“Thanks be to God for His unspeakable gift.” 2 Cor. 9:15 (Preached Nov 26, 1871)

1 H. 74. [?s]. 2 H. 72. C.M. 3 88 C.M. 80807 Hopewell 26 Nov. /7/ 1 178 [?s] A 2 175. S.M. 3 88. C.M. Thanks be to God for His unspeakable gift. 2 Cor. 9:15 The word unspeakable, you need not be told, presents the simple idea of something, the nature of which cannot be expressed in words. It is believed that it occurs but three times in the word of God. Twice by Paul once by Peter, + in every place. here is a difference of [me??ing] in the word. One of these occasions when it is used is where Paul in the 12o Ch. + 4o v. of this Epistle, is describing the extraordinary translation of himself to the third Heavens or Paradise, and states that heard unspeakable words; In this connection we shall discover from the original Greek that the language means some thing that is secret, that ought not to be uttered. Then there is another occasion where Peter uses the word to describe the believers joy + calls it joy unspeakable; by which he evidently means to [describe] convey to us the idea that this joy is to be felt but cannot be communicated by words. Then a third place where this word is used is in this text, and the gift which is here spoken of being the gift of Gods dear Son, is called the unspeakable gift, in the scuse of something so rich, so divinely precious, as to baffle + defy the power of all language to estimate. Indeed, the word used to set forth this gift, in the original Greek, it is a remarkable fact, is used only in this place; it means literally something that cannot be explained, or suitably set forth in speech, or in detail. I am aware that Commentators have given various interpretations of the passage, + some have supposed that the gift alluded to is the Gospel, the fountain of all the influence for good that is exerted upon the heart; Others that it means the habit of brotherly love which would induce men to be charitable; but there seems no ground to adopt any interpretation except that which refers the language to J.C. himself, as in this Gift, all other good things the Gospel, + the fraternal love of Xtians, among others are of course included. Therefore without hesitation we may proceed upon this explanation that Paul simply meant to give utterance as far as he could to the gratitude which swelled in his heart when he remembered that the brotherly love which prompted the [?] Ch. to its deeds of charity, was the direct result of Xt.s Love to the race of man, and exclaimed in his rapture Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable gift! It will be of interest to us to dwell in [some] briefly upon the singular fact that Paul regards this gift as one that is unspeakable; that Paul declares it to be (not unlawful for him to utter) as were the forbidden secrets of Heaven, to which he was admitted; not as [?] the joy to which Peter referred, that was only to be felt but not uttered in words; but that it was just simply beyond the power of language to define, describe, or set forth so as to be properly estimated. That Paul should so characterize this gift, is unremarkable, when we consider his peculiar character, and qualities, and this fact rightly weighed will enhance in our estimation the grandeur, the glory, + the preciousness of the Gift. For who was Paul, and what were his traits, and qualities? In the command of language he is unsurpassed among all the orators whose lives + efforts are given in history. So wonderful was His power of speech in him that when he visited Antioch, the statement is that after his first masterly sermon in their synagogue, almost the whole city came to listen to his marvelous eloquence. It is this Paul who visiting [??onium] with Barnabas so spake with such power + irresistible eloquence that such a great multitude both of the Jews + also of the Greeks, believed. It was Paul again who with Barnabas at Lystra, was taken to be of the Gods and in proof of his power of speech, he was called by these people, Mercuries, their own God of Eloquence. This Paul also stood on Mars Hill in Athens, and with marvelous skill of words exposed the absurdity of Heathenism, in the very presence of the most polished assembly that up to that time had ever surrounded a teacher of Xtianity. This was the Paul who stood undaunted before the grand [Co??eil] of his Jewish enemies and spoke with unflinching courage the words that confounded them all. He it was whose eloquence almost persuaded Agrippa the incestuous king to be a Christian; and this same Paul by his overwhelming reasoning shook the guilty soul of Felix + caused him to quail with trembling shuddering guilt, which told him that his only escape from the terrible influence of his words was to send the dreadful preacher from his presence. It is this Paul whose 14 letters to the Chhs. are the