The Gifts Of God          

I Timothy 6:17

 

     It is the character of God to give. He "giveth us richly all things to enjoy." Here are nine things God has given to every sinner who trusts the Lord Jesus Christ alone as his all-sufficient Lord and Savior.

1. GOD HAS GIVEN US HIS DEAR SON! "Unto us a Son is given" (Isa. 9:6). "Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift" (II Cor. 9:15). The supreme gift of God's love is the gift of his own dear Son to be our Savior (I John 4:9-10). God gave us Christ in the covenant of grace (Isa. 49:9-10), upon the cross (Rom. 8:32), and in regeneration (Col. 1:27).

2. GOD HAS GIVEN US HIS SPIRIT. Every believer has the spirit of God dwelling within. He is the Comforter Christ sends to his redeemed ones (Gal. 3:13-14). He is the Seal of the covenant (Eph. 1:13-14).

3. GOD HAS GIVEN US ETERNAL LIFE (Rom. 6:23). Eternal life is sovereignly bestowed upon spiritually dead sinners through the merits of Christ's blood atonement and the power of his grace (John 10:28; 17:2).

4. GOD HAS GIVEN US FAITH. Though faith is an act of the renewed heart, it is not the work of man's free-will. Faith is the gift of God (Acts 3:16; Eph. 1:19; 2:8; Col. 2:12; I Pet. 1:21).

5. GOD HAS GIVEN US REPENTANCE. If you are now in a state of repentance, it is because God has poured out upon you the Spirit of his grace (Zech. 12:10; Jer. 31:19; Acts 5:31; 11:18).

6. GOD HAS GIVEN US SPIRITUAL UNDERSTANDING. Spiritual knowledge, discernment, wisdom and understanding is not the result of human intellect and learning, but the gift of God (I John 5:20; 2:20).

7. GOD HAS GIVEN US GRACE (I Cor. 1:4). Grace includes all the benefits of Christ's merits and mediation, providential, spiritual, temporal and eternal.

8. GOD HAS GIVEN US ALL THINGS. If you are in Christ, all things in providence, all things in grace, and all things in creation are yours to enjoy (I Cor. 3:21; I Tim. 6:17; 4:4-5).

9. GOD HAS GIVEN US EVERLASTING, HEAVENLY GLORY. Our works have nothing to do with our eternal bliss in heaven. All that heaven is, all that it promises and affords, all its fulness, glory and happiness is the gift of God, freely bestowed upon every saved sinner through the merits of Christ (Rom. 8:17, Eph. 1:11).

 

Don Fortner