Trusting In God’s Love – July 9, 2015

Hebrews 8:6-13     But as it is, Christ has obtained a ministry which is as much more excellent than the old as the covenant he mediates is better, since it is enacted on better promises. For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion for a second.

For he finds fault with them when he says:

“The days will come, says the Lord,
when I will establish a new covenant with the house of Israel
and with the house of Judah; not like the covenant that I made with their fathers
on the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt;
for they did not continue in my covenant, and so I paid no heed to them, says the Lord.
This is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord:
I will put my laws into their minds, and write them on their hearts, and I will be their God,
and they shall be my people.
And they shall not teach everyone his fellow or everyone his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’
for all shall know me, from the least of them to the greatest.
For I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more.”

In speaking of a new covenant he treats the first as obsolete. And what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.

Jeremiah 50:5     They will ask the way to Zion and turn their faces toward it. They will come and bind themselves to the LORD in an everlasting covenant that will not be forgotten.

Luke 22:20     In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.

Galatians 3:20     A mediator, however, implies more than one party; but God is one.

Ephesians 2:12     remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world.

1 Timothy 2:5     For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus,

Trusting God is a foundational principle in the Christian life. We are expected to accept that God is perfect in love, infinite in wisdom, and sovereign in control. We don’t automatically grasp these truths at the moment of salvation; rather, we learn them over time. Of these three facts, however, the one we most seem to doubt is the Lord’s love for us. However, Scripture gives us three proofs to rely upon when our certainty starts to waver.

Character love—God’s very nature is love (1 John 4:8). The Bible also tells us that God is light and there is no darkness in Him (1 John 1:5). In other words, there’s nothing sinful or imperfect in His character. If the Father is perfect and loving, He will never mistreat one of His children.

Calvary love—Jesus' sacrificial death on the cross for our sins provides irrefutable evidence of divine love. The Father's heart for humanity was revealed when He gave His Son to die in our place. Through Christ, salvation is available to all, but He would have made the same choice if you had been the only person on earth.

Covenant love—God is committed to making us heirs (Hebrews 8:10). We know that when we receive Jesus Christ as our Savior, we become children of God. Our immaturity is the reason He is patient and kind to us. God sees us as we are—little ones learning to navigate in our short-term earthly home.

As growing believers, we can't trust God if we doubt His devotion. Thankfully, we possess these amazing proofs. It is the heavenly Father's very nature to love, which He demonstrated at the cross and continues to prove by adopting us as His sons and daughters.