I have entitled this message,
The Gift. I have an uncle who is opposed
to Christmas. And he thinks it is against the
Bible to celebrate Christmas. And he will tell you why he feels
it's wrong to celebrate Christmas. But he always adds this disclaimer. However, I will receive gifts. Everybody has some interest in
gifts, gifts, that's hard to say, gifts. I guess I better
get used to saying it if I'm going to preach this message.
Now, there are two prerequisites for something to be defined as
a gift. First, there has to be a giver
of the gift for it to be a gift. And second, there has to be a
receiver of that gift for it to be a gift. If there is not
a giver, it's not a gift. And if there is not a receiver,
it is not a gift. There's no such thing as a gift
that was not received as a gift. Now, in this verse of Scripture
that I read in John chapter 4, verse 10, let's read it again.
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 wouldst have asked of him, and he would
have given thee living water." Now, in this verse of Scripture,
we read both of the receiver of the gift and the giver of
the gift. Now, first, let's talk some about
the receiver of the gift. He says to this woman, this Samaritan
woman, if you knew. If you knew the gift of God,
who's the Lord speaking to? Well, we know from this chapter
that she was what many people would call a real loser. This woman had been married five,
times. Now, you've got to have some
sort of issues, I would think, to be married five different
times. That's what happens with movie
stars, you know, eight, nine, ten times. But just for consideration
of this woman, she had some issues, didn't she? She'd been married
five times. We know that this woman was a
sinful woman. She was living in a sinful relationship. She was living with a man. She
was cohabiting with a man who was not her husband. So she was living in a sinful
relationship with this man. I know that this woman was an
ignorant woman. Our Lord said, if you knew, the fact of the
matter is when he said this, she did not know. She was an
ignorant woman, and as a matter of fact, if you read this passage
of scripture, this woman was really a very shallow woman.
I mean, she was very shallow. He talked about the gift of God
and living water and so on, and all she could understand was
H2O. I mean, I'd like to get some of this water that'll make
me not thirst anymore, and I won't have to come back here to the
well and draw. All she understood was H2O. She didn't really understand
what he was saying when he said something about living water.
So this woman, she had issues. She was a sinful woman. She was
an ignorant woman. And she was a shallow woman.
Now that's the definition of this woman that our Lord said,
if you knew the gift of God. So the receiver of this gift
is described in our text. And you know what this does for
me? When I read this description of this woman, it makes me think
if he can give her his gift, you know who else he can give
it to? Me. If she can be a receiver of this
gift, So can I. I want to receive this gift he's
speaking of, if you knew the gift of God. So here we have
the receiver of this gift, this poor Samaritan woman. And this
ought to encourage everybody here. If her, why not you? Why not me? That's the only way
to look at this. I want to be a receiver of this
gift, whatever it is. Now, also, we read in this passage
of Scripture of the giver. of this gift, you certainly cannot
have a gift if there's not first one who gives the gift. And, you know, the value, the
preciousness of a gift is determined by who gives it. For instance,
if your enemy gives you a gift, you might just give it back.
You might not want to take it from your enemy. But let's say
a young man in love with a young woman gives her a ring. Now, that gift to that woman
is precious, isn't it? But you know why it's precious?
Because of who gave it. There's something special about
that. Yes, the ring is precious. I remember when I gave Lynn a
ring. She'd look at that ring. I remember
the way she'd look at it. I'd feel kind of jealous. I think
she was like, does she like the ring better than me? I wasn't
real sure, you know. But I believe that ring was precious,
though, because of who gave it. And when the preciousness of
a gift is determined by who gives it. Now, who gives this gift? Look in our text. If you knew
the gift of God and who it is that saith that he give me to
drink, thou would have asked of him, and he would have given
thee living water. Look in verse 14, but whoso drinketh
the water that I shall give him shall never thirst. Now, here's
the giver of this gift. The giver of this gift is the
Lord Jesus Christ. Now, doesn't that make whatever
he gives infinitely precious? This is the Lord Jesus Christ
that gives This gift, the one who is God, the creator, the
one of whom this book we call the Bible speaks. Actually, he
wrote every word of it. This is the giver of this gift.
He is the God man. Fully God. And fully man, the
son of God, the second person of the blessed Trinity, the one
who in Isaiah nine, six is called wonderful. counselor, the mighty
God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace, the One
who is Lord, the One who is absolutely sovereign. That means He has
a will and He has the power to make sure His will comes to pass.
