2 Corinthians chapter number 9 continues the thought of chapter 8.
Chapters 8 and 9 are pretty much one continuous thought.
These two chapters really have to be looked at together as one unit.
And the subject matter of these two chapters is money and it specifically is about giving
to the poor saints in Jerusalem, a church that had more resources stepping up, the Corinthians,
and supplying the lack of a church that was struggling, people that were poor, the saints
that were in need at Jerusalem because of hard times that they were going through there.
Now I want to back up a little bit into chapter 8 because I didn't quite get to the
end of chapter 8 last time.
Last time I pretty much focused on the love of money and just explaining how we should
not seek after money or desire to be rich and that people who do follow that go down
a very dark path and they get into lots of other sins because the love of money is
the root of all evil.
So tonight I'm going to finish up with the thought here but let's back up into
chapter 8 verse 20 and I want to point this out, avoiding this that no man should
blame us in this abundance which is administered by us providing for honest things not only
in the sight of the Lord but also in the sight of men.
So here's what's going on.
One group of people has an abundance and they want to help out the poor so they end
up giving money to help the poor.
Well somewhere along the line there's the administration, okay.
There's basically the guy who picks up the money from one person, right, and then takes
it and distributes it and what he's saying is he wants to make sure that people realize
that Paul as the administrator of this fund for the poor saints of Jerusalem is being
honest and that he's not skimming off the top, that he's not stealing.
Now this is a big thing in the Bible and it's a big thing in the world where we live.
Think about Judas Iscariot.
What was he doing?
Judas Iscariot was the administrator of the funds.
He was the treasurer amongst Jesus and his disciples and the Bible tells us that he
was stealing from the money.
He was stealing from the offerings.
Judas Iscariot was a thief, okay, and guess what?
There are Judas Iscariots today that are also thieves.
They're also stealing from the offering plate.
There are people who steal money in churches.
Now this is a problem not in our church because of the fact that we make it impossible
for people to steal money here and we have checks and balances.
Why?
Because we want to provide things honest, not just honest in the sight of the Lord
but also honest in the sight of men.
But it's a huge problem in a lot of churches where sometimes there's stealing going on
from the offering plate or not just stealing from the offering plate but what about where
you just see the pastor of the church and he's driving a Jaguar and he's wearing
Armani suits and he's got the air-conditioned doghouse and the tennis courts and all the
different things where and we've all seen it in the news and the media.
These pastors that are filthy rich because they are thieves because they are teaching
things which they ought not, they're in the ministry for filthy lucre's sake.
So what the apostle Paul is saying is, look, I know that that's out there and it's
not just in churches, it's in business as well.
People embezzle money from businesses all the time and so Paul knows that this is
out there.
He knows about Judas and he knows that there have always been people like that and always
will be people like that.
So he's saying that when it comes to administering this bounty, he's going to provide for honest
things not just in the sight of God but also in the sight of men.
So that's why we need to make sure that when we're taking up the offering at church
for example or any time we're dealing with money that we don't just have this attitude
of well how dare you question us.
I mean, of course we love the Lord, of course we're Christians, of course we would
never steal.
How dare you insinuate that I would steal money.
That's a guilty person talking.
Why would you even suspect me, why would you even question me?
Because the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked, who can know
it?
Because of the fact that human nature is human nature and so we need to provide
things honest in the sight of men, not just have this attitude of well just trust us
to just blindly handle the money and don't question anything.
Well guess what, that's not going to cut it.
So let me just tell you how we handle the money here to make sure that no stealing
goes on.
So we just passed the offering plates what, less than 10 minutes ago.
So when the offering plates are passed, the offerings are immediately taken to that room
right there and they are counted immediately.
So they're not just set aside and then counted hours later or the next day where
somebody could steal it in between.
The offering is publicly taken up in open plates, right, so you can see the money
goes in, those plates are taken into that room right there and in that room there
are always at least three people in there counting the money and it's not just one
guy and his two buddies, okay.
There are people who rotate through there and all three of them count the money and
all three of them log it in a book immediately.
It's already done.
Like right now, here we are, it's either done or it's being done right now.
Is it done or is it being done?
It's being done.
They're finishing it right now as I speak, okay.
You say well they should come in and sit down and enjoy the sermon and then, well
no because it's important that we provide things honest not just in the sight of the
Lord but in the sight of men.
That's why the money needs to be counted immediately so there's no question about
the money that it's being counted, it's being logged in and then all three of them
sign off on it that they all three counted it and then we make sure that when
it goes to the bank that the same amount goes in the bank what was written in that
book and then all the money that comes out of the bank has to go toward legitimate
church expenditures.
From a legal standpoint, it has to be that which is religious, educational or charitable,
okay.
And obviously, just from a moral standpoint, we want to make sure that it goes toward
things that are furthering the work of Christ and going toward getting the gospel
out there, our church's health and well-being and that our church would do the work of
the Lord and that's where, you know, we want to make sure that we're good stewards
of the Lord's money.
And by the way, when we spend money at our church, we don't use cash, okay.
We don't use cash unless it's absolutely necessary.
Why?
Because there's no paper trail.
So you can't really provide things honest in the sight of God and in the sight of
men when you're just withdrawing a thousand bucks cash, two thousand bucks cash, five
thousand bucks cash and who knows where it went or what it was used for.
We must keep a record of everything, alright.
And so the only time we use cash is if we are in a foreign country, a place where, because
you know, Visa's everywhere where you want to be but sometimes we go to some places
that Visa doesn't want to be, alright.
When we go on missions trips, sometimes we will use cash on missions trips just because
they don't accept card.
If they accept card, we'd always rather use card.
And then rarely, very rarely, we will need to buy something for the church used off
Craigslist or something.
And this is like once every few years, we'll use cash to buy it.
But then we have a receipt.
We make the people off Craigslist sign a receipt or we don't do business with them.
