You
To be born the virgin so that he could live a perfect sinless life and die for our sins and be
Buried and rose again and all that so, you know, I want to kind of talk about gift giving
This evening and just kind of use that theme as the kind of the christmas
Service tonight if you would look there in acts chapter 20 verse 35
Where paul wrote I have showed you all things how that's so laboring out to support the weak and to remember the words of the lord
Jesus how he said it is more blessed to give than to receive
And of course, you know, that's something we often hear people say
Hey, it's more blessed to give than to receive and that's something you should keep in mind
You know, this is not exactly the thrust of the sermon here
But that's definitely something you need to keep mind especially this time of year
You know, especially if children kind of have an attitude where it's all about getting, you know
That's kind of how you know, you cross the threshold into adulthood is when
You're giving out more gifts at christmas than you're receiving more gifts, right?
Now you're the one who's writing to mom or from mom from dad on the on the label and everything like that
But you know, we as parents often get more out of that than the children do of receiving something
We're more blessed to give a gift to somebody we like the joy it brings to them. We enjoy giving
Uh gifts to other people because of the of what we receive in uh in return, you know
The joy of having done that and that's no coincidence that we feel that way because jesus said hey
It is more blessed to give than to receive
And jesus is one who definitely understood that he's one who you know gave it all he gave his life
Literally so that we could receive eternal life and that's the gift that I want to focus in on tonight
Is the gift of eternal life and if you would go over to john chapter 4 verse 10
You know if there's anything you could receive in this life that the greatest gift that you could receive more than any other
Is the gift of eternal life if that's the only thing you ever received for the rest of your life
You know, you got saved you received the free gift of eternal life, you know
No one from that day forward acknowledged a birthday or an anniversary
Or christmas, so just never no one ever gave you a gift again after that. Look you've got the greatest gift
anybody could ever have
And I just want to remind us tonight of the gift that god gave us in his son
And the gift that we receive through him that is eternal life because that truly is the greatest gift that any of us could receive
Now you're there in john chapter 4 look at verse 10
He said jesus answered and said unto her if thou knewest the gift of god and who it is that saith to thee
Give me a drink thou wouldest ask him and he would have given thee living water
He's saying look if you would ask for ask for me, I would give you
Living water, you know, and of course we're going to come back to this passage
So keep something there, but if you want to go over to titus chapter 2 titus chapter number two
So jesus is saying look you should ask for the gift that i'm going to give you should ask for what I can give unto you
Right, and that's really again the greatest gift that we could have and that gift is eternal life. That is the gift of god
And we understand that that's something that god gives to us that eternal life is a gift
That's not something that we work for, you know, if you're in this room tonight and chances are 99% of people in this room
Are saved you've come to the place
Where you understand that salvation is not something you work for it's something that's freely given to you
It's not of works as anyone should boast. It is the gift of god
And we you know, there's many many passages we could talk about that and you know
We go to romans chapter 5 and talk about how
The you know, the free gift came upon all men and the justification of life. So salvation is that free gift
That's what we want to focus on tonight
But we have to understand like that, you know, just because we receive something freely
That doesn't mean it didn't come at a price to somebody else
You know, that's why you should always you know
Be grateful for the gifts that you receive this time of year and never turn up your nose and say well
That's not what I wanted or I wanted something else or you know
Have a bad attitude about what you what you get because of the fact that you know that did come at a price
You know if you get I don't care if you get the the ugly knit sweater or you get the wool socks
Or you get a new pair of you know jeans or something like that. You get just some you know
The the the not so fun gift. You don't get the flashy, you know gizmo or whatever, but you get something
You have to understand that you should still be grateful that because of the fact that whoever gave that to you it cost them something
You know, I remember the first when we first moved to michigan
Uh, my mom moved us out there, you know, she went to goodwill and literally bought our presents in front of us
And we didn't even know it
She's like pulling up that she's just shopping at goodwill and she's putting in clothes because that's all she could afford. That's what we needed
So on christmas, you know christmas came around that was you know, that wasn't the most exciting christmas
But i'll tell you what in in the in northern michigan on december 25th
You're you appreciate the wool socks you appreciate the ugly sweater you appreciate the the used jacket from goodwill