There is only one sovereign and that is the Lord Jesus Christ.
I think it's interesting when you read of countries, they say
this is a sovereign nation, and that's a sovereign nation. But
they came and framed it on this sovereign nation's sovereignty.
Well, that disqualifies the term sovereign, doesn't it? I mean,
there's only one sovereign, the Lord Jesus Christ. He's in absolute
control. One who has power to enrich.
One who has wealth beyond description. The gift He gives. Now, if I
give you a gift, I can't enrich you. We're talking about the
Lord Jesus Christ. He's the giver of this gift.
So we see the receiver of this gift and the giver of this gift. And listen to this about this
gift. The giver is the gift. The giver is the gift. That's what makes this gift so
infinitely precious and valuable. Listen to this scripture, Romans
8, 32. It's talking about the gift that God gave. God so loved
the world that he gave his only begotten son. Listen to this
scripture, Romans 8, 32. He that spared not his own son,
but delivered him up for us all. How shall he not? What could
possibly prevent him? How shall they not with Him also
freely give us all things? Now, if you have this gift, you
know what that means? That means you have all things. All that God requires, all that
you need, you have in possession if you have this gift. Does that whet your appetite?
I want this gift, don't you? I'm interested in this gift.
I'm qualified for it. If she was, I am. And he has the ability, the power
to give me this gift. So the Son of God says to this
woman, if you knew the gift of God, And who it is that saith
to thee, give me to drink, you would have asked of him. And
he would have given you living water, if you knew the gift of
God. And you know what? This is equally
true. If you do not know the gift of God, you will not ask
for it. And if you do not ask for it,
you'll never receive it. So here we have the importance
of knowledge if you knew the gift of God. Now, you're not
going to be asking for it if you don't know what it is or
who it is or how it comes. You're not going to ask. But
if you knew, you would ask. And he would have given thee
living water. So there is no salvation. There is no receiving
of this gift without knowledge. if you knew the gift of God. Now, you know how I respond to
this when I hear this? Now, understand this. There's no asking for this
gift. There's no receiving of this
gift. There's no experiencing of this gift without knowledge,
whatever that knowledge is. Now, you know what that does
to me when I read that? I don't think, well, how much
do I need to know? That's generally the way people respond. Well, how
much do you need to know? That's the wrong question. That's absolutely
the wrong question. Not how much, it's whatever it
is, I want to know it. If you knew, well, okay, I want
to know, don't you? I want to know. Whatever it is,
I must know to ask for this gift. I want to know. If you knew the
gift of God, well, I want to know. Well, let's talk about
the gift of God for just a few moments. If you knew the gift
of God, this word means the free gift of God. As a matter of fact,
it's quite often translated the free gift. The free gift, the
gratuity of God. That which he gives. Freely, are you interested in
this? Receiving that which he gives freely. Now, if you don't
have anything to pay, this will interest you. In reality, a person's need determines
their appreciation of this gift, and their poverty will determine
their appreciation of the freeness of this gift, if you knew the
free gift of God. You see, we've already pointed
out that in this gift that he's speaking of to this woman, everything's
included in it. Everything you need. Hauserlein,
notwithstanding, also freely give us all things, all spiritual
blessings. Everything you need is found
in this gift. All you could ever want is found in this gift. If
you have this gift, you won't even want any more gifts. You
won't be looking for anything else. This is how complete this
gift is. Now, if you knew the free gift of God. Well, let me give you some descriptions
of this gift in the Scripture. Paul calls this gift in 2 Corinthians
9, 15, the unspeakable gift. This gift is so infinitely precious.
It's so infinitely great that there's not a word that can be
used to describe this gift. You can't put a price on it.
