THE GIVING GOD
Roland Brown
Romans 5: 12-21; John 3: 16, 17; John 4: 9, 10
The passages that I have read speak of God as a giving God. I wonder if you have ever thought of God like that, as a giver. In a past dispensation, in the Old Testament, people might have thought of God as a demander. He gave a law that required certain things from man: This do and thou shalt live. And you might have thought of God as one who was demanding from you what you could not give. But God presents Himself to us in the gospel as a giver, not as a demander.
This passage in Romans uses three expressions "the act of favour'', "the free gift in grace", and "the gift". The Spirit of God uses three expressions there to convey to us the character of God's giving. God is a great provider. The psalmist said of Him, "Thou openest thy hand, and satisfiest the desire of every living thing" (Ps 145:16). Think of God like that! He spoke to Job about the animal creation and their need for food and how He provided it. I think that is a very affecting thing, to think of God providing even for the animal creation, but He provides for man too, materially. He "makes his sun rise on evil and good, and sends rain on just and unjust," Matt 5: 45. Nothing more adequately expresses God's disposition to bless than that "he makes his sun rise on evil and good". There is no respect of persons with Him.
And it sets out "the kindness and love to man", as the scripture speaks of it, "of our Saviour God", Titus 3: 4. That word, "love to man", has the meaning of philanthropy. Very rich people sometimes set up a trust or a fund with their wealth to help persons who are left without, persons who are needy. They are honoured as great philanthropists, persons that have been benefactors. They have given of their wealth to persons that were needy. There are many such persons you may be able to think of whose names have been connected with well-doing and good works like that, philanthropists. But the greatest philanthropist of all is God Himself. His "kindness and love to man" has come into expression. And it has come into expression not simply in the meeting of man's material needs - that is all that a philanthropist can do with his wealth: he can meet your material needs. Lord Shaftesbury took children from working in the coal mines and provided for them to be educated so that they could do something other than work long hours under the ground or be sent up the chimneys to sweep. He was concerned to provide for them materially, to better their conditions. There have been many persons that have set up orphanages and the like to provide for people who have nothing materially. Now, God has provided for men and women and children materially. In the world today there are people with not enough to eat, but that is not because God has not provided for them. As a faithful Creator, He has provided sufficient in the earth for everyone to have enough to eat. The fact that there is a great shortage for some and a great surplus and excess for others is because of man's maladministration of what God has given. God is a faithful Creator. He not only gives life, but He has provided the means for its support and maintenance. What a God He is! He has provided for all man's material needs in the earth.
But God has done more than provide for man materially, He has taken account of the state of our souls. He has taken account of what we are. It is a great thing in the gospel preaching to be reminded of what we are. We live in a world where man is exalted, where he exalts himself and where God is left out. That is the world in which we live, a world that takes the blessings of God and does not thank Him for them. I expect all of us in this room thank Him for the food that we eat, but I expect we know of persons who do not, persons who eat their food but never thank the God who gave it to them. That is the character of the world in which we live; people take what God provides and He Himself is left out and man is exalted in his own eyes.
But, in the gospel preaching, we are reminded of what man is as a sinner, and God has taken account of that, that we are sinful creatures by nature. We were "constituted sinners" - this passage tells us, by the disobedience of the first man. It is good to be reminded of that, not to depress us with it but because, in being reminded of it, we can be reminded of what God has done to provide for that. This passage tells us about sin, how it entered into the world - it already existed in the universe. It had its origins in the devil himself. He was a very exalted being. He was a covering cherub, one of God's cherubim and an exalted one, and he lifted up his heart in pride. He aspired to the place of God and he was cast out (Ezek 28: 12-17). That was the first origins of sin as far as the scriptures reveal them to us. And that talented and gifted creature has used his talents and his gifts as a great master of deceit and guile to lead men and women, boys and girls, into what is hateful to the giving God. He has led men and women and children into doing things that are displeasing to Him. He began with Eve, and he deceived her, by his craft. We read about that in the book of Genesis, how he started off by casting doubt on what God had said and suggesting that He did not really mean what He said, He meant something else, and that it did not really matter too much if God was disobeyed. You hear these things still today; it is not too bad; it does not really matter. It is a good thing to know where that message comes from. It comes from that source, the great source of evil that deceived Eve by craft. She took that forbidden fruit, that awful fruit, the knowledge of good and evil. She bit into it. She wanted a taste and she produced a sinful progeny of persons who have wanted a taste of what is evil. Have your ever found that taste within you, a taste for what is sinful, what is evil? It is a taste that is abundantly provided for in the world. As you go down the streets, you cannot help noticing all the placards that are up advertising films and books with a taste for what is evil in them. She bit into that fruit, the knowledge of good and evil. God had forbidden it, not because He was an arbitrary God, but because He knew the sorrow and the misery that it must bring, but He was not listened to. God was not listened to. What was listened to were the lies of the deceiver, and we know what terrible consequences flowed from that simple fact that instead of listening to God, the first couple to live upon the earth listened to the deceiver.
