Embracing Christ's Sacrificial Love and Our Response

Devotional

Day 1: Recognizing Our Unworthiness and Christ's Grace

Understanding our sinful nature is crucial to appreciating the depth of Christ's love. We are described as ungodly, sinners, and enemies of God, yet it is precisely in this state that Christ's love shines most brightly. His love is not a response to our merit but a testament to His own nature. This realization should lead us to humility and gratitude, acknowledging that it is not our merit but His grace that draws us to Him. As we reflect on our unworthiness, we are reminded of the profound love that Christ has for us, a love that is undeserved and unconditional. [16:18]

Romans 5:6-8 (ESV): "For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die—but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us."

Reflection: Think of a time when you felt unworthy of love or forgiveness. How can you embrace the truth of Christ's grace and love for you today, despite your feelings of unworthiness?

Day 2: Embracing Christ's Active Love

Christ's love was not passive; it was a deliberate act of giving Himself up for us. This active love calls us to respond with intentional love towards others, reflecting His sacrifice in our daily lives. Christ did not merely allow events to unfold; He actively gave Himself up for us. This act of giving was not just about relinquishing possessions or status but about offering His very self as a sacrifice. As followers of Christ, we are called to emulate this love, to walk in love, not just towards those who love us, but even towards our enemies. [21:03]

1 John 3:16 (ESV): "By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers."

Reflection: Identify one person in your life who needs to experience Christ's love through you. What specific action can you take today to show them intentional love?

Day 3: Understanding the Meaning of Sacrifice

The Old Testament sacrifices point to the ultimate sacrifice of Christ. Understanding this helps us grasp the significance of His atonement, where He bore our sins and reconciled us to God. The concept of sacrifice is deeply rooted in the Old Testament, where a perfect, unblemished animal was offered to atone for the sins of the people. Similarly, Christ became the ultimate sacrifice, taking upon Himself the sins of humanity. His death on the cross was not a passive submission to human cruelty but a fulfillment of divine purpose. [26:31]

Hebrews 9:13-14 (ESV): "For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God."

Reflection: Reflect on the significance of Christ's sacrifice for you personally. How does understanding His atonement change the way you view your relationship with God?

Day 4: The Sweet-Smelling Savor of Christ's Sacrifice

Christ's sacrifice was pleasing to God, fully satisfying His justice. This satisfaction is the foundation of our reconciliation with God, highlighting the completeness of Christ's work on the cross. It was not merely a display of love but a profound act of redemption, reconciling humanity to God. The love of God is truly understood in the context of this substitutionary and penal atonement. It is not a vague sentiment but a powerful, transformative reality. [29:30]

Ephesians 5:2 (ESV): "And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God."

Reflection: Consider how Christ's sacrifice is a "sweet-smelling savor" to God. In what ways can you offer your life as a pleasing sacrifice to God today?

Day 5: Walking in Love as Christ Did

As Christians, we are called to love as Christ loved, even our enemies. This love is not natural but requires a transformation that comes from being born again, enabling us to live out this high calling. It is a high calling, one that requires a new nature and a new life. We are to walk in love, not just towards those who love us, but even towards our enemies. This is the true mark of a Christian, to love as Christ loved, sacrificially and unconditionally. [47:05]

1 John 4:7-8 (ESV): "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."

Reflection: Identify an "enemy" or someone difficult to love in your life. How can you begin to love them as Christ loves, starting today?

Sermon Summary

In reflecting on the profound love of Jesus Christ, it is essential to grasp the depth of our own unworthiness. We are described as ungodly, sinners, and enemies of God, yet it is precisely in this state that Christ's love shines most brightly. His love is not a response to our merit but a testament to His own nature. The Apostle Paul emphasizes that Christ's love is active and deliberate. He did not merely allow events to unfold; He actively gave Himself up for us. This act of giving was not just about relinquishing possessions or status but about offering His very self as a sacrifice.

