Good morning to you precious friends

Romans 5 verse 8 says "But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us."

This short verse gives us insight into the love of God. It shows what God’s love is like and how He loves. Some verses in the Bible hold more power than a nuclear bomb. This is one of those verses. These 19 words are some of the most glorious in the entire Bible.

God gave His Son to die for us as the payment for our sins - to break the power of the old sin nature within our hearts, even before we were born - before we ever trusted Christ as our Saviour. He did not wait until sinners believed in Him to die for them – He died for us while we were still sinners. He died for us before we were saved – while we were still dead in our sins – while we were still enemies of God.

God hates every kind of evil and we were all guilty before Him and condemned, because the wages of all sin is death. We were destined for eternal destruction and without one single spark of hope in the world. And it was while we were in this sad and sorry state that God demonstrated how deeply He loved us.

What our Lord Jesus did to save us is the most loving action that has ever taken place in the universe. What took place on the cross was a once in history-type event.

It happened but the effects of it are ongoing. It didn’t just change history; history was created for it. It didn’t just accomplish something in the past, but has power to change the future. There is nothing like it and we must not lose the wonder of it. We must not lose the taste for the beauty in the hideous death of Christ on our behalf. We must not lose the meaning of the cross and we must always treasure it in our hearts.

God shows His love to us in a multitude of ways but the supreme way He shows His love to us is in the death of Christ for us. What greater love is there? Me, in all my sin and all my messiness – me – am loved enough by God that He would die for me and you. He didn’t just tell us that. He showed it two thousand years ago on a hill outside Jerusalem.

The kind of person that God shows His love to is surprising. He shows His love to sinners. The verse says, "while we were still sinners". If we had the all-seeing eye of God, we would be appalled at not only the sin we see in each other but the sin we see in our own hearts. We are aware of about 5% of our sin. But God sees all of it. Our sin has ruined us. We have all done something that we don’t even want to think about. And yet God looks down at us in that condition, in that sin, and says I’ve died for that sin. You are free. For freedom Christ has set us free.

The simple answer why Jesus died for us is because He loved us and to love us until the end He had to die.

It hurt the Father to lose His Son, but He did it because He loves us. The death of Jesus was costly. He is the most glorious person in existence. He was there from eternity past. It was through Him and by Him whom and for Him whom all things were created. He upholds the universe by the power of His word. He is seated at the right hand of the Father in heaven. He was the promised One who has to come to die and who is reigning now and will reign forever. It is He to whom every knee shall one day bow. It is He, of whom the prophet Isaiah says, “He was pierced for our transgressions; He was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him, and by His wounds we are healed.” He has given us access to the throne of grace. This is Jesus, the King of kings and Lord of lords. The Son of God, the Son of Man, the Alpha and the Omega, the One who was and is and is to come, the Messiah, the Christ. This is our Saviour! This is God.

There was no greater pain in the universe the moment that Jesus died on the cross for our sins. In that moment the Father turned His face away from the Son and gave Him over to death so He might bring us who believe to glory. It cost something to gain us back. It cost the most valuable person in all existence. It cost God Himself. Brothers and sisters, remember that we were bought with a price.

Let us pray:

Thank You Father God for Your amazing and unconditional love. Thank You that the price has been paid in the midst of our sin so that we can be free from the consequences of our sin.  I love You for Your faithfulness. Most of all, dear Father, I love You because of Jesus who showed me just how much You love me. THAT IS TRUE LOVE and I thank You for the Gospel. Give me the grace to fully enjoy Your love, and grace to allow Your love to flow through me to others in Jesus’ name.  Amen.

Much love from Maurice and Margaret