You know, we didn't get the nintendo
We didn't get the game boy. We didn't get all the cool things that all the other kids get but you know
What we got the things that we did it needed
And you know, I don't remember anybody in our family having a bad attitude about it
You know and later I that stuck with me over the years because I remember look that's what my mom could afford
That's what she could give us that year
And you know, that's that that gifts come at a price
So, you know, obviously the greater the gift the greater the price so think about if eternal life is the gift of god
Consider the price that was paid for it, you know and and part of the virgin birth part of the christmas story
That is you know that gift being paid we often just associate it with
You know, uh, the the the death on the cross and the resurrection and look that's part of the price, too
But none of that would have been possible if christ hadn't first humbled himself
And then and and become, you know born the lowly manger
And and all of that, you know, that was part of the price of that gift that was paid was
his
birth as as a as a babe
So remember that it came at as a gift right where it came at a price all gifts do
The bible says in galatians one grace be to you and peace from god the father and from our lord. Jesus christ
Who gave himself for our sins?
That he might deliver us from this present world according to the will of god and our father
So yes, you know the greatest gift we can receive is eternal life
But remember the only reason we're receiving it is because christ what gave himself for our sins? Okay
Look, I know this is elementary. I know this isn't anything new to us. Okay. This might not be the exciting new
You know christmas sermon you were expecting but this is what we need to be reminded of
And this is the time of year that we we observe these things and focus on these things and we think about these things
You know a lot of times we can get distracted by everything that goes on in the world around this time of year
You know, we can get distracted by the giant inflatable santas and you know, the christmas lights everywhere and you know
The tins full of popcorn and the and all the you know, the candy canes and everything else and look all those things are fine
And good. Well, maybe not the inflatable santa claus, right?
That's another sermon right but all the things that come along all you know, the commercialism just all the materialism
Everything that comes along with christmas, you know, we can kind of lose sight of what it's really all about
And look a lot of the world does this they they try hard to make christmas about something else, don't they?
You know, but it's got christ right in the in the in the name christ mass, right? It's christmas
You know, they want to they want to call it xmas in some places, right? They don't want to acknowledge god at all
It's like well then go find another holiday, you know, go find some other
Day of the year where you where you go do all the things that you do
Go hang your mistletoe some other time of year
So i'm i'm preaching this again. I know it's not new. It's not exciting
But this is what we have to be reminded of more and more
Is that the greatest gift we can receive is eternal life. It came at a price and part of that was
You know the whole life of christ his birth his life and his death
If you look there in titus chapter 2 look at verse 13 looking for that blessed hope and glorious appearing of the great god and our savior
Jesus christ who gave himself for us
That he might redeem us from all iniquity and purify unto himself of peculiar people
zealous of good works
So again, how did we receive this gift because of the fact that christ came and gave himself for us, you know salvation is a gift
We love it. It's it's the it's the greatest gift we can receive but it came at a price
It's salvation is a gift. We understand that but and what I want to
Emphasize more this evening is the fact that what makes it such a great gift is the fact that it's a gift that keeps on giving
You know salvation is a gift that just keeps on giving
It's not you know, we get saved. It's not like well i'm glad I got that over with
You know salvation is something that we benefit every single day
Of course, you know, we're going to benefit in eternity because of the fact that we're not going to go to hell
We're going to go to heaven
And our souls are saved, you know, that's that that one thing obviously is the is the is the greatest aspect of that gift
but I wanted to point out a few other things tonight to show us that
Even beyond that salvation is a gift that just keeps on giving there's so many other benefits that come along with being saved other than just
Not going to hell now that's believe me if there were no other benefits
That alone would be worth it. You know that that would be we couldn't ask for anything more
But you know what god is so good god is so gracious
God is so loving that there's other benefits that come with being saved
And I want to just look at that how salvation is a gift that just keeps on giving
If you would go back to john chapter 4 john chapter 4 in verse
10 is where we read where he jesus, you know, he told her at the end there give me
He said if thou knewest the gift of god and who it is that sayeth to thee
Give me any drink thou would have asked of him and he would have given the living water. We'll pick it up in verse 11
The woman sayeth unto him, sir, thou has nothing to draw with and the well is deep from whence hast thou that living water?
