#1 You Are Loved

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16

The “world” that is spoken of here is the world of all of mankind…unbelievers, those who do not know God and are against God. That would be everyone. We are all unbelievers and against God until He seeks us and opens our spiritual eyes to Salvation.

God does not want anyone to perish, but to come to belief in Jesus so they can have eternal life. He loved all of us long before we loved Him. While we were neck deep in our own sin, muck and prideful living.

“But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8 (NIV)

While you were still a sinner God demonstrate His love for you by giving His Son Jesus to die for you. His ONLY SON.

“Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” John 15:13 (NIV) These are words straight from Jesus. He gave His life for you while you were still a sinner. Is there any greater love than for someone to give their life for you?

Who would you give your life for? I would dare to guess you would give your life for your children, grandchildren or another loved one, but how about an enemy?

No? Me either… I am not sure I would give my life for an enemy. BUT Jesus did!

“But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions-it is by grace you have been saved.” Ephesians 2:4-5 NIV

What does it mean to be dead in our transgressions?

Transgressions are sins, the wrong things we do against God and His laws. We were dead” in our sins.  Look at Romans 6:23.

“For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” Romans 6:23

The first section of this verse begins by saying believers “were dead” in their sins. These immoral actions were part of their life, following the lead of Satan, instead of God. The wages or pay that we get from sin is death. Why death?

This spiritual death began as the result of sin in the garden of Eden.

“But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” Genesis 2:17 (NKJV).

I don’t want to earn death!

Wait! Look at the second part of Romans 6:23, “but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Because Jesus, God’s only Son, took your place and my place on the cross and died for all the wrong things we have done and will ever do…we have the FREE GIFT of ETERNAL LIFE!

When we choose to believe in Jesus as our Savior, God makes a covenant with us. Because you and I are loved by our Creator.

“Though the mountains be shaken, and the hills be removed, yet My unfailing love for you will not be shaken nor My covenant of peace be removed,” says the Lord, who has compassion on you”. Isaiah 54:10 NIV

God’s unfailing love will not be shaken. Can you imagine a world where the mountains and the hills are shaken and not just moved but removed from the earth?! Yet all the while, God remains steadfast.

I wondered, what is a covenant? It is not a word we hear too often. Covenants are not just contracts, and a very serious commitment to God. With God it is a binding promise of far-reaching importance in the relations between Him and His children.

In Isaiah 54:10, we see the covenant of God’s peace will not be removed from us. The Hebrew word Shalom means peace, harmony, wholeness, completeness, and tranquility. Philippians 4:7 says, “and the peace of God, which passes all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.” When troubles on earth make us anxious, seem to overwhelm us and make us want to give up, we can ask Jesus to give us His peace… a peace that is far beyond any earthly comfort.

Also, God’s unfailing love will not be shaken.  No matter what is happening in this world around us (and it is pretty shaky right now) or what is happening within our lives, God’s love will not fail or be shaken. He loves us. He has our best interest at heart always.

If that is not enough, God keeps adding! God will continue to have compassion and mercy on us. Mercy is God’s withholding of the judgement we deserve for our sin, but instead He grants us the forgiveness we don’t deserve and we could never earn (We are saved by grace, Ephesians 2:5) because of what Jesus accomplished on the cross.

What an Awesome God! What a Wonderful Creator! What a Wonderful Savior! We will talk more about grace and becoming a new creation next time. Until then, may God bless you as you seek Him.

Find me on YouTube.com Tami Bemis Cole