Good morning. Hey. If I haven't met you before, my name is Michael. Good to be one of the pastors here. And it's great to be with you this morning. If you're new with us, we're so glad you're here. We hope that Barentas, if you don't have a church home, will become your church home, become your church family. And so I'll be down front afterwards. I'd love to meet you. We have some people out in the lobby at Info Central that would love to meet you as well. But we're really grateful that you're here. We're going to continue this morning in our series that we have entitled Advent. All right. And so what Advent means is the arrival of or the coming of something. And so we are celebrating and the arrival of Jesus, Right? And so we are just a couple weeks away from Christmas here. And so we're talking about Advent this year in the way of as we learn about adventures, it says something about the character of God. And so each week we're talking about a different characteristic of God that we learn about in Advent. And so what does Advent reveal about God's character now? How can we approach it this way? In John 1:14 says, and the Word which is talking about Jesus became flesh and dwelt among us. And we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. So we can learn about the glory of God through Jesus. And then in Hebrews, the author of Hebrews says this, he, jesus is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature. And he upholds the universe by the word of his power. So if we want to learn about the nature of God, we can study about Jesus. And then finally in Colossians 1, it says, he is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. So what God's like is revealed in how he came to save us. First two weeks we've talked about God's sovereignty and God's humility. And today we're going to talk about God's generosity, that he is a giving God, a providing God, a sacrificial God. And the verse that comes to my mind immediately when I think about this is Isaiah, chapter 9, verse 6. It says this for to us a child is born, to us a son is what given. And the government shall be upon his shoulder. And his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father and Prince of Peace. So Isaiah here, and we're this is not going to be our main text for the morning, But Isaiah here is prophesying hundreds of years in advance about a coming child, a coming son, which we know now is Jesus. But as he's prophesying this, the people that he's prophesying to is that Israel had been split into two kingdoms. The southern kingdom of Judah is the one that he's writing this to. And it was a really dark and gloomy time for the people of God. There was violence, there was suffering, there was weakness, there was powerlessness, and there was fear. But God had made all these promises that he was going to send a messiah to them, one to rescue them. But in the midst of all this dark and gloomy suffering times, I'm sure they began to think, God, are you just holding out? Are you just withholding something from us? It seems right now that we really need you. And it seems like you're kind of being stingy now. I don't know if any of you in this room today would say out loud, God, I think you're being stingy and withholding things from me. But maybe you've thought that in your mind. You ever thought that God, I think you're holding out. I think you're withholding things that I need. And you might be saying, God doesn't feel very generous to me either. I've asked for blank from God, but he hasn't given it to me yet. I want better health. And if God would just give me better health, I could represent him better. If God would just give me a spouse like I've prayed for, then I wouldn't be so lonely. If God would just give me the child that I've prayed for, I could be content. If God would just take away my weakness, I could live as a strong ambassador for the kingdom. If God would just remove the temptation that I've prayed so much. God, just take this temptation away, then I could live a holy life. If God would just give me the raise or the promotion or the extra 50 bucks a month, hundred bucks a month, then I could give more. And I think so much of what we think is like, if I had this, if God would just give me this, I could be more faithful. But I think there's a deeper layer to that. I think it's more than just, you could be more faithful. If God would just give me xyz, I would deem him more generous. So it's not just about your faithfulness. It's actually about your belief in who he is. Because the issue is not an Issue of lack, but it's an issue of belief. And I think for many Christians, your lack of faithfulness isn't because of what you failed to receive from God, but it's an issue of what you failed to believe about God. Your lack of faithfulness isn't because of what you failed to receive from God, but it's an issue of what you've believed about God. So. So the question for us to wrestle with this morning is how can you be assured that God really is a generous God on the days that it feels like he's stingy, on the days that it feels like he's withholding something from you? How in the world can you be assured that he actually is a generous God? How can you be assured that God is providing everything you need and not holding back from you? We're going to look into God's Word in Romans Chapter eight this morning. So if you got a Bible, turn to Romans chapter 8. Let me give you a little context since we're just jumping right into the middle of this. We normally preach through books of the Bible if you're new with us. And so this is kind of different in Advent for us. And so normally we would know the full context, but we're jumping into chapter eight of Romans. And in this chapter eight, it's kind of the pinnacle of assurances for the believer that if you are in Christ, you have incredible assurances because of that. Now I'm going to give you the list up until where we're going to get to in Romans 8. Of all the different assurances that Paul gives the Romans. Now I'm going to fly through these. You don't have time to write them all down. Read Romans 8 later. Okay? But these are the promises from Romans 8 that we get no condemnation, freedom in Christ, life and peace in the Spirit, adopted children of God for fellow heirs with Christ, redemption of our bodies, salvation, the Spirit's help in our weakness, the Spirit's intercession in our groanings. That sounds good, right? You're not eight o'. Clock. Wake up God. That's good news. That is really good news. That's amazing stuff. And then we get down to verse 31. It says, what then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who could be against us? Like, that's great news that God is for us because we are in Christ. Great news. And so we get to verse 32, and it's. There's kind of five rhetorical questions that are happening at the end of this chapter. And what Paul is trying to do is say, like, I'm going to ask you some questions that are really easy lobs for you. You don't have to think hard about them. They're really easy to help. You know how secure you can be in Christ, how you can know how generous our God is. So Romans 8:32. Here's the core of that argument to show us unreal generosity. He who did not spare his own son, but gave him up for us all, how will he not also, with him, graciously give us all things? What? What a verse. What do we need to learn about God's generosity this morning to give us that kind of assurance? The first thing I want you to know is that God's generosity is sacrificial. God's generosity is sacrificial. It cost him something. Okay? It says, God didn't simply give us his son. He didn't spare his son, but he gave him up for us. He did not spare his own son. He did not abstain from giving us his son. He didn't treat him leniently. He didn't withhold anything from him. God didn't just generously send his son to live, to grow up from a baby into a man. God sent his son generously, not to simply live, but to die. Now, that was the plan of God always from the beginning. Now, if you didn't grow up in church, you don't know this full plan. You're probably, like, thinking, that's a terrible God, a God that would kill his own son. Like, what kind of God is that? But if you know the plan, you're like, this is the most amazing news ever, that God would kill his son. Now, where do we get this plan? We got to go all the way back from the beginning. So if you go all the way back from the beginning, God existed. Nothing else existed. And then he speaks the world into existence. He breathes life into humans, Adam and Eve. And we get to enjoy his creation. So there's people, they're enjoying his creation, and they're enjoying this perfect relationship with God. It's incredible. They get to walk with God in the garden. It's so good. There's nothing wrong about it. It's the most amazing thing ever. And then we get to Genesis, chapter three. And this happens. Now, the serpent was more crafty than other beasts of the field that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, did God actually say, you shall not eat of any tree in the garden? And. And the woman said to the serpent, we may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden. But God said, you shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden. Neither shall you touch it, lest you die. But the serpent said to the woman, you will surely not die. For God knows that when you eat of it, your eyes will be open and you will be like God, knowing good and evil. So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired, to make one wise, and she took of its fruit and ate. And she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both were open and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths. Now, why do we read that? Because Adam and Eve fell for the same lie that many of you in this room are believing. God's withholding something from me. God's told me one thing, and I think he's got good plans for me, but he's holding out on me. I think God's being kind of stingy here. And that was the crafty lie, right? That Satan comes in and says, hey, surely you're not going to die. Just if you eat this, you're going to become wise and God doesn't want you. He's holding that out from you. And because they sin, it severs this perfect relationship that they have with God. Such a tragedy that we still feel the effects of because of the sinful nature that we are all born into. But immediately we begin to see the generosity of God show up. And it shows up so quickly in the midst of their brokenness, in the midst of their guilt, and in the midst of their shame. If you skip down to verse 21 says this. And the Lord God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them. Now, what does God give to Adam and Eve despite their sin and their brokenness and their shame? He gives them clothing, a covering. You're like, okay, what's the big deal about that? How do you get that covering? An animal had to die. An innocent animal had to die because of the guilty. This is just a foretaste of the incredible sacrifice of Jesus that God responds to sin with a sacrifice that God is going to make the first. This is like the first of many animal sacrifices to atone for people's sin, to make an offering that rights are wrong, to bring about reconciliation. Remember, their relationship had been severed. Now we've got to have an Animal sacrifice, blood spilled for the forgiveness of sins to bring reconciliation back. And God sets up this sacrificial system for the Israelites. You gotta repeatedly give these sacrifices, shed the blood of these animals over and over and over and over and over and over and over until there's a perfect, sinless sacrifice that can pay for sins once for all. And this is what Hebrews chapter 10 says about Jesus. And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ. The sacrifice of Jesus Christ, once for all, that's good news. Aren't you glad that we don't have to repeatedly sacrifice animals over and over and over? But there was a perfect substitute for us. And every priest stands daily at his service offering repeatedly the same sacrifices which can never take away sins. But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God