"Christ loved the church, and gave Himself up for her!" Ephesians 5:25 Thoughts of love nestled in His heart; words of love lingered on His lips; deeds of love flew from His hands; and His steps left behind them, the impress of love! Love threw its soft halo over His cradle at Bethlehem, and it fringed with its mellow splendors, the gloom of the cloud under which He expired on Calvary. Love gave bounds to His reproofs, and pathos to His invitations. Love was the magnet that guided Him in all His wanderings. Love bound Him to the cross and held Him there, and not the iron nails which pierced His hands and His feet! Love thrilled in His bosom, and glistened in His eye! Love prompted Him to impart miraculous aid on every opportunity. His meekness was but one of its features. It clothed itself in forgiveness toward His enemies, and its last pulsation was in a prayer for His murderers. Love was the spiritual atmosphere in which He lived, moved, and had His being. And all this love had His own redeemed people for its central object, around whom it ever hovered with sleepless tenderness and assiduity! "Christ loved the church, and gave Himself up for her!" But those exhibitions of love during His life, are eclipsed by the displays of it in His death! Love shines out with wondrous charms amidst the gloom of death, for it did not shrink from the shame and woe of the cross! His severest anguish was that of His soul. Oh! it was not shame, persecution, or crucifixion--for these terrible sufferings could have been easily borne! It was not the rage and malice of Satan--these also could have been trampled on! But it was the endurance in Himself of the punishment du

John 13:7, "What I am doing you do not understand now, but afterward you will understand." There is infinite mercy in that gentle correction of Jesus to Peter. The Lord was stooping to wash the feet of His disciples--a task far beneath His dignity, but not beneath His love. Peter objected, unable to reconcile this lowly act with the majesty of the One he knew to be the Son of God. But Jesus silences Peter's protest, not with an explanation, but with a quiet assurance: "What I am doing you do not understand now, but afterward you will understand." This assurance is not for Peter only. It is for every believer who walks through the shadowy mysteries of God's providence. In the Lord's dealings with His redeemed people, there is much that is concealed--and rightly so. Our finite minds cannot trace the lines of His infinite wisdom. What He hides from us is not meant to wound us, but to humble us, teach us, and draw us to trust Him. It is not ours to demand the explanation of God's dealings with us. It is ours to say, "It is the Lord! Let Him do what is good in His sight." To pry into the hidden counsels of the Almighty, is both presumption and folly. The Judge of all the earth will do right--even when we cannot yet comprehend it. Shall the clay rise up to challenge the Potter? Shall dust and ashes cross-examine the Most High? Faith bows and adores. Faith says, "Though He slays me, yet I will hope in Him." God's providences may appear darksome to us, but they are never erring. All must be right--because He does it. And what is true in providence is even more true in grace. Why did God choose us, the most unlikely and unworthy? Why were we made to hear His voice, while other

1 John 3:2-3, "Beloved, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when He appears, we shall be like Him--for we shall see Him as He is!" Let us endeavor to realize our present sonship; it will produce . . . boldness at His throne of grace, contrition at His cross, confidence in His Word, love to His person, contentment with our lot, victory over the world, zeal for His glory, and encouragement under all our trials and troubles! We are either children of God, or enemies of God! Every child of God . . . mourns over sin, flies to the Savior, and departs from iniquity! God is now his Father. All the promises are his. The eternal inheritance is his. Let us look back to the rock from whence we were hewn, and to the hole of the pit from whence we were dug: How base was our origin--the dust! How degraded was our condition--slaves of sin and Satan! How fearful was our character--enemies to God! How dreadful was our eternal doom--the lake which burns with brimstone and fire! Contrast this with . . . our present relationship--children of God; our high standing--in heavenly places in Christ; our glorious privilege--justified from all things; our fixed destiny--to be forever with the Lord! And to what is this astonishing change to be ascribed? To the love of God in Christ Jesus! "How great is the love the Father has lavished on us--that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!" 1 John 3:1 What a mystery of mercy is this! But if we are unbelievers, then we are . . . God's enemies, children of wrath, under the curse, in imminent danger! Satan is our father! Sin

"Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I obey Your Word." "It was good for me to be afflicted, so that I might learn Your decrees." "I know, O LORD, that Your laws are righteous, and in faithfulness You have afflicted me." Trials, in the hands of the Holy Spirit, are a great help to overcome our corruptions. The sharper the trial, the sweeter the result--when it is sanctified by the Spirit. When trials come, they whip us home to our heavenly Father! Sheep do not stray very far when the big black dog is after them--his barkings make them run to their shepherd. In the same way, affliction is the Good Shepherd's black dog which He sends to fetch us back to Him; otherwise we would wander to our ruin. When trouble comes, it should drive us to God, just as the shipwrecked sailor is driven to the shore. If the gold knew why it was cast into the fire--it would thank the Refiner for putting it there. Our heavenly Father loves us too much to exempt us from trials. Let us believe that His choicest love-letters are sent to us in black-edged envelopes. We are frightened at the envelope; but inside, if we know how to break the seal, we shall find riches for our souls. We draw nearest to God, in our brokenness. There is no school like the school of trial, and the rod of affliction is the best instructor. By affliction, the Lord separates the sin which He hates, from the soul which He loves. It is a blessed thing when the mind is brought to humbly submit to the chastisements of God, and to acquiesce in all of His providential trials. Knowing as we do, that God causes all things to work together for our good, and that we never endure a single trial more than our heavenly Fath

Romans 5:20, "Where sin abounded, grace abounded much more." Sin is not merely the breaking of a rule--it is rebellion against the infinite majesty and holiness of God. It is treason against the sovereign King of Heaven. It is a monstrous defilement of the soul, a willful choosing of darkness over light, a loathing of God's commandments, and a love for what He hates. Sin pollutes every part of our being--our minds are blinded, our hearts are deceitful, our wills are enslaved. Sin makes us loathsome in God's sight, and fit only for eternal judgment. Scripture does not soften the description: we are "dead in transgressions and sins," "children of wrath," "slaves to sin," and "enemies of God." The horror of our sin is not measured by how we see it, but by how God sees it--as that which nailed His beloved Son to the cross! And yet, into that blackness shines a light so glorious that no mind could have imagined it, and no heart could have hoped for it--the grace of God! His grace is unearned, undeserved, and unrepayable. It is His free favor poured out on the utterly un-deserving, ill-deserving and Hell-deserving. Grace finds us filthy, and makes us pure. Grace finds us guilty, and declares us righteous. Grace finds us enemies of God, and makes us His sons and daughters. Nowhere are sin and grace manifested as clearly, than at Golgotha. There, the horror of our sin is exposed in full; for only the blood of the sinless Son of God could make atonement for it! His groans, His wounds, His forsakenness--all cry out against our guilt. At Golgotha also, the wonder of grace shines brightest. Jesus bore our sin, that we might bear His righteousness. He was cursed, that we mig

Habakkuk 1:13, "You are of purer eyes than to behold evil; You cannot look on wickedness." Psalm 5:4–5, "You are not a God who takes pleasure in evil; with You the wicked cannot dwell. The arrogant cannot stand in Your presence; You hate all who do wrong." If we would know how God views sin, we must not measure it by how lightheartedly man treats it, nor by how common it appears in the world, nor even by how it wounds our own conscience. No. We must measure sin by the cross. Sin is not merely a mistake, a weakness, or an unfortunate choice. It is a direct offense against the holiness of the eternal God. Sin is a daring defiance of His Word, a trampling upon His glory, and a mockery of His authority. But if we would truly understand the infinite evil of sin, we must look to Calvary. There, on the accursed tree, God unveiled His view of sin. He did not even spare His own beloved Son, when He stood in the sinner's place. What horror must belong to sin, when its payment required the abandonment of the sinless One by His own Father? What dreadful weight must sin carry, that it could crush the eternal Son of God into the dust of death? What must God think of sin, when He would lay upon Jesus the iniquity of His people, and exact from Him every drop of wrath which our guilt deserved? Behold the bloodied brow, the pierced hands, the parched lips, the darkened sky, the cry of dereliction: "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me!" These are God's thunderous declarations that sin is no trifle. Sin is not something He can simply overlook. Sin is a monster so vile, that it demanded nothing less than the sacrifice of the Lamb of God. Here is a sight too deep for words: the infinit

