A New Day

By: Pastor Johnie Akers  

John 15:13, “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.”  Dr. Claude H. Barlow, was a missionary to China in the early 20th century and one of the most revered foreigners to work in that land. A strange disease for which he initially knew no remedy was killing people. There were no research laboratories for this disease, so Dr. Barlow conducted his own research. He studied the disease, filling a notebook with his observations. He then procured a vial of disease germs and sailed for the United States. Before he arrived, he took the germs into his own body, and then went to the John Hopkins University Hospital to be observed. At that point, Claude Barlow became very ill. He allowed his old professors at John Hopkins to use him for experimentation. A cure was found, which a healthy Claude Barlow took back to China with him. His efforts saved countless lives. When asked about the experience, Dr. Barlow replied, “Anyone would have done the same thing. I happened to be in a position of vantage and had the chance to offer my body.”  I doubt that just anyone would have done that, don’t you? Only a person with a very special kind of love in his or her heart would make that kind of sacrifice. It is that very special kind of love proceeding from the heart of God that determined to make a supreme sacrifice so that we might be redeemed.  Jesus took upon himself, within His own body, the very sin that had plagued mankind from the fall of the first Adam.  He who knew no sin, literally became sin, and on the cross, bore the penalty for every sin of every person, past, present, and future.  Thus, He has provided forever the remedy for sin—the imputation of His perfect righteousness to us.  Friend, no matter how egregious your sin may seem, there is a remedy; and that remedy was borne through the body and blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.  We all make mistakes.  We all, according to Scripture, “have sinned and come short of the glory of God.”  But the Great Physician has given us freely the permanent cure by His grace.  So we may live in the freedom His love and grace has provided, with each new day.