# Grace stored up for you

Key Passage: 2 Corinthians 8:9
Date: June 7, 2024

Turn your Bibles, if you would, to 2nd Corinthians chapter 8. 2nd Corinthians chapter 8 in God’s Word. If you’ve been here for a while, you may have to forgive me. I hope I don’t preach on this subject too often.

It’s my favorite subject: grace. I love that subject; it’s my favorite. These verses are some of my favorite verses. The second verse we will read is my favorite verse right now. But if you’ve been around here for a while, you’ve probably heard me preach on this. I love the subject. The title is “Grace Stored Up For You.” That’s the title.

2 Corinthians chapter 8, verse 9. Second Corinthians 8 and verse 9. Would you please stand as we read God’s Word together tonight? I’m so glad everyone’s here. I thought about Brother Jacob. He is busy with things; he has to get up and go to work around midnight tonight. He told me this morning, “I don’t think I’ll be able to make it. I got to be at work by midnight.” And he’s here tonight. Man, I’m glad you’re here. He said, “I can’t miss the word. I got to be here for the word.” I love that desire. That’s great. Praise the Lord for it. Because of that, we’ll read the verses, we’ll pray, and we’ll be dismissed, all right?

Second Corinthians 8:9: “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich.”

Now look at the next chapter. It’s interesting. That one was 8:9. I look at 9:8, chapter 9, verse 8. By the way, the context there is about finances. We’ll just start in verse 6 because we’re about to have this offering. It would be good for us to read that. You’ll notice in verse 8 it includes everything. We’ll get to it in a second. But 2 Corinthians 9, look at verse 6.

“But this I say: he which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly. And he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully. Every man according as it purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver.”

Now there’s a period there, the conclusion of a thought. But the first word of the next verse brings them together: “And 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.” That’s just an amazing verse. Would you read it with me and just think about the words? “And 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.”

Would you pray with me? Just ask God to help us to grasp a little bit more of what it’s saying about grace, and for us to live in faith and not in fear because of this grace. Lord, we come. Several years back, you really spoke to me about grace. I never really understood it like I do now. You just taught me and let me grasp it a little bit. Thank you for that. Lord, would you help more of us to grasp this thing of grace? And then, Lord, I pray that you would help us to live in faith, not in fear. Forgive me; so often, Lord, I live in fear about things. Lord, help us to grow beyond that and realize you have stored up every grace we will ever need. Help us to live by faith because of that. Lord, thank you for what you do. Make it real and fresh to your people. Father, we’re asking for that in the name of Jesus, we pray. Amen.

Thank you so much for standing. You may be seated.

The Old Testament Joseph is a wonderful picture, the type, if you will, of Jesus Christ. Joseph was especially loved by his father. You remember that? His father made him the coat of many colors. He loved him. Of course, Jesus is loved by the Father. Joseph was sent to his brethren. Remember they were over there in Dothan, and Joseph was sent down there to check on his brothers for his father. Jesus was sent to a foreign country. That’s what Christmas is all about. He came to a foreign country to check on us, mankind, sent by the Father to purchase our salvation.

Joseph was hated by his brethren. Jesus came to his own, and his own received him not—particularly the Jewish people, as a whole, rejected Jesus. Joseph had a coat of many colors. Jesus had a seamless coat, very valuable. Remember at the crucifixion, the soldiers were going to tear it up and split it. They said, “No, it’s too valuable. We’ll cast lots.” They gambled over Jesus’ seamless coat. Joseph was sold for 20 pieces of silver. Jesus was sold for 30 pieces of silver by Judas. So many similarities.

Joseph was lied about by Potiphar’s wife. Jesus was lied about by many people, falsely accused. Joseph was tortured in jail. Psalm 105, I believe, talks about how his feet bear the marks of the fetters and whatnot. Jesus, of course, was tortured during the crucifixion. Each became a blessing among the Gentiles: Joseph in Egypt, and Jesus here in this world (the Romans were the hands that crucified him). Joseph reconciled his brethren to himself and afterward exalted them. I’m glad Christ reconciles us to himself and to the Father. He’ll exalt us in heaven one day. There are so many similarities.

Joseph was humbled and then exalted. Christ humbled himself, became obedient to the cross, and yet one day he’ll be exalted. Every knee will bow, every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, even to the glory of God by the Father.

