The Love of God

     Happy Easter!  What a wonderful celebration it is for all, especially those who accept Christ as their Lord and Savior!  For Easter Sunday, I hope that you will see the great love God has for us, His children.  There is much that I would love to share with you today, but I will do my best to not write a novel ;) First, I ask you to look at Ephesians 1, which is filled with great news for us.  I want us to focus on Ephesians 1:4-7 which says:
     "For He chose us in Him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in His sight.  In love He predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with His pleasure and will-- to the praise of His glorious grace, which He has freely given us in the One He loves.  In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace.."
     We all are familiar with pain, sadness, hurt, loneliness, regret.. all the effects of sin surround us constantly.  How can a world full of sin be restored in such a manner that would be allowed in the presence of a holy and perfect God?  How can we, sinners, be redeemed to a God that has such a powerful wrath that He is ready to fiercely unleash on sin?  Jesus alone has the right to redeem us.  Jesus is God in the flesh, He is human like us.  Now you may wonder, "why are you saying He is human and not was human?"  Friends, let us rejoice in what Easter Sunday is a celebration of, the resurrection of our King!  He is alive!  Jesus has the resources to redeem us.  Jesus has power over sin, as he never committed sin.  Understand that Jesus was tempted in all the ways as you and I, but He has the power over it; He was able to resist the temptations of sin.  Think about this-- to save us from sin, one must have never sinned.  For how could one who sins save us from the thing he himself needs to be saved from?  Jesus has authority over death.  No man has ever gone to the grave saying he will return and had it come to pass other than the one and only, Jesus Christ!

     What a comforting feeling to know that God seeks us as His own.  He stepped down from His throne and comes to us in the form of a human, so that we may find redemption and be saved from sin.  He saves us by His mercy.  We are in a very dangerous position.  Here we are, people who sin, in a world of sinners, with a God who at any moment could pour out His wrath against sin.  Who will save us?  We need someone who can take the payment of our sin in our place.  Will it work for someone to come along and say: "Try to live a better life... follow this path and let's hope it pleases God... follow these steps and that should do it."  The reality is any path we walk down, any steps we follow, we will bring our sin with us.  We need more, and what Jesus did on the cross is the only thing that saves us from sin.
     Jesus took the full torrent of sin, the severe wrath of God that is directed at sin, He took it all upon Himself and saved us.  He drank every drop from the cup of sin, turned the cup over and said "it is finished" (John 19:30).  Every person reading this who is pursuing the pleasures this world has to offer, I urge you to see that Almighty God has invited you to His table to feast on the pleasures that all the things of this world combined can't even compare with.  To pursue infinite delight in His eternal greatness.  To receive an eternal inheritance that is greater than anything this world has to offer!  He will never fail you.  He will never fail to fulfill your deepest longings.  He is the greatest redeemer, He is the only redeemer.  Will you reject this redeemer, or receive Him?  Will you reject His love, or receive His love that is forever?  None of us are guaranteed tomorrow, or even the next sixty seconds!  At any moment, we may find ourselves standing in our sin before a holy God, then it will be too late to look for a redeemer.  Don't let another second pass that you keep Jesus from your heart!  Proclaim Him as your Almighty King, your Lord and Savior!  If you do this with every bit of faith in your heart, be assured that when that day comes, you will be with Him, living an eternal life in His eternal glory!