What is charity
Category: Grace
Key Passage: 1 Corinthians 8
Speaker: Paul Chisgar
Date: June 7, 2024
Amen. Aren’t you excited we have a God that can do anything? That’s just awesome. I did a great job with a great song. I love it. I don’t want to take away from the song, but every time I hear that, always my mind goes back to when I was in Bible college, a man, a little larger man, came up to sing in a lot of steps, and he tripped on his way up.
And then that first verse, those first couple words there, “someone slipped and fell,” and he started cracking up. I mean, he just could not sing because he had just slipped and fell. And then he’s thinking about someone slipped and fell. I don’t know that he ever finished that song. He laughed through about half of it. And then he said, “Forget it.” And somebody got up and preached. And so, double meaning to that song for me, amen.
Turn your Bible, as we will, to First Corinthians chapter number eight. First Corinthians chapter number eight. And I’m going to preach this morning on this subject: What is charity?
She’s a one-year-old little girl to nurse her back here. But other meanings: What is charity? And then tonight, we’re going to preach on this subject, “How to have or how to grow in charity.” Can I say this subject can really just change your life? Not the sermon, not the preacher for sure—that might change your life for the worst—but God’s Word and the truth here can change your life. It really can. It can make your marriage so much sweeter. You can reap dividends so much better in the future from it. You can have more impact for the Lord. And I mean this: this subject here of charity. So I hope—I don’t think—before you even say it, I know you’re not going to believe it, so I might as well not even say it, but I don’t think we’ll be real long this morning.
And say, I told you I wouldn’t believe me even if I said it, you know. But let’s stand, if you would, please. I’d read God’s Word together. First Corinthians chapter number eight. And we’re going to read verse number one, 1 Corinthians 8. Here we go: “Now as touching things offered unto idols, we know that we have all knowledge. Knowledge puffeth up. But charity edified.”
Would you read that last just line there, starting with knowledge? You read that out loud with me. Here we go: “Knowledge puffeth up, but charity edified.” Tell you what, would you just read those last three words with me? “But charity edifies.” Here we go: “But charity edifies.” Let’s go, Lord, a word of prayer as we get started.
Father, Lord, I know I’m not good at conveying the truth, but Lord, some way would You work? And would You take this truth, Lord, and would You make it real? Lord, make it applicable, Lord, make it understandable. And then, Father, I pray You just drive it home in our hearts. Let us grow from this day on even more in this area of charity. Lord, those on line, Lord, I pray You just reach down wherever they’re at, send Your Spirit moving, and grow them. And the folk here in the auditorium, Lord. Well, thank You for what You do, Lord. We’re asking for this, Father, in my Jesus’ name, His name. And so we’ll thank You for it, in Jesus, and we pray. Amen.
Thank you so much for standing. You may be seated.
One day—I’m not exactly sure what day it was—but one day this week, it kind of started off like all days with that dirty, rotten, sorry, good-for-nothing alarm clock going off. I don’t know. Amen. Amen. I don’t know who the Imeramus was to set that thing for so early. Who in the world would do something like that? I’ll tell you what.
Like all the other mornings, that thing goes off blaring over there, you know, and you have a couple choices. I chose choice number one: pick it up and throw it across the room, only to realize it’s my cell phone and it costs too much money for that, you know. Dirty fingerbacks ladder. So option two is hit the snooze. One time is legal. Somebody say amen right there.
We’re going to preach the Bible whether you like it or not, folks. I’ll tell you what. And I don’t know if I hit it or not. Next thing, next thing, you head to the kitchen. Somebody say amen right there. Come on now. I praise God I live in the dispensation of Keurigs. Amen. You don’t have to wait for 15 minutes any longer. Boy, that’s praise the Lord for that right there. I mean, it’s quick. I like that. And boy, food line coffee is pretty good, that little cup food line. Anybody else out there ever try a food line? Oh, I got to get you going. You got to try it. You got to try it. I think it’s breakfast blend. But anyway, man, you get in there and put that in there. And praise the Lord, you push a button, and it’s quick. Man, instant generation. Come on now. I’m in there, you know. I understand some bad, but I’ll take the good for sure, you know. And while I get that coffee, fully on these professional coffee drinkers, we need some cream and sugar. Somebody say amen right there. I’m not manly like you are, whoever it is—I mean, Brother So-and-so. I need some cream and sugar in there.
