GOD’S INDESCRIBABLE GIFT
I am sure that some of us may wonder what we have to be thankful for this year. Somebody remarked the other day that we now have a new four letter word in our vocabulary: “2020”!
I got a phone call yesterday that brought it all into perspective for me. The call came from a preacher friend of mine in east Texas. He suffers with multiple sclerosis and is now in his 70s, bed fast, and basically alone. He lives in a care home and cannot have visitors because of COVID. We talk just about every week. He always asks me, “Has your church found a preacher yet?”, and then he laughs long and loud!
He said, “I want you to ask the church a question tomorrow.” I said, “What question is that, Jim?” He said, “Ask the church… If you were writing a letter to Jesus, and could only thank Him for one thing, what would it be?”
I asked him, “What would your letter say?” He replied, “The blood; I would thank Jesus for His blood!”
I thought, “That’s incredible! Here is a man who has very little to be thankful for, but he can find thankfulness in his heart for the blood of Jesus.”
That brings us to our text today. It is found in 2 Corinthians 9:15.
2 Corinthians 9:15 Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!
We may not have much to be thankful for this year, but we can be thankful for the gift of God. Let’s look at this gift and let thanks fill our hearts.
First, this is a free gift, totally undeserved.
It is all of grace: God’s unmerited favor. This verse is the final chorus of a hymn that has stretched for two chapters where grace is referred to multiple times.
Romans 5:15–19 But the free gift is not like the offense. For if by the one man’s offense many died, much more the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abounded to many. 16 And the gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned. For the judgment which came from one offense resulted in condemnation, but the free gift which came from many offenses resulted in justification. 17 For if by the one man’s offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.) 18 Therefore, as through one man’s offense judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so through one Man’s righteous act the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life. 19 For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man’s obedience many will be made righteous.
Ephesians 2:8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God,
Imagine that after celebrating Christmas with your family, your kids come up to you and say, “Thanks, Mom. Thanks, Dad. I really appreciate the gifts. I plan to get a job and pay you for them just as quick as I can. I promise I’ll make it up to you.” How would you react? You might be moved by their gratitude, but I’m sure you would try to persuade them that the price has already been paid. The gift is given because of love and nothing else is required!
Jesus paid the price; nothing else is required. We give Him our thanks and praise out of a grateful heart, not out of a debt!
He paid a debt He did not owe.
I owed a debt I could not pay.
I needed someone
To wash my sins away.
So now I sing a brand-new song,
“Amazing Grace”.
Christ Jesus paid the debt
That I could never pay!
Are we thankful today that our debt has been taken out of the way, nailed to the Cross?
Colossians 2:13–14 And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, 14 having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.
Second, this is a spiritual or supernatural gift.
John 4:10 Jesus answered and said to her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.”
Acts 2:38 Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 8:32 He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?
James 1:17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.
What do you need today? God loves giving things to His kids!
Matthew 7:9–11 Or what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent? 11 If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!
All we have to do is ask!
Matthew 7:7-8 Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.
Look at the way Luke records this passage.
Luke 11:11–13 “If a son asks for bread from any father among you, will he give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent instead of a fish? 12 Or if he asks for an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? 13 If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!”
Third: this gift is indescribable!
This is the only time this word is used in the entire New Testament. It means: Incapable of being adequately expressed or uttered. Some synonyms used elsewhere in the New Testament are unspeakable, unsearchable, inexpressible, unutterable, ineffable. In other words, we cannot begin to understand or explain God’s gift of His Son.
John 3:16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
Romans 5:8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Excerpts from Just Give Me Jesus, by Anne Graham Lotz. Originally titled “That’s My King” by S.M. Lockridge.
So here we are, on the verge of Thanksgiving in a year of pain and pressure. What about that letter my friend, Jim, spoke of? Can you write one? What is the one thing you would thank Jesus for? Let’s do that, today!
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