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THE CROSS
The cross is where our sins are forgiven and salvation begins.
It is the site of the most profound love story between God and sinful man. Mankind desperately needed God’s intervention. God loves us so much that, though it costs Him His Son, He gives His Son for us. Do you, like me, realize that we do not deserve such love? No one does.
Let us read of this gift from God to all of us sinners.
Grace and Faith
2 And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, 2 in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, 3 among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.
We believers, saved by Christ’s death on the cross for our sins, were all in sin and unable to be forgiven and cleansed on our own. Some of us were saved before we got into deep sin, others were in sin many years before they were saved, and had fallen into all types of depravity.
In either case, all were sinners.
We are all condemned, by our sins, to death without the saving gift of Christ.
4 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 6 and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God,
9 not of works, lest anyone should boast. 10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.
God, however, stepped in and sent Jesus to earth and allowed Him to be sacrificed for us.
Praise God!!
I have been saved since August 1963, and that was a long, long time ago. In all those years, I have never been able to understand how God could love a skinny teenage girl so much that He would allow His Son to die in her place. By God doing so, when I confessed my sins to Him and told Him of my belief in Jesus’ death for me, I was saved.
His Peace– Our Peace
14 For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation, 15 having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace, 16 and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity. 17 And He came and preached peace to you who were afar off and to those who were near. 18 For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father.
Imagine, if you will, that between God and man was a wall of sin.
That wall was erected by mankind, brick by brick, one sin laid upon another throughout the ages of time.
Those sins blocked us from a close relationship with God. No longer did we feel close to God. We had pulled away, choosing our own way, and leaving the love of God behind us.
His righteousness and our sin had no commonality.
We were evil, God was good.
God, however, loved us so much that He sent His Son, Jesus, to die for us. Let that thought, that we have all perhaps grown up with, truly wash over each of you reading this.
Think of it.
Let its magnitude enter your heart and mind.
GOD LOVED US ENOUGH TO LET HIS SON DIE FOR YOU.
I had 6 children.
Bruce had 4.
We were both widowed and married in 2021.
So we have a combined 10 children, 3 former foster children, and through a program at our church, Bruce and I assumed the sponsorship of 10 orphans in Tanzania.
We also have one child in heaven.
So, if you are quickly adding up, that is 24 children, to say nothing of our 25 grandchildren, and having our 14th great-grandchild on the way.
In other words, there are a LOT of children of all ages in our family.
YET, I would not give up one of them for you.
You read that right.
I do not have that kind of love in my heart for you and your sins.
Though I am sorry you committed them and that they keep you from eternity with God, I, simply and honestly, do not love you enough to sacrifice one of my children.
I don’t love you enough.
Fortunate beyond words to express for us all, GOD LOVES US ENOUGH.
GOD LOVES US ENOUGH TO LET JESUS DIE FOR US!!!!!!
He is a powerful, all-loving God.
I might add that when someone says that a fellow believer at church let them down, remember that the people in your church and mine are saved humans. We are not perfect. God alone loves us enough to work miracles in our lives, to save us, to give His Son Jesus.
We will never love as much as HE DOES!
GOD WILL NEVER LET US DOWN AS HUMAN BEINGS WILL.
I thank Him for HIS GREAT AND PERFECT LOVE…you should too!
HE SAVED ME!
HE LOVES ME!
And HE LOVES AND WILL SAVE YOU TOO!
So, let us assume that you took that step, believed, confessed sins, and became part of God’s family. Let us read this last portion of this chapter.
Christ Our Cornerstone
19 Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, 20 having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, 21 in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, 22 in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit. Ephesians 2 NKJV
We are no longer strangers; we are part of the family of God! He is our Father.
We are adopted into His household. Jesus Christ is the chief cornerstone, and we are a part of the whole building, the holy temple of the Lord.
We are a part of that.
We are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.
God indwells in us, and we are a part of His Family.
We are growing more and more like Jesus until the day we stand beside Him in Heaven and shall be like Him. Praise God!
We are saved and loved, and as long as we follow and obey and love Him, we are a part of the family of God.
ALL PRAISE TO YOU, FATHER!!!
THANK YOU, JESUS!!
THANK YOU, HOLY SPIRIT!!