And I got my Bible, my ink pen, my banana, and the coffee. And I started reading First Corinthians 13. Now, most of you know it. It’s often called the love chapter. I’ve called it that for sure. Can I just—it actually doesn’t say “love” in the chapter. It’s charity. Can I say there is a difference? Charity is love fully grown. It’s love on steroids, if you will. It’s mature love.
And I’ll be honest with you, man, as I began to read 1 Corinthians 13, sleepers are getting out of the eyes. Got to have my glasses in the morning, for sure. Got to have them all the time, pretty much, you know. I tell you what, I began to read about what charity was. “That suffereth long.” Sometimes I’m pretty good. Sometimes not. “It’s kind.” Sometimes I’m pretty good. Sometimes I’m not. “Charity, it envieth not.” Sometimes I’m pretty good. Sometimes I’m not. “Charity vaunteth not itself.” It doesn’t brag on itself. It doesn’t tell all the good points about itself. Charity vaunteth not itself. Sometimes I’m pretty good. Sometimes I’m not.
Don’t look at me like that. You’re there too, Fred. “Is not puffed up.” Doesn’t get a big head. Sometimes I’m there. Sometimes I’m not. “Doth not behave itself unseemly.” Doesn’t act weird towards others. Sometimes I’m there. Sometimes I’m not.
Here’s the point of telling the story: By the time I got done with about the first, oh, eight, nine verses, this old boy was convicted. Well, I thought, man, I need to grow, and I would like to grow in this area of charity. I like to be better at this thing. And boy, just kind of sent me on a study, a search about this thing of charity. And in my prayer time, I tried to say, “No, Lord, one was supposed to get over here in the Old Testament, the New Testament, and what am I supposed to learn? First Corinthians 13?” And God said, “I already told you, buddy. You need to grow in that area.” So, yes, sir, I remember You did say that earlier. Come on now, you all with me out there now, you know.
This thing is charity. I fear—and I mean this, and I’m not talking about any person here, I’m just talking about across the board in America—I fear we lack greatly, greatly, this thing of charity. It’s become—it’s become—I’m not good at all these terms. You’re going to say, “That ain’t a term, Pastor.” What’s when the animal gets where you can’t find him anymore?
Extinct. It’s becoming an extinct animal. Those big words always get your pastor, you know. What is it? Extinct. Excuse me. Got to have an English teacher correct me up there, you know. I can take it from a guy that has a bow tie, but pink? I don’t know about that now.
Charity, what is it? What is it? Well, it’s found 28 times in the Bible, the word charity. The first time you’ll find the word charity in the Bible—by the way, it’s always a good way to study a word: find out the first time it’s been used in the Bible—and more often than not, I’ll give you a good definition of the word. You just read the first time charity is found in the Bible. You just found it.
By the way, this whole chapter, chapter number eight of First Corinthians, is all about meat offered to idols. You said, “What’s the deal with that?” Of course, they had many idols, like we have some in America and a lot in foreign countries: graven images. And it’ll be a piece of wood that’s carved out into a fat man with a big belly, you know, and all that, whatever it might be, you know, or a piece of rock like that. And here’s the thing: we know—we have the knowledge—we know that’s just a piece of rock. You might as well go out there and just pray to Fitzposed as good as praying to that piece of wood or metal or whatever it may be. There’s nothing to it. It’s just a piece of material. There’s no God there. We understand that. That’s the knowledge he’s talking about. We have all that. We know that.
But if you read the chapter—we won’t do it right now, and don’t you go over there and try to do it right now either, now, all right?—because you’re going to be sleeping, not reading. I know you. But here’s the thing: if you read the rest of the chapter, here’s what it says: Nothing wrong with you eating meat that’s been offered to idols.
Now, here’s the thing there. Here’s the thing there. You said, “What’s the deal there about that?” How many of you like a good deal? Come on now. I raised my finger, and all eight of my fingers on that one at the time. I like a good deal. Yard sales are us. I mean, come on now, you know.