Romans 8:30, "Those whom He predestined, He also called; and those whom He called, He also justified; and those whom He justified, He also glorified." The Christian's journey is not a random path through this wilderness world--it is a divinely ordained pilgrimage that begins in GRACE, and ends in GLORY. Every believer is the object of God's eternal love, chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world, and predestined not merely for salvation, but for full conformity to His image. Grace is not the end of the story--it is the beginning of a glorious journey to glory. The same God who begins the good work of salvation in us, will bring it to completion. He Who predestined us, and effectually called us, and justified us, will also glorify us. Our final state is one of radiant perfection, fully reflecting the character of Jesus. This is the believer's unshakable hope. Our salvation is not uncertain or dependent on our frail efforts. The God who saved us by His grace, will surely bring us to glory. Between grace and glory, there will be suffering, trials, and valleys--but none of them can sever this golden chain of salvation forged by divine love. Let every redeemed soul rejoice in this truth: God's grace will carry us all the way home to Heaven. From His electing love in eternity past, to our glorification in eternity future--we are held fast by His unchanging purpose. The One who called us by grace, will crown us with glory. We shall see His face, and be like Him forever. "Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. He chose us in Him before the creation of the world, to

Luke 4:33-34, "In the synagogue there was a man possessed by a demon, an evil spirit. He cried out at the top of his voice: Ha! What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? I know who You are--the Holy One of God!" Luke 4:41, "Moreover, demons came out of many people, shouting: 'You are Christ, the Son of God!' But He rebuked them and would not allow them to speak, because they knew that He was the Christ." We should notice in this passage, the clear religious knowledge possessed by the devil and his agents. Twice in these verses we have proof of this. "I know who you are--the Holy One of God!" was the language of an evil spirit in one case. "You are Christ, the son of God," was the language of many demons in another. Yet this knowledge was a knowledge unaccompanied by faith, or hope, or love. Those who possessed it were miserable evil beings, full of bitter hatred both against God and man. Let us beware of an unsanctified knowledge of the truths of Christianity. It is a dangerous possession, but a fearfully common one in these latter days. We may know the Bible intellectually, and have no doubt about the truth of its contents. We may have our memories well stored with its leading texts, and be able to talk glibly about its leading doctrines. And all this time the Bible may have no influence over our hearts, and wills, and consciences. We may in reality, be nothing better than the demons! Let it never content us to know religion with our heads only. We may go on all our lives saying, "I know this, and I know that!"--and sink at last into Hell with the words upon our lips! Let us see that our knowledge bears fruit in our lives. Does our knowledge of sin make us hat

Romans 5:8, "God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us!" There is no love on earth to compare with the love of Jesus. His love is not a mere sentiment--it is a mighty, active, sacrificial love. From eternity past, He set His heart upon a people given to Him by the Father. Knowing full well their rebellion, guilt, and depravity--He loved them still. And because He loved them, He came down from the heights of glory to the depths of shame--to be the sin-atoning sacrifice for their sins. The love of Jesus is a SOVEREIGN love--free, undeserved, and initiated by Himself alone. "We love Him, because He first loved us." (1 John 4:19) There was nothing in us to attract Him--only vileness to repulse Him. Yet He set His love upon us with everlasting determination. The love of Jesus is a SUFFERING love. He bore the wrath we deserved. He was pierced for our transgressions, and crushed for our iniquities. (Isaiah 53:5) Every blow He received, every thorn pressed into His brow, every nail driven through His flesh--proclaimed the depth and cost of His love for His people. The wounds of Jesus are the sure pledges of His love. He wrote His love in crimson letters upon the cross. The love of Jesus is a PERSONAL love. "The Son of God...loved ME and gave Himself for ME." (Galatians 2:20) He knows and loves each of His redeemed people individually. He sought us when we were wandering. He drew us with cords of kindness. He washed us in His blood. He clothed us in His righteousness. He calls us His brothers, His bride, His beloved. The love of Jesus is an UNCHANGING love. Human love fades and falters--but not His. Having loved His own who

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