Today's "My Utmost For His Highest" by Oswald Chambers is another very important Truth that the born again believer must know!
Beware of the pleasant view
of the Fatherhood of God – God is so kind and loving that of course He will
forgive us. That sentiment has no place whatever in the New Testament. The only
ground on which God can forgive us is the tremendous tragedy of the Cross of
Christ; to put forgiveness on any other ground is unconscious blasphemy. The
only ground on which God can forgive sin and reinstate us in His favour is
through the Cross of Christ, and in no other way. Forgiveness, which is so easy
for us to accept, cost the agony of Calvary. It is possible to take the
forgiveness of sin, the gift of the Holy Ghost, and our sanctification with the
simplicity of faith, and to forget at what enormous cost to God it was all made
ours.
Forgiveness is the divine
miracle of grace; it cost God the Cross of Jesus Christ before He could forgive
sin and remain a holy God. Never accept a view of the Fatherhood of God if it
blots out the Atonement. The revelation of God is that He cannot forgive; He
would contradict His nature if He did. The only way we can be forgiven is by
being brought back to God by the Atonement. God’s forgiveness is only natural
in the super-natural domain.
Compared with the miracle
of the forgiveness of sin, the experience of sanctification is slight.
Sanctification is simply the marvellous expression of the forgiveness of sins
in a human life, but the thing that awakens the deepest well of gratitude in a
human being is that God has forgiven sin. Paul never got away from this. When
once you realise all that it cost God to forgive you, you will be held as in a
vice, constrained by the love of God.
The important thing to remember here is that this wonderful Gift of Grace was free to US, but it came at great price! JESUS paid that price! The Father and Holy Spirit, Who had to watch JESUS as He laid down His life and BECAME sin with OUR sin, paid the price! WE freely receive, BUT, when we present the Gospel, we must present NOT that God's love forgives the unbeliever of sin, but that God's LOVE sent JESUS to the cross to PAY the dreadful price that was REQUIRED, by God's Word, to be paid! That may seem like its not a big deal, until you realize that it REALLY IS! God's Word demanded the payment of the penalty and God's great LOVE provided the means to have it paid! HALLELUJAH!!! NO GREATER LOVE! Here is Hillsong Worship with "Grace To Grace":
Shalom in Him!