So we have to make sure that there's a paper trail, that everything's logged and
that there are records, okay.
Because we want to be honest.
We don't want the ministry to be blamed.
We don't want to be blamed.
And that's what the apostle Paul is saying.
There's nothing new under the sun.
He said that no man should blame us in this abundance, verse 20 of chapter 8, which is
administered by us, providing for honest things, not only in the sight of the Lord
but also in the sight of, well, I'm honest in the sight of God.
God knows the truth.
God's my witness.
Okay, but what about in the sight of men?
Abstain from all appearance of evil.
And so yeah, God knows your heart and he told us about it in Jeremiah 17, verse 9,
okay.
And, you know, we want to see the receipt.
We want to see the records.
We want to see the paperwork, okay.
Chapter 8, verse 24, wherefore show ye to them and before the church is the proof
of your love and of our boasting on your behalf.
Let's get into chapter 9 here.
He says in verse 1, for as touching the ministering to the saints, it is superfluous
for me to write to you.
What does that word superfluous mean?
It means it's not necessary.
It means that it would be redundant because you already know about this.
He's saying, touching the ministering to the saints, it's superfluous for me to write
to you, for I know the forwardness of your mind, for which I boast of you to
them of Macedonia, that Achaea was ready a year ago, and your zeal hath provoked
very many.
Now, look, 2 Corinthians is not an easy book and that's part of the reason why this
Bible study, I think, is going to be helpful to some people because we can kind of break
this down verse by verse and explain some of the difficult language here.
But when he says, I know the forwardness of your mind, what he's saying is that these
people are not slow or apprehensive or reluctant to give.
These people had an attitude, they had a mind that was forward, meaning that they're
basically just ready to give.
They're ready to minister to the saints.
In fact, he had them at hello.
As soon as they heard about the need in Jerusalem, they had a ready mind, they
were forward, and they said, we're going to pitch in, we're going to help out, you
can count on us.
And he said that because they had had that attitude, he actually boasted to them of Macedonia,
Macedonia is northern Greece, Achaia is southern Greece, he boasted to them of Macedonia saying
that Achaia was ready a year ago.
Basically he's been using them as a positive sermon illustration.
So he's like, man, that Corinth church, let me give you a positive illustration.
These people know what it means to be generous, to care about other people.
They're not covetous, whatever.
So he's using them as an example.
And he said, your zeal has provoked very many.
So basically that sermon illustration where Paul used the church at Corinth was an effective
sermon illustration to where other churches were saying, man, we want to be like Corinth.
We want to do the same thing.
We want some of that zeal.
So look what he says in verse three.
Yet if I sent the brethren, lest our boasting of you should be in vain in this behalf,
that as I said, ye may be ready, lest haply if they of Macedonia come with me and
find you unprepared, we that we say not ye should be ashamed in this same confident boasting.
So here's what he said.
Look, you guys talked a big talk about giving.
Show me the money.
You know, he's saying basically, I haven't seen the money.
I haven't seen the evidence of it.
You were forward.
You were ready.
You talked about it.
Okay, do it.
Let's see you actually do it.
And he's saying, I'm afraid that if I come visit you guys and then I bring some of the
people from Macedonia and they heard that soul winning illustrate or that sermon illustration
and then they show up and you guys are not giving anything, I'm going to look like
an idiot.
But he's saying, you guys are going to look like an idiot.
So that's why he says in verse four, lest haply if they of Macedonia come with
me and find you unprepared, we get rid of the parenthesis.
He says, we should be ashamed.
Often when the Bible use the word should in our modern vernacular, we would use the
word would.
Okay.
This is a little bit older form of English, right?
So he's saying, you know, we would be ashamed in the same confident boasting.
But now with the parenthesis, we that we say not ye should be ashamed, right?
It's going to be embarrassing for both of us.
He's saying.
Now let me give you an illustration that maybe you can relate to a little bit better
because we don't really talk a lot about money at our church.
We've never had a fundraiser in the 13 year history of our church.
We've never raised any money or had a building fund or a missions fund or anything.
We're just not that money oriented.
It's not a big thing in our ministry.
So let me use an illustration that you might be able to connect with a little bit better.
And part of the reason is because we're not taking up collections for the poor Saints
because we live in America, the land of opportunity and people aren't starving in
America unless they're just drug addicts, just choosing to not use the money on food
because there are so many food banks and welfare programs and churches and yeah, that's
a whole nother sermon.
But anyway, um, and don't give me some libtard explanation after the service.
I'm not interested.
But anyway, I know the truth about it.
I've studied it.
I've done the research.
It just isn't happening.
But anyway, um, but in places like South Africa, there are people starving and struggling,
you know, other parts of the world, you know, uh, where people really are struggling.
We don't even know what that's like in America, folks.
Yeah, there we have drug addicts and drunks living in the street.
Okay.
Or we have parents not feeding their kids because they're consuming it on lottery tickets,
drugs, alcohol and porno.
But anyway, that's another sermon.
So think about our soul winning map.
Okay.
So we've got this goal of, Hey, we're going to knock every door in Maricopa County.
So we're kind of talking a big talk there, right?
We got the map on the wall.
We're working on it.
We're motivated.
Well, guess what?
That also motivates other people, right?
So other churches, they look at that and they say, Hey, that's what we want to do.
And our goal is to be a good example where, Hey, we're going to knock every door and
preach the Gospel.
And then we want other churches to do the same thing.
And our goal is that every door in America gets knocked with a clear presentation of
the Gospel in our lifetime.
And not just in our lifetime, because hopefully we live a very long lifetime, hopefully, you
know, the next 25 years.
You know, even some of you old timers in your lifetime, right?
So that's what we want.
That's an exciting goal.
Well, imagine this.
What if we talked a big talk, put a map on the wall, did a bunch of soul winning,
right?
