Post by bcool on Sept 26, 2011 6:11:09 GMT -6
The death of Christ was the fulfillment of the original promise given to Adam in the Garden after he fell. This Scripture makes it clear that God does love sinful mankind. Yet how can God's infinite, eternal, immutable, benevolent love ever be directed toward sinful man? How can this be? To be the recipient of God's love, the object must possess perfect righteousness. There never was or will be a time when God does not personally love perfect righteousness, anywhere it is found, including in man.
We saw this in the Garden before the Fall. God created Adam with flawless righteousness, he was a fitting object for God's perfect love. As perfect humanity, Adam was not equal with God, but neither did he violate God's righteousness and justice. No conflict existed between God and the first human in the perfection of the Garden. God provided Adam and the woman with face-to-face revelation of Himself, so they could orient to Him as the basis for their thinking and living. God's love provided everything they needed, blessing them body, soul and spirit. However, there was one reference to the righteousness and justice of God in the Garden: the prohibition against eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And we know how that turned out.
So here we are again. No matter how we look at this, we end up in the same place. Man is spiritually dead and utterly separated from God from birth. Because of Adam, all we can offer to God is a relative righteousness at best. We have nothing to commend us to Him or make us worthy of His love. We do not have the ability to attract God's love; neither do our good deeds incite Him to love us. In fact, without possessing His perfect righteousness, there is nothing we can do to impress God, to earn His favor, or to meet His perfect standards. But, that does not mean that God does not love us!
Grace is the magnificent expression of God's unfailing love---His policy of unmerited favor bestowed on fallen, sinful humanity. Grace is freely given by God and undeserved by the recipient. Mankind can do nothing to earn or be worthy of grace. Grace is all that God is free to do for mankind based on the saving work of Jesus Christ on Calvary's cross. God's gracious gift of His Son is the greatest possible demonstration of God's love for all mankind. This love is mankind's only hope for a personal relationship with God.
Christianity is the only world religion whose God bears the scars of evil. And in this most mysterious gift of grace, we find forgiveness. And forgiveness breaks down walls, frees hearts, mends countries, restores families, and draws out the best motives in us.
-B
We saw this in the Garden before the Fall. God created Adam with flawless righteousness, he was a fitting object for God's perfect love. As perfect humanity, Adam was not equal with God, but neither did he violate God's righteousness and justice. No conflict existed between God and the first human in the perfection of the Garden. God provided Adam and the woman with face-to-face revelation of Himself, so they could orient to Him as the basis for their thinking and living. God's love provided everything they needed, blessing them body, soul and spirit. However, there was one reference to the righteousness and justice of God in the Garden: the prohibition against eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And we know how that turned out.
So here we are again. No matter how we look at this, we end up in the same place. Man is spiritually dead and utterly separated from God from birth. Because of Adam, all we can offer to God is a relative righteousness at best. We have nothing to commend us to Him or make us worthy of His love. We do not have the ability to attract God's love; neither do our good deeds incite Him to love us. In fact, without possessing His perfect righteousness, there is nothing we can do to impress God, to earn His favor, or to meet His perfect standards. But, that does not mean that God does not love us!
“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son,
that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life” (John 3:16).
that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life” (John 3:16).
Grace is the magnificent expression of God's unfailing love---His policy of unmerited favor bestowed on fallen, sinful humanity. Grace is freely given by God and undeserved by the recipient. Mankind can do nothing to earn or be worthy of grace. Grace is all that God is free to do for mankind based on the saving work of Jesus Christ on Calvary's cross. God's gracious gift of His Son is the greatest possible demonstration of God's love for all mankind. This love is mankind's only hope for a personal relationship with God.
Christianity is the only world religion whose God bears the scars of evil. And in this most mysterious gift of grace, we find forgiveness. And forgiveness breaks down walls, frees hearts, mends countries, restores families, and draws out the best motives in us.
-B