And so here’s the thing: They would take some ribs—am I getting on your level? Any men out there, barbecue ribs? Got some ladies in there, too, you know—whatever it may be. But they would take meat, some ribs, and they would offer it to this—to this piece of wood or rock or stone, you know, rock or stone, that’s the same thing, rock or metal, you know—and they’ll offer this meat up to it. They’ll leave it there for a couple of hours. And then they’ll say, “Well, let’s take it out.” Because more often than not, false religion often is about money. You understand that. And what we got, we got that. But now let’s go sell it over here and get a little side money off of it. But they sell it real cheap, a good deal. Come on, that gets our attention, good deal.
I mean, those ribs—I don’t know what ribs cost. Praise the Lord, some people gave me some ribs not too long ago. Boy, I love those ribs. But say they cost $1.50 a pound in the store. Is that close? Anywhere close? $3 a pound? Keep going up. What was it? That’s pretty good, Ms. Painter says. She knows, she knows. $4 a pound in the store, but now you can get it half off. Come on now. Yeah, come on. That’s the goodwill of meat, thrift store of meat, you know.
And so Christians, they say, “Hey, got a good deal over there.” And they said, “We know we got the knowledge, that meat—it’s nothing wrong with it. It’s been offered up to a piece of wood. Put it on the grill for a while, and it’ll be real good. Nothing wrong.” Come on now. Somebody said, “A little barbecue sauce on there, hickory smoked, whatnot.” Hey, and now we’re talking, friend.
But the rest of this chapter, that’s what he’s talking about. The rest of this chapter, he said, “Look, but if that causes a weaker brother”—maybe someone that just got saved, maybe someone that’s not grown, they don’t have the knowledge—they still, maybe because of their childhood, they really think there’s something to this piece of metal here. And they think, “Boy, that is, that is maybe a little bit of, oh, against God. That’s a little bit of, you know, you’re taking meat that’s been offered to this other God, and now you’re getting it on second hand, and that’s not right.”
And he said, “Now we know there’s nothing wrong with it. That’s just a piece of metal.” But here’s the thing: He says, “But if me eating it—was nothing wrong with it—but if me eating it causes my brother to be offended, it hurts his Christianity, it causes him where he has bad feelings and thoughts, and it hinders your testimony to him.” The last verse of the chapter says, “If it’s going to hinder someone else, another brother in Christ, I won’t eat that as long as the world’s standing, I’m not going to eat it.”
Then he makes that statement: “Knowledge puffeth up.” Don’t be so careful with that. But charity edifies. You see, charity is all about others. Charity—the focus just turned off of me and onto them. He had the right to eat that meat, if you ask him. He said, “No, no, because it might bother or hurt someone else.” Charity always edifies; it builds up someone else. Charity loves unselfishly.
Charity is not—think of itself. It’s not about how he is looking or acting or feels. It’s all about the object: What can they do for the object loved? That’s charity.
Let’s give a couple of faults here. Look over in chapter number 12. We’re going to stick around here just in 1st Corinthians. In chapter number 12 of 1 Corinthians, he talks about spiritual gifts. We did a Wednesday night Bible study on gifts. And I understand—we won’t get into this—but I understand there’s sign gifts that time, but there’s gifts then and now. And let’s just talk about, look at a couple of these here. Let’s look in verse number 28 of chapter number 12. If you’re there, would you say amen?
Look at this verse number 28: “And God has set some in the church, first apostles; secondarily prophets”—that’s early church leaders, excuse me—“apostles were early church leaders; secondarily prophets; thirdly teachers; after that miracles, and gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversity of tongues.” Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Are all workers of miracles? Have all the gifts of healing? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret? He just named it off.
And we’re not getting into each gift tonight or this morning. We’ve did it before. Naming off all these gifts, he said, not everybody’s going to have all these and whatnot. But watch this, last verse: “But covet earnestly the best gifts.” A little while later on, we’ll find out what the best gifts are. He says, “Covet earnestly the best gifts.” But watch this: “And yet… and yet…”
I show unto you a more excellent way. He said, “Let me tell you what. Covet earnestly the best gifts.” Now, there’s something to that. We’ll study out in a second here. He says, “And yet, let me tell you something better than that. Let me show you something better.” That’s the end of chapter 12. Chapter number 13 is all about charity. See, he’s saying, “Let me show you something better than you trying to get all these gifts. Just go out there and try to help somebody.” Because that’s the reason you need a gift: not so you look good and you’ve got all that, but so you can help somebody. That’s what it’s all about.