So this is kind of going over her head, right?
He's saying look if you know who I was you'd ask for me for water
And i'd give it to you and you'd never thirst again. She's saying you don't even have a bucket
You don't even have a string. You don't have a rope. How are you going to get any water at all?
Verse 12 out there greater than our father jacob which gave us the well and drank therefore thereof himself and his children and his cattle
Jesus answered and said unto her whosoever drink of this water shall thirst again
But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst
Again, because salvation is what a gift that just keeps on giving
Saying look you drink this water
Of you know, the water that i'm going to give you you'll never thirst again
The gift that I give is a gift that just keeps giving all throughout your life, okay
He's he'll never thirst but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting
Life so
How is salvation a gift that just keeps on giving how is it something that we benefit from throughout our whole lives?
And not just in salvation. We'll go over to ephesians chapter one ephesians chapter one
One way in which salvation is a gift that just keeps on giving
Is the fact that when you get saved you are sealed by the holy spirit
You're sealed by the holy spirit
Meaning you're eternally secure every day
No matter what you do you couldn't lose your salvation if you wanted to
It stuck to you
You know, I remember I heard an illustration years ago
He was so sure of his salvation that he would swing from a a a rotted grapevine over. Hell
He'd be willing to grab onto some little piece of string and swing right over hell because he said I know i'm saved
I couldn't go to hell even if I wanted to
You know, that's one way that salvation is a gift that keeps on giving every single day
You wake up no matter what you do
Whether you're living for the lord or you're living for the flesh
Whether you you're doing what you should do or whether you're doing what you shouldn't do
Salvation is just keep on it just keeps giving you it's still that well in you that's still springing up into life everlasting
You're still never going to thirst for salvation again because salvation is eternal. You're sealed by the holy spirit
You're in ephesians chapter one
He said in ephesians 40 agree or excuse me four verse 30
Breathe not the holy ghost whereby are you sealed under the day of redemption?
How long are you sealed to sealed onto until the day of redemption?
not meaning when we get saved, but when we get our new body when we're
You know when we are, uh in the moment and a twinkling of an eye when we are transformed
We are with christ caught up together in the clouds to meet him. Look at ephesians chapter one verse 11. That's the day of redemption
In whom we also have obtained an inheritance being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own
will
That we should be to the praise of his glory who first trusted in christ of whom also
He in whom he also trusted after that he heard the word of truth the gospel of your salvation
In whom also after that you believed you were sealed with that holy spirit of promise
You know, it's the earnest of our inheritance
It's the down payment is the sealing of the holy spirit. The sealing of the holy spirit is the holy is the sealing of promise
That we are going to go to heaven no matter what that we are going to receive that new body
We're going to be made new in christ. Jesus
You know and and that's something that we have every single day. Look we benefit from that every day
Because here's the thing if you could lose your salvation you would
If we could lose our salvation everybody here would be damned to hell
Because we we break god's law probably every day to some degree or another
And and so, you know, that's why it's the holy spirit of promise, you know, that's not something we're going to lose
It goes on it says in verse 14, which is the earnest of our inheritance, you know, it's the down payment
We haven't got the whole thing yet. You know, we haven't got the new body, you know
We haven't got that new mind and all that that we we haven't gotten all that but we have the earnest we have the down payment
right god's serious about
Uh, you know redeeming us. He's not just kind of oh, maybe i'll get i'll get to it eventually
You know that earnest, you know, if you ever bought a home that would that's probably
You know ringing some bells right what's part of the of buying home part of that process is putting down the earnest money
Right showing them. Hey, i'm serious about buying this house
Well, you know the holy spirit the ceiling the holy spirit is god's earnest towards us
I'm serious about taking you to heaven. I'm gonna do it. I'm gonna follow through
