Saved from Wrath

Last week, we discussed the gifts of faith, and today we are going to see one of those gifts expanded upon a little more.

We had seen that, as a result of our faith, we are given peace with God.

We even looked at Ephesians to see that before we place our faith in Christ, we are at war with God, showing our need for this peace.

Our text today shows us how God accomplished this peace with us.

Romans 5:6 (ESV)

For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died...

Christ died for the helpless.

Paul tells us in this passage that Christ died for us while we were weak.

We often use the word weak to describe somebody who is without strength.

We think of somebody who maybe doesn’t have a lot of muscles.

We think of somebody who can’t lift a lot of weight.

We think of somebody who is a pushover in the paint.

Yet, the 'weakness' Paul refers to signifies a far graver condition than just physical limitations.

In Scripture, this term describes individuals so severely afflicted that their entire lives are affected.

For instance, Acts 5:15–16 paints a vivid picture of this "helplessness”: It says, “so that they even carried out the sick into the streets and laid them on cots and mats, that as Peter came by at least his shadow might fall on some of them. The people also gathered from the towns around Jerusalem, bringing the sick and those afflicted with unclean spirits, and they were all healed.”

The word for sick in this passage from Acts and the word for weak in our passage from Romans are the same Greek word.

The imagery of the sick being so helpless that they needed to be carried and laid out for healing mirrors our spiritual condition without Christ.

Just as the sick in Acts sought healing through the mere shadow of Peter, we, in our spiritual helplessness, have Christ's sacrifice as our source of ultimate healing.

His death wasn't for the strong or those who are self-sufficient, or those who have it all together; it was for those of us so spiritually 'helpless' that only His grace could lift us from our despair.

If we look to verse 6 and 8 we see that Christ died more than die for the helpless.

Romans 5:6 (ESV)

...Christ died for the ungodly.

Romans 5:8 ESV

but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Christ died for the ungodly and for the sinner.

It can be easy to wrap one’s head around Christ dying for those who are helpless.

We see that same compassion as the people in our army sacrifice their lives for our freedom and wellbeing.

Those who are strong are dying for us, who are weak.

Yet, it isn’t quite as easy for us to wrap are heads around dying for those who are ungodly, which is what causes Paul to say in verse 7 “For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die”

Yet, Christ has died for the ungodly.

Christ has died for gossipers.

Christ has died for addicts.

Christ has died for liars.

Christ has died for murderers.

Christ has died for thieves

Christ has died for the greedy.

Christ has died for the prideful.

The list could go on forever. Yet we know, Christ has died for all the ungodly.

I really want you to wrap your head around how profound this is, so I want to share a story with you.

“Gerecke, a 52-year-old Lutheran pastor from St Louis, Missouri, was assigned to the spiritual care of 15 Nazi leaders during the nine-month-long trials of 1945–46. A Roman Catholic colleague had pastoral care over another six on trial at Nuremberg.

Gerecke was reluctant to take on his role; two of his sons were badly injured in World War II and he had to fight a revulsion for the perpetrators of such barbaric war crimes. Eventually he accepted it as a special calling for which he needed a full measure of the grace of Jesus, coming to hate the sin but love the sinner.

According to Gardner, Gerecke “dedicated himself to visiting each of the men in their cell on a regular basis and inviting them to chapel services at which he would preach the gospel of how Jesus died for sinners like them.”

Hess and Göring apart, most of the others gave their lives to Christ.

CHANGED MEN

Gardner reports: “First up was Fritz Sauckel, Chief of Slave Labour, who knelt down at his bedside as he implored Gerecke to read the Scriptures and pray with him. ‘Unafraid and unashamed, he prayed with me at his bedside, generously ending our prayer by saying, ‘God be merciful to me, a sinner’,” the chaplain recalled. He was a changed man and was the first of the prisoners to express a desire for Holy Communion.”

More Nazis followed. “Armed Forces Chief Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel was next to receive Holy Communion and unashamedly knelt at his bed as he made confession of his sins,” reports Gardner. “In the spring of 1946, Navy Chief Erich Raeder opened his heart to the Lord and, with von Schirach, soon joined Sauckel, Keitel, Fritzsche and Speer at communion, with former Reichsbank President Hjalmar Schacht also added to the believing congregation.”

I am going to skip some of the stories where other Nazis came to faith and some remained unrepentant so that you are not just listening to me read. So here it how it ends...

“Henry Gerecke died on October 11th, 1961, 15 years to the day after arriving in Nuremberg. He was chaplain at Illinois State Penitentiary, where he collapsed at the prison gates on his way to lead a Bible class. The inmates took the news very badly and even the most hardened among them asked to be allowed to see his body one more time. Their request was granted and more than 800 convicts filed past the coffin.”

It can be tempting to say “How could Jesus die for the ungodly, such as the Nazis—the people who committed genocide against the Jews, performed deadly and cruel experiments on innocent individuals, and sought to oppress anyone different from them”

Yet, we must remember that Christ died for us while we were still ungodly. If Christ wouldn't die for them, then He wouldn't die for us.

The question we are left with now is , “how can the helpless, the ungodly, and the sinner have peace with God through the death of Jesus Christ?”

Romans 5:8–11 ESV

but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. 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. More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

Christ’s death satisfied the wrath of God.

Apart from Christ we are helpless, ungodly, sinful, and enemies of God.

We deserve the full wrath of God for an eternity in hell.

Yet, on the cross, Christ took on the full wrath of God.

Jesus paid for the wrath of God with His blood.

Anybody that puts their faith in Christ and repents of their sin is reconciled to God, meaning they now have peace with God.

Let us always remember that our salvation was not cheap. God didn't just sweep our sins under the rug; He didn’t merely cover His eyes to our ungodliness. Instead, He poured His wrath upon His Son, Jesus Christ.

How will I respond?

If you are a Christian:

We should be absolutely grateful that:

Jesus died for us while we were helpless and couldn’t do anything to save ourselves.

Jesus died for us while we were ungodly and sinners who were in rebellion against Him.

We should be comforted that we no longer have to worry about the wrath of God.

We should be moved to share the Gospel with the lost because we were in the same position that they are now in.

If you are not a Christian:

You need to know that the wrath of God is set upon you.

You need to know that His wrath will end in an eternity in Hell with no escape from His wrath.

But there is hope for you:

If you put your faith in Christ and repent of your sins, you can escape the wrath of God, and experience a joyful life in Christ