materially, our Savior was poor, but the pinnacle of our Savior's poverty, whenever He was at the cross, and I've said that already, materially on the cross, He had nothing. But then think of it in the sense of the spiritual sense. There on the cross, He became our Substitute. He was there in our place. He took our sin and our sorrows. He made them His very own. And He bore our burdens on His own body on the tree. And there He took our sin and became a Substitute in our place. And there He was forsaken by His Father. That communion that He knew for all eternity. Here on the cross, His Father turned His face away from Him, and our Savior had to cry on the cross, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? This is the greatest poverty we could think about, that His God would turn His face from Him because He was willing to take our sin. He knew no sin of His own, but He took our sin and was willing to take our place. so that we could be forgiven, so that we will not be forsaken. We have a great Savior who became poor for us. What a wonderful Savior, what a wonderful substitute we have. Then lastly, I want to look at the saints' position and look again at our text, 2 Corinthians 8 and verse 9. For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich." Our Savior, he became poor. Why? Why did He become poor? That we through His poverty might be made rich. This is the position that we are being brought into. And here we see the sinner's house, poor the sinner is. For you cannot become rich unless you are already poor. But here the Savior was willing, the One who is rich, He was willing to become poor in order to make us rich. He came so low to lift us up so high to become the sons of God. Instead of the rags of our sins, He clothed us in the robes of His own righteousness. His poverty, His life, His taking human flesh and living a life for us, it procured our salvation. His dying on the cross, it earned our salvation. That humility that He had gave us our exaltation from being pure sinners to being sons of God. What a wonderful message this is, that our Savior was willing to come and be born of a virgin in order to make us sons of the Most High God. This is something that we should be in awe of all of our lives, no matter if you're saved one month or you're saved 50 years. This is something that should rejoice your hearts tonight, that your Savior was willing to do so much for you. in order to bring you into this position of being rich before God. And that then helps us to live with the right perspective, believer. If you are resting in Jesus Christ, if you have repented of your sin, if you're trusting in Jesus Christ for salvation, that poverty has gone. You have been brought into the riches of Christ, and then that gives us the right perspective to live all of our lives. For then, as we consider our burdens, as we consider our difficulties, if we consider all the trials we face, well then, what are they compared to what we have in Jesus Christ? Paul tells us in Romans 8 and 18, "'For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.'" They're not worthy to be compared. We can suffer. People suffer great things, much pain, much trouble, ill health, poverty, hunger, all of these things. We suffer on this earth sometimes, but they're not worthy to be compared with what we will receive when our Savior comes back again. When we die and go to be with Christ, what we will receive, it's not worthy to be compared with what we had to suffer. And this keeps us focused on the right thing. Now, our burdens, they can be great, but what will be revealed in us? is for all eternity is not worthy to be compared. Christ has purchased for us great riches by His poverty, and this gives us good perspective to live in life so we can face our sufferings knowing that there's a great wealth laid up for us in eternity, that inheritance undefiled, that feedeth not away and reserved in heaven for you. What a wonderful thing. But then it also helps us and affects our lives when we remember that all we then should do, we should live in light of eternity. So we see here that the riches of this earth, everyone needs a pound. We all need food to eat. We all need to live in this life. And that means we do need material things. And that's good and that's fine. And we should work and seek to provide for our families. However, At the same time, the greater riches are those of spiritual riches. For material blessings, we have them for a small time. Even if you live to 110, you know, that's just 110 years. But the riches you will have spiritually, they last for all eternity. So then let us be more busy seeking to lay up treasures in heaven, which is of greater value. Our Savior said in Matthew chapter 6, Verse 19, "'Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal. But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal.'" So, believer, then let us, no matter what we're doing, whether we're eating, we're drinking, let us do everything to the glory of God. For if we live for the glory of God and we seek to love our God and our neighbor as ourselves, that we will accumulate great riches that will be laid up in heaven for us, where moth and rust cannot corrupt. So let us be busy seeking to work for our God and for our Savior. For we're told in Revelation chapter 14 and verse 13, blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth. Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their laborers, and their works do follow them. And this gives us the motivation to live for Jesus Christ in everything we do, for we know that our works will follow us. Our money will not follow us. We'll leave it behind for someone else, but our spiritual works done for Christ, they will follow us. into eternity, that is, to come. So, knowing what our Savior has done for us, seeing here that the spiritual riches are more valuable, let us spend time working for our Savior. And this will then motivate us, help us to seek to live for others. And even in that charitable way we were speaking about at the start, that then we should be giving what we can to those who are worse off than us, seeking to help them in their suffering. And speaking on this verse, Matthew Henry said, this is a good reason why we should be charitable to the poor out of what we have, because we ourselves live upon the charity of the Lord Jesus Christ. We should be charitable to others, as Matthew Henry says, because we ourselves live upon the charity of the Lord Jesus Christ. And our Savior said, and in a strict sense, well, He said that freely you have received, freely give. And that is how we live. And if we didn't have the charity of the Lord Jesus Christ, if we didn't receive bounty from His hand, where would we be today? So then thinking upon that, well, then let us seek to help those who are worse off than ourselves, and seek to be a help to those around us. So this is just some of the things, the lessons we can learn. As God's people, those who know God's salvation, let us work for Jesus Christ. But finishing this evening, I want to ask you here, are you a believer? Are you resting in Jesus Christ? For if you are not, you are in a terrible position, that position that we are thinking about that's saying you are poor before God, you have not riches before God, and if you remain in your poverty, you will spend an eternity without Jesus Christ. Therefore, it's vital for you to make sure you go to the only one who can solve your problems. the Lord Jesus Christ, your Substitute, that has come at Bethlehem as a baby, born there so He could live a life for us under the law, so that He could redeem us. So you must come to Him, the only One who can change your position, the only One who can make you rich before the Lord Jesus Christ. So you must turn from your sin, You must repent of your sin, trust in Jesus Christ for salvation. For our text says this evening, 2 Corinthians 8, verse 9, And that is my question this evening is, do you know the grace? of the Lord Jesus Christ. Are you resting in Him for salvation? Well, if you're not, then Christ commands you, repent and believe the gospel. Do not leave your salvation off any longer. Do not say, well, wait, sometime maybe next year I'll be saved. No, as I was saying this morning, now is the day of salvation. There's not a moment to lose, because you're poor before God. You die as you are, you will be in a terrible position. But if you will come, If you will repent of your sin, you'll trust in the work that Jesus Christ did on the cross. He will cleanse you from your sin by His precious blood. He will bring you into a new relationship, a new position before Him. And you will be able to leave this evening and say, for I know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. that though he was rich, yet for my sake he became poor, that I, through his poverty, might be rich." You can say that this evening, that you're rich before God. And I pray that everyone here will know this great riches. You need it. to spend eternity with the Lord. So I plead with you this evening, those out of Christ, please repent of your sin, trust in Jesus Christ, and if you do, you'll receive this wonderful position, the position of all the saints, of being rich in the sight of Almighty God. And we'll finish there, and we'll end there this evening. We'll close by singing hymn number 85, please. Hymn number 85. thou didst leave thy throne and thy kingly crown when thou camest to earth for me. Hymn number 85, and we'll sing the entirety of this hymn, and we'll stand to sing, please. ♪ I know how I've been deprived ♪ ♪ And I've managed to earn for me. ♪ ♪ I've met with some wiser man, Lord, ♪ ♪ For thy holy nobility. ♪ of Jesus. ♪ And the birds their nests ♪ ♪ In the shade of the cedar tree ♪ ♪ But the church was the son or son of God ♪ ♪ In the desert of Galilee ♪ ♪ O come to my heart, Lord Jesus ♪ there is room in my heart for thee. ♪ God gave us the Lord with the living Word ♪ ♪ That should set thy people free ♪ ♪ But with love he swore and with pride of faith ♪ ♪ They bore me to Calvary ♪ ♪ Oh, come to my heart, Lord Jesus ♪ thy cross is my only plea. And then, George, Israel and her choir shall sing of thy coming to victory, when thy voice Let's pray. Our Father in heaven, we thank you for our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, that he was willing to come in great humility, that even though the foxes they find rest and the birds they have their nest, yet we know that our Savior had nowhere to lay his head, and even there on the cross with what, that mugging scorn in the crown of thorn, our Savior was born to Calvary, But we thank you that our Savior is willing to come. He did not go to the cross by compulsion of man, but rather voluntarily in order to save us. And we thank you that our Savior was willing to come in great humility in order to lift us up and to make us sons of God. We thank you for this, Father. We thank you for our wonderful Savior and Creator. And I pray that you'll help us to be thankful For all that we have, to all that we have in Jesus Christ, there may be things that we do not have that we wish we had, but what more riches could we ask than having the Lord Jesus Christ as our own and personal Savior. To that end, then, I pray that there be though anyone here out of Jesus Christ, still pure in their sins, that today they would be made rich before Almighty God, and they would accept the Lord Jesus Christ, who is of infinite value, whose blood is beyond any comparison to any riches of this earth. We're not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold, but by the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lamb without blemish and without spot. So we thank you, Father, for our Savior that was willing to become poor in order to make us rich. So we thank you, Father, for Jesus Christ, and I pray that you would speak to every heart. We thank you for your blessing today. We thank you for your mercy, and we pray that you'll bless everyone here today. Encourage us and do us good even for the rest of this week, and may your hand of grace be upon us, and I pray that your mercy will go with us. For us in Jesus' name I ask and pray, amen. ♪