Our Gifts to God

Well, it's inescapable that this is a time of year for gift giving, right? I mean, we all recognize that as we see a few packages mysteriously appearing under our Christmas trees. About a year ago, it was in November actually of 2013, Saturday evening post, published a survey that had been done by the Denison Forum on Truth and Culture, 23% of Americans exchange presents at Christmas time. But that's not the end of the story or the statistics, 40% of the toys given in December are broken by March. I'm surprised they last that long actually, but 40% broken by March, 50% of Americans spend more than they can afford. 33% of Americans will take six months to pay off what they spend at Christmas time. And 20% will struggle to make the rent or mortgage payment in January due to Christmas spending. Well, that's my scrooge moment for this morning. A little bit of reality as to how some people just get totally out of control with spending for Christmas, not a good thing at all. But it is a time of year of gift giving, nothing wrong with that at all. That's a joyful part of this season of Christmas and a remembrance that God has given us some wonderful gifts as well. And that's what I want to focus on this morning. In this time of giving of gifts, I want us to focus upon the fact that God has given us some very special gifts. But before we jump into them and see what God has given us by way of gifts to open up at this Christmas season, I want to remind us of what a gift is. We need to understand the nature of a gift before we jump into these gifts because it's important that we see what a gift really is. A gift is not something that is earned in part or in whole. You do not earn a gift. By very definition, a gift is a gift. It is not earned or merited. A gift is not something you pay for. At least the one receiving it does not pay for it. The one giving it does. It costs the gift or something, but it does not cost the recipient anything. If you offered a pay for that ugly Christmas sweater, that would not be a gift. And I would question your sanity as well, although that's a different issue. By the way, I'm not looking at anybody's sweater this morning at all. A gift is not something you pay for. It's not something you write a check for. Use your credit card for. A gift is not something that is merited. You do not deserve a gift. If Santa Claus has to check whether or not you've been naughty or nice, he's not offering gifts. He's offering rewards or prizes for good behavior. He's not offering gifts. So a gift is not something that is merited. A gift is something that is freely offered to you by another person because of their love for you. Now, that last part with Christmas giving may be a little bit in question because everybody gives gifts this time of year. But in the reality of things, in the pure definition of a gift, a gift is something that is freely given to another person by someone who loves that person. It's motivated by love. It is not motivated by a sense of obligation. Certainly the recipient does not earn it, merit it, pay for it in any way. That's what a gift is. Keep that in mind as we look at all of these gifts that God has given to us. The greatest gift of all is where we will start. God has given us, first of all, his son. I want you to turn to these passages with me. We're not in one passage of Scripture this morning. Jumping around just a little bit and we'll have a lot of other verses on the screen for you to save time. John chapter 3 verse 16. Probably the most well-known verse in all the Bible and for that very reason, the impact of it often escapes us. John 3 16. For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only son. He gave His one and only son. That whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. To gift. This is a gift the father gave. It is clear that God the father gave the gift of his son. Again, we read this passage. We know this verse. It's quoted all the time. One of the most familiar verses in the Bible and so sometimes we just kind of slide over it and we miss the impact of this gift. I want us to pause for a moment and let the meaning of this verse soak in for just a moment. Think about what this gift is. When Paul was thinking about it, he had one word to describe it. Indescribable. Look at 2 Corinthians chapter 9 and verse 15. Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift and He's just used the illustration of Christ leaving heaven and becoming poor for our sake so that we might be made rich. He's talking about Christ. And so this is an indescribable gift. Literally unspeakable, inexpressible. This gift is absolutely indescribable. And I think we miss that sometimes when we just let it roll off our tongues so easily. God's the world that He gave us only we got in sun. Yeah, I know that. He gained. It's an indescribable gift. Friend, understand the impact of that gift. Think for a moment what makes this such an indescribable, unspeakable, inexpressible gift. Think of the relationship that the father had with his son, first of all. Think for a moment of the fact that God the father and God the son had lived for an eternity in the past. In perfect communion, fellowship and love with one another. I can't even wrap my mind around that concept. But that's where this must start