Wednesday, April 13, 2016
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One August night every member of our family got a new name. It was the night our daughter gave birth to her first child – a little boy. And that tiny eight-pound bundle made our daughter "Mommy," and our son-in-law "Daddy," and our boys were suddenly uncles, and my wife became "Grandma." And I became "Husband of Grandma." It was quite a night – and my wife and I were privileged to be able to be with our little grandson right in the birthing room only minutes after he was born. Those are moments I'll never forget. Seeing our daughter, the baby we once held, holding her first baby. And his Daddy, not knowing what other children would come, held that little guy in his arms and said five precious words: "My one and only son."
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Unimaginable Love."
I'll tell you this, our son-in-law would not have given up his only son at that moment for any cause, any person on earth. Thinking about that makes our word for today from the Word of God all the more amazing. Maybe it's the most famous, and many would say most important statement in the Bible. It's found in John 3:16. Maybe you've heard these words a thousand times. Maybe you've never heard them before. But would you listen as if your life depends on them, because ultimately it does.
"God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son." Now why would God make this sacrifice that any of us human fathers would consider unimaginable? It says, "God so loved the world that He gave His one and only son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life." As I watched our son-in-law holding and loving our new grandson – his "one and only son" at that point – the love that God has for us seemed greater than ever before.
If you took the message of the entire Bible and summed it up in three little words, here's what they probably would be: God loves you. Maybe you think God is mad at you. Maybe you think God condemns you or He's far from you. But the giving of His one and only Son settles once and for all how God feels about you. God so loves you so much that He would sacrifice His Son for you. He doesn't want to lose you.
The Bible tells us that we're all away from God and we were made for Him, we were made by Him, but all of us have basically run our own lives. And the life with "I" in the middle is sin. That's s-I-n. And that kind of rebellion against our Creator carries the eternal death penalty. God's Book says "we all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way." All those "my way" choices have put a wall between us and God; a wall that no religion, no spirituality, no moral life can remove.
But listen to the rest of that "gone astray" verse. "And the Lord has laid on Him (that's Jesus) the wrongdoing of us all" (Isaiah 53:6). See, God in His great love for you and for me took our sin and its death penalty and placed it all on His Son when He died on the cross.
And now God is standing ready to give you not the death penalty you deserve, but the eternal life in heaven you could never deserve. If you will put all your trust in His Son to be your Rescuer from your sin, that life is yours. This very moment, God stands waiting to see what you will do with His Son.
This could be your day to have your death penalty canceled, to have the wall between you and God removed forever, and to experience the most awesome love a human being can ever experience. Please reach out to Him now. He's talking to you about it now. He's tugging on your heart now. Tell Him, "Jesus, I'm yours from this day on."
Our website is there to support you, encourage you, and give you the information you need to get started with Jesus. Would you go there right away – ANewStory.com?
God has only one Son and He gave Him to die for you. That's how much God loves you. And He will never forget what you do with His Son.