This Is Love

In this, the love of God was made manifest.

He has revealed his love by these means. In this way, he sent his son into the world. This passage tells us that Jesus is the most apparent way that God revealed his love to the world. So, why is that such a big deal? How does Jesus reveal the great magnitude of God's love? Well, first, because of who Jesus is as God's Son. God the Father perfectly loves God the Son. In the Gospels, God calls down from heaven that Jesus is his beloved Son and that he is well-pleased with him. In John's Gospel, Jesus proclaims that the Father loves the Son and has given all things into his hand. That the Father loves the Son and shows him all things that he himself is doing. See, God the Father withholds nothing from his Son and takes pleasure in bestowing upon him everything that he has. We also see that the Father loved the Son before the foundation of the world. In eternity past, there had never been a time where the Father has not loved the Son. We also see that Jesus, he abides, he remains in God's love. So God's love primarily exists in the perfect intimacy and the perfect unity between God the Father and God the Son. So when God sent his son into the world, he sent that which was most precious and most valuable to him. And second, it's a big deal that God sent his son because of who we are as the recipients of God's love. God sent his son into the world as an act of grace. It was an act of undeserved, unmerited favor from God for sinners like us. Some refer to this as God's love of benevolence. It's free, unconditional, purely compassionate, flowing solely from God's good and sovereign will. I mean, think about who you're inclined to buy gifts for. Your family, your friends. We desire to give gifts to the people that are close to us, the people that have gained our affection. I mean, we don't normally buy gifts for strangers, and we certainly don't buy gifts for, we don't want to buy gifts for our enemies, that person at work that has been slandering us in the office, that bully in the hallway that won't stop calling us names, that so-called friend that betrayed you, stabbed you in the back. And yet God desired to send his son as a gift of love for his enemies, for sinners like you and like me. See, that's how the Bible describes us in our sin. It describes us as enemies of God and hostile to him. See, in sin, we're not trying our best to be good and just coming up short. No, the Bible says that no one seeks after God. that we have all turned away from God, and that our words, our actions, and our desires are only evil continually. And this sin, it does not go unpunished. It's a horrific offense against a holy and righteous God. God is love, and yet he is also just. He's declared a punishment for sin that fits the crime. the wages of sin, the punishment for wickedness and rebellion against God is death. As sinners, we deserve to be put to death, both physically and spiritually, under God's eternal punishment in hell. And that's why Christ's coming, it was such a tremendous act of love. Jesus was sent to benefit a world full of spiritual rebels, outlaws, and enemies who deserve God's wrath and chastisement. Jumping down to verse 10, we see that God sent his son not because we loved him, but because he loved us. God did not send Jesus into the world because of our spiritual worthiness or our spiritual beauty. We did not make the first move toward God. And God's love, it's not dependent on anything we did or anything we were going to do or anything that we even could do for him. No, God sent his son out of his sheer desire to reveal his love for the spiritually unlovely and undeserving. And so although we deserve death for our sins, Christ came so that we may have life, life eternal and life abundant. And that brings us to our second point, that God sent his son to give us life through him. So in verse nine, we also see that God sent his son into the world so that we might have life through him. The purpose of God sending his son was to give life to sinners who deserve death. See, Jesus didn't come to simply provide an example of a godly life or to teach us how to earn life for ourselves. He didn't come with five pillars. He didn't come with an eight-fold path. He didn't come offering a 12-step program. No, he offered and came to give us life itself as a gift. When we think about gifts from God, it's tempting for us just to think about worldly things, right? Things like health and wealth and happiness. We thank God for the food on our tables, for the roof over our heads, the funds to pay the bills, the friends we're surrounded by, the circumstances we've been given. And we pray fervently for God to heal us when we're sick, to provide for us when we're low on funds, and to rid us of stress and anxiety. And none of that is bad in and of itself. Yes, we certainly should thank God for the good things we have and pray for God to provide for our physical needs. But earthly provisions do not address our greatest need. And if that's all that we think about, if that's all that we pray about, if that's all that we care about, we fail to acknowledge the greatest gift that God has offered us, the gift of eternal life in Christ. This gift is, it's so great because of our great need to be given eternal life. You see, in sin we all fall short of God's righteousness, and we cannot earn eternal life for ourselves. Eternal life, it can only be earned by a perfectly moral, perfectly righteous person. When Jesus came to earth, he lived that perfect life. He never sinned. His actions and his intentions were purely good and upright. He was worthy of receiving eternal life based on his own merit and his own works. He could stand before a holy God without fear of being destroyed. And the good news is that Christ came and lived a perfect life for our sake. By grace, he offers us his perfect record of obedience, his righteous standing, and the blessings that come from a right relationship with God the Father. These blessings, according to 1 John, include the forgiveness of sins, adoption into God's family, the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, assurance of salvation, confidence on the day of judgment, fearlessness before God, and victory over the world and the evil one. Ultimately, Jesus offers us life everlasting, eternal peace, eternal joy, and eternal rest in the loving presence of God. We can't earn these things for ourselves. We can only receive them by faith. We can only trust in Jesus to earn life for us. And God is faithful. He is faithful to give life to everyone who believes in Jesus as Savior and Lord. And so finally we come to verse 10. And we see here that God's great gift of love, it doesn't just give, but it also takes. It's the gift of the great exchange, that Jesus came into the world to give sinners life by taking the punishment for sin onto himself. So point three, God sent his son to pay the penalty for sin. 1 John 4.10, it says,

in this is love, not that we have loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins.

See, in love, God sent his son not only to credit sinners' spiritual bank accounts with righteousness, but also to pay the debt for sin that we earn. Jesus is the propitiation for our sins. He's the atoning sacrifice. He makes the necessary payment to satisfy our debt. And he paid the penalty for sin with his own life. You see, we can't truly celebrate Christmas without considering Christ on the cross. This is why Jesus came. He came to die as the atoning sacrifice for sin. On the cross, Jesus took on the death we deserve so that we could be reconciled back to God. Our sin was not just forgotten about. It was not just brushed aside. No, justice, it was fully exercised for sin in Christ's death. Jesus experienced God's wrath to its fullest extent. Yes, salvation is a gift, but it is certainly not a free gift. It was paid for by Christ's precious, sinless life. His life alone was worthy enough to satisfy the debt we owed, and his death completely paid the price for sin. We know this because three days later, after he was crucified, he rose from the dead. Payment had been made in full. See, this is the great exchange. Our sin laid on Christ, Christ's righteousness given to us. 2 Corinthians 5.21 says, I mean, just think about the magnitude of this. arse that God didn't just send his son to pay our debt and give us a clean slate, nor did he simply fill up our spiritual bank accounts so that we could pay off the debt on our own. God didn't just give us a second chance. No, God sent his son to completely pay the debt we owe and completely and fully give us everything that we need for eternal and abundant life. is the great gift of love that God gave us by sending his son into the world. With our time left, I'd like to address two groups of people here tonight. First, if you're not a Christian, we are so grateful to have you with us. I would like to ask you, what are you celebrating on Christmas? I mean, if Jesus isn't your savior, if you don't know the love of God like we've just discussed, What do you have to celebrate? I mean, it's sobering to think about. I get it. I understand. But it's important to recognize that Christ has come because you need to be saved from your sin. I mean, apart from Christ Christmas, it's just a reminder that one day you are going to stand before God in judgment. You are going to be held accountable for your sins. But the good news is that Christ has come. and you can be saved from your sin. So turn from your sin. Place your faith in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. Receive the gift of God's love that has been offered to you in Christ. If you'd like to learn more about this good news, talk with the person that you came with tonight. Ask them what it would mean for you to be saved. Second, for those of us that are believers, Notice that these verses are embedded in the command for us to love one another. This section starts in verse seven, which says,

Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.

Verses nine and 10 are our passage tonight. These are the reasons why we ought to love one another. It's because God has loved us and sent his son for us. Right after our passage, verses 11 and 12, it says,

Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God. If we love one another, God abides in us, and his love is perfected in us.

Christian, God has loved us in Christ so that we would display his love to a darkened and fallen world. The most prominent way to do this is by laying down your life for the sake of our fellow Christians. 1 John 3, 16 to 18, it says,

But if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart to him, how does God's love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk, but in deed and in truth.

As Christians, Christmas should not be the only time of year that we express our loves for others. No, the entire Christian life should be marked by love, by generosity, by sacrifice, by compassion. Not because of anything that someone has done for you, but because you want to give yourself up for them, just as God has loved you and sent his son for you. So to close as we celebrate Christmas tomorrow, we really are celebrating the greatest gift of love. We celebrate God's love for sinners. We celebrate God sending his son into the world so that we would know God and see his love on full display. Jesus Christ has come to reveal the gracious and merciful and benevolent love of God. He has come so that we could receive eternal life. and the forgiveness of sins. And that is a love worth celebrating. Let's pray. Father God, we praise you as the God who is love. We confess that we have not desired your love or earned your love or loved you as we should. And we thank you that you sent your son into the world to give us life and be the propitiation for our sins. We pray that those who do not know you will come to experience the fullness of life in Christ by faith. And we pray that those who do know you love one another just as you have loved them and sent your son for them. We pray that tonight and tomorrow would be a joyous celebration. And we pray that you bring us back here safely tomorrow morning to continue worshiping you. Pray all this in Jesus' name, amen.