ambassadors for the risen Christ ministries

by Shawn Brasseaux
2011 Update

Valentine’s Day is a time when people show their love toward one another. The day is filled with flowers, hugs, kisses (both the physical type and the chocolates, lol), and other intimate activities. People celebrate February 14 a day where acts of love are shown toward significant others, friends, and so on. Sadly, very seldom is this affection is ever directed to heaven. On this day of love, most people just forget God altogether—just like the other 364 days. They care not to remember Him because of guilt and sin, or they are so wrapped up in this secular society that they just forget the sacrifice that He gave for them. In this Bible study, we want to show you God’s love for you on Calvary.

How it grieves God to see His creation just ignore Him…. After everything He has done, and they are still ungrateful souls. There is the Creator, dwelling in heaven, tears filling His eyes as He observes the undeserving and selfish ways of humanity. Satan stands at the throne of God, chuckling and grinning. The creatures that are supposed to bring glory and honor to the Lord Jesus Christ are those which are doing everything but. Oh, how sad!

Why is it ironic that people forget God on Valentine’s Day? The answer can be found in the Bible, in 1 John 4:7-10 KJV:

“7 Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God.
8 He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.
9 In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him.
10 Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation [fully-satisfying payment] for our sins.”

Not only is God’s nature love, not only is His plan for us filled with love, GOD IS LOVE. His very being is love, yet very few remember God on February 14. Everything He does is done out of love. The nature of the three Persons of the Godhead is to live for one another—God the Father lives for God the Son and God the Holy Spirit, God the Son lives for God the Father and God the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit lives for God the Father and God the Son.

God is the only source of true, unfailing, infinite, genuine love. God’s love is a love that surpasses all: it cannot be matched or measured, and it always remains the same. It was His abounding love for us—in addition to His grace and mercy—that prompted Him to go to Calvary to die on our behalf.

“We [Christians] love Him [God], because he first loved us” (1 John 4:19 KJV). God knew that sinful humanity was doomed to hell, but it was His love, His grace, and His mercy that sent Him to the cross for us. He knew most of humanity would be ungrateful and scoff at Him, despite His ultimate sacrifice. He knew that He would suffer greatly and would die the worst death ever conceived by the human mind, but His love was so great, so intense, and so abounding that He went through with it—all of the way.

Let us consider Romans 5:6-11 KJV:

“6 For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.
7 For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die.
8 But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
9 Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.
10 For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.
11 And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement.”

Jesus Christ even loved those Roman soldiers who nailed Him to the cross! Prior to His physical death, Jesus Christ hung there thinking of us—He was thinking of you! His final thoughts were “I have accomplished their salvation.” He declared from Calvary’s cross, “It is finished” (John 19:30). Then He bowed His head and gave up His Spirit to His heavenly Father. In that instant His loving heart beat for the last time and stopped. The Creator gave His life for His creation! Furthermore, He is alive evermore, willing to become your Saviour if you would trust in what He did for you!

Read Paul’s Gospel of Grace, as found in 1 Corinthians 15:1-4 KJV:

“1 Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand;
2 By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain.
3 For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures;
4 And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:”

Why not trust in Christ Jesus alone as your personal Saviour today? Why not have your sins forgiven? Why not be made right with God today? Why not receive salvation from your sins? Why not trust in the Lord’s finished crosswork on Calvary. We can find abounding Person of Jesus Christ. “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13). Hung and slain between two thieves, the innocent Saviour, the intelligent Creator, and the omnipotent God of the universe showed His love for you on Calvary….