God’s Love for Enemies
Made Right with God • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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· 2 viewsGod demonstrated the greatness of His love by sending Christ to die for helpless, ungodly sinners, securing both our present justification and our future salvation. We often measure God's love by our circumstances or our performance instead of by the cross of Jesus Christ. The cross forever settles the question of how much God loves His people.
Notes
Transcript
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Appreciate the Worship and AVL team
Opening Story
"The ER Waiting Room"
Imagine sitting in the waiting room of a hospital.
Someone you love has just been rushed into emergency surgery.
The doctors disappear behind the double doors.
Minutes turn into an hour.
An hour becomes two.
Every time the doors swing open, your heart races.
But no one comes to speak to you.
Silence.
Your mind starts filling in the blanks.
"Something must be wrong."
"If everything were okay, someone would have come by now."
"The silence must mean the worst."
Then finally the surgeon walks in.
He smiles.
"The surgery was a complete success."
Suddenly you realize something.
The facts never changed.
Only your interpretation of the facts changed.
The silence wasn't evidence that the surgeon had failed.
It was evidence that he was still working.
I think many Christians live like people sitting in that waiting room when calamity strikes.
God seems silent.
Life becomes painful.
Prayers appear unanswered.
The diagnosis comes.
The marriage struggles.
The child wanders.
And without realizing it, we begin evaluating God’s love based on our circumstances, and conclude that God has stopped loving us.
We start reading today's circumstances louder than yesterday's cross.
Paul knows suffering raises questions.
In verses 3–5 he has already acknowledged tribulation.
And not only that, but we also boast in our afflictions, because we know that affliction produces endurance, endurance produces proven character, and proven character produces hope. This hope will not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.
Now he answers the question suffering inevitably asks:
"If God really loves me... why does life look like this?"
Have you ever asked that question? Maybe you are asking it today…
Today we will see that Paul doesn't point us to trust in.
Our emotions.
Or our circumstances.
He points us to the Cross.
Because when you begin to doubt God's love…,
The cross is God's permanent answer.
For while we were still helpless, at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly. For rarely will someone die for a just person—though for a good person perhaps someone might even dare to die.
But God proves his own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
How much more then, since we have now been justified by his blood, will we be saved through him from wrath. For if, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, then how much more, having been reconciled, will we be saved by his life.
And not only that, but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received this reconciliation.
Prayer
God's Love Was Proven at the Cross
For while we were still helpless, at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly. For rarely will someone die for a just person—though for a good person perhaps someone might even dare to die. But God proves his own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Explanation
Paul has just spoken of hope that "does not disappoint" (v. 5).
Naturally, the believer might ask, "How can I know God's love is real?"
Paul does not point to feelings or favorable circumstances. Instead, he points to a historical event: the death of Christ.
Notice how Paul intentionally describes humanity with four darker and shocking terms:
Weak (v. 6) Destitute of power
Ungodly (v. 6) No reverence for God
Sinners (v. 8) One commited to missing God’s mark
Enemies (v. 10) Hatred and hostility a deep opposition to God
Illustration:
The Bully who didn’t realize…
If ever we were looking for reason why God shouldn’t love us its because we are
Weak, ungodly, sinners, enemies
And when we think about judging others because they are…,
My prayer is that we cease judging, and start saying.
“they are a perfect candidate to hear the Gospel.”
Paul wants his readers in Rome to understand something foundational:
God's love did not begin when they believed.
It was demonstrated while they were still in rebellion.
Then Paul introduces an illustration from ordinary human experience.
Rarely will someone die even for a righteous person.
Illustration
Imagine a firefighter entering a burning building.
But imagine discovering that the person trapped inside intentionally started the fire.
He cursed the firefighter.
Rejected every warning.
Mocked those trying to help.
Yet the firefighter knowingly gives his own life to save him.
Everyone listening to Paul would have instinctively recognizes how unnatural that would be.
That is Paul's point.
Christ didn't die for victims.
He died for the rebellious.
Perhaps for someone good or beloved, another might sacrifice his life.
But God is altogether different.
Human love responds to worth.
God's love creates worth.
The cross is not evidence that we deserved salvation;
it is evidence that God’s love is immeasurable.
To first-century Roman Christian in their waiting room—many of whom were suffering rejection and persecution—
This would have anchored their assurance inspite of their changing circumstances and suffering
Argumentation
A skeptic might object,
"If God really loved humanity, why require the death of His Son?