Now that is the same question tonight. As the gospel is preached, the question is, who will you listen to? Will you listen to God as He speaks in the preaching? Will He have your ear? Will you give your ear to Him or do you want to listen to the dulcet and subtle tones of the tempter? Sin entered into the world through that one act of disobedience and in its train it brought death. Death came into the world. It had never been seen before. It was a sinless world in which Adam and Eve were but as soon as sin came in, death followed. It was not long in the book of Genesis before the first murder was committed. As soon as man disobeyed God, one of the consequences was that he hated his brother. The two things are not unrelated. He hated him so much that he murdered him. That was a shocking thing. Was it? Was it a shocking thing? In the world today, people are murdered day after day, dozens of them, and it is very easy to live in a world where human life is treated so casually and be unaffected by it. But God was not unaffected by it. It was a shocking thing. He said to Cain, "The voice of thy brother's blood is crying to me from the ground", Gen 4: 10. Think of the cry that goes up to God today because of the blood that is wantonly spilled on the earth, lives that are wantonly destroyed, lives that God has given. God is not unaffected by that. He takes account of the groaning creation. He takes account of the state of His creature, not only his material needs, but He looks down from heaven tonight and takes account of you and me in His goodness and in His grace. He knows our circumstances. He knows what school we go to, what job we do, what address we live at. He knows all about our material circumstances, but He knows about the state of our souls too, and God has provided in His goodness for that. What a giver God is! It would be a wonderful impression to take away from the preaching, if everything else is forgotten, that impression of God as a giver. He does not give in order that you might be occupied simply with the gifts themselves but what He gives. He gives in order that you might be brought to know Him, not simply enjoy His bounty, but come to know the Giver Himself because that is why God gives. He greatly desires to enter into a relationship with each one of us, an intimate relationship. Is that not a wonderful thing? To me it is a one of the most wonderful things that God, being who He is, should desire to be known by you and me and not only known, but to be loved and to have a relationship, an eternal relationship, with His creature. He has set His heart upon it. He is going to tabernacle or dwell eternally with men, men who know Him and love Him and who are known and loved by Him, and He wants you and me to be among them. He could never dwell with sinful men. He could never dwell with people who would rather listen to the tempter than to Himself. God could never dwell with that kind of companionship, but He has made provision in His love, and at great cost to Himself that you and I might dwell with Him eternally.
And so the writer here contrasts what has happened with what God has done. There was that act of disobedience and as he says, "by the disobedience of the one man the many have been constituted sinners". I want to draw attention to that word "constituted". "... Sin entered into the world and by sin death; and thus death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned", and the reason that all have sinned is because all have been "constituted sinners". The psalmist says in Psalm 51, "Behold, in iniquity was I brought forth, and in sin did my mother conceive me", (v 5). That is not the first thing we think of when we see a newborn baby, is it? Everybody likes a newborn baby. We have had one in our family and she has been greatly admired. Everyone says how pretty she is and so on. When you look at a newborn baby, that Psalm is not the first thing you think about. But that is what the word of God tells us: "in iniquity was I brought forth, and in sin did my mother conceive me". What a terrible legacy that is, to look at that little baby and to think of it as being born in sin! We are thankful that a little child is covered by the blood of Jesus. I have no doubt that the mighty work that the Saviour accomplished on the cross covers every little child that is too young to understand anything. Such are covered by the blood of Jesus. But if such a child grows up to a responsible age, as I suppose most, if not all, here are, it will need to be converted. It will need to come to know and love the Lord Jesus for itself as each one of us need to. It will not be sufficient that it was born into a believing household. It will not be sufficient that it was brought to the meetings regularly or even that it was baptised. It will need to be saved as each one of us needs to be saved and "neither is there another name under heaven which is given among men by which we must be saved", Acts 4: 12.
The way of salvation is very simple. There is nobody here tonight who is too young to understand it, the way of salvation. The way of salvation is repentance towards God, turning to Him in repentance and in the acknowledgement of what I am and of what I have done. In His grace, in the glad tidings, God reminds us of what we are and even as the preacher is speaking, He might remind you of what you have done too. You do not have to give an account of it to others, but you will have to give an account of it to God. Each one of us must render an account of Him and He invites us to render an account to Him now while it is the day of salvation. He invites us to have to do with Him. "Come now", He says, "let us reason together'', Isa 1:18. You think of God inviting you and me as sinners to have to do with Him in grace, to "reason together, saith Jehovah". He invites us to have to do with Him in repentance, repentance towards God, but then not only being convicted of what I am and of what I have done, but faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. Salvation is in no other, and I am concerned as having the responsibility of preaching the gospel here tonight that each one of us should know where we stand in relation to the giving God. He has given His Son. He has given so much in the giving of His Son. It is spoken of here as an "act of favour”, sovereign favour. There was nothing to call it forth, the giving that God gave. You see, I might give something because 1t 1s called forth from me. Speaking of a little baby, i might think it looks sweet and I would like to buy it a little coat or a dress. It is called forth from me. But what God has given was an "act of favour''. It was all from Himself. There was nothing in me to call it forth. It was an "act of favour".
