THE GREAT GIFT!

By

Bernie Lutchman

WHAT GIFT?

Here is the dictionary.com definition of the word “GIFT”: 

something given voluntarily without payment in return, as to favor toward someone, ho
nor an occasion, something acquired without any particular effort by the
recipient..without it being earned.

We all love receiving gifts whether the occasion is Christmas, birthdays and
anniversaries. We go bonkers on Valentine’s Day, the second biggest shopping holiday
of the year in America! Why do we go the extra mile, spend the extra buck or in some
cases, max out the credit card?? LOVE!

It’s easy to get someone we love, the best we can afford. It’s even easier to receive
someone else’s largesse and generosity, especially if it is a surprise! We all know the
bible verse – God loves a cheerful giver…and man, around Christmas time, we give like
there is no tomorrow!!

We even talk to people we don’t particularly like and give them greetings and even
“Happy Holidays” (for the politically correct)! Around Christmas and sometimes Easters,
neglected senior homes and assisted-living facilities get flooded with requests from
churches, youth groups and more to come by and sing Christmas carols! Some will
even pass out small individual gifts (never mind, according to these same facility
activities Directors, they are ignored the other 11 months of the year, for the most part)!

There is nothing wrong with any of this! We’re a giving people! America is the most
generous country in the world. When disaster strikes anywhere, American organizations
–most of them Christians – are called on or volunteer first. When this happens, why do
people trust us first, unfortunately, before they trust God? – Because we have
credibility.

This essay is not about patriotism, it is about WHO can be trusted, when it comes down
to the rubber hitting the road. Whom we trust depends completely on whether the
object of this FULL faith and confidence is credible, dependable and can provide
things in times of famine, earthquake or tsunami.

Our capacity to appreciate something free depends on both the knowledge of the
person(s) giving the gift and the Nature of the Gift! I love the great New Zealand-born,
now Californian evangelist/author/TV host Ray Comfort. Almost everything I learned
about evangelism and revival and the nature of Sin, I learned from Ray’s teachings. He
has a wonderful teaching called “Hell’s Best Kept Secret”.

One part of that message really stuck with me. He talks about going through one of
these large passenger airlines and passing out parachutes, for no particular reason!
Well, we all know most people would think this is crazy!

“Why do I need a parachute?” they would ask themselves. “Am not in the 87th Airborne
or the 10th Mountain Division” This is now World War II!!...you can hear the wisecracks
now.
Unless you are prepared to explain, in the middle of a crowded jet flying 30,000 feet in
the air, that “just half an hour from now, we’re going to lose 3 of the 4 engines and we
have to jump or crash with the plane”, nobody will care about the parachute you just
gave them. Also, since we know most airplanes do not crash, and the likelihood of
having to actually use a parachute is so miniscule, our passengers would be toss away
their chutes!

Therefore, our message needs to have CREDIBILITY.

So it is with the cheap Grace most churches, teachers and preachers are offering for
the past two decades! The worst offenders are these self-propelled Youth Leaders,
professing Christian leaders, musicians and authors!

The false-security “Gift of God” where the unsaved person just “says a prayer” or
“accepts Jesus into their heart” will cause many to be turned away at the Gates on
Judgment day. The average young person or “seeker” will have no idea why he/she
even needs to access that True Gift, if there is no knowledge of the need for a Savior.

Just as a parachute could save the airline passenger from certain death, Jesus is the
last and ONLY Hope of mankind to be saved from eternal destruction. Yet many shelve
this, thinking it can be resurrected for a future date “WHEN WE’RE REALLY READY”…
or “What do you mean JUMP? This plane is flying just fine!!!”

In this case, handing someone a so-called Life saving device without explaining WHY it
is needed is tantamount to malpractice - theological and evangelical.

Such a gift would never be appreciated, loved, cherished and it certainly would not
occupy the first spot in our hearts! Two things are missing from this most critically
important of scenarios – Knowledge of the Giver and the True Nature of the Gift!

KNOWLEDGE OF THE HOLY

To know WHO God is, first we must know who WE are! We are man and woman
created in the very image of God the Father and His Son Jesus (Genesis 1:26). Jesus
said it in the Bible and when He speaks, it’s not an option!

