Our Eternal Joy, What’s Love Got To Do with It?

Romans 5:6-11

We live in a world obsessed with love and happiness, yet these are the most elusive aspects of our lives. Those we love the most tend to be the ones who hurt us the most and we often turn to worldly things to provide us with happiness but are never truly and fully satisfied. We can all fill the emptiness within. People fail us, objects dehumanize us, and we often objectify others. Yet our emptiness and lack of fulfillment tell us one thing: that we were created with an innate desire for true love and true happiness!

Dear friends, this morning we will focus on Romans 5:6-11, and my goal is to persuade you concerning the sufficiency of God’s love for your eternal joy. In other words, the love of God demonstrated and applied to us through Christ’s death and resurrection is sufficient for our joy. Simply put, God’s love is sufficient for our eternal joy.

We will consider four things in the passage before us: in the first place we will explore our desperate need for love; in the second place we will consider how God has demonstrated his love; in the third place we will look at how God’s love is applied to us; and in the last place, we will reflect on eternal joy in God.

Context

Our passage appears in the greatest letter ever written. Paul the apostle was writing to the saints in Rome expounding for them the inexhaustible depth and breadth of the truth of the gospel. He begins and ends his letter indicating his intended goal —the obedience of faith for the saints brought about by the gospel (Romans 1:5; Romans 16:25-26). In other words, Paul’s exposition of the gospel anticipates the obedience of faith among the saints in Rome. Without the true gospel, there is no true faith, without true faith, there is no true obedience. Paul goes the whole nine to make the gospel plain. Our passage is found in the second major section of Paul’s exposition. In this section, he is discussing justification. In the immediate context, Paul conveys to us the benefits of justification by faith (Romans 5:1-5) and situates our justification in our union with Christ (Romans 5:12-21). Our passage helps us deepen our appreciation of what God does for us as an expression of his love and for our eternal joy.

The first thing we see in this passage is that because we are weak, sinners, and enemies of God, we desperately need his love.

• Desperate Need: because we are weak, sinners and enemies of God we desperately need the love of God (Romans 5:6a, 8b, 10a)

In verses 6, 8, and 10, Paul takes the believers down memory lane and reminds them of their initial condition. They were weak, sinners, and enemies of God. Oh friends, this is the reality of all mankind! We are morally weak and incapable of living up to the standards of God. We are sinners, consistently living contrary to the standards of God. And we are enemies of God, rebels, stubbornly following our ways and holding our fists against God. By way of reminder, Paul wants us to understand what he had already labored in chapters 1-3, that we are sinners who have fallen short of the glory of God. That none is righteous, no not one, no one understands, no one seeks for God, all have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one…and later he reiterates the same truth pointing us to the wages of our sins, and that is death. Friends, if we do not understand and appreciate our initial state as sinners, we shall never understand and appreciate what God does for us.

Now, there are three kinds of people who are listening to me: those who are sinners and care less about the fact that they are sinners. You may consciously be aware of your sin but it does not bother you at all. If anything, you find fulfillment in sinning. You delight in sin. You occasionally feel the fleetingness of sin, but you drown yourself in more sin to overcome that sense of emptiness and lack of fulfillment. You are like the woman Christ found in the well, who sought satisfaction in men but was never filled up. Her thirst was never quenched, she lived anticipating that the next man would fulfill her but never quite got the fulfillment she sought…and so she was always on the run chasing after the next. Oh, how I pray that God would open your eyes and ears this day, how I pray that God would help you see your desperation for what it truly is!

There are others, who are similar to the Roman Christians. You are familiar with your former state of desperation. Paul’s reminder rings a familiar bell. You remember how you indulged yourself in sin and how unsatisfying that was. You remember the hopelessness and despair that you drowned in. Perhaps the residues of that past still linger on, perhaps you occasionally feel the push and pull of sin. Oh but praise God you are a new creation! You are no longer a slave to sin but to righteousness! You no longer delight in sin but moan and groan over your sin. You have new desires, you have new taste buds, you desire righteousness and seek to walk in obedience.

Yet some of you are somewhere in between, you are consciously aware of your sin and the emptiness of sinful pleasures and you are desperate for a way out! You are feeling the burden of the fleeting pleasures of sin and desire to be rid of that burden. Oh friend, there is no better place to be than that, for in due time, God’s love will lift your burden! Perhaps today…I pray He does. Whatever group you may be in, what we all desperately need is the love of God!

