So our text this morning is Luke chapter 6, verse 38. It's in the midst of this collection of Luke's of Jesus' preaching. Most likely part of the Sermon on the Mount. It's also recorded in Matthew chapters 5, 6, and 7. Our verse this morning is this, Give, and it will be given to you. They will pour into your lap a good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over. For by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you in return. Well four weeks ago we began to look at this account of Jesus' preaching recorded in Luke. And this is not a transcript of an entire sermon, but these are Jesus' own words. And we've seen to this point, Jesus has said many things that are contrary to the ways and to the thinking of the fallen world. Look at verse 20. You might want to leave your Bibles open to Luke 6. Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed are you who hunger now, you shall be satisfied. Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh. Blessed are you when men hate you, ostracize you, insult you, and scorn your name as evil for the sake of the Son of Man. He says, Be glad in that day and leap for joy, for your reward is great in heaven. And Jesus said, Woe to you who are rich, who are well fed now, who laugh now, and when all men speak well of you, for you have your reward in this life. Now of course, what Jesus was saying was that the kingdom of heaven belongs to those who recognize their poverty of spirit. Who recognize their sinful condition. Who recognize their lack of any righteousness of our own. Who have remorse over their sin. Who recognize their need for a Savior. Who recognize their need for a righteousness from outside of themselves. And Jesus didn't stop there. He said, contrary to what the scribes were teaching, love your neighbor but hate your enemy. No, Jesus said, love your enemies. Do good to those who hate you. Bless those who curse you. Whoever hits you on the cheek, offer him the other. Whoever takes away your coat, let him have your shirt too. Now these things do not describe the way of the world. They don't describe the way of the fallen world at all. Verse 37, Jesus warned His people not to be judgmental. Not to be condemning of others, lest judgment come upon us. Rather He says, be forgiving. And now in verse 38, Jesus relates one's giving to others with what one who gives will receive back. Now we're not preaching salvation by works here. We're not saying anything close to the idea that one can earn salvation. Jesus said, give and it will be given to you though. Most people understand that giving is a good thing. Most of us instinctively realize that giving to those in need is right. Even in the fallen world, people tend to think of a cause and effect relationship between what one gives and what one receives back. And they've got a word for that. They call it karma. This isn't karma. It's God's design. This is God's design for His people. Giving reflects the character of God. So that's what we're going to talk about here this morning in terms of this verse. Because Christ has called His people to reflect God's character. That's what He's been doing all through this sermon. He's called us in this sermon to a love of our enemies, to doing good to those who hate us. And all of this speaks of the character of God Himself. This is who God is. If you read through this passage beginning in verse 20, you're going to see who God is. You're going to see who Christ is. God is love, John tells us. And He demonstrated His love for us while we were yet His enemies. How did He do that? By sending His only Son. To be born in a stable. To be laid in a feeding trough. To ultimately be beaten to death almost. Hung on a cross. He sent His Son to die for us. To rescue us from eternal darkness. So that's how He demonstrated His love to us. And Scripture tells us God created man in His own image and likeness by what happened in the garden, by His sin. And though some vestige of His image remains in mankind, man has marred the image of God in us. And Jesus came into the world not only to save us from our sin and to teach us the ways of God, but to restore the image of God in His people. Now we're talking this morning about our being conformed to the image of Christ. Our being like Christ. And it may be our inclination to think, well, wait a minute. Total conformity to Christ? That can wait until He calls us home. Until then, I'll just settle for just being okay. I'll try and be a good Christian. After all, we're only human. No. Jesus came and He died not only to justify His people, but to what? To sanctify us. To set us apart unto holiness. And that's what our Lord's showing us in this passage. He's calling us to turn away from the ways and the thinking of Babylon, the fallen world. And to think and live in this world as He lived and as He is. See, the New Testament is about showing us Christ. And this is Christ. In nature, we can see the power of God. But it's only in Scripture that we come to know the character of God. And in Scripture, we see that He is loving, compassionate, merciful, and just. That He's always faithful, always true to His own Word. And from eternity past, before the foundation of the world, He is a God who gives. He's a God who gives. He's the giver of all things. The earth is the Lord's and all that it contains. And He gives. He gave to Adam a garden paradise. When the sons of Jacob came into the wilderness, He gave them manna and water. And He gave His only Son. See, this was a gift. He gave His only Son unto suffering and death so that whoever believes in Him, He gives eternal life. And not only that, in eternity past, He