And then other churches, they got provoked and they got excited about it.
And then they start knocking doors in their area and then they come visit our church
and we've taken the map down.
We've decided that we're going to do lifestyle evangelism.
We're no longer soul winning, right?
Then it's going to embarrass me.
It's going to embarrass you.
It's going to embarrass me, right?
So what he's saying is, look, you've talked a big talk, do it.
Let's see the action.
Let's see the deeds, not just the talk, okay?
So he says in verse five, therefore, I thought it necessary to exhort the brethren that
they would go before unto you and make up beforehand your bounty whereof ye had noticed
before that the same might be ready as a matter of bounty and not as of covetousness.
So what he's saying is, look, I don't want to just show up with these Macedonia
guys and then we show up and you're not ready.
So he's sending the brethren in advance with this letter, second Corinthians saying,
Hey, look, we want to collect the money that you promised to give so that we can
take it to Jerusalem.
We're going to give you a receipt and provide things honest in the sight of God and men,
but we want to get the money that you promised to give and we're going to take
it and we're going to, uh, it administrate to the poor saints in Jerusalem.
Now, uh, again, this is being honest in the sight of God and the sight of men.
And just what it comes down to is just this, do what you say you will do.
If you say you're going to do stuff, do it.
Now look, I've made commitments to things in the past where I said I was going to do
something and then circumstances change and then I didn't want to do it again anymore.
But I just said, well, that's what I said I was going to do.
So I have to do it, you know, or whatever.
We're bound by our word.
Okay.
Now there are some situations where things change and where you're not able to do what
you said you do.
I get that.
But in general, you need to make sure that when you say you're going to do things
or if you commit to doing things, that you do what you say you will do, right?
That's an important character trait.
Be someone who when they, who doesn't just blow off their mouth and always over promise
and under deliver, right?
If you say you're going to do something, get it done.
What did the Psalm say?
We just sung it.
Psalm 15.
He that sweareth to his own hurt and changeth not, right?
He shall receive the blessing of the Lord.
He's going to abide in the tabernacle, amen.
So it says here that he's going to send them to make sure it's all ready.
Now look at verse six.
But this I say, he which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly and he which soweth
bountifully shall reap also bountifully.
And verses six and seven kind of balance each other out.
He says in verse seven, every man according as he purposed within his heart, so let
him give, not grudgingly or of necessity, for God loveth a cheerful giver.
So on one hand he's saying, look, if you sow sparingly, you're going to reap sparingly.
Obviously the more you give, the more you're going to be blessed.
Obviously the more you do, the more pleased God's going to be.
But on the other hand, the other side of that coin he says is don't feel like
you have to give.
Don't let it be of necessity.
Don't feel like, oh man, the apostle Paul is putting all this pressure on us.
He's just constantly trying to get us to give money.
Wait a minute.
You guys are the ones who were forward.
What does it mean to be forward?
What if, what if let's say there was a woman who was forward with a man, right?
What does that mean?
It means basically she's initiating the conversation, right?
She's asking him out on a date.
Okay.
That's forwardness.
So basically what he's saying is, look, I'm not forcing you to give.
I'm not telling you you have to give this money.
You guys are the ones who heard about the need.
You wanted to pitch in.
You wanted to help out.
You already talked about it.
You were forward.
I'm just trying to get you to do what you said you would do to follow through on the
commitment that you've already made.
And look, obviously giving is a blessing.
It's more blessed to give than to receive.
If you give a tiny bit, you can't expect some huge blessing or huge rewards because
you gave a $5 bill or something, you know.
Now if that's your last five, then it could be like the widow's mite where, you
know, she gave all that she had and yeah, that could be a blessing.
But he said, look, if you sow sparingly, what does it mean sparingly?
Sparingly means holding back.
To spare something?
Think about what it means to spare something.
If you have something spare, it means you set aside something extra.
There you go.
That's the word I'm looking for.
It's extra, right?
So he says, don't give sparingly where you're holding back.
If you do, you'll reap, but God's going to hold back a little bit, right?
If you sow sparingly, then you'll reap sparingly, right?
But if you sow abundantly, you're going to reap abundantly.
So he's telling the principle of, look, the more you give, the better.
It's blessed to give, but he says, don't feel like you have to do it.
Don't do it of necessity.
Don't do it grudgingly like, oh, man, you know, here comes the apostle Paul, you know,
he's trying to get another donation.
That's a bad attitude, because you know what the apostle Paul's saying, it's a voluntary
donation.
You don't have to donate, nobody's making you.
So therefore, don't have a bad attitude about it.
God loves a cheerful giver.
That means God's not pleased with somebody who gives grudgingly or because they feel
like they have to.
God loves a cheerful giver.
And God's able to make all grace abound towards you that, gee, always having all sufficiency
in all things may abound to every good work.
Now some people will try to twist this passage in 2 Corinthians chapter 8 and verse 9 and
try to make it about tithing or the regular giving of the local church.
Folks, that is not what this is about.
You were here last week for chapter 8, you're here tonight listening to chapter 9.
Does this have anything to do with tithing?
Does this have anything to do with paying the pastor or paying the deacons or running
the church?
No.
This is not the kind of giving that goes into the church.
This is alms, almsgiving, A-L-M-S, okay?
This is alms, this is giving to the poor, okay?
This is where Jesus said that when you do your alms, let not your left hand know with
your right hand, do it.
That's what we're talking about, we're talking about giving to the poor.
That is clearly the subject of chapter 8 and chapter 9.
And then he also brings up a little bit about them giving toward Paul's mission
strips and ministries.
This is not the tithe, okay?
This is not, this is, look, a lot of people will say, well, you know, we, God doesn't
command us to tithe because he just wants a cheerful giver.
You just throw in the $10 bill when God lays it on your heart.
Folks, that isn't true because the Bible is crystal clear in 1 Corinthians chapter
9, which is actually a chapter that deals with that subject, where you're in the
wrong Corinthians chapter 9, okay?