Adam and Eve were perfect creations. Their fellowship with the Lord was so sweet that
God gave Adam dominion over the earth and all living creatures. However, when sin
through a serpent suddenly occurred, the vital Communion with Abba Father was
tainted forever. Both Adam and Eve poisoned the well by buying the Biggest Lie ever
told in History. Satan the serpent’s Lie from Genesis 3:4 – ‘SURELY YOU WILL NOT
DIE” has reverberated ever since, to the detriment of the human race.

This Lie led to sin, disobedience, doubt and destruction. It became such a foul odor to
the Lord, with created fallen angels having relations with the beautiful women of the
earth from then on, that it led Almighty God to destroy the earth with the Great Flood in
Genesis chapters 6-9.

The Lord our God promised afterwards to never flood the ENTIRE earth in such a
manner again, and gave His Rainbow as a promise. By the way, there is nothing more
beautiful than rainbows in the sky after a spell of rain has washed over the earth…
except maybe two or three rainbows!!! While we may not think of it as such, this is God
reminding us of the No-more-worldwide flood covenant! He is saying “remember My
promise in Genesis”!!!

But I digress.

The poison of sin has really done a job on the people of God since the Fall in the
Garden of Eden! Buying the bait of Satan of “Surely you will not die” has turned out to
be devastating. Sin and death have flowed through the veins of every human since like
a rapid spreading poison.

This is why Jesus brought it up in our text here from John 3. In verses 14-15, the Lord
said “And as Moses lifted up the bronze snake on a pole in the wilderness, so the Son
of Man must be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in Him will
have eternal life.

The story behind this bronze snake is paramount if we are to catch

what Jesus means here. The Israelites had been wandering in the
desert for close to 40 years and forever complaining, whining and
basically cursing God. A trip which should have taken 11 days from
the Red Sea to the Promised Land, took 40 years!

In this particular rebellion recorded in Numbers 21:5-9, we note

the Israelites literally speaking against God and Moses and longing for the “good old
days of bondage and slavery in Egypt”…because they had it so good there!!!! God sent
fiery snakes to kill all the ring leaders and the poisonous adders were spreading like
wildfire throughout the massive camp of loony-birds!

The people came to Moses and begged him to do something – after they were speaking
against him, by the way! He prayed and God told him to make a Bronze snake, put it on
a pole and if the people simply looked up at the Bronze Serpent on the Pole, they would
live.
Bronze is a solid, durable alloy and a metal which is prominently associated with the
LORD (Read Daniel chapter 7). The Apostle John saw this in Revelation 1: 12-16 –
12
When I turned to see who was speaking to me, I saw seven gold lamp stands. 13 And
standing in the middle of the lamp stands was someone like the Son of Man. He was
wearing a long robe with a gold sash across his chest. 14 His head and his hair were
white like wool, as white as snow. And his eyes were like flames of fire. 15 His feet were
like polished bronze refined in a furnace, and his voice thundered like mighty ocean
waves. 16 He held seven stars in his right hand, and a sharp two-edged sword came
from his mouth. And his face was like the sun in all its brilliance.

Jesus, Whose Feet are like bronze RIGHT NOW, was saying of the snake “just as a
people poisoned by sin and the serpent (Satan) had to look up to a strong object like the
Bronze Serpent here”, so would He have to be lifted up …or raised above …or set upon
the Cross so that all people from all time would live!

But Jesus is more than just a combination of untarnished tin and copper metals. He is
the sinless, wonderful Son of God, the ANCIENT OF DAYS, Who existed from Eternity
past.

It would take a Miracle from God, a Gift from God, to rescue a poisoned people such as
we are from certain eternal death and separation from Holy God. Father God knew this.
He saw us in our filth and degradation. He saw the worthless shred of human debris we
have become:

With our materialism

With our sex-laded airwaves, TV and music

With our corruption of societal morals

With our straying from His Word and decrees

With our not caring He is coming quickly to Judge!

He saw all of this and more. He is God. He is over all. He can see our deeds. The Word
says in 2 Chronicles 16:9a “The eyes of the LORD search the whole earth in order to
strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to Him”.

(If you wish to know how these Eyes can see all of this, read, buy a commentary
and research the Books of Daniel and Revelation!)

