The Bible Baptist Church, located
at 2015 Beulah Road in Madisonville, Kentucky, would like to invite
you to listen to a message of the sovereign grace of God in
the Lord Jesus Christ by their pastor, David Edmondson. I want us to consider one verse
of scripture this morning found in 2 Corinthians 9, verse 15. Seven words here that say a multitude. Thanks unto God for his unspeakable
gift. Now, the word be there is italicized,
so seven words in all, which give us an outline of three things. Let me quickly give them to you.
Salvation, first, is the gift of God, and Jesus Christ is salvation. Secondly, this gift of salvation
is unspeakable. Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable
gift. Now, that word unspeakable means
indescribable. God's gift to chosen sinners
is unexplainable. This gift cannot be described
or explained. It can only be revealed and believed. And then thirdly, this gift causes
us to whom it is given to praise and thank God for it. After all,
what did you and I do to receive this gift? It's a gift, not a
reward or merit by a work of our hands. It's a gift. We do not frustrate the grace
of God, for if righteousness come by the law, by us keeping
the law, then Christ is dead and vain. Galatians 2.21 Do you
work for a gift? Absolutely not. If you did, it
would cease to be a gift. A gift is something given willingly
to someone without payment. And when God shows a sinner who
and what they are, they'll never dare to say that they deserved,
merited, or earned the life that God freely gave. To every blood-bought
sinner, the scripture says, the Lord hath laid on Him, that being
Christ, the iniquity of us all. That's why our Lord Jesus is
God's unspeakable gift, and that's why our salvation is indescribable
and our pardon is unexplainable. An offering for sin is for the
guilty. How could Christ die on the cross
for deserving sinners when there are none? John wrote, Behold,
what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we
should be called the sons of God. Did we deserve this? Could we deserve this? John said
in 1 John 4, 10, Herein is love, not that we love God. but that
He loved us, and He sent His Son to be the propitiation for
our sins. Friends, we love Him because
He first loved us. 1 John 4, 19. So first we see
that salvation in Christ is a gift, and it's God's gift. Thanks be
unto God for His unspeakable gift. That's all it can be, is
a gift. For by grace are you saved, that's
not of yourselves, it's a gift of God. You know, men change
their mind all the time. But not God. He's not a man that
he should lie, or son of man that he should repent. That word
means change your mind, repent. Secondly, this gift of God is
unspeakable. It cannot be described. It cannot
be explained. You know, there's three things
concerning a gift. First, it must belong to the
one who gives it. If someone takes something that
doesn't belong to them and gives it to you, that's not a gift,
that's theft. Secondly, it must be unearned. And thirdly, it must be bestowed
upon you, not offered to you. A gift must belong to the one
who gives it. All things belong to the Lord.
The earth is the Lord's in the fullness thereof, the world and
all they that dwell therein, Psalm 24, 1. You see, all we
have belongs to the Lord. The Apostle Paul asked, what
do we have that we did not receive? And that is especially true when
it comes to salvation. Salvation belongeth unto the
Lord. Thy blessing is upon thy people."
Psalm 3.8. And the world talks about self-made
men. Did you know that there is no
such thing? Self-made men are said to have come from nothing
and made themselves something. Well, that goes against the whole
teaching of Scripture. We are nothing, we have nothing,
and we can do nothing. Speaking to the wealthy of this
world, the Holy Spirit says, God giveth the power to get wealth. Deuteronomy 8, 18. To the self-righteous
religionists in this world, the Holy Spirit declares, God gives
the increase. You didn't pick yourself up by
your bootstraps. It's God that gives the increase.
It's the Lord that lifteth up. It's the Lord that bringeth down.
