In a few days, our nation will
observe the national holiday we call Thanksgiving Day. It's a time when families gather
together. I heard, I think, on the local
news that Wednesday will be the biggest travel day of the year,
people traveling to be with their families. And it'll be a blessed
time to enjoy family together. I'm looking forward to it. This
year, the Lord willing, my daughter in Florida is driving up on Wednesday. My son with his family from Kentucky,
my great-grandson, my granddaughter will be bringing him and herself
from Louisiana. And it's been at least four years
since all my children have been together, possibly five. But I'm looking forward to it
and I'm thankful, thankful for that time, the Lord willing.
Good company, good food, we'll all enjoy it. And as you've noticed,
if you've had opportunity to read the bulletin, that sort
of is the theme of the bulletin. Of all people, of all people
on this earth, I don't care who they are, or how much they have,
or how well known they may be, of all people on earth, nobody,
nobody has more cause to be thankful than God's people. Nobody. John the Baptist in his testimony,
one of his testimonies of Christ said, a man can receive nothing
except it be given him from above. James writes about the Father
of Lights, the Lord, or the God Almighty, Every good gift, he
says, and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down
from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither
shadow of turning. What greater gift, how good, how perfect, is the
gift of God's dear Son? You've probably guessed my text
here in 2 Corinthians 9. One verse, one verse. In the
context, Paul is thanking them and exhorting them to give to
the needs of God's people, to be generous in doing so. And
then he gives the prime example. Oh, thanks be unto God for his
unspeakable gift. God's unspeakable gift. You perhaps have heard the story.
There was a elderly old lady, a believer, a widow, lived alone. And she had nothing to eat but
a dry slice of bread and a cup of water to drink. She broke
the bread and said, all of this and Christ too. All of this and
Christ too. That's the title of a message.
All of this. But whatever it may be, whatever
this may include, without Christ, nothing, nothing. Oh, but concerning
God's unspeakable gift, the Lord Jesus Christ, our Savior, what
a gift He is, because we had no claim on Him. We had no claim
on Him. and we had no desire for him. And there was a time when we
lived in darkness and loved it that we didn't even feel our
need of him. But God, but God sent forth his
son anyway. There's only three places in
God's word that you can find this word unspeakable. And then
also in chapter 12 of this same book, 2 Corinthians chapter 12,
verse 4, Paul speaks of being caught up into paradise and heard
unspeakable words which is not lawful for a man to utter. And then we read the third place
that he speaks of it in 1 Peter chapter 1, where it speaks of
our unspeakable joy looking for the approach, the appearing of
our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. If you would get a concordance
and look up this word unspeakable, not too far above it, with maybe
two or three words in between, you'd find the word unsearchable. Unsearchable. I think that's appropriate in
a whole lot of ways. Unsearchable. How unsearchable
is the unspeakable gift of God's Son? In Job chapter 5, verse
9 I'm reading, Verse 89, I will seek unto God,
and unto God whom I commit my cause, which doeth great things
and unsearchable, marvelous things without number. Romans chapter
11, John read it this morning. How unsearchable is his wisdom. and his ways past finding out. Paul in Ephesians 3 speaks of
the unsearchable riches of Jesus Christ. All those places and
all others speak of Christ. Scott Richardson said, I heard
him say it on more than one occasion, speaking of the completeness
of Christ, the fullness of Christ, and being in Christ, Scott said,
God put all of his eggs in one basket. All of his eggs in one
basket and of course it was the Lord Jesus Christ. Is that not
what Paul said in Romans chapter 8 verse 32? He that is God that
spared not his own son but delivered him up for us all, how shall
he not? with him also freely give us
all things. He's already given us the best
that he could give in giving us his son and with his son how
shall he not also with him freely, freely without a cause in us,
without any cost from us freely give us all things. In 2nd Corinthians, are you still
there? 2nd Corinthians chapter 8, we
read in verse 9. For ye know the grace of our
Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes,
for your sakes, for your sakes God became man. For your sakes
he was born of a woman. For your sakes he was made like
unto his brethren. For your sakes he endured all
that he did in life. For your sakes he was made sin.
