He found their hearts estranged from Him!
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Ezekiel 36:25-27,
"I will sprinkle clean water on you and you will be clean;
I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols.
I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you;
I will remove from you your heart of stone, and give you a heart of flesh.
I will put My Spirit in you and cause you to follow My decrees, and be careful to keep My laws."
Jesus loves His people with everlasting love, and has inscribed their names upon His heart.
He has received them as the jewels of His crown, and the signet ring upon His right hand.
He delights over them, as a bridegroom over His spouse.
He knew that a hellish master had usurped dominion over them. He encountered this diabolical foe, and rescued them from his cruel grasp. So they became His by conquest.
He found them wretched, and pitiful, and poor, and blind, and naked—and He wrought out a glorious robe of righteousness to adorn them for His celestial palace.
He knew that their sins were both abominable and innumerable. So He laid down His life and shed His sin-atoning blood to satisfy each demand of divine justice.
He found their hearts estranged from Him, and their affections given to the worthless baubles of this fleeting world. He sent His Holy Spirit . . .
to win their love,
to create new hearts within them,
to lead them to choose Him as their everlasting all.
Thus they became His by voluntary surrender.
"I have loved you, My people, with an everlasting love. With unfailing love I have drawn you to Myself. I will put My law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be My people. I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more!" Jeremiah 31:3, 33-34