In Romans chapter 5 we'll be reading verses 1-11, much like we did last week. I hope I can convince you that once someone starts preaching out of Romans 5 and they only get to verse 5 like we did last week when Ben came, that you just have to finish the rest at least to verse 11, which is what we're going to try to do this week and next week. So please hear the Word of God in Romans 5 verses 1-11. Therefore, having been justified by faith, We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice, or we boast in hope of the glory of God. And not only that, not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance, and perseverance, character, and character, hope, Now hope does not disappoint because the love of God, the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who has given to us. For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die, yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love toward us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us much more than much more than having been justified by his blood we shall be saved from wrath through him for if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God to the death of his son much more much more having been reconciled we shall be saved by his life And not only that, not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation. This is the word of God. May God, by his spirit, apply this section of scripture to our hearts thoroughly this morning. You may be seated. As I said before reading those first 11 verses of Romans 5, last week, Brother Ben Carlson preached through verses 1 through 5. He did an excellent job. And his way of presenting those first five verses was speaking about the tree of justification by faith. And then the fruit that then is available to be picked, to be enjoyed by those who come to the tree of justification by faith. He spoke of peace and access and grace and standing and boasting in Christ. But verses 1-11 in Romans 5 should be one of those sections that everybody should endeavor to try to memorize at least sometime in their Christian life. And so we'd like to go through and finish these 11 verses. It'll probably take us today and next Sunday, but I think it's also fitting thinking of next Sunday being Reformation Sunday and the great foundational doctrine to the Christian faith and to the church herself being justification by faith. And certainly the theme of justification by faith and the great blessings and benefits of justification by faith are presented here in a way that's perhaps like none other. So it seems fitting. