Eph. 2: 4- 5But God, being rich in mercy, because of His
great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our transgressions,
made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved).
It
is overwhelming to even consider the love that God has for us! We have heard it
so much that we can often lose sight of the immensity of that truth. We can
easily begin to think that we are quite loveable. It is easy to assume that God
should love people, because we are good and noble. Our minds can paint us to be
good-hearted people who make mistakes; however, that is simply not true. The
idea that we deserve to be loved at all is complete madness. We deserve death
and not life. We deserve punishment and not grace. We deserve wrath and not
love.
Our
hearts were wicked. We were not simply people who sinned, but rather sinners to
the core. Our very nature was sick and depraved. In the Garden we rebelled
against God and we continued in that rebellion. We were “enemies of God.” The
kingdom of men was death and sin was our master. We, quite literally, were dead
men walking. We were a cursed and
broken people. There was absolutely no way that any of us could ever fix our
universal problem because we were all broken. We were a spinning planet of dead
men who sought our own glory, our own wickedness, and our own death. We were
corpses of what men were meant to be. We were altogether hopeless in ourselves.
“But
God…” Those two words changed everything! God saw a planet of dead men. God
smelled the stench of rotting corpses. God knew the wickedness and rebellion of
our race. The Holy Creator of the universe saw it all. One would think that He
would turn away in disgust at our vileness. One would assume that the beautiful
God who created us would leave us to our despair. One would presume that God would want nothing to do with us.
“But God, being rich in mercy” did not flee from us, but rather sent His Son to
us! His Son came to dead men and to our cursed planet. He came to us! He came to live for us.
He came to face our death head on. He lived the life we could never live. Then
He suffered death at our hands. In predictable fashion we killed our Savior. However,
God was not surprised. God was not baffled at our wretchedness. God was not
bewildered that we murdered His Son. Rather, God used the most horrendous sin
ever committed to bring redemption! God used the murder of His Son to bring
salvation to the murderers! It is breathtaking! God sent His Son to bring dead
men back to life and that is exactly what He did! He exchanged His perfection
for our sin. He took the wrath that should have been ours. He died the death
that we should have died. He made a way for dead men to come to life. Then He
came back from the dead! He resurrected!
The truth of the gospel shakes me to the
core of my being! Who could have ever imagined it? Who would have ever even
considered the truth of the gospel? No one could have possibly even asked for
the God of the universe to send His Son as a sacrifice for us. It is altogether
unimaginable that the God of eternity would send His own Son to make a way for
wicked men to become His sons! An entire race should have been plunged into an
eternity of separation without God.
Human beings should have been lost and forgotten; however, God “being
rich in mercy” changed everything! This gospel has changed it all. We must
never forget the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ. We must cling to it
daily. For it will always reminds us of God’s great love and power. It will
humble us. It will compel us to share this gospel. People are hopeless without
it. Let’s rejoice in our God and His gospel today. Let’s make much of Him to
everyone we know. All men will not be saved, but all men should hear the story
of God sending His Son to bring dead men back to life. Let’s tell them!
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