Welcome to a firm foundation presented by Princeton ministries with Dr. Ken Smith. This is Carol Smith, Ken’s wife. Please enjoy.

The God whom you and I, as Christians worship is a gift giving God. Do you enjoy receiving a gift? I do. Big box with bright paper and a special red ribbon all tied up. And someone comes and they say, I have a gift for you. Here, take it. Well, we all enjoy receiving gifts, and usually when we think of gifts, we think about them as other people would give us gifts. But as we look at the scripture, we find that the God whom we worship is a gift giving God. I’m afraid that many Christians, when they think about the gifts that God gives, usually only think of one package. And that is the package that comes brightly colored.

And we open it up and we go through all of the paper and we take this beautiful, precious gift, the gift conversion, of being born again, of putting our faith in Jesus Christ. Usually when Christians think about gifts and God who gives gifts think primarily of the gift of salvation. Sometimes we are like the Samaritan woman who, when Jesus met her at the well, he asked her, do you know the gift of God? And I would ask you that question today as a Christian. Do you know the gift of God? Well, you say, well, I became a Christian six months ago, five years ago, 20 years ago. Yes, I know about the gift of God. Well, I have good news for you. I’m glad that you have opened that package and that in it you have found salvation.

But God has many more gifts for you. Sometimes it is as though we have opened this package of salvation, and we are so enraptured and so full of joy at what God has done for us. And we talk about the gift of life that he has given us in Christ. We talk about our conversion, and then a week, a month, a year passes, and all around us is the debris from the gift, some wrapping paper, some ribbons, the box that was torn open. And we look around and we say, are there any other gifts? Is that the whole gift? Well, the God whom we worship is a gift giving God. And he has not only the gift of salvation, but he has many more gifts for us.

If you look at the word giving in the scripture, you’ll find that it’s used scores of times. We’re told that God gives richly all things. According to Timothy, James says that God gives liberally to his children. Well, when we begin to look at the gifts that God has given to us, in the book of Romans, chapter eight, is a list of the gifts that God has given. Usually when we receive a gift. The gift is related to getting to know someone, and so they have done something, and in appreciation, we bring them a gift.

Well, the first gift that God has for you and me, as we have put our faith in Christ as we are Christians, is to know that long before the doctor ever held you up by the back legs and said, it’s a boy or it’s a girl, long before the first time that your mother placed her hand upon her stomach and said, I feel the baby, and that baby was you, long before you were ever even thought of by your earthly parents. The scriptures tell us that there was a gift that God had for you. That gift, according to Romans 924, is that God called you. God called you before you were ever born. It was a gift that he wanted to give to you. And why did he call you? Because he wanted to show his mercy to you.

He wanted to show his love for you. He wanted you to experience his grace. For the first 20 years of my life, I knew nothing about being called. And then when I became a Christian, I began to read scripture and found out that long before, while I was still in rebellion against this God, that he had called me and that he had a purpose, a plan, as he has a purpose and a plan for every one of his children. According to Romans 828, we know that all things work together for good. To those who love God and notice to those who are called according to his purpose. Why does God love you? Because he called you from before the foundation of the world. He called you and said, upon this man, this woman, I will give my grace, my love, my mercy.

We’re told that calling was related also to being predestined. Now, the question of predestination brings up a lot of different questions, and I have talked about that subject in other messages. But I think from a very practical perspective, the idea of predestination was best captured by an old woman who heard the complaints of the congregation because their minister kept talking about being predestined. And the people said, isn’t there anything else? Why does he keep talking about being predestined from before the foundation of the world? And this older Christian woman said, I’ve settled that point for myself because if God had not chosen me before I was born, I’m sure that after I was born, there was nothing in me that he would have chosen me.

Well, I don’t know about you, but as I look back over my life and try to look for what is it that God would see in me to choose me? To call me, to show his love to me. I can’t find a lot of things. And that’s why the scripture says he called us. He predestined us. He showed his mercy, his love upon us, and he gave us this gift. Long before you were ever born, long before your parents ever thought of having little Johnny or little Mary, God had a gift for you. He called you. Well, there is not only the gift of being called, but we also find that God, who is a great gift giver, comes to us with outstretched arms and a smile as he would present to us another gift. That gift is the gift of being justified.

If you look at romans eight, verse 30, we are told that those whom he called these, he also justified. Now, justification is a legal term. It is the term that is used to say that the books have been balanced, that the price has been paid. Justification is God looking at us through Jesus Christ just as if we had never sinned. Now, when does that occur? Well, justification occurs when we are converted, when we put our faith in Jesus Christ. The scriptures declare that it is God who justifies us. Now, there have been a lot of different words that are used in the scripture to describe what you and I would call conversion, putting faith in God through Jesus Christ. Legally, the word that is used in scripture is the word justified.

