Gifts That Truly Last

Dannah Gresh: If you’ve come to faith in Jesus Christ, you’ve received a gift that’s infinitely greater than anything that could be wrapped in a package. Here’s Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth.

Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth: You see, when I was born physically, when you were born physically, we were born separated from God because we were sinners and He is holy. We were alienated from Christ. But now through Christ and His taking our place on the cross, we have been brought into a state of right relationship with God. 

Dannah: This is the Revive Our Hearts podcast with Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth, author of Choosing Gratitude, for May 15, 2023. I’m Dannah Gresh.

Yesterday, the host of Revive Our Hearts celebrated a big milestone. Sixty years ago, she came to faith in Christ. She calls the moment her “spiritual birthday.” To mark this occasion, we’re going back to a series Nancy first recorded in 2001 about spiritual birthday gifts. If you’re a child of God, you have received these gifts as well.

So today, if you’re tempted to think about what you lack or what you need, we want you to remember that you have received an amazing abundance of riches in Christ. Nancy’s going to remind you of that as she explores some of the over-the-top generous gifts God has provided through His Son.

Nancy: Let me ask you to turn to the book of Romans, if you have a Bible with you. Romans chapter 5. The first several of these gifts come from this passage. We are not going to take the time to expand on these gifts, but just to name them off and thank the Lord for what these gifts mean to His children. These are spiritual birthday gifts that come from God to His children. Romans chapter 5. Let me just read through the text and pick up on what some of these gifts are, beginning in verse 1.

The apostle Paul says, “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith . . .” That’s the first gift that we want to unwrap—we've been justified by faith. That's a theological term that I certainly didn't understand when I trust Christ as a little girl. But I've come to learn a little bit of what it means. It means to have right standing with God, for God to declare me righteous. It’s a legal term that means I’ve been pardoned from the guilt and the penalty of my sin. My sin has been credited to Christ’s account and now He has credited His righteousness to my account. So I have been justified by faith.

“Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have [and here’s the second birthday gift] peace with God.” Peace with God. Now why is that so significant? Because the Scripture tells us when we were born into this world, we were born as God’s enemies. We were at war with Him and He was at war with us because of our sin and our rebellion against Him.

One of the first and greatest results of having been justified by faith is that the war with God is over. The white flag of surrender has been waved and there is peace with God. We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Paul says then in verse 2, “Through whom [Christ] we have gained access by faith.” He is speaking here of being given access to the Father, access to the holy of holies where God lives. In the Old Testament it was unthinkable that a believing Jew could just walk into the holiest place and talk to God. He had to go through a priest. He had to go through sacrifices.

But now through the sacrifice that Christ has made for us on the cross, we have access—direct, immediate access—to a holy God, to the Father. We can walk right into His presence. That’s one of the birthday presents I’m thanking the Lord for.

Paul says in verse 2 that we have gained access “by faith into this grace in which we now stand.” We stand in grace. That’s another birthday present I’m thanking the Lord for. That speaks to me of having a position with God that is secure and is permanent. By God’s grace we stand secure.

God gives to us His saving grace, His sanctifying grace, His sustaining grace, and even suffering grace. All that we need to live the Christian life, not based on our performance, but based on His. So we stand in grace.

Then Paul says, “We rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.” Hope is another one of God’s spiritual birthday presents to us. Now this is not a word that means being uncertain, like I hope that it won’t rain tomorrow.

When the Scripture uses the word hope, it speaks of something that’s absolutely certain but we haven’t realized it or experienced it yet. What is our hope, our certainty? It’s that our ultimate destiny is to share in the glory of God—that we will see and experience the glory of His presence. That’s a great birthday present.

The next one doesn’t sound like something you would necessarily ask for for a birthday present, but it really is also a great gift. Verses 3–5, Romans 5: “Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance [or endurance]; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us.”

Paul says there are times in the Christian life when God gives us the gift of suffering, tribulation. It’s the picture of being put into a juicer, of being squeezed. Pressure being brought to bear so that the juice comes out. What is the juice that comes out under pressure when we experience pressure and tribulation and suffering? It’s a sweet juice, the fruit of perseverance, endurance, character and hope. So one of the thirty-nine birthday gifts I’m thanking the Lord for is suffering. Some persecutions and tribulations that I have experienced over these years, realizing that they are a gift from God.