The concept of sacrifice is deeply rooted in the Old Testament, where a perfect, unblemished animal was offered to atone for the sins of the people. Similarly, Christ became the ultimate sacrifice, taking upon Himself the sins of humanity. His death on the cross was not a passive submission to human cruelty but a fulfillment of divine purpose. It was an act of substitution, where He bore the punishment due to us, satisfying the demands of God's holy law.

This sacrifice was a sweet-smelling savor to God, signifying His complete satisfaction with the atonement made by Christ. It was not merely a display of love but a profound act of redemption, reconciling humanity to God. The love of God is truly understood in the context of this substitutionary and penal atonement. It is not a vague sentiment but a powerful, transformative reality.

As followers of Christ, we are called to emulate this love. We are to walk in love, not just towards those who love us, but even towards our enemies. This is the true mark of a Christian, to love as Christ loved, sacrificially and unconditionally. It is a high calling, one that requires a new nature and a new life, made possible only through being born again.

Key Takeaways

1. Smelling Savor:** Christ's sacrifice was pleasing to God, fully satisfying His justice. This satisfaction is the foundation of our reconciliation with God, highlighting the completeness of Christ's work on the cross. [29:30]
5. Walking in Love: As Christians, we are called to love as Christ loved, even our enemies. This love is not natural but requires a transformation that comes from being born again, enabling us to live out this high calling.

** [29:30]

Youtube Chapters

[00:00] - Welcome
[15:30] - The Depth of Our Unworthiness
[16:18] - Realizing Our Sinful Nature
[17:03] - Christ's Active Love
[18:12] - The Sacrifice of Christ
[19:03] - Christ's Voluntary Sacrifice
[21:03] - The Deliberate Nature of Christ's Sacrifice
[22:34] - Offering and Sacrifice Explained
[23:26] - Old Testament Sacrifices
[26:31] - Christ as the Ultimate Sacrifice
[27:08] - Sweet-Smelling Savor
[29:30] - God's Satisfaction in Christ's Sacrifice
[31:19] - Substitutionary Atonement
[35:03] - The Voluntary Nature of Christ's Death
[47:05] - Walking in Love as Christ Did

Sermon Clips

It's only as we realize all that that we begin to understand the meaning of the love of God and the love of the Lord Jesus Christ hath loved us these people that Paul has been describing in the previous chapter you remember what he's been saying about them these Gentiles who walk in the vanity of their mind having the understanding darkened being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them because of the blindness of their heart who being past feeling have given themselves over un lascivious to work all uncleanness with greediness that's the sort of people he's loved us loved us. [00:16:18]

He didn't merely allow things to happen to him it wasn't passive he ha given himself up he was active in this and the Apostle is very anxious that that should be emphasized also he is emphasizing this you see that he didn't merely give up his possessions he did give up many possessions in this way take that Exposition which the Apostle gives of this very phrase in that second chapter of the epistle to the Philippians which I read to you here it is who being in the form of God as the authoriz puts it thought it not robbery to be equal with God which really means this did not regard that as a prize to be held on to to be clutched at he didn't hold on to his prerogatives the prerogatives of his eternal deity no no he laid that aside he emptied himself he divested himself of these signs and Insignia of his Everlasting Glory he gave that up as it were for the time being he laid that aside he emptied it himself and made himself of no reputation here is a theme to occupy us for all eternity. [00:21:03]

He gave up things which he possessed and possess them as a right he didn't clutch on to this right of his this prerogative of godhead there with the father and all its signs and accompaniments no he deliberately laid them aside or as the Apostle puts it in writing The Second Epistle to the Corinthians though he was rich yet for our sakes he became poor there is an indication of the uh the possessions as I described them which he laid aside he gave his possessions as it were and put them into the background and not only took on him human nature but came as we are told in the former of a servant humbled himself not only to become a man but to become a servant and not is Zen consider all that that involved in the way of laying aside and he did lay all that aside but the Apostle's point is this that he didn't merely give all those things he did give them all but he gave himself himself his life his very self he gave it all up as a sacrifice not the things which he could command and lay aside but his very self submitted himself sacrificed himself utterly absolutely. [00:23:26]

