The Cross, The Tenacity of Love (by WJ)

It was a work Father, Son and Holy Spirit accomplished together on our behalf.
* Not to appease an angry God but to cleanse us from sin!
* The cross was not merely about punishing sin but destroying it's power!
Thus allowing all of humanity broken by sin to recapture the relationship God has always wanted with us.
Glorious!

"Only the soul that sins shall die"
There was no amount of beating that would kill Him! Death had no power over Him! Death would come only when He surrendered to it. John 10: 17-18. The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life, no one takes it from me, But I lay it down of my own accord.

A free choice got us into this bondage. Jesus free choice walks us out of it!
On the cross Jesus walked away from His own desires (unlike Adam and Eve), and put His trust in God the Father. In the agonizing atrocity of the cross and the utter darkness that overwhelmed Him He consciously and continuously yielded Himself to the Father. At any point He could have stopped it all.

And Paul wrote "God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself". He wasn't a distant observer. God is powerful enough to look at sin and not be tainted by it, He has always done so and He did so on the cross. In a moment in time God made Jesus who knew no sin the personification of sin. Jesus wasn't just bearing our punishment for sin. He became sin itself. God, by allowing sin to touch His person through His Son, would be able to now prevail in Himself over that which we were powerless to fight. Through the physical body of Christ sin came face to face with the anger and power of God and God prevailed over sin completely.

He condemned sin in sinful man. Rom.8:3.

The reason we are free from condemnation in Jesus is because He bore that condemnation. It could not prevail over Him. He broke it's power and opened the door to all who want to be free of it and live in the life of the Father.
Jesus became sin for us precisely because we were powerless to deal with it ourselves.

This is Love...so amazing!

We too now have the freedom to overcome evil by putting our trust in Him. He still redeems the darkest moments of life with the wonder of His grace.

The antidote (by WJ)

Sin in us is evidenced by that self preferring, self trusting nature that pits itself against God.
And this became the trap from which we are powerless to save ourselves. Knowing good and evil outside of their trust in God didn't provide the joy Adam and Eve thought it would and they discovered they now had no power to resist. They were captive.

But God was not taken by surprise. In giving Adam and Eve the freedom to trust Him or trust themselves, He already knew that He would suffer most for their choice. Before the beginning of the world, Father, Son and Holy Spirit had devised a plan that would redeem the objects of their affection. Some how to Him, the glory of fellowship with His created ones out weighed the price He would pay to set things right.

What the onlooker saw... a man experiencing the agonizing death of crucifixion pales to what actually transpired. Jesus lifted the cup of wrath to His lips and drank of it fully.
*Jesus not only entered the utter depths of pain, darkness, shame, and anguish to which sin can drive humanity but He also endured the full weight of God's being warring against sin to it's utter destruction. He drank the cup to the end, letting the wrath war against sin until sin succumbed to the power of God and was consumed in Him.

NOTE- It is not people God seeks to destroy but the sin that destroys His people. The purpose of wrath is to consume sin and cleanse the universe. It's primary purpose was not to hurt but to heal. Rom. 1:18- The wrath of God is revealed from from heaven against all the ungodliness and wickedness of men. This is Love, furious Love.

The cross wasn't just a punishment for our sins. Punishment alone doesn't break the power of sin. The desires of our flesh are often stronger than the threat of punishment. No. The cross was primarily about prevailing over sin's power. In the Son, God serves us the antidote. (The neutralizing agent which counteracts the effects of sin's poison) Christ was able to endure until sin itself was destroyed. This was now the opportunity to destroy the power of sin and liberate those who had been captives to it all their lives.
Thus God's wrath is not just punishment for sin. It is also the antidote for it.

