Today I would like you to turn
in your Bible to 2 Corinthians chapter 9. 2 Corinthians chapter
9 and verse 15 will be my text. Verse 15 of 2 Corinthians chapter
9 says, Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift. Now in this chapter, in this
chapter from which my text is taken, Paul is stirring up the
believers at Corinth to be ready to give generously to the poor
believers in Jerusalem. He motivates them to give generously
not by the whip of the law, not by fear of punishment, not by
promise of reward, but rather out of love for Christ himself. He says in chapter 5 verse 14,
the love of Christ constraineth us. Nothing can so excite God's
people to give freely to him as remembrance of what God has
freely given for us. 2 Corinthians chapter 8 verse
9 across the page says, for we know the grace of our Lord Jesus
Christ that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became
poor that you through his poverty might be rich. Our Lord said
in Matthew 10 verse 8, freely have you received, freely give. My friend, the gospel of Jesus
Christ is founded upon giving. Buying and selling are unknown
in spiritual things. Payment is for the law. Under
the gospel, everything is free. 1 Corinthians chapter 2 says,
We have not received the spirit of the world, but the spirit
which is of God, that we may know the things that are freely
given to us of God. The gospel is free, my friend.
Everything under the gospel is free. Let me give you some examples. God gave his well-beloved Son. God so loved the world that he
gave his only begotten Son. Jesus Christ gave his life a
ransom for sin. He said, I'm the Good Shepherd.
The Good Shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. Salvation
is freely given. Romans 3, 24 says, "...justified
freely by His grace." All spiritual blessings are freely bestowed. Romans 8, 32 declares, "...he
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?" In
Revelation 22, we are encouraged to take the water of life Freely. You can easily count the value
of the gifts we give. They're small, aren't they? But you cannot even begin to
estimate the value of the great price of Jesus Christ crucified. He gave everything. He gave his
life. He gave all. That's why we say
with the Apostle, thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift. indescribable, inconceivable,
infinite, unsearchable riches of Christ. This is a truly an
unspeakable gift. Now I've got three points in
my message today. Let me give them to you. Salvation
is altogether a gift. Secondly, this gift is unspeakable. And thirdly, this gift causes
us to praise and to give thanks to God. Now let's look at the
first point. Salvation is altogether a gift
of God. A gift of God. Over and over
again in the Scriptures, the Bible plainly declares that salvation
is totally of grace, not of works, lest any man should boast. You
know the Scripture, Ephesians 2, 8 and 9, for by grace are
we saved. Through faith in that and not
of yourselves, it is a gift of God, not of works, lest any man
should boast. By grace through faith are you
saved, and that not of yourself. Listen to it, it's the gift of
God, lest any man should boast. Salvation is sovereignly bestowed,
is the sovereignly bestowed gift to undeserving sinners. God 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 before the world began. Salvation is altogether
a gift, A gift of God's grace, a gift of God's mercy and love.
The essence of salvation is Christ, Jesus Christ. He is salvation. Jesus Christ became the sinner's
substitute. He took humanity to himself. The word became flesh and dwelt
among us. He worked out righteousness for
his people. He honored the law. He suffered
and died for the sin of God's elect. He bare our sin and his
own body on the tree. He ascended to glory to justify
and to intercede for his people. Now listen to me carefully. The
idea is inconceivable and totally absurd to think that any sinner
deserved or merited such a glorious sacrifice as Jesus Christ crucified. Therefore, we conclude that since
Christ died for the ungodly, it's not possible for any to
put himself in a position of deserving or meriting that sacrifice. Therefore, it must be the gift
of God. Christ does not come to us because
we deserve him. It is a free, sovereign, glorious
gift to undeserving, guilty sinners. He is the unspeakable gift of
God. The wages of sin is death. The
gift of God is eternal life. This unspeakable gift, my friend,
is received by faith. Now, we know this gift's all
of grace, but this gift is received by the sinner, not by works,
but by faith. Four times in the Bible, God
declares, the just shall live by faith. The just shall live
by faith. Romans 5, 1 says, being justified
by faith. We have peace with God through
our Lord Jesus Christ. Faith is the God-ordained means
to receive this gift of His love and grace which is in Christ.
Salvation is to be received by believing, not by working, not
by doing. Faith never takes any glory to
itself because faith is not a virtue of the flesh. Faith is given
of God. Hebrews 12 declares he's the
author and finisher of faith. And we know that the Lord Jesus
Christ is the object of faith. Faith glorifies God. Therefore it says in Romans 4
16, it is a faith that it might be by grace. Abraham was strong
in faith, giving glory to God. Faith glorifies God and faith
never boasts in itself because it's the gift of God. Now consider
some of the blessings of this gift. Consider some of the blessings
of this gift. It's a gift of His grace. It's
received by faith. Now consider some of the blessings.