because it was finished. His work was done, it was over. Like, this is what he came to do. This is the generosity of our God, that God would give us a substitute, a sacrifice for our sins. Jesus was the perfect substitute because of his sinless life. This was the way to reconcile us back to God. So the first thing we see in Romans 8:32 is, is that God's generosity is sacrificial. Then we're going to see that God's generosity is gracious. Says he who did not spear his own son, but gave him up for us all. He gave his son up for us all. Now, that word gave there means to deliver, to give into the hands of another. And this word shows up multiple times in the New Testament talking about Jesus, where it says that Jesus was delivered or given to the chief priests and the scribes. He was delivered or given to Pilate. He was delivered up or given for our trespasses. Now, how many of you in the age that we live in have ever ordered something online and have it, had it delivered to somebody else's house? That ever happened before? Or maybe you've had somebody else's mail get delivered to your house, Right? This is in essence on a far lesser, on a far greater scale of what happened to us, that our life and our trespasses ordered death. And God's saying, I'm going to deliver this. I'm going to give this to somebody else. I'm going to give it to my own son. I'm going to give it to my own son. Some of you this morning. Well, God. God's withholding things from you. And God does withhold things from you sometimes. And the biggest thing that he withheld from you was his wrath. That every single one of us, because of our sin, because of our trespasses, we deserve the wrath of God. And he's withheld that wrath from us because he poured it out on his own Son. Like, that's not a God who's stingy. That's a God who's incredibly generous, that he would willingly, graciously give what we deserve to somebody else. How many of you know Romans chapter three? This is the argument that Paul's kind of set up for us earlier in Romans. He says, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and are justified by his what? Grace? As a what gift? Through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. How are we justified before God? How are we declared righteous before God? By grace, as a gift. That's the only way that we're declared righteous before a holy God. And this gift, this gracious gift of salvation, it's a free gift. It's free. Many of you know Ephesians 2, 8:9 says, for by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing. It is the what gift of God, not a result of works so that no one may boast. This gracious generosity that God has shown you through His Son is an incredible gift. And later on in Romans chapter six, it would say this, for the wages of sin is death. But the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Now imagine that over the next couple weeks, you end up going to Grandma's house one day, and you go to Grandma's house, and she's got a gift for you. But she says, hey, before I give you this gift, I need you to go work out on the farm for three weeks and then you can get the gift. Does that feel like much of a gift to you? No. You had to work for it. You had to earn it. That was a wage that you earned. Like, okay, okay, Grandma. Like, some of you are like, that's how my grandma operated. Sorry about that. But, like, that's not a gift. That's a wage. Guys. The generosity of God is not a wage. This is completely a gracious gift from the giver himself. Here, you can have it. Not because of anything that you've done, not because of any of your work, not because of any of your morals. The only way you get it is because I'm gracious enough to give it to you. Like, that's a generous God. That is a generous God. He's Sacrificially generous. He's graciously generous. And God's generosity. Number three is loving. God's generosity is loving. Look back at verse 32. He who did not spare his own son, the Son that God possessed. This was his Son. Not just his son, but in John 3:16, which many of you know, even if you didn't grow up in church. For God so loved the world that he gave his what only Son? This wasn't just his own son. It was the only one he had. This is who he gave up. This is who he did not spare. But we learn more about this relationship between God the Father and God the Son at the baptism of Jesus in Matthew. Chapter three says this. And when Jesus was baptized immediately he went up from the water and behold, the heavens were open to him. And he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him. And behold a voice which a voice from heaven said, this is voice of God the Father. This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased. Because this is who was sacrificed for your sin. This is who was graciously given for your sin. God's own son. God's only Son. The Son that He loved and he was well pleased with. He gave up that Son for your sake. That's a generous God. That is an absolutely generous God. This is loving generosity. That God generously gave up his most precious possession so that you could experience his precious presence. Remember that relationship that Adam and Eve had with God that was perfect, that was severed. God gave up sacrificially, lovingly, graciously gave up, did not spare his own son, his most precious possession, so that you could be reconciled back to God and experience his most precious presence. Guys, this type of generosity is unreal. It's sacrificial, it's gracious, it's loving, and it's purposeful. Look at all of verse 32. He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all. How will he not also, with him, graciously give us all things? Graciously give us all things. Now, I need you to understand what all things doesn't mean here. It doesn't mean that God is some divine vending machine or divine genie, that you just get to ask whatever you want, whenever you want it. And God's just going to say, here you go, because God's plan is far more purposeful than our prayers. Sometime now, what does this all things actually mean? Then in order to understand