1. “God so loved” (John 3:16).
Man’s condition speaks of his need for salvation. The source of salvation is the love of God. God’s love is the source of His salvation. If God had no love, man would have no salvation.
What is God’s love? God’s love is His heart. Although God is righteous and holy in His nature, His heart is love. God must do things according to His righteous procedure and in agreement with His holy nature. According to God’s righteousness, sinners deserve only to be judged. According to God’s holiness, such filthy ones are fit only to fall dead before Him. Although His righteousness condemns us and His holiness rejects us, God’s heart loves us. He not only loves us; He “so loves” us. Because He loves us, He gave His only begotten Son to prepare salvation for us.
2. “Because of His great love with which He loved us” (Eph. 2:4-5).
While John 3:16 says that God so loved us, Ephesians 2:4 says that the love with which God loved us is a great love. Because of His great love, God came to save us. His great love caused Him to love not only sinners but also those who were dead in offenses and sin. Because He loved us even when we were dead in offenses and sins, He made us alive together with Christ and raised us up together with Him and seated us together with Him in the heavenlies.
3. “When...the love to man of our Savior God appeared...He saved us” (Titus 3:4-5).
The love of God originated in God’s heart, but when it appeared, it became our salvation. When God’s love is manifested to us, it saves us. God’s salvation comes out of God’s love. God’s saving hand issues out of His loving heart. God loves us in His heart; therefore, He also saves us with His hand. His loving heart appeared through His mighty hand to become our salvation.
1. “He gave His only begotten Son” (John 3:16).
God gave His only begotten Son to accomplish salvation for us. God’s love caused Him to give us His Son. God did not love us without taking action on our behalf. The greatest thing God has done for us is to accomplish salvation for us. To accomplish salvation for us, God specially gave us His only begotten Son. This shows the greatness of God’s love toward us as well as the preciousness of the salvation that God accomplished on our behalf. God’s great love accomplished this precious salvation for us.
2. “In this the love of God was manifested among us, that God sent His only begotten Son into the world that we might have life and live though Him” (1 John 4:9).
Because of His love for us, God sent His Son that we might have life. The salvation that God prepared for us is not only for us to be saved but also for us to have His life. In order that we may obtain His life, God was willing, because it was necessary, to send His only begotten Son into the world to accomplish a wonderful salvation for us. He was willing to do this for the simple reason that He loved us. Since God loved us, He was willing to suffer the sending of His only begotten Son for the accomplishment of our salvation so that we might have His life.
3. “He loved us and sent His Son as a propitiation for our sins” (1 John 4:10).
We had a problem in our relationship with God. Therefore, God sent His Son as a propitiation for our sins in order to restore our relationship with Him. God did this because of His love. Although sin caused a problem in our relationship with God, we had no thought of dealing with our sin in order to restore our relationship with God. Even if we desired to restore this relationship, we would have had no ability or way. However, God’s love caused Him to send His Son to accomplish this matter for us before we even had such a thought.
Since our sins brought us under the requirements of God’s righteousness and holiness, God could not receive us or abide with us peaceably. Therefore, God’s love caused Him to send His Son as a propitiation for our sins so that He could receive us and abide with us peaceably according to the requirements of His righteousness and holiness. God’s love fulfilled all the demands of God’s righteousness and holiness.
4. “God commends His own love to us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom. 5:8).
The love of God also caused the Lord Jesus to die for us and to accomplish redemption for us. Since God loved us, He sent the Lord Jesus to die for us and to accomplish redemption for us. Despite His love for us, God could not forgive and save us carelessly, because He could not contradict His own righteousness and holiness. Before He could forgive or save us, God had to send the Lord Jesus to die for us in order to satisfy the demands of His righteousness and holiness. Because of His love toward us, God was willing to send the Lord Jesus to die for us and to accomplish our salvation.