gave a people to His Son. John 6, 37, all that the Father gives me will come to me. And the one who comes to me I will certainly not cast out. This wasn't new in the New Testament. This wasn't new when Jesus came. When God established the sons of Jacob as a great nation, He called them to be a giving people. Exodus 22, 25, If you lend money to My people, To the poor among you, you are not to act as a creditor to him. You shall not charge him interest. If you ever take your neighbor's cloak as a pledge, you are to return it to him before the sun sets. But that's his only covering. It's his cloak for his body. What else shall I sleep in? And it shall come about that when he cries out to me, I will hear him, for I am gracious. One who's gracious is a giver of gifts. That's what our gift of salvation is. It's a gift of God. Deuteronomy 15, 7. If there's a poor man with you, one of your brothers, in any of your towns, in your land which the Lord your God is giving you, you shall not harden your heart, nor close your hand from your poor brother, but you shall freely open your hand to him and shall generously lend him sufficient for his need in whatever he lacks. Beware that there is no base thought in your heart saying, it's the seventh year, the year of remission is near, and your eye turns hostile toward your poor brother, and you give him nothing. Then he may cry to the Lord against you, and it will be a sin in you. You shall generously give to him, and your hearts shall not be grieved when you give to him. Because for this thing the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and in all your undertakings. For the poor will never cease to be in the land. Therefore I command you, saying, you shall freely open your hand to your brother, to your needy and poor in your land. You have to wonder, people ask, why does God leave the world in such a condition? Maybe it's to stir His people to give. The Lord taught them in the Proverbs. Proverbs 3, 9. Honor the Lord from your wealth and from the first of all your produce. The first of all your produce. So your barns will be filled with plenty, and your vats will overflow with new wine. Proverbs 19, 17. One who is gracious to a poor man lends to the Lord. It's to the Lord. and He will repay him for his good deed." These are promises of God. Proverbs 22, 9, "...He who is generous will be blessed, for he gives some of his food to the poor." So Scripture teaches us, one who gives to a poor man does three things. He honors the Lord, he lends to the Lord, and he will be blessed by the Lord. He receives the blessing of the Lord. And in this passage, of course, Jesus Christ, the eternal Son incarnate, teaches us to be a giving people. To be a cheerful giver. To manifest a giving heart. It's not something we do only to help others or to make Babylon a better place. For the believer, for the believer, Giving is an obedient response to our Lord. And it has a purpose. It has several purposes, but it has a distinct purpose that I think the Lord is showing us here this morning. And when we give in gratitude to Him, we reflect the giver of all things. We reflect Him. Now as I said, our Lord's focus in this passage is not solely or even primarily, if at all, on giving to the church. Or on the old covenant command to tithe. It's much broader than that. His focus is on the heart of the giver. He wants us to be like Him. I'll say it several times this morning. He wants His people to be like Him. When we read the words of our Lord in this sermon, we see that the motives of love and compassion form the basis of all that He's been teaching us here. Love and compassion. See, the world honors toughness, talent, intellect, power. The character of Jesus is different. It's marked by love and compassion. And He wants to see that same character in those He came to save. The people to whom He has graciously imparted spiritual life. People whom He now indwells. We shouldn't look like somebody who is not indwelt by the Spirit of God. Love, compassion, and gratitude to our Lord for all that He has given us. And a desire to honor Him. Those are the proper motives for giving. And He's given us so much. When we came across verse 30 here, Jesus also spoke about giving. Give to everyone who asks of you, He said. Whoever takes away what is yours, do not demand it back. Verse 35, lend expecting nothing in return. That sounds a lot like giving. That may sound extreme. But look what Jesus says. Your reward will be great. Lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great. You will be sons of the Most High. And what's the motivation here? To be like Him, for He Himself is kind to ungrateful and evil men. No, this doesn't sound like anything you hear on the TV. It doesn't sound like what we hear in the world, what we're taught in school. No, Jesus isn't like any of that. He says even if someone steals from you, don't demand it back. Why? Because it's better to suffer the loss of some earthly good than to let our passion for material things rule us, take hold of us. That's why. Jesus is teaching us here to put our desire to be like Him ahead of everything else. And certainly above the accumulation of worldly possessions and worldly wealth. Which is most important to us? To be like Him or to be wealthy? His central point here is His call to be like Him. And to be like Him means, look, He doesn't give to us because of what He figures He might get back from us. What do we have that He could possibly need? He gives to us from a motive of love. God demonstrates His love in that while we were yet sinners, He sent His Son to die for us. Father gave His Son to us while we were His