# The Grace of Our Lord Jesus Christ

Key Passage: 2 Corinthians 8:9
Date: September 7, 2019

I thought about Josh and Caleb. Maybe something about grace or leaving for college. You will stick with them for life. That would be great. And they are two great young men.

But 2 Corinthians 8 and verse number 9. We stand as we read these verses together. 2 Corinthians 8 and verse number 9. And the Bible says, “For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that he was poverty might be rich.”

Now, I say this word “rich”—do not just think necessarily about money. Money is not a bad thing. The love of money is the root of all evil, not money itself. But I would say money is probably the cheapest of God’s blessings. So many things are more important than money, though money is a good thing. God can do a lot of good things through and with money.

But here lately I have been thinking about how Jesus went through poverty. I mean, maybe some of you know what it is like. You grew up on hammy downs, you know, or the…

We used to go. We went to some Christian schools, and sometimes—not all the time—there were wealthy people that would send their kids there kind of just for the private school aspect, you know. We got our clothes from the Goodwill, but we did not want to say, “Hey, these are from the Goodwill.” So they would ask where you got it from. We would say, “We got it from the GAW fashion shop.” Where is that at? Well, it is in town there, and that stood for the Goodwill, you know, the Goodwill fashion shop.

Some of you know what it is like. You know, some of you know what it is like to just worry about, “I do not know how we are going to pay that next bill.” Maybe you know what it is like to say, “I do not know how I am going to feed everybody next meal.” Jesus knew all about that. He grew up in poverty.

Jesus, through his poverty—Jesus went through poverty. Ever think about all that Jesus did? Why did he do that? What did you say right there in that verse? That though he is rich, yet for your sakes, he became poor. Now think about Jesus. I do not know if they had school like we did, but think about him going out in the neighborhood having to wear hand-me-down clothes and people saying things and whatnot, and he went through that for you. It is for you. And Jesus went through poverty for you. Why? So we can be rich.

Often we will use a definition of grace: God’s riches at… Yeah. Jesus paid for it. And he went through poverty. It is part of it. He had everything that is in heaven, and he left it all and became poor. Laid in a manger. Born in a manger. Well, that would be pretty tough, you know. He is laid in a manger, you know. But I understand what they are saying. But poverty—and we think they had the money to go to Egypt and then back, what not, from the gifts that the wise men gave: gold, frankincense, and myrrh. But probably a very poor group from Nazareth, a very poor couple, Joseph and Mary. And maybe some poverty. Why? So we can have riches. All the blessings we have.

Now look over—that is interesting. That is 8:9. Now let us go over to 9:8. I think the two, probably the two greatest verses in all the Bible about grace, 8:9 and now 9:8.

The context—you have heard me say this many of you many times—the context is about finances, but you will notice in the verse, he includes everything. And notice how he words it, verse number eight: “And God is able to make all grace”—that is the riches—“all grace abound toward you, that ye always, having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work.” That is amazing. That is all because of Jesus. But you can abound to every good work. Always. You always have what you need. You always have what is sufficient. Always will, because of the grace.

Let us just talk for a little bit, a bit if you will, about the grace of God. Let us just focus on this thing, the grace of God, a little bit tonight.

Father, Lord, we come. Lord, I pray you take the truth of grace and make it real to us tonight. Thank you, Jesus. You went through poverty, you went through the cross, you went through living in this sin-cursed world, and you have stored up—you purchased all the grace we need. Thank you, Jesus, for that. Forgive me sometimes I go, Lord, depending on myself and doing without when you have the grace available. Father, just make that real to us tonight. And we will thank you, Lord, for what you do. We are asking for these things in your Son, Jesus’ name. It is the grace. We are asking faith because of it, because of Jesus. Amen. Thank you so much. You may be seated.

Joseph is such a wonderful picture of Jesus. The similarities are just so many. I will not name them all. Many of you know them. But Joseph was especially loved by his father. You remember how he was kind of special, if you will, to his dad. His dad favored him. Of course, Jesus, he is the only begotten of the Father. They had perfect fellowship in eternity past, and broken for just a moment at the cross there by our sins, but especially loved by his Father.