Paul says hope does not disappoint us, verse 5, “because God has poured out His love into our hearts.” The love of God. That’s another birthday gift, a spiritual birthday gift. I see this love going two directions. Paul says God has lavished His love on us. It overflows in us. There’s an abundance of the love of God.

Then what happens? His love for us results in our love for Him, creates in us a response of lavish, overflowing love for Him. When I think about the love of God for me, what He has done in my life, what He rescued me from, how He loved me when according to this passage I was ungodly, verse 6. I was a sinner, verse 8. And I was His enemy, verse 10. That’s incredible love.

Love of God for sinners, for the ungodly, and for His enemies. I say, “O Lord, I love You, not in the way that You love me and not as I wish I could love You and not as I one day will love You, but I do love You.”

Then Paul says—here’s another birthday gift—verse 5, “God has poured out His love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom He has given us.” Now the Holy Spirit is like—I don’t mean to be disrespectful by this—but He’s like a whole bunch of gifts wrapped up in one. You've seen those boxes with a box inside and there's another box inside that one, and another box inside that one? That's what the Holy Spirit is like, because in the gift of the Holy Spirit that God has given us, there are so many gifts wrapped up in the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit lives in us. The Scripture says that God has given us the Spirit as a deposit guaranteeing what is to come. You know what that means? He’s kind of like the engagement ring. He’s the down payment, the guarantee that all that God has promised to us in the future, we will experience.

With the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives comes the gift of conviction of sin, comes the gift of God’s comfort. With the Holy Spirit is the gift of God’s counsel. I have a resident Counselor living inside of me. What a gift!

The Holy Spirit makes Christ known to us. The Holy Spirit teaches us the truth about Christ. The Holy Spirit takes this Book, the Word of God, and illuminates it to our understanding. I could never understand this Book without the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Paul goes on to say in verse 6 of Romans 5, “You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless . . .” That word means when we were helpless. We could not have saved ourselves. We had no interest in seeking after God—whether you were 4 or 44. When you came to faith in Christ, you were helpless. I was helpless.

“Just at the right time, when we were still powerless [helpless], Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (vv. 6-8). He died in our place.

Now Paul goes on to say in verse 9, “Since we have now been justified [declared righteous] by his blood [the blood of Christ], how much more . . .”—even more amazing, even more wonderful, he’s saying, is the fact that we will be “saved from God’s wrath through him [Christ]!”

That’s the next birthday gift I want to unpack. In Christ we have been saved from the wrath of God. Apart from Christ you and I would have to endure eternally the wrath and the judgment of God, the righteous wrath of God against our sin. The Scripture says that Christ, when He went to the cross, bore on Himself the full fury of God’s wrath against me and against my sin. So one of the birthday gifts that I’m thanking God for today is that I have been saved from the wrath of God by Christ.

Verses 10–11 tell us another special gift that God gives us. “For if, when we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! Not only is this so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.” That’s the next birthday gift. It’s a spiritual birthday gift. We have been reconciled to God. 

You see, when I was born physically, when you were born physically, we were born separated from God because we were sinners and He is holy. But now through Christ and His taking our place on the cross, we have been brought into a state of right relationship with God. We’ve been reconciled, brought together, formerly enemies. Now we’ve been brought together. What a gift that is.

Now the next several gifts I’d like for us to unwrap are found in Ephesians chapter 1. You may want to turn there. Ephesians 1, beginning in verse 1. There’s a whole list of them in this passage. I’m just going to pick out several of them. I’ll begin reading in verse 1. “Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, to the saints in Ephesus . . ."

By the way, this isn't one of the thirty-nine, but it probably could be. That is, we who were in Christ are sinners and enemies of God have been made saints. Saints aren't dead people who we pray to. Saints are who we are, who we have been made in Christ—holy ones, set apart for God's use.

Paul says he is writing to the saints, believers in Ephesus, the faithful in Christ Jesus: "Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ” (vv. 1–2). We talk about the grace of God and the ability to have peace with God are two gifts giving to use in Christ.