You're gonna go there and you're gonna get that new body
Which is the earnest inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession
Under the praise of his glory. Now. The other thing I want to point out here is that
You know another way in which
Uh, you know salvation is a gift that just keeps on giving is not only because we're sealed
But because we're also sealed we also have an inheritance if you look there again in verse 11 it says
In whom also we have obtained
in an inheritance
We've got something coming
I mean, look, we're already going to heaven and that's pretty good
But god just says you know, i'm going to put a little bit more on top
You know, it's like you get that that that kid it gets that big old piece of cake or something, you know
We get that we go and we get that big old sunday
And it's got everything on it and then something, you know, so you know what you want that you want that
You want a little bit more whipped cream on there?
you know, we went to the the uh, the caroling the other night with my daughters and they
And they um, we had cocoa and cookies afterwards
And they don't get that every day, you know, we try to take it easy on the sweets with them
But they're there, you know, and they like dad. Can I have some cocoa? I'm like sure, you know get him the cocoa
I'm like, hey, he wants a whipped cream on that
You know, they weren't expecting the whipped cream. They didn't they weren't they didn't wake all they were thinking was cookies and cocos, right?
Did I catch you off guard with the whipped cream?
Oh, no, she said no. I she's like, yeah, I was expecting she was playing me. She's like, oh
I had no idea right?
Well, I guess so, right?
Right, but that's you know, salvation's like that cocoa, right? We're just wow man hot chocolate. I don't deserve this
And then god's just like you want some whipped cream, too
Like yeah pour it on pilot high, you know, i'll say when you know what I mean
Just keep it going. Look that's what we have. You know, not only are we sealed not only saved but we also have an inheritance
You know, it's the icing on the cake so to speak right? We have an inheritance
We've obtained it if you would go over to colossians chapter one colossians chapter one
The bible says in hebrews 12 that you are come on to mount sion of the city of the living god
The heavenly jerusalem unto an innumerable company of angels
And notice he's speaking there in present tense. He says ye are come on to mount sion
You know this, you know, this is mount lemon over here. This is mount bullhead. This isn't this isn't mount sion
Right, you say well, it's saying it's present tense
Yeah, because it's because we have the promise we're sealed. We we already have that
We've already been purchased, you know, we already have that redemption. We already have that promise of the holy spirit
It's as if we're already there in god's mind. It's like you're all we're already in heaven
We might as well be there right now. It's such a sure thing
This inheritance is already there kind of like karen just a minute ago. She's like, yeah, of course, I was expecting the whipped cream
You're my dad. I know how you are
Right. I wasn't gonna get just straight cocoa. There's gonna be a big old pile of whipped cream on that
Right. Well god's eyes like of course, you're gonna get the inheritance
Of course
You're gonna you're you are coming to mount sion you are coming to the city of the living god
The heavenly jerusalem to an innumerable company of angels to the general assembly and church of the firstborn which are written in heaven
Which are written in heaven not we're going to be we are
And to the god of judge of all to the spirits of just man made perfect and to jesus the mediator of the new covenant
You're there in colossus chapter one look at verse 12
Excuse me
Giving thanks unto the father which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light again
What have we we've gotten more than just salvation. We've gotten what an inheritance
We've been made meet to be partakers of the inheritance inheritance of the saints in light
You know salvation is the gift that's just going to keep on giving
Not just in terms of not going to hell, but when we get there god's just going to pile it on even thicker
I mean, we can't even begin to imagine what heaven is going to be like what eternally is going to be like
If you would go over to first cor- uh first corinthians chapter two first corinthians chapter two
You know that people uh were asking me recently there's there's been some sermons where where uh that have been preached and I don't know
About this, you know, I I have really studied all out. I can kind of see where people are coming from
They said so do you think there's going to be mansions in heaven?