Go to 1 Corinthians chapter 9 and basically in that chapter, he talks about the fact
how in the Old Testament, the Levites lived off of the gifts that came in, the tithes,
the sacrifices, the offerings, and even so in the New Testament, God has ordained
that they that preach the gospel should live of the gospel.
So in the New Testament, you bring your tithe to the house of God, that's a totally
separate subject.
What we're talking about here is an extra giving toward poor saints in another city
or a foreign missionary in another place, totally different subject.
So let's keep going here.
It says in verse 8, and God is able to make all grace abound towards you that ye
always having all sufficiency in all things may abound to every good work.
As it is written, he hath dispersed abroad, he hath given to the poor, his righteousness
remaineth forever.
So let's check out that as it is written.
Keep your finger here in 2 Corinthians 9 and let's go back to Psalms 112.
Psalm 112 is where we'll get the as it is written here.
So look, here's what it comes down to, folks.
The tithe is the Lord.
This is not a sermon about tithing tonight, I'm not going to preach on that, but I've
done many other sermons.
You can go on our website and look up past sermons that I've done on tithing.
Every few years I've done a sermon about it.
And the tithe is the Lord's portion and it's not a thing that's from the Mosaic
law like some people will try to say.
It actually goes all the way back into Genesis.
You see Abraham tithing, you see Jacob tithing, you see people tithing unto Jesus Christ in
the form of Melchizedek in the book of Genesis all the way back to the beginning.
And then when you get into the Mosaic law, the tithe would go toward the tabernacle,
the temple, and it would basically be for the Levites.
And in the New Testament, we're not under that system, we have the local church and
it basically goes toward the church.
How does the church operate financially?
It operates on the principle of the tithe in the New Testament as well.
I've already preached whole sermons on that and I'm not going to take time out of this
sermon to go into that subject.
But that is one thing.
So when I was growing up, my mom's here tonight and my mom taught me as a little
kid tithing.
So basically, I remember when I first started getting allowance as a kid, I got 30 cents
per week.
That was my allowance, 30 cents per week.
And back then, you know, you could buy something with that 30 cents, all right?
So I'd get 30 cents and my tithe was 3 cents.
And I literally would go to church every Sunday and I would put 3 pennies in the
offering plate every Sunday.
That's how I started tithing.
Then I got my allowance raised to 50 cents.
I started putting 5 cents into the offering plate.
I got raised to a dollar.
I put 10 cents in the offering plate every Sunday, okay, even just as a little kid.
And then one day I went to my mom, I said, I would like a raise in my allowance.
She said, well, you know, what did you have in mind?
I said, I want a dollar and 11 cents.
And she's a dollar and 11.
I said, well, because I want to be able to give the tithe and still have a full
buck.
But my mom wouldn't do it.
She said, no, that defeats the whole purpose of tithe.
You know, you need to basically be tithing.
She said, I want you to feel this tithe is basically what she wanted, you know.
She wanted me to feel that 10 cents.
She wanted me to have to make the change, you know.
Even when I got my quarter and my nickel, I had to turn that nickel into 5 pennies
so I could throw 3 of them into the offering plate.
So I got 30 cents, 50 cents, a dollar, 2 dollars, 5 dollars is where I maxed out
on my allowance, okay.
Then I got a job, all right, as a teenager.
And I would make extra money doing electrical work with my dad, crawling attics and crawling
under houses and stuff like that.
So anyway, you know, I started out tithing, but then there were also times when I was
growing up where I would give towards something extra.
You know, there would be some kind of a special offering that was taken.
Or other times when I just gave a free will offering unto the Lord.
You know, I gave my tithe, I threw in my 3 pennies, but then I said, you know, I
want to give more.
I want to give something extra, or I want to give, or I, you know, maybe I just read
in the Bible about the person who gave everything.
I'm sorry, I'm going to give everything, you know.
There were times growing up, you read the Bible, and you want to do something like
that for the Lord, and throw in something extra.
And you know what?
I believe that God blessed my little heart for, you know, throwing in extra money as
a kid, because I think God saw that at least I loved him, and that I was trying
to do something good by throwing in extra money, even just as a little kid.
So you know, as I was growing up, and then I got married, and I'm in church,
and then I would basically give my tithe, and then I would also give toward the missions
program on top of that, or I would give toward other offerings.
And you know what?
When I went out to the mission field and visited a lot of missionaries, I became a
little bit disillusioned with some of the missions giving I'd been doing.
Because I started to realize that there were some good missionaries out there, but
there were a lot of missionaries out there who were frankly just thieves.
Because what they're doing is they're taking the missions money, which is, okay,
great.
They're getting paid to preach the gospel, but the problem is, they're not doing the
preaching.
They're not doing the soul winning, they're not doing the preaching, they're not doing
anything.
They would just sit around, waste time, they were not being productive, they were
not putting in an honest day's work or an honest week's work, and they're
just sucking up money.
Or even worse yet, they had just the wrong gospel, wrong doctrine, just preaching heresy,
so then your money's actually like a negative.
Here, let me pay someone to go spread lies in another country.
So you can see how frustrating that would be to have given money and then see it going
to the wrong things.
But you know what?
That never discouraged me.
I got a little disillusioned with the missions program, but you know what?
I never regretted giving to missions.
And I never regretted any extra giving that I did, and I'll tell you why.
Because I was giving it to the Lord and not to them.
And I knew that God would bless me for what I had given, because I wasn't giving it unto
man, I was giving it to God.
Now if man is a bad steward of it, then you know what?
That's his problem.
But I was in the sincerity of my heart giving to what I believed was something godly.
And I can say this, you know, I'm 37 years old, and God has never forsaken me financially.
I've always had enough.
