The Cornerstone The Cornerstone February 2018 | Page 13

FATHER’S LOVE FOR US
H
BY BRIAN CLAUSS
umans are at emnity with God, yet He loves us
and beckons us to Him.
Mankind has planted a flag in the ground
against a holy and loving God by our continual, daily,
sinful actions.
“Natural man is at enmity with God, meaning that
he has a positive hatred toward God and stands
in opposition to Him,” said John
MacArthur, renown protestant
theologian. “Sin seeks
to dethrone and depose
God, usurp His authority,
and put “self” in His
place.”
We have chased after our own glory and
have exchanged the satisfying love of the
Father for a shallow temporal emotion.
The tragedy is that in our sinful nature, we love our
sin; in our sin, we are unwilling and unable to desire
the things of God.
Not only do we not want the things of God, but we
actively desecrate His holiness and attempt to diminish
His glory.
But God, in His eternal mercies, he has chosen to love
us and move among us. Despite our wretchedness,
Christ desires a relationship with mankind.
It would have been perfectly just and good for God to
look upon us all with righteous anger and cast us into
Hell; however, He instead looks upon mankind with
love and died to purchase man from the chains of sin.
yet he was sentenced to die as a shameful criminal.
Christ’s love for man is only magnified when you look at
the depths of suffering that he endured in order to save us.
The author of the world spat upon by the very beings
he came to save. The King of Kings was nailed to the
cross that He Himself had created.
“God loves man enough to not reject us,” said Jack
Vanderhill, senior. “He chose to die in our place and
offer us life instead. We deserve death and
He offers life.”
When one considers these
things, they must consider
why Christ would choose
this. Why would the King
of the universe die for the
sake of His enemies?
He died for His enemies because He loved
them. Despite our sin, our depravity, our
wretchedness, He looked upon us and desires us. The
Son of God was forsaken by God so that man might
never be.
God loves man so much that He chose to be shamed
and humiliated by us. He chose to pour out His holy
wrath upon His own Son rather than pour it out on
those whom He would call to be his children.
The depths of His love is further shown by the fact that
this eternal life and satisfaction He offers, He offers
freely to all whom would come. No righteous deed can
purchase, no depraved sin can exclude, no broken past
can deny the love of the Father.
Romans 8:38-39 says, “For I am sure that neither death nor
life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to
God sent His son, Jesus Christ, down to earth in order to
come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in
show us the love of the Father. He walked among us, blessing all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in
and healing us. He committed no wrong, no crime, no sin,
Christ Jesus our Lord.”
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