wonder + admiration of these late ages of the Ch; as containing the finest specimens of argument, and eloquence, and wisdom in every variety of style. This Paul also is the author of the sublime treatise on the resurrection in 15 Ch 1. Cor., the grandeur of whose conceptions and the marvelous beauty of [the] whose language excel all the most exalted specimens of eloquence recorded; this Paul or whom all this is true, here says that there is one subject [for] which his powers of language are utterly inadequate to describe, or set forth. All other subjects he mastered; On all other occasions he found himself furnished with language. The prejudices of the Heathen could not resist him; the blindness of idolaters could not but behold him with admiration. The Philosophy of Athens was confounded; the pomp of Royalty was abashed; the pride + lust of the haughty ruler trembled before before the sweeping tornado of his speech; and the world still acknowledges the unanswerable logic, the unsurpassed beauty of his diction, and the grandeur of the doctrines of his epistles. And yet when this man of eloquence finds himself confronted with the mighty thought of Gods gift of His Son, J. C. to die for man, he at once yields to the pressure of the ponderous theme, and confesses that it successfully eludes the grasp of his intellect, and defies his power of speech! Should it be supposed now that all this marvelous power of speech which is attributed to Paul was due to the fact that he was inspired, it may be admitted and yet it might be contended that this only enhances the inconceivable value of the gift, to know that even to the inspired servant of God authorized to speak of the great salvation to his dying fellow-men, the attempt to present [the] a [??itable] estimate of this divine gift, should prove utterly abortive. Surely, surely then this gift of God to the world is one of unspeakable preciousness. To justify this epithet let us consider, I. The cost of this gift. The remark of the venerable Archd Alexander on his bed of death was that all his theology was comprised in that one verse God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, to die that whosoever believeth in him might not perish but have everlasting life. Now the preciousness or value of the gift is here seen at once. Nor can we conceive anything that language can add to the impression of its cost, beyond the simple fact that God gave his only Son. The death of the first born of Egypt was the last of the ten plagues, and last because it was the severest, and severst because it was the first born son who perished. There is scarcely a heart so depraved that does not keep a place for the son of its strength, [and] the glory of its night. The higher we rise in the virtue of the parent, and the nearer to the standard of purity & virtue that parent may come, the deeper, purer, & more tender the affection it bears to the son of its love. When therefore the Parent is found to be the Holy God, Himself, we may be able at least to understand that the affectation He bears for His only son must be beyond conception deep, pure & tender, & that the cost of giving up that Son [to God] must have been proportionally great. The love of God for His Son is in point of fact just this: it was an unbeginning love. There never was a time there never was a period in all that we understand by the Past, when the father did not love the Son. One in nature, in essence, in substance equal in power and glory, without beginning of days or end of years, there cannot be conceived such a thing as a suspension for a must and of the harmony which subsists in the wondrous union of the three adorable persons of the Godhead. The inconceivable mystery of the Divine Union of course renders it beyond our reach to understand, and therefore it would be presumption in us to undertake to explain it. But surely love is one of those unearthly emotions which without any hesitancy may be ascribed to God especially as it is said God is Love; and the higher, holier, and more excellent the Being in whom it exists, the deeper and more intense the Love it bears to the object. The Immaculate [Holiness] Love of God for His Son, therefore being more intense than it is possible to conceive, the cost or surrendering him to death must have been great beyond all estimate, and hence must teach us that the gift must be indeed an unspeakable gift. Not only was it an unbeginning love but it was without measure. Nothing is withheld from the Son. The Father loveth the Son and hath given all things into His hands. All power is given unto me in Heaven and on Earth. Not only [without] so, but without change or variation. Ever deep, and measureless, and absorbing, there was never a moment of wavering in it. True Xt. Jesus on the Cross did complain that he was forsaken of