You can't put a value on it. It's the unspeakable gift, unexpressable
gift. And this gift that he speaks
of is the gift that absolutely cannot be bought. It cannot be paid for. What price
could you put on it? I think of Peter's words to Simon
Magus. He said, your money perished
with you because you thought the gift of God could be purchased. with money. You know, any belief
in salvation by works in any way is the ultimate insult to
God. He gives His Son and you think
you can pay for it? You think you can give a price
that will render God obligated to do something for you? You
think you can pay for a son? That's the ultimate insult to
God. This gift, you can't put a price on this gift. You can't
pay for this gift. This gift's the person of the
Lord Jesus Christ. How could you pay for Him? What could you
do to marry Him or to buy Him or to earn Him? This is the free
gift of God. And to think salvation in any
way can be purchased is to devalue the gift. It's to show how little
you really think of the gift. Oh, this gift is so infinitely
precious. And here's something that's amazing. If I said this gift This infinitely
precious gift could be had for a hundred dollars. Everybody
in this room would do whatever it took to get a hundred dollars
to pay for this gift. But when I say this gift is absolutely
free. Absolutely free. There are people that are going
to leave here with no interest in this gift. If you knew the freeness of this
gift, salvation is free. Now, I want to give you four
things that the Bible speaks of that are all part and parcel
of this gift. He speaks of when he says to
this woman, if you knew the gift of God, and who it is that's
talking to you. You would have asked Him and
He would have given you this living water. Now, here's the first
Scripture I want to bring out that teaches us something of
this gift. We read in Ephesians 3, verse
7, this phrase. We read of the gift of the grace
of God. Now, this gift, the Lord Jesus
Christ, is part of this gift. It's all one whole, but it's
the gift of the grace of God. Now, do you know what grace means?
It means unmerited favor. I bet most folks in this room
could have answered that question properly. It means unmerited
favor, unearned favor. It's what God gives you when
you don't even deserve it, when you can't earn it, when you can't
pay for it, but God gives it to you anyway. That's God's unmerited
favor. Do you really believe in grace?
Now, I can tell you how you can tell if you really believe in
grace. And this is the Todd Road Grace Church. Do you believe
in grace? Well, here's how I can tell whether
you really believe in grace. Listen real carefully. Do you
believe the election of grace? Now, that's how I can tell if
you believe in grace. Do you believe in the election of grace? We read in Romans 11, 5 of the
election of grace. Well, what is election? What's
that got to do with? Ephesians 1.4 says, according
as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world. Now, election says that God selected,
elected, chose who would be saved before time began. And that's election, that's what
it means. He chose, he selected who he would save before time
began. Now, this choice that he made
was not because he looked down through the telescope of time
and figured out and saw who would believe and said, well, I see
they're going to believe, therefore I'm going to choose him. Not at all. He simply,
as an act of his own free and sovereign will, selected who
he would save. And it didn't have anything to
do with the works. For the children, Romans 9, 11, for the children,
talking about Jacob and Esau, for the children, being not yet
born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose
of God according to election might stand, not of worse, but
of him that calleth. It was said unto her, the elder
shall serve the younger. As it's written, Jacob of the
loved, but Esau of the hated. Now, election. God chose who'd
be saved. He passed by the rest. So, isn't it? That's so. And I don't apologize for it.
If it's the way God did it, it's the best way. It's the right.
Whatever he does is right. But there's two things that election
safeguards when we're talking about grace, the election of
grace. If election is so, and it is,
then it doesn't give anybody to boast in. It doesn't give
you anything to boast in. It doesn't give you anything
that you can take credit in. It's all God. If God made this
choice before I was born, I can't boast in it because I didn't
do anything in order to get it. It's a free gift. Election keeps
us from boasting. An election excludes a payment. I didn't have anything to pay.
I wasn't even born. You know, I love election. I love the God
of election. I love the elector. I love the
elect. And I love the fact that he elected.
Gives a sinner like me hope. It's free grace. And let me say
this regarding this thing of election. If you don't believe
in election, you don't believe in grace. Period. If you don't
preach election, you don't preach grace, period. Election is grace. God's election is grace. And
so when you talk about this gift of God, the gift of grace, it
seemed, first of all, in light of election. Now, we read this
phrase in Romans 15, 17. We read of the gift of righteousness.
