Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit · Sermon No. 3092
“For you know the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that you, through Hispoverty, might be rich.” 2 Corinthians 8:9.
[Other Sermons by Mr. Spurgeon upon the same text are as follows—# 151, Volume 3—THE CONDESCENSION OF CHRIST; #2232, Volume 37— CHRIST’S MOTIVE AND OURS; #2364, Volume 40—POVERTY AND RICHES and #2716, Volume 47—CHRIST’S POVERTY, OUR RICHES]
WE may, for once, dispense with a preface, and go straight to our subject. The text speaks, first, of something that we know. When we have, for a while, meditated upon that, we will speak of some things that are due because of this something that we know.
I. First, then, I am going to talk to you about SOMETHING THAT YOU KNOW.
I have heard that people like to be told, over and over again, what they already know. If you tell them what they do not know they may or may not listen to you, but if you tell them what they do know, they will be sure to be interested. If I were to speak about the town from which one of our friends from the country has come. If I were to mention something that occurred not long ago in the High Street of that town, I would be sure to have his eyes fixed upon me and his ears opened to my words. “Ah,” he would say, “I know that town well. I was there Saturday afternoon.” Well now, I am going to speak of something with which all Christians are so familiar that I may refer to it as something that they certainly know. Whatever else they know or do not know, I may address all of them who are here and say, “You know the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Beloved Believers, you could not have been Believers in Christ it you had not known this! You could not have had faith if you had not had this knowledge—it would have been impossible for you to have been converted unless you had known Jesus Christ who has now your soul’s entire confidence! It is an essential part of your very profession that you should know this and, therefore, we assume that you do. Whatever else you do not know— and I suppose there are some Doctrines that are yet too high or too deep for you to comprehend, and some experiences to which you have not yet attained, and some Graces that are as yet not consciously enjoyed by you—you do “know the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that you, through His poverty, might be rich.”
You know, first, that “He was rich “We believe that He was infinitely rich and eternally rich, for He was “very God of very God,” and none can be compared for riches with God, who has boundless wealth. God was able to create the heavens and the earth at His own good pleasure and of Christ we are expressly told that “by Him were all things created.” “He was rich” in His essential Deity and rich in the homage of the holy beings that He had made. The hosts of blessed spirits adored Him, principalities and powers counted it their highest honor to be conformed to His will. Heaven is Heaven because He is there. “By Him all things consist” and, therefore, all things reflect His Glory. We are not among those who think that Jesus was a mere Man—blessed be God, we know better than that! We could not trust our salvation to the very best of men. But Christ is God—He “thought it not robbery to be equal with God.” He certainly was rich in happiness. We cannot conceive of His ever feeling a pang of pain or having a single thought of care while yet He dwelt in His Father’s bosom. He must have been as happy as He was holy! We say that “He was rich,” but that is a poor expression, after all, for human language utterly fails to express how rich He was. He was more than rich—He was more
than great, He was GOD—all that that word can possibly mean! We know that we have no controversy about that, for “without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh.”
We also know, dear Friends, that though He was rich, “He became poor ” I am only telling you something that you know full well, but let your minds be refreshed with the remembrance that Christ was so poor that He was wrapped with baby clothes just as any other infant was. Although He was The Infinite, He was so poor that He had to be sheltered in a stable because there was no room for Him in the inn. Afterwards, He was so poor that He was banished from His own country and had to flee into Egypt. He was so poor that He was the fit companion of a humble carpenter at Nazareth. So poor that when He came out into public life, His dress was the common garment of a laborer, woven from the top throughout without a seam. He had not where to lay His head, though foxes had their holes and birds their nests. He was so poor that He was indebted for His daily bread to the charity of gracious women who followed Him and ministered to Him of their substance. Though the cattle on a thousand hills were His, He sat upon a well at Sychar and said to a poor woman, “Give Me a drink.” Oftentimes, He knew what faintness and hunger meant—and the longer He lived, the more intense His poverty became, until, at last, He was left without a friend when He most needed sympathy—without one to speak a good word for Him when He was arraigned before the bar of those who had resolved to condemn Him to death! Then was He taken out to die without a rag to cover Him. And when He was dead, He was indebted for a tomb to one who lent it to Him out of love. Never was there anywhere else such poverty as the poverty of Christ, for it was not merely external, it was also internal. He became so poor, through bearing our sin, that He had to lose the light of His Father’s Countenance, emptying Himself of all the repute He had. He became a spectacle of scorn and shame because our shameful sin had been laid upon Him. See Him on yonder shameful Cross! Mark His many wounds, hear His expiring cry! And as you gaze upon that spectacle of majestic misery, remember that although He was rich, He became thus poor.