* Because sin was destroyed the door to a future world without it was opened.
He has borne in Himself what we could never have borne and survived. He endured such hostility against Himself because He was committed to our freedom from the power of sin...for the joy that was set before Him, He endured. Some how, to Him, the glory of fellowship with His created ones out weighed the price He would pay to set things right. The night He was betrayed he told Peter and the rest of the disciples, " Don't be anxious, don't let your heart be troubled, I'm going to fix this"

Sin's spell over humanity was broken. The antidote not only worked in Him, but produced in His blood a fountain of life as well. This blood transfusion, now cleanses us from sin, removes us from His wrath, and unites us with God Himself, fulfilling the dream that He had when He first created us and placed us in His Creation.

This cup is the new covenant in My blood which is poured out for you. Lu.22:20. This cup teams with life.
Eph. 1:7-8 In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins in accordance with the riches of His grace that He lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding. Rom. 5:7-8 Very rarely will any one die for a righteous man...but God demonstrated His love for us in this, while we were yet sinners Christ died for us.

What does Rom 8:3 mean when it say's He condemned sin in sinful man?

Who needed the sacrifice? (by WJ)

Man's sense of shame now caused him to cower when God approached. Knowing good and evil didn't provide the joy Adam and Eve thought it would. Because they came to know good and evil outside of their trust in God they had no power to resist. They were captive to it.
Appeasement based in fear took the place of friendship.

"He loves me....He Loves me not"

BUT
The loving God spent Himself to bring the banished son and daughter back home.
He didn't need a sacrifice to love us. He already loved us.
We needed a sacrifice...for our shame, so that we would be free to love Him again.

* When we understand what really happened on the cross we will know how much He loved us.
* When we know how much we are loved trusting Him will be as easy as breathing

Does He love me? does He?

How do I know?
How can I know?

The rescue! (by WJ)
We got thrown out...of the garden... by God
...thus preserving eternity in holiness and preparing a safe haven for our eventual rescue.
"The soul that sins shall die" is a proclamation of mercy, not anger. It means that sin must have an end and we an opportunity to regain what was forfeited.
We were not only thrown out of the garden but sin became our trap.
BUT
He loved me!
How do I know I am loved?

God took sin into himself through the physical body of Christ and accomplished for us what we could not do.
Rom. 8:3 He condemned sin in sinful man!.
He did not merely punish it...He destroyed it's power!
It could not prevail over Him.
He endured the cross.
He sprung the trap!
He broke it's power and opened the door to all who want to be free of it and live in the life of the Father.
He rescued me!

He loves me

Believing that he loves me.
Imagine...
If I really believed that He loved me, sin wouldn't be attractive....obedience would be my norm... joy would be my portion...faith would be automatic...
If I really trusted His love for me I would be OK in the dark.
IF I really believed He loved me!
But how can I be sure??

Imagine this! (by WJ)

In the Garden
God knew that love could flourish only where trust does. The Father had provided Adam and Eve with everything they could ever have wanted plus the potential to enter into a free and loving relationship with the God of the universe. Regrettably, like the prodigal they would learn to trust God only by first trusting themselves and finding out how misguided they were.

*Sin is simply grabbing for our selves what God has not given to us.
*Even our best intentions can draw us into as much bondage as our most indulgent desires.

In the wilderness Jesus trusted His father to bring to him every thing promised....He knew and believed the heart of His Father for Him and was willing to wait.

Adam and Eve believed the lie that God was holding out on them. "God who made them couldn't be trusted".
Not knowing whom to believe they did what they thought best but God's design was and is that through the pain caused by trusting in our own strength He awakens the trust that will allow us to participate in the divine community.

Imagine
"Are you serious? Do you expect me to believe that He would hold out on me?...something this amazing?
Are you talking about our God? The one who walked with us in the garden last night? And who loves us so much that He has given us every thing for our good? You think He would lie to us?
I'm His kid!
Not Him!
That would be absolutely impossible!"

