God's love

 

Message made in memory of Robert Spurling – something like his preaching fourty years ago.

Our text today is Romans 5.8

“God commendeth His love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us”

This well known verse has brought hope to many lost souls. Many men and women have wandered helplessly through life , until they discovered God’s true love meeting their need.

              The idea of need – well most of us thought we were ok -enjoying ourselves as youngsters, trying to fit in with the gang, going our own way. But when God steps into the equation, we discover our sin, our need of forgiveness, heading for a lost eternity. In fact, when we let the Bible speak, we find ourselves in danger of hell and the lake of fire.

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

So we have all sinned , but God wants to give us eternal life.

 God is holy – and can by no means clear the guilty.

   God is love – even loving guilty sinners bound for hell.

     He saw us in our need  - guilty and unable to save ourselves.

It is just like a person in the ocean, unable to swim, drowning without hope. But then a lifesaver throws out a lifebuoy with a rope to pull it in. All the drowning man has to do, is to cling to the lifebuoy.

     God the lifesaver saw our predicament and sent His Son to be the Saviour!

      Such was the problem of sin, it needed a sacrifice to take our sin away. None other was good enough to pay the price of sin. He only could unlock the gate of  heaven to let us in.

 

1 Corinthians 15.3  “Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, He was buried and He rose again the third day according to the scriptures”

      Now the debt has been paid, all that God wants us to do , is to reach out to the lifebuoy (Christ) and let the lifesaver save us. The empty hand of faith says – I cannot save myself, I am not good enough for heaven, my sins deserve eternal death, but Jesus died for me.  So I reach out and take Jesus as my Saviour . He died for me, so I will trust Him to get me in the gate of heaven.

The promise holds true – John 1.12  “ To as many as received Him, to them He gave the power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe in His Name.”

 

    But remember the opportunity to receive salvation is brief.

“what is your life? It is but a vapour that appeareth for a little time and then vanisheth away!”   (James 4.14)

None of us   know the day of our death so:

“Now is the accepted time, now is the day of salvation” (2 Corinthians 6:2)

Some put if off till later but the cry is real:

‘too late , too late will be the cry, Jesus of Nazareth has passed by’. Hell is full of procrastinators. Today make Jesus Christ your choice:

“If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in thine heart that God has raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved”    (Romans 10:9)

 

A concluding Hymn of warning

 

‘Almost persuaded, now to believe

 Almost persuaded Christ to receive

  Seems now some soul to say?

    ‘Go Spirit go thy way

       Some more convenient day

         On thee I’ll call’

Call today and make the Lord you lifebuoy!