For your sakes he rose again. For your sakes he maketh intercession
in heaven for you. For your sakes he wills that
you be with him where he is. You know the grace of our Lord
Jesus Christ that though he was yet rich, yet for your sakes
he became poor that you through his poverty might be made rich. And of course, Paul said in Ephesians
1, Blessed should be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ who has blessed us with all spiritual blessings. in heavenly
places in Christ. Yes, God put all of his eggs
in one basket. Joe Terrell made this comment. He said, Don't let the light
of earthly joys distract you from the glory of what lies ahead,
nor let the darkness of the present hour blind you to the light of
the glory that shall be revealed in us. There was a Sunday school
teacher, I perhaps have told you this before, but I'm 65 years
old, I may be repeating myself, so cut me some slack. And you may not remember hearing
it if I did say it before. A Sunday school teacher was teaching
his class, young children, on the preciousness of Jesus Christ. And afterwards he asked them,
what does that mean? What does that mean, the preciousness
of Christ? And the children just sat, most
of them looked kind of puzzled. And then one little boy spoke
up and he said, well, my father said the other day that mother
was precious, for whatever should we do without her? That's a pretty
good definition, isn't it? Of the preciousness of Jesus
Christ, whatever would we do? Whatever would we do without
Him? Brothers and sisters in Christ,
if we have Him, we have all things in Him. I read this comment by
Mr. Spurgeon the other day, speaking
on Lamentations 3, verse 24. The Lord is my portion, saith
my soul. Mr. Spurgeon said, some of you
are very poor, and you have nothing in the world, but you can say,
the Lord is my portion. He said, we've heard of a rich
man who once took a poor believer and said, look over there at
those hills. All of that is mine. And he said,
look at that farm over yonder. That's mine, too. And that one
over yonder, that's mine. And beyond that river over there,
that's all mine. And the poor man said, hmm. He
said, look over yonder at that little cottage. That's where
I live, and that's not even mine. I rent it. And yet, he said,
I'm richer than you. I'm richer than you. For I can
point up yonder and say there lies my inheritance in heaven's
unmeasured space. And if you look as far as ever
you can, you cannot see the limit of my inheritance, nor find out
where it ends, nor where it begins. Oh, indeed, how blessed is that
man or woman who can say, the Lord is my portion. Oh, may God grant this sinner
grace to be thankful to God for his unspeakable gift all the
time. And even as I say that, I know
I seldom am. Most of the time, instead of
praising God, I'm murmuring, complaining. Oh God, give me
grace to be thankful. Thankful when I can sing and
thankful when I cry. Thankful when I prosper and thankful
if I'm poor. My grandmother used to tell me
when I was a young boy saying, oh, I wish I had this and I wish
I had that. My father told me something else
about wishing, but I won't tell you what he said. But my grandmother
said, well, Larry, you know, I think the Lord gives you as
much as he can trust you. Perhaps so. Oh, God, for grace
to be thankful while I live and thankful, oh, especially thankful
when we die. Matthew Henry said, though the
grace of faith is of universal use throughout our whole lives,
yet it is especially so when we come to die. Faith has its
greatest work to do at the last, to help believers to finish well,
to die in the Lord so as to honor him. by patience, hope, and joy,
so as to leave a witness behind them of the truth of God's Word
and the excellency of His ways, for the conviction and establishment
of all who attend Him in their dying hour, to prove that God
Almighty's grace is sufficient. There is a reality of being led
through the valley of the shadow of death. There is a reality
of knowing whom I have believed. It's not a fable. It's not a
fairy tale. I know whom I have believed and
am persuaded. Oh God, give me a firmer grasp,
a firmer persuasion that you're able to keep me all through this
life and to present me faultless before the throne of your glory.
Oh God give me grace to believe that. Our dear brother Cody knows
that now better than ever before. Does he not? Thanks be unto God
for his unspeakable gift. Turn if you will to 2 Thessalonians
chapter 2. We want to consider several things
and you know the first. Second Thessalonians chapter
2. Just briefly the background of
where we're going as we come to this most blessed verse but
prior to that verse 10. Speaking of this religious world
With all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish, because
they receive not the love of the truth, that they might be
saved. That's their own fault. And for
this cause, because they deliberately turn their eyes and ears from
the truth, God shall send them strong delusion that they should
believe a lie. that they all might be damned
who believed not the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, is that not so today? It's always
been so. It was so in Paul's day, but
oh, how prevalent it is today. We read in Revelation chapter
17 that this whole religious world bows down at the throne
of the great whore. All decked out in her religious
garb. Oh, great Babylon. Great Babylon. Is it not so? It seems like everyone
worships at the altar of their own free will. Most everyone
we know. Just about everyone we know. Most of the churches around us.
