Christmas Gifts - God's Christmas Gift Series

“It is not glued to the altar. Nor are there any strings attached. It’s yours for the taking.”

“Well,” asked a pretty teenager, “can I take after the service?”

I shook my head. “You must come and get it now.”

(I was beginning to wish I’d never started the whole thing, when a woman I’d never seen before stood up in the back.) Quickly, as if she were afraid she’d change her mind, she strode to the altar and picked up the plant. “I’ll take it,” she said.

As she returned to her seat carrying the free gift, I launched with enthusiasm into my text, Romans 6:23. “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” “The gift of God is eternal life! It’s free”.

When the service had ended and most of the people had gone home, the woman who claimed the poinsettia came to the platform, where I was picking up my Bible to leave.

“Here!” she held out her hand. “This flower is too pretty to just take home for free. I couldn’t do that with a clear conscience.”

I looked down at the crumpled paper she stuffed into my hand. It was a ten dollar bill.

Now, what does that illustration tell us? It tells us that people have trouble believing anybody, least of all God, would give them something for nothing. It’s a Gift. It’s free! And they have trouble understanding heavenly things, because they have trouble grasping earthly things (like poinsettias)

III. People around us have trouble understanding that salvation is a free gift

They want to “earn” their salvation. They want to clean themselves up before they come to God. OR they believe they don’t have to come to God on His terms, because they have already done enough to make themselves feel comfortable that “yes they will make it into heaven.”

They’ve pressed a ten dollar bill into God’s hands and said: see you in heaven.

Jesus said: “you can’t do it that way. In John 1:11-13 we’re told:

"(Jesus) came unto his own, and his own received him not. But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

What does that mean? It means…

1.… you can’t become a Christian by being born one (of blood)

2.… you can’t become a Christian because you’ve decided you’re good enough (will of the flesh)

3.… you can’t become a Christian because somebody else decided for you (will of man)

It has to be your choice to accept God’s gift. AND you have to accept that gift on God’s terms – not your own. You can’t BUY this gift of salvation, you can’t earn it, you can’t collect brownie points or green stamps. You have to accept God’s gift in God’s way. What is that way?

BELIEVE John 3:16 "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

REPENT Acts 3:19 Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord,

CONFESS JESUS AS YOUR LORD & MASTER Romans 10:9 “if you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”