Text: Jeremiah 9:23-24
The Main Idea: Marvelous Things and He’s Just Getting Started.
The cross of Christ was the ultimate display of God’s lovingkindess, justice and righteousness. Lovingkindness was the cause. Justice was the result. And righteousness was the effect.
I. Lovingkindness was the cause.
• International Standard Bible Encyclopedia defines lovingkindness as “The Divine Love condescending to His creatures, more especially to sinners, in unmerited kindness. It is frequently associated with forgiveness, and is practically equivalent to ‘mercy’ or mercifulness”
o In other words, it is God’s love, expressed in kindness towards sinners, and it is synonymous with mercy.
• God’s love for us cannot become any greater, but its influence on my life can grow much stronger.
• His love for us is as certain as was His death on the cross because the two are inseparable.
• God exercised His lovingkindness in this as it says in Romans 5:8, “while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”
II. Justice was the result.
• Easton’s Bible Dictionary: Justice is not an optional product of His will, but an unchangeable principle of his very nature.
o God cannot any more be unjust than light can be darkness.
o As such, He cannot do otherwise than regard and hate sin and deal with it.
o God could not just ignore sin because justice requires a penalty.
o He is bound by His own nature to, as Easton puts it, “visit every sin with merited punishment.”
o “He cannot deny Himself” (2 Timothy 2:13).
o “I the Lord do not change” (Malachi 3:6).
• But to our eternal benefit, that penalty for sin fell on Jesus Christ:
o Because Jesus actually paid the penalty for our sins, our forgiveness was not a compromise of God’s justice.
o Jesus died in our place “so that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus” (Romans 3:26).
o His payment for our sin was full, final and forever.
III. Righteousness is the effect.
• For every power there are corresponding effects.
o The power of love creates effects of giving.
o The power of a hurricane leaves devastation.
o The power of rockets lifts a spacecraft out of earth’s atmosphere and into orbit.
o The power of the blood is righteousness to all who place their faith in Jesus.
o Because of the power of His blood we now stand fully righteous before God. Righteousness by faith in Christ.
• In addition to the status of righteousness, by the power of His Spirit, God is perfecting righteousness in us day by day, transforming us into the likeness of Jesus Christ.
o The best results of God’s work in us are not behind us; they lie ahead. From glory to glory. Not necessarily “spectacular” as people count it, but in the depth and genuineness of our faith in Him. In the quality of our relationship with Him.
IV. The Benefits are Unsearchable.
• Access with Affection. One of the blessings we have in Christ is we can’t wear out our welcome with the Lord.
o From Just a Moment… As you spend personal time with Him, remember “the Lord takes pleasure in His people” (Psalm 149:4). He is not just indulging your prayers; He is enjoying you. He enthusiastically welcomes you, appreciatively receives your praise and thanksgiving, cares about your concerns, and delights in your company. And He loves to feed you! “Open wide your mouth and I will fill it” (Psalm 81:10) He says. Knowing how thrilled someone is to see you affects the way you feel about showing up.
• God’s love for us is as certain as was Christ’s death on the cross because the two are inseparable.
V. Communion
• Communion takes us to the foundation of the truth of our faith. It anchors all our inspirational thoughts from our devotional times, and our Bible studies and our Sunday services as well as all our prayers and anchors them to a specific day in history and to a specific event in history, involving a specific person of history. We remember our Lord, not as a mythological figure but as one who walked among men and women on earth. One who was seen and heard and touched. It gives substance to our faith.
• “No one can take my life from me. I sacrifice it voluntarily” (John 10:18). Jesus was the immortal God in human flesh. It was impossible for anyone to kill Him. Therefore, it was necessary for Jesus to give His consent to Death, which He did for our sake, motivated only by love.
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