The Gift of God
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Eph 2:8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: [it is] the gift of God: (AV)
A young boy approached his father one day and handed him a dollar. The father looked at it curiously.
The little boy said, “Is this enough to buy an hour of your time?” “What do you mean,” the father asked.
The boy said, “Well, I know you are busy and your time is valuable, so I thought I would buy an hour for
you to spend with me.”
Thomas Carlyle, the famous author, loved his wife. She loved to help her husband in his writing career.
But she became ill with cancer and was confined to bed. Though he loved her dearly, Carlyle was so
busy writing that he rarely found time to stay at her bedside.
The day of her burial it rained and the mud was deep. After the funeral, Carlyle returned home, deeply
shaken. He went into his wife's bedroom, sat down on a chair beside her bed, realizing he had not spent
enough time with her in her illness.
From the bedside table he picked up her diary and began to read. One line smote his heart: "Yesterday
he spent an hour with me and it was like being in heaven. I love him so." He turned the page and this
time his heart was broken, for she had written, "I have listened all day to hear his steps in the hall, but
now it is late and I guess he won't come today."
Carlyle threw the diary to the floor and rushed back to the cemetery in the rain. Friends found him face
down in the mud at the newly made grave. He was weeping, saying over and over, "If I had only known! If
I had only known!"
The greatest gift you can give you anyone is the gift of yourself. That is what God gave us.
John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in
him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
Jesus was not only the Son of God, he was God himself taking on the form of a man and entering into
his own creation.
John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
John 1:14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of
the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.
1 Tim. 3:16 And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh,
justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up
into glory.
For what purpose? For the purpose of salvation. God gave himself for us that He might save us.
Salvation is not something you can earn. It is something you receive from God.
One day, Jesus was talking with a woman. He said these words.
Joh 4:10 Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to
thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water. (AV)
He spoke to her about the gift of God. That gift is life, and it is only found in Him.
Ro 6:23 For the wages of sin [is] death; but the gift of God [is] eternal life through Jesus Christ our
Lord. (AV)
Let’s talk about what we deserve. The hard fact of life is that we are sinners. Each of us has failed God
and acted selfishly. And the price of such behavior is total separation from God – which is the biblical
description of death. That’s what we deserve – that is what we have earned – to be separated from the
life giving God and Father of us all.
When Jesus hung on the cross, he took the entire weight of all our sins upon himself. “He who knew no
sin, became sin for us.” It was the most agonizing thing he had ever imagined. He had never
experienced sin – had never though evil – had never disobeyed his heavenly father. Then, suddenly,
the sins of all humanity were poured out on him. It was horrible. But then something happened that was
even worse. God turned away. It was more than Jesus could bear. He had never known separation
from the Father. He cried out, “My God. My God. Why have you forsaken me?” He knew it was coming,
and yet it was so horrible he cried out in agony. To be cut off from God is the more horrible thing that
could possibly happen. Yet, that is the punishment for sin. That is the price we pay for the pleasures of
sin.
But God has offered us a gift – the gift of life – the gift of His Son – a gift that on one can earn or
deserve. A gift that can only be accepted and received.
And that gift is available to anyone. “Whoever” is a word that includes everybody.
If you are like I was, you want to earn your own way. You want to be self-reliant. But this is one area
where we are totally helpless and hopeless. We cannot save ourselves anymore than a dead man can
bring himself back to life.
“The gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ …” Today is a good day to accept that gift. It will
never get any better than that.
A young boy approached his father one day and handed him a dollar. The father looked at it curiously.
The little boy said, “Is this enough to buy an hour of your time?” “What do you mean,” the father asked.
The boy said, “Well, I know you are busy and your time is valuable, so I thought I would buy an hour for
you to spend with me.”
Thomas Carlyle, the famous author, loved his wife. She loved to help her husband in his writing career.
But she became ill with cancer and was confined to bed. Though he loved her dearly, Carlyle was so
busy writing that he rarely found time to stay at her bedside.
The day of her burial it rained and the mud was deep. After the funeral, Carlyle returned home, deeply
shaken. He went into his wife's bedroom, sat down on a chair beside her bed, realizing he had not spent
enough time with her in her illness.
From the bedside table he picked up her diary and began to read. One line smote his heart: "Yesterday
he spent an hour with me and it was like being in heaven. I love him so." He turned the page and this
time his heart was broken, for she had written, "I have listened all day to hear his steps in the hall, but
now it is late and I guess he won't come today."
Carlyle threw the diary to the floor and rushed back to the cemetery in the rain. Friends found him face
down in the mud at the newly made grave. He was weeping, saying over and over, "If I had only known! If
I had only known!"
The greatest gift you can give you anyone is the gift of yourself. That is what God gave us.
John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in
him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
Jesus was not only the Son of God, he was God himself taking on the form of a man and entering into
his own creation.
John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
John 1:14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of
the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.
1 Tim. 3:16 And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh,
justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up
into glory.
For what purpose? For the purpose of salvation. God gave himself for us that He might save us.
Salvation is not something you can earn. It is something you receive from God.
One day, Jesus was talking with a woman. He said these words.
Joh 4:10 Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to
thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water. (AV)
He spoke to her about the gift of God. That gift is life, and it is only found in Him.
Ro 6:23 For the wages of sin [is] death; but the gift of God [is] eternal life through Jesus Christ our
Lord. (AV)
Let’s talk about what we deserve. The hard fact of life is that we are sinners. Each of us has failed God
and acted selfishly. And the price of such behavior is total separation from God – which is the biblical
description of death. That’s what we deserve – that is what we have earned – to be separated from the
life giving God and Father of us all.
When Jesus hung on the cross, he took the entire weight of all our sins upon himself. “He who knew no
sin, became sin for us.” It was the most agonizing thing he had ever imagined. He had never
experienced sin – had never though evil – had never disobeyed his heavenly father. Then, suddenly,
the sins of all humanity were poured out on him. It was horrible. But then something happened that was
even worse. God turned away. It was more than Jesus could bear. He had never known separation
from the Father. He cried out, “My God. My God. Why have you forsaken me?” He knew it was coming,
and yet it was so horrible he cried out in agony. To be cut off from God is the more horrible thing that
could possibly happen. Yet, that is the punishment for sin. That is the price we pay for the pleasures of
sin.
But God has offered us a gift – the gift of life – the gift of His Son – a gift that on one can earn or
deserve. A gift that can only be accepted and received.
And that gift is available to anyone. “Whoever” is a word that includes everybody.
If you are like I was, you want to earn your own way. You want to be self-reliant. But this is one area
where we are totally helpless and hopeless. We cannot save ourselves anymore than a dead man can
bring himself back to life.
“The gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ …” Today is a good day to accept that gift. It will
never get any better than that.