But here’s the thing—get this. This has been so helpful for me over the years. You remember the dream that Pharaoh had: seven good years and then the seven bad years. You remember what Joseph did? He stored up all those silos and storage bins of grain for seven years because the seven bad years were about to come. Now here’s the thing: when Christ came down and shed his blood on the cross, Christ was storing up all the grace you will ever need for the seven lean years—for every moment of your life, every trial you go through, every good work God wants you to do. Christ is storing up the grace that you need to perform that—all the grace you need, all of it. Christ was storing up grace. That’s what that first verse we read talks about: that he through his poverty might be rich. That’s why the Bible says you can abound to every good work, because Christ has stored up the grace you need to be the Christian he wants you to be.

He has stored up the grace for you to be saved. Praise the Lord. RJ this morning, he went over to one of those silos of grace, and Jesus had stored up all the grace that RJ needed to get saved. RJ just simply went by faith and asked for it. And Christ said, “Man, I purchased it for you on the cross of Calvary a long time ago.” And RJ just received it, and it’s his forever.

A preacher asked a little 10-year-old girl, “Are you a Christian?” She said, “I don’t know.” He asked, “Are you saved?” She said, “I don’t know.” The preacher said, “How do you get saved?” She said, “Well, I think by being good.” The preacher asked, “How good do you have to be?” She said, “You got to be awfully good to go to heaven.” “How awfully good do you have to be?” The little 10-year-old girl said, “Awfully, awfully good.” The preacher said, “Are you that good?” She said, “Well, no.” The preacher said, “Well, I guess then that you’re not saved.”

The girl kind of looked down, and the preacher said, “Hey, I’m not that good either.” The little 10-year-old girl’s eyes got real big. “Wow, you’re not that good either!” The preacher said, “If anybody goes to heaven, it’s not by being good enough; it’s by grace. For by grace are ye saved through faith.” It’s all the grace that Jesus stored up.

Jesus has stored up in those store bins, the silos, enough grace for everybody in the world to be saved. Don’t believe the predestination people who say he just died for a select few. No, no, no. The Bible says, “For the sins of the whole world” in 1 John 2:2. Everybody—He’s got the grace available for anyone to be saved. And He’s stored it up. Not only for salvation, but for you to grow.

You know the verse over in 2 Peter 3:18: “But grow in… what is it? Grace,” that’s how you grow, “in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be glory both now and forever. Amen.” That way, we don’t get the glory; He gets the glory. But here’s the thing: sometimes we don’t grow because we think we pull ourselves up by our bootstraps. Friend, you won’t grow like that. A lot of Christians are stuck at one level. They can’t get to the next level because they are depending on what they do to get them there. Friend, you grow in grace. That’s why Paul said, “I am what I am by the grace of God.” God has grace available for you to get to the next level. I don’t know what the next level is for you, but He has the grace. When I learn to live depending on His grace that Jesus stored up, that’s when God can take it to another level. By the way, we never make ourselves grow. You can’t make yourself grow.

I used to have a garden. Brother Frank had a better garden, and he would give me fruit from it; he did all the work. Praise the Lord for that. Then Brother Frank stopped having a garden. He started getting from David Jones’ garden. This thing’s popping! I don’t know why. But hey, man, you can plow that garden up. I used to have an old tiller; the muffler blew all the fumes on you. I made my son John plow that garden. Any brains he had got ruined by that muffler coming right back at you. He’d plow that thing up, or we would plow it up. We’d do everything, get everything just right, put that line—you have to have straight rows—and put that seed in there. My wife would make the kids and her use the natural fertilizer behind our house, called horses. They used to have a wagon the kids used for wonderful things. We’d plow that in the ground, plant that seed, and water it. But we never made it grow. You can’t make anything grow. Even in the Christian life, you can’t make yourself grow. But when you say, “Hey, Lord, I want to grow in grace,” and you’re not going to depend on yourself to grow into the Christian you should be, you say, “Jesus, I believe you have all the grace I need to grow.” And He does.

He can help you get to the next level: baptism, growing in knowledge, being used by God more, and all the different levels that it takes you through—different for everyone in some ways. But for all those stages of growth, God’s grace—He died and stored up the grace for you to grow. I look at Michael back there. How old are you, Michael? He’s 12 years old. God’s got a plan for Michael. I don’t know what all it is, but God wants Michael to be somewhere one day. I know it will be a godly man, a good church member, maybe a Sunday school teacher, maybe a bus driver, maybe a preacher, maybe a missionary. I don’t know. But God’s got a plan for Michael to be there one day. For all the stages of growth Michael needs to get there, Jesus has purchased the grace. For all of us, some people just never get to the next base; it seems like they’ve been stuck there 20,000 times. And so often, that is because we are relying on ourselves. But grow in grace. Jesus has stored up the grace so you can abound to every good work. Can I tell you two keys? Two ways? It’s like in our house…