You know and I and I've listened to some of these a couple of these sermons
I said well I could definitely see where people are coming from
You know, I I still kind of hold the belief that we are going to get mansions but the more I think about it
But the more I thought about like, you know mansion no mansion
You know
We're gonna get something heaven's gonna be it's gonna blow our minds
Whatever, you know, it's not like you're gonna get to heaven be like, huh?
You know, you're gonna get there like oh, I thought there's gonna be a mansion. Yeah
You know, you're gonna get there and it's gonna be amazing I know there's gonna be streets of gold
There's gonna be gates of pearl. I know some some definite things about a heaven and how it's described
I mean there are some things that we do know for sure and those few things that we know
Are pretty cool
I mean, we know we're coming to an innumerable
Company of angels we're going to be there with all the saints and light
we're going to be stand in the presence of god and this presence of christ eventually will
God the father will make his dwelling with men, you know after the millennium. I mean, there's just
So many things that are going to take place
You know
What i'm saying is this is that salvation is the gift that just keeps on giving you think well i'm going to get to heaven
And that's it. No, once you get to heaven, it's only gotten started
Once you get to heaven, that's just the beginning
There's going to be so many more things that that are just amazing. Look at first corinthians chapter 2 verse 9
But as it is written I hath not seen nor ear heard
Neither have entered into the heart of man the things which god hath prepared for them that love him
You know, we don't know everything that god has in store for us
But I know that it's it's going to be amazing go to first corinthians chapter 13 first corinthians chapter 13
You know paul talked a little about this in second corinthians
He talked about how he was caught up into the third heaven and he was caught up into paradise and he heard unspeakable words
He's saying I was hearing things. I saw things which are not lawful for me to utter
He's like I know things about heaven that i'm not allowed to tell you
Because you'd probably just spend the rest of your life like just you know staring up in the sky
You'd probably just you'd just be peremigrating the whole time and not get anything else done
You'd probably just want to hurry up and die so you could get there
right
But you know heaven is just going to be amazing
It's because salvation is a gift that just keeps on giving even after this life is over
There's just going to be more and more and more look at uh first corinthians chapter 13 verse 12
He said now we see through a glass darkly, but then face to face
Now I know in part but then I shall know even also as I am known
Look, we look through a glass darkly right now, don't we?
That's why I don't really get caught up on if people have different opinions about
You know, it's having going to be like this or having going to be like that because you know a lot of it's just uh
Is just conjecture or you know, it's just people speculating and there's nothing wrong with that
You know, there are some things we know but there's a lot of things where we just we can kind of make things out about heaven
But one thing I know for sure is that when we get there, you know
It's going to be things that we couldn't have ever imagined that heaven or are there going to be things that are in heaven?
So this is another way in which salvation is a gift that just keeps on giving
You know, it gives every day because of the fact that we are sealed on the day of redemption
We have the earnest of the spirit. We have the holy spirit of promise that that's a gift that we get every single day
The every day that you don't lose your salvation because you can't
You know, that's just that's just salvation continuing you to just being a gift that keeps on giving
When you get to heaven you think well now, okay the gifts over right? I got eternal life, you know
I was sealed i'm redeemed now and now i'm here and that's it though, right? This is where it ends. Nope
That's where even more gifts keep coming more help salvation just brings more
Uh amazing things, right?
