Oh, What Love!
Today’s Verse:
But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) ~Ephesians 2:4-5
The song writer wrote: “Oh, what love that He should die for me; saving grace, thus to supply for me. Oh, what love; Oh, what love, what great love. Evermore I’ll sing it, Oh, what love!” Our Scripture this morning celebrates the love of God which drew salvation’s plan and saves every sinner who places his faith in Christ.
There is the miserable predicament.
We are dead in trespasses in sins. We are born into this world as sinners. There is no escaping the inheritance of this sinful condition. Our condition has left us hopeless and under the condemnation of God for our sin. Being dead in sins mean we are spiritually dead. The picture is of a deceased person being bound in the graveclothes and buried in a sealed tomb. Dead people cannot reverse their situation. We have a miserable predicament.
There is the merciful provision.
God sent His only begotten Son to die for our sins. Jesus' shed blood and death on the cross satisfies the just demands of God for sin. By sending Jesus to be our sin Sacrifice and Substitute, God exhibited mercy and love beyond comparison. First, God proved His great love by giving His best and His all when Jesus died for us. He did the unexpected and the unbelievable. Second, God gave us mercy when we deserved justice. Paul describes it as, “God, who is rich in mercy.” Mercy is an extension of God’s grace. Grace is love that we do not deserve. Mercy sets us free from the penalty of sin. Mercy expunges our sins from our account and gives us complete forgiveness. Thank God for His merciful provision.
There is the miraculous procurement.
We are quickened together with Christ. This means we have been made alive. We are recipients of a new life in Jesus Christ. We are born again through our faith in Jesus' death and resurrection for our sins. When we are in Christ, we become a new creature: old things are passed away; all things become new. We no longer are on sinking sand. Our feet are on a solid rock, and that rock is Jesus. All of this is the miracle of salvation. Salvation is a once-and-for-all provision for our eternal security.
On August 16, 1987, Northwest Airlines flight 225 crashed just after taking off from the Detroit airport, killing 155 people. One survived: a four-year-old from Tempe, Arizona, named Cecelia. When rescuers found Cecelia, they did not believe that she had been on the plane. Investigators first assumed Cecelia had been a passenger in one of the cars on the highway onto which the airliner crashed. But, when the passenger register for the flight was checked, there was Cecelia's name. Cecelia survived because, even as the plane was falling, Cecelia's mother, Paula Cichan, unbuckled her own seat belt, got down on her knees in front of her daughter, wrapped her arms and body around Cecelia, and then would not let her go. What a picture of love! What a resemblance of the love that God has for you and me: He died for us, so that we might have life.
Celebrate this morning “God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us.” Never let the gift of salvation become little in your eyes. Oh, what love!
Have a mercy-filled God Morning!
Bible Reading Schedule: Psalms 40-45