What God does is what counts. He must give us physical life, if we are going to come into being. But He must also through a rebirth give us the spiritual life which His Son manifested. Without that, we will never know the love of God, and will never live with Him in the new Jerusalem.
That He did cause us to be born again we find in Ephesians 2:4 ,5. There we read, "But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace are ye saved)."
The blessed truth here is that, while we were still spiritually dead, God caused us to become spiritually alive with Christ. Plainly salvation from beginning to end is God's work in and for us. God causes that salvation to happen for us and in us, and He deserves all the praise for it.
God did not begin to love us because we loved Him. We love God because he in love implanted in us love for Himself. In that love He caused us to be born again. He tells us this truth in I John 4:10 . There we read,"Herein is love, not that we love God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins."
We do not earn one bit of our salvation, nor any of the glory we will have in the new Jerusalem. God's love decides what will happen to us. Our love does not determine where we are going to go. God's love decides that. His love decides that we will not go where our sins insist that we go. God's love sent His Son to blot out our guilt and to pave the way to everlasting glory for us.
Take hold then of that wonderful contrast that, when we were dead in sins, God quickened us, that is, made us alive together with Christ.
What a wonderful truth to take with us! By grace, not works, we are saved, not by our works or because of our works.
Read: John 3:1-17
Meditations on the Heidelberg Catechism
Through the Bible in One Year
Read today:
II Kings 23:1-31
II Kings 24:1-20
II Kings 25:1-30
Acts 22:1-17
Acts 23:1-10
Psalm 2:1-12
Proverbs 18:13
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Quote for Reflection:
Brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another. (Galatians 5:13) “Liberty, then, is always in order to goodness. It is never merely freedom from something; it is always freedom to something, the freedom to meet one’s obligations. It always implies direction, which means commitment to some value or ideal. This means that freedom binds. It presupposes God…There can be no liberty that does not take God into account…" (Henry Stob)
Additional Info
- Date: 4-July