If it were not so, I would sincerely suggest that we close the door
here and go join the others because there's really no difference.
Oh, but that's not the case. That's not the case. It's a question
of who wears the crown, man or Jesus Christ the Lord. All around
us, people seem to worship, deceived as Paul says here. But not everyone. Not everyone. Some know better. Some sincerely
believe the Lord Jesus Christ and worship Him. Why is that? Louie, were you smarter than
your neighbor? I don't think so. What happened? Why do you believe when friends
and family don't? Why do you embrace the truth
when the majority of this religious world does not? Paul tells us
exactly why, verse 13. Why are we not still groping
in darkness? Oh, I do imagine, I do imagine
that when this epistle was read to these churches of Thessalonica,
and Paul described that dark background, in the previous verses. Oh, but then when he comes to
this and says, but we are bound to give thanks to God for you,
brethren. There must have been some shouts of hallelujah go
up all over the place. We're bound to give thanks to
God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because, because
God had from the beginning, from the beginning chosen you. Oh,
my soul. Me? Me? He chose me. Oh, what a wonder. What mercy, what grace. He chose
you to salvation through sanctification and belief of the truth. Where
unto He called you? Yes, it includes calling. Yes,
He chose us to salvation. But election is not salvation. It's an election to salvation.
Those He chose, Christ redeemed. And those Christ redeemed, the
exact ones that the Father chose in Christ, they must be called
in time. And every one of them shall be
called in time. Glory to His name. My sheep hear
my voice. And I know them. I know them
before they ever knew me. and they'll hear my voice, and
they'll follow me. Other sheep I have which are
not of this fold, them also I'm gonna try to bring. I'll do my
best to bring. If they'll let me bring them,
no, them also I must bring. That's the great shepherd of
the sheep, and bless his name, I'm so thankful that it's so.
This is the verse I thought of when Don called me to tell me
about Cody going home. I'd seen him, as I mentioned
earlier at the conference a few months ago in Danville, and thought
I would see him in a week or two. But after I talked to Don,
I thought of this verse here, verse 16. Now our Lord Jesus
Christ Himself, our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, What's your hope? It's Jesus Christ himself. It's not election. It's the one
in whom I'm elected. It's not a theory, a doctrine,
or redemption. It's the glorious Redeemer. I
believe him. I trust him. I behold him through
the eyes of faith. Jesus Christ himself and even
God our Father, which hath loved us, Cody preached from a sinner's
hope and has given us everlasting consolation and good hope through
grace. There is no hope, no real hope,
no genuine hope. before God Almighty accept that
hope which is a product of God's amazing grace. Everything else
is a lie, everything else is a pretense, everything else is
a sham, everything else is deceit. The only hope that a sinner has
is the hope that God Almighty gives him by his unmerited grace
when he bestows it upon a sinner and opens his eyes to behold
the Lamb of God. Comfort your hearts, verse 17.
and establish you in every good word and work. Yes, thanks be
unto God for his unspeakable gift. Call his name Jesus. He, nobody else. He, all by himself. He, without
your help, without your will, without your work, without your
merit, without your work, he shall save his people. Mmm, I
love that. Don't you love that? A lot of
folks only read that verse or think on it briefly at Christmas
time. You know, along with that little
manger scene. Oh, no. Blessed be God, we rejoice
in this every day. This is good news every day,
huh? Oh, it's good news to everyone that Christ, that old wretched
man that I am, who shall deliver me. Call his name Jesus, for
he shall, shall, without a doubt, Save His people, all of His people,
from their sins, all of their sins. He's able to save to the
uttermost all that come unto God by Him, from the guttermost
to the uttermost. That's our glorious Redeemer.
Call His name Jesus, and He'll save them, keep them, preserve
them, and bring them all the way home. Yes, thanks be unto
God. for his unspeakable gift, because
he, the Lord Jesus Christ, by himself, purged our sins. Purged our sins. John quoted
this. Hebrews 1 and 3 are read it. When he had by himself, oh
behold him, behold him, I'll trod the winepress alone, alone. What loneliness. What loneliness. What unsearchable loneliness. The Son of God endured. He told
his disciples, the hour is coming that you all leave me alone. But I'm not alone, he said. The
Father's with me. The Father's with me. Oh, but
then, then, after that, the Father deserves it. My soul, what loneliness. What loneliness. The Son of God
he endured as he hung up on the cross. He said, I do always those
things that please my Father. The Father is always with me.