We have forgiveness of sin according to the riches of His grace through
Christ. We're justified in Christ freely by His grace, justified
by His blood. We've been made sons of God,
adopted into His family and accepted into beloved. Now may I ask you,
do you deserve such blessings? Do you? Could you merit such
blessings? No, it's impossible. No believer
is ever deluded to believe that he deserves mercy or deserves
grace. Salvation, my friend, is the
gift of God. It's an unspeakable gift. All
of grace in Christ received by faith and we have glorious blessings
upon which we do not deserve. They're freely given for Christ's
sake. Now, here's my second point. This gift is unspeakable, unspeakable. Now, this does not mean that
we cannot speak about this gift. This gift is Christ. It simply
means that Jesus Christ is so glorious so awesome, so infinite
that we can never exhaust the subject of His riches. He is
unsearchable. We've been preaching, the Church
of God has been preaching about the Lord Jesus Christ for thousands
and thousands of years, and we have never exhausted the subject
because He is the unspeakable gift of God. He is gloriously
unspeakable in His person. Who is Jesus Christ? He's perfect
man and yet glorious God. That's why Paul said, without
controversy, great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest
in the flesh. Unto us a child is born, but
a son is given. His name shall be called Wonderful
Counselor of the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father. It's
not possible to put in human language the glory of His divine
person. He's unspeakable. He's fully
and totally man, yet totally an infinite holy God. The second thing we know about
Him, Christ is unspeakable in His person, and He is unspeakable
in His condescension. He took upon himself the form
of a servant made in the likeness of men and became obedient to
death, even the death of the cross. The infinite God became
an infant of a day old. He who gave the law became obedient
to it and died under it, under its curse. He who made woman
was born of a woman. The Son of the Highest had nowhere
to lay His head. He created all things. He created
the very tree upon which He was crucified. You see, His condescension
to be our substitute, to die in our room and in our stead.
The glory of His humanity, the Lord of glory in His humanity,
thirsting for a cup of water. He wearied in body, He thirsted,
He hungered. He was a real man. Such a Savior,
my friend, this is an unspeakable gift of God when we consider
who He is and where He was and what He became for us and where
He died among sinners. Christ is unspeakable not only
in His person, in His condescension to be our substitute, but Christ
is unspeakable in His substitutionary death. Now, it's unspeakable
and even almost unthinkable to think and to speak about his
sorrow and grief as he died in his agonies upon the cross, dying
for the undeserving. All the physical horrifying pain
he endured for his elect is unspeakable. Isaiah 52, 14 speaks of him as
his visage, his image being so marred he was brutally beaten
of men. But his soul agony being made
sin for us, having the sin of God's people laid on him, his
spiritual soul agony He died in our room and in our stead.
Listen to this scripture, 2 Corinthians 5, 21. God made him to be sin
for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness
of God in him. My friend, this is the unspeakable,
substitutionary, satisfying death of the Lord Jesus Christ, bearing
the wrath of God on behalf of God's people. He cried from the
cross, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Because he
was made sin for us. He was made the scapegoat for
God's elect God's sheep. My friend, this is God's gift,
divine and glorious, unspeakable gift of God, inexhaustible. We can talk about the glorious
atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ from now on. until he returns
again. It's an unspeakable who he is
and what he did and why he died. My friend, Christ is also unspeakable
in his resurrection glory, his ascension to the Father. When
he had by himself purged our sins, he sat down at God's right
hand. My friend, these are the unspeakable
gifts of God in his person, who he is, God Almighty, and yet
A real man, bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh. He condescended
to be our substitute, our mediator, our atonement, our representative
to die in our room and in our stead. It's a glorious death
he died. And my friend, His resurrection
glory. He sat down at God's right hand.
Why did he sit down? Because he finished the work
God gave him to do. He glorified God in securing
the everlasting salvation of God's people. He's able to save
to the uttermost all that come to God by him saying he ever
liveth to make intercession for us. So we say with the Apostle
Paul, This salvation is a gift of God. It's all of grace. Secondly,
this salvation is an unspeakable gift because it's Christ who
is salvation. And lastly, it leads the believer
to say, thanks be unto God for this unspeakable gift. Thanks
be unto God. The Psalmist said, not unto us,
O Lord, not unto us, but unto thy name, give glory for thy
mercy and for thy truth's sake. In everything, we give thanks
to God, but especially when we consider His glorious gift to
us. Here in His love, not that we
love God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be a propitiation,
a mercy seat, an atonement, a covering for the sin of God's people.
My friend, we ought to express this being thankful unto God
often. express this thankfulness unto
God often, praising God in our hearts, which is never out of
season. Every time we think of God, read
his word, hear his gospel, we ought to praise God for his grace
and mercy. We should always praise that
God is never out of season. We should always be instant in
season and out of season to praise God for his glorious, his glorious
unspeakable gift. I say this, Lord, help me. Help
us to cultivate this spirit of praise and thanks be to God for
this unspeakable gift of His love, His mercy, and His grace
revealed to sinners in Christ. If you would like a copy of today's
message, you write to me and I'll see that you get it free
of charge, absolutely free. Here's my address, 6088 Zebulon
Highway, Pikeville, Kentucky.