Now I've gone through some lean times, I've struggled financially, I've had some hard
times, and I've had to be humble at times with my finances and make sacrifices financially.
And I'm not saying that I lived high on the hog, I don't live high on the hog right
now, okay?
But you know what?
I've never been high and dry financially.
I've never been hung out to dry.
And you know what the Bible says?
I've never seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread.
That's what the Bible says.
So if you seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, he promises that he
will feed you, he will clothe you, he will take care of you.
Now that's a promise.
That's a guarantee.
Now you're not always going to have nice things or fancy things.
And you might have to share a vehicle with your wife or not have a vehicle at all.
You might have to live in an old house or wear old clothes or secondhand clothes.
I mean look, I've done all those things.
I do all those things right now, okay?
Because of the fact that I don't believe that it's right as a man of God to live
a lavish lifestyle.
I think that we should live a humble, reasonable life.
Now I don't believe that we should live in poverty, but I also don't believe that
we should live rich or high on the hog or in excess.
So basically, the Bible is teaching us over and over again and especially in chapter nine
here, I'm going to tie this in because you think I just went on a rabbit trail right
now, but it's all going to tie together right now, okay?
We're going to look at Psalm 112, we're going to compare it to 2 Corinthians 9,
I'm going to show you how when we're generous people, God will take care of us, okay?
Now the Bible says give and it shall be given unto you.
And look, we're not just talking about giving to the Lord.
We're not just talking about giving to church.
We're not just talking about giving to missions or giving to charity, but even just being
generous in your life, just in any situation.
If you are a generous person, you will reap what you've sown.
If you're generous with your family, if you're generous with friends, you will
reap what you've sown.
God wants us to be generous, not to be stingy, covetous, greedy, tight people.
Look at Psalm 112, this is a great Psalm.
The quote from chapter 9 is in verse 9, he hath dispersed, he hath given to the poor,
his righteousness endureth forever.
You remember that from 2 Corinthians 9 a moment ago?
His horn shall be exalted with honor.
Let's get the context, let's back up and get the context.
Verse 1, praise ye the Lord, blessed is the man that feareth the Lord that delighteth
greatly in his commandments.
His seed shall be mighty upon earth, the generation of the upright shall be blessed,
wealth and riches shall be in his house, and his righteousness endureth forever.
Unto the upright there ariseth light in the darkness.
Now watch this, he is gracious and full of compassion and righteous.
A good man showeth favor and lendeth, he will guide his affairs with discretion.
So look, somebody needs help, he'll help him out, right?
He shows mercy, he shows grace, he lendeth.
He will guide his affairs with discretion.
Look at verse 6, surely he shall not be moved forever, the righteous shall be in
everlasting remembrance.
He shall not be afraid of evil tidings, his heart is fixed trusting in the Lord.
His heart is established, he shall not be afraid until he see his desire upon his
enemies.
It's interesting, everything has been very, very positive up to this point, right?
It's all really positive about this guy, he's godly, he loves the Lord, he's going
to bless him, bless his kids, take care of him, he's generous, he helps people.
So this is the first mention of the enemies, is at the end of verse 8, right?
He shall see his desire upon his enemies, that's kind of a new thing that popped
up.
Now look at verse 9, of course, he hath dispersed, he hath given to the poor, his
righteousness endureth forever, his horn shall be exalted with honor, and then
verse 10, he really delves into the enemies here.
The wicked shall see it and be grieved.
He shall gnash with his teeth and melt away, the desire of the wicked shall perish.
You know, so the wicked, when they see the righteous, they don't like him, it bothers
them when they see a godly person succeeding or thriving or doing well, you know, they
gnash on him with their teeth.
But you know what?
God says, who cares?
He's going to melt away, he's going to be gone, he's going to perish, okay?
And the righteous is going to be had in everlasting remembrance, okay?
So what's this passage about?
When we read the Psalm in its entirety is how when you're generous and you help
people and you love people and meet other people's needs, God's going to bless you
and take care of you, okay?
Go back to 2 Corinthians 9, that's the point that Paul's making and so it makes sense
that he would bring us back to that passage and quote that verse from Psalm 112.
Because it says in verse 8, God is able to make all grace abound toward you that ye
always having all sufficiency in all things may abound to every good work.
Now that is a lot of every, every, all, always, every, all.
I mean, isn't that a lot?
This sounds like a pretty absolute principle.
God is able to make all grace abound toward you that ye always having all sufficiency
in all things may abound to every good work.
Five times all, all, every, every, all, right?
What's he saying?
He's saying, look, if you are a godly, generous person who does not love money
and covet money and seek after money and you help other people, you know the Bible
says he that pitieth the poor, he that helps the poor, lendeth to the Lord and
the Lord's going to repay what he's borrowed.
And so we need to understand that if you are a generous person, God is going to take
care of your needs.
Why?
Because you reap what you sow.
You sow sparingly, you reap sparingly, you sow abundantly, you reap abundantly.
We need to try to be generous people in all areas of life.
Not only when it comes to the church or the Lord, alms, missions, whatever, but
even just in all areas of life, we should not be a cheap, tight person that's just
out to just grasp money, penny-pinching, nickel-nipping type of person, okay?
You know, even when you go to a restaurant, don't be that person who gives us the tiny
tip.
Okay?
Be generous.
You say, well, why should I?
Well, you know why?
Because if you're generous, that's going to come back around to you.
That's why.
You say, well, I'm poor, you know, I can't, well, then maybe you should eat at home.
Right?
There are a lot of restaurants that you eat at where tipping's not a thing.
You know, where you could go and eat at Chipotle, for example.
That sounds pretty good right now.
You could eat at, say, Pizza Studio or, you know, Pita Bistro or I'm, I'm, I didn't
have enough dinner, so I'm a little bit hungry, so I got a lot of food on my mind
right now.