But here's another way in which
salvation
Or is a gift that just keeps on giving eternal life
It's just a is just a as a well of of water just springing up on the life everlasting
If you would go over to uh, colossians chapter 3 colossians chapter 3
You know the one other way in which salvation is a gift that keeps on giving is the fact that
While you're here, not only are you sealed and on your way to heaven, but you have opportunity to earn rewards on here on earth
You know, it's not you're not just saved so you can just you know, you know, you got your fire escape
Right your tickets punched you're on your way to heaven
You know, you still have opportunity while you're here to make heaven even greater of an experience for yourself to go there
And to be rewarded for the works that you've done
Now if you would uh, you're going to colossians chapter 3 and people I think lose sight of this, you know
This is something i'm not going to spend a lot of time on it tonight because I know I talk about this
quite a bit here
But it's because I think people lose sight of it
You know, we kind of we kind of get into church and we get into our bibles and we're kind of living the christian life
But we might be tempted to think but why am I doing this? What's the point of it?
You know, why why live for the lord, you know, why have these standards why go out soul winning? Why do all this work?
You know, well because god will reward you for it
You know, we have to be reminded of that. Otherwise, you know christian life might turn into a drudgery
You might burn out and fade away if you're if you forget that there's you know
That that the labor is worthy of his of his of his reward the bible says
jesus said blessed everyone shall hate you and they shall separate you from their company and shall reproach you and cast out your name
As evil for the son of man's sake rejoice ye in that day and leap for joy
Why?
For behold your reward is great
In heaven he's saying there's he's saying look there is a reward in heaven for those that are persecuted for righteousness sake
You know and that look that's not the only way you can earn rewards. That's just an example
I'm, just pointing that out because jesus did say that people are rewarded in heaven, aren't they?
That there are rewards we think well, that's too good to be true. I know but it is
You know, it it's that good
That's how salvation is a gift that keeps giving you're like, oh I got saved, you know, surely that's that's all the more I could ask for
Oh, I get to go to heaven and heaven's going to be amazing. I surely that's all that that that salvation affords me
Oh, I can't lose my salvation that you know, what else could salvation profit me
Well, how about you could also
Get rewards every single day. You can earn rewards for for living for the lord
And this is something the bible talks a lot about, you know, we could go to first corinthians three
We won't i'll just read to you how paul said that every man's work is going to be made manifest for the day shall declare it
Because it shall be revealed by fire. He said if any man's word of work abide which he hath built there upon
He shall receive a reward
And and you know, this is something we have to keep in mind in the christian life that there is a reward coming to us
for our labors
That's why we should get involved not just because it's the right thing to do
Because of the fact that there is reward and look you don't want to get to heaven
And and miss out on this
Because it's eternity. There's no this is it. This is the one chance you have to earn rewards
And look when you get there and everybody else has got their rewards
And you got nothing that's going to be a long time in attorney. Well, i'll just be happy to be in heaven. I'm sure you will
I'm sure i'm not i'm sure we're not gonna we're gonna be pouting about it in heaven
But we will look around and go man. I could have gotten a lot more done
And not just the rewards too. I mean just think about when you finally see christ
I there's I don't think there's gonna be a single person here who's gonna look jesus in the face said yeah, I did enough
Nobody I don't care how much you did
I don't care if you were the most zealous christian on earth. You're not going to get there and say yeah
I did enough works, you know, I probably did too much
I could have probably scaled it back and and and you know done some more things that I wanted to do, you know
I could have spent more time on the lake
Than then serving as god. No one's going to say that everyone's going to look at jesus and say man
I could have given him so much more of my life, right?
