This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. (NIV) I John 4:10
God’s reconciling love was demonstrated on the cross through the death of His sinless Son. God initiated the reconciliation. The crucifixion of Jesus was God’s predetermined plan (Acts 2:23) in which every detail of His sacrificial death was precisely planned.
Salvation is God’s predetermined plan:
** This man was handed over to you by God’s set purpose and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross. (Acts 2:23)
Salvation Is God’s Ultimate Act:
** For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. (John 3:17)
Salvation Is Grounded in God’s Love:
** The LORD did not set his affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples. 8 But it was because the LORD loved you and kept the oath he swore to your forefathers that he brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the land of slavery, from the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt. (Deuteronomy 7:7)
** “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16)
** But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8)
** But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions– it is by grace you have been saved. (Ephesians 2:4)
** This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. (I John 4:10)