The meaning of sacrifice you discover when you go back to your old testament the apostle was a Pharisee well versed in his Old Testament scriptures when he preached he always argued out his case from the Old Testament the New Testament is a fulfillment of the old the old points forward to the new what the new means by sacrifice is what the old means by sacrifice you see the Holy Spirit guided the early church which was mainly Gentile in character to preserve its Old Testament and the Old Testament is absolutely essential and a Christian who thinks he can do without the Old Testament is just displaying his ignorance you don't understand the new without the old take a great epistle like the epistle to the Hebrews you don't begin to understand it unless you know the Old Testament teaching about sacrifices and offerings shedding of blood and so on. [00:26:31]

The offering and the sacrifice of the Son of God upon the cross came up into the presence of God as something that pleased him that satisfied him something that gave him joy and pleasure yes but more it means this that God was indeed fully satisfied with what had been done his law made certain demands upon Sinners well now Christ has done this and God says he's satisfied it's a sweet smelling Savor a saor of a sweet smell God is perfectly satisfied with it our lord said it is finished and I believe the father said yes it is finished it's enough I require no more a sa of a sweet smell it ascended into the presence of God God and His holy law are fully satisfied and pleased and man is reconciled to God and can be forgiven as sweet smelling saver. [00:29:30]

He gave himself up he offered himself he gave himself as a sacrifice he became I say again the victim on whose head our sins were laid that's the Old Testament imagery that is what God taught Moses to teach the people the sins must be transferred to the victim that's to be offered here is the victim he made himself the victim for us and it was as one who had become victim for us that he was smitten that he was killed that his blood was shed and his body broken as that spotless lamb became the substitute for the sins of the people into the old dispensation he became our substitute John the Baptist so at the very beginning he pointed to him and said Behold the Lamb of God the the lamb that God himself has provided the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the world a sacrifice the one to whom the sins and the guilt are transferred and who then is smitten and slain God has made him to be sin for us who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in him who his own self bore our sins in his own body on the tree that we being dead to sins should live unto righteousness by who stripes we are healed. [00:35:03]

What I'm suggesting is this that no one rarely begins to understand the love of God and the love of the Lord Jesus Christ who doesn't believe the substitutionary and penal doctrine of the atonement think it out where do you see the love of God if his son is simply suffering there in a useless manner suffering the cruelty and all that men are doing what's the point of it it's useless suffering if it achieves nothing if it isn't substitutionary if it isn't penal if he isn't really dealing with sins I say there's no point in it it's your cruelty there's no love there and so on with your passive resistance and all the rest of it all the tragedy that men should think that they're exalting the love of God in that way whereas in reality they're just evacuating it of its real essence and of its endless Eternal profundities oh no here is where you see the love of God that God spared not his own son but delivered him up for us all he didn't spare him anything he poured upon him the vials of his wrath against sin he didn't spare anything why for us because of his love for us. [00:47:05]

Walk in love pray for them bring yourself to feel sorry for them so sorry that you'll have a burning desire within you that they may be delivered and you'll get on your knees and you'll feel something of your heart breaking for them because they're such victims of sin and of Satan love your enemies bless them that curse you do good to them that hate you pray for them that persecute you and use you despitefully and Mal you walk walk in love as Christ also hath loved us and has given himself up for us an offering and a sacrifice to God as a sweet smelling said is there anything in the world this morning which is comparable to the privilege of being a Christian we are asked and invited and called upon to live like that and we are own the only people in the world who can live like that no man who's not a Christian can live like that you need to be born again you must have a new nature and a new life you must have your eyes open to this blessed blessed truth nothing but that can ever enable us and persuade us to walk in love even as Christ did what a privilege what an honor what a high calling to be imitators of God and the Lord Jesus Christ. [00:47:05]

