Introduction

Pikes Peak Rescue—A 17-year-old Colorado driver whose girlfriend had reportedly just broken up with him drove his car off of the Pikes Peak summit Wednesday afternoon in front of a crowd of tourists, witnesses and police said. It took rescuers more than eight hours and one failed helicopter rescue attempt to pull the teen 900 feet back to the top, where he was transported via Chinook helicopter to Memorial Hospital in Colorado Springs. The teen was ejected from the car, which landed nearly 1,000 feet below the summit in an area known as the “Bottomless Pit.”

• We’re all captivated by daring rescue stories. Funny thing is . . . we’re all a part of a rescue—History’s most remarkable rescue story . . .
• For the sake of our understanding, I want us review our God’s rescue of us in stages. Consider:

1.   Stage One: Our past despair

• Watch how Paul describes our former state of existence—the way we were before God acted. Paul says:

a) We were ungodly (6)

• You know, sometimes it’s a little hard to see ourselves this way. Ungodly—that’s somebody else—that’s the junkie, the prostitute, the pimp, the porn star—but not me! I’ve never been ungodly. I was born right in the buckle of the Bible belt. Man, I was practically birthed in church—before it was safe to come out (with the germs, etc.) my mama showed me off amongst the brethren.
• Listen—regardless of our home—our heritage—the fact is—before Christ we were ungodly. Period.
• And of course . . .

b) We were sinners (8)

• (And still are, of course—but that’s another sermon.)

Sighting in new pellet gun (adult air rifle)

• The word sinner in essence describes someone who has missed the target. Their aim is off. They can’t shoot straight—they can’t hit the mark that God has established. No one can perfectly obey him.
• If we back up to the beginning of Romans we find Paul thoroughly explaining that Gentiles are sinners (Rom 1) and that Jews are sinners (Rom. 2), and concludes in:

Romans 3:23

• Sin is a universal plague on humanity. Nobody slides through. Not even the best of us has escaped its deadly grasp.
• But there’s more . . . Paul tells us that . . .

c) We were enemies of God (10)

• Hard to imagine—me, an enemy of God, come on! But that what the Scripture says—and this cuts both ways.
• Humans are hostile toward God

Romans 8:7

• Oh, you may have never literally shaken an angry, rebellious fist at the face of God, but you were going your own way, doing your own thing—and as such you were his enemy.
• God is hostile toward sinners. Sinners who choose to live life apart from Christ arouse the holy anger of God. They stand under his wrath.

Romans 1:18

Romans 2:5

• And as if the fact that we were sinners, ungodly, and enemies of God was not bad enough—worse, there was not one thing we could do about it.

d) We were powerless (6)

• When it comes to getting square with God we can all forget the foolish notion of pulling ourselves up by our own bootstraps. Won’t work. Can’t happen. Every human is helpless at that point. And so were we. Nothing we could do to help ourselves. We were a part of fallen humanity. Following in the footsteps of our distant father Adam.
• A sad picture—no hope at all. No power to make one step toward God. No desire within us to move toward God one inch.
• But God didn’t wait for us. He didn’t sit around holding his breath, wringing his hands in the heaven—while we empowered ourselves, infused ourselves with godliness, stopped sinning, and waved a white flag of surrender. Had he done that, it would’ve never happened. God didn’t wait for us—instead, Paul tells us—God acted—he made the first move—at just the right moment in history God made his move. We didn’t deserve it but, you see, he loves us so much that he sent Jesus to die in our place—we who rebelled against him. This great work of God in Christ moved us into:

2.   Stage Two: Our present position

• We who have trusted Christ and Lord and Savior have entered into a new realm of existence—a new position, if you will. Our present position is one of:

a) Justification (9)

• Those of us here who have trusted Christ for salvation presently enjoy a state of justification. We’ve been justified—notice the past tense—at a point in time God acted to justify us—it’s a done deal. Justification—what in the world does that mean?
• Basically a legal term. Perhaps better described than defined.

Imagine for a couple of minutes that this is a courtroom. I’m there as one about to be sentenced for murder. You’ve heard the evidence—and so have the judge and jury. It’s overwhelming—the DNA, eyewitnesses, the whole ball of wax—the glove fits. I’m guilty beyond not just a reasonable doubt but beyond any shadow of a doubt. The judge calls on me to rise—he stares squarely into my face and calmly says, “Not guilty.” What a sham, you think! He’s guilty! Fry him! He doesn’t deserve to live after what he’s done. But the verdict stands—not guilty—I’ve been declared guiltless by the judge—I’m a free man.

• As we’ve already seen from this passage we were in a pitiful state—no question whatsoever of our guilt before God—we were sinners, ungodly, enemies—and couldn’t do a thing about it. But God the Judge of all has declared us “not guilty.” We go free.
• Notice . . . Paul says we were justified by his blood—by the blood of Jesus Christ. Remember that old gospel song, “I Should Have Been Crucified?” “I was guilty with nothing to say, and they were coming to take me away. But then a voice from heaven was heard that said, ‘Let him go; take me instead.” The voice of Jesus—the one who entered human history and allowed himself to be crucified, killed, sacrificed—in my place and in your place. And then at some point we turned to the Lord through faith in Christ—at that point—the voice was that of God the Father who then rapped his gavel on the divine desk and declared us “NOT GUILTY.” We were guilty—now there’s not even a hint of guilt. We now stand before God justified!
• Think about it—all those times you blew it—all those occasions you did what you wanted—forget God! And it’s all over—you were guilty but not your guiltless—only by the grace of God could something so wonderful happen!
• Our present position is one of justification—though we are sinners, we stand guiltless before God. And our present position is one of:

b) Reconciliation (9, 10, 11)

• We’ve been reconciled with God by God.
• Paul presents this concept in vv. 9, 10 & 11.
• Remember—we were enemies of God. Reconciliation means the two opposing parties come to peace with one another. Friendship replaces animosity. God has become our friend—make sure you understand—his doing—his initiative—his work—we didn’t do anything. He bought our peace with him with the price of his son’s blood.