Now he goes on to say in Ephesians 1, verses 3–4: “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For He chose us in him before the creation of the world.”

This thing of my salvation, I know when I entered into it. But it didn’t start when I was 4four years old. It started in eternity past when God devised a plan to draw my heart to Himself, to save me, to give me eternal life.

“He chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ” (vv. 4–5). That’s the next gift I want to open and that’s that we’ve been adopted into God's family. Now God is my Father and I am His child.

I have a whole new nature. I’ve been given the nature of Christ, the nature of God now lives in me and I can bear His likeness because there’s a family likeness. There’s a family resemblance for those who have been adopted into God’s family. I’m accepted into His family.

We move on to verse 7 in Ephesians 1 and find another gift that God has given us. It says, “In him we have redemption through his blood.” Redemption through His blood. Now the word "redemption" is a word picture that comes from the ancient slave markets. It speaks of someone paying the necessary ransom, the price required to purchase a prisoner or a slave out of his bondage.

That’s exactly what God has done for us. He found me as a prisoner, a slave to sin, to Satan, and to myself. God said, “The price has been paid. You can be redeemed.”

Now what was the price? He redeemed us through His blood. The blood of Christ was the price He had to pay to redeem me.

I think of that old song:

Redeemed how I love to proclaim it
Redeemed by the blood of the Lamb.
Redeemed through His infinite mercy
His child and forever I am.
"Redeemed, How I Love to Proclaim It." Fanny Crosby.

Paul says, “In him we have redemption through His blood [here’s another gift], the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us” (vv. 7–8). Forgiveness of sins. 

I've been talking to a woman whose been in the process of brokenness and repentance, confessing some major sins in her life to the Lord. I wanted to see how she was doing. As I talked to her on the phone that morning, she said, "Listen to what God said to me in His Word this morning." She began to read from Psalm 32, the first several verses. She broke down and started to cry, she could hardly read the passage. "Blessed is he whose transgressions are forgiven, who sins are covered."

You say, “What kind of sins did you have at age four that you needed all of His great forgiveness?” Well, the Scripture says I was God’s enemy, that in my heart was the capability to do any sin. The worst sin that has ever been committed is no greater than what was in my heart to do apart from Christ.

So to know that I’ve been forgiven of all those sins is an incredible gift—not just my past ones, not just the ones before I was four years old, but all the ones that I ever would commit. I love that old hymn:

My sin, O the bliss of this glorious thought.
My sin, not in part but the whole
Is nailed to the cross and I bear it no more,
Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord! O my soul.
"It is Well With My Soul." Horatio Spafford.

By the way, that is a gift God continues to give me on a daily basis. If we confess our sins, if we agree with God about what He says about our sin, the blood of Jesus Christ God's Son cleanses and goes on cleansing us from all sin.

Oh, how thankful I am that the blood of Jesus Christ is still forgiving all my sins—cleansing, clearing my record, setting me free from the guilt, the shame, the burden of that sin.

There’s one other gift here in Ephesians 1 that I want to just have us unwrap for a moment and it’s stated actually three times in this passage. Let me read these phrases. First in verse 6, “He predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will—to the praise of his glorious grace.”

Then he says down in verse 12, “We, who were the first to hope in Christ [the goal was that we], might be for the praise of his glory.” Then in verse 14, He has redeemed us, made us His “possession—to the praise of His glory.”

You say, “What’s the gift in that?” Here’s what I found in that phrase that’s repeated three times. In Christ I have a purpose for living. I know why I was created. It’s not to be happy, though God has brought incredible happiness and blessing into my life over these years.

But I have a purpose in life and that is to live for the praise of His glory. It’s not about me. It’s all about Him. That’s my reason for living. I have a purpose for living and what a great gift that is. A spiritual birthday gift that I received in Christ.

Dannah: That’s the host of Revive Our Hearts, Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth, in a classic message she first recorded in 2001.

The Word of God never changes. That's just as true today as when Nancy delivered that message.

If you’ve come to faith in Christ, you’ve received so many amazing gifts.