So, but don't let it be you know, why get there and say well I didn't give him anything, you know, we need to learn to
To the fact that you know, there are rewards to be earned in heaven
We should get that insight now not then because then it's too late
Look at colossians chapter 3 verse 23 and whatsoever you do do it heartily as to the lord and not unto men
Knowing he said look this is something you need to know
This is why i'm touching on this. This is why i'm bringing this up about how salvation still against us
Keeps on giving you need to know this you need to get this drilled into our heads
Knowing that of the lord you shall receive the reward of the inheritance for you serve the lord christ
You need to know that there is a reward in heaven
That we need to earn jesus said i'd come quickly and behold. My reward is with me to get every man according to his works
Say yeah, I got my whole life to serve christ. I'll get to that later. Look it's going to go by like that
It's going to go by so fast
And you say well i'll serve christ later on i'm just going to kind of do what I want the first few decades
Yeah, but you know what that might you might not have those decades. No one's promised tomorrow
You know, we we could we our lives could end at any moment
We should serve christ while we still can jesus said look I come quickly
And look even if you lived a long full life of serving lord, it's still going to be
Too cool. It's going to he's come still coming quickly
So that's another way in which
Salvation is a gift that just keeps on giving. I want to look at one other way before we close tonight
And if you would go over to galatians chapter five a very familiar passage
Galatians chapter five so, you know salvation is a gift that keeps on giving because of the fact that once you're saved you're always saved
Every day you get up and you you transgress god's commandments you break the law of god's word you sin you're still saved
You're still saved salvation still is keeping you saved
It's a gift that keeps on giving every day when you get to heaven, you know
You're gonna all all the the rewards and the glory that god's gonna show us and give to us
That salvation is just going to keep on giving all through eternity salvation is going to be a gift that keeps on giving
But how about this? How about even on earth? You could still have the fruits of the spirit?
Do you know the fruits of the spirit are something that's reserved for god's children?
And that's something that you can have every day now. It's not something you're guaranteed
Okay
It's something that the spirit, you know, it's the fruit of the spirit. It's the the spirit bears this in your life
It's not something you just drum up
It's not just something you make yourself do, you know as you get out of the flesh and you walk in the spirit
You walk with the lord, you know you god
Bears this fruit in your life. And this is this is the kind of fruit. Look people are clamoring for this in the world
There's people out there that are searching for these things high and low and they can't find it
They're they're going to doctors. They're taking drugs. They're chasing pleasure
They're making their lives about money. They're thinking about all these because they're what they really want are these things
And what are they well look at verse 22
Galatians 5 22, but the fruit of the spirit is love
Joy, peace long suffering gentleness goodness faith meekness temperance against such there is no law
I mean, isn't the world just looking for these things? You know, they want joy. They want peace. They want love
They want all these things
But the bible says that these are the fruits of the spirit
Meaning if you don't have you know, if you don't have the spirit, you know
If you have not the spirit of christ and you're none of his
You know if we all aren't saved these things aren't available to us. I mean we can manufacture them we can have them
To some degree, you know in a worldly sense
But to have the fruit of the spirit the fruit of god bearing these things in your life, you know
That's what that's a another way which salvation is a gift that just keeps on giving
You know we get saved we're secure eternally
Heaven is going to be amazing
We're going to be rewarded for our works and while we're down here doing those works and while we're on our way to heaven
We can also have love joy. Peace long suffering gentleness goodness faith meekness and temperance
We can have all these fruits they're available to us
You can see how salvation's a gift that just keeps on giving it's not just a one-off. I got saved i'm on my way to heaven
There's all these ways in which salvation profits us every single day and yay through all eternity
So if that's the case back up go to verse 16
He says this I say then walk in the spirit and he shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh
Why should I walk in the spirit? Why should I crucify the flesh so that you can benefit?
