Romans 5:6-11
Love is a verb
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Would you open your Bibles to...
Rom. 5:6 For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.
Rom. 5:7 For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die.
Rom. 5:8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Rom. 5:9 Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him.
Rom. 5:10 For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.
Rom. 5:11 And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.
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Intro
√ In our last study (3 weeks ago!) we looked at verses 1-5 in which Paul described the riches that we have by faith in Jesus Christ…
Justified – declared perfectly righteous by God
Peace with God
Access to God’s Grace
Future Glory with God
Assurance that He is working in our lives
Hope that cannot disappoint
As Paul ends that section he makes reference to God’s love as the source of our great hope which He has told us we will not be disappointed by.
Rom. 5:5 Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.
In our study this morning Paul now describes the character (or nature) of God’s Love – which explains why its pouring out into the life of the believer gives us hope.
Ap. DC Talk made popular a song they titled…
“Love is a verb”
That is, true love is more than spoken words – true love is active!
The point is that it’s easy to say the words…
“I love you”
…it’s something else entirely to demonstrate that love by one’s actions.
Ex. Thousands of couples every year exchange vows and declare their love for one another, yet over half of those couples end their marriage.
Perhaps that’s one reason we find it hard to grasp the true meaning of God’s love for us – the examples we have are so poor!
√ Let’s look together at what true love looks like in action.
God’s love (vs. 6)
Rom. 5:6 For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.
Or as J.B. Phillips translates it…
Rom. 5:6 And we can see that it was at the very time that we were powerless to help ourselves that Christ died for sinful men.
Paul tells us that God demonstrated His love for us…
1) At the right time
In God’s great plan of salvation He ordained a perfect time at which Jesus was to die for our sins.
Think for a moment; God promised a savior all the way back in Gen. 3 when there were but two humans. Yet God didn’t send His Son to die for our sins till some 3,000 years later!
Why?
2) When we were powerless
Powerless to help ourselves. That is, Mankind was in such bad shape that he was unable to save himself.
Yet, God demonstrates His love for us in that He did all that was necessary to save us.
3) For the ungodly
The word “for” literally means “in place of”. That is, Jesus died in our place.
His death upon the Cross was a substitutionary death. He died in place of others.
More amazingly, He died for the ungodly!
√ So that we might fully understand the depth of God’s love for us Paul relates God’s love to our own experience.
Human love (vs. 7)
Rom. 5:7 For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die.
Or, once again as J.B. Phillips translates it…
Rom. 5:7 In human experience it is a rare thing for one man to give his life for another, even if the latter be a good man, though there have been a few who have had the courage to do it.
√ We recognize that the highest expression of human love is demonstrated when one person willingly gives up their life that another might live.
But, that’s a rare thing - we give medals to people like that.
Ex. The Medal of Honor – John R. Fox
Sommocolonia, Italy on 26 December 1944, Lieutenant Fox served with the 598th Field Artillery Battalion as a forward observer.
On Christmas night, enemy soldiers gradually infiltrated
the town of Sommocolonia in civilian clothes, and by early morning the town was largely in hostile hands. Commencing with a heavy barrage of enemy artillery at 0400 hours on 26 December 1944, an organized attack by uniformed German units began. Being greatly outnumbered, most of the United States Infantry forces were forced to withdraw from the town, but Lieutenant Fox and some other members of his observer party voluntarily remained on the second floor of a house to direct defensive artillery fire. At 0800 hours, Lieutenant Fox reported that the Germans were in the streets
and attacking in strength. He then called for defensive artillery fire to slow the enemy advance. As the Germans continued to press the attack towards the area that Lieutenant Fox occupied, he adjusted the artillery fire closer to his position. Finally he was warned that the next adjustment would bring the deadly artillery right on top of his position. After acknowledging the danger, Lieutenant Fox insisted that the last adjustment be fired as this was the only way to defeat the attacking soldiers. Later, when a counterattack retook the position from the Germans, Lieutenant Fox's body was found
with the bodies of approximately 100 German soldiers.
Lt. Fox’s actions held the enemy from advancing so that his friends could regroup and defend themselves.
√ God’s love however contrasts with human love in both nature and degree – note vs. 8.
God’s love (vs. 8)
Rom. 5:8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
√ Though a few people might possibly be willing to die to save the lives of good people, though we know that to be rare…
Christ went well beyond that!
Jesus died in place of the…
Powerless (vs. 6)
Ungodly (vs. 6)
Sinners (vs. 8)
Even His enemies! (vs. 10)
Ex. You or I might willingly die in place of a family member – putting our body between a guy with a gun and our child.
That’s human love.
But, God’s love for us is greater in nature and degree.
Nature; His love is completely self-less whereas ours is selfish. We would die for someone we love because we have some benefit from that relationship.
Whereas Jesus died for those from whom He had no benefit at all.
Degree; His love doesn’t stop. The word “demonstrated” literally means = “keeps on showing”. That is, The Cross of Jesus Christ keeps on showing how much God loves us till the end of time.
That is, we can’t use up the power of the Cross.
Contrast that to the love we have; we can only give our life to save another once – after that there is no more power to save anyone else.
Ex. Ted Bundy – prayed with James Dobson and asked Jesus to forgive him and grant him eternal life.
A lot of people had trouble with that. They couldn’t reconcile God’s love for a person who had done such monstrous deeds.
Yet, that is God’s love!
W.E. Vine
“Love can be known only from the actions it prompts. God’s love is seen in the gift of His Son. But obviously this is not the love of complacency, or affection, that is, it was not drawn out by any excellence in its objects. It was the exercise of the Divine will in deliberate choice, made without assignable cause save that which lies in the nature of God Himself.”
The point – God loves us in spite of us!
Ap. When our faith is challenged and we’re tempted to question the love of God we need look only to the Cross for proof of His amazing love for us!
Reconciled (vs. 9-11)
Rom. 5:9 Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him.
Rom. 5:10 For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.
Rom. 5:11 And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.
√ “Much more then…”
Much more! Much more than what!?
Paul is tying together the points that he has been making so far:
Since we’ve been justified by faith in His work on the Cross.
And, since God has proven His love for us by the Cross.
Then we can also be assured that we will be saved from God’s Wrath!!
How can we be sure?
Paul points out that God proves it by the fact they he did all the work of salvation for us while we were His enemies…
…now how much more that we’re His children can we be sure that He will take save of us from His wrath!
√ God’s wrath
What does it mean to be saved from God’s wrath? It’s a two-part answer:
First: the person who puts their faith in Jesus Christ will never go to Hell!
Joh. 5:24 “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life.
Second: the person who trusts in Jesus Christ will not experience the wrath of God during the Great Tribulation.
1Th. 1:10 and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, even Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come.
And…
1Th. 5:9 For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ,
√ We’re reconciled to God
Note vs. 11 again…
Rom. 5:11 And not
only that, but we also rejoice in God
through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.
Reconciliation defined:
“the restoration of friendship and fellowship after estrangement”
To be reconciled with God means that we are no longer at war with Him, rather, by the work of Jesus Christ on the Cross we have been made friends of God!
Ap. What an awesome privilege to be a friend of God, and to be able to offer that friendship to others!
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