Even worse, He Who sits upon the Throne in Light, Majesty and Fearsome
Awesomeness, saw He had to send the Only Perfect Being to take care of this mess!
This was Jesus, His Only Son!

THE PERSON OF THE GIFT

The Bible even calls Him God’s Son…and for some reason, non-believing Jesus Rabbis
and others who reject Jesus as the Son of God miss this one from Proverbs 30:4 “Who
but God goes up to heaven and comes back down?
Who holds the wind in His fists?
Who wraps up the oceans in His cloak?
Who has created the whole wide world?
What is His name—and His son’s name?
Tell me if you know!”

So we know the Person of the Giver of the Gift.

THE PROCESS OF THE GIFT

Here is the Process He used and as always, Scripture is Sufficient to explain Scripture.
Philippians 2:6-8 reveals HOW Jesus did it:
6
Though He was God,
He did not think of equality with God
as something to cling to.
7
Instead, He gave up His divine privileges;
He took the humble position of a slave
and was born as a human being.
When He appeared in human form,
8
He humbled Himself in obedience to God
and died a criminal’s death on a cross.

Notice several things briefly:

Jesus was/is God

He was equal to God

He did not have to pull rank or grab on to it (CLING)

He gave up (temporarily) ALL His ministering Angels and Seraphim

He morphed (actual Greek translation) into a servant leader

He was born as a Baby in Bethlehem

He walked, talked, ate, slept and lived as a man

He OBEYED GOD….and this is KEY!

He surrendered WILLINGLY to the Plan of God (not MY will but THINE be done)

He was LIFTED up HIGH on two poles

He died on the Cross

This passage explains full the Process God use to gift mankind and begin the process
of Restoration and Reconciliation we had lost in the Big Lie of Genesis 3!

THE PROPITIATION

The act of Propitiation – where Father God, Abba our true Daddy – was satisfied with
the Actions of His Son, is the Hope of Mankind.

This selfless act of Love, of the Ancient of Days, God Eternal and Jesus Creator now
becoming Jesus Messiah, the Savior of the World is the best news Creation could ever
have.

The past 2000 years of human history and the human condition could never fully grasp
what this Process, I just described, really and truly means!

It would take 20 books of theology to explain the written significance of that which I just
listed directly from the Bible. However, it would take eternity to appreciate it completely.

So now we arrive at the point of whether or not we will accept His Offer! Whether we’re
willing to strap on that parachute! Is the world really ready to pull that cord and jump to
safety through Jesus the Lord?!

We see how quickly life can be snuffed out. We see how suddenly a person can be
happily working away in the office and the next second in hell. We see how powerful a
force God’s creation is when He says the word. We see all of this.

We ought to see our own condition. We ought to see how empty we are. We ought to
realize sometime in the next 30-50 years, we too will be standing in front of the Savior
giving account. We ought to realize that, by golly, you know, we just don’t have this right
yet…and we’re correct…we can never make it right. He did!

What president, king, senator, ruler or sheriff could get you into heaven when our 15
minutes of “fame” are up? NONE! They’re all going the same road! Either hell or
heaven.

Only Jesus can.

The most famous verse in the Bible is “For God loved the world so much that He
gave His One and only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish
but have eternal life…John 3:16

This is the Gift!

The SON IS THE GIFT!

The Father gave Him to US – on a CROSS and through His Resurrection Power! Even
with all the death, earthquakes and tsunamis and famine and murder in the world,
people are still avoiding the Gift! In Japan right now, they’re chanting to non-existent
gods to mourn their dead and losses. In the sands of the deserts, the same thing. In the
west and in some Universalist circles EVERYBODY gets in!

No matter what they’ve done in life, or believe…at the end of it all, according to these
deceivers – it’s all good! Where did they get this stuff?

The Savior, Who gave all that Sinners saved by Grace (and not Works, Baptism,
Penance or other such things) can live eternally in His Kingdom, said the following in
Matthew 7:21-23 ““Not everyone who calls out to me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ will enter the
Kingdom of Heaven. Only those who actually do the will of my Father in heaven
will enter. 22 On judgment day many will say to me, ‘Lord! Lord! We prophesied in
your name and cast out demons in your name and performed many miracles in
your name.’ 23 But I will reply, ‘I never knew you. Get away from me, you who
break God’s laws.’

