God is love! And He loves us with a great-indescribable love.
We know God is love and that He loves us with agape love … but what does that actually mean?
We must understand that this sacrificial, unconditional, unselfish love is poured out upon us and demonstrated most evidently at the Cross.
In this message, Nathan Johnson looks at the love of God and the profound exchange He made with us at the Cross. Our sins are taken away and now we can live triumphant in Christ – what a powerful picture of God’s love!
Looking at Ephesians 2:4-5 we discover an amazing realization – that in the midst of my sin and rebellion, Christ died for me … because of the great love with which He loved us.
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Key Passage: Ephesians 2:4
Ephesians 2:4-5 – “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ–by grace you have been saved–“
A Simple Bible Study Resource
What Great Love – Sacrificial, unconditional, unselfish
- 1 John 3:16 – By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.
- 1 John 4:7-16, 19 – Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us. By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. … We love because he first loved us.
- Hosea 2:16a,19 – “And it shall be, in that day,” Says the LORD, “That you will call Me ‘Ishi’ [My Husband] … I will betroth you to Me forever; Yes, I will betroth you to Me In righteousness and justice, In lovingkindness and mercy;”
- Isaiah 62:5b – As the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you.
Hymn: The Love of God
The love of God is greater far
Than tongue or pen can ever tell;
It goes beyond the highest star,
And reaches to the lowest hell;
The guilty pair, bowed down with care,
God gave His Son to win;
His erring child He reconciled,
And pardoned from his sin.
Refrain
O love of God, how rich and pure!
How measureless and strong!
It shall forevermore endure
The saints’ and angels’ song.
Could we with ink the ocean fill,
And were the skies of parchment made,
Were every stalk on earth a quill,
And every man a scribe by trade,
To write the love of God above,
Would drain the ocean dry.
Nor could the scroll contain the whole,
Though stretched from sky to sky.
- Psalm 103:12 – As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.
- Isaiah 38:17b – But You have lovingly delivered my soul from the pit of corruption, for You have cast all my sins behind Your back.
- Isaiah 43:25 – “I, even I, am He who blots [wipes out] out your transgressions for My own sake; and I will not remember your sins.
- Nehemiah 9:17 – But You are God, ready to pardon, gracious and merciful, slow to anger, abundant in kindness, and did not forsake them.
- Daniel 9:9 – To the Lord our God belong mercy and forgiveness, though we have rebelled against Him.
- Micah 7:19 – He will again have compassion on us, and will subdue our iniquities. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea.
- Charles Spurgeon – “This forgiveness, again, is given by the Lord Jesus Christ in the completest possible manner. He keeps no back reckonings; he retains no reserves of anger. He so forgives that he forgets. That is the wonder of it: he says, “I will not remember thy sins.” He casts them behind his back; they are wholly and completely gone from his observation or regard. Alas, such is poor human nature, that even fathers, when they have forgiven a wayward child, will, perhaps, throw the offense in his teeth years after, when he again offends; but it is never so with Christ. He says, “Thy sins shall not be mentioned against thee any more for ever.” He has done with the sins of his people in so effectual a way that not a whisper concerning them shall ever come from his mouth so as to grieve them. They will themselves remember their sins with deep repentance; but the Lord will never challenge them on account of their past rebellions. Blessed be the name of Christ for such complete forgiveness as this.” – Charles Spurgeon (Divine Forgiveness Admired and Imitated (Sermon #1841))
The Profound Exchange – My life for His
- Ephesians 2:4-5 – But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—…
- Colossians 1:12-14 – giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light. He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.
- 2 Corinthians 5:21 – [NKJV] For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
- 1 John 4:9-10 – In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
- Romans 5:8 – but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
In Our Next Study Together …
I invite you to join me on this journey from the book of Ephesians to discover God’s eternal purpose, His plan for your
- The focus of our next study: Ephesians 2:5
- We will examine God’s amazing grace as found in Ephesians 2:5.
- I encourage you to read through Ephesians a couple of times this week and focus specifically on Ephesians 2:1-10.
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About The Deeper Christian Bible Study Series
The Deeper Christian Bible Study Series in Ephesians is a Christ-centered practical in-depth verse-by-verse study of Paul’s letter to the Ephesians. Join NRJohnson (Nathan Johnson) as he expositionally preaches from this incredible book – which will help you grow in your faith, gain greater intimacy with Jesus, and understand how to study God’s Word.
Many Christians feel frustrated because they don’t grow spiritually. Deeper Christian equips Christians to understand the Word of God and cultivate a passionate love for Jesus that turns the world upside down.
About NRJohnson (Nathan Johnson)
NRJohnson (Nathan Johnson) is a Christian who has an overwhelming passion for Jesus, the
Read more about him here.
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