And he said, “Let me show you something even better than trying to get all these gifts. The best thing, you just go out and you try to help somebody and give them what they need and build them up.” And God will give you the gifts you need to be a blessing to someone else. That’s the more excellent way. That’s why he’s ending chapter 12 like that. Then chapter 13 is all about charity.
Now jump over to chapter 14, if you would, please. Chapter number 14, he compares two gifts a lot. And the two gifts he’s comparing in chapter number 14 a lot are tongues and prophecy. Let me just say a word about tongues. You say, “Do you believe in tongues?” Well, I believe every man heard in his own language on the day of Pentecost, sixteen different languages there.
And I only mentioned three times in the Bible. Can I just say a note about that? Jesus never spoke in tongues, never recorded once in Scripture. John the Baptist, greatest man born among women, he never spoke in tongues. So if you guys speak in tongues for a manifestation of your salvation, well, we’re in trouble because John the Baptist never did, Jesus didn’t either. Come on now. But it was—it was a gift that God gave to get the gospel out that time. Very needed at that time. So I just want to briefly say something about it.
But look in verse number four, chapter 14, verse number four, if you would. “He that speaketh in an unknown tongue edifieth.” What’s the next word? Wow. Wow. So speaking in tongues builds you up. Whether it’s your heavenly language or whether it’s you speaking another language in front of a group of people, whatever, it edifies yourself. Is that what the Bible says or not? Yeah.
But look at this. Look at this. “So speaking an unknown tongue edifieth himself, but he that prophesieth”—he’s concerned and focused on the truth, he tells the truth—“but he that prophesieth edifieth the church.” So tongues edifies yourself; prophesying edifies others. Y’all get that? Know what I mean?
Now let’s go back up to verse number one. Verse number one: “Follow after charity.” He just finished chapter number three, told me about faith, hope, charity. The greatest of these is charity. He said, “Hey, follow after charity, and desire spiritual gifts, but rather that ye may prophesy.” Why? Because prophesying helps others. You see, we get so caught up in, “I need, I need.” No, no, it ought not be that ought to be, “I need, I need so I can help others.” The focus ought to be on another.
Charity leads you. Say, “Hey, it’s not all about me and how I feel and how I look,” but it’s not all about that. It’s about, “Can I help somebody?” That’s charity. And we’re lacking so much this thing of just genuine charity that loves unselfishly.
Can I give you charity and shoe leather a little bit in 2020? Y’all want me out there? Are y’all awake out there? Folks on YouTube, if you can say amen, please? Put your snack down, take it out. Amen, there you go. All right, good, good, good deal. Here we go. A couple things. That’s not fair. They can snack during service, and you can’t. You know, I tell you what. Let me give a couple of things about just, just some practical things.
Charity posts things on Facebook or Instagram, not to make itself look good, but to be a blessing to someone. Charity, charity, it will pray, and its prayer life begins to focus a lot of love. It should live itself. Charity, charity, it’s where it treats the wife like a queen. Not so she’ll do anything back for you and be good to you, but because you care about her.
Charity is a wife treating her husband like a king, not so he’ll brag on you and make you feel a certain way, but because you actually care about that man. Charity. Charity doesn’t raise the kids so they’ll give back to you and make you look a certain way. Charity raises the kids right because it cares about the kids. Charity. Charity.
Charity is when you join in conversation not to make you look good or feel good, but to be a blessing to others when you join in conversation. Charity is us saying, “Hey, it’s not about me anymore. God has met my needs, and over it. Now, I would like to seek to meet the needs of everybody else.” That’s charity.
Can I say we’re growing so where we just don’t see much charity in our modern society? Can I say we need a revival of just old-fashioned charity? What it’s not about us anymore. Nobody has to know about what we’re doing for somebody. It’s just simple because we care about somebody. Charity. Homes need charity. Churches need charity. Oh, Lord knows our politicians need some true charity.
Charity is where we don’t care about what it makes us look like. We’re concerned about helping someone. Charity.