He didn't consider himself though he was equal with God thought it not robbery to hold on to it let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus look every man not on his own things but also on the things of the other says the Apostle to the Philippians that's what our Lord did let this mind that was his mind he didn't consider himself he didn't consider his rights he didn't consider his innocence he didn't consider his feelings he didn't consider his Comforts he didn't consider his ease he didn't consider himself at all he gave himself up Walk In Love even as Christ also have loved us and have given himself for us and the only other point I would ask you to consider is again as I said at the beginning that he did all that in spite of us as our Lord argues at the end of the fifth chapter of Matthew's gospel in The Sermon on the Mount there's no merit in loving those who love you the Gentiles do that there's no point there's nothing wonderful being kind to those who are kind to you everybody does it the worst man in the world does that oh this is what makes us Christian and proves that we are that we do to others what he has done for us we are ungodly Sinners enemies V nothing to recommend us and he did that for us gave himself up for us as an offering and a sacrifice to God so that when you and I meet difficult people people who have nothing to recommend them at all who are as vile and as objectionable and as foul as they can be Who attack us and persecute us and deal with us spitefully and malign us that's a we to deal with them. [00:47:05]

Pray for them bring yourself to feel sorry for them so sorry that you'll have a burning desire within you that they may be delivered and you'll get on your knees and you'll feel something of your heart breaking for them because they're such victims of sin and of Satan love your enemies bless them that curse you do good to them that hate you pray for them that persecute you and use you despitefully and Mal you walk walk in love as Christ also hath loved us and has given himself up for us an offering and a sacrifice to God as a sweet smelling said is there anything in the world this morning which is comparable to the privilege of being a Christian we are asked and invited and called upon to live like that and we are own the only people in the world who can live like that no man who's not a Christian can live like that you need to be born again you must have a new nature and a new life you must have your eyes open to this blessed blessed truth nothing but that can ever enable us and persuade us to walk in love even as Christ did what a privilege what an honor what a high calling to be imitators of God and the Lord Jesus Christ. [00:47:05]

He didn't consider himself though he was equal with God thought it not robbery to hold on to it let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus look every man not on his own things but also on the things of the other says the Apostle to the Philippians that's what our Lord did let this mind that was his mind he didn't consider himself he didn't consider his rights he didn't consider his innocence he didn't consider his feelings he didn't consider his Comforts he didn't consider his ease he didn't consider himself at all he gave himself up Walk In Love even as Christ also have loved us and have given himself for us and the only other point I would ask you to consider is again as I said at the beginning that he did all that in spite of us as our Lord argues at the end of the fifth chapter of Matthew's gospel in The Sermon on the Mount there's no merit in loving those who love you the Gentiles do that there's no point there's nothing wonderful being kind to those who are kind to you everybody does it the worst man in the world does that oh this is what makes us Christian and proves that we are that we do to others what he has done for us we are ungodly Sinners enemies V nothing to recommend us and he did that for us gave himself up for us as an offering and a sacrifice to God so that when you and I meet difficult people people who have nothing to recommend them at all who are as vile and as objectionable and as foul as they can be Who attack us and persecute us and deal with us spitefully and malign us that's a we to deal with them. [00:47:05]

Pray for them bring yourself to feel sorry for them so sorry that you'll have a burning desire within you that they may be delivered and you'll get on your knees and you'll feel something of your heart breaking for them because they're such victims of sin and of Satan love your enemies bless them that curse you do good to them that hate you pray for them that persecute you and use you despitefully and Mal you walk walk in love as Christ also hath loved us and has given himself up for us an offering and a sacrifice to God as a sweet smelling said is there anything in the world this morning which is comparable to the privilege of being a Christian we are asked and invited and called upon to live like that and we are own the only people in the world who can live like that no man who's not a Christian can live like that you need to be born again you must have a new nature and a new life you must have your eyes open to this blessed blessed truth nothing but that can ever enable us and persuade us to walk in love even as Christ did what a privilege what an honor what a high calling to be imitators of God and the Lord Jesus Christ. [00:47:05]

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