Then it is spoken of in this remarkable chapter as a "free gift". The expression is sometimes used in the world that 'there are no strings attached'. How often people speak about 'looking at the small print' in human dealings, that there is something subtle, some hidden commitment, wrapped up in it that you only discover when it is too late. But with God it is a "free gift". And then it is spoken of as "the gift". Not only is it free, but it is given. God has given. That is a wonderful thing. I think the Spirit of God in those three expressions is trying to convey to us, with our limited understanding, something of the immensity of what God has done in His gift.
And so John tells us the motive for it in his gospel: "For God so loved the world, that he gave ... ". There was nothing in the world to call it forth. It was an "act of favour''. It was a "free gift". It was a gift that was given without recall, but the motive for it was in the heart of God Himself: He "so loved". What an expression that is! The apostle says elsewhere, because of his great love wherewith he loved us" Eph 2: 4. I would like to convey something of the greatness of the love of God, which is the motive for all that He has done. He "so loved". Nothing could more adequately express the depths and feelings of His heart than that he should give His only begotten Son. I never read that verse without thinking of the story in the Old Testament of Abraham and Isaac going up the mountain. God said to him, "take now thy son, thine only son, whom thou lovest ...", Gen 22: 2. God knew what He was asking, none better, because He was going to give that Himself, His only begotten Son. We know that Abraham went up the mountain and that he was prepared to give his son. He built an altar and he piled the wood upon is and he bound his precious boy to that altar. He was an old man and he had that son, that precious lad, in his old age, and he bound him to the altar and he stretched out his hand and took the knife to slaughter his son. What a solemn moment that was! The Spirit of God tells us that he "stretched out his hand, and took the knife ...", Gen 22: 10 . Now we know from other scriptures that he was prepared to go through with it because in his soul he had the faith of resurrection and he knew that all the promises of God were connected with that boy, and that if he was called upon by God to put him to death, he believed that God was able to bring him back from the dead again. Is that not a remarkable thing? There are many people today, even in these so-called enlightened days, who do not have the faith of resurrection in their soul. And there was a man long ago in what you and I would probably regard as a primitive age, but he had the light of God in his soul of another world, the resurrection world.
Well, God so loved that He gave. What would He give? He gave what was precious to Himself, His only-begotten Son. Sometimes people think that they ought to give a gift and they look round for something that they do not really want anyway. They say, Well I will give that, but I will not really miss it. But, you know, that is not the way God has given. He has given what was very precious to Himself, His only-begotten Son, and He has given Him with a purpose. It is one of the great examples in the Bible of one thing done with another thing in mind. That none of us in this room should perish He has given His only-begotten Son in order that through faith in Him we might come into the joy of eternal life.
I only close with that last reference in chapter 4. He says to this woman, "If thou knewest the gift of God ... ". He was Himself the gift of God, the One that God had given, and He said, if you had known that, you would have asked. You would have asked, "and he would have given thee living water". I wonder if each of us here has received the Saviour in faith into our souls, the great and free gift that God gives without recall. But there is another great gift in the preaching and it is the gift of the Holy Spirit and that is a gift that God gives to those that ask Him, those that desire it. It is not a gift that is given, I might say, indiscriminately. It is a very precious gift and it is given to those that obey Him, and it is given to those that ask Him. It is important that all of us should receive that gift, and God is concerned about it. It is a great concern with God that you might not only be saved from your sins and from the judgement to come, but He desires to give you of His Spirit. The Spirit of God desires to take up His abode in you and He will bring the joy and the blessedness of things that are heavenly and eternal into your heart. It is spoken of by the Lord Jesus here as living water. It is quite different from the water that she was going to draw. He said, "Every one who drinks of this water shall thirst again". How well she knew it! She went to that well, I suppose, every day for the daily supply of water, but He is speaking of water so thirstquenching that he that drinks of it would never thirst forever. How wonderful that is! Do you know anybody like that? Through grace I do. I know persons who have found satisfaction such that they want nothing else. They have found it in Christ, and He has been made good to them in their hearts through the gift of the Holy Spirit. They do not seek for anything else. They do not need all these things that the poor worldling needs, all the things on offer, the knowledge of good and evil, all the taste for what is wicked, the interest, the curiosity that man has by nature in what is evil and wicked. You open a newspaper and it is full of it. It is full of murders and rapes and violence in the world. And why is it full of that? Because it is catering for a taste and an unsatisfied desire in man and in his lust. But, it is a wonderful thing to have contact with persons whose every need has been met, who will never thirst for ever. The gift of the Holy Spirit not only satisfies your heart, but it brings you into contact with others because through having the Holy Spirit you become part of the assembly, part of God's house here on the earth. It is composed of believers who have the Spirit of God and it is a wonderful thing to have part in Christian fellowship with persons who have drunk of this living water and have found that it has met every need of their souls.
Well, I think I have spoken of these things long enough but not adequately enough. I would greatly desire to be able to speak of them better, the greatness of God as a giver, the immensity of what He has given without any recall, fully and freely from His own side, and giving it in order to make Himself known, to endear Himself to our hearts. He has given it not only that we might not perish, but in order that we might be satisfied both now and eternally. May we each one of us be exercised to come into the blessedness of these things for ourselves for His Name's sake!
St. Albans
7 March 1999