this, we got to go back into Paul's Argument here in Romans, chapter 8. So go back to verse 28 says, and we know that for those who love God, what all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. Now, he spent a lot of time before this talking about suffering in this life and pain in this life. So what is he going to graciously give you? Sometimes pain, sometimes suffering. All things includes the good things and the bad things. And my guess is that when Jesus was dying on a cross, not many people thought, man, what a generous gift from God. But how incredible that God even worked out the crucifixion of his own Son for Jesus good and our good and for his glory, Right? Like this is incredible news here because this is part of a bigger plan. And when it comes to God's generosity, we have to see that God is purposeful in his plan. Look to verses 29 and 30. For those whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined, he also called. And those whom he called, he also justified. And those whom he justified, he also glorified. What we're seeing in verses 29 and 30 is this grand plan of salvation that God has for his people that started way earlier when he foreknew them. Like, this plan started so early. This wasn't just an on the whim plan. Like, oh, I think this might work. Like, God had this plan in place from the beginning. And when is that plan gonna end? When you're glorified, you are in Christ, and you are glorified with God forever. You're not just declared right, but you are fully right standing before a holy God because of the sacrifice of Jesus. And so it's saying, like, oh, this is part of a bigger plan. From the time that you were foreknew to the time that you're gonna be glorified. This is a bigger, more purposeful plan that God is working out his salvation from the beginning of time to glory. Now, Paul made it a little more clear when he's speaking to his young disciple Timothy. He's getting near the end of his life. And in second Timothy, he writes this letter. In second Timothy one. This is what he says to Timothy. Therefore, do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, nor of me, his prisoner, but share in suffering for the Gospel by the power of God, who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works there's the grace, but because of his own what purpose? He saved us and called us not because of our own works, but because of his own purpose and grace which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began. Like, this is purposeful generosity. This is not just like, oh, I'll just give when I want to give. Like, he had this plan in place from the beginning. So what are the all things that God's promising to graciously give those that are in Christ? God is going to give you everything you need to ensure that his plan of redemption happens. God is going to give you everything you need to ensure that his plan is of redemption happens. He's going to give you all the truths, all the promises, all the equipping, all the tools, all the discipline, all the experiences, all the events, all the relationships, all the suffering in order to help you carry out his will in and through your life. All the good, the bad and the ugly parts, he is giving you to work out his plan. That's a purposeful God. He will generously give you everything you need to live a life that glorifies Him. There's no way he's going to withhold that from you. Because if life is about his glory, he's not going to withhold anything from you that that would bring him glory. How do I know this? Some of you are like, well, show me the receipts. Look at his son dying on the cross. And if he would generously give up and not spare his own Son, well, surely he'll graciously give you all things right. Surely he'll do that. And what Paul's doing here, he's making this really logical argument. Some of you love logic. That's not my forte, but this is what Paul's doing. He's arguing from the greater to the lesser or from the strong to the weak. He's saying, there's a great thing that's happened and if God will do that great thing, surely he'll do the lesser thing right. He gives. We get this example kind of in Psalm 81 says this, I am the Lord your God, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt, and open your mouth wide and I will fill it. What the psalmist is doing here, he's telling the Israelites, hey, you remember when you were enslaved in Egypt for 400 years? If God can bring you out of slavery, surely he can satisfy your hunger. Like, see the argument from greater to lesser. If he can bring you out of slavery, surely he can feed you today. And this is the same type of argument that that Paul is making here. If God is willing to give up his own son, sure he'll surely he'll graciously give you all things because this is who he is. If God is generous enough to not spare his own son's life, he will not withhold anything needed to redeem your life for eternity. But some of you are going, but God still hasn't given me what I asked for. But guys, he has given you everything needed to reconcile you back to himself that's his son. And he will give you everything needed to glorify him, whatever the circumstance. Because some of you are like, well, God hasn't removed the disease yet, but he's given you his presence through the midst of the pain. But God hasn't given me the raise or promotion, but he's given your family food and clothing every single day. But God hasn't removed the suffering in my life. But he's given you sufficient grace in your weakness. But God hasn't given me the spouse, he hasn't given me the child that we've prayed, that I've prayed for. But he's given you his spirit to comfort you. But God hasn't removed the temptation, but he's given you a way out of the temptation that's far better than anything that temptation would ever provide. But God hasn't removed the difficult circumstances in my life in the present, but because of Jesus, he's given you a guaranteed future with him in his presence with no tears, no death, no crying, no mourning, and no pain. That's a generous God. That's a generous God. A