God's Great Love for Humanity

What if you were convicted of murder and sentenced to die by lethal injection. Now imagine on the day you are to be put to death a complete stranger walks in and offers to take your place. It would undoubtedly be the greatest act of love any person would have ever shown you. You deserved to die for your crime and the man who took your place did not. That is what the gospel is all about! That is what Christ did for the world!

There is no such thing as being good enough for God and there is absolutely no way to earn His love. His love for us never has been and never will be conditioned upon anything we can do for Him. Furthermore, there is nothing so bad or so sinful a person could ever do or ever has done that God’s wrath did not atone for on the cross through Jesus. The cross represents the worst of mankind and at the same time represents the greatest act of love ever known to humanity.

There is no way we could have took the place of Christ on the cross. The reality is that Jesus was the Godman and He perfectly fulfilled the Law. Jesus lived the perfect life in preparation for being the final sacrifice as God’s perfect Lamb.

Paul wrote that “God demonstrates His own love toward us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).

This scripture tells us five very important truths:

1)    The word “demonstrates” is present tense, which proves an important point; God showed undeserved favor (grace) for sinful mankind while we were still in our sin.

2)    His love for us is not dependent upon anything we can do for Him or how “good” we are.

3)    The sin in our hearts renders us helpless apart from Christ

4)    Christ died for us “while we were still sinners.” Jesus went to the cross to fulfill God’s wrath while we were still depraved in His eyes.

5)    Jesus’ death completely paid for all the sins of the world; past, present, and future. All a person must do is believe in faith and repent. 

A child doesn’t have to earn the love of their mother or father; a parent’s love is unconditional. In the same way God’s love is not dependent upon us earning His love. God’s love is fully expressed in Jesus. His gave His Son to the world because He loved us first.

We are saved by grace alone, by faith alone, and by Christ alone. Let God’s love for you fill your heart full of gratitude and then give Him your whole heart and your whole life.