He was sent to his brothers in a foreign country by his Father. Remember, Dad said, “Now, go find the boys,” and they were over in the distance, over there in Dothan, eventually where I found him at. And Jesus was sent from heaven down to a foreign country by his Father.

Joseph was hated by his brothers. That is exactly the wording of it—they hated him. It is amazing. Jesus was hated by humanity, not just the Jewish people, but by the world. The world system, the world, they killed him. They hated him.

Joseph had a coat of many colors. Remember that? Jesus—remember when he was crucified, the soldiers were betting, they were gambling over a seamless coat Jesus had. It was a very expensive one, and some of the ladies that made it were thinking… But all the similarities—so many—I will not list them all; I will miss some. But Joseph was sold for 20 pieces of silver. Remember Judas, he agreed for 30 pieces of silver to betray Jesus Christ. All the similarities—so many of them.

Joseph was lied about. Remember Potiphar’s wife lying about it? Remember Jesus was lied about? The mockery of a trial before his crucifixion. A bunch of liars were there, but they had to search soon. Finally, they found two liars that agreed in their lie, you know, and so they could prosecute Jesus Christ.

And Joseph was tortured when he was in prison. By that, I do not mean somebody beat him. We do not know that, but Psalm 105 talks about Joseph, that his feet or his ankles, his legs were hurt by the fetters. And that is torture—being in some kind of fetters around your ankles, where it bruised him and it scarred him. Psalm 105 talks about this; excuse me, Psalm 105. But Jesus, of course, he was tortured. He had nails in his hands and feet, so on and so on. Of course, a nail pierced his feet and his hands. So many similarities.

Each became a blessing among the Gentiles. And Joseph, he was over when he was in Egypt, the picture of the world, that it became a blessing. And rose to be the Prime Minister, basically, of the land. Jesus Christ, he was in this world, crucified among two thieves. That is where it became a blessing, on the cross there.

Joseph, remember his brothers came, and he reconciled his brothers to himself, and afterward they exalted him. Remember that, especially in the testing there, fulfilled the dream, how they would worship him. And Christ, he humbled himself and became obedient unto the death of the cross. Philippians 2 talks about that, and yet God has highly exalted him, by every name, remember that? And so many similarities.

They said about his brothers, “Ye meant it for evil, but God meant it for good.” Remember they were in Genesis 50 over there? And look, they meant it for evil, and they crucified Jesus. Our sin crucified Him, but God meant it for good—for our salvation.

So many similarities. We will not get them all. There are probably many of them that I missed. But here is what I want you to get. And I have told this before, but this helps me. Sometimes if I have some mental picture—pictures help me, you know. In kindergarten, they use pictures. Amen, I need those pictures still, you know.

But look, okay, so Joseph, remember he rose to the prime minister of the land because of the dream that he interpreted. Remember the seven good years? You all know what I mean? What was Joseph doing during those seven good years? Somebody help me out. Storing it up. I wonder if we could drive through Egypt at the end of those seven years, how many makeshift silos you would find all over the place. It is just grain stored up.

I was talking to Brother Mo, oh, last week. He is from Egypt, and I like to hear Brother Mo talk or praying. And just how it talks about brothers, you know, and good to see brothers. I cannot do it exactly, but my brother, he is a blessing. And I asked, “Is it dry?” He said, “Well, about 20 miles each side of the Nile River, very fertile, and they have it irrigated. It is not dry there, and that portion besides that didn’t.”

But think about all the grain that was stored up by Joseph. Now, what happens in seven lean years? And eventually his family over there in Canaan, they come over to Egypt. And Joseph recognizes them, and he puts them through a series of tests. Now, each time they left with some great… is that, and eventually, by the way, eventually others and everybody came over there to Egypt, and Joseph—the Bible word—Joseph nourished them. It is the Bible word. That is a beautiful picture of when Jesus was down here on earth, and he was storing up everything you will ever need. He was storing up all the silos of grace for you, and he can nourish you.

When you got saved, you became part of the family, see, the family of God. And he is here to nourish you with his grace. All the grace you will ever need, it is available for you. That is why God can say, “And God is able to make all grace abound toward you.”