You may ask me, why do I need the love of God? Friend, you not only need the love of God because of your current state which is a result of the fall, but primarily because you were created by God to be a recipient of His love. Not that God needs to love us, but that we need God to love us. Because of creation and because of the fall, we desperately need God’s love. Our obsession for love and with love is proof of our need for love. No love compares to God’s love as we shall see below.

• Demonstrated Love: God demonstrates his love for us through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Secondly, God demonstrates his love for us through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

In verse 6b, he mentions the death of Christ, that is –Christ died for the ungodly, the same idea is mentioned in verse 8b and verse 10a: that Christ died for us, and that we are reconciled to God by the death of his Son. Friends this is how God demonstrates his love for us –Christ died for us. His death demonstrates God’s love!

In verses 7 and 8 Paul employs a contrast to make known to us the infinite depth and breadth of God’s love. The contrast in verses 7 and 8 highlights God’s love in that, Paul makes the case that neither for a good person nor even for a righteous person can one die. In other words, we are neither good nor righteous, and if we were, no one would have dared to die for us. But God demonstrates his love for us in that though we were weak, and sinners, and his enemies, Christ died for us.

Oh friends, what manner of love is this? That God should die for us? By his love, he meets us at our point of greatest need! The one who loves us the most, not only knows our deepest need but also meets it. Christ died for us! The death of Christ is a demonstration of the love of God! This is the story of redemption a tapestry of love! From Creation to New Creation God works out a cosmic canvas that puts on display his infinite love for undeserving wretches like you and me!

What is the death of Christ? it is the substitutionary and atoning death! God our Creator is a Holy and just God. His holiness demands perfect obedience from his subjects, and his justice demands full retribution for any law-breaking. Because of the fall, all of mankind is plunged into sin and therefore are lawbreakers and must face the just punishment from God. As mentioned earlier, the wages of our lawbreaking is death! Not just physical death, but also, spiritual death –an eternal state of misery and horror under the eternal just judgment of the Holy and just God. This is the essence of Hell, not that we are separated from God, but that we are under His just judgment and condemnation of us for all eternity. This is what sinners like you and I deserve. This is our lot in life and in death as enemies of God.

Oh friends, some of us think that our state is not so bad. In as much as I am a sinner, I do good things here and there. And should I stand before God one day, he surely must consider the good that I have done! and you hope that your good deeds might outweigh the bad and perhaps earn you entrance into heaven. If such were the case then we would not need the death of Christ! If anything, this is the greatest lie that exists. It is the bedrock of all false religions that says to us: your destiny is in your hands. You can pave your way to God and do it your way. God is merciful, he surely will commend your efforts. He will reward you with a pardon for all your sins.

But oh dear friends, the death of Christ tells us a different story. It invites us into the mysterious depths of God’s love and God’s justice! There is only one way for the redemption of man and that is God’s way! Outside of Christ, there is no salvation. Outside his death, there is no salvation. All of human history hinges on what happened on the cross. The story of redemption is nothing without the cross! From the ark of Noah to the blood on the doorposts during the Exodus of God’s people from slavery in Egypt to the sacrificial lambs that were offered year in and year out by God’s people, all lead to the cross. As one has said, it is here that perfect justice and perfect mercy meet. The perfect and sinless Son of God takes upon himself the sins of sinful man as though they were his own and pays the penalty of sin in full for us.

Oh but dear friends, His death does no good if he did not rise from the dead! What assurance do we have that Christ’s death is sufficient for our redemption? What confidence do we have that truly salvation is in Christ and Christ alone? look at the tomb where he lay for three days, and on the third day He rose from death to life! His death demonstrates God’s love for us, and by his resurrection, his love is applied to us as we shall see below!

• Applied Love: God applies his love to us by justifying (past), reconciling (present), and saving (future) us.

The third thing we observe then is that God applies his love to us in justifying, reconciling, and saving us.

We see what God does, how he does it, and when he does it.

In verses 9, 10 & 11, Paul uses phrases that highlight how God applies his love to us: “We have been justified by his blood” ….” shall be saved by him from the wrath of God” … “we were reconciled to God” … “now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life” … “we have now received reconciliation.”