Tammy flew down to Florida Tuesday during the daytime, $51 a ticket, amen. She spent a little extra time with Sarah. Then Tuesday night after church, Ryan, John McKinnon, and I loaded up the car and drove down to Florida. I remembered you don’t want to carry keys around everywhere you’re not going to use. I put them in the center console of the car and told Paul, “Don’t forget to get those.” Friday afternoon, Tammy and I flew up—$51, amen. That sounded like a good deal instead of riding 12 hours in the car. We flew Spirit, so we didn’t have any baggage; you have to pay for baggage. We just had carry-ons. I forgot; I left the keys in the center console of the car. Tammy had her little backpack, which carried on for free. She didn’t want to bring her purse because sometimes they count that, and her keys were in her purse. When you leave on trips, we not only lock the doorknob, but we deadbolt the deadbolt. We locked that. We were so embarrassed. Brother Anthony was kind enough to pick us up at the airport, but I didn’t want to tell him. Tammy and I were both praying, “Lord, help us get in that crazy house.” Brother Anthony dropped us off. We acted like we were walking up to the front door. Tammy said she would check the mail so she wouldn’t see; she wouldn’t check the mail because we were embarrassed. We were praying as we got there. If you go to our house, you’ll see one window broken out—no, you all, praise the Lord, you don’t. I’m not going to tell you how we broke into our house because I don’t want you to break into my house! The Lord answered prayer, and we got in that crazy thing. If we had just done the doorknob, it’s very easy to get in. I shouldn’t tell that part, but the two locks—we had them both locked. For you to have access to the grace, two things are needed.

The first one: humility.

Twice the Bible says God resisteth the proud, but He gives grace to the humble. I hope RJ doesn’t mention it, but RJ had to humble himself a little bit. I said, “Man, I need to get saved.” That little 10-year-old girl had to humble herself: “I can’t save myself. I’ll never be good enough. It’s Jesus that saves me.” Humility. It’s grace.

And then look over in Romans 5, just very briefly, Romans 5, about getting faith. I’m just going to be getting grace. I just gave away the other key. One key is humility; the other one is faith. Romans 5, verse 1: He’s got all the grace you’ll ever need to grow, to become the man, the lady, the mom, the dad, the husband, the wife. He’s got all the grace you need for your situation. Got all of it. Romans 5:1: “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” That verse told about your salvation. Now notice verse 2: “by whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.” You see, when I got saved, I was placed in the field of grace, and I’m standing in that grace, but I have access to that grace by faith. I must say, “Hey, I believe you have the grace that I need to grow.” Just like by faith you receive Christ, you get that grace at salvation. That’s the same way you grow in grace: humility, and you say, “I believe God has the grace I need to be the wife, the husband.” You say, “Preacher, be the wife, the husband to that man, to that lady.” Yeah, He knew who you’d be married to.

You heard about the fellow in church where the devil came in roaring at people, and people were flying out the front door, side door. They made a couple of new doors! The devil was there, and people were running. This one older man just stayed right there; he didn’t flinch. The devil went right to him, right in his face. The fellow didn’t flinch one bit. The devil said, “What in the world? How are you able to stand like that?” That old man said, “Huh, you’re nothing, man. I’ve been married to your sister for 40 years.” Now, of course, I’m joking. But I’m saying God knows everything about your life. Christ knew about it when He died on the cross; He stored up the grace you need—all of it—for you to grow and be the man, the lady, God wants you to be. He’s got it all stored up. How foolish we are when we try to serve Him in our own strength. That’s a little bit of pride there. By the way, if you get proud, what’s going to happen? You’re going to fall.

I remember hearing a good preacher—a good man. I love him; he’s a good man. At a preacher’s meeting several years ago, Brother Anthony was here. He said, “You know, I’ve tried to serve God in my own strength for years, and I’ve ruined my health.” Friend, He’s got the grace you need, and you get there by humility and by faith. By the way, we serve Him by grace. That’s why when we get to heaven, we won’t go up saying, “Boy, look at all these rewards I got!” No, we’ll lay our crowns at His feet because we realize we served Him by His grace that He earned on the cross of Calvary. We owe everything to it. He’s got what you need: your finances, every area for you to grow and reach the next level. He’s got it all. We don’t have to live in fear. Can I be the Christian God wants me to be? Can I be the church member I need to be? Can I make a difference in my workplace? Whatever—you don’t have to live in fear. God’s got the grace available, and I can go in faith. I can serve by faith. The Bible speaks to that.