But the point is, you know, if you're going to go to a restaurant and have someone serving
you and waiting on you hand and foot and they're relying on that because they're getting
paid $3 an hour or something, you know, their pay scale is based upon tips.
So they're only making like minimum wage or less sometimes.
So they're making little and they're relying upon tips sometimes as their only
source of income and they're even being taxed.
The government just assumes they're going to get 15%.
So the government, if they, even if they reported no tips, the government nails them
for 15%.
Did you know that?
So they get nailed on it.
They're paying taxes on it.
You know, it's, it's the way our society works.
Now you might not care for that practice.
You might not like tipping, but it's a society we live in and you know what?
If you're just going to be that much of a Jew about it, then you know, God's not
going to bless that.
If you just have this attitude of wanting somebody to work and serve you, you're going
to this fancy restaurant where you're being served hand and foot, you could have gone
to a place where you serve yourself and clean up your own table.
You chose to go to a place where you're being served and weighed on hand and foot.
You should be a blessing, not a pain in the neck.
And you know, there, there are waiters out there that have said, Oh, you know, Sunday
lunch is a bad time to work because the Christians will come in and, and basically,
you know, give us a lame tip or not give a good tip.
That's a bad testimony of being a person who just wants to take, take, take, but not
be generous, not recognize people's efforts.
Look, you know, I, if I go to a sit down restaurant, I give them a good tip every
time unless the service is just horrible or something, then I'll still give them
just the minimum 15% because it's on them at that point, you know, God's still going
to bless me for at least just doing the right thing and just giving a minimum.
But I typically will give at least a 20% to I'll give a 20% tip and I'll typically
round it up a little bit.
You know, that's what I do because I, the standard in America is like 15 to 20%.
So if it's good service, I give them a little over 20% and I, you know, I want
to be generous, I want to be a blessing.
And if they go above and beyond, I might give them an extra couple bucks or
whatever.
So other parts of the world, it's different, but in the United States of
America, welcome to America folks.
Okay.
Some of you were born here and don't understand this.
The tip is 15 to 20%.
Now, if I go to a restaurant where they've already put on their own tip where they
say, oh, well, because your family has 10 people in it, we just automatically
added a 15% tip, then that's all they get.
Because I'm like, well, if you're going to tip yourself, then you just tipped
yourself because I was going to give you more than that.
I was going to give you 20 some percent, but you're, since you don't trust me
with my big family, you know, unless they do a real good, if they do a real
good job, I'll give them more than that.
But sometimes I just leave it at that if they, if they tip themselves.
But I, you know, I like to give tips in those kinds of situations just because I
want to be a blessing to other people.
I don't want to be a bad part of their day.
I'd rather be a blessing to their day.
And that's why everywhere I go, I tell people, God bless you.
God, I'm blessing people in the name of the Lord all day long.
Why?
Because I just want to be a nice person.
I want to be generous.
I want to bless other people.
I don't want to be a negative to them.
I don't want to be a negative part of it.
I want to be a positive part of their day.
Okay.
I mean, isn't that just kind of common sense, common courtesy.
Okay.
We should want to help people and be nice people and generous and, and, and
not be a bad customer, you know, and, and, and think about other people, you
know, you know what I do when I'm sitting in a restaurant, I'm thinking
about them.
I'm thinking about what their day's like, what they're going through.
And sometimes, you know, you see them kind of flustered and making mistakes
and stuff, but then I think to myself, yeah, but it looks like they're a
little understaffed.
So then I kind of feel bad for them.
You know, this is empathy, right?
Thinking about other people, not just where's my, you know.
Folks, there are people like that.
You go to a restaurant and they're just mad.
They're chewing out the waitress for stuff that's not even her fault, right?
You say, well, what if the waiter's a sodomite?
Look, don't, don't use a sodomite waiter.
You know, if I'm seated in a section with a sodomite, I just say, I would like
to be seated in another section.
And if they say, why, just say, well, it's my business.
The customer's always right, folks.
You know what they're going to do?
They're just going to put you in another section.
Or what I typically do is, if I walk into a restaurant and I see that one
of the waiters is a flaming sodomite, I just walk up and I preempt it.
Because I don't want to, you know, I want to try to live at peace with all men.
I preempt it by walking up to the hostess and say, hey, be sure to seat me in his section.
That's my normal waiter.
Now, when I say that's my normal waiter, they think I mean that that's usually who my waiter is.
But I mean, no, that's my normal waiter, all right?
Or waitress, you know, maybe there's a lady that looks like, hey,
that's my normal waitress, as opposed to Mr. Abnormal over here, flaming sodomite.
Because that's a good way to ruin your appetite, folks.
Being around some flaming homo, amen?
So anyway, you know, look, if somebody's good enough to bring me my food and to wait,
then they're good enough for me to give them a reasonable tip, a decent tip.
Or better yet, how about a generous tip, right?
So that we can actually be a blessing to that person and help them out and not be a drain on.
Especially if you're going to leave a gospel tract.
Give like a Jew tip and a Christian gospel tract.
You know, that's not going to work.
Be a Christian, not a Jew, amen?
And you say, oh, how dare you talk about the Jews?
Hey, guess what?
The Jews, you know what the name of their God is?
Mammon.
You want to know what their God's name is?
Well, they have the same God we...
Nope.
Because the Bible says that if you don't have the son, you don't have the father.
He that acknowledges the son has the father also.
Whosoever denies the son has the father.
So the Jews don't have the same God as we do.
They have another God and you've got him in your wallet.
His name is Benjamin Franklin.
Or okay, you don't have Benjamin Franklin in your wallet.
Okay, his name is Andrew Jackson.
Some of you, his name is Abraham Lincoln or George Washington.
But the point is, hey, their God is money.
Their God is mammon.
They worship money.
They worship mammon.
That is the goal of their life in many cases.
They don't love the Lord, folks.
They don't love our Lord Jesus Christ.
Let them be anathema, maranatha.
