What shall I render unto the Lord?
[0:00] What shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits towards me?
[0:22] What can I give to God? What can I give to the Lord? What can you give? Really, in comparison with Calvary, we can just give nothing really, can we? Even our most generous gift is nothing in his hand. Give God your best. Give God your life. Give God your first.
[0:52] Give God your whole. God is a giver. God is a giver. What did he give? We know, as I've referred to, the many things that God has given. His very blood. His very life. His son. James 1.17. What did he give? It says, every good gift, every good gift and every perfect gift is from above and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. Every good gift you can thank him for. Every good gift. Every perfect gift. Think of what you could thank God for. In 2 Timothy 1 verse 2, Paul writes to Timothy and he salutes him. In 2 Timothy 1 verse 2, three things Paul says that God gives, has given.
[1:51] 2 Timothy 1 verse 2, he says, It says, Three things. Grace, mercy and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Think of those three things. Grace. Grace. What a gift. What a great gift God has given. It talks about great grace, doesn't it? The great grace, the incomparable grace, the incomprehensible gift, the uncomparable, the unspeakable gift.
[2:30] Grace. Grace is something you can be so grateful for today. Every one of you who knows the Saviour, but in His grace, He's extended His nail-scarred hand to you. Grace is for the worthless. Because really, we've got nothing to give that is of any consequence, really, of ourselves. In some religions, they think you earn your salvation. You work and work and give and do and act and be, and somehow you merit favour for that. But in Christianity, it's nothing to do with you. Grace is for the worthless. It is God giving me what I don't deserve. Grace is God giving you what you don't deserve. It's that gift that you've done nothing to merit, to deserve, to be worthy of. Grace is for the worthless.
[3:22] Secondly, mercy. Mercy is for the helpless. Mercy. You know, you see in the scriptures how the blind man cried out, Son of David, have mercy on me. Have mercy. Have pity. Mercy is for the helpless. And friends, as a lost, condemned man or woman, you are utterly helpless. There's nothing that you can do to save yourself. You are utterly helpless. And mercy is for the helpless. God withholding from me what I do deserve.
[3:51] Mercy is God withholding from you the judgment for your sin that you do deserve. That he's given it. He's vented it. He's poured it out on Christ. He's poured out his wrath. He's poured out his fair and deserved judgment for your sin on somebody else who's paid for it at the cross. The Lord Jesus Christ. Mercy is for the helpless. Peace. Peace is for the restless. The assurance that whatever happens to me will work out for God's glory. Have that peace that puts your future, your present, your past in his hand.
[4:34] Peace comes from resting in his will, in his way. And we know we've had folk of late, very restless and lacking of peace, disturbed and concerned. Peace is found in Christ. Peace from God. Peace of God. The peace with God that comes from knowing Christ. And friends, think of the great sacrifice of Calvary. When we think of sacrifices, we think of something that's given that is awesome. It's so complete. It's so drastic. Here's a story that illustrates that.
[5:15] There was a distressed father who was sat at the bedside of his comatose son. His son was in a coma. The boy had hurt himself at a basketball game. And at a crucial point in the game, this 16-year-old lunged for the ball and he toppled over a spectator's chair and one of its legs caught him in the stomach and damaged vital organs. Because he felt little pain, he played on. Through the final minutes of the game, he was hemorrhaging internally. And by the time the pain grew enough to warrant a trip to the hospital, it was almost too late for this youngster. And the doctors worked frantically to save him.
[5:56] But the outcome was uncertain. And though the son eventually recovered, those awful hours of waiting for the slightest signs of recovery forced the family members to ask questions they'd never faced before.
[6:10] And the father was alone in his bedside shift one evening and the pastor came and visited. And trembling with emotion, the father asked, will God kill my son to punish my sin?
[6:23] No, said the young preacher, searching for words that would comfort and grant renewed trust in the God this father now so desperately needed. The Lord's not punishing your son for your sins.
[6:36] He couldn't because God punished his son for your sin. And that's the sacrifice of Calvary, that God punished his son for your sin.
[6:49] It's the wonder of it all that God's great gift. And what did he give? It says in Romans 8.32, He that spared not his own son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?
[7:13] And 2 Corinthians 9.15 says, Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift. It's got the sense that you just can't speak it. You can't put it into language. It's unspeakable. The gift of Calvary, the gift of that blood, of that life, of that sacrifice on our behalf.
