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1507-05A GOD SHOWS HIS LOVE (Romans 5:6-11) SUBJECT: Joy in Christ. F.C.F: Why should I be joyful in a painful world? PROPOSITION: Since God has and will save us in Christ, we must rejoice. INTRODUCTION A. In his recent book, God in the Whirlwind, my favorite living theologian, David F. Wells explains some important aspects of communication. For example, there are the words themselves which the speaker or writer uses. The words convey information. But the words also often reveal the character of the speaker. And then there is the effect which the speaker desires to have upon those who hear. Wells then applies these aspects to Scripture as the Word of God. “The words of Scripture, which are simultaneously God’s, are not simply conveying information. Information may be conveyed, but with the conveyance of this information, and through it, God spoke and he continues to speak. The words, in fact, arise from within his character. God speaks out of the greatness of his character. The Bible is not like an impersonal computer that is mechanically spitting out sentences. God’s character is encountered in his words even as ours is in our words…. “But here we need to go a little beyond mere human discourse. When we read Scripture, God the Holy Spirit who first inspired this Word is also by our side to enable us to receive its truth. This goes beyond what happens in person-to-person dialogue. With respect to the Holy Spirit, this is a twofold work. He must open our hearts to receive the truth and, at the same time, he must ensure that we understand enough of it to move forward in our Christian lives…. “In Scripture, no less than in human speech, the three aspects to communication are at work. First, there is factual information. Second, in that information we are also encountering the person who is giving it to us. We encounter God’s character through the promises made, the warnings given, and assurance offered. Finally, there are the intended outcomes to that speech that he wills in the lives of all believers. He wants us to heed the warnings, trust him in his promises, receive encouragement through his assurances, and learn obedience through the truth he has given us.” (212-213) B. This is especially true of our text for this morning. Here in the words of Scripture we find not 1 only important information, but also the character of God, and the response he necessarily requires of us. 6 For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— 8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. 10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. 11 More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation. I. WE MUST REJOICE BECAUSE OF GOD’S LOVE FOR US. A. God’s love is not like ours—love for the lovely or love that expects some kind of return. But God’s love is astonishing. God’s loves the unlovely, indeed, the unlovable. And what an astonishing measure of God’s love! We could spend our whole time on a single phrase from verse 6: “Christ died for the ungodly.” Every word is astonishing. “Christ,” the long-awaited Messiah, God’s promised Deliverer has come in the person of Jesus. Everything has changed because God has entered our world and assumed a human nature. “Died!” Died?! What? God’s Deliverer has come—and he died? That shouldn’t have happened. What folly! What a shameful disgrace! What kind of a deliverer is that, that he could allow himself to die? “For the ungodly.” Oh, this is over the top. Who in their right mind would die for a bunch of rebellious dirtbags? Who would go to the gallows for reprehensible criminals, lawbreakers, villains? B. But when you hear the heart of God in this text and digest its shocking message, it all weighs heavily upon us with unbearable force. “7 For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— 8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Who were the ungodly for whom Christ died? Well, Paul explains, “Christ died for us…while we were yet sinners.” Christ died for the ungodly sinner named Paul. Christ died for the ungodly sinners in Rome, to whom he ____________________________________________________________________________________________ 1507-05A wrote. Christ died for ungodly sinners like us today who will repent and turn from their sin and turn to Christ. Here we see the heart and character of God, his seeking, saving, sacrificial love for weak, ungodly, sinners like us. Here we see great cause for hope, for celebration, for inexhaustible joy. “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Are you rejoicing in this astounding and unchangeable truth? Are you so beside yourself with joy right now that you can scarcely contain yourself and just cannot wait to sing and shout praises to God? C. There are two reasons why you may not feel this deeply. One is because you do not really see yourself as God sees you apart from Christ— unlovely and unlovable. We’ve all had the selfesteem message jammed down our throats so often that we could scarcely ever apply these words to ourselves: “unlovely and unlovable.” But God’s Word is direct and honest and revealing: we are “weak,” “ungodly,” and “sinners.” Think of it: Christ would never have had to die for good people. The awful cost reveals the awful plight of our sin and wickedness. But the other reason why we may not feel this deeply is because we attach little weight to the key word in this whole passage: “Christ!” We have little love for him, most likely because we have so much love for self. We are big and so Christ is small. As one person told me, our job is to sin and Christ’s job is to forgive. That’s all he is? The forgiver? Ye who think of sin but lightly Nor suppose the evil great Here may view its nature rightly, Here its guilt may estimate. Mark the sacrifice appointed, See who bears the awful load; 'Tis the Word, the Lord's anointed, Son of Man and Son of God. We must rejoice because we are loved with God, and what great love! Secondly, II. WE MUST REJOICE BECAUSE WE ARE RECONCILED TO GOD. 2 walking in a park. The young man exclaims to the woman, “I love you with all my heart, and let me prove it.” Then he jumps in the river and drowns himself. He did not prove his love by his death; he only proved that he was an idiot. Dying itself proves nothing. But dying for another—that’s a very different matter. “Christ died for the