enemies. And so, Look what Jesus says in Ephesians 5, 1. Therefore, Paul writes, be imitators of God. Be imitators of God as beloved children. Now we know children naturally adopt the habits of their parents. Be imitators of God and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you. He gave Himself up for us. An offering and a sacrifice to God. And here in verse 36, just two verses back from where we are in Luke 6, be imitators of God, He says. Be merciful just as your Father is merciful. You know, the inclination is to want to just leave this to somebody else. Well He's left it to us. I know none of us are perfect people. Not close. This is what He wants from us. This is what He wants from us. He's telling us that love and mercy and forgiveness are the hard attitudes that demonstrate we are His disciples. That demonstrate that we've been transformed by His Spirit and joined into union with Him. And that serve His purposes. He still has purposes in this world. And so he says we should also be people who give and give generously. Look at the verse again. Give and it will be given to you. They will pour out into your lap a good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over. For by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you in return. We can't ignore that last part. That's Jesus Christ saying this. So our giving should, one, be an exercise of love and compassion for others. And is he speaking only of money? No. Money, our labor, our talent, our time, all given in gratitude for what the Lord has given us out of a motive of love and compassion for others. And he's speaking of something more than fulfilling a duty or of giving grudgingly. Look, it's right to recognize our duty to love and serve others in the church. Paul wrote about that at length in Romans. But it's even more blessed to do so from a motive of love, from a motive of gratitude to God. You realize eternal fire was awaiting all of us. And then He reached down, accomplished our redemption, and then sent His Spirit and applied it to us. We better be grateful. And while the prospect of a reward should not be our motive for the giving of ourselves and our resources, the Lord does promise a reward. Give and it will be given to you. As I said, may have some application in this life. But the reward that overflows, that runs over, is that given by God at the last day. It's the measure of glory that's reserved for you by Him. Glory is reserved. This is talking about the measure of that glory. Now this illustration here, good measure, pressed down. This is that of the ancient Near East grain market. And we probably, for us, it's probably easier to picture putting those leaves into the barrel and then you shake them. Then you press them down. Then you can pour more leaves in and it comes back to the top. And you shake it again. You press them down. You can keep getting more leaves in until eventually you get so many that as you're carrying them out to the curb, It's flying all over everywhere. So a loosely filled bushel of grain contains far less produce than one that has been pressed down and shaken. He says that the reward, Jesus does, to those of His disciples. That's who He's talking about here. His disciples who manifest a giving heart will receive a return like that of a bushel that overflows. Wouldn't you like to show up and instead of the Lord saying, just come on over here. Wouldn't you like to just have this abundance of blessing poured out onto you? Our own measure is used to measure back to us. So Jesus is saying, he who gives generously will receive back generously. I feel compelled almost every page to repeat, no one can earn their salvation. No one can earn forgiveness of sins. But recompense and reward have always been the way of God. And Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28 clearly set forth blessings for obedience and curses for disobedience for the sons of Jacob. Just one verse, Deuteronomy 1510. Give generously to Him and do not let your heart be grieved when you do so. Oh, I wish I had that back. And because of this, the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and in everything in which you put your hand. The rewards under the old covenant were earthly. What we have received, what we receive from God by His grace through nothing we have done is so far beyond earthly blessing. But we're going to be judged according to our deeds in this life. Second Corinthians 5.10, For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad. Second Corinthians 9.6, Now this I say, he who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly. He who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each one must do as he has purposed in his heart, not grudgingly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And Jesus said Himself again, Mark 424, take care what you listen to. By your standard of measure, it will be measured to you. He tells us here that His people will be rewarded according to the measure of their response to His grace. And the response to which He calls us is to reflect the mercy and love of our heavenly Father. and of our Savior. To be merciful and forgiving to others. And to be people who reflect His giving heart. And He shows us here, it's not how much we give or how often, but our motive for giving. This is all about the heart. The heart of Christ's people. Do we give out of a motive of love and compassion and gratitude for God's blessings? Do we give to honor the name of the Lord Jesus? Jesus described some who didn't do that. I didn't get this into the Scripture sheet. Matthew 6, beginning in verse 1. I'm going to read four verses. Matthew 