We talked about the gift of grace. Now let's talk for a few moments
about the gift of righteousness. As a matter of fact, go ahead
and turn there. I want you to see it with your own eyes. Romans 15. Not
Romans, I mean Romans 5, excuse me. Verse 17. For if by one man's
offense death reigned by one, Much more, they would receive
abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign
in life by one Jesus Christ. Now, that phrase, the gift of
righteousness. Now, we don't generally think
of righteousness as a gift, do we? We think of it as something
we've got to do. You know, that was a righteous
act or that was an unrighteous act. But when the scripture speaks
of righteousness, it speaks of the gift of righteousness. Now, righteousness. Listen to
me real carefully. There's only one righteousness. That's the righteousness of God. You believe that? There's only
one righteousness. That's the righteousness of God
Himself. David said in Psalm 71 verse
16, I've made mention of thy righteousness, even of thine
only. He said, I don't speak of any
other righteousness, only thy righteousness. Now, righteousness. And righteousness is a perfect
standing before God's holy law. If you want to define it, you
take the Ten Commandments. A righteous person will say,
I've kept them all together. I've not broken any of the Ten
Commandments. Now, this righteousness that
is spoken of in the scriptures is a gift. It's not something
you do in order to be. It's something that is given
to you. Righteousness is a gift. It's given. Now remember, it's
just God's righteousness we're speaking of. It's the obedience
of Jesus Christ when he walked upon this earth and kept the
law. That's the righteousness we're speaking of. It's a gift
that God gives. He gives it to his people in
two ways. It's the same righteousness. He gives it first by imputation.
That means it's credited to your count. It's given to you. It's
charged to you. My standing before God's holy
law is the perfect obedience of Jesus Christ given to me,
charged to my count, so I stand before God not guilty. Perfectly righteousness. His
obedience is charged to my count, and that's the only ground of
justification there is. That's the only ground. No other
ground. His righteousness only. Now,
His righteousness is given to me in the new birth. That's how
I understand. The only way you can understand,
and I mean really with your heart, understand and believe that Christ's
righteousness is your righteousness before God when you actually
have faith, is when He gives you a new nature. It's called
the new birth. It's called being born again.
It's called being partakers of the divine nature. He gives you
this New birth, this righteous nature that believes the Gospel,
that loves God, that repents, that looks to Christ. That's
the new nature. Now, this is the gift of righteousness. It's His righteousness. His obedience
is charged to my account. He gives me this gift, this new
birth that apprehends His righteousness and believes on Him. That's the
gift of righteousness. Here's a question I have. How
can I know if I have this gift? I believe what you've been saying.
I'd give full assent to it. But how can I know if I personally
have and possess this gift of righteousness, this gift of grace,
this gift who is himself the Lord Jesus Christ? We'll turn
to Ephesians chapter two. Verse 8, very familiar verse
of Scripture. For by grace are you saved. At gift of God's grace through
faith. And that that faith is not of
yourselves, it's not the product of your free will. It is the
gift. of God, not of works, lest any
man should boast." Now, here's the evidence of having this gift
of righteousness, this gift of God, this gift of His grace.
Here's the evidence. Faith. Do you believe that Jesus Christ
is all in your salvation? Do you believe that? Do you believe
that His righteousness is the only righteousness? Do you really
believe that? Are you right now, while I'm
speaking to you, relying upon His righteousness as your righteousness
before God? Now, you can answer that with
a yes or no. You don't have to be confused about that. You know
whether you trust Him or whether you trust yourself. Now, if you
trust His righteousness, if you trust Him, you trust Him as the
end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believes, you
trust Him, that is perfect evidence that God has given this gift
of grace, this gift of righteousness to you. It is yours. You have this gift. You possess this gift. Now, if you knew, he said, the
gift of God and who it is that is speaking to you, you would
have asked of him. And he would have given you this
gift. Now, understand this about this
gift, this gift of grace, this gift of righteousness, this gift
who is the Lord Jesus Christ himself, this gift that has everything
included in it. You have all things. He'll freely
give us all things in having this gift. Understand this about
this gift. Everybody who has this gift,
you know what they do? They ask for it. They ask for it. If you knew the gift of God,
what would you do, our Lord says? He said you'd ask. Everybody
who has this gift is going to Ask for it. Now, I want to give
you the English words that are used to translate this one Greek
word, ask. If you knew, you'd ask. In Matthew
chapter 27, verse 58, this word is translated, beg. If you knew the gift of God,
you know what you do? You beg for it. And then in Acts chapter
16, verse 29, this word is translated, call for. If you knew the gift
of God, you'd call for it. Lord, give it to me. If you knew the gift of God,
Mark 15, verse 43 is translated, Crave. You'd crave this gift. And then in Matthew, chapter
20, verse 20, it's translated, Desire. If you knew the gift
of God, you'd desire this gift. And then in Luke 23, verse 23,
it's translated, require. If you knew the gift of God,
you would require this gift. I mean, you'd have to have it.