Let me say this, and I’m done for the night: Jesus has stored up the grace you need for the hardest moment of your life. He’s got it stored up. You know the story. Paul went to the Lord: “Hey, you’ve got to remove this thorn in the flesh.” God said, “No, no, no. My grace is sufficient for me; My strength is made perfect in weakness.” For the toughest time in your life, I have watched with amazement as Brother Glenn has been such a great testimony. I hope I don’t say too much, but his wife of 53 years, Ms. Ruth—and even though it was tough, he wasn’t able to be with her when she was in the rehabilitation center. You think, “It just can’t get any worse than that.” How in the world can he do it? Because God had the grace available. Praise the Lord for a man that was humble enough and lived by faith enough just to say, “Well, we’ll make it.” You don’t go through those times on your own strength. You might say, “Man, I fear something like that happening to me. What would I do, preacher?” I’ll tell you this: Jesus knew, just like Joseph knew from Pharaoh’s dream, that the seven lean years were coming. Christ knew those lean times were coming in their life, and He stored up—and He’s got the grace for you. He’s got the grace for everything you go through. He’s got it stored up.

Satan loves for us to live in fear. He’s all about us living in fear. That’s why he’s a roar. He’s not just a lion; he’s a roaring lion. They say—and you’ve heard me tell this story—a missionary in Africa said it’s very interesting. Often there will be a herd of antelope or zebras. The old lions are often too old to move quickly and catch you, so they will go on one side. The young lions, strong and agile, will go over the other side. The old lions will roar. Their teeth are falling out. Our dog is 13. She had a tooth fall out the other day. She can still growl and act tough, but she really can’t do much anymore. Christ knocked the devil’s teeth out on the cross. He made an open show of Him, triumphant over him. But Satan roars. Here is the mistake of the zebras: when they hear the roaring, they run from it, and they run right into the young lions. The Bible says those that seek the Lord… But anyway, here’s the thing: Satan is always roaring, trying to get you to live in fear and run. That is what fear is all about. He works in fear. If he can get you to live in fear—“What if this happens?”—he has little triggers in your life trying to get you to live in fear. What about this decision I have to make? What about my finances? What if this makes me look bad to everybody? He’s always trying to get you to live in fear. Friend, you don’t have to live in fear. You don’t have to run when the devil roars.

Christ has stored up the grace you need for the toughest moments you’ll ever face. He’s got it stored up. Satan is going to roar, and he’s trying to get you living in fear. No, no, I’m not going to live in fear. I’m going to live in faith because Jesus has the grace stored up that I need, no matter what it is. He’s always got the grace available. Satan’s always trying to get you to live in fear. No, no, I’m not going to live in fear. I don’t live in fear. He’s got the grace. If you live in fear, you’ll never become the Christian God wants you to be. You don’t have to live in fear. God’s got the grace for you to grow in every area of your life. He’s got the grace. When I learned to live in faith of the grace that’s available… You heard about the two preachers on the plane when there was turbulence and problems. One preacher was afraid, saying, “We’re going to die.” The other preacher was okay. He said, “How are you okay? This plane is shaking all over! We’re about to die here!” He said, “No, no, I’m okay. We’re not going to die here because we’ve always preached that God will give us dying grace when we need it. I don’t have the grace to die right now, so we’re going to be okay.” You don’t have to live in fear. Everything you are going to go through, God’s got the grace available.

I read this quote today in my notes—I think it’s from Spurgeon, but I’m not sure. It said: “Lord, I crawled across the barrenness to you with an empty cup, uncertain in asking any small drop of refreshment. If only I had known you better, I’d have come running with a bucket.” He’s got everything you need. Satan’s always trying to get us to live in fear, but because Jesus is our high priest, “Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” He’s always got it there. Don’t let those moments trigger you to take it to the worst. No, no, He has the grace. I’m going to get to the throne of grace, and I’ll obtain mercy and find the grace. He’ll have it there.