to understand this kind of gift. We have to understand that Jesus being sent to the earth was not some kind of time out for bad behavior. God was sending his son, yes, but they had always been in perfect communion and fellowship, not one hint of any discord between them. And then in the midst of that perfect relationship, God gives his son to die for other people. I cannot begin to imagine giving one of my children, offering one of my children to die for someone else. I can't imagine that. But that's what God did. And think about it this way. He was not offering his son to die for wonderful nice people. Paul says it this way in Romans 5. Let me just read these verses for you. You see at just the right time when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. And then Paul reaches down into the depths of his heart and mind to try to think of a way to express this. And he uses a couple of human illustrations. He says very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person, someone might possibly dare to die. I mean, it is possible in the realm of our imagination, not likely. It would be very rare, but it is possible that someone would say, I will die in that person's place. That's a good person. That's a person this world needs. That's a person that should stay here. I will offer my life so that they can live. That could happen. And does happen on rare occasions. Paul goes on to say, but God demonstrates his own love for us in this while we were still sinners. Christ died for us. And then in verse 10, he says, for if while we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his son. Think about it. God the father, God the son in perfect unity and love and harmony and fellowship throughout an eternity. And God offers to give his son to die for other people. And those other people are not deserving of that. They are his enemies. They are ungodly. They are wicked. All of us. And yet God is willing to offer his son for his enemies. How do you explain that with the only word Paul knows to use? It's indescribable. And the way John expresses it for God so loved the world. He so loved the world. I cannot imagine that kind of love. This is a gift the father gave. And let's seek to wrap our minds around what it means for the father to give his son. But this is not only a gift the father gives. This is also a gift the son gives. This is also a gift that Christ himself gives. He voluntarily gives. He did not take this on as an unwanted assignment. Something that he dreaded doing. He voluntarily laid down his life. He would tell us in John chapter 10 that no one could take his life from him that he would voluntarily lay it down. He was able to take it back up again. This was entirely voluntary. He volunteered to do this. He gave himself for us. Look at the way Paul expresses it in Galatians chapter 1. Paul says, grace and peace to you from God our father and the Lord Jesus Christ who gave himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age according to the will of our God and father. He gave himself in chapter 2 verse 20 of that same epistle. Paul says it again. He says, I've been crucified with Christ and I no longer live. But Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body. I live by faith in the son of God. Here it is who loved me and gave himself for me. Jesus willingly volunteered to be the substitute. The sacrifice. The offering for us to be the one who would die for our sins. We know that he willingly voluntarily gave his life when we watched the way it unfolded. Do you remember the account in the gospels of Jesus arrest? And how Judas led a group of temple guards, Roman soldiers, chief priests into the Garden of Gethsemane. The Bible calls it a cohort which would be a group of 600 Roman soldiers. So you have 600 Roman soldiers coming with Jesus and 11 followers in the Garden. I mean they were well prepared for any resistance. But you remember what happened? Jesus steps out from the shadows and says, who are you seeking? Who have you come here for? And they say Jesus of Nazareth and Jesus responds, I am. And with that forceful declaration of the use of the Old Testament name for God, the Bible says the soldiers fell backward. 600 Roman soldiers scrambling to get back on their feet after falling backward at two words that Jesus utters. You think they took Jesus by force? No. Jesus offered himself. In the arrest it is clear that this is a voluntary giving of his life. As he nears the end of six hours of agony on the cross, Jesus says to the Father, Father, into your hands, I commit my spirit. And the Bible says that he breathed his last. He voluntarily dismissed his spirit and died. It was so shocking that when the Roman soldiers came to break the legs of the three who were on the cross because they needed to hurry up this execution thing. This thing that could take sometimes two or three days for someone to die in this gruesome way. It's six o'clock in the evening when struck the Jewish Sabbath and the Jews would not be able to take the bodies down from the cross if they did die in the next 24 hours. So they got to get them off the cross. So they're going to break their legs so that they cannot push up from that little pedestal, their feeder on and give their lungs that are being crushed. The opportunity to get a little