…Couldn't He simply forgive?"
The objection misunderstands both love and justice.
A judge who simply dismisses the crimes of a guilty murderer is not loving; he is corrupt.
Love that ignores justice is sentimentality.
Justice without love is cruel.
At the cross, God's love and justice meet perfectly.
God does not ignore sin.
He bears its penalty Himself in the person of His Son.
The cross demonstrates more than God’s love for sinners,
It demonstrates How perfectly holy He remained while saving them
God presented him as the mercy seat by his blood, through faith, to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his restraint God passed over the sins previously committed. God presented him to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so that he would be just and justify the one who has faith in Jesus.
Application
Many believers in Rome faced persecution and rejection.
Some likely questioned whether God had abandoned them.
Paul reminds them that God's love was settled before their suffering ever began.
If God loved them while they were enemies, Roman persecution was not evidence that God had stopped loving them.
For Us Today
We often measure God's love by our circumstances.
When life goes well, we assume God loves us.
When suffering comes, we wonder why He has forgotten us.
Paul redirects our eyes.
Don't interpret the cross through your circumstances.
Interpret your circumstances through the cross.
Whenever you question God's love, don't begin with your feelings.
Begin at Caross.
Sticky Statement
The cross doesn't tell us how valuable we were—it tells us how loving God is
God's Love Guarantees Our Security
How much more then, since we have now been justified by his blood, will we be saved through him from wrath. For if, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, then how much more, having been reconciled, will we be saved by his life.
Explanation
Paul now builds one of the strongest assurance arguments in all of Scripture.
Twice he uses the phrase:
"Much more..."
This is an argument from the greater to the lesser.
If God has already done the harder thing...
He will certainly do the easier thing.
Notice the sequence.
We were justified by Christ's blood.
Therefore,
we shall be saved from wrath.
While we were enemies,
we were reconciled.
Therefore,
how much more will we be saved now that we belong to Him?
Paul is saying:
If God reconciled His enemies,
He certainly won't abandon His children.
Christ's death secured our justification.
Christ's resurrected life secures our preservation.
The Roman believers did not need to fear future condemnation because their standing before God rested entirely upon Christ's finished work.
Illustration
Imagine a business paying cash for a multi-million-dollar building as their new headquarters.
After investing everything to purchase it,
would they abandon it because it needed a few thousand dollars in repairs?
Of course not.
The greatest investment has already been made.
Paul argues similarly.
God has already paid the infinite price.
He gave His own Son.
Keeping us in His grace is not the greater work.
Saving us was.
Argumentation
A skeptic might argue,
"Christians still sin. Doesn't that prove they can lose God's favor?"
Paul's answer is found in his logic.
Our salvation was never grounded in our performance.
If it were,
God never would have justified us in the first place.
He justified us while we were sinners.
Our security DOES NOT REST upon the consistency of our obedience
but upon the sufficiency of Christ's obedience.
The same Savior who died now lives to intercede for His people Hebrews 7:25
Therefore, he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, since he always lives to intercede for them.
The risen Christ is not waiting for believers to fail.
He is actively preserving them.
Application
Many Christians in Paul’s day feared imprisonment, execution, or social rejection.
Paul reminds them that no earthly suffering could reverse God's heavenly verdict.
The Judge has already declared them righteous.
Future wrath has already been removed.
For Us Today
Many believers quietly wonder,
"What if I fail again?"
"What if I disappoint God too many times?"
"Will God eventually grow tired of me?"
Paul answers:
If God loved you enough to justify you when you hated Him,
He will certainly keep you now that you belong to Him.
Our confidence is not in the strength of our grip on Christ,
but in His grip on us.
Sticky Statement
The God who loved you enough to save you will love you enough to keep you.
God's Love Changes What We Celebrate
And not only that, but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received this reconciliation.
Explanation
Paul concludes with the appropriate response to everything he has just taught.
We boast.
Not merely in our relief.
Not merely in our gratitude.
We Boast in God Himself.
Notice carefully.
Paul does not say,
"We boast because we're going to heaven."
He says,
"We boast in God."
Reconciliation is more than forgiveness.
It is restored relationship.
The greatest blessing of justification is not simply escaping judgment.
It is gaining God Himself.
This would have greatly encouraged the Christians in Rome.
Even if Caesar took everything they had,
he could never take their relationship to God.
Illustration
Think about the story of the prodigal son.