It's the Lord that killeth and maketh alive. To those who are
carefree and enjoy life without Christ, the Holy Spirit tells
you, God giveth us richly all things to enjoy. Even those that
hate Christ, when they enjoy things in life, it's God that
gives that to them. To those who humbly bow to Christ,
the Holy Spirit says, God giveth grace. To the humble, James 4,
6. To those who are victorious,
the Holy Spirit proclaims God gives us every victory through
our Lord Jesus Christ. To everyone, everywhere, the
Holy Spirit announces every good and perfect gift cometh from
above. What is the greatest gift of
all? What is this unspeakable, indescribable gift? It's God
doing for sinners what they cannot do for themselves. Oh my, what
a God, what a gift. This gift from God, secondly,
is unearned. What does God say about it? It's
the grace of God that bring us salvation, Titus 2.11. It is
Christ who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from
all iniquity, Titus 2.14. A man is not justified by the
works of the law, but through faith in Christ Jesus. Galatians
2.16 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth anything,
nor uncircumcision, but faith which worketh by love. Galatians
5.6 who hath saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according
to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which
was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began. 2 Timothy
1.9. And then friends, thirdly, a
gift must be bestowed. It must be imparted. It's not
something offered to us. It's an operation upon us and
in us. Has anyone on your birthday or
Christmas ever said to you, I want to offer you a gift? If a gift
is offered, you can accept it or reject it. And that wouldn't
be a true gift. But a gift is not an offer, it's
freely given with no strings attached. An offer implies that
there's an ability by the one to whom it's offered to accept
or reject it. Friends, the gift of God is eternal
life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Now, can you offer a dead
man life? Christ came into the world to
give life to dead sinners, not to offer life to them. In religion
today, they've taken this unspeakable, this indescribable, this unexplainable
gift, and they've made it contemptible. They've made it despicable and
detestable. They've made God's gift to sinners
the sinner's gift to God. And men claim, haven't we, haven't
we? And it's been God's doing all
along. And we call the gospel the greatest
story ever told, when actually it's the greatest story that
has never been told as it ought to be. And the Holy Spirit tells
us, for we know in part and we preach in part, but very soon
we shall be known also as we are known, 1 Corinthians 13.
And I have not seen nor ear heard, and neither have entered into
the heart of the man the things which God hath prepared for them
that love him." Oh, we haven't told it all because we can't
see it all. And we sure can't explain what
we do see. I remember one time when I was
struggling financially and my mother and my father paid off
a large debt of mine. All I could say was, I don't
know what to say. It was an unspeakable, indescribable,
unexplainable gift. You know, the queen of Sheba
heard the fame of Solomon, and she came to prove him with hard
questions. And Solomon answered all her
hard questions. He didn't hide anything from
her, the scripture says. He told her everything. And when
the queen of Sheba had seen all of Solomon's wisdom, and she
saw all that the Lord had given him, she said, behold, the half
was not told me. Thy wisdom and prosperity exceedeth
the fame which I heard. Friends, the half of God's unspeakable
gift of Christ has not been told. For over 2,000 years, men have
endeavored to tell it, but the half has not yet been told. And then thirdly, the outline
of this verse, just seven words, tells us that this gift causes
the receiver to praise and to thank God for it. Thanks unto
God for his unspeakable gift. Christ did not come into the
world to make God love us. Christ came into the world because
God loved us. God loved His people from the
foundation of the world, and that is why Christ, God's unspeakable
gift, is called the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. For God so loved the world that
He gave He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth
in Him, that's who this gift is given to, those that believe
on Him in the world, that they should not perish but have everlasting
life, John 3, 16. God gave us His Son, and we love
Him because of it. He loved us, and that's why He
gave us Christ. And God's gift is not the cause
of His love. God's gift of Christ is the result
of His love. Christ came into the world to
save sinners. Now, I'm not gonna talk about
my love for God. That's not love. That's not true
love. Herein is love, not that we love
God, but that God loved us. And what did He do? He sent His
Son to be the propitiation for our sins. He sent His Son to
be the atonement. That's what the word means. for
our sins. Jesus Christ is the mercy seat
that our sins are put upon, and it's His blood that was shed
for our sins. He is the high priest that sprinkles
that blood upon the mercy seat. Friends, He is that unspeakable
gift. And those who are yet without
Christ are not thankful for Him. Christ to them is an unknown
gift. Christ and His salvation are
not a gift to everyone, but to those it is given, it is unspeakable,
indescribable, unexplainable. And they're thankful and praise
Him for it. How can a man be just with God? How can he be clean that's born
of a woman? How can God be just and justify
the ungodly? How can the justice of God both
punish and pardon? How can God's mercy and truth
meet together? Why, if the wages of sin is death,
how can God remain just and at the same time forgive us when
sin is all that we are? How can God be a just God and
a Savior? How can God's righteousness and
peace kiss each other? Only one way, dear friends, only
one way, and that is in Jesus Christ, His unspeakable gift. You have been listening to a
message by David Edmondson, the pastor of Bible Baptist Church
in Madisonville, Kentucky. If you would like a copy of this
message, or to hear other messages of God's free, sovereign grace
in Christ, you can write to our mailing address at P.O. Box 652
Madisonville, Kentucky 42431. or log on to our website at FreeGraceRadio.com. If you would like to come and
worship with us, we meet at 2015 Beulah Road, Madisonville, Kentucky,
and our service times are Sunday morning Bible study at 10 o'clock
a.m., worship services begin at 11 o'clock a.m., Wednesday
evening services at 7 o'clock p.m. Please tune in again next
Sunday morning at 10 o'clock AM for another message of God's
free and sovereign grace in the Lord Jesus Christ.