May the Lord be pleased to help us each this morning, both in the preaching and the hearing of the word, as I'll ask you to turn with me to Paul's second epistle to the Corinthians, Paul's second epistle to the Corinthians, chapter nine, and the last verse, number verse 15. To Corinthians, chapter nine, and verse 15. Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift. Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift.

And I'll start very simply this morning, especially for you very young children here. In a few days' time, I am sure you are all looking forward to the many presents that you will be opening. But I wonder if you can remember all the presents you opened last year. And maybe you could ask your mum and dad if they can remember what they got for Christmas when they were your age. They probably can't. They may still have some presents that they had when they were very young but they don't need them anymore. They're not useful to them anymore.

But there is one gift that lasts forever. There is one gift that never becomes boring. There is one gift that we will always need. And this is the gift that we should be remembering at Christmas time. Even Jesus Christ. For it is a time where We rightly enjoy friends and family. We rightly enjoy giving and receiving. But so much of it is empty. As the wrapping paper goes in the bin, as one by one gifts become broken or consumed, or boring. As the season rolls by and we may have to return to school or college or work, this season will be very empty if it is a Christless Christmas.

So as the Lord will help us to consider This verse, but more broadly, the concept of God's unspeakable gift. To consider the source of the gift that we see in this verse, God himself. To consider the nature of that gift, that it is unspeakable. And to consider lastly, the purpose of that gift. to bring life, to bring joy, a gift of eternal significance.

But before we look specifically at this verse, we'll just look more widely at the context of this verse. A verse found in a couple of chapters where Paul is really speaking to the church at Corinth about charitable giving. about the giving of natural gifts, about a collection that had been made towards those that were in need. And if we look at the preceding verses, verses 13, whilst by the experiment of this ministration they glorify God, for your perverse subjection unto the gospel of Christ, and for your liberal distribution unto them, and unto all men, and by their prayer for you, which long after you, for the exceeding grace of God in you.

Paul was thankful for the natural giving of the people, which showed unto him that they knew something of this unspeakable gift. so that they viewed everything that they had in the context that we should view everything that we have. All that we have should be used for God's honour and glory. And without getting distracted, charitable giving should be viewed really in this way. Not what we can afford to give in the work of God, but what we need to withhold from God. What do we need to keep for ourselves of what God has given us? To live, to be housed, to feed, to clothe ourselves. The rest, dear friends, should be His.

But looking at this verse this morning, are we filled with thankfulness at this season? Are we giving thanks unto God, the source of the gift? In pondering this verse earlier this week, I looked at that verse you find in James chapter 1, verse 17. 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. God himself. John 3, 16. God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. God is the giver of the gift and his love motivates the giving of that gift. And it is an undeserved, unmerited gift.

You and I at this season We'll give gifts to those we love. Or we'll give the gifts to those that we think deserve a gift from us. But this is the beauty of the gift of God's dear son. We don't deserve it. It's not earned. We deserve the opposite of a good gift. We deserve him. Chosen recipients of the most precious of gifts.

I preached recently and my thoughts have been much on the latter section in 2 Thessalonians 2. And in that verse 13, it speaks about thanksgiving to God. We are bound to give thanks always to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you, chosen you for what? To receive the gift of all gifts, salvation, through sanctification of the spirit and belief of the truth. Dear friends, eternally loved, eternally chosen, God has from the beginning chosen you to receive this gift.

Dear friends, do we know it? Do we ponder it? Do we need it today? Do we see what we are? Do we see what we would be without this gift? Do we see where we'd be heading without the knowledge and love and union with God's dear son? Thanks be unto God. Gratitude flows from recognising the source, not focusing only on the gift. And in thinking of that statement, my mind went back to when I was, I don't know, 12, 13, and I can remember receiving a gift from my dad. And I'll be honest with you, I didn't really want that gift. It wasn't something that I was ecstatic with. And I can remember, as maybe some of you can remember, trying to pretend you're pleased with something. But you know what? That's one of the few gifts that I can remember. being given. And it's the love of the giver that I remember. It's the love of the giver that melts my heart. It's the love of my dear father that he would see fit to give me something that I didn't really want and gone to the effort of purchasing it and wrapping it and giving it to me. Love behind the motive of it.

