What Love Paid For

Intro:

There are moments when we say we love something— but the truth is revealed by what we’re willing to lose for it.

Love always has a receipt. It always leaves a trail of cost.

We live in a world that talks endlessly about love, but avoids the question of what is the cost of love.

But God shows us the answer to that question.

Not with sentiment. Not with slogans. But with blood.

Today, we’re not looking at the cross as a symbol. We’re looking at it as a price.

Scripture:

1 Corinthians 15:3 NLT

3 I passed on to you what was most important and what had also been passed on to me. Christ died for our sins, just as the Scriptures said.

Isaiah 53:4–6 NLT

4 Yet it was our weaknesses he carried; it was our sorrows that weighed him down. And we thought his troubles were a punishment from God, a punishment for his own sins! 5 But he was pierced for our rebellion, crushed for our sins. He was beaten so we could be whole. He was whipped so we could be healed. 6 All of us, like sheep, have strayed away. We have left God’s paths to follow our own. Yet the Lord laid on him the sins of us all.

Title, Prayer:

What Love Paid For

Application:

I want to start off with a question. Do you know what Love paid for?

We do know that Christ died for us because we ARE sinners, Because we ARE straying away. Not because we used to be sinners.

Why do you think the Word tells us to take up our cross daily? DAILY!

Luke 9:23 “23 Then he said to the crowd, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross daily, and follow me.”

But this changes everything! How we think, how we act, how we treat each other, how we talk to each other. How we talk ABOUT each other.

There is a level of humility that you display when you know you also aint....

Because whatever love paid for tells us exactly how serious the problem was— and exactly how far God was willing to go.

Point One: LOVE PAID BECAUSE SIN WAS REAL

When the church avoids the word “sin,” it doesn’t become more loving—it becomes less helpful.

Minimizing sin cheapens the cross. And a cheap cross cannot save.

But see, thats the problem we face today, sin.

Not wounds. Not weakness. Not misunderstanding.

Culture treats sin as a condition to manage

Scripture treats sin as guilt that must be removed

You don’t counsel guilt away. You need atonement.

Atonement: reparation for a wrong or injury

God knows sin is real and thats why he gives us grace and mercy.

Grace is kindness when we dont deserve it, Mercy is kindness when we do!

When the church avoids the word “sin,” it doesn’t become more loving—it becomes less helpful. Minimizing sin cheapens the cross. And a cheap cross cannot save.

When culture calls sin “self-expression,” the cross reminds us that what we celebrate, Jesus had to suffer for. Application: Before defending a lifestyle, belief, or habit, ask: Would this have required the cross?

When personal accountability feels oppressive, the cross exposes the lie that freedom means “no consequences.” Application: Stop blaming upbringing, trauma, or society for choices Christ already paid to redeem.

When we soften sin to protect feelings, we unintentionally minimize grace. Application: Let conviction do its holy work instead of rushing to self-justification.

In an age of constant comparison, sin is often reframed as “not as bad as them.” Application: Measure sin by the cross—not by culture or contrast.

Point Two: LOVE PAID THE PRICE WE COULD NOT PAY

The lamb sacrifice...

The cross was a way to pay the price by someone that had the checkbook.

We were the ones who owed. Christ was the one who paid.

This was not partial payment. It was full and final.

Religion says: Try harder

The Gospel says: It’s already been done

Many believers still live like spiritual debtors.

They believe the cross happened, but they don’t live like the price was paid.

But love didn’t make a down payment. It paid in full. (Kmart layaway)

When people try to heal themselves through self-help, wellness, or spirituality, the cross declares that redemption required blood, not branding. Application: Stop treating the Gospel like an upgrade and start receiving it as a rescue.

When guilt and shame linger long after repentance, the cross speaks a final word: “Paid in full.” Application: Refuse to keep punishing yourself for what Christ already absorbed.

In a transactional culture where love must be earned, the cross proves God moved first. Application: Live from acceptance, not for it.

When forgiveness feels optional or conditional, the cross confronts us with the cost God absorbed to forgive us. Application: Extend the grace you didn’t deserve but freely received.

Benediction:

Every person must decide:

Will I trust what love paid for— or will I keep trying to earn what’s already been given?

The cross does not call you to perform. It calls you to surrender.

Church, this is the Good News:

Love saw the cost Love paid the price Love finished the work

This is what love paid for and that's why this changes everything.