Love and Trust (by WJ)

Since God created us to share in the relationship that the Father, Son and Holy Spirit have shared in for all eternity, we get to enjoy it in the same way they do. Their unity flows from the fact that they absolutely love and trust one another.
NOTE- One can obey God and yet not trust Him and in so doing miss out on a relationship with Him. One cannot how ever trust God and be disobedient to Him.
* All disobedience flows out of mistrust in God's nature and His intentions towards us. i.e.. the garden

Yeah, I am so beautiful (by LC)

I was driving down the road a couple of days back and a song came on. It was a fathers response to his daughter after observing her reading the latest 17 magazine she had picked up some where. He was able to read her thoughts. She was looking at the pictures longingly wishing she were some one else. She was the inspiration for his song. The one line I remember was "sweet heart, you will never be more beautiful than you are right now".
All of a sudden I heard the Father singing that line to me. At first I cracked up and then the weight of it from a father's perspective began to register and I began to tear up. He loves me in the moment. He is enthralled with me in the right right now. I could never be more beautiful than I am to Him right now. Now I know theologically I am in the process of maturing from glory to glory and God has great hopes for me but the power of the word is that in this moment in father's eyes I am more beautiful than I will ever be.
I passed it on to Mary as an original. She doesn't need to know.
Cool?

To love or to fear (by WJ)

There is no fear in love because fear has to do with punishment. Fear isn't in God's nature. His holiness is not produced by fear but by love. In Christ, God wins our affection with His own. He knows that we will never love that which we fear. Fear does produce good behavior but the good behavior lasts only as long as the fear. Perfect love drives out fear. When you are absolutely convinced how much God loves you, that knowledge will drive out every fear and insecurity you have. This is the love that will allow you to feel perfectly safe in Father's presence. Knowing you are loved frees you to be exactly who you are, weaknesses and all, never having to pretend. Then you will discover that life in God rises out of your security in His love, not your insecurity.
Rom. 8-15 You did not receive the spirit that makes you a slave to fear but the Spirit of sonship, by Him we cry Abba (daddy).

The Fathers seeks my affection (by WJ)

God is Love. Father, Son and Holy Spirit exist in the perfect state of Love.
There is nothing more powerful in the entire universe.
More powerful than my failures, than my sins, than my disappointments, my dreams and my fears.
More powerful than the devastation caused by storms, earth quakes, and floods.
Once I know His love for me I will never fear Him again. He knows we will never love that which we fear.
The Father seeks my affection...where He has my affection He will have my obedience.
His question not only to Peter but to me is "Do you Love me?"
Holiness is not produced by fear but by love. "There is no fear in Love".
In Christ God wins our affection with His own.

Hey these are my nuggets from Wayne Jacobson's book "He loves me"

It is so good I just want to share it. So enjoy or just ignore.

A Father we can trust (by WJ)

God created us to be loved by a father beyond even the best of earthly fathers. We are safer in Him than any place else on earth. In the long run rebellion or religion cheats the father out of the relationship He desires with us. He doesn't want our obedience, He wants our heart.
The more we trust Him the more of His life we can experience.
When we worry, we live less loved.
When we give in we live less loved.
When we indulge, we live less loved.
When we try to earn His favor, we live less loved.

Sin and Good News (by WJ)

Sin has dire consequences. It leaves devastation in it's path. Left unresolved it will destroy you and me utterly and completely. But Love dwells at the core of God's being. He is passionate about setting us free from sin that diminishes and devours the life He wants us to experience with Him. His wrath is not aimed at us but at our sin and on the cross sin was not only punished but it was destroyed offering you and me the way to be rescued from the brokenness it caused and allowing us to recapture the relationship God has always wanted with us.

HIS REVEALED PURPOSE (BY WJ)

"FRIENDS" Jn. 15-5
so He invites us as mere creations into the community of Father, Son and Holy Spirit...to share the wonder of that relationship. And the friendship He had with His disciples is the same relationship He offers me... A young child belonging to a gracious father... the bride of an expectant bride groom and as a friend dear enough to die for...a relationship built on LOVE and Trust. And it is His presence that makes this friendship so incredible.