The story doesn't end with
Clean clothes.
Or new sandals.
Or a feast.
It ends with a son restored to his father.
The greatest gift wasn't the robe.
It was the relationship.
Likewise, the greatest gift of the gospel isn't merely forgiveness.
It's God Himself.
Argumentation
A skeptic might ask,
"Isn't Christianity simply about avoiding hell and getting into heaven?"
Paul's conclusion says otherwise.
If Christianity were merely fire insurance,
verse 11 would end,
"We Boast in eternal life."
Instead, it says,
"We Boast or rejoice in God."
The Christian's deepest joy is not found in a destination,
but in a Person.
Heaven is glorious because God is there.
Application
Many believers had already lost family, reputation, income, and security because of Christ.
Paul reminds them that they still possessed their greatest treasure.
God Himself.
No emperor could confiscate that.
For Us Today
It is easy to become more excited about God's gifts than about God Himself.
We pray for
Healing.
Provision.
Protection.
Success.
Those are good gifts.
But the greatest gift God has ever given is Himself.
Mature Christians eventually discover that the deepest Boast of salvation is not merely what God gives,
But who God is.
Sticky Statement
The greatest gift of the gospel isn't escaping hell—it's being brought home to God.
Conclusion —
If you are here this morning and you are skeptic,
Imagine what your life would look like if you truly believed—
not just in your head, but deep in your heart—
that God has already settled His love for you at the cross.
Imagine waking up tomorrow no longer trying to earn God's approval.
No longer wondering if you've done enough.
No longer carrying the crushing weight of trying to prove yourself.
Instead, you are living IN His acceptance rather than for His acceptance.
What kind of peace would that produce?
What kind of courage?
What kind of joy?
Now imagine what that would do for your family.
Imagine a husband who no longer has to prove his worth because he already knows whose he is.
Imagine a wife who no longer fears rejection because she rests in the unchanging love of Christ.
Imagine parents who discipline from security instead of frustration.
Imagine children growing up in homes where grace is more common than guilt.
Where forgiveness is quicker than bitterness.
Where love is demonstrated instead of merely demanded.
Now imagine what a church body looks like who are living in His assurance rather than earning His assurance
No one competing for significance,
because every one already knows they are fully accepted in Christ.
Everyone coming to Boast in Christ instead of seeking recognition.
Everybody is forgiving because we have been forgiven.
Every person who walks through those doors, the weak, the ungodly, the sinner, and the enemy of God, all being welcomed because every one of us remembers,
"That was me."
And then imagine our community.
Imagine the community of Middleburg and Clay County
See us as the
People who love their neighbors because Christ first loved them.
People who forgive because they've been forgiven.
People who serve because they've been served.
People who welcome the broken because they remember they once were broken.
That's the kind of church that changes a community.
Not because we're impressive.
But because the gospel is.
Church, this is why we say over and over again,
The Gospel changes everything.
It changes how you see God.
It changes how you see yourself.
It changes how you see your failures.
It changes how you see other people.
It changes your marriage.
It changes your parenting.
It changes your friendships.
It changes your church.
It changes your witness.
Because once you truly believe that Christ loved you while you were weak...
while you were ungodly...
while you were a sinner...
while you were His enemy...
you can never look at anyone else the same way again.
The cross forever changes the way you love.
And perhaps that's the greatest miracle of all.
Not only that Christ died for sinners...
but that He is now making sinners into people who love like Him.
So when life grows dark...
when suffering comes...
when doubts creep in...
when your own heart condemns you...
don't begin by looking at yourself.
Don't begin by looking at your circumstances.
Look again to the cross.
Because there, once and for all, God answered the greatest question you'll ever ask:
"Do You really love me?"
And heaven's answer is not merely spoken.
It is nailed to a cross.
Final Call to Faith -Worship Team
Maybe today you've spent your whole life trying to earn what God is offering freely.
Trying to become good enough.
Trying to clean yourself up before coming to Christ.
Paul says Christ didn't wait for you to become lovable.
He loved you while you were His enemy.
Come to Him just as you are.
Trust in the finished work of Jesus Christ.
Receive the offer of friendship with Him that He purchased with His own blood.
And then spend the rest of your life living in the freedom of this glorious truth:
The cross doesn't tell us how valuable we were—it tells us how loving God is.
And because His love never changes...
the Gospel changes everything.
Prayer/ Packets
More like Jesus