And then he cries out, my father, my God, my God, you've left me. I'm alone. I'm alone. There's none with me. I've trod
the winepress alone and there's none with me. I looked for help
but there was none. I looked for comforters but I
found none. He trod the winepress alone when he had by himself,
single-handedly, and purged our sins. Oh, blessed, blessed Savior. Like that picture we see, who
is it? Atlas? It's got the world up on his
shoulders. Oh, our great God and Savior Jesus Christ took
the load of my sin and guilt up on his mighty shoulders and
he rolled it away. And it will be seen again no
more forever. Jesus paid it all. He entered
one time into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption
for us. Oh, have you heard what Jesus
did for me? My sins are all taken away. Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable
gift, because in time he called me by his grace. Turn, if you
will, to Romans chapter 5. Romans chapter 5. He called me
by his grace. How in the world can I get over
that? How can I get over that? Romans chapter 5 verse 15. But
not as the offense, so also is the free gift. For if through
the offense of one many be dead, that is our father Adam, much
more the grace of God and the gift, the gift of grace, which
is by one man, one man. Jesus Christ hath abounded unto
men, and not as it was by one that sinned, so is the gift.
For the judgment was by one to condemnation, but the free gift
is of many offenses unto justification. For if by one man's offense death
reigned by one, much more They which receive abundance of grace
and the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one Jesus
Christ. Oh, the wages of sin is death,
but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our
Lord. John Newton, who wrote, Delilah
was playing it earlier, Amazing Grace, great, great old hymn. He became so weak in his old
age that he had to stop preaching. And eventually he was confined
to bed. To a close friend he wrote, though through God's grace
I'm perfectly well, yet laboring under a growing disorder for
which there is no cure. Old age. But I'm glad for the
disease, for who would want to live always in such a world as
this? And then shortly before he died,
he told a visiting friend, my memory is nearly gone, but I
remember two things. God help me to remember. I remember
two things, that I am a great sinner, And Jesus Christ is a great savior. Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable
gift. Because we're going soon to be
with him forever. I saw an article The other day,
speaking about that physicist. He's a smart man. I'm not even
smart enough to say what he is. Stephen Hawking. He gave a lecture
here recently at Oxford University and he said, this earth has only
a thousand more years to live. I read that and I thought, well,
I don't care. Whoopie doo! I don't care. I won't be around. He said, if
we don't get out and explore another planet, blah, blah, blah,
blah, global warming and all this other stuff. But I don't
care if he's right or not, because I won't be there. I remember
years ago, I had taken four of my grandchildren, probably all
I had at the time. There was not many Months between
all four of them, just all four little tots, I'd taken them to
the zoo in Louisville, Kentucky. And we were coming back. And
we got stopped on the interstate. Construction, I think it was,
doesn't matter. But man, we were sitting in that
car. They're all lined up in the back seat. Boy, it wasn't
long, one after another. Pawpaw, when are we going to
get home? Pawpaw, I'm tired of sitting here. Pawpaw, I got to
pee. Pawpaw, can't you do something
about this? Yeah, Pawpaw was about to do
something about it. When are we going to get home?