ungodly.” “While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” He died with a purpose in mind, and that was to reconcile us to God. Today in our age of tolerance and acceptance it is almost inconceivable that God would be upset with anyone or would disapprove of anything. Yet the Bible is clear from cover to cover. The whole world is under the curse of sin. God’s fierce judgment and wrath are looming on the horizon. Actually, God is presently pouring out his wrath upon all ungodliness, and that includes everyone. B. And Christ came to reverse the curse of sin, first and foremost, to reconcile us to God. He did so by achieving righteousness for us, the righteousness we owed unto God. And secondly, he endured the wrath of God for us in our place, taking the death sentence we deserve for our sins as the ungodly sinners we are. That’s what Paul declares in verse 9: “Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood….” We are just, righteous, right with God through Christ’s blood, through his offering his perfect life as a sacrifice for us. And again in verse 10: “For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son….” We were enemies to God, but God took the initiative and paid the awful cost, the death of his Son, that we might be reconciled to him. Our sins and the punishment we justly deserved became an insurmountable barrier between God and us. The only thing that could remove it was for the innocent Son of God in human flesh willingly enduring our punishment for us, effectively neutralizing or erasing the penalty from the books. The only thing that could save us from death and hell has been done, by Christ, by the Son of God. C. Again, the important information in these words reveals God’s heart and character. God sought us out because he wanted to be reconciled to us. He did not want us to suffer the horror of his wrath, so he poured out his holy wrath on his Son instead, for us. And this then calls for a response. And that response is joy! How could we not rejoice continually, all the time, nonstop, 24/7 in view of this, the greatest of all A. The point of Christ coming and dying was not simply to reveal the heart of God’s love for us, but to have a practical effect: namely, that through his death we have been reconciled to God. Dying, giving your life, is no act of love unless the sacrifice has some practical result. Imagine two young lovers ____________________________________________________________________________________________ 1507-05A announcements? In Christ we have escaped the worst possible end and have received the best possible reward. And this is not merely some hope for the future, but is our present reality. Notice the tenses of the verbs in view: “we have now been justified by his blood….” “we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son….” Beloved, we do not wait to rejoice until sometime in the future when all this comes to pass: it has come to pass! It is our present reality in Christ, now! And so we must rejoice because we are reconciled to God. And… III. WE MUST REJOICE BECAUSE WE WILL BE SAVED IN THE END. A. There is something yet awaiting in the future, though. The love of God for sinners in the past and our reconciliation with God in the present portend great things in the future. To demonstrate this, Paul uses a common form of reasoning known as the a fortiori argument, or reasoning from the greater to the lesser. It’s signaled by the comparison words, “much more.” Listen to Paul’s airtight reasoning. “9 Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. 10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.” Here’s a summary of Paul’s powerful point. How did God treat us while we were still his enemies, condemned criminals under his terrible wrath? God loved us so much that he gave his Son to reconcile us to himself. So now, if we have trusted Christ, we are no longer his enemies, but we are his friends. Now if God loved us to this astonishing degree while we were yet his enemies, how “much more” will he love us now that we are his friends! B. Why is this important? It’s important because we have three aspects of time to be concerned about, past, present, and future. The past has been covered: Christ died for our sins. And the present is all good, we are presently justified by Christ’s blood and reconciled to God through Christ’s death. But what about the future? What’s to say that things will remain good? You know yourself, I think. And if you are honest with yourself, well, your track record is not all that great. You tend to struggle with the same old 3 problems. It may be jealousy, unforgiveness, greed, covetousness, lust, or selfishness. Who’s to say that you will make it to the end? Who’s to say that you won’t be overcome by your sins, stumble and fall, and give it up? And here’s where this a fortiori, “from the greater to the lesser” argument is of great help, because it is so decisive. When was it that Christ came and gave his life demonstrating the great love of God? It was while we were weak, ungodly, sinners, God’s enemies. If you have come to trust Christ, does that then mean that you are now strong, that you cannot slip back into sin temporarily? No, we are still weak. But if it was while we were the sworn enemies of God that he loved us and gave his Son for us, do you think that after we have become his friends God will stop loving us and forgiving us when we slip up and stumble? Of course not. In his great love he has brought us this far, even giving his Son to redeem us. Now that we are reconciled to him, his love will bring us all the way home. CONCLUSION And the result is a pure, unqualified, undiluted, unfettered joy. God’s words to us reveal his character to us. And the love of God calls for a response from us. We no longer wonder and question God’s love for us. We no longer linger under a shadow of a cloud of suspicion and doubt: 1) because he loved us while we were still weak, ungodly, sinners, and enemies; 2) because we now are reconciled to him, justified, not a single mark against us; 3) because his love that sought us and bought us will certainly carry us all the way safely to the very end—we fully rejoice in God himself. In fact, that’s how Paul concludes: “More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.” ____________________________________________________________________________________________