God's Love

Romans 5:6–11 ESV

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.

Too many people believe and sometimes teach that love is a feeling or emotion. Yes, feelings and emotions are involved in love but the greatest part of love is action oriented.

Love is a verb (what you do) more than a noun (a feeling). Now, imagine if Christ, just before the cross, went to the garden and thought; I hate this feeling, I don’t feel like doing this, therefore I will base my decision upon what I feel. If that had happened, we’d all be hopelessly doomed to hell. The good news, of course, is that Jesus resisted and fought back His feelings and even though He prayed three times to have the cup removed, He was more interested in doing the will of the Father than what He felt like doing…thankfully. (Not MY will, but THY will be done) Jesus displayed His love by willingly going to the cross and dying for sinners and those of us who were still His enemies and desperately wicked (Rom 5:8, 10). love is a choice more than a feeling because feelings are subjective while love is objectively displayed in actions. The bottom line is that love is what a person chooses to do, not what a person chooses to feel.

These verses shows us God’s awesome love for us, as His creation, and it is a powerful example of justification. Justification is the act of God bringing sinful mankind into a new covenant relationship with Himself through the forgiveness of sins - it is the basis of conversion. It truly reiterates the love God had towards us, and explains what the sacrifice given by Jesus truly means to us as believers.

Weak and a Sinner

Romans 5:6–7 ESV

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—

While we were still weak indicates we were powerless against sin, we were ungodly and lost trying to find our way in life but could not help ourselves out of this mess we were in. We were nowhere near what God wanted us to be, and were out of the will of God. We were imperfect, sinful humans. But, notice the next words - at the right time - indicating God was not too early, not too late, but at the perfect, appointed time, God sent His Son, and throughout His life, lived a perfect life as an example for us. The people had to be prepared for Jesus before God could send Him. They had to live long enough in the law, that they recognized their hopelessness in the law, and their need for a Savior. There was a need for a Savior.

Not only did He teach, preach, mentor, serve, He died for the ungodly. He died for our benefit, for our sake, on our behalf, as our substitute. Simply put Christ died for us.

2 Corinthians 5:21 ESV

21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

We have used this as an example before, but who would you be willing to die for? What kind of qualifications would they have to have? Would they have to be family? How close family? Wife/Husband, Child, Brother, Sister, Parents, Cousin? How about a good friend? Would you be willing to die for a good friend?

Jesus died for people no one else would be willing to die for. Those who were worthless sinners. People who were in complete opposition to God, those who were in defiance of Him, those who didn’t know their need for Him. Those are the ones Jesus died for, this is the depth of justification.

In reality, how many of us truly understand the depth and true meaning behind the sacrifice Jesus made for each of us, living in sin, defiant against God, not truly knowing how lost we were? We were stumbling, bumbling, and wandering blindly through life. God knew how bad off we were, even when we had no clue. That is the depth of love God had for us, even in the depth of our sins.

God Demonstrates His Love

Romans 5:8–9 ESV

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.

While we were sinners, Christ died for us. Talk about the ultimate act of love. This word used for “show” means God demonstrated, proved, exhibited His love for us in sending Jesus to die for us. The word is in the present tense meaning God is always proving His love to us. This is the unbelievable love of God, that He stooped down to save sinners. We would expect Him to save righteous and good men, but it catches us completely off-guard when it is stated that He saves sinners. Such is the unbelievable love of God.

God proved His love by giving up His only Son to die for us. Some earthly fathers would be willing to give up their sons for a “good” man or for a great cause. But how many would be willing to give up their sons for a man who committed treason or for a man who murdered one of the greatest men living? Think of the enormous price God paid in proving His love: He gave up His Son to die for the unworthy and useless, the ungodly and sinful, the wicked and depraved—the worst sinners and outcasts imaginable. Just think what God Himself must have gone through: the feelings, the suffering, the hurt, the pain, and the terrible emotional strain. Just think what is involved in God giving up His Son: God had to send Jesus out of heaven and into this sinful world. He had to humiliate Jesus by taking away His eternal glory and become a human. He had to watch His son being rejected, denied, cursed, abused, arrested, tortured, and murdered knowing there was nothing He could do, even though He could spare Him. He had to have the sins of the world put upon His Son and let Him bear the weight of them all. He had to judge His sinless Son as a sinner and condemn Him to death for ALL sin. The Father had to turn His own back while His Son was on the cross.