This means the following:

– Many will say they’re Christians.

– They will do amazing miracles in His Name.
– Jesus will allow these miracles that others may be healed and/or saved.
– But on the Final Day, which is coming, all will be revealed.
– Face to Face with Jesus, they will panic.
– He knows their corrupt hearts and phony professions.
– He would not accept them despite their good works.
– They will be lost forever into hell.

Is this what we want?

Do we know how long forever is?

Forever is forever!! It’s, well, an eternity! Again….it all comes back to the Gift.

Are you open to accepting this Gift? Because if you do not, there are consequences!

REQUIREMENT?
Now, there is one small requirement. God prepares a person’s heart for Salvation. It is
only when we come to the end of ourselves and realize WE CANNOT do go any further
in our own pitiful state, that most people look up. You know the drill “Lord, if you get me
out of this, I won’t….. (Fill in the blanks).”

God, in His Love and Mercy, listens to this request! Jesus told Nicodemus the
stipulation to being “BORN AGAIN”. Believe it or not, regardless of what Liberal or
other unbiblical churches say “YOU MUST BE BORN AGAIN”!!!

Here is the verse from John 3:3 “Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, unless you are born
again, you cannot see the Kingdom of God.”

Obviously this means Spiritual Rebirth. This means our entirety spirit being, who we are
in the deepest crevices of our souls has to be taken down, formatted like a cheap hard
drive, wiped clean, and reloaded with the Operating system of Heaven – the Spirit of the
Lord Jesus Christ!

He wiped us clean ONCE AND FOR ALL when He bled and died on the Cross. When
He rejuvenates us into His Kingdom of Heaven, that Blood Atonement is applied to our
human condition. At this point, we are redeemed and allowed into Heaven. We inherit
all the rights and privileges of Eternity by being a True Child of God….and the keyword
or the “tag” word is CHILD!

WE MUST BECOME LIKE A CHILD TO BE SAVED AND ALLOWED INTO HEAVEN!

Just as our little babies look up to and depend and believe and completely trust their
earthly parents for everything, so must we as helplessly lost children look to our
Heavenly Father for Salvation!

Case closed!

Matthew 18:3 “Then he said, "I tell you the truth, unless you turn from your sins and
become like little children, you will never get into the Kingdom of Heaven”

Luke 18:16-17 “Then Jesus called for the children and said to the disciples, “Let the
children come to me. Don’t stop them! For the Kingdom of God belongs to those who
are like these children. 17 I tell you the truth, anyone who doesn’t receive the Kingdom of
God like a child will never enter it.”

This ABSOLUTE requirement is not just for Salvation but the Transformation Project
which Jesus, through the Holy Spirit, embarks on to transform us into His Image.

IN CONCLUSION
This, too, requires a mental assent, an attitude of Gratitude and what God says in
Ecclesiastes 12:1 “Don't let the excitement of youth cause you to forget your Creator.
Honor him in your youth before you grow old and say, "Life is not pleasant anymore."

This is a topic for another time, but sometimes the passion and zeal a new convert to
Christ has will be misdirected and can even fall into sin, pride, fleshly pursuits and more
as a person sins, because “Grace Abounds”!

So be careful.
Finally, while we have to be like Children to be saved and enter the Kingdom of heaven
NOW, we are not expected to stay that way as Christ works the process of Sanctifying
and Consecrating us into Holiness and less and less fleshly pursuits!

“When I was a child, I spoke and thought and reasoned as a child. But when I grew up,
I put away childish things”….1 Corinthians 13:11

But here is the big encouragement about The Great Gift:

“The love of God is greater far
Than tongue or pen can ever tell;
It goes beyond the highest star,
And reaches to the lowest hell;
The guilty pair, bowed down with care,
God gave His Son to win;
His erring child He reconciled,
And pardoned from his sin.
Refrain
O love of God, how rich and pure!
How measureless and strong!
It shall forevermore endure
The saints’ and angels’ song.
…….from the Hymn “The LOVE OF GOD” (1917) by Frederick Lehman

New Living Translation (NLT)

Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright© 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission
of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Images Courtesy Google Images.