John 3:16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
It was a sunny Saturday
morning and the man decided to bring his seven-year-old son along to work with
him to show his son what his daddy did. He showed him the big gears which
raised and lowered the bridge and how to pull the levers here and there. The boy
later played along the river skipping rocks on the water, chased some
butterflies, and even tried to catch some fish.
Just before noon, a passenger
train was due to come through the area. So, the man began to make preparations
to let the bridge down so the train could pass safely across the river. As he
examined the bridge, he noticed that someone—a small child—must have crawled
over the guardrail next to the bridge and had gotten his foot stuck in one of
the gears. As he looked closer, he was horrified to discover that it was his
own son. He heard the train’s first whistle blow. The child was too far away
for him to run to his rescue and get back to lower the bridge. He knew he had
to make a quick decision. If he lowered the bridge now, his son would die,
crushed by the mammoth gears. But if he didn’t, all the people on the train
would die as the train plunged into the river. He barely had time to think.
As he screamed in agony, the
man thrust forward the lever to lower the bridge just as the train arrived. His
son died instantly. As the train glided by, the man noticed people in the passenger
cars reading their papers and magazines, sipping their drinks, some laughing
and some waved, but all were oblivious to what had just taken place. The man
could take it no longer. He screamed after the train to the top of his voice:
"Don’t you understand? Don’t you know what I did for you? I gave my son’s
life for you! Don’t you care?"
This wonderful Illustration was taken from a sermon preached
by Pastor Kent Kestler on March 24th, 2007. This story is a
wonderful illustration of the love the Father demonstrated for all people when
He sacrificed His one and only Son on Calvaries Hill. The free offer of
salvation is available to all that accept the blood sacrifice freely given to any
and everyone who accepts Him as their Lord and Savior. All that place their
faith and trust in Christ, not depending on their own works, will know eternal life.
This portrays the eternal love of God. The love we receive among people
may diminish or fade, however, the love of God will never alter or wither. He
will never stop loving His people, even unto the furthest distance of eternity.
God is the only source of the foundation of salvation, it originates and has its entire being in His love. Although we had no worthiness in and of ourselves, He gave His one and only Son to die for our sins (John 1:14, 18; 3:18; 4:9-10). We had nothing in and of ourselves that produced Him to take the initiative for our salvation. God did not lend His Son, He sacrificed Him for us. He gave the best He had to give. Neither was Christ an unwilling victim (Hebrews 9:14). There was no sacrifice too great for God to give for us. We cannot measure the love of His sacrifice for us.
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