God's love for us

The extent of God's immense love for us is that He chose to save us from the just consequences of our sin. Throughout the Old Testament the way to atone ( be forgiven ) for our sin was to sacrifice animals. These had to be perfect animals, usually lambs, without blemish. But it was never enough and the sacrifices had to be repeated year after year. It was only a foretaste of what was to come.
God is holy and cannot change (Malachi 3:6). His very nature demands that sin be punished in the same way that should you go to court for a crime then you would expect to be punished, you could not get away with it. This is the situation that man is in. God's dilemma was that He so loves us so much that He does not want us to suffer; but He can not overlook our sin.
We can do absolutely nothing to clear away our sin and make ourselves acceptable to God. The concept of sin may sit uncomfortable with many people; but it is the truth and we need to accept it. It is true: that we can never be good enough to earn God's forgiveness; but the truth is, that we do not have to be. Christ's love earned our forgiveness for us.
Imagine for a moment a courtroom. The defendant is facing the judge; his crime was severe enough to warrant imprisonment. The judge is just about to pronounce sentence, when someone walks into the courtroom. The defendant watches as this man, who he had never met before, walks up to the judge, speaks with him and takes upon himself the punishment meant for the defendant. Now put yourself in the place of the defendant and instead of receiving your punishment you could walk freely out of the courtroom; forgiven. I expect that you would either be immensely grateful to that person, or you may think Him a fool. Either way, you are free and he has taken your place. You can go home to your family, rebuild your life; and if moved to, repent from the things in your life which you know are wrong and start again; free from all guilt.
This is exactly what our God did. He came to earth as His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, to take the punishment for our sin. He willingly took His place on the cross, bled and died, just as the perfect lamb had been sacrificed in the Old Testament; except moreso in this case because this was a one time sacrifice and was complete.
The concept that Almighty God should come to earth; be born of a virgin - so that He had no sin; the perfect lamb without blemish; and then die for us is something that many people find difficult and it becomes a stumbling block for them. It was the only way that God could save us from death and bring us back into the fullness of life with Him - and he did it! Not because He had to but because He wanted to - He chose to die for us, because He loves us.