Dear friends, if you today, and during this week, ponder the love, naturally, that you are being shown by your parents, by your husbands and wives, by your children, that'll be a happier Christmas than just focusing on something we can consume and then dispose. Something that in six months' time will be in the landfill site. But we hope and pray the love of your loved ones will continue. But even when by the hand of death, even when by loved ones moving out and moving away, may we ponder this greater love. Thanks be unto God.

It's a season, especially, say for mothers, especially for those that bear the brunt in entertaining, can become Martha-like. And you know, you have that right and responsibility. We all have that right and responsibility to serve, but take time to pause. to give thanks, to look to the source of the gift of all gifts. Thanks be unto God.

But we must move on, secondly, to the nature of this gift. This gift is unspeakable. It's beyond words and comprehension. It is eternal and transformative. We are finite, we are limited. We are incapable of truly fathoming the minutest fragment of the worth of this gift. This gift of salvation. This gift that saves us from our sins. Paul says in writing to the church at Ephesus in chapter 3, in that chapter we read, don't we, in those closing verses, now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly. There's Paul running out of words again. Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.

This gift, this exceedingly abundant, unspeakable gift even Jesus Christ. Dear friends, this morning, have your eyes been opened to see your need of this gift? Because that's the first thing that we need the Lord to do for us. We need the heart of stone to be removed from us. We need a heart of flesh to be given. We need the regenerating power of the Spirit to show us what we are, to show us what solemn depths we are in, sunk and lost in ruin, condemned and due the just judgment of a holy God. We need to know what we are.

And that is the backdrop That is the backdrop that sets off the glorious magnificence of the gift of God's dear son. Say you were to go into a jewellery shop and to buy some jewellery for a loved one. Say you wanted to buy a beautiful ring or a necklace or a pendant on a necklace with a beautiful diamond in it. How would the jeweller display that diamond? Would they crush up lots of glass and put the diamond in the middle of all that broken glass? Would they surround that diamond with many other beautiful stones? No. How do they display that which is valuable? They get out a black cloth, a dark coloured cloth. They put that stone, that item of value upon that cloth. Why? Because that's what makes it stand out.

Dear friends, that's what we need. We need to know a little of what we are to make this precious gift stand out. to make it gleam, to make it glint, to make it seem valuable. We need to know who we are. We need to know our need of it personally. As we were singing in that hymn from verse two just now, in that dear babe of Bethlehem, I see my God contracted to a span for me. That's the first thing you need to know, dear friends. Your need of this gift. Your need of this unspeakable gift. You don't deserve it, you don't merit it, you've done nothing to earn it. But there is a gift which is eternal and transformative. and faith lays hold upon it.

Oh, and how many, dear friends, of the Lord's people over the millennia have laid hold upon this gift by faith. Think of even dear old Abraham back in the early pages of Genesis. He saw that gift. many thousands of years before that gift came. And as he took his only son to be sacrificed upon Mount Moriah, he saw more than just his son. For we read, don't we, the words of the angel, in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed. And then we read, don't we, in John's gospel, Later on about dear Abraham, your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day and he saw it and was glad. What did he see? He saw a substitute. He saw one in his place. He saw a redeemer.

Same with dear old Simeon as well, wasn't it? There was a man in Jerusalem. whose name was Simeon. He was just and devout. He was waiting for the consolation of Israel and the Holy Ghost was upon him. And it was revealed unto him by the Holy Ghost that he should not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ. Yes, that's what Abraham saw. That's what Simeon saw. That's what Mary saw when she kept all these things and when she pondered them in her heart. She saw a saviour. They saw a saviour. Have you, dear friends? Have you, by faith, stretched forth your hand and laid hold upon this most precious of gifts, even Jesus Christ?

Dear friends, we need it, this unspeakable gift. You might think you need many things at this season of the year, but this is the one gift. That if we set our eyes upon it, this season will cause us to be truly happy.

to ponder that God in all his glory and infinite holiness would unite with his divinity, true humanity would come down to this earth, would come down in such poverty, would be born and laid in a manger, would have to grow in knowledge Would have to be like you and me. Would have to be surrounded by sin and suffering and temptation. Would have to go and work with his father in the carpenter's shop. Would have to face mockery and bullying like you and me would have to do as we grew up. Would have to come to that time in his life when he was rejected by so many. that to come to that point in his life where he had to cry in the garden of Gethsemane, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? And without being irreverent, what was his heavenly father's reply? Because dear son, you are an unspeakable gift to my people. You are my precious son. You are the redeemer. That's why he could say, nevertheless, not my will, but thine be done.

