{"id":5496,"date":"2019-11-17T07:22:00","date_gmt":"2019-11-17T07:22:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/?p=5496"},"modified":"2019-11-17T07:22:00","modified_gmt":"2019-11-17T07:22:00","slug":"the-infinite-ocean-of-christs-love%ef%bb%bf","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/?p=5496","title":{"rendered":"The infinite ocean of Christ\u2019s love!\ufeff"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The infinite ocean of Christ\u2019s love!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Octavius Winslow, \u201cThe Emotion of Love in Christ\u201d)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The mind has often been sensible of a feeling<\/p>\n\n\n\n

of awe as we have stood upon the shore, and<\/p>\n\n\n\n

gazed upon the vast expanse of the ocean.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With a similar, yet far transcending emotion,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

we approach the infinite ocean of Christ\u2019s love!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Like the eternity of God, we cannot fathom<\/p>\n\n\n\n

where His love begins, or where it terminates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is no other solution to the marvelous<\/p>\n\n\n\n

mysteries of His Incarnation and Sacrificial<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Death but this: Christ has loved us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Love originated all, explains all, illustrates all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Love is the interpreter of every Divine mystery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is not a circumstance of our Lord\u2019s history<\/p>\n\n\n\n

which is not another form or manifestation of love.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His incarnation is love stooping.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His sympathy is love weeping.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His compassion is love supporting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His grace is love acting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His teaching is the voice of love.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His silence is the repose of love.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His patience is the restraint of love.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His obedience is the labor of love.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His suffering is the travail of love.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His cross is the altar of love.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His death is the burnt offering of love.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His resurrection is the triumph of love.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His ascension into heaven is the enthronement of love.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His sitting down at the right hand of God is the intercession of love.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Such is the deep, the vast, the boundless ocean<\/p>\n\n\n\n

of Christ\u2019s love! The soul muses in silent awe as<\/p>\n\n\n\n

it gazes upon this fathomless, limitless sea!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nothing short of a divine love could or would have<\/p>\n\n\n\n

borne our sins, and the punishment of our sins.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The weight of the one, and the terribleness of the<\/p>\n\n\n\n

other, would have crushed and annihilated a mere<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018created\u2019 affection. There existed no love but the<\/p>\n\n\n\n

love of Jesus equal to the work of salvation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Who was willing, who was able, to bear that heavy<\/p>\n\n\n\n

load, to endure that overwhelming curse, but Jesus?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Oh, think, beloved reader, what the love<\/p>\n\n\n\n

of Christ has done and suffered for you\u2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

the burden it bore,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

the sorrow it felt,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

the humiliation it underwent,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

the insults,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

the ignominy,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

the privation through which it traveled;<\/p>\n\n\n\n

its groans,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

its sighs,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

its tears,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

its darkness,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

how inconceivably it agonized,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

how freely it bled,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

how voluntarily it died,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

the sins it has pardoned,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

the guilt it has cleansed,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

the declensions it has restored,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

the backslidings it has healed,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

the sorrows it has soothed,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

the patience it has exercised,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

the gentleness it has exhibited,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

and then ask, could any other but the love of<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jesus have done all this, and endured all this?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Such is the love of Christ!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To have saved us upon such terms\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

a stoop so low,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

a humiliation so profound,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

a labor so immense,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

mental anguish so acute,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

bodily suffering so agonizing,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

a death so ignominious\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Was ever love like this?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Was it ever equaled? Where shall we find its parallel?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Love less divine, less strong, less gentle, could<\/p>\n\n\n\n

never have won your heart, uprooted your enmity,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

tore you from your idols; enthroning Christ, all of<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Christ, Christ only, Christ supremely, Christ forever!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The love of Christ will be the wonder, the study, and<\/p>\n\n\n\n

the song of all pure, holy intelligences through eternity!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Beloved, nothing shall take the love of Christ from you,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

or separate you from it. It does not ebb with the ebbing<\/p>\n\n\n\n

of your feelings; it does not chill with the chill of your<\/p>\n\n\n\n

affections; it does not change with the changing scenes<\/p>\n\n\n\n

and circumstances of your life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The love of Christ has depths we cannot sound,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

heights we cannot explore, an infinite fulness and<\/p>\n\n\n\n

freeness tiding over all the sins, infirmities, and<\/p>\n\n\n\n

sorrows of its blessed and favored objects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Seek to know this love of Christ, though it is so vast<\/p>\n\n\n\n

that it \u2018passes knowledge.\u2019 Infinite though it is, you<\/p>\n\n\n\n

may experience its reality, taste its sweetness, and be<\/p>\n\n\n\n

influenced by its all commanding, all constraining power.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Do not limit your heart experience of Christ\u2019s love, for<\/p>\n\n\n\n

it is infinite in its nature, and boundless in its extent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As yet, how many of us stand but upon the shore<\/p>\n\n\n\n

of this ocean! How little do we know, experimentally,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

of the love of Christ in our souls!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bring your heart with\u2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

its profoundest emptiness,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

its most startling discovery of sin,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

its lowest frame,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

its deepest sorrow, and<\/p>\n\n\n\n

sink it into the depths of the Savior\u2019s love!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That infinite sea will flow over all, erase all,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

absorb all, and your soul shall swim and sport<\/p>\n\n\n\n

amid its gentle waves, exclaiming in your joy<\/p>\n\n\n\n

and transport, \u201cOh, the depths!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Lord direct your heart into the love of God!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just as it is\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

hard,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

cold,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

fickle,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

sinful,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

sad and<\/p>\n\n\n\n

sorrowful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Christ\u2019s love touching your hard heart, will dissolve it!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Christ\u2019s love touching your cold heart, will warm it!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Christ\u2019s love touching your sinful heart, will purify it!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Christ\u2019s love touching your sorrowful heart, will soothe it!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Christ\u2019s love touching your wandering heart, will draw it back to Himself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Only bring your heart to Christ\u2019s love!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Believe that He loves you, and just as love begets<\/p>\n\n\n\n

love, so the simple belief in the love of Jesus will<\/p>\n\n\n\n

inspire you with a reflected, responsive affection;<\/p>\n\n\n\n

and your soul, like the flower, will burst from its<\/p>\n\n\n\n

captivity, and bloom, and, soaring in life, liberty,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

and beauty, will float in the sunbeams of Gods full,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

free, and eternal love; and, in a little while, will<\/p>\n\n\n\n

find itself in heaven, where all is love!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBlessed Jesus! Your love, like Your agonies, is an<\/p>\n\n\n\n

unknown and unfathomable depth! It passes knowledge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let it rise and expand before me, until it fills the entire<\/p>\n\n\n\n

scope of my soul\u2019s vision; occupies every niche of my heart;<\/p>\n\n\n\n

and bears me onward by its all commanding, all constraining<\/p>\n\n\n\n

influence, in the path of a holy loving obedience and surrender.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMay you experience the love of Christ, though it is so<\/p>\n\n\n\n

great you will never fully understand it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The infinite ocean of Christ\u2019s love! (Octavius Winslow, \u201cThe Emotion of Love in Christ\u201d) The mind has often been sensible of a feeling of awe as we have stood upon the shore, and gazed upon the vast expanse of the ocean. With a similar, yet far transcending emotion, we approach the infinite ocean of Christ\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,34],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5496","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-author-octavius-winslow","category-gods-love"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5496","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5496"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5496\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5497,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5496\/revisions\/5497"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5496"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5496"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5496"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}