Most schools—almost all, there is a couple, one that I know that hadn’t started, but I never started—Emily and Destinique and Trashon and De Asia, Emily, oh, I think Frank LaRoastro, and all of them, Allie and Grace, they are all in school. And I tell you what, most of them, and even in Christian schools, but most of them are in public schools, but it does not matter. It is tough for young people to be a good testimony in school. It is. And for them to go to school and just be a good shining light for the Lord. And if they would be honest, if they would be honest, they are probably like, “Yeah, I have messed up about three million times already.” I know I did when I was in school. It was far from perfect.

But here is the thing: Jesus stored up all the grace, Emily, Destiny, they will ever need to shine for the Lord at school. Joshua and Caleb are about to go to college, and they are going to have a lot of trials and a lot of tests. Caleb says, “I know I have been there too long. I know all the tests about to come and labs and homework and all the rest of that.” And they will need a lot of help, a lot of grace for that. God has got all the grace they will need. Got it all stored up.

Now for whatever you are going through, for everything, for you to be the man that God wants you to be, the Christian God wants you to be, God has the grace available. Now here is the shame on us: we try to do it in our power. Very self-reliant we are.

I heard a preacher, a good man—and he is a friend of mine, he is a good man, I like him. And he is old, maybe ten or a little bit older than that, ten years older, maybe fifteen years older, I do not know. But he said, man, he was testifying to a group of preachers, just to a smaller church. And he said, “You know, my health is about ruined because I have tried to do it in my past century.” But God has all the grace that you need to do it in His power.

And when we tap in, we understand, “Hey, the grace that is available, every good work you are supposed to do.” Brother Richard has a Bible study at work, and I praise the Lord for that. And that can be tough. I remember when I had a Bible study at work; honestly, I think I learned more Bible in some ways at that position than I did in all my years of Bible college. Because when you have a Bible study at work, everybody—all the religions come along, and they put you to the test. And I would go home. Man, it was not like for a test in college. It was like for, you know, all the people in your Bible study, you put on the line and whatnot. And we had everybody—Pentecost, everybody—coming in there, challenging you over and just that other. And, man, I tell you, when I would go home, I would study, because I needed to know the answer to that thing. I remember calling people and saying, “Man, I’m…” I remember calling other preachers. I was not in the ministry at the time. And I said, “Man, I want to answer this because I needed to know.” And I am just saying that can be tough. But God has all the grace Richard needs to do that.

Some of you say, “I feel like I ought to witness to so-and-so. Man, it is tough for me to do. I am not outspoken. I mean, I am not loud unless I am in a fight, you know, with my wife or husband. You know, I am usually not loud. I cannot witness to them.” But what you need to go witness to that person is God’s grace. It is available, or you can abound to every good work. So I cannot go tell them? I am sorry. Yes, you can. God has the grace for you to do it. For whatever it is, where you can abound to every… I would like to have a good marriage, but I do not know. God has the grace you need to have a good marriage. Everything. Whatever you need, he has the grace available.

Look, if you will, over in Hebrews chapter number 12. This is an interesting little phrase, Hebrews chapter number 12. And look in verse number 28. Hebrews 12 and verse number 28. Just look at this phrase. I want you to see it. Hebrews 12. And look at verse number 28. When you are there, would you say, “Amen?” Hebrews 12. Look at verse number 28 right there. He says, “Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved.” That is because Jesus purchased it for us. “Let us have grace”—here it is—“whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear.”

The grace of God is not just for when you mess up. The grace of God is to give you what you need, the power to serve him. You serve him by grace. It is for so much more.

You say, “I would like to be known as a steady, godly man that walks with God of mine.” The lady that knows me most, my wife and my children that know me, they know that Dad is really a sincere man of God in the home. Every home needs a man of God. God has a place where you can do that. Do not think that is beyond me. I cannot do that. Brother so-and-so can do that. You can do that because God has the grace where you can do that.

See, I would like to be a sweet lady, a godly lady, a lady that walks with God, and people know that, and a loving lady. And kind of, “I cannot do that, my background and all this.” No, no. God has the grace where you can do that. It is available. The grace for everything, where you can serve him.

See, here is the thing. When we serve him in our power, you know what that leads to? Pride. “Look at me.”