That's what the Bible says, okay?
So that's why they got that reputation, folks.
You think I made that up?
Pastor Anderson made that up, the reprobate doctrine and calling people that are cheap
Jews.
No, I didn't come up with either of those things.
That's what they've been known for for the last 2,000 years.
2,000 years, yeah, Shylock, all the way back to Shakespeare, right?
The pound of flesh.
All the way back to the Middle Ages and before they've been known as usurers and
check cashing places and money lenders and greedy whatever, okay.
Is that what we want to be?
No.
We want to be generous, giving, et cetera.
So let's hurry up and finish here.
We're almost out of time.
But the Bible says here in chapter 9 that God is able to make all grace abound toward
you, verse 8.
This is a powerful promise that ye always have all sufficiency in all things.
Wouldn't you love that?
Wouldn't you just love to know, hey, you're always going to have all sufficiency in everything.
You're always going to have what you need.
You will always have what you need.
You will never be forsaken and your children will never be begging bread.
You'll always be able to provide.
That's a great promise.
How do I get it, Lord?
What do I do?
Well, you know what?
Psalm 112 will explain to you the steps of how to get there, right, of being a godly
person who's generous and gives and helps out other people.
You give and it shall be given unto you, the Bible says.
So let me hurry up.
In verse 10, now he that ministereth seed to the sower both minister bread for your food
and multiply your seed sown and increase the fruits of your righteousness.
Notice the spiritual language here.
See, a lot of people, they think that if you give money, you're going to get money
back.
But you know what?
If you give money, you're going to be blessed by God and you're going to have everything
you need, but you're not necessarily going to get money back.
Does everybody understand?
If you give money and you're generous, you will have all your needs met and you'll
get spiritual blessings and you'll have no life.
But it doesn't necessarily mean that you're going to get more money.
Why?
Because you already have everything you need and maybe God doesn't want you to have
extra money.
He doesn't want you to be rich.
You don't need that.
You just need what you need, amen?
So the TV prosperity preachers, where they get this wrong is, you know, hey, if you
give $100, you're going to get $1,000.
If you give $1,000, you're going to get $10,000.
And if you're so sparingly, you're going to reap sparingly.
So give it all and man, you're going to make so much money.
It'd be like, let's say there was a stock that you knew was going to go up.
You have a time machine and you know that this stock is going to go up.
How much money are you going to put in that stock?
You're going to put everything in that stock, right?
Because you know it's going up, you're going to be borrowing money to put on that
stock, right?
You're going to put everything on that stock because you want to get the max.
Let's say you got a time machine and you went through all that trouble of time travel
and then you sit there and you put $100 on it or something.
Oh wow, you turned your $100 into $200.
Was that really worth messing with the space-time continuum?
No, it wasn't.
So the point is, like, if you were going to actually do that, and obviously time travel
doesn't exist, but if you were actually going to do that, boy, you'd actually do
a substantial amount of money, right?
You'd want to put $5, $10, $20, you know, you'd put everything you could, okay.
So what he's saying is, look, if you sow sparingly, you're going to reap sparingly,
but what you got to understand is that you don't just give money and get more money
back, otherwise everybody would just be giving to church like crazy and Christians would
all be filthy rich.
I mean, think about it.
When I was a little kid and I'm getting my 30 cents, my 50 cents, well, what about
those times when I put in everything?
There were times when I did get money back.
Like one time, I remember when I was a teenager, I gave an extra big offering for whatever
the reason, and a week later, my boss pulled me aside.
This is when I was just a teenager, I'm making like barely above minimum wage at a pizza place.
He took me aside and he said, he said, listen, Steve, he said, I don't know why,
but for some reason, even though you're not a manager or a supervisor, you're just
what's called a crew leader, you're not supposed to get a bonus at all, but for some
reason, you got this bonus check from the owner.
It's like $160, and when you're a teenager, $160 is a lot of, especially back then.
That's like $300 now.
And he said, look, he said, you know, I want you to have this check, but he said,
you can't tell any of the other crew leaders or anything because they're all going
to be envious of this.
So you need to just not say a word about this, just be happy that you're getting the check
and just don't say anything.
I'm like, cool, score.
So I felt like, wow, that's because I just gave a big offering last week, and so boom,
it was just like an instant.
But you know what, folks, if that happened every time, if that happened every time,
you know what you'd be doing?
You'd just keep reinvesting it, like you'd take that $160, throw that in the plate,
and then $1600 comes, and then you take the $1600, throw it in, $16,000 comes.
You know, it's like, oh, this is great, you know.
Folks, do you really think that's the way life works?
Because it doesn't.
So yeah, every once in a while, you're going to have those events happen where you dig deep,
and you give unto the Lord, and then boom, he encourages you, he blesses you,
he gives you what you need, he throws you a bone, okay?
That's going to happen sometimes.
But what we should expect is God, 100% of the time, to bless us for being generous.
100% of the time.
But what you have to understand is it's not always going to be a financial blessing,
it's a spiritual blessing.
You understand?
He said, wow, what good's that?
Show me the money.
You know, what do I need, a spiritual blessing?
Hey, you know what?
I'd rather have spiritual blessings than financial blessings any day of the week.
And if you'd rather have the financial blessings, you're an idiot, okay?
Because guess what?
Financial blessings are just money, but spiritual blessings are things
that money can't even buy.
What kind of a price tag would you put on your kids turning out right
and living for the Lord?
What price tag would you put on your children, you know, marrying a godly person?
What kind of a price tag would you put on being able to go out soul winning
and win somebody to Christ?
How do you put a price tag on those things?
I mean, how do you put a price tag on your relatives or friends getting saved?
How do you put a price tag on opening the Bible and understanding things that other
people don't understand?
I mean, think about, what about the ability to open the Bible and understand
things that people don't understand?
What would you pay?
I would pay any amount of money.