gasp of breath. They would suffocate in minutes if their legs were broken. When they come to Jesus to break his legs, he's already dead. And they were surprised because it shouldn't have happened that fast, but Jesus had voluntarily dismissed his spirit. Everything about the way it happens shows that Jesus gave his life for us. The gift of God, the Father, the gift of Jesus, the Son, the gift of Christ to be our Savior. And it is a gift. You simply receive it by faith. Remember the nature of a gift. You cannot earn it. You cannot pay for it. You do not deserve it. You simply receive it as a gift. By faith, you receive Jesus, God's Son as your Savior. What a gift. The gift of Christ, the gift of God's Son. But there's another gift that kind of goes along with that. You know, sometimes when you have a couple of gifts under the tree and someone says, oh no, wait a second, open this one first. Because if you open the second one first, you kind of spoil the surprise of the first one. You ever done that to your kids or your wife or your husband. You know, this is one of those kind of gifts. You got to open the Son first to get the next gift because the next gift only comes when you when you've got the Son first, when you know Christ. And it's the wonderful, beautiful gift of eternal life. Look with me, please at Romans chapter six, another familiar verse, Roman six and verse 23. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus, our Lord. It's a gift. Eternal life is a gift. And please understand, it is a free gift. Remember the nature of a gift. Remember the characteristics cannot be earned, cannot be paid for is not merit that are deserved. It is a free gift. God offers you freely. You do not earn it in any way. Offers you freely eternal life through faith in his Son. This is the way Paul forcefully says that in Ephesians chapter two verses eight and nine, he says for it is by grace. That's what motivates God to give it is by grace. You have been saved through faith. And this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God, not by works so that no one can boast. So eternal life, salvation by grace through faith is a gift of God. It is a free gift if we could take the time when we're not going to do it. To read back in Romans chapter five, there's some great verses, Romans five verses 15 through 17, which contrast the fact that we earn and deserve and merit judgment because of sin from Adam's time on down. There's a contrast between that and the gift of righteousness through faith in Christ. And in those three verses five times Paul uses the word gift. It's like, I want to make this clear. This is a gift. This is a gift. This is a gift. This is a gift. Is that clear? It's a gift. And three times he uses the word grace to indicate that this gift is given by God's grace. It is not something you merit. It is not something you earn at all. God's gift of eternal life is indeed a gift of free gift from his own heart of love. In the movie, Saving Private Ryan, which little disclaimer here, especially for those who are younger in our audience, it's pretty gory. Movie with some actual or some very realistic battle scenes in World War Two and also some graphic battle military soldier kind of language. But it's a movie about World War Two and an unusual military assignment. Just days after the landing of our troops in Normandy on D-Day, the military became aware that three American young men from the same family had died, three brothers had died. And there was a fourth brother behind enemy lines and nobody knew where he was. And so the military commissioned Captain John Miller to take a group of soldiers and find Private Ryan and rescue him and get him home. They did not want to write a fourth letter of condolence to one family. Interesting through the movie that Captain Miller and his soldiers as they are trying to find Private Ryan debate about whether or not this is a wise use of their time and efforts. We're supposed to be fighting the enemy. Why are we trying to find and take home one of our own? Two of those men died in the effort to find Private Ryan. And once they do find him in the last battle, the skirmish that takes place when they find him, Captain Miller is mortally wounded. There's a scene in that movie where Private Ryan is looking into the eyes of Captain Miller as he dies. And he hears the last words of the man who sacrificed his life to find him and rescue him. Look at what he says. What's that? Yes. Earth? The last words he will hear Captain Miller say before he dies. Earn it. Earn this. A great sacrifice has been made for you. Now live in a way that you deserve it. You earn it. And if you've ever seen the movie, you know how the movie ends. Watch how it ends. The citizens of a grateful nation, wishing you good health and many years of happiness with James at your side. Nothing, not even the safe return of a beloved son, can compensate you more than thousands of other American families, who have suffered great loss in this tragic war. And I might share with you some words which have sustained me through long dark nights peril, loss, and heartache. And I quote, I pray that our Heavenly Father may assuage the anguish of your bereavement. Go ahead and cut it. It didn't let me come only to the cherished memory of the loved and lost. Go