Must have heard that a hundred times. Children of God, we're
going to be home pretty soon. Pretty soon, we're going to be
home. What did our Lord say? Let not
your hearts be troubled. You believe in God, believe also
in me. In my Father's house are many
mansions. If it were not so, I would have
told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare
a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself
that where I am, there ye may be also. And then afterwards,
on that same occasion, in chapter 16, he said this. Verse 20, Verily
I say unto you, that ye shall weep and lament, but the world
shall rejoice. And ye shall be sorrowful, but
your sorrow shall be turned into joy. A woman, when she is in
travail, hath sorrow, because her hour is come. But as soon
as she is delivered of the child, she remembers no more the anguish
for joy that a man is born into the world. And ye now therefore
have sorrow, But I will see you again. Now I know this has reference
to his resurrection but it I think goes beyond that. I will see
you again. He saw them when he arose. He
saw them when they each came to heaven. He'll see them when
he raises all believers from the dead. But I will see you
again and your heart shall rejoice and your joy no man taketh from
you, O child of God, I will see you again. You now therefore
have sorrow." Anybody here that that doesn't describe? Is there
anybody here this morning, and I think I would be safe in saying
this if the place was packed, any child of God here that doesn't
have sorrow? Of course not. Sometimes it's
more severe than at other times, like it is for our dear sister
Robin Lester Winna, Walter, Betty Gruber. And I know that some
of you don't experience a day without pain. The psalmist said, weeping may
endure for a night. And what long nights they sometimes
are feel like the day will never dawn. William Plummer wrote,
a preacher of years gone by, he said, there are sorrows and
there are misfortunes which bow down the spirit beyond the aid
of all human comforts. There are afflictions, there
are privations which death and hopes irrecoverably blasted leave
no prospect of retrieval. In such cases, dry sorrow drinks
up the blood and spirits and will utterly consume us, but
for the amazing interposition of divine mercy. But God, but
God is the God of all comfort, and he can make all grace abound
to you. Yes, weeping may endure through
the night, but joy cometh in the morning. The Lord said, but
I will see you again. But. Oh, bless the grace, but. But such were some of you. The
unrighteous, adulterous, idolatrous, infeminate. Such shall not inherit
the kingdom of God. It won't happen. And such were
some of you. Such was I. But. But. Glory to his name, you're
washed, you're justified, you're sanctified, but I will. The will of the Lord God omnipotent. That's whose will this is, the
will of him whom none can turn aside. He says, I will see, I
will see. He always has seen us, hasn't
he? He's always watched over us,
he's always kept us in his heart and in his hands. Matthew 26,
we won't turn there, but our Lord is prayed for the last time
in the Garden of Gethsemane, comes to his disciples and again
finds them sleeping. And he says, sleep on now and
take your rest. One commentator that I read insists
that there was a pause there. The verse doesn't read that way,
it reads as a sentence, which is the comma in between, but
it says Our Lord said, sleep on now and take your rest. And
this man says that the Lord sat watching over his disciples.
And after some time, perhaps briefly, probably was, he said,
arise, let us be going. He said, hand that doth betray
me. But if that is so, what this man said, is that not a beautiful
picture? The great shepherd sitting there,
Sleep on now and take your rest. He that keepeth Israel shall
neither slumber nor sleep. Therefore his sheep, because
of the watchfulness and the care and concern of the Great Shepherd,
they can lie down and sleep in peace, for he shall never do
so. I will see you, you, you. Nothing can stop you. and we
will see him too, face to face, and your heart shall rejoice.
If it were possible this morning, just to draw back the curtain,
just for a minute, just briefly, the curtain that separates the
seen from the unseen, the temporal from the eternal, this brief
vapor compared to everlasting glory. If we could just get a
glimpse, oh, what joy would we behold in those gone before.
Oh, behold them there without sin, without fault, without pain,
without sorrow of any kind, without tears, there's no reason to cry
there, without death. without darkness, inside or outside. When I was driving Robin up Friday
night to meet her son, she looked out at the moon and said, I guess
there'll be no sun or moon in heaven. And I said, no there
won't, because the city had no need of the sun, neither of the
moon, the shine in it, for the glory of God did lighten it,
and the lamp is the light Oh, if we could just take a peek. Look there. Oh, my soul, John. Look at that. Would you look
at that. Who is that upon whose head are
many crowns? Who is that before all the inhabitants
of heaven bow and cry, worthy is the Lamb? angels and redeemed
sinners. Who is this of whom they shout
unto him who was slain and has redeemed us to God by his own
blood? Who is this? But God's unspeakable
gift, the Lord Jesus Christ, the heaven of heaven, the glory
of glory, the blessing of all blessings. He says, I will see
you again. Yes, we're going to see the king.
And I'm on my way right now. Let me bring this to a close.
Job said, though the skin worms devour my flesh, yet I shall
see God. Job, from the heartache, the
tears, the cycle, the ashes, raised his hand to heaven and
said, I know I might not know the reason for all this. I don't
know why God's caused all this, but I know it's not changed this. I know that my Redeemer liveth. David, after recounting God's
wonder and mercy and grace to him, asked this question in Psalm
116. What shall I render unto the
Lord for all his benefits to me? What shall I render? And
in verse 17 of that psalm, David includes this in his answer.
I will take the cup of thanksgiving. Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable
gift. Why should I mind the way I go? His way is best for me, I know.
He is my strength, my truth, my way. He is my comfort, rod,
and stay. So we travel hand in hand. Bound
for the heavenly promised land, always through all eternity,
I'll praise his name for leading me. Where would we be without
him? God bless you. Thank you for
your attention.