And so it would be proper for a person to talk about their conversion and to say, I have been justified, that Christ, when he died on the cross, died for my sins. But another word that is used about the same event is adoption. This is a more personal word. The word adoption is used to describe someone coming into God’s family as their son, as their daughter. And when you became a Christian, you were adopted into God’s family. Another word that is used in the scripture to explain that is baptism with the Holy Spirit. That when we become a Christian, we are baptized with that Holy Spirit. Internally, the scriptures tell us that at that moment of conversion, something else happens.

We have been given a new heart, that we have been given a new mind that is being transformed into the likeness of Jesus Christ spiritually. Jesus talked about conversion, and he said, that event is being born again, being born anew, being born afresh. And so conversion is an event like a diamond with many facets. And if you are looking legally, then you would look at that angle of conversion, which is justification. If you are looking for that personal relationship with God the Father, then you hold it slightly differently and you see the teaching of adoption. And if you are looking for that spiritual meaning, then you hold it again in another angle, and you learn about being born anew by the spirit of God. But the gift that God has is the gift of new life, of justification, of conversion, of salvation.

Henry More house began preaching when he was 16 years old. And one evening he came before the congregation that had been listening to him preach for some six nights. And for those previous six nights he stood before his congregation and he said, I would like to read my text for you. The text is John 316. For God so loved the world that he gave his only son. And on the second night he came and he said, I’d like to read my text for you tonight. And he read John 316. He did the same on the third night, the fourth night, 5th, 6th night. Till finally people in the congregation began to ask, does he know any other text? Can he teach on anything else?

And so on the 7th night, Henry More house came before the congregation and he said, I have gone into my study today and I looked for a text that would be fresh, one that would have great meaning for you. And God has given me that verse. Would you open your bibles to John, chapter three, verse 16? For God so loved the world that he gave his only son. Every time that Henry More house spoke. And he had a reputation known around the world, his text was always John 316. For the gift of God is that we might know Jesus Christ, that we might be justified, that our sins would be forgiven and that we would be born anew. Born above by his spirit, God gives us a new heart, the scriptures tell us.

And Ezekiel reminds us that a new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you. But there’s another gift that God has for us. And it is a gift that Christ comes with outstretched arms again and he holds this wonderful package and he gives it to his children. And there’s a smile on his face, for he knows that in that package is to be found a quality that you and I on our own cannot possess, that you and I on our own cannot manufacture. Because once we have become Christians and we have been justified in Jesus Christ, then who is it? Who has the strength, the moral resolve to say, from this day forward, I am now going to follow Christ? For many of us, it becomes like a new year’s resolution.

After a day or two, we falter. We realize that in ourselves we’re not able to follow the teaching of Christ. And that is why there is another gift that is essential for us to understand. And that is the gift, according to romans 829, that we would be conformed to the image of God, the word that is used to explain being conformed to the image of God, is the word sanctification. Nowhere in scripture do you find a use of the word justified and conversion without it being tied to the word sanctified or sanctification.

The scripture does not teach that we can be converted alone, isolated from the rest of our life, but rather that as we are converted, justified by the work of Jesus Christ, he has another gift that he gives us, and that is the gift of sanctification, that he will help you to live as a follower of Christ. He will assist you to follow the image of Jesus Christ, which is the goal of Christians, that we would be more and more like Jesus Christ. And so we find that the work of sanctification is that it is God who cleanses us. It is God who purifies us. It is God who works in us to accomplish his purpose.

Only Christ is able to cleanse us within, and only Christ, by his Holy Spirit, is able to give us the power to live our life as followers of Jesus Christ. I heard about the little girl who probably captured the idea of sanctification best when she said, dear God, make me gooder and gooder, so that there’s no bad left. Well, in many ways, our life in Christ is dependent upon him giving us that gift, that sanctifying ability to see sin becoming less and less in our life, that because of Christ, we would be transformed, that we would be changed. One of the greatest works ever written in the Christian library is the book called Pilgrim’s progress. In that book, Christian leaves the city of destruction, and as he flees from that city, he meets a man by the name of Apalon.