ahead and cut it. And the solemn pride must be yours to have laid so costly a sacrifice. He's not going to listen to me. I mean the guy on the screen didn't listen to me. Sorry, it didn't launch properly. If you remember the movie, the scene morphs into Captain or private Ryan as an older man. Later in his life, standing in the military cemetery there. Is it launching properly now? Okay, let's go with it. Nothing, not even the safe return of a beloved son, can compensate you more than thousands of other American families, who have suffered great loss in this tragic war. And I might share with you some words which have sustained me through long dark nights peril, loss, and heartache. And I quote, I pray that our Heavenly Father may assuage the anguish of your bereavement, and leave you only the cherished memory of the loved and lost. And the solemn pride must be yours to have laid so costly a sacrifice on the altar of freedom. And, Ram Lincoln, yours very sincerely respectfully. George C. Marshall, General Chief Staff. George C.ashing My family is with me today. They wanted to come with me. To be honest with you, I wouldn't your fellow would feel coming back here. Every day, I think of what you said during that day on the bridge. I thought I don't have my life the best I could. I hope there was enough. I hope there at least in your eyes. I've earned what all of you have done for me. Damn. That thing John made to me. Don't be high, let it go, John. Don't be high, let it go, John. Don't be high, I'm a good man. Don't be high. Don't think you can stand at the end of your life and look into the face of God and say, have I lived a good life? Have I been a good person? I remember what you did for me and I've tried my best to live in such a way that I could earn it and I could deserve it. And I hope in your eyes it was enough because my friend, you can't get to heaven that way. I am so thankful that when Jesus laid down his wife for us, he did not say, now earn it. He said simply, receive it, receive it. What he wants you to do is to take his gift. It is a gift of eternal life. It is a free gift. You can't earn it. You can't pay for it. You can't deserve it. And the most awful thing in life would be to come to the end of your life and be looking up in the face of God and saying, I hope I did okay. Was I a good person? Did I earn heaven? And he will say, depart from me. I never knew you. Because he offered it as a gift. He wants you to simply receive it, my friend. Won't you do that? Stop trying to earn it. Just simply receive it as a free gift. But it's not only a free gift. Thank God it's a full gift. And what I mean by that is this. Jesus is not an insincere giver. He's never going to take back what he's given to you. He's never going to... You'll never have to stand in a return line at Walmart and give this gift back. You'll never have to do that. Because this is a full gift. It is freely and fully given. Here's how Jesus said it himself in John chapter 10. My sheep listened to my voice. I know them and they follow me. I give them eternal life. That's the gift we're talking about. But notice what he says next. I give them eternal life. And they shall never perish. No one will snatch them out of my hand. This gift of eternal life is a gift that God gives you fully. Nobody can take it from you. It's eternal. That means it can never end. And that for that reason you will never perish. No one can take you back out of his hand. Because the gift is a full gift. Now I know that some people think, well wait a second John, eternal life. You start eternal life when you die, right? Because that's when eternity starts. No no, that's when heaven starts. It's not when eternal life starts. Eternal life starts the moment you receive Christ into your heart and life is your Savior. Here's the way Jesus said it. Here's the promise he made in John 524. Very truly I tell you. I tell you, over here's my word and believes him who sent me. Notice has present tense, present possession, has eternal life and will not be judged. I love the way he says it next. And but has crossed over from death to life. Has crossed over. That's already been done. The moment you hear God's word and trust God who made the plan of salvation. Possible by sending Jesus as your Savior. The moment you trust Christ is your Savior. You cross over from death to life. You've already as a believer made that transition to eternal life. You have eternal life the moment you get saved. No one can take it from you. You'll never get it returned. No one can steal it from you. You can't give it back. It's eternal. The gift of eternal life. What a great gift. Wait a second. Look harder under the tree. There's a third gift. Not only does God offer us graciously the gift of His Son and the gift of eternal life through His Son, He also gives us the Holy Spirit. John chapter 14. And verse 16, Jesus is speaking to His disciples the evening before He dies. In the upper room He will make them this promise in John 14.16. And I will ask the Father and He will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever. And He identifies who the Father will give as our advocate for 17, the Spirit of truth. The Holy Spirit is given as a gift. And I want to emphasize He is a gift. You see, there are a lot of people that think you