His God. But that was when He was the voluntary representative of sinners under His broken Law, and the observation of His countenance was not from His Son, as such, but from Man who had incurred His displeasure and who must suffer in his own person or by another. So also this love will be without end. All Eternity will only deep and intensify it. When we conceive then of His Love of the Father to His Son as with our beginning, without measure, without change and without end, and notwithstanding all this that God gave Him up to die for Man, the unspeakable nature of the gift is sufficiently manifest from the cost. It was indeed a ransom paid for our redemption the value of which is unspeakable. II. The gift will appear unspeakable if we dwell upon the woes from which it delivers us. These are all included under the threefold designation, Death temporal, spiritual, and eternal. This gift of Xr to man redeems him from the sting of death temporal which is Sin, and it redeems him from the strength of Sin which is the Law. We do not need to go into a separate discussion of these three forms of death, for they will all be found neutralized by the redemption of Xr. which is experienced by the believer when he meets death. To show how Sin is the Sting of death, we suggest the general truth that whatever reluctance we feel to die no matter whence it arises, is closely connected with Sin. [Let us look] This reluctance to die is the sting of death; if we were willing to die, glad to die joyful in the prospect of dying, we should not feel any sting. But the reluctance is the sting. And as Paul says that Sin is the sting we conclude that this reluctance is the sin. There are three things that make men unwilling to die that give death its power to sting. 1. The bare idea of ceasing to be, gives an inexpressible sadness to the thought of death. The love of life of being existence is a most intense and passionate principle. Since therefore death clashes with it, since death comes to dash out this being, it is just for that reason terrible. You can see this love of life this shrinking from death illustrated in all animated things around, and you cannot account for, or explain many facts on any other basis. Why does yonder aged beggar beggar struggle on through long years of misery, poverty, contempt, & oppression; amidst [all] the utter destitution of hope and banishment from society, and yet prefer to live thus, & shrink from the approach of death? It is because he must cease to be; it is simply dreadful to the human mind to cease to exist; life under any circumstances is eagerly clung to, rather than to lie down & die. Now Xr. gives us deliverance from this sort of sting, by revealing to us that it is not a cessation of being to die, but on the other hand that it is the beginning of a new & endless Life that it is the gate to endless joy; that while to live is Xr. to die is gain. But again, 2. Another consideration which adds [to] [the] a sting [of] to death, is the disruption of tender ties & earthly affections which takes place at death. The young feel this when death comes, reckless as they may be of life when bouyant [buoyant] with hope and vigor. But it is a feeling which does not weaken in its power as we grow older; it deepens, and becomes more intense in its influence. For when one has lived a long life surrounded by happy earthly endearments, and when life has been greatly absorbed in the pleasures of this world; oh, it is hard for such to loosen their hold upon life; deaths sting is sharp and bitter. In the destruction of Lots wife we see this exemplified. It was not Lot the child of God it was not his young daughters, but it was the aged wife who lingeringly clung to the memory of her long life passed amid the sinful pleasures of Sodom, and looking back, perished. The thought of breaking off Earths ties sharpens the sting of death. (Hobson) Now Xr.s redemption delivers us from this sting by telling us of the brighter joys, the purer pleasures, the higher holier circles of companionship which form the bliss of Heaven. 3. But the sting of death is intensified by the fact of its utter loneliness. We suppose we have some conception of what loneliness means. An emigrant leaving his native [shore] land alone to seek a home on some distant foreign shore, when he finds himself losing sight of the last familiar headland & standing a stranger on the deck of the ship that bears him away feels desolate and lonely; but he will soon be relieved by new society and new scenes, which banish his loneliness. But no one has returned from the grave to describe the loneliness of death! This thing of dying must be done alone! We may be surrounded by friends but there is a point at which we must part with them to go down into the valley alone, to pass thro the cold waters of the Jordan