It is interesting. Look over in 1 Corinthians 15. You are already there in 2 Corinthians. Well, I changed from Hebrews. But look over there, 1 Corinthians 15. Look at what Paul said here. Paul had tapped into this thing. He had got it. Maybe that is why God used him and depended so much about the grace of God. Look over here in 1 Corinthians 15. Look at verse number 10. 1 Corinthians 15, verse number 10. He says, “But by the grace of God I am what I am.” He did not say by his own character and his own wit and knowledge and power and education. He said, “But by the grace of God I am what I am.” Notice at the end, “And his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain.” Now he said, “I took it and I have used it,” if you will. But watch, he is very careful. “But I labored more abundantly than they all.”

But the grace of God is not for you to sit around and say, “Well, God is going to give us; God is going to supply.” Well, it is for you to take it and serve him by his grace. Pray by his grace. Walk with God, witness by His grace. Be the testimony at school by His grace. But watch here. He does not want to get proud. And he said, “But I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.” He said, “I want you to know it was not my power.” He said, “I labored more abundantly than they all.” By the way, God blesses hard work. And God… but in the end, it is not our hard work, and we do not do the hard work by our own power. That is grace.

Grace. That is why in the end we take our crowns and we put them at his feet. Because at the end of the day, when we get to heaven, and we have a lot more wisdom and knowledge and we know more than now we know it is him anyway, but we have no right to brag, and there is always grace.

But when you serve him by his grace, if I am serving in my own power, that is very limited. I am going to run out of resources. But if I am serving him by his grace, that is endless. It never runs out. All in need.

Think about the worst day, the worst day you will ever face. Think about that day. Whatever it may be, it may be your death day. I do not know. It may be another day. But whatever that day is, God has the grace stored up for that day that you will need. You do not have to live in fear. Whatever… Some have a fear of one day, “I will have to go to the doctor. The doctor is going to use the C word.” I do not know what will happen if I ever face that. Well, God will have the grace for that day. For whatever you ever face, somebody having fear of your mate doing the worst, and that fear drives you. Can I say—I am not saying that is going to happen—but can I say, if it were, I am just talking about the worst-case scenario, God would have the grace you need for that day. Job said, “The day that I feared has come upon me,” and God gave me what I needed for it. And I am just saying, God’s grace—everything you ever need is stored up.

Paul said his grace when going through a tough time—a thorn. By the way, a thorn can be very painful. You know what I am talking about? Man, a thorn—that is just a little thorn. Oh, my goodness. You ever get a thorn in your foot? Every step you take is painful. A thorn in your hand, and every time you go to do something, it hurts. I mean, yeah, and God’s… He said God has the grace sufficient. That is what God told him. So whatever it is, God has all you need. He has it stored up. His grace is sufficient for you.

I have told this so many times. I do not have it in my notes, but I think the Lord wants me to tell it. But Spurgeon, he was coming into a busy season, and he was just depressed and worried and discouraged a little bit about it. And Spurgeon said it seemed like the Lord spoke to him audibly, though it was not. And he said, “Look, you are like a little fish that is swimming in a big, huge river, and you are afraid to take a drink lest you dry up the whole river.” He said, “My grace is all around you everywhere. I have all the grace you will ever need.” His grace. But you can abound to every good work. He has it all.

Brother Glenn—many of you know Brother Glenn—it kind of got turned around a little bit. You probably know the details more than I, but he had a little lump, you know, on his chest. And it was the shape of a football. They have already taken it out. They do not think it is a worry at all. But it got changed around to the size of a football. Yeah, everybody: “Oh my goodness,” you know. And what can I say? Even if it was the size of a football, God had the grace for that. Now he has the grace for whatever you are going through. And you do not have to face life in fear. You can face it relying on the grace of God. You can serve it. You can be empowered by his grace.

Charles Weigel. He was an evangelist for years and years. He got a little bit older, and his wife said, “I am just not going to do it anymore.” She said, “I am tired and sick of the ministry.” She left him, just left him. Charles Weigel. He is the man that God used to write that song—I believe it is in a hymn book—“No One Ever Cared for Me Like Jesus.” He wrote that song later on in his life, Charles Weigel.

