But God

But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us,  Ephesians 2:4 (KJV)

Sandwiched between the past and the future are the two most important words that you will ever read.  This changes everything!  In Ephesians 2:1-3, Paul peels back the veneer of this world and reveals the core of an apple that went bad with just one bite of sin. 
We were dead in trespasses and sins.  God had told Adam "You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die."  Genesis 2:16-17 (NIV)  Because we were the seed of Adam, his sin was passed down to us through the bloodline.  Every man, woman, and child is born in sin and shaped in iniquity.  We walked in lock step with this world, Satan had a hold of our hearts and the spirit of disobedience drove us farther away from God. Our lives were defined by the lusts of the flesh and our days spent fulfilling whatever sin the mind could conceive.  We were by nature the children of wrath. 
That is an ominous description written by Paul of the lost.  It was our nature that compelled us to sin and it was the same nature that brought us to judgment before the throne of God.  There is a side of God that responds to the unholy, rebellious sin of man.  When His righteous wrath is compelled by His Just nature to answer the call of His Holy indignation there is nothing that can save us.  There is nothing worse, as the preacher repined, than to be “Sinners in the hands of an angry God.”  We were without doubt headed for an appointment with an angry God and there was nothing we could do about it.  In fact there was nothing we wanted to do about it.  We were on a collision course with the words that would fashion our eternity  “Depart from me you workers of iniquity, I never knew you.”

But God!  There they are the two words that changed everything.  When we were without hope and justice demanded payment God stepped onto the courtroom floor and begin to speak.  When it seemed that there was no way, God made a way.  Changing the future of all mankind the Spirit came upon Mary and she conceived.  How could this be?  Unthinkable!  Unknowable!  Unsearchable!  That Holy God would offer Himself so that unholy man might be saved.  Not just saved but changed!  The sinful heart washed by the perfect sacrifice. 

This week we will look at the two words that made Christmas possible, two words that are still just as powerful and life changing as they were when first spoken.  “But God!”