Now, here’s the interesting thing: On the outside, charity looks the same, having it and not having it often—not always. You say, “What do you mean by that?” Well, look in chapter number 13. Chapter number 13 of 1 Corinthians. Just because what someone does doesn’t mean if they have charity or not. Because I do something doesn’t mean I have charity or not. It’s more about your motives and reason why you’re doing what you’re doing.
Watch this. It’s amazing. These first three verses are amazing. Verse number one, 1 Corinthians 13. Y’all still out there? Praise the Lord, you’re there. Brother Frank’s not sleeping, folks. My goodness, look at this. We’re doing pretty good today, I’d say for sure. That’s because Ms. Wanda’s with him, that’s what it is.
Look at verse number one. He says, “Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels.” So this guy, he had the gift, maybe he’s speaking of the gift where he could speak in other languages. God was using him greatly. God had given him the ability to speak in another language. Maybe, as some will say—and I’m not debating all this—but maybe as some will say, they have the ability to speak in a heavenly language. I’m not trying to debate all that, right? But they can speak with tongues and the tongues of angels. Whether that means they can give a speech so flowery, it’s so… so, got every word just right and they got, you know, all the terms and everything down, whether it being that or whether it means they can speak in heavenly language, I’m not sure, but this guy can speak with tongues and the tongues of an angel.
But watch this: “And have not charity.” So a guy could speak with this gift that God was given out to His people in a special way. They could have that gift and still not have charity. They could speak like an angel, whether that means they can get up and just warm the hearts of thousands or whatever it means. But they could do all that and still not have charity. Is that right or not? Yeah.
So it says, “Though I speak with tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I become as a sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal.” Say, “Well, look at another thing here. I’m just talking about on the outside. Just because they’re doing all these things or I’m doing all these things, it doesn’t mean to have charity.”
Verse number two: “And though I have the gift of prophecy, man, I can tell it just like it is, boom. I mean, just let out fire, and I’m focused on truth as a gift of prophecy. And understand all mysteries.” That’s pretty amazing right there. Understand all mystery. You talk about Bible knowledge. You talk about understanding, figuring out things. Man, they got it going. All mysteries. That’s pretty amazing. They’ve read all the books on theology, psychology, and all the otherologies. I mean, they got it all. They understand all mysteries.
Let’s keep going about this person: “And have all knowledge.” You want some help in your marriage? They got all the knowledge. They got all knowledge. Hey, they got it. Nobody watched the subject: finances. They got all knowledge. This is amazing. “And though I have all faith so that I can remove mountains.” That’s amazing to me. This guy’s got enough faith to move mountains. Now, that mountain may represent problems in your life, and he has enough faith just to move those, remove mountains, whether it be physical or the problems in your life. But he’s got enough faith. It’s just amazing. This guy here, he is focused on truth. He’s got the gift of prophecy. I mean, he understands all mystery. He’s got all knowledge. He’s got enough faith to move mountains.
And let’s look and see what else about this guy here: “And have not charity.” You’d think this guy would have charity. But the Bible says, “And have not charity.” You see the outside look the same way with or without charity. It’s not talking about the outside here. It’s talking about the inside here. It’s talking about your motives here. He’s got an old-down pad on the outside, got all this knowledge and understands mystery. Man, he’s got truth. He’s got the gift of prophecy. He’s got faith. But he doesn’t have charity. He says right there, “I’m nothing.”
Look at this other one here, verse number three. “And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor.” All! They sold their house. Sold the car, sold the truck, sold the boat. For you country boys, sold your muzzleloaders, sold your rifle, sold your shotgun. Oh man, some of your guys said, “Oh my goodness, what the world?” You know? All! Sold all his goods and gave it to feed the poor. Surely this guy’s got charity. Is that what it says or not? Man, he sold it all and he gave it to the poor. He went and fed the hungry. Oh, he’s got to have charity.
Well, let’s see. “And though I give my body to be burned.” Wow. He believes in a cause so strongly they are willing to give his body in—and I think probably the most painful death you can have—being burned to death. He’s willing to go through that pain because he believes in a cause that strongly. This guy’s got to have charity. Well, let’s look to see what God says: “And have not charity.” Wow. Is that what it says or not? Wow. Have not.