of death alone! These are the prominent points in the sting of Death; and the only reason why they do give to death a sting is simply because they are the result of Sin, The sting of death is Sin. For the reason why earthly being life here, is so delightful to us is because Sin hides from us the brighter glories of Heavenly life; the only reason why we cling to earthly joys, is because Sin blinds us to the view of Heavenly bliss; and the only reason why we tremble to die alone, is because Sin deprives us of the blessed consolation, that a Xtian does not die alone that Jesus is with him as his feet touch the cold waters of death, & his rod & staff sustain his footsteps as he traverses the valley! Now these evils & woes only sting the man who being spiritually dead, is called on to meet temporal death, and then is certain to suffer eternal death. From all these we are delivered by the unspeakable gift. By it by faith in Xr. Jesus, the unspeakable gift, we are delivered from all doubt. Without this we should sink into despair amid the dark doubts which throng around the dying bed. But when the fact of Xrs resurrection is revealed to us in the grand words; I am the Resurrection & the Life tc. then doubt is scattered, and all is clear. By this unspeakable gift, we are delivered from all fear! Danger of mistake here. Not necessarily Rapture. Some have it. Martyrs. This depends upon temperament, to a great extent. Many descriptions are imaginary. Rapture is a rare thing except in books. A Xtian conqueror dies calmly His courage modest, & unconscious of itself. Xts people are constantly dying in triumph, but because no noisy demonstration is made or witnessed, the world takes no note of such deaths. And yet, after all the victory thus achieved thro the unspeakable gift over doubt & fear, which are indeed great deliverances, it must be conceded that Death gains, for a time at least, the victory over the body Death is not conquered. He is the conqueror. Still the victory comes at last, and it is infinite consolation to the soldier of the cross, that his victory is only delayed, & is by no means doubtful. A day is coming which shall abundantly compensate the Xtian for all the pains & groans & dying strife, the darkness, the worm, the coffin the loneliness of the grave, and when the countless multitudes of the Lords saints shall rise to meet him in the clouds, then shall the redeemed of the Lord return and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads & sorrow & sighing shall flee away! When we consider that all this is the result of the unspeakable gift of Jesus Xr. to die for us the ruined sons & daughters of Adam we may well join the Apostle in his words Thanks be to God! III. The gift is unspeakably great, and demands our liveliest gratitude when we consider the vast benefits it confers upon us. These are threefold: (1) The blessings it confers in this life. (2) The happy results of [death] it in death. (3) The glories to which we are introduced at the judgment day. (1.) In this life, it secures to us what the spirit of the fallen man needs most of all, assurance of Gods Love; God is angry with the wicked tc. It secures to him peace of Conscience Oh, what a boon! It secures joy in the Holy Ghost. It secures growth in Grace. It secures perseverance in all this unto the end. And then 2. When death has done its work, upon our bodies, the moment that the separation takes place between the soul & body, it secures the immediate passage of the soul into Glory, because it is then made perfect in holiness never before, and the vital union which is established between Xr. & the Christian at the time of his salvation, still unites teh crumbling dust to Xr. and angels shall watch the sleeping dust till Xr. shall bid it rise. And so 3. When the glorious morn shall dawn upon the earth when Xr shall come again the second time without Sin unto salvation, then the long buried dust shall rise in glory re-animate with glorious eternal life, and changed in a moment in the twinkling of an eye shall once more enter into union with the Soul, and openly acknowledged and acquitted in the presence of the assembled millions shall be made [be made] perfectly blessed to the full enjoying of God thro all eternity. Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift! We vindicate the claim of this gift to be esteemed [of] unspeakably precious, from IV. The fact that it opens a fountain of remission for all sins however intense multiplied and aggravated they may be. Were it not for this, we could not have any share in the benefits just enumerated in life, death, judgment. Were it not for this, Death would overwhelm us with doubt & fear and plunge us into woe inconceivable. But such is the precious nature of this unspeakable gift that no aggravations, & multitude & long continuance in sin can be in themselves so enormous as to be beyond its power to deliver us, if we will but accept it as it is offered in the gospel. It saved a bloody Manasseh; a persecuting Saul and millions more, and still is able to save to the uttermost all who come unto God by Xr. You may have blasphemed Gods Holy name, you may have worshipped & loved the creature more than the Creator; you may have been a reckless sabbath-breaker; you may have been a thief; a defrauder an oppressor of the poor, the widow & the orphan; you may have been a vile adulterer, debauchee, a drunkard, a murderer; a liar; a covetous miser, all this & a thousand times more you may have been; and these sins too may have been aggravated by resisting all the calls & invitations of Gods mercy counted the blood of Xr. as worthless; despised the Spirit; scorned the message of the pulpit; angrily insulted your best friend who rebuked you, (perhaps a pious wife); you may have broken your mothers heart, by your wickedness; and brought down your fathers gray hairs with sorrow to the grave; and you may have persisted in your wickedness for 30, 40, 50 years, & thus have hardened yourself in iniquity; & yet if you turn now unto God & humble yourself under His mighty hand, and cast yourself upon His mercy thro J.C. for salvation, such is the virtue of this unspeakable gift, that pardon shall be at once secured, peace & reconciliation with God shall at once be brought about. Though your sins be as scarlet they shall be as wool, & tho they be red like crimson they shall be white as snow. Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift! Then we make still more manifest how precious it is, by a consideration of V. the freeness of the blessings it bestows. It is a gift it is offered without money and without price; it cannot be bought; not all the blood of beasts on Jewish altars slain, could give the guilty conscience peace, or wash away the stain! Your death, and the death of millions such as you can never purchase it. All your works, are worthless all your tears unavailing, all your prayers would fail; it is too precious to be bought; and hence God says to you; Ho, every one that thirsteth come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy and eat; yea, come buy wine and milk without money and without price! You cannot insult God more deeply than by coming and attempting to buy His favor; All the morality that is possible for human beings to attain in this world amounts to nothing in the sight of God; worse than nothing and vanity; a stench and an abomination before Him when offered to purchase your salvation. The violation of an infinitely Holy Law of an infinitely Pure & Holy God cannot be atoned for by the feeble & defective obedience or even the death of a finite mortal; and I warn you again that if you attempt to do it, you insult God and incur His hot displeasure, and His wrath and curse. Instead of requiring this at your hands which you can never do God gives it to you. It is His free gift! And if the pride of your wicked heart revolts at the thought of receiving the great boon of eternal life as a gift; if you feel that it is degrading to your dignity to become indebted to God for your salvation, instead of to your own good works, it is only an account of the blindness of your minds that you do not see yourself as a lost helpless ruined sinner; that you do not see that in you that is, in your flesh dwelleth no good thing; that you fail to discover that your sins are crying to Heaven loudly for the dreadful vengeance of a Holy God and if you continue in your blindness and obstinancy, and perverseness and pride of heart, you must perish in your sins! O Sinner, sinner, come and take the gift so freely offered and realize Pauls meaning in the words, Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable gift! I shall present only one more consideration to show the unspeakably precious nature of this gift and that is VI It is an everlasting gift. The gifts and calling of God are without repentance. God is not a man that He should change. The word calling here is equivalent to election. Now election is the purpose of God from all eternity to choose certain persons to everlasting Life, and the means whereby this purpose is carried into effect are just as certainly, and eternally purposed as the end itself. These means are all included in the unspeakable gift. Were we always conscious to ourselves of this fact viz: that God is immutable in all His nature, and that His purpose, His mind; is a part of Himself; it would tend firmly to fix the belief in our minds that the much abused doctrine of the Saints final perseverance is true beyond the possibility of a doubt. It would serve to remove much of the prejudice & odium which have been heaped upon it by those who identify it with Fatalism, were