Let me list them again:

• Justification by faith
• Peace with God
• Access to the Father
• You can stand in grace
• Hope
• The gift of suffering
• Love of God
• The Holy Spirit
• You’ve been saved from the wrath of God
• You’ve been reconciled to God
• Adoption
• Redemption
• Forgiveness 
• Purpose

Believe it or not, you’ve also received more gifts than that! Tomorrow, Nancy will share more about those gifts.

We’re listening to the series this week to help mark Nancy’s spiritual birthday—the day she came to faith in Christ. And whether or not you remember the exact date of your adoption into God’s family, I hope you’ll be in wonder of the gifts God has given you.

Nancy, happy sixtieth spiritual birthday!

Nancy: Aww, thank you, Dannah! Yes, it was May 14, 1963, when the Lord awakened me to my sin and my need for a Savior. That day was when I first believed that Jesus, the Son of God, had died in my place, paying for my sins. Now, I was just a little girl at moment. I didn't know a lot of Scripture and theological language. But here's what I've come to know since. It was in that moment, God delivered me from the domain of darkness and transferred me to the kingdom of his beloved Son. What an amazing gift salvation is to me and to each of us who know Christ.

The journey over those sixty years hasn’t always been easy. There have been times challenge, some days of darkness and difficulty. But here is what I know: God is faithful. His steadfast love endures forever. 

I think of that hymn by Fanny Crosby:

All the way my Savior leads me;
What have I to ask beside?
Can I doubt His tender mercy,
Who through life has been my Guide?
Heav’nly peace, divinest comfort,
Here by faith in Him to dwell!
For I know, whate’er befall me,
Jesus doeth all things well!
"All the Way My Savior Leads Me." Fanny Crosby.

Dannah: Well, sixty years of walking with the Lord is something worth celebrating, and all of us are the beneficiaries. We all gain from your journey of faith. If God hadn’t saved you, there would be no Revive Our Hearts.

Nancy: Well, there are so many people all along the way who’ve been a part of shaping my life! So Revive Our Hearts is really all about how God has pulled many of us together. He’s weaving a tapestry. That’s how the Body of Christ works. No humban person can take all the credit. All the glory goes to God, ultimately.

When we started Revive Our Hearts back in 2001, we had no idea how God would use it, or how He would grow this ministry, but He has.  It’s His work. 

I want to say a huge thank you to you if you’ve ever made a donation to help support Revive Our Hearts. You’re a thread in that amazing tapestry. The support of many people over these two decades has made it possible to put out thousands of radio programs and podcasts, pointing people to the Scripture and to Christ. We truly are listener supported. Thank you so much.

Not too long ago, Carol wrote us to say, 

Thank you for your beautiful ministry that reflects the heart and ways of Christ and encourages women to live a life according to God’s Word. Your ministry has been an anchor for me for many years.

And she finished her email with this:

To God be the glory! Thank you for loving Him & honoring Him with your lives.

Sincerely in Christ,

Carol

Thank you, Carol. And again, thank you if you’ve given to Revive Our Hearts. You’re helping encourage listeners like Carol, day after day, month after month, year after year.

This month is crucial in our ministry year. It’s when we work hard to plan for our new year of ministry that will be starting June 1.

Would you help us reach more listeners like Carol? We’re asking God to provide $828,000 here in the month of May. Now, we know He’ll provide exactly what we need, and that may or may not be what we think we need. But He’s in charge. Heaven rules, and we trust Him for His provision! And if you’d like to participate in helping us reach our May goal, we’d greatly appreciate it. 

Dannah: To do that, just head over to our website, ReviveOurHearts.com, or call us at 1-800-569-5959. As a way to thank you for your donation, we’d like to send you volumes 1 and 2 of our resources titled (Un)remarkable. They’re filled with inspiring stories of women who changed their world for Christ, all because of ordinary faith and obedience. Be sure to request these resources when you call.

Tomorrow we’ll hear more of those spiritual birthday gifts that we’ve all received if we’re redeemed. I hope you’ll be back for Revive Our Hearts.

Revive Our Hearts with Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth is calling you to relish the spiritual blessings you’ve received, such as freedom, fullness, and fruitfulness in Christ.