The Measure of God's Love for His People

                              "When we think of Christ dying on the cross we are shown the
                                lengths to which God's love goes to win us back to Himself.
                                We would almost think that God loved us more than He loves
                                His Son.  We cannot measure His love by any other standard.
                                He is saying to us, 'I love you this much.'

                                The cross is the heart of the gospel; it makes the gospel good
                                news.  Christ died for us; He has stood in our place before God's
                                judgment seat; He has borne our sins.

                               God had done something on the cross which we could never do
                               for ourselves.  But God does something to us as well as for us
                               through the cross.  He persuades us that He loves us."

                                                                                Sinclair Ferguson


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                  Every one of God's people is His enemy before He miraculously saves us
            and brings us into His family. 

                                            "But God demonstrates His own love for us
                                              in this:  While we were still sinners, Christ
                                              died for us."

                                              Since we have now been justified by His blood,
                                              how much more shall we be saved from God's
                                              wrath through Him.

                                              For when we were God's enemies, we were
                                              reconciled to Him through the death of His Son,
                                              how much more, having been reconciled, shall
                                              we be saved through His life!

                                              Not only is this so, but we also rejoice in God
                                              through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we
                                              have now received reconciliation."
                                                                                   Romans 5:8-11


                  (This is a message for God's people, not for everyone in the world.

                   * Only God's people "WERE sinners."  All others are still lost in their sin.
  
                   * Only God's people have been justified by the blood of Jesus, and saved
                      from God's wrath through Him.

                   * Only God's people have been reconciled to Him through Jesus' death
                      and saved through His life.

                   * Jesus' death was an DEFINITE atonement.  His death paid for the sins
                      of His people, and actually saved them).


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               Everyone who trusts in Jesus will be saved, and never perish, but will spend
      eternity with Him.

                                              "For God loved the world in this way:
                                               He gave His One and Only Son,
                                               so that everyone who believes in Him
                                               will not perish but have eternal life."
                                                                             John 3:16


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                Jesus bore the sins of His people, as our Substitute, taking our sin and
     giving us His righteousness.


                                              "He Himself bore our sins in His body
                                               on the tree, so that we might die to sins
                                               and live for righteousness ..."
                                                                            1 Peter 2:24a


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                 Since God loved His people and sent His Son to atone for our sins,
        we must love each other as God loved us.

                                               "God's love was revealed among us in
                                                this way:  God sent His One and Only
                                                Son in the world so that we might live
                                                through Him.

                                                Love consists in this:  not that we love God,
                                                but that He loved us and sent His Son to be
                                                the propitiation (appeasement) for our sins.

                                                Dear friends, if God loved us in this way,
                                                we also must love one another.  No one has
                                                ever seen God.

                                                If we love one another, God remains in us
                                                and His love is perfected in us."
                                                                                   1 John 4:9-12


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                     "Love originated in God, was manifested in His Son, and demonstrated
         in His people."
                                                                                        John MacArthur