[7:35] Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift. Have you received it? Have you received that gift? What a tragedy it would be. As much as it's a gift-giving time of year that you miss that gift.
[7:49] That gift. That's so vital. That's so critical. That's so essential. The gift of eternal life. I pray, I trust you've received it. If you haven't, that you'll make today the day that you receive that gift.
[8:03] As you turn from that life of lostness and turn in repentance, in faith to Christ, for his grace, for his mercy, to receive his outreached hand as he extends it, as he offers it, his eternal life.
[8:20] Have you received it? I trust that you can, by faith, receive it. In simple faith. And if you have received it, brothers, sisters, we are stewards of it.
[8:36] We are stewards of his gifts. Stewards of his giving to us. What shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits towards me?
[8:47] What can I give to God? What can I give to him? Some things you can give, it says later in that Psalm, verse 17, the sacrifice of thanksgiving. You know, there were some people giving thanks this morning.
[9:00] Giving thanks. And as much as there's things it's hard to thank God for, that we can thank him. For who he is, for what he has done, for our eternal life, for our home in heaven, for his grace, for his mercy.
[9:13] The sacrifice of thanksgiving. He says, the psalmist in verse 17, I will offer to thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving. And I will call upon the name of the Lord.
[9:24] Another sacrifice is Hebrews 13, 15. It says, by him, therefore, let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually.
[9:35] That is the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name. The fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name. The sacrifice of praise to God continually.
[9:46] It goes on, verse 16 of Hebrews 13. But to do good and to communicate, forget not. For with such sacrifices, God is well pleased. God loves our giving, our sacrifice of praise, our thanksgiving, our giving of ourselves, our giving of our lives to him.
[10:06] The sacrifice of praise. Another sacrifice that you can give is Romans 12, 1, that familiar one. I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies, a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
[10:25] Your very body. Give your body as a living sacrifice, as a vessel that he can be a container to fill, that you can have him fill your life, that he can have Christ in you, the hope of glory, that you can live for him and be that living sacrifice.
[10:43] So think, what can I render? What can I give? What can I give? What can I give to him? What can I give to him who's given his all? Who's given everything for me?
[10:54] Who's given Calvary for me? Who's given his blood for me? Who's given his mercy? His undeserved favour? His grace? So freely.
[11:05] What can I give unto him? You can give your life. You can say, use me. Here am I, Lord. Send me. Use me in whatever measure, whatever way you can.
[11:18] Despite all my failings and my lack and my inadequacy. Use me. Take me. Fill me. I give my life.
[11:31] You can give your mind. Use your mind to think of things that are wholesome and pure and godly. And maybe God will use you to write books or to write letters to encourage, to use your mind to think of these things.
[11:49] You can give your strength. Well, you've got strength. Young ones, give him your youth. Remember your creator. In the days of your youth, you've got so much more life ahead, likely, than I or others here today.
[12:06] Use your youth. Give God your youth. Trust him now. Make a decision now. Don't put it off until you're old and grey and in the, you know, bald and decrepit like me.
[12:20] Don't get, don't leave it too late to serve the Lord, to live for Christ. Live for him now. Trust him now. You can give him your love. You can adore him.
[12:30] You can learn to love him more. You can learn to desire him, to want him, to have a relationship with the almighty God, your everlasting heavenly father.
[12:42] Give him your love. You can give him your will that you decide each day when you get up. While you still can get out of bed, while you've still got breath in your lungs, you can find something to do for him.
[12:54] You can follow him. You can live for him. Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Use your voice, your energy, your being to serve him with all that you can.
[13:09] Give him your heart. Give him your heart. Your longing, your desire. That he be the one who's your priority, your focus of life.
[13:19] That everything else is secondary. You can give the gospel. That's something important too. In fact, some people use the term, as a Christian, when you witness, you share your faith.
[13:33] You share your faith. Now, of course, that's true. It's not denying that you have a faith, a personal faith, a personal testimony, a personal trust in Christ that he has saved you.
[13:44] You can share your testimony about that life experience of trusting him or following him. But this preacher went on to say something more than that. When you witness, you're not just sharing your faith.
[13:56] You're sharing the gospel. It's the gospel that the world needs. Because there's many people out there sharing their faith. There's all kinds of faiths. Faiths in who knows what.