God proved His love. He has given up His Son to die for us. We do not deserve it—we never have and we never will—but God loves us with an unbelievable love. Therefore, He has given His Son to die for us, as our substitute, in our behalf.

John 10:11 ESV

11 I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

What was the result of Jesus death on the cross? We have been justified by His blood. It was through the shedding of His blood that we can now be seen as being righteous in the eyes of the Father. We have been acquitted, spared from our eternal punishment - the wrath of God. God is a just God - He must show no weakness or leniency. He must show the same standard for all; sinner or saint. The only thing that separates the two is the conscious, willing decision of the saint to call upon the name of the Lord and be saved.

God Saved Us

Romans 5:10–11 ESV

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.

God loved us so much, He provided a way so we did not have to feel His wrath towards us and our sin. Even though mankind failed God, God did not fail mankind. God reconciles and saves us by doing three things.

God reconciles us by Christ’s death.

Reconciliation means to change, to change thoroughly, to exchange, to change from enmity to friendship, to bring together, to restore. The idea is that two persons who should have been together all along are brought together; two persons who had something between them are restored and reunited. The thing that broke the relationship between God and man was sin. Men are said to be enemies of God (Ro. 5:10), and the word enemies refers back to the sinners and the ungodly (Ro. 5:6, 8). The enemies of God are the sinners and ungodly of this world. This simply means that every man is an enemy of God, for every man is a sinner and ungodly. This may seem unkind and harsh, but it is exactly what Scripture is saying. The fact is clearly seen by thinking about the matter for a moment.

When any of us sin, we work against God and promote evil by word and example. This is the point of God’s great love or reconciliation. He did not reconcile and save us when we were righteous and good. He reconciled and saved us when we were enemies, ignoring and rejecting Him. As stated above, it is because we are sinners and enemies that we need to be reconciled.

God saves us by Christ’s life.

The way mankind is reconciled to God is by the death of His Son, Jesus Christ.

By believing Jesus died for us, God then accepts the death of Jesus in place of the death of man, God accepts Jesus’ righteousness and accepts that righteousness in place of condemnation of man. God no longer sees the sins of mankind, but instead sees the blood of His Son and no longer sees the sins of the saved.

“His life” means the life of the living Lord. Christ stands before God as our great Intercessor and Mediator. Standing before God, He stands as the Sinless and Righteous Son of God, as the Ideal and Perfect Man. When we believe in Christ, God takes our belief and counts it as righteousness. The Ideal Righteousness of Christ covers us, and God accepts and saves us because we trust Christ as the living Lord, as our Intercessor and Mediator before God.

God gives us joy through the atonement or reconciliation of Christ.

A person who receives so much from God is bound to be filled with joy and rejoicing. How can one not rejoice when we truly understand the sacrifice God made for a sinner such as I?

We have been freed from ours sins and the punishment due to our sins. Christ bore both the sins and the punishment for us. The person who truly believes that God loves that much—enough to give His only begotten Son—becomes acceptable to God, reconciled forever and ever.

God is the One who reconciles, not men. Men do not reconcile themselves to God. They cannot do enough work or enough good to become acceptable to God. Reconciliation is entirely the act of God. God is the One who reaches out to men and reconciles them unto Himself. Men receive the reconciliation of God.

Closing

We have seen how God loved us, but how SHOULD we love Him back?

Matthew 22:37 ESV

37 And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.

We are to love Him in the same manner He loves us. With every fiber of our being, we should reflect on what God has done for us, we should reflect on what Jesus did for us, we should truly understand the sacrifices made by both, and we should truly WANT to accept the sacrifice made by them so we can be saved. We can receive reconciliation through believing in Jesus Christ as our Savior.

Would you do so today?

Leadership Ministries Worldwide. 1996. Romans. The Preacher’s Outline & Sermon Bible. Chattanooga, TN: Leadership Ministries Worldwide.