Charles Weigel, a great preacher years gone by. He was an evangelist for years, and a pastor, I believe. When he got older, his wife got tired of him and left him. He spent the last years of his life living at Tennessee Temple. Lee Robertson had a little apartment for him there. He lived there and preached, but he was alone by himself. My old preacher friend said he would never forget one time he was there. He said he was preaching and didn’t see Charles Weigel. He asked Dr. Roberts, “Where’s Brother Weigel at?” Dr. Roberts said, “Well, he’s not feeling real good,” as he was up in years at that time. Brother Howe said he went by to visit his apartment. He was walking down the hallway, and the door was just ajar a little bit. Brother Wyvern didn’t know it, but he could hear Brother Weigel in there talking to someone. Brother Howe stayed outside and waited so as not to interrupt. He heard him talking for a while, and he got loud a little bit. He thought, “Wow, what’s going on in there?” He pushed the door open and came in. He said, “I’m sorry for interrupting. I heard you talking with someone.” Brother Weigel said, “Oh, it’s just me and the Lord.” He said, “Well, I heard you talking loudly with someone.” He said, “Yeah, man, it just got so good in here; me and the Lord were just enjoying some time alone with the Lord.” At one point, Brother Weigel had taken his shoes off and was standing on the bed, praising the Lord. His wife had left him, but God had the grace for him to go through that. In fact, he’s the man that penned the song, “No One Ever Cared for Me Like Jesus.” I’m saying, friend, whatever goes on in your life—the most tragic thing—God’s always got the grace you need.

Joseph Parker, a great preacher in London, was debating with an unbeliever in the park. The unbeliever said, “What did your Jesus do for Stephen when he was stoned to death? Where was the grace then?” Parker said, “I think heaven gave me the answer. He gave him the grace to pray for those people who were stoning him to death.” God had a plan for the Apostle Paul to hear that. Paul got saved and spread the gospel and wrote 13 of the 27, maybe 14, of the books of the New Testament. That is what God did for him. He has all those rewards in heaven because God used it and influenced Paul; Paul got saved. Whatever you’re going through, God’s got it. You don’t have to live in fear. Don’t let the devil roar and trigger you into it. No, don’t go there. God has the grace for whatever you’re going through. He always has, always will.

On Hudson Taylor’s first trip to China, he was sailing on a vessel. They didn’t have ships like we have today. It took them about six months to get there. They were passing by an island of cannibals, and the wind had really died out. The current was driving them closer and closer to the shore. Daily they were getting closer, and they knew this was not good. They weren’t moving much besides closer to the island. No wind, so their sails were down. Everybody on the vessel was getting desperate. Hudson Taylor was having services trying to get people saved. The captain went to Mr. Taylor and said, “Would you pray?” Hudson Taylor said, “I’ll pray, provided you set your sails to catch the breeze.” The captain didn’t want to raise the sails; there was no wind. He said, “Man, everybody’s going to make me a laughing stock. You don’t raise sails when there’s no wind.” Hudson Taylor said, “I’m not going to pray unless you get ready for God to answer.” So the old captain lifted the sails, and Hudson Taylor began to pray. Later on, the captain knocked on his door. “Are you still praying?” Hudson Taylor had prayed. He said, “I felt like God had given me assurance; He’s going to send the wind.” Hudson Taylor said, “Yes, I’m in here praying.” The captain said, “Well, you better stop. We’re about to get more wind than we can handle right now.” Friend, God’s got the grace for whatever you’ve got. Hudson Taylor faced it in faith, not in fear.

Hey, don’t let the devil trick you into living out of fear. Just live by faith. How do we have faith with all the problems going on in our life? The Lord knew 2020. The Lord knew COVID would be here. He knew election problems would be here. He knew all this stuff, and He has the grace for us to live through it. He’ll have the grace there. Heaven’s pretty good, amen. I’m just saying, friend, that you can abound to every good work because of the grace.

Every single thing you’ll ever face, the worst thing you’ll face, Jesus knew about it. That’s why He said, “It is finished.” He was storing up the grace you need for that moment. He’s got all the grace available. It’s sufficient. You can abound to every good work. Hey, let’s just live in faith. He’s got it. I’m going to be humble about it. It’s not me depending on myself; I’m going to live by faith in His grace. He’s got it. He went through poverty so He could be rich. Being rich is not living in fear. “I can do all things through Christ.” What a great spirit God wants us to have.

You know, back in the day, they didn’t have cell phones. They used to travel for months in covered wagons. They just had a little bit of a spirit of, “I’m going to be all right.” They learned to just live by that. If we’re not careful today, with all these modern conveniences, cars, and cell phones, we live in fear because we depend on all these things. Friend, God’s got the grace for whatever happens. The right attitude is, “I can do all things through Christ”—not in pride, but through Christ. When you get that attitude, hey, it doesn’t matter if I am abased or abound; it just doesn’t matter. I can do all things through Christ. Living by faith in the grace of God, He’s got what you need. And don’t bow down to the devil trying to get you living in fear. Everything’s been all right. God’s got it, and His grace is available. It’s sufficient.

Original File: Grace stored up for you - Pastor Chisgar