Dr. Ron Sumners
December 25, 2005
Just a few days before Christmas, a postal worker at the main sorting office found an unstamped, handwritten, messy envelope addressed to God. Curious, he opened it and discovered that it was from an elderly woman who was in great distress because all the money she had saved for Christmas - $200 - had been stolen. As a result, she had no money for gifts and would not be able to prepare a meal for her family.
The man went to his fellow postal workers and took up a collection for the woman. They all dug deep and came up with $180. Putting the money in a plain envelope, with no note of explanation, the postal worker sent it by special delivery to the woman that very day. A week later, the same postal worker noticed another unstamped letter that had been addressed to God in the same handwriting as the letter earlier. In it he found this brief note:
Dear God:
Thank you for the $180 that you sent me for Christmas. It would have been such a
bleak Christmas without it.
P.S. it was short $20, but that was probably those thieving workers at the post
office!
Do you think that God ever feels like that postal worker? He gives and we accuse Him of shortchanging us. In Romans 5 we discover gifts that God gives us.
The gift of justification. We are justified by faith. Romans 5:1 says, "Since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ."
Justification is the divine pronouncement of God that we are acquitted from sin's penalty, God's judgment for sin, and made acceptable before God even though we are sinners. Chuck Swindoll writes, "Justification is the sovereign act of God whereby He declares righteous the believing sinner - while he is still in a sinning state." In other words, while we still sin and have a sinful nature.
We have the gift of peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
"Peace with God" in essence means reconciled to God. It means the barriers of hostility and enmity that separated us from God, barriers like our sin, our spiritual death, or lack of spiritual life. The barriers have all been removed by the person and work of Jesus Christ. "Peace with God" means the peace of salvation through the Prince of Peace. "Peace, Peace I leave with you; My peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid" (John 14:27). "For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility" (Ephesians 2:14).
Today, the root of the troubles of the world is not the failures of government, nor even the absence of money to finance new programs, but the fact that man is at enmity with God. What men need is peace with God through Jesus Christ! So, on that glorious night when He was born, the angels sang, "glory to God in the highest, and on earth, peace ... "
We have been given the gift of access to God. Romans 5:2 says, " ... We have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand."
The Apostle Paul reminds us that there is one mediator between man and God, the man Jesus Christ. The author of Hebrews tells us to come boldly before the throne of Grace to find grace to help in our times of need. How? Through Christ who has given to us access to the very presence of the Almighty as believers in His Son.
Jesus issues this invitation in Matthew 11:28-30: "Come unto me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light'."
Christianity is the way of access to God. Does that impress you? It should! All the other religions of the world shut man out from God; they provide no access to God. Why? Because they keep man from God by turning them away from Jesus Christ. There is no other name under heaven or in earth whereby you might be saved other than Jesus Christ. It is through Jesus that we have access to God.
We have the gift of the love of God and the Holy Spirit. Romans 5:5 tells us, ''And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out His love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom He has given us."
1 John 4:9-10 says it this way, "By this love of God was manifested to us that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He has loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins."
God's love gives assurance and removes fear and doubt and shame when we fail, and we all do. It gives significance and meaning to life. It is a work of the indwelling Spirit of God who assures our hearts of God's endless and unconditional love.
In Romans 8:34-39, Paul tells us, "Who is He that condemns? Christ Jesus who died - more than that, who was raised to life - is at the right hand of God and is interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or danger or sword? As it is written: 'for your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to the slaughter.' No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord."
In John 14, Jesus tells His disciples that He is going home to be with the Father, but He promises them that someone will come after Him.
"If you love me, you will obey what I command. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever, the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept Him because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know Him, for He lives with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you" (John 14:15-18).
We have the gift of deliverance from wrath. Romans 5:9 says, "Since we have been justified by His blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through him!"
Wrath refers to the judgment of God that must be poured out on a Christ-rejecting world. Those who have put their trust in Christ will not come to wrath because Jesus Christ bore God's wrath on Calvary. Therefore, we who know Jesus do not live under condemnation. John 5 :24 says, "I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes Him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life."
Very few sermons concerning wrath are preached in this "Feel good" religious culture of today. The only way we can escape the wrath to come is through the blood sacrifice of Jesus Christ. It is the most blessed Christmas gift of all.
Zephaniah 1:14-18 says, "Listen! The cry of the Day of the Lord will be bitter, the shouting of the warrior there. That day will be a day of wrath, a day of distress and anguish, a day of trouble and ruin, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and blackness, a day of trumpet and battle cry against the comer towers. I will bring distress on the people, and they will walk like blind men, because they have sinned against the Lord. Their blood will be poured out like dust and their entrails like filth. Neither their silver nor their gold will be able to save them on the day of the Lord's wrath. In the fire of His jealousy the whole world will be consumed, for He will make a sudden end of all who live on the earth."
What a terrible picture Zephaniah paints. But we who have accepted the great gift of God's Son, whose birthday we celebrate today, there is no fear. We thank God for the unspeakable gift: Jesus the Christ. Happy Birthday Jesus!
Commentaires