kind of earn the Holy Spirit. You pray through, you seek Him, you try to get your life to a certain level of holiness. And then maybe you get the Holy Spirit kind of a second blessing after salvation. There are a lot of people that teach that. And that is the furthest thing from the truth. Not even the disciples did that. Jesus said the Holy Spirit will be given in answer to whose prayer. My prayer, Jesus said, He says, I will pray. I will ask the Father and He will give you another comforter. When Jesus went back to heaven, He gave the Spirit of God for those of us who know Christ is Savior. He is a gift. He is not earned. He is not marathit. You don't work for Him. You don't pray through to get Him. You are up to get the Holy Spirit. He is a gift. Jesus said to His disciples just a little bit later just before He went back to heaven, Luke chapter 24, verse 49. He said, I am going to send you what my Father has promised. But stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high. And then He would say in the record of Acts, in Luke's record in Acts 1, on one occasion, while He was eating with them, He gave them this command. Do not leave Jerusalem. But wait for the gift. Wait for the gift, my Father has promised. Which you have heard me speak about. For John baptized with water, but in a few days, you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit. In other words, John immersed you in literal water. I am going to immerse you in the Holy Spirit. I am going to give you the gift of the Holy Spirit. And He will come be with you like I promised in John 14 forever. So the Holy Spirit is a gift. The disciples didn't, they were not told. The command was not, pray through. You know, reach a certain level of spirituality. Earnestly seek the Spirit. No, no, they just were to wait. Jesus just said, wait. I am going to ask the Father when I go back to heaven. And He is going to give you the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is a gift, my friend. You say, well, when do I get Him? You get Him at the moment you trust Christ the Savior. At the moment you are saved. So He is a gift, but He is given at salvation. Now, I realize there were a couple of instances in the book of Acts where there were some people who were already saved. And they were prayed for and they received the Holy Spirit. But you've got to understand what's going on in the book of Acts. The book of Acts is a transitional book. You've got some people in the book of Acts who were already saved before Christ died on the cross. They were like Old Testament believers. They were trusting in God like Old Testament saints did. And they were saved just like Abraham believed God. They were faith was kind of for righteousness. And so they were already believers in the Lord and trusting Him and saved. But then after the cross, they need to kind of be transitioned into the church age and the way things are done since the cross. And so, yeah, there were a couple occasions, Acts 8, Acts 19, where people were given the Holy Spirit after salvation. But that's not the norm. That's not the pattern. The pattern is made clear later on in Paul's epistles. When he's writing about church truth, the way things happen in this age of the church, Paul says this in Romans chapter 8 and verse 9. He says, you, however, are not in the realm of the flesh, but are in the realm of the Spirit. He's talking about when you get saved, you transition from one realm being controlled by the flesh, the simply, to being controlled by the Spirit. There's a different realm that you're living now. And he says, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you, well, how do you know if the Spirit of God lives in you? Look at what he says next. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ. Ah, that's the key. If you belong to Christ, you have the Holy Spirit. See, the converse is true. If you know Christ, if you've trusted Christ, you have the Spirit. You don't have the Spirit, then you're not one of his. You're not saved if you are saved. You have the Holy Spirit. Paul re-emphasizes this in 1 Corinthians chapter 6, verses 19 and 20, when he says, do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit? Remember the Old Testament temple was a place that was designed to show the presence of God. Your body is the presence of God. He lives in you. So he says, your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. Who is in you, whom you have received, terminology of gift again, you've received from God. Okay? When did I receive him? Ah, Paul helps us out here. He ties it to our redemption. He says, here's what I mean by you receive. You're not your own. You are bought at a price. Therefore, honor God with your bodies. So when do you receive the Holy Spirit? When does he come in you at the moment of redemption? When you know Christ is your Savior, you've trusted him who died to pay for your sin? So this is a wonderful gift and a gift we ought to thank God for every day. The Holy Spirit who is given to us at the moment of salvation, who comes in to help us live our lives every day, who encourages us, who challenges us, comforts us, gives us strength and power to do. Everything God wants us to do, the Holy Spirit is so active in our lives every day. He's a wonderful gift. We ought to thank God that we have the gift of the Holy Spirit. But look, ah, there's another gift under the tree. Under the tree for us, given by God, and it is an ability for service. God has given each of us at least one, sometimes more, abilities for service. Romans chapter 12 talks about that. Romans 12, verse 6, we have different gifts. According to the grace given to each of us, and then he talks about some of those gifts. When he's talking about spiritual gifts here, and that's what we typically call them, spiritual gifts, what he's talking about is an ability that God gives you to serve him in some way. So what are we supposed to do? Are we supposed to work for a gift, ask God for a certain gift? Are we supposed to try to develop a certain gift and get it somehow? It's a gift, to gift. So what we are supposed to do is simply discover our gift. Discover what God has put in us by way of some ability, passion, desire, heart inclination, even the way he's made us temperament wise, and so forth, fits all of that together to fit with the ability he's given us to serve. So we're to discover it. Look back at verse 3, he talks about that. He says, for by the grace given me, I say to every one of you, do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you. And that's how he introduces this subject of spiritual gifts here. He says, what you need to do is not think of yourself more highly than you ought. Oh, I've got all the gifts, can't you see? I've got all the gifts. Don't think of yourself more highly than you ought, but use sober judgment properly evaluate how God has made you, the kind of ability he has given you to serve him and how that can be used in serving him properly think about that in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you. In other words, what is it that burns in your heart that you have a passionate desire to do that probably is in line with whatever ability God's given you to serve him? So evaluate yourself. He says, discover your gift because he likens it to the human body in verse four for just as each of us has one body with many members. And these members do not all have the same function. Okay, human body's example verse five. So in Christ, we though many form one body and each member belongs to all the others. Verse six, we have different gifts. And then he starts talking about them different kinds. So we need to discover our gift, but then we need to use our gifts faithfully. And that's what he tells us in verses six through eight. Discover your gift, but then use it faithfully. Notice what he says in verse six. We have different gifts according to the grace given to each of us if your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith. Okay, if it is serving, then serve. If it is teaching, then teach. If it is to encourage, then give encouragement. Notice there's no gift of discouragement here, but some of you have the gift of encouragement. You really do. Your presence, your demeanor, your words, lift up people, encourage people, keep them going. If you have that gift, if God has given you, use it. Encourage people. If it is giving, then give generously. If it is to lead, do it diligently. If it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully. If you're the kind of person that walks out into the parking lot, you see someone who's fallen. Your heart just goes out to them. And you want to help or you see any need and your heart just gravitates toward that. That's probably because God's given you the gift of mercy. That doesn't mean if you don't feel like you have that gift, you should walk out in the parking lot and see somebody fall. That's not my gift. Somebody helps them. I'm not going to fool that. That doesn't mean that. But when your heart is drawn to something, when your heart beats for something, that's a good sign that God's gifted you in that way. And so, figure out what it is, and then use it. Give it to God for His glory. Recently, there was an appeal by a famous neurological institute in the form of a letter written to doctors. And these doctors were being encouraged to donate their brains for medical research. I think they were supposed to donate them after they died, was the idea. But they were being asked to consider donating their brains for medical research. And toward the end of that communication, there was a line that seemed to be lifted from a fundraising letter. It seemed entirely out of place for this kind of an appeal for doctors to donate their brains for medical research. The line read this way, any contributions, however small, will be greatly appreciated. Well, there's a sense in which some of you think, I don't have much to offer. What do I have to offer, God? What can I do? Don't write yourself off, and don't sell yourself short. Just because you say, well, I can't get up and teach a class. I can't get up and sing. Like, we heard this morning, you know, I can't, I don't have much to give. I just, what can I do? God has given you some opportunity to serve him. In some way, you can plug into ministry and serve him. Figure out how he's wired you, what your passion and desire is. That's probably in line with your gift. And figure out what it is he wants you to do. And then do it. It is a gift that he's given you. And whatever it is, he wants you to use it. He doesn't want you to waste it. It's a