We may know him as Satan. Christian says, he was a monster to behold. He was clothed with scales like a fish. He had wings like a dragon. His feet were like a bear, and from his belly came fire and smoke. And Apollon said to Christian, all who live in the city of destruction, all are my subjects. So you should go back to the city of destruction, for I, as your prince, will not easily let you flee. Christian says, but I have given myself to another, even to the king of princes. How can I, with fairness, go back with thee. And Apollon responds, but it’s an ordinary thing for those who have professed themselves to be his servants, that after a while you’ll begin to slip, and then you will return to me. You will return to the city of destruction.

Well, as Christian continues along the path, he meets another by the name of talkative. Have you met him talkative at a distance, was a tall man? He was more handsome at a distance than he was close up. He loves to talk. He talks about good. He talks about religion. He talks about grace. He talks about conversion. And talkative says, I will talk of things heavenly, and I will talk of things earthly. I will talk of things moral. And I will talk of things evangelical. I will talk of things sacred or things profane. I will talk of things from the past or things to come. And when Talkative meets Christian, talkative asks endless questions. He talks and he talks until faithful, the friend of Christian, realizes the sin of talkative. He says, before you can say, Mr.

Talkative, that you are saved, that you are one of Christ, then others must see it in you. They must first see that you have confessed Jesus Christ. But then they must see a life that is a life of holiness, a life that has a heart meaning, a life that has a family holiness, a life that has a conversation of holiness and the practice of that holiness. That your life must abhor sin, that you suppress sin in your family, that you promote holiness by your living. That you not only talk about it, but you live it well. God has a gift for us. That gift is the gift of sanctification. That you would be empowered by God himself, through Jesus Christ, to live your life in obedience to Christ. Finally, we are told in Romans 830 that there is another gift.

There is the gift not only of being called, of being justified, the gift of being sanctified, but there is also the gift of being glorified. Glorification. Romans 830, moreover, whom he predestined, these he also called, and whom he called, these he also justified, and whom he justified, these he also glorified. When your life is over and mine, I believe that what we are going to see is that all of our life, if we look with spiritual eyes, all of our life has been a gift from God. And you look at your confessing Christ, he says, it’s a gift. I gave it freely. You look at your obedience to Christ, your desire to follow him in a holy way. And God says, I gave that to you as a gift.

But there is a day coming, as Christian found a day coming when he stood on the bank of a river, death. And he said, I see myself now at the end of my journey. My toilsome days are over. I’m going now to see that head that was crowned with thorns in that face that was spit upon for me. This river has been a terror to me. But now I stand easy. The waters are indeed bitter to the palate and to the stomach. They are cold. Yet the thoughts of what I am going to do and the conduct that waits for me across that river brings to me great joy. The scriptures talk about the gift that God has for all of his children the gift of glorification.

That what you and I appear now to be that we shall be changed in the twinkling of an eye that which is corruptible will be made incorruptible. DL. Moody, when he word came that he had died he had in previous years written his autobiography. He began his autobiography with these words. Someday you will read in the paper that D. L. Moody is dead. But don’t you believe it. At that moment I shall be more alive than I am now. I shall have gone only higher. That’s all. Out of this old clay tenement into a house that is immortal a body that sin cannot touch a body fashioned into his glorious body.

The gift that God has for us is not only that he called us from before the beginning of time not only that he justifies us in bringing us to himself not only that helps us living the life in Christ by sanctifying us but also that he has this gift of glorifying us that when we would leave this world we shall be with him and we shall be like him. But before we can experience sanctification before we can know of the glorification, we must first take that box that he presents with his beautiful bow that box of salvation, that package that Christ says, whoever will open this box and receive the gift that is in it shall be saved. That you shall have eternal life.

May you begin this day unwrapping that box knowing that your sins have been forgiven that Christ died on the cross. That you might be justified that you might be sanctified that you might by his gift be glorified. Let us pray. Our God and our Father, we thank you. That you are a God who gives gifts and that the gifts that you have given have been from eternity past to eternity future. That the gifts that you have given of calling us, of justifying us, of sanctifying us, of glorifying us. That all of this comes in the loving arms of Jesus Christ as he would present to us, your children the wonderful gifts that would empower us to live this life. We pray that you would help us this day to reflect and to remember that you are a God who gives gifts.

And we give you thanks in Jesus’s name. Amen.

Thank you for listening to a firm foundation presented by Princeton Ministries this programming is supported by you, the listener. You may go to our website, princetonministries.org, or send your donation to Princeton Ministries Post Office Box 2171, Princeton, New Jersey 8543. That’s Princeton Ministries Post Office Box 2171, Princeton, New Jersey 8543. The Lord bless you, and Dr. Smith looks forward to hearing from you. We would like to thank Rones web development company for making this webcast possible. You can find their link at the bottom of our website, princetonministries.org.