[14:08] But what we are about, as well as sharing our personal testimony, which is true, and our faith in Christ, which is true, we want to share the gospel.
[14:19] Give the gospel. Give the gospel the good news. That is what the world is crying out. Well, it should be crying out to hear. This is what we need to be declaring and giving out in whatever fashion and form we can, whether through tracts or personal witness or public testimony.
[14:35] Whatever way, give the gospel. Another thing you can give, give him the glory. Give him the glory. I heard someone refer to that this morning. Whatever we do, we are nothing.
[14:46] Give him the glory. Give him the glory. Give him the glory. Psalm 29.2 Give unto the Lord the glory due unto his name. Worship the Lord in the beauty of his holiness.
[14:57] Worship the Lord. Give unto the Lord the glory due unto his name. Whatever you do, don't get proud. Don't get vain. Don't get puffed up. If God uses you in some small measure, you're the best of a bad bunch he's found to use.
[15:13] And hopefully someone better will come along than me one day to be a better preacher, a better pastor, a better minister of the gospel. That we are just nothing but a vessel that he uses.
[15:23] And he can find some other vessel to fill and use it in his good time, in his good pleasure. And we are just a receptacle for his work. And each one of us, whatever you do, whatever ministry, whatever talents or giving or ministry or usefulness you have, don't get proud.
[15:43] Don't get puffed up. Give him the glory. And do what you can. It says in the word, she had done a good work. She had done what she could. She had done what she could. And there's a scriptural truth there.
[15:54] Just do what you can. Do what you can. If you can talk, talk about Jesus. If you can walk, walk for Jesus. If you can pray, pray.
[16:05] If you can praise, praise. If you can witness, witness. While you can, do what you can. Do what you can. And that's all that we can ever do. And it says elsewhere in the word about some who were servants.
[16:18] And they said, we're just unprofitable servants. We're just unprofitable servants. None of us can ever get to that place where we big note ourselves and take the credit.
[16:32] Give him the glory. Do what you can. And friends, just to wrap up, why do you worship the Lord? We worship him. We praise him. Think of what can you give unto the Lord.
[16:44] Think of his benefits. Think of his blessings, of his mercies, of his salvation. How he made you. How he takes care of you. How he saved you. How he's made you rich in Christ.
[16:55] When should we worship him? Every day. Don't wait for a Sunday. Don't have to wait till six o'clock tonight. You can worship him all day long. Every day. Give him the glory that's due unto his name.
[17:07] Personally, in family worship. And especially on his holy day. But all of our life is to be a worship. A sacrifice. A fragrant odour unto him.
[17:18] Friends, what shall we render? Just do what you can. Give to him what you can. While you can.
[17:28] That's all he asks of you. We don't deserve. We don't earn. We don't make heaven by anything we do. It's Christ. It's our trust in him.
[17:40] It's receiving his grace. His mercy. His peace. His working. By his spirits working within us. And of his great gift for us. That's what makes all the difference, friends.
[17:52] Let us pray. Lord, we thank you that we have that wonderful, unspeakable gift of Calvary. Of your blood shed. Of our life in Christ that you've given. Lord, for each soul here today.
[18:04] Of each home. Lord, as we think of a giving time of year. Of what the world calls Christmas. Lord, we know that it's sometimes so shallow.
[18:14] So hollow. So plastic and fake. And so Santa focused. Lord, we know that that's the wrong thing. Yet, Lord, for us that believe.
[18:24] We know we can be reminded of your first coming. And we can think of that baby. Of that blessed birth. Of your entry into the world as a human being.
[18:38] And yet, too, Lord, we think of your exit from the world. As a frame that was scarred and bruised and wounded by us. For our sin. Lord, and those wounds still are in your body.
[18:52] Today, you get. Lord, you pray for us. You look for us, Lord. And we look for you as you come back. One day, no longer as a babe. In a manger. But as victorious conquering.
[19:03] All powerful. The deserving ruler of our planet. Lord, we are honoured to be your subjects. We are honoured to be your servants today. And what can we give unto you, Lord?
[19:14] For all your benefits for us. Lord, we thank you. We praise you. Help us, Lord, to give our hearts and our lives. Each day afresh that you might be honoured and glorified in us, we pray.
[19:26] In Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Thank you.