Brother Howe, my preacher for years and years, said he was down preaching. Charles Weigel had a little apartment at Tennessee Temple in one of their dorms. And Brother Howe said after he got done preaching, he went over to see Charles Weigel. And he went down the hallway. And if I remember the story right, the door was ajar just a touch, maybe. And he heard some noise going on in there. And he thought, “What noise was going on?” And he thought, “Who is in there? What is going on?” You know? He said, “Wait a little bit.” Thought maybe he was talking with someone, and it got loud, and he thought, “Well, I better poke my head in there.” And he poked his head in there, and it was just Charles Weigel, oh, up in years, 80s, maybe 90s—I am not sure, do not hold me to the number—but up in years, and Charles Weigel had his shoes off. He said, “What are you doing?” He says, he is a little bit embarrassed. He said, “I sometimes just get so much joy, me and the Lord, in here. And I take my shoes off and I get up on the bed and I just praise the Lord for a while, standing on the bed like a little kid.”

Hey, God has the grace if you go through what this world thinks is worse than it is. I am not making light of these things, but I am just saying, God has the grace for anything and everything you go through.

And if we learn to tap in and not rely—not self-reliance, but God reliance. Paul said, “I am not sufficient of myself to think anything of myself. My sufficiency is of God.” It is a different thinking. The more we grow down here, we get more independent, but not as a good, godly Christian; the more dependent you get on the grace of God. But grow in what? In grace and the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory. So that way he gets the glory, not us. It does not lead to pride. The crowns belong to him. The grace for everything you need, everything you need. I have given this, but I am going to give it one more time, and I am done.

Stories told about a man who had to cross over the river. It was wintertime. But he was worried about the river—if it was frozen thick enough for him to walk across. So he got thinking. He said, “Man, instead of me just walking across this thing,” he said, “maybe I ought to try to spread my weight out a little bit.” So he said it. He got down on his all fours, you know. I mean, instead of just spreading it out at least four, so he is crawling across the icy river, worried to death. I mean, just, you know, “I am going to fall through the river.” He had to get over about years and years ago before bridges and things. Matt had just worried to death, crawled across there on the icy river.

And he said it was… crossing over, and all of a sudden he is crossing over, he hears a guy downstream a little bit, and he can hear him. He is just singing away. I mean, just, well, you know, whatever, I do not know. He is singing and just singing away. And he heard he had some horses and all that, but the horses were pulling a sled in the snow. And the sled had coal in it. You know, back in the day they used to use coal in homes to heat homes, you know.

And sure enough, he is not—now this guy is down there on all fours, trying to spread out his weight. And he hears this guy, and this guy is crossing the river. And he has himself; he has a horse. He has a sled, and he has coal, and they are crossing over on the river. And he is not worried a bit in the world. He is just singing away. And they thought, “How crazy am I? I am down here on my hands and knees crawling, and this guy is not worried a bit in the world. He is just enjoying life.”

And that is the way we are. And God is able to make all grace abound, that he always, having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work. Hey, he stored it all up for you. It is all just waiting for it.

Would you bow your heads, close your eyes real quickly tonight? The grace of God—I hope maybe just something about it kind of stuck in your heart and your minds tonight. You say, “Preacher, I am going to keep going, and I am going to rely more on the grace of God to be what He wants me to be. I am going to be more reliant on the grace of God to be what He wants me to be.” God spoke to my heart about that tonight. That is your night. You slip your hand up to pray. You are going to rely on the grace of God. I want to be relying on His grace. God bless you. It is available. It is available. God bless you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Lord speaking to your heart. Maybe you are here tonight. You say, “You know, I just want to love on him more. When I realized he went through poverty, he became poor so I can have riches for all eternity being with him—that is the greatest riches. I just want to love him more. I want to serve him more. He has been so good. All these things, these riches I get to become… I want to love him and serve him and honor him and thank him more.” God spoke to my heart about that right there. That is you. Not slip ahead and pray. That is me. That is me. I do not thank him and serve him and love him like all. I would like to do it better. God bless you. God bless.

Original File: Pastor Paul Chisgar 82119