As Christians, we talk a lot about the love and sacrifice of Christ. How you looked into what this love and sacrifice are all about? Ask yourself: “What have this love and sacrifice done for me?”
Ephesians 5:2 reads, “And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and having given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour.” Let us look at the love He gave us.
-He gave himself for us; his whole being was cast as a weight onto the scale of redemption.
-He gave himself to God; his life and death were also a gift to God as well as for us.
-He gave himself as an offering and sacrifice. There are two aspects of his character; as a redeemer, and as a peace offering and a burnt offering, a holy life and an atoning death.
-He gave himself as a sweet-smelling savour, totally pleasing to God.
-He gave himself that we should walk in love. Love constrained him to yield up his all; his was a walk of love.
-He gave himself that we should walk in love as he loved us. See John 3:11-16.
John 13:34 reads, “A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.” Now that we have looked at this love, we will look at the sacrifice.
A jailer asked Paul and Silas, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” (Acts 16:30). This is perhaps the most important question that can come from the lips of mortal man. Christ is the only answer.
nBelieve on him and be saved: “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation” (Romans 10:9-10).
nReceive him and be saved: “But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name” (John 1:12).
Jesus is the gift for a perishing world. “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 6:23).
nCome to him and be saved. In Matthew 11:28, Jesus said, “Come to me all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” In John 6:37, he said, “All that the father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.
nTrust in him and be saved. “Blessed are all they that put their trust in him” (Psalm 2:12). Trust is not feelings, emotions, nor the striving of the flesh. Trust not in your own righteousness, nor in your own understanding.
nHear him and be saved: “Hear, and your soul shall live…” (Isaiah 55:3).
nLook to him and be saved: “Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else” (Isaiah 45:22).
nYield to him and be saved: “Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God” (Romans 6:13).
Yield to his word, to his will, and to his way. Let your will to him be given.
Joseph Merriman is pastor of First Baptist Church in Greenfield. This weekly column is written by local clergy members. Send comments to dr-editorial@greenfield reporter.com