God that isn't going to generously give you all that you want if it doesn't accomplish your purpose, over his purpose. But he will graciously give you all things that you need to accomplish his plan. And he will withhold things from you that doesn't accomplish his plan. Some of you going, well, why is this all about God's plan? Because it's God's world and he gets to do whatever he wants because it's not your world. It's a delusional lie to think that we get to put ourselves on the throne of our lives. Some of you think God is stingy and withholding things from you because you think that you've put yourself on the throne of your life and relegated God as the subject to your kingdom to give you what you want. And you will always struggle to see God as generous until you recognize him as a gracious creator, until you recognize him as a generous Lord. And a generous king. And until you recognize yourself as a woeful sinner in need of his great mercy and grace, until you do that, you'll always think that he's holding something back. I want you to think about it this way. We're gonna play pretend for a second, all right? So I want you to pretend that you have a neighbor that is just incredibly wealthy. All right? Some of you are like, oh, we're playing pretend for sure. All right, so you have a neighbor that is incredibly just like, has like opulent wealth. And he comes up to you this week and he says, hey, I want to take you and your family on my private jet. And we're going to go to this all inclusive resort fully paid by me. And you just get to enjoy time with your family there. Like, oh, that sounds awesome. All right, how many of you want that trip? You want that neighbor? Maybe that's a better question. All right, so he takes you on this incredible trip. It's awesome. It's just this incredible experience for you and your family. Well, you get back late on Christmas Eve and so you all get back. It's the next morning. Comes this Christmas morning, and you realize, like, I gotta take some food to my family for lunch today. We're having a family celebration and I don't have a stick of butter. And Hy Vee's closed. All right? So you tell your child, hey, will you run over to the neighbor that just took you on this incredible trip? Will you ask him if he will give you a stick of butter? And what if your kid looks at you and like, are you crazy? You do you know how stingy our neighbor is? There's no way he will ever give me a stick of butter. You're like, he just took us on his private jet to an all inclusive resort. Sure he'll give us a stick of butter. That's nothing to this man. Like, on such a ridiculously greater scale, how much more for a God that will generously know not spare his own son, but give him up for us all, Will he not graciously give us all things that we need for his plan? That's what he'll do. Because that's how generous our God is. And if God is going to give you access to incomparable riches and his presence in heaven with him, surely he'll give you the stick of butter of patience when you need it. Surely he'll give you the boldness when you need it, the steadfastness when you need it. Surely he'll graciously and sacrificially and lovingly give you the trial that you need to make you more like him for his glory. This is how generous our God is. The generosity of God to sacrifice His Son shows that he does not withhold his any necessary thing from his children. God never withholds what is needed to accomplish his plan. If you don't believe it, just look at the death and life of his son. Jesus is the ultimate proof that God always provides for his plan. You hear me? This is what I want you to know today. Jesus is the ultimate proof that God always provides for his plan. Like, this is really good news, that he will give us everything needed to accomplish his plan in and through your life and my life. So what do we do with this? I could give you a list of a bunch of things to go run and do. My hope is that when you hear this about the generosity and you see God's word and how true this is, that you would cherish the sacrificial, gracious, loving and purposeful gift of Jesus. Just cherish it, God, this is amazing. Without this, I have no hope. And in a second, when some of you, you take communion and you hold that cracker and you hold that juice, I want you to remember how gracious and generous God has been to you. That without the shedding of blood, there's no access to the forgiveness of sins. That his body was given up for you, and that just proves how generous God is toward us. My hope is that when we get caught up in this mindset of, if I just had this, then I would be more faithful. If I just had this, I would be more generous. I would. My hope would be that we would replace those words if I just had with, I already have Jesus. If I just had this, I already have Jesus. I have everything that I need, and he'll continue to give me everything I need to accomplish his plan. So church we're in this season, in the American culture that is a breeding ground for discontentment. If I just got this for Christmas, if I just had this, if I just had this experience, if I just got to do this, if my family was just different, like, we just want, like, something more and more and more. Guys, as Christians, let's be the most content group of people, the most secure group of people, the most resolved group of people to continue to be faithful during this season and beyond. Because God has generously given us the greatest gift in all of history. His own son, his only son. The Son he loved, whom he was well pleased with. Guys, that's the only way we can be reconciled to God. And he graciously, generously gave Him. Surely he'll give us all the other things that we need. Amen. Let's pray, Father. So grateful for the gift of Jesus, Lord. May your generosity be something that we cherish forever, Lord. May we never grow accustomed to to how amazing the gift of Jesus is for our lives. God. We have no hope apart from you. We have no hope at forgiveness apart from you. We are so thankful that you saved us. We pray all this in Jesus name. Amen.