That’s amazing, friend. By the way, just recall while I’m doing such, “I got charity.” That doesn’t mean you got charity for you. Why I’m doing what I’m doing. That’s what charity’s about. Friend, we just need an old-fashioned revival. I’m not doing it for me, and my motives are clean and pure. It’s so God can help somebody. Others, Lord, others. Let this my motto be: Happy to live for others that I might live like the charity’s all about.
By the way, can I say something here? That’s one reason why you’ll never earn your way to heaven, because your motives are all about you. This guy thought he was going to give his body to be burned. “Well, I lay down my life for this cause. Surely I’ll be good enough to go to heaven.” No, friend, because it’s still selfish in the end, even if you’re laying down your life for the Lord to earn your way to heaven. Come on now. You can’t earn your way to heaven, friend. It’s still all about you. Oh, charity—is this love fully grown? Not about you anymore. It’s about others. I’m saying we have a shortage of this in our day and time.
Can I just ask you, would you just ask the Lord? Would you let me know how much charity I have? Would you just ask Him? Oh, where am I out on this thing here? That’s why David, when he was prayed over there in Psalms, he said, “Search me, O God, and know my—not my actions, not my outside—and know my heart.” Because we need the Lord in this thing here, because our heart is deceitful and desperately wicked above all things. Who can know it? At verse number 10 over there in Jeremiah 17: “I have the Lord try the reins.” He’s the only one. He’ll show you what’s going on in my heart.
By the way, I’ve already confessed. He said, “Buddy, you can grow in this area a whole lot.” Charity, it’s just no more about us. It’s about others.
Can I give you real quickly here—because I shouldn’t have said it, I said it, so we’ve got to go quick—the pastor is going to be adulter this morning. Can I give you real quickly benefits of having charity? Look back in chapter 13. Chapter 13. You say, “I’m already there.” Good. You got to beat. Verse number one: “Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I become as a sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal.”
You can have every letter down, you can have every syllable right. You, man, you can just—you just know how to say everything, right? But if you don’t have true charity, after a while, your spouse will know it, and it’ll be like sounding brass and a tinkling cymbal, and they’re going to say, “I wish they would just shut out that racket over there.” Or you can have charity.
And one of the benefits: you start having impact on people’s lives. Someone said they don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care. I never forget one of the times of my life I was maybe the lowest, and I just needed someone that I knew cared about me. I’m glad God put the right person there. I didn’t care at that point how much knowledge he had. I just wanted to know somebody truly cared about this boy right here. Now I listen to them.
I want people say, “You know what?” And by the way, you can’t put it on earth. When you just—you know, when the bare bones take all the facade off, it’s still a little bit about you. It takes yourself worth the way. But when you know in your heart, and God has confirmed it, and it’s truly you just truly care about people, no matter what results or what they think or say about you, there’s a little bit of self-worth there. I truly love people, care about it. And there’s some value there. You get some self-worth there. You’re content a little bit with what and who you are in the Lord. But I know all these things. The end result is still about me, isn’t it? I’m going to help you? I’m nothing. It’s through Christ. I’m talking about your self-worth.
Verse number three, look at verse number three here, if you would. Verse number three, he says over there, “And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.” I’ve already mentioned, I believe he’s talking to saved folk here. I don’t believe he’s talking about whether they’re going to heaven or hell. They’re already saved or going to heaven. He’s talking about rewards. 1 Corinthians 3 talks about if you’re just doing it well, look at me. Matthew talks about it over there. Well, you didn’t be seen him, and you got your reward if it’s all about you. You’re going to suffer loss. You don’t get the rewards. But when you truly do it because you love people, you know, I said you got some profit, but it’s really at the end of the day, it’s just all about how you, you, you, you. Not many rewards there.
The benefits of charity. Can I say this? I’m done. I just felt that wave of disbelief come across the ears. The greatest act of charity has ever been committed is Jesus Christ. He’s not the one that needed to be saved from hell. I needed to be saved from hell. You need to be saved from hell. Ten thousand angels, he could have called them. He didn’t have to lay down his life, but he willingly laid his back bare, and they took that kind of nine tails. And he was doing that because he cared about you. He said, “Go ahead and drive those nails. Put that nail in and put that nail there.” Boom. That old hammer came down and drove through there. He wasn’t doing that for him. He was doing that because he cared about you. He let that last bit of air out. He didn’t kill him. He laid down his life. He said, “I’m not going to breathe in again. I’m going to lay it down.” And he did that, not for him, but for you. That’s what you call charity.
Would you bow your heads, close your eyes, please? Our heads are bowed, eyes are closed. Maybe you’re there, and you’ve never put your full faith in what Christ did on the cross. Maybe you say, “I thought it was about me getting good enough and earning it, turning up a new leaf.” But I realize today, even that, the end of that, it’s about me. I’m going to extend—excuse me—accept the love and the charity that’s been extended on the cross. Now I’d like to put my faith fully in Jesus and Jesus alone to take me to heaven one day. If that’s you, wherever you may be in the auditorium or on YouTube, Facebook, wherever you’re at, wherever you’re at, if that’s you, would you go to Christ right now? Would you tell Him, “Well, Christ, I admit it. I’m a sinner. Can’t save myself. The best I can do if it’s to earn my way to heaven is still about me. So I lay down my efforts to earn my way to heaven. Jesus, I’m asking You to save me. Would You come into my heart? I accept Your charity of dying for me on the cross. Thank You, Jesus, for saving me.”
If you just asked Jesus Christ to be your Savior, you never have—you just did. If you’re on YouTube, below there in the description, would you check there? “I’ve accepted Christ.” We’ll send you a free Bible, send you some literature. We’d love to do it. If you’re here in our auditorium, or just asked Jesus Christ to be my Savior, put my faith in Christ to save me. If that’s you, would you just slip your hand up? Anybody like that? Anybody? Just slip it up.
Hey Christian, maybe you’re like I am, and you said, “Boy, I need to grow in this area of charity.” And you said, “Preacher, I want the Lord to—Lord, I’m asking You, would You grow me? Would You grow me in this thing of charity?” Lord, I’m asking You. Would You, would You, would You, would You, would You, would You, would You, would You, would You, would You, would You, would You, would You, would You, would You, would You, would You, would You, would You, would You, would You, would You, would You, would You, would You, would You, would You, would You, would You, would You, would You?
I’m with you on that, friend. God bless you. God bless you. That’s wonderful. Thank you so very, very much. I’m going to ask you one more question. We’ll be the end of the questions. It’s a little tough one. Would you be willing this morning to take the challenge that I’m going to pray, “Lord, would You show me my selfishness?” See, selfishness is the thing that hinders charity. It prevents it. It stifles its growth.
“Preacher, I’m going to ask the Lord, ‘Lord, in the coming days, weeks, months, would You show me my selfishness?’” I’m just going to pray that. I’m going to ask the Lord, “Would You be willing to do like David, ‘Search, God, know my heart?’” Preacher, I’ll take the challenge. I’m going to ask the Lord to show me my selfishness. That’s you this morning. You slip in and give us charity we felt thought never could have. It comes from the Lord. Would you all stand, if you would, please? We’ll have a word of prayer. We won’t be long. We’ll pray. And I’d ask, let’s just spend some time with the Lord. He’s the only one that can truly give charity. And I won’t get into it. The Lord gives charity. Let’s just come and get close to the Lord. Draw nigh to heaven. Ask Him to share that charity, give us charity for others. Would you do so? Lord, thank You so much for Your charity to us. Help our people wherever they may be, YouTube or here, to grow. Help us all. Help me to grow in this thing of charity. Father, I thank You for what You do, Lord. We love You in Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen.
Amen. You know there’s some areas that all of us, all of us can grow in. I believe this is one of them, all of us. I know myself for sure. I sure need to. Tonight, how to grow, how to grow in charity. Hoping in your place tonight. And great to see everybody online and in person. Praise the Lord for you. And praise the Lord for the contract on the land. God’s been good. And what a blessing. You see the Lord work in a great, great way. It’s just exciting to see them work. Praise the Lord for it. And amen. Brother Chip, would you mind dismiss with a word of prayer, please? Would you pray?
Original File: What is Charity - Pastor Chisgar Sunday AM 51720