A Baptist pastor during the American Revolution, Peter Miller, who lived in Ephrata, Pennsylvania, and enjoyed the friendship of George Washington. In Ephrata also lived Michael Wittman, an evil-minded sort who did all he could to oppose and humiliate the pastor. One day Michael Wittman was arrested for treason and sentenced to die. Peter Miller traveled seventy miles on foot to Philadelphia to plead for the life of the traitor. “No, Peter,” General Washington said. “I cannot grant you the life of your friend.” “My friend!” exclaimed the old preacher. “He’s the bitterest enemy I have.” “What?” cried Washington. “You’ve walked seventy miles to save the life of an enemy? That puts the matter in different light. I’ll grant your pardon.” And he did. Peter Miller took Michael Wittman back home to Ephrata—no longer an enemy but a friend.

• God paved the way for our pardon and became our friend.

*  We had no hope at all—drowning in despair, but God reached down and touched us—pardoned our sin—declared us not guilty—transformed us into his friends. But there’s more to come:

3.   Stage Three: Our future escape

• We’re not there yet. It’s somewhere out there—in time—beyond the present moment. And we have the firmest confidence we will escape the coming wrath of God.

Romans 5:9-10

• The wrath of God is coming. There will be a day of final judgment—a time of reckoning before God. And so many won’t be prepared—they will not escape. Here the words of Paul:

1 Thessalonians 5:2-3

• Note the emphatic language. They won’t expect it, but it’s coming nevertheless. And try as they might, they won’t escape.

Richard Strauss—Sin is an outrage against God’s holiness; His justice requires that He punish it. And His love for His people demands that He destroy sin because it threatens their well-being. Wrath is God acting in love to destroy sin, to purge His universe of what is detrimental to its best interests. God cannot love what is good without hating what is evil and moving decisively against it, any more than a parent can love his child without acting quickly and ruthlessly to destroy a wild animal that threatens the life of that child. God’s wrath is the perfect response of His perfect being to that which poses a danger to His children.

Escape from Alcatraz. If there was ever an inmate who was destined to escape from Alcatraz, it was Frank Lee Morris. In the movie entitled "Escape from Alcatraz" starring actor Clint Eastwood, Morris was accurately portrayed as the keen and brilliant mastermind of one of the most famous prison escapes in history. The escape plan took nearly seven months to design, and it would necessitate the fabrication of clever decoys and water survival gear. Morris was credited by prison officials as possessing superior intelligence, and he earned his ticket to Alcatraz by building an impressive resume of escapes. Brothers John and Clarence Anglin were also serving sentences at Alcatraz for bank robbery, having been convicted along with their brother Alfred. All three had been incarcerated at the Federal Penitentiary in Atlanta when they first became acquainted with Morris, and John and Clarence were eventually sent to Alcatraz following a sequence of attempted escapes.  Alcatraz inmate Allan West, who occupied an adjacent cell, was also brought in on the scheme. The escape plan started to take shape in December of 1961, beginning with a collection of several old saw blades that West allegedly found in one of the utility corridors while cleaning. The plan was extremely complex and involved the design and fabrication of ingenious lifelike dummies, water rafts, and life preservers, fashioned from over fifty rain coats that had been acquired from other inmates. They would also require a variety of crudely made tools to dig with, and to construct the accessories necessary for the escape. By May of 1962, Morris and the Anglins and had already dug through the cell's six-by-nine-inch vent holes, and had started work on the vent on top of the cellblock. Meanwhile John and Clarence started fabricating the dummy heads, and even gave them the pet names of "Oink" and "Oscar." The heads were crude but lifelike, and were constructed from a homemade cement-powder mixture that included such innocuous materials as soap and toilet paper. They were decorated with flesh-tone paint from prison art kits, and human hair from the barbershop. Using glue stolen from the glove shop, the inmates also started working to cut and bond the raincoats into a makeshift raft and life preservers. After months of long preparation the inmates had completed fashioning all of the gear they needed for their escape, and they then continued working to loosen the ventilator grill on top of the cellhouse. On the night of June 11, 1962, Morris indicated that the top ventilator was loose enough, and that he felt that they were ready to attempt the escape.  At 9:30 p.m., immediately after lights-out, Morris brought down the dummies from the top of the cellblock and announced that the escape would be staged that very night. Clarence Anglin attempted to assist West in removing his ventilator grill by kicking at it from outside of the cell in the utility corridor, but his efforts were unsuccessful. Morris and the Anglins would have no choice but to leave him behind. The inmates made their final thirty-foot climb up the plumbing to the cellhouse roof, traversed 100 feet across the rooftop, and then carefully maneuvered down fifty feet of piping to the ground near the entrance to the shower area. This would be the last anyone ever saw of Morris and the Anglin Brothers. For decades speculated abounded as to whether this famous escape attempt had been successful. The FBI spent several years investigating, and later resolved that the inmates' plan had failed.

• Folks, I suspect that when the day of the Lord comes—when men and women are facing the judgment—well, I’ve no doubt that some will attempt great escapes—But (listen), they will not escape.
• There’s only one tunnel that leads away from his wrath—and it’s not manmade.
• God himself has dug an escape tunnel for you and me through Jesus Christ—through him we are saved from God’s wrath. The God from whom it is impossible to escape has made our escape possible in Christ.

1 Thessalonians 5:9

• You see? We escape!!

Conclusion

• What glorious truth! What should we do in response to this? Rejoice!! Look at what the apostle writes in Verse 11.