it understood that the end viz: salvation, is not more certain than the means, and that we hold no such doctrine as that the end can ever take place without the means. The whole plan of salvation through the unspeakable gift was devised from all eternity and the subjects of this salvation were identified, selected and chosen of God, and the gift of Jesus Christ was designed to be applied to them specifically for the purpose of [see??ing] their individual salvation, & without this gift they could never have been saved. Confirmatory of the statement that the gift is irrevocable that it is never to be recalled; or taken from those to whom it has once been given, we offer some considerations based upon the character of God & the nature of the gift. 1. It is inconsistent with the infinite dignity of the character of Jehovah that He should recall His gift. Let it be supposed that He has adopted a plant including this gift as the Central idea, that by His Omniscience He has fully grasped the plan in all its details; that He foresaw that the subjects would be in themselves utterly unworthy; that He foresaw that they would not only be impotent to devise a plan, but [would] even after conversion would often offend His Holiness by the manifestations of the [still] unpurged remains of their native depravity abiding within; let it be supposed I say, that God, Knowing the end from the beginning & all the possible, & conceivable accompanying circumstances of each particular case, should nevertheless determine in His Wisdom to grant this gift to the Human race, and in the fulness of time, should actually make by His Holy Spirit a personal application of the benefits of this gift to the persons chosen, in such a case as this; I cannot but feel that it is degrading to indulge the thought that any recall of Gods gift will ever be made. God chose no man for any foresight of good works; God is no respecter of persons; but He chose you for His own free sovereign good pleasure, and for His own glory, in order that He might magnify the riches of His grace in your salvation. He did this knowing all about you all that you would ever do, and be; He will never change He will never suffer His purpose according to the election of grace, to fail just because of the efforts of Satan to thwart this purpose. I contend that if it were conceivable that He should recall this gift, whereby alone the purpose can be accomplished, He would be acting in a manner wholly inconsistent with the glorious & exalted dignity of His Divine character, and would be characterized by such fickleness, & mutability as among men [there is always] would be branded with the name of childishness and folly. It is perilous for one to speak in this manner of the ineffably glorious and adorable God, since it borders upon blasphemy. So then we repeat: Thanks be to God for the unspeakable gift because it is an everlasting possession. 2. It is never to be recalled because the nature of the gift itself is eternal. It is an eternal Life; it is rescue from eternal death. The Savior is the Eternal Son of God. The gift is through the Eternal Spirit. The results are eternal glory to God. The home to which it admits the Sinner is to the presence of God through Eternity. So that there seems to be a most unaccountable inadequacy of [Eternal] means eternal in their nature tending to producing eternal results, & yet failing to save, liable to be withdrawn at any time & not only an inadequacy but an inconsistency that means so grand & eternal should be only temporary and transient in their effects. I present one additional argument & close the case. It is drawn from the testimony of Scripture: He that hath begun tc. [*Phil.*] I give unto [*John*] them eternal life & they shall never perish, neither shall any man tc. My Father wh. gave them me is greater than all & no man is able tc. Yea, I [*Jer.*] have loved thee with an everlasting love, tc. [*Rom*] Who shall separate us from the love of God? Trib; dist., persec., fam., naked, peril Sword? I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor an, prince, nor powers, nor things pres! to come Height, depth tc. 1. Let the consideration of this subject stir up the minds of Gods chn to a higher appreciation of, and a deeper gratitude for the unspeakable gift. 2. Let Gods Love in giving us His Son to die for us, attract the attention of the impenitent rebel, and lead to the consideration of the amazing depth of his own iniquity and the peril of his own case, seeing that to pardon [Xrs blood was needed,] and to save him from Hell Xrs precious blood was needed. And if he refuse to come to Xr. & accept His salvation, let him hear the curse pronounced, & tremble; If any man love not the Lord Jesus Xr., let him be Anathema, Maranatha!

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