6, verse 1. Beware of practicing your righteousness before men, to be noticed by them. Otherwise you have no reward with your Father who is in heaven. So when you give to the poor, don't sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be honored by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. But when you give to the poor, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving will be in secret, and your father who sees what is done in secret will reward you. None of us were there except in the mind of God, but in eternity past, God predestined a people to be conformed to the image of His Son. This is that little part of Romans 8, 29 that sometimes gets overlooked. And He didn't predestine those He chose and called merely to receive the benefits of heavenly glory. but also to become sanctified, Christ-like people. To be conformed to the image of Christ. And 1st John 3, 2 talks about this. Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not yet appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him because we will see Him just as He is. See, the blessed truth is, all who believe have an inheritance in heavenly glory. And in the end, all true believers will be conformed to His image. First Corinthians 15, 49, just as we have borne the image of the earthy, we will also bear the image of the heavenly. 2 Corinthians 3.18, we all with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into that same image from glory to glory. That's what's going on here. As we go about our business, we're being transformed from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit. And this transformation, brothers and sisters, of all believers to the likeness of Christ, is now in progress. It's ongoing. That's what he's doing. But he's also calling us to actively participate in this transformation. Our sanctification. It's what he says here in Hebrews 12, 14, "...Pursue peace with all men and the sanctification, without which no one will see the Lord." Pursue our own sanctification. And we are called to put on Christ. Not later, but now. Now. Galatians 3.27, all of you who were baptized into Christ, brought into union with Him, have clothed yourselves with Christ. Romans 13, 14, but put on the Lord Jesus Christ. It doesn't say later. make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts. And in Scripture, we have examples of this. We see many examples of people who manifested Christ in them. in their generous giving in His name. Look at 2nd Corinthians 8, 1. Now, brethren, we wish to make known to you the grace of God which has been given in the churches of Macedonia, that in a great ordeal of affliction, their abundance of joy and their deep poverty overflowed in the wealth of their liberality. For I testify that according to their ability and beyond their ability, they gave of their own accord, begging us with much urging for the favor of participation in the support of the saints. And this, not as we had expected, but they first gave themselves to the Lord and to us by the will of God. This is a remarkable passage. Look at this. By God's grace, His people in Macedonia, though they had very little They gave much. Their deep poverty overflowed in the wealth of their generosity. Beyond their ability, they gave of their own accord. They begged Paul to allow them to contribute to the support of others. Please let us contribute. But what did they do first? They gave themselves to the Lord. And who was their example? Well look at verse 9 of 2nd Corinthians 8. For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, for your sake He became poor, so that you through His poverty might become rich. And we have other examples. Turn to Acts chapter 2, verse 44. Acts 244, all those who had believed were together, had all things in common, and they began selling their property and possessions and were sharing them with all, as anyone might have need. Day by day, continuing with one mind in the temple and breaking bread from house to house, they were taking their meals together with gladness and sincerity of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people. And what was the Lord doing? The Lord was adding to their number, day by day, those who were being saved. And then chapter 4, verse 32. This was a remarkable time in those earliest days of the church. No, they weren't perfect people, but they were giving people. They were moved by the Spirit of God in a remarkable way. The congregation of those who believed were of one heart and soul. Not one of them claimed that anything belonging to him was his own. What did Jesus ever own, by the way? What do we have from Scripture that tells us Jesus owned anything? Foxes have their dens. Birds have their nests. Jesus had no home, at least during those three years of ministry. all things were common property to them. And with great power the apostles were giving testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And abundant grace was upon them all, for there was not a needy person among them. For all who were owners of land or houses would sell them and bring the proceeds of the sales and lay them at the apostles' feet, and they would be distributed to each as any had need. remarkable evidence of love of others, compassion for others, and giving hearts. The comfort and ease in the day in which we live is a great opponent of giving hearts, isn't it? Scripture also shows us the wickedness of an unwillingness to give. Look at James 5.1, Come now, you rich, weep and howl for your miseries which are coming upon you. Your riches have rotted and your garments have become moth-eaten. Your gold and your silver have rusted, and their rust