Oh dear friends, what is the application of God’s love, in other words, what is the application of redemption? is it not that we who once were morally weak, God justifies? He declares us righteous because of Christ. Is it not that we who once were sinners, estranged from God are now saved from his wrath? is it not that we who once were enemies of God are now reconciled to God? And all of this is the outworking of God through His Son Jesus Christ! There is no one else by whom redemption would have been accomplished and applied other than Jesus Christ. He was and is the perfect God-man whose blood is sufficient to atone for sin, whose life is sufficient to substitute that of sinful man! Who not only died but also rose from the dead to certify the work of redemption. It is a done deal! We receive reconciliation based on the perfect and complete work of Christ. This is not only a work that was accomplished at the right time, nor is it only a work that is applied at the right time, but also, a work that spans all of time! It has implications for our past, our present, and our future. Note the tenses that Paul uses to describe what God does for us in Christ: we have been justified, we have now received reconciliation, we shall be saved from the wrath of God…” These phrases help us appreciate the scope of our redemption. Redemption spans from eternity to eternity, it unfolds in time, and if you may, marks the strokes of creation, fall, redemption, and consummation. It is our eschatological hope and the bedrock of our Christian experience!

Oh friends, what is the greatest tragedy of mankind? the tragedy of all tragedies? Isn’t it a broken relationship with God? isn’t it getting kicked out of the Garden of Eden? isn’t it the world getting plunged into chaos and destruction because of sin and rebellion against God by mankind? What does God do? He reconciles man to himself! Reconciliation isn’t just an abstract idea; it is an experiential reality.

Aren’t we all familiar with conflict and the pain and the heartache and the disillusion that often accompany many a conflict? Conflict in our homes, in our churches, in our communities. Oh but the greatest of them all, and the mother of them all is conflict with God. And with a snap of his fingers, God can destroy us all! Yet he chooses to offer us reconciliation! He reconciles us to himself and he keeps us reconciled to the very end. The true Christian is the one who knows and has received this reconciliation!

Oh friends, when God’s wrath was poured out during Noah’s flood, those in the ark were safe and secure! When God’s wrath was poured out during Israel’s exodus from Egypt, those in houses smeared with blood were safe and secure! The same is true of those who are in Christ this day! They have been saved from the wrath of God and shall be saved from the wrath of God! Oh friends, this is the overwhelming, unending, infinite, and matchless love of God!

• Eternal Joy: God’s love for us is sufficient for our eternal joy.

Lastly, we then ask, what’s love got to do with our joy?

Oh friends, Paul in verse 11 states, “We rejoice in God…” Yes indeed, we do so because of what he did for us. We do so because of what he has done for us. We do so because of what he is doing for us, and we do so because of what he will do for us through Christ!

Everything that God does in redemption is an expression of his love!

Oh friend, Is your joy rooted in the love of God? Do you realize that the steadfastness of your joy depends on your grasp of God’s steadfast love for you? Friends, God’s love is not only the source but also the fuel to true lasting joy! God’s love has everything to do with our joy!

It is only by rejoicing in God that we can truly rejoice in the hope of the glory of God and therefore rejoice in our suffering! Paul comes full swing in this verse! This is not the kind of joy that is a result of ease or goodies in life. This is the kind of joy that is deep-seated, that even when in the depths of the sea with raging storms, our hearts remain anchored in the reality of God’s love for us.

We still live in a broken world, we still live in a world full of broken people, and we still experience brokenness from within and from without! Oh but for the love of God, to know it, to experience it, to feel it in our bones and the depth of our hearts! And the joy that fills our hearts!

A few implications for us to consider:

For those among us who are not believers: do you realize that you are chasing after the wind by pursuing joy in people and places and things that can never give you that which you long for? Do you realize that at the end of the chase is an eternity under the wrath of God? Oh but friend, God in his love, made a way for you to find true lasting joy. It is in his Son Jesus Christ, and the work that he accomplished in his death and resurrection! Come to him, behold the love of God! and you will find abundant joy!

For the believers:

• Our eternal joy rooted in the love of God enables us to pursue one another amid conflict and helps us to offer one another reconciliation.

• Our eternal joy rooted in the love of God fuels our discipling relationships.

• Our eternal joy rooted in the love of God fuels our evangelistic efforts.