This unspeakable gift, as he journeyed to Calvary, as he was spat upon, as he was beaten, as he was cruelly whipped. As he was hung and the crown of thorns was placed upon him, that mock purple robe and that mock scepter of a reed were placed in his hands. The divine almighty God contracted to a span for his people. This unspeakable gift that hung and cried, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? That one who bowed his head, gave up the ghost, laid in the grave for his people.

This, dear friends, is the unspeakable gift. Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift. Yes, the source of the gift, even God himself. The nature of that gift, yes, an unspeakable gift. But lastly this morning, the purpose of the gift. For every gift that is given has a purpose. And well, Here is a year's worth of sermons, the purpose of Christ, but maybe we should just touch upon a few points.

The purpose that we may be reconciled to a holy God. All things are of God. who hath reconciled us to himself, how? By Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation to wit that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them, and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.

Sadly, there'll be many families at this time of the year that are not reconciled. There'll be many children that will spend Christmas Day with their mum, Boxing Day with their dad. There's no reconciliation. They are enemies to each other. But the purpose of God's unspeakable gift is that we may not be enemies with God, but that we may be loved of Him, that we may be heirs of God, joint heirs with Christ, that we may not be clothed in our filthy rags and have no right to approach unto Him, but that we may be clothed in Christ's precious righteousness, His gift, may be reconciled unto Him, and so now in our lives, We do not approach unto him through the blood of bulls and of goats. We approach unto a holy God through his dear son. Our great high priest, we can find who has mercy and grace to help in time of need. One aspect of this gracious gift, reconciled to a holy God. But what flows from that reconciliation? Another purpose of that gift. It is indeed eternal life and security. John 10, 28. What a beautiful verse that is in the preceding verse. My sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me. And what's the gift? and I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand, an eternal gift.

Dear friends, what a gift that will be. This season, However happy it may be for us, we'll be tinged with sadness. There will be empty chairs in family gatherings. There will be a frostiness with a breakdown in a relationship which was not what it once was. There will be much that won't be right. But the eternal nature of God's gift is there will be a time when God shall wipe away all tears from our eyes, where there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain, for the former things are passed away. This is the eternal nature of the life and security found in Christ. No wonder it's described as unspeakable. No wonder Paul had to almost make up words to describe it, because it is indescribable. May it be that by grace we are all enabled to receive this gift. Have that heart to long for it, those eyes to see it, and those mouths to praise him for it.

But there's not just an eternal forward-looking aspect to this gift. Dear friends, this gift is transformative in the present. If we by faith are unable to lay hold upon this gift at this season, It will transform this next week. It really will. Psalm 16 verse 11, thou wilt show me the path of life. In thy presence is fullness of joy and at thy right hand there are pleasures forevermore. being drawn to our Saviour this Christmas. That's what will give us fullness of joy. A fullness resides in Jesus our head. Have you proved it, dear sinner? Oh, may we prove it again. May we prove it again and rest in his promises that I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. For my gift is eternal, it is transformative, and it is unchanging.

And yes, although you do not know what you once knew, or your feelings have overtaken your facts, dear friends, our God is infinite. He is not swayed by emotion. He is unchanging, his gift. is ever precious. My God shall supply all your need according to the riches that are in Christ Jesus. Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift. Dear friends, every gift that we will give each other will fade. May we be given grace to focus on the gift that doesn't break. We read, didn't we, those verses in Isaiah's prophecy, the promised saviour. We read those verses in Luke, the revealed saviour. And we read those verses in Romans, the security that is found in that Savior. The gift that can never be taken away.

Who can separate us from the love of Christ? Contribulation or distress? Or persecution or famine? Or nakedness or peril or sort? In all these things we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us. God so loved the world that He sent His only begotten Son into this world that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. So may we be given eyes to see and hearts at this season to say, thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift. Amen.