will be a witness against you and will consume your flesh like fire. It's in the last days you have stored up your treasure. Behold, the pay of the laborers who mowed your fields, and which has been withheld by you, cries out against you. And the outcry of those who did the harvesting has reached the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth. You have lived luxuriously on the earth and led a life of wanton pleasure. You have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter. Jesus calls us always to think and live in light of the divine blessings we have received. We don't just give thanks in our words and our prayers, but we live in response to those blessings. In light of the love and the mercy He's shown us. And I fear that far too many want the benefits of Christ, but don't want to have to be like Christ. At least not yet. You know why He's called us to live in what may seem to us to be such an extreme demonstration of love and mercy and generosity? What's our Lord's purpose in calling us to be these loving, merciful, and giving people? Well, one very important reason, perhaps the most important reason, is we have a mission here. We're not here just to wait until He gets back. We have a mission here in this world to share the message of the cross to call others into the kingdom. And whose message is going to be received? Is it going to be that of one who responds to hate with hate? Is it going to be that of one who takes vengeance on his enemy? That of the one who responds to an insult with another insult, a better insult? Is it going to be that of the one who refuses to extend mercy to another? Is it going to be that of one who will not forgive or that of one who will not give to one who is in need? Will the world listen to such people? In this sermon, the Lord shows us His desires that the message of the cross be presented by people who extend love and kindness and mercy and forgiveness to others. That's who He wants on His mission group. This kind of people. And that's why He's saying these things, I believe. He's given us His Word so that we may be saved from eternal darkness by believing in Him. But He's also given us His Word to teach us and equip all that He has called to be His instruments in bringing the gospel into the world. We must stop thinking it's somebody else's job. Somebody else's calling. Somebody else's gifting. This is what we're doing here. And in this sermon, he's instructing his people in the way his ambassadors must reflect his character in the conduct of his mission. Look at the impact that Jesus had on one of those who crucified him. Look at how this man changed after nailing him to the cross. Luke 23, 33. came to the place called the Skull. There they crucified Him and the criminals. One on the right and the other on the left. Jesus was saying, Father, forgive them. They don't know what they're doing. They cast lots, divided up His garments among themselves. And it was now about the sixth hour in verse 44. Darkness fell over the whole land until the ninth hour, because the sun was obscured, and the veil of the temple was torn in two. And Jesus, crying out with a loud voice, said, Father, into Your hands I commit My Spirit. And having said this, He breathed His last." And what do you suppose happened next? When the centurion saw all that had happened, he began praising God and saying, certainly this man was innocent. He saw Christ's likeness in Christ. So Jesus has shown us what it is like to be like Him. That's what this whole sermon has been about. His sermon in Luke chapter 6. And the question, why would we want to be like anyone else? People of the world. must see Christ in us. This is just one thing we cannot lay off on somebody else. We must dedicate ourselves earnestly to that end. Yes, in the world today, Christians are despised in many places. But rejection of Christ and the gospel are the norm in this world. always have been. Christ was despised and rejected. And yet, the centurion saw in his response to all of that, he saw through all the hate. And he saw the goodness, innocence in Christ. And the reality is this, if we, the people of Christ, do not share the gospel and manifest Christ's likeness in the world, there isn't somebody else that's going to do it. There's no one else to do it. This is now our mission. And we look back to 2 Corinthians 9, verse 10, to what God has promised us. It should be a joy. Look how it all ends. ...Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness. And you will be enriched in everything for all liberality, which through us is producing thanksgiving to God. The heart of our Lord is a loving heart. He is a compassionate, merciful Savior whose compassion and mercy is such that He set aside the glory of heaven for a time, was born in a barn, laid in a feed trough, became subject to His own law, and suffered and died for His enemies. He didn't come to die for the righteous people. He came to die for sinners. And He's a God who gives. He's the giver of all things. And this morning, He calls us to be a giving people from our hearts for His mission and for His glory. Let us pray. O Lord, as we come to Your table this morning, we have so many wondrous blessings to remember in You. We remember not only Your cross, but Your sinless We remember, Lord, the love and the mercy you showed to us who were in open rebellion against you. And Lord, we pray that you will empower this word to our hearts. We pray that you will empower us to be what you want us to be. That we will live under conviction of this call to Christlikeness. for the salvation of the lost and for your glory. In Christ's name, amen.