Redeeming Love
Rescued By God’s Redeeming Love
Since Christ first changed my life I have been captivated by the unfathomable depth of God’s redeeming love. It is fully incomprehensible in the natural sense of love. The apostles, Paul and Peter, remind us of how God’s redeeming love has rescued us from sin and supernaturally placed us in the kingdom of Christ where all our sins are forgiven and never to be remembered by God.
For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. (Colossians 1:13-14)
In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace. (Ephesians 1:7)
For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. (1 Peter 1:18-19)
Who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works. ( Titus 2:14)
For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more” (Hebrews 8:12).
God’s redeeming love is unlike any other love in that to rescue us, his enemies, Christ willingly left heaven and came into the world to assume our punishment, suffering, and death that we rightly deserved. He literally took our place on the cross. Only in this way could Christ pay sin’s ransom price (death) and redeem us from the eternal judgment for sin. He paid the sin debt once and for all who call upon His name.
Our entire messed-up lives are of our own doing. We are at fault. We have sinned. We are guilty. Nevertheless, God’s redeeming love pursues us while we are lost in sin’s darkness and offers to free us from the bondage of sin. Jesus said,
Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. (John 15:13)
To die for a friend is incredibly noble and the greatest thing you could do for another, but to die for your enemy goes beyond human comprehension.
For if, while 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! 11 Not only is this so, but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation. (Romans 5:10-11)
While we were busy being God’s enemies God was busy organizing his rescue mission through Christ by way of the cross. It is important to note that God is not and has never been our enemy even though we were his.
In Matthew 5:44, Jesus taught us to love our enemies and pray for those that persecute us. It is not natural to love your enemies. It is a supernatural act that is only understood when we experience God’s redeeming love and even then it remains a challenge because our human nature is generally opposed to loving an enemy. However, as we grow in the grace and knowledge of God’s redeeming love we soon realize just how wretched, corrupt, and undeserving we truly were as enemies of God. It becomes almost impossible to look upon our enemies with anything other than compassion as we become an expression of God’s redeeming love. It is wrong to think Lord grant me grace, mercy, and forgiveness while demanding justice for others especially those who may have deeply offended us or are our enemies. His redeeming love empowers us to love others, even the unloveable.
Jesus accomplished the impossible by giving his life to save mine. Therefore, I love him because he first loved me, 1 John 4:19.
But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8
The redeemed of the Lord have been singing about redemption for many years. In 1882 Fanny Crosby wrote:
Redeemed—how I love to proclaim it! Redeemed by the blood of the Lamb; Redeemed through His infinite mercy, His child, and forever, I am.
In 1772 William Cowper wrote about a fountain filled with blood drawn from Immanuel’s veins where sinners are cleansed and experience God’s redeeming love:
E’er since by faith I saw the stream Thy flowing wounds supply, Redeeming love has been my theme, And shall be till I die:
John Newton, a former slave trader, penned in his epic 1779 hymn Amazing Grace:
“Amazing grace how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me…”
The idea that one so wretched, responsible for the deaths of thousands of slaves, could receive forgiveness, redemption, and eternal life is a testimony of the power of God’s redeeming love.
Elvina Hall’s 1865 song proclaims “Jesus paid it all”
Jesus paid it all, All to Him I owe; Sin had left a crimson stain,
He washed it white as snow.
Speaking to the church at Ephesus the Apostle Paul writes:
As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2 in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. 3 All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh[a] and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. 4 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. 6 And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7 in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. 8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. (Eph. 2:1-10)
Redemption involves God rescuing us from one state of existence in this life where we are alienated from God as his enemies and restoring us into a new state of existence where we become the redeemed children of God. There are only two states of existence in this life. We are either redeemed or unredeemed, regenerated or unregenerated, saved or unsaved. There is no other state of existence in this life.
Dear friend, isn’t it time to turn to Jesus?
How to Turn to God
Perhaps at this very moment, you have realized that you need the Lord in your life. Maybe you drifted away or need to be been born again? If so, you can stop right now and begin talking to God. Ask Him to forgive you for being a sinner and for the life you have been living outside of His love. Surrender your life to Him, unconditionally. Call Him Lord and make Him Lord of every thought, attitude, and action. You can say, Lord Jesus, forgive me for all my sins and come into my heart and take full control of my life. I am your child from this day forward. Change my heart and mind to be Christ-like in every way. I confess Jesus as my Lord and Savior forever.