gift. You didn't do anything to earn it. He graciously gave it to you. And so use it for his glory. But quickly, there's a fifth present under the tree. This package is marked spiritual blessings. Ah, there's so much here. So much that God has given us. Romans 8.32 says it so well. Look at that verse. Romans 8.32. He who did not spare his own son, but gave him up for us all. How will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? You see all this terminology about giving? Do a study on it sometime. Trace the word give or gift or gave through the Bible. Any form of that word, you'll find it appearing scores of times. All the things that God has given us. Here he says, if God's already given the greatest gift, his son, you think he's going to be chency and hold back on other spiritual gifts? And it's clear from the context. He's just listed a bunch of spiritual gifts in verses 28 and 29 that he's given us. He will list more in 31 to 39. And so all this context leads us to believe. He's talking about spiritual blessings here. If he's already given us the gift of his son, is he going to hold back on spiritual blessings? No. He will freely give us all that we need to live in the way he wants us to live. Just to give you a little inkling, just the tip of the iceberg of the kinds of gifts he promises us. We're going to run through these just by way of mentioning and through the verses on the screen. God promises to give you strength. Isaiah chapter 40 and verse 29. He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Secondly, he gives you rest. Matthew 11, 28, come to me. All you are weary and burdened. And I will give you rest. Thirdly, he gives us peace. John 14, 27, peace I lead with you. My peace, I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid. Fourthly, he gives us his word. John 17, speaking to his disciples, praying actually in this prayer to the Father, he says, for I gave them the words you gave me and they accepted them. They knew a certainty that I came from you and they believed that you sent me in verse 14. He says, I have given them your word and the world has hated them for they are not of this world anymore than I am of the world. So he has given us his word to be a lamp to our feet, a light to our path, our guide, our conscience, if you will, the tool the spirit uses to direct us. And then fifthly, he gives us wisdom. In James 1.5, he says, if any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God who gives generously to all without finding fault. And it will be given to you so many times. God says, I have given you this. I offer you, I give you, I give you, I give you and these blessings and so many more that we don't have time to mention are ours in Christ. What you need to do is claim them, trust God for them. They are already yours. So wake up each day regardless of what challenges lie before you and say, Lord, I need your strength today. You've already promised that. Thank you. Lord, I need your peace today. I need to rest in you today. I'm so troubled in my heart, mind, spirit. I need your rest. You've promised it. If I come to you, Lord, I need the direction of your word today. And oh, how I need your wisdom today. And God's already said I'm giving you all those. They're yours. They're gifts. What amazing gifts we have. I'm reminded of the story I read one time about a little boy who was visiting Washington, DC with his family and they had gone up in the Washington monument there on the ball. And when he came out of the Washington monument, he was so, he was so amazing, amazed at what he had seen. He said to the security guards standing at the base, he said, I want to buy this. So he pulls out a dollar out of his pocket. So I want to buy this and the security guard laughed at him and said, son, you can't buy this. First of all, it's not for sale. Secondly, if it were for sale, you couldn't afford it. And thirdly, son, I want you to know because you're an American citizen. It's already yours. And that's what God's telling us in these promises. They're gifts. They're not for sale. If they were, they would be out of our price range. We couldn't afford them. But because we are in Christ, they're already ours. They're promised their gifts that God has offered to us. But I think I see one more package under the tree. Yeah, it's marked material blessings. I know what you're thinking. Oh, no, no, John, this is not a gift from God. I work hard for whatever I have by the sweat of my brow. I worked hard. Everything I have around me is the product of my labor. I worked hard for this. Oh, really? Look at what God has to say about that. First Timothy chapter 6, verse 17, command those who are rich in this present world, not to be arrogant, nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain. But to put their hope in God who richly provides, I think the King James says, gives us everything for our enjoyment. Everything. And he's talking about material blessings here. He's talking about those who have much of this world's goods. And he says, I know the tendency. I know the tendency is to be arrogant and to think, man, look what I got. I've worked so hard. Look at what I have. Look at what I've built. Paul is saying, don't do that. Remember that I got Nebuchadnezzar in trouble. Nebuchadnezzar went out on his kingly