Good Day, Meetpastordan Readers… I am really excited about this presentation. I was at a T4T Bible study earlier today, and the facilitator had chosen for his topic the same topic I had been thinking about for this coming week’s blog. After a spirited discussion, I left there committed to coming home and starting to write immediately. The title says it all! I mean, “Who doesn’t like to receive a gift?”
So let me ask you two questions. If I told you I had a map to a hidden treasure worth millions of dollars, and that I was willing to give this map to you, free of charge and with no strings attached – and all you had to do was go retrieve the gold. Would you accept the gift? Or suppose I told you that I would build your dream house wherever you wanted it, and all you had to do to get it was to accept the gift. Would you do it? I suspect those two questions are probably no-brainers. Of course you would. Why wouldn’t everyone accept such an amazing, dream-fulfilling offer?
Granted, those two offers are pretty exciting, but they are in the natural realm, meaning they are here and now; they are tangible. But God offers a gift that is even more astounding, gargantuan, and mind-blowing than the gifts above. No doubt we are now talking about the spiritual realm, but the reality of this gift is…it will never change, fade, rot, decay, or diminish in value. And as an added bonus, it will last FOREVER!
God’s free gift never stops giving. For instance, when you accept it, these things happen: You are immediately saved, meaning your sins are forgiven (you will not experience judgment), and you have just inherited eternal life. This solidifies your eternal destiny. And for us still living in this fallen world, we receive the indwelling Holy Spirit to empower us to rise above our environment, our circumstances, and our “lot in life” to become the person God created us to be. As it says in Ephesians 2:10: “We are his Masterpiece! He has created us anew in Jesus Christ so we can now do the good things he planned for us long ago.”
In addition to all of that, we are now worthy and acceptable in God’s eyes; not because of anything we did or didn’t do, but because of what Christ did for us on the cross. He paid the penalty for our sins. That’s why we face no judgment. (Our slate is wiped clean because we are covered with the blood of Jesus.) We are grafted into God’s family; we are now a child of God. We have a new title; we’re now a saint (a believer) rather than a sinner. That’s a very important title because even though we will continue to fall short of God’s glorious standard, because we are believers, the Bible tells us there is no condemnation for our shortcoming. (Our Father just wants us to keep focused on our continued growth, and to continue marching down the path of sanctification, becoming more Christ-like with every step.) We are now heir to every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realm, and we are heir to every promise in the Bible. How’s that for a GIFT?
That paragraph is summed up perfectly in 2 Peter 1: 3-4: “The more we grow in our knowledge of Jesus, his divine power gives us everything we need for living a godly life. He has called us to receive his own glory and goodness! And by that same mighty power, he has given us all of his rich and wonderful promises. He has promised that we will escape the decadence all around us caused by evil desires, and that we will share in his divine nature.”
But you might be saying to yourself, “I’m a good person. I go to church every week; I say my prayers; I volunteer at the local hospital; I give money to help the poor. And I would say, “That’s great, admirable, and impressive! And I’m sure God is pleased that you do those things.” But now let me ask you this question. “Why do you do those things”? Is it to earn favor with God? Do you think he will love you more if you do this? Is it to be pleasing to yourself and/or to those who see what you’re doing? If your answer is “yes”, it means you are still living under the Old Covenant. You are still trying to earn God’s favor through your actions. God expresses his disdain for this approach in Hosea 6:6: “I don’t want your sacrifices, I want your heart. I don’t delight in your burnt offerings, I want you to love one another.” (For more insight on the subject of being good, I would like to recommend a short book by Andy Stanley entitled,” How Good is Good Enough?” It’s a great, straight-forward read.) 🙂
Now let me ask you these questions. Do you ever gossip? Do you ever lie? Do you ever take the Lord’s name in vain? Are you ever envious or jealous? Do you ever value the world’s teachings over God’s Word? If you can honestly answer “yes” to any of these questions, God’s Gift of Grace is your only answer. And here is why I say that. All of these questions are rooted in our sin nature, which includes anger, jealousy, hatred, fear, guilt, shame, remorse, bitterness, anxiety, depression, immorality, impurity, sensuality, strife, envying, carousing, lying, cheating, stealing, etc. etc. As you can see, all of these character defects have their root in our mind, our emotions and our will. When these defects fill our mind and our heart, the result is never pleasing to God. Why? Because all of these defects are rooted in self-centeredness rather than God centeredness, and that’s what keeps us separated from God. That, in fact, IS the definition of Sin!
Apostle Paul states in Galatians 2:21: “For if we could be saved by keeping the law, then there was no need for Christ to die.” But God gave us from Creation to 2017 years ago to try to overcome the issue of Sin through our own effort, and Romans 5:6 reveals how we fared: “When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time to die for us sinners.” How’s that for an indictment? Clearly man proved himself incapable of overcoming his sin-nature.
But because God is a loving God, he always intended to do for us what he knew we could not do for our self. His plan, even before the world was created (Ref. Ephesians 1:4), was to provide a Redeemer to pay the ransom for our Sin, therefore making it possible for us to join Him, Jesus and all Christ-followers in Paradise for .ETERNITY
In God’s world, the standard is perfection. In 1Peter 1:16, it is stated: “You must be holy (set aside for a sacred purpose; sin free) because I am holy.” In other words, if you are stained with sin, you cannot enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Why? Because sin spreads, contaminates, destroys, and kills. Revelation 21:27 is explicit about this: “Nothing evil will be allowed to enter…only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.” Other Scriptures that reinforce this are: “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6) “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 6:23)
For those who do not accept God’s Gift of Grace (Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior), they will experience separation from God and will face eternal judgment. Without Jesus, our Sin will separate us from eternal life in Paradise and all the wonders that await us there. As it says in 1 Corinthians 2:9: “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind can conceive the things that God has prepared for those who love him.” So remember, this Gift is available to anyone who will accept it, regardless of who you are or what you have done. “For God so loved the world, he gave his only begotten son, so that whoever believes in him will not perish, but will have eternal life.”
This is THE gift, and it is the difference between a life that is filled with joy, peace, serenity and confidence, or one that is filled with strife, anxiety and fear. Eternally it is the difference between death and salvation. The choice is ours to make.
Feel free to respond to this blog, and please “like” and share with other social media friends.
May God Bless Ya…
Dan Presgrave (a.k.a. Pastor Dan)
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