Why?
Because that's way more valuable and anyone who doesn't realize that is just
being foolish and carnal.
Now, there's a guy in the Bible and he gets a bad rap and it always bothers me.
And when I get to heaven, man, I'm going to shake this guy's hand and I'm going to
tell him, hey, I understood that story and I like you.
Okay.
And that is Simon the sorcerer.
Okay.
Now, he's called Simon the sorcerer because he was a sorcerer before he got
saved.
Okay.
It's not, he didn't continue being a sorcerer.
He's not going to be Simon the sorcerer in heaven.
Okay.
So, he's Simon the non-sorcerer, Simon the former sorcerer.
Okay.
But anyway, this guy, Simon, in Acts Chapter 8, he sees the apostles laying
hands on people and those people becoming filled with the Holy Ghost and he offers
the apostles money and he says, hey, I'm going to give you money because I want
you to give me this power to where I could lay hands on people and they would
receive the Holy Ghost.
And boy, they just chew him out.
They get mad.
Your money perished with you.
You thought that the power of God, you thought that the gift of God could be
purchased with money.
And man, they chew the guy out and man, you're in the gall of bitterness.
You're in the bond of iniquity.
I don't know what's wrong with you.
You better ask God to forgive you.
You're, you know, I mean, he gets laid into.
But you know what he does?
This is why I love Simon.
And by the way, Simon was saved.
The Bible says he believed on Christ.
The Bible says that.
That's the truth.
This is why I love Simon because he's a rare example of someone who receives
correction.
Look how many people in the Bible when they get corrected, they say, nah.
And boy, he got chewed hard.
It wasn't like they said, oh, you know, you're a new believer, but that's not how
things work.
I mean, they rebuked him hard.
And what did he do?
Did he go out and start a YouTube channel called, you know, Pasta Paul's a cult, you
know, Peter, James, and John are all culty.
Is that what he did?
Did he go out and just get all mad and whatever?
No, you know what he did?
He said, man, would you please pray for me?
Would you please pray for me that the Lord would forgive me for having such a
stupid idea?
Here's why I like the guy.
You want to know why I like the guy?
Because he valued the things of the spirit more than his money.
I mean, look, was the guy stupid to offer them money?
Yeah, he was wrong.
But you know what?
I like his attitude, though, that says, well, who cares about money?
I want the power of God.
Now, look, thinking that you could buy the power of God was stupid and wrong.
So don't misunderstand me here.
I'm not promoting what he did.
But what I am promoting is the way he received correction.
And let me tell you something, you would do well that when somebody
corrects you, when you're wrong, and even if they rebuke you hard,
you would do well to be like Simon and say, you know what?
You're right.
I'm sorry.
Would you please pray for me?
That's a great attitude.
I like that attitude.
And here's the Catholic Church has this thing that they call simony, where
you're trying to buy priestly positions in the Catholic Church, or you're
trying to buy a bishopric, and they call it simony.
I don't think that's right to name it after this guy.
The guy said that he's sorry.
And then forever, it's just known as pulling a Simon, being like Simon, simony.
Who's ever heard that word simony?
Two people?
So anyway, yeah, it's a thing, folks.
I'm not making this up.
Google it.
He took the correction.
But you know what?
Obviously, it's stupid to think that the gift of God
can be purchased with money.
But if it could be purchased with money, I'd be buying.
I mean, you know what I mean?
If I could pay money, and my kids will turn out right.
If I could pay money and preach a powerful sermon.
If I could pay money and understand the Bible.
If I could pay money and lay hands on someone,
and they'd be filled with the Holy Ghost.
Man, who do I make the check out to?
OK, but obviously, that's stupid and wicked
to think that you could do it with money.
But what's my point?
My point is that the real blessings
are the spiritual blessings, not the financial blessing.
Look, the only money I want is just the money
to feed and clothe my family.
Hey, if I got a roof over my head,
if I've got food in the fridge,
if I got clothes on my back, who
cares if they're fancy clothes?
Hey, you know what?
I've learned at whatsoever state
I am there with to be content.
And anything beyond that, I don't need anything beyond that.
Beyond that, you know what I want?
Spiritual blessings.
Man, I can't get enough of those.
So notice that a lot of what he talks about here
is spiritual blessings.
Verse 11, being enriched in everything
to all bountifulness which causeth through us Thanksgiving.
And before that, he said that God's
going to minister seed to the sower
and all these different things, and that God
is going to increase.
What does he increase at the end of verse 10?
The fruit in your pantry?
The fruit of the field?
No, the fruits of your righteousness.
Hey, the fruit of the righteous is a tree of life,
and he that winneth souls is wise.
Those are the blessings I want, amen?
And then look at verse 15.
It says, thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift.
Now, people will make this statement.
You can't outgive God.
Now, look, there is truth in that statement.
You can't outgive God.
But sometimes what they mean by that is you give 1,000,
he's going to give you 10,000.
That's not true.
Here's why you can't outgive God,
because God already gave you more than you will ever give him.
You could spend the rest of your life giving and giving
and giving and giving, and you will have nothing to boast of.
When you see Jesus Christ face to face,
you're not going to be like, you're welcome.
You're welcome for all that stuff I gave you.
No, no, no, you're going to be saying, hey, thank you.
Because you haven't even come close to his unspeakable gift.
We can speak about a million dollars.
Hey, this is an unspeakable gift.
Words can't even fully describe
the gift of God, which is eternal life, through Jesus
Christ the Lord.
Let's borrow that word of prayer.
Father, we thank you so much for this chapter, Lord.
And help us to be generous people.
Help us to be giving people, not to be greedy or covetous
or loving money.
But Lord, help us to be humble and to seek
after spiritual blessings, spiritual gifts,
and not just the physical meat, Lord,
but rather the spiritual meat and drink of doing your will.
And it's in Jesus' name we pray, amen.