Thanks Be To God

THANKS BE TO GOD

Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift! 2 Corinthians 9:15

THANKS BE TO GOD THE FATHER FOR SENDING HIS SON

“And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son as Savior of the world.” (I John 4:14)

The human mind cannot conceive the depth of the love of God for us that He would sacrifice His Son to save us from our sins. To be “Savior of the world” meant His dying because “without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sin. (Hebrews 9:22)

THANKS BE TO THE SON FOR HIS CONDESCENSION

As a divine love was required to enable the Father to send His Son; likewise it required a divine love for the Son to lay aside His celestial glory and come to earth to die for the sins of mankind.

“…Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” (Philippians 2:5b-8)

When we think of Christ in the eternal glory that was His before His incarnation, our minds are turned to the John 1:1-3. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.”

The Apostle Paul reinforced the truth spoken by John in his epistle to the Colossians. “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist.” (Colossians 1:15-17)

THANKS BE TO THE SON FOR HIS EARTHLY LIFE

1. The Grace that Prompted His Coming: “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, so that you through His poverty might become rich.” (2 Corinthians 8:9)

Our hearts will be blessed if we will think of this great verse of Scripture in this way. Pause to consider these things.

a. How rich He was in His pre-incarnate glory.

b. How poor He became; beginning with His birth in a stable and continuing until His glorious resurrection.

c. How poor we were…”dead in our trespasses and sins”; spiritually destitute. Ephesians 2:12-13 reads, “Remember that you were at that time separate from Christ, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.”

d. How rich we become. Consider Romans 8:16-17: “The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs--heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.”

2. The Poverty that He Willingly Endured:

“And Jesus said to him, "Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.” (Matthew 8:20)

3, The Wonderful Work He Did: "…how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him.” (Acts 10:38)

4. The Perfect Example that He Set: “For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.” (Hebrews 4:15)

THANKS BE TO THE SON FOR THE SALVATION THAT ONLY HE CAN GIVE

Jesus told His disciples the He was “the” way, “the” truth and “the” life and that no one could come to the Father except through Him. The world would like for you to believe that there are several ways for a man to be saved; that all of the religions will ultimately lead mankind to God. Beloved, that is exactly what Satan wants everyone to believe. Jesus is far more than “a way” to God; He is “the only way” to God. "And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved." (Acts 4:12)

Not only is He the only One who can save, but praise His name, He can and will save everyone who will trust Him as their Savior and confess Him as their Lord. (Romans 10:9-10).

“Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.” (Hebrews 7:25)