You'd have to have it. Well, I do desire this gift. I pray for this gift. I require
it. I have to have it. I'm begging
for it. If you knew. If you knew, you would ask. Now,
here's what everybody who knows does. They ask for this gift. You have not, said James. Why? Because you ask not. Now, if you know the gift of
God, here's what you right now will be doing in your heart while
you're listening to me. You'll be asking for this gift. You
know what's amazing to me I asked for this gift a long time ago,
and I received it. You know what? I'm still asking
for it. Still am. I'm asking right now. I want
this guy. I'm asking him now. If you knew, you'd ask. What does our Lord say next?
He said, if you knew the gift of God, you would ask, and if
you ask, He would have given thee this living water. Now would you turn with me to
Matthew chapter seven. Now, these are the words of the
Lord, the great giver of the gift. And look what he says to
us. Ask and it shall be given you. Been talking a few minutes ago
about election. Somebody worries, well, what
if I'm not elect and I ask? That's hit somebody's mind. What
if I'm not elect and I ask? Beloved, he says, if you ask,
it shall be given. That's a promise. You don't need
to worry about whether or not you're one of the elect. What
you need to do is ask. Right now. He promises, ask and
it shall be given you. Seek, he says, and you shall
find, knock and it shall be opened unto you. for everyone that asketh
receiveth. I asked and I didn't receive.
You saying the Lord was lying there? You saying he's wrong? There's never ever in the history
of the universe been anybody who asked that didn't receive.
Now it could be that you tried to bargain and called it asking.
Matter of fact, every one of us has been guilty of that. But
that's, he says everyone that asks. This ought to encourage
everybody in this room so much. If you ask, you'll receive. Every
one that asketh, receiveth. He that seeketh, findeth. To
him that knocketh, it shall be opened. Or what man is there
of you, of whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone?
Or if he ask him for a fish, will he give him a serpent? Now,
if you then, you know you won't, your child's hungry and you throw
out a stone or a snake to him, you know that's not going to
happen. If you then... I've always loved this verse
of Scripture. The Lord talked to His disciples here. He says, if you
then, being evil... Would that fit you? He's speaking
to His disciples. He says, if you then, being evil,
know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more
shall your father which is in heaven, give good things to them
that ask Him. Now, if you do not have this
gift right now, there is one reason. Now, please listen to
me carefully. This gift that includes all things, if you personally
do not possess this gift right now, there's one reason and one
reason only. You've not asked for it. If you ask, you will receive. The Lord promises that. And if
you don't have it, there's only one reason. You've not asked
for it. You have not because you've asked
not. You see, if you ask, He would
have given you this living water. Now, I want to close by talking
about this living water He gives. Look in verse 10 again of our
text, John 4. Jesus answered and said, If you
knew the gift of God and who it is that saith to thee, Give
me to drink, you would have asked of Him, and He would have given
thee living water. Look in verse 14. But whosoever
drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst,
but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well, a
fountain of water springing up into everlasting life. You see,
this water that he gives, and this is talking about the gift
of his grace, the gift of righteousness, the gift of himself, the gospel.
If you drink of this water that He gives, you won't be looking
for anything else. You'll be completely satisfied. Are you satisfied to be saved
by Jesus Christ? Or are you looking for something
else? Now, if you're looking for something
else, it says one thing. You've never drunk of the water
that he's talking about. You see, if you've ever drunk of
the water that he speaks of, that he gives, if you've ever
drunk of this water, you are satisfied. You're satisfied to
be saved by Jesus Christ. You're satisfied to have all
your sins washed away simply by His blood. You're satisfied
to be saved by His righteousness. You're satisfied to be saved
by Him. You're satisfied with Him getting all the glory and
you getting none. And you like it that way. You're
satisfied. If you're drunk, you're satisfied. If you're not satisfied, you're
never drunk. Our Lord tells us, "...whoso
drinketh the water that I shall give him shall never thirst,
but the water that I shall give him shall be in him." In him,
a well of water, a fountain of water springing up into everlasting
life. Christ in you. the hope of glory. Now, I challenge you right now, ask for this gift. And if you walk out of this room
without this gift, there's only one reason you refuse to ask. Because anybody who asks, our
Savior promises us, receives. May God give us grace to ask. Let's pray together.