Jesus, the Atoning Sacrifice for Our Sins
1 John 4v10
30th June 2023
Last time, we looked at verses 7-9, which teach us about agape love, and tell us that God is agape love. That passage ends with the words, "This is how God showed his [agape] love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him." Now John says more about this supreme example of agape love:
1 John 4v10
This is [agape] love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent
his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.
Our relationship with God, as His children, His chosen, redeemed people, His royal priesthood, forgiven and set free, didn't begin with us; it began with Him. He loved us before we loved Him. He loved us before we even thought about Him. He loved us before we were born. He loved us before the beginning of time. He chose us, and He purposed to send Jesus to die for us.
Now John states explicitly why God sent Jesus into the world, and this is very important for us to understand. Jesus came to be an atoning sacrifice for our sins. God the Father sent Him with the set purpose that He would be crucified in our place.
Some people make the huge mistake of thinking that the crucifixion was result of God's plan going wrong. As if God's plan could possibly go wrong! God doesn't make mistakes. The very reason why God the Father sent Jesus into the world was to die for us. He did this because it was the only way we could have spiritual life. His life was the price for our lives.
God didn't send His Son into the world to prove His love for us. He sent Him to die to pay for our sins. It does, of course, prove that He loves us, but that's not why it happened. God sent Jesus to be our atoning sacrifice, because we couldn't be forgiven any other way.
If you've ever done something wrong, you should pay for what you've done. If you've broken somebody's window, you should pay for it to be replaced. If you've spilt coffee on somebody's clothes, you should pay for them to be cleaned, and so on. If you've burgled somebody's house, you should go to jail. Since God is the judge of all the earth, and since He is perfectly just, somebody will pay for all the things you've done wrong - either Jesus will pay or you'll pay. And every one of us has done a lot that's wrong.
You may think of yourself as a good person but, if you do, that's because you don't know yourself very well, and because you don't understand God's standards. How many times have you failed to show God the love, worship and obedience He deserves? How many times have you been angry with God, or with another person? How many times have you ignored a neighbour in need? How many times have you gossiped, or criticised somebody? How many times have you been lazy, and let others do all the work? How many times have you taken the best for yourself, when somebody else needed it more? How many lies have you told? How many times have you resisted the Holy Spirit? I could go on. God hates all of this and, because God is just, somebody will pay.
You and I can't pay for all our crimes against God and against other people. What would we use for money? There are only two possible outcomes. Either we will burn in hell for all eternity, or somebody else needs to pay for our crimes. This is God's love for you and me: God the Father sent God the Son to die on the cross to pay for your crimes, and mine. All of them. Completely. 100%. He suffered death in our place. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.
The perfect act of agape love - the perfect, heartfelt, self-sacrificial demonstration of love - in all of history, is that God the Father sacrificed His own Son for you, and God the Son willingly offered Himself as that sacrifice. We sing sometimes about how we love God, but the greatest act of love is the cross. Jesus died in agony because God loved us. Our sins are forgiven because God loved us. We have spiritual life because God loved us. We will live for ever in glory because God loved us, enough to watch His precious, sinless, beautiful Son be tortured and killed. We love God because God first loved us.
The cross worked. It did what God intended it to do. Jesus's atoning sacrifice has paid the penalty for your sins, and for mine, for ever.