From salvation for you can benefit by having these fruits in your life
We should want these things
And they're available to us and not everybody gets them where it's very privileged thing to have these things
So, you know, these are just a few ways and we could probably sit around and brainstorm some other ways in which
Salvation is a gift that just keeps on giving every single day of our life and into eternity
And you know as I started out in the sermon, you know, I was reminding us that you know in this season of gift giving
You know, we should be grateful for gifts
Look, we should be very grateful for the gift that just keeps on giving be grateful for your salvation if you would
Go to second corinthians or go to force, uh
Go to james one go to james one
Be grateful for the gift
The bible says in second corinthians chapter nine, thanks be unto god for his unspeakable gift
Thanks be unto god for his unspeakable gift
You know i'm trying here and and and probably not that well certainly not to the degree which it merits
Trying to put into words the gift that god has given us
Trying to just use the bible and just show us look salvation is an amazing gift
It just keeps on giving in all these different ways
But when you know when we are in heaven
We finally have the fullness of life when we have that new body that new mind when we understand all these things
You know, then maybe we'll be able to under
Fully comprehend how amazing salvation is but until then it's an unspeakable gift
It's a gift that I can't even we can't even fully put into words and even if I could
If anyone any one of us here could fully describe what an amazing gift salvation is we couldn't comprehend it
We couldn't we wouldn't be able to wrap our minds around how amazing salvation truly is. It's an unspeakable gift
You know, this is just an attempt this evening to try to remind us of that gift
You know that we receive eternal life as we think about the birth of christ, you know
Because a lot of people that they'll even acknowledge birth of christ, but then they'll have a lot of ideas
It's about you know, it's about it means this we're supposed to it's about just teaching us humility
Obviously we learn humility through christ
But it's a lot more than christ didn't just come here and to be born a manger to show everybody how humble he was
He came here to bleed and die to give his life as a ransom for many. It's about salvation
That's the gift that god gave us that's what we're acknowledging in the birth of christ
That god was manifest in the flesh
And that he you know, he gave himself a ransom for all to be testified in due time
You're there in james chapter one look at verse 16
Do you hear my beloved brethren every good gift and every perfect gift is from above and cometh down from the father of lights
With whom is no variableness neither shadow of turning of his own will begat begat he us with the word of truth
That we should be a kind of first fruits of his creatures
So look when we're talking about the gift of eternal life and how it's just a gift that just keeps on giving
We should remember we should be mindful of the fact that we need to be grateful for this gift
That it comes down from the father of lights that is something that god has given to us
You know, we should be grateful to the lord for what he's done
The bible says in first peter chapter four as every man hath received the gift
Even so minister the same one to another as good stewards of the manifold grace of god
You know one way you can show your gratefulness is ministering to other people
You know and you will you know, you have the fruits of the spirit if you have love joy
peace and long suffering and gentleness faith meekness and goodness if you have all these fruits, you know
That is going to manifest towards other people in your life
That is going to you know, you're going to do
Good unto other people that's a way to show your thankfulness to the lord
Of course, you know, we should get down and pray and and sincerely and honestly, thank god for the free gift of eternal life
You know, we should thank god for that unspeakable gift
But you know, we should have an attitude of gratitude, right the way you conduct yourself in life will show how grateful you truly are
You know if you take time out to read your bible take your time out to pray
To go to church to preach the gospel to help your brothers and sisters in christ
If you take the time to do what to minister the same one to another
You know to be gracious towards other, you know to love others even as christ has loved you
That will show whether or not you're truly grateful for this gift and we should be grateful for this gift
Because you know, we just scratched the surface tonight and looked at how salvation truly is a gift that just keeps on giving
Let's go ahead and close the word of prayer
Dear lord again, thank you for the free gift of eternal life lord
It's it's something we we preach here. It's something that we preach to others out soul winning
It's it's something that we think about
Probably every day of our life lord if we're reading our bibles if we're going to church
It's something that we're often reminded of the fact that we have
Eternal life through christ and lord help us to think about the fact that not only are we saved lord
But we benefit so many other ways from from the free gift of eternal life
The fact that we're sealed or the that heaven awaits us and that there's rewards to be earned and
We can enjoy the the fruits of the spirit even here on earth for it. We just thank you
This evening and lord help us to go in this new year with this with this attitude this mentality of
being grateful for this gift lord and we pray help us to
To show that through how we treat one another and those around us. We ask in christ's name. Amen
All right. We'll sing one more song before we go
So