palace porch one day, looking at the gardens of Babylon, looking at all the things that he had amassed, the great city he had built. It's all mine. God says, I'll tell you. I'll show you who gave it to you, Nebuchadnezzar. Read about it in Daniel 4. God sent him out into the fields, delusional, eating grass like an ox for seven years until finally he lifted his heart up to God and recognized that God was the giver of all the blessings of this life. That's what Paul's warning us about. Don't be like Nebuchadnezzar who had to be humbled by God. Don't be arrogant. Don't think you got all this on your own. It was your ingenuity, your hard work, your devotion to education or whatever it was. Certainly he says, don't put your hope in it. Don't put your trust in it because it can all fly away. It can all be taken away from you. Don't be arrogant about it. Don't be proud about it. Don't be trusting in those things. But enjoy it. He says. See, at the end of verse 17, he says, God gives us all the things that we have, rather it's a little too much, to enjoy. Don't be ashamed of what he's given you. Don't worry about the fact you've got a few things. Enjoy them. He says. But be careful. Be careful of your attitude. He goes on in verse 18 to say, command them to do good, to be rich and good deeds, to be generous and willing to share. In this way, they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life. You want to really live, then have the attitude. God gave me all of this. I didn't earn it on my own. It's all a gift from God. I'm not going to trust in it because he could take it away tomorrow. But as long as he gives it to me, I'm going to be open to share it. I'm going to be willing to give to anybody that has needs. And my friend, that's not just material wealth. It's anything you have. It's including your time. Including yourself. This is talking about our view of our material wealth. How we view it. How we look at what God has given us. One young businessman had made it to the top of his company at a very early age. And he was going to take a Saturday and just kind of let it all soak in and just enjoy all that he had. He had made it. I mean, he had everything. Every little toy and drink at this world could give. So he hopped in his BMW convertible and decided he would just ride through the Los Angeles suburbs. As he's driving off the hill of his police will mention near Los Angeles, he lost control of his car, one of those curves. And it started flipping down the hill, threw him out and continued on down into the canyon. Onlookers who saw it radioed in called in for emergency personnel when they arrived on the scene, they found the driver of the car kind of stumbling around the top of the hill just kind of muttering to himself, oh no, my car, oh my car, my car. And the EMT guy said, are you absolutely crazy? Don't you even realize that your arm left arm is severed at your elbow, you're bleeding for a few. You need medical attention and the guy looked down at his arm and said, oh no, not my Rolex too. Yeah, that wasn't a true story. But it does show how some people view what they have. It's more important than anything else. And Paul is saying, if you have some of this world's goods or whatever you have of this world's goods, it's a gift from God. Be thankful to him. Don't trust in it. Be willing to share it. Wonderful gifts, aren't they? Wonderful gifts that God has given us, his son eternal life, the gift of the Holy Spirit, abilities to serve him in some way, all the spiritual blessings that we have and even our material blessings, all gifts from God. But wait a second, you know what, they're all under a tree. That tree is the cross because it is on that tree and Paul uses that terminology in Galatians 3, cursing everyone in hangs on a tree. Jesus died on a tree on the cross to make all of those gifts possible. In my friend, it's because Jesus hung on that tree because he died on that cross, willingly giving himself for you that you can receive the gift of eternal life. And when you get that package, it's got another package inside the Holy Spirit. When you get that package, it's got another package inside, ability to serve. When you get that package, you realize you've got all these spiritual blessings and then you wake up and realize, you know, there's another package, God has given me everything I have, all of it is a gift from him. And it all comes because of the cross. Have you ever bowed your heart at the cross of Christ, recognizing that he died for you there to give you eternal life? And if you ever recognize that because of being his, you have all of these other gifts of life. Thank God, wonderful gifts for Christmas. Let's pray. Father, thank you for the gifts you have so freely given us, offered to us by your grace freely given because of your love. Father, I pray especially for anyone here this morning who may not know Jesus as Savior, who may have never trusted the work that you did at the cross to freely give yourself so that you might offer the free gift of eternal life. I pray, Father, that there would be someone here this morning who would trust the Lord Jesus as Savior. And then I pray that we would all recognize the great gifts you've given us, receive them with gratitude and use them for your glory. We ask in Jesus' name, amen.