In this is love........

Please see 1st John 4:10


1st John 4:10 In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.


This has been a favorite verse of mine over the years. It does describe for us, what love is. That is, what is this love that John talks about in his epistle. 


This love that was demonstrated in Jesus Christ's coming from heaven to this world. He took upon Himself a human body, and lived with the single focus of going to the cross, and there dying for our sins. He came to take away our sins, and to bring us to God.


What John does in this verse, and of course, it's really the Lord speaking through John, but what is said here, is that this love, is not that we loved God, but, that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 


This underscores the truth and the fact, that salvation is something that God gets the credit for rather then us. It leaves out any chance for us to boast. God gets all the credit. 


It's clear that it was the Lord who loves us, and it was the Lord who sent His Son for us. We did not have a natural love for God. We did not produce Jesus Christ, we did not make Him come about, or put the idea into God's mind to send Jesus. In fact, we did not even truly know that we were sinners. Normally, it's just the opposite. We think others are sinners, and that we ourselves are very righteous in ourselves.


But, He loved us. This is the motivation behind God sending Jesus to the earth. It was not because of anything great within us, that somehow made God love us, no, in fact, we are sinners. Born that way, and living that way. So, there was nothing within us that somehow caused God's love. He simply loved us. And, he does love us. And, it's His love that brought about the coming of Christ to the earth. 


His love sent Jesus to be the propitiation for our sins. That word means, satisfaction. Jesus Christ's sacrifice on the cross, is the only offering that satisfied God concerning sin. 


If it was possible for the blood of bulls and of goats to save us, then there would not have been any need to send Jesus. But, those animals could not save us. 


If it was somehow possible to offset our current and past sins by our living good lives, and our doing good deeds, then there would have been no need to send Jesus. But, we could not do those things so as to satisfy God. 


No, it too, Christ coming to the earth, and dying on the cross to take care of sin as far as God was concerned. And, that is exactly what Jesus did. 


So, when you look at Jesus Christ, and when you think about Him, you can know that because you are in Christ, because He is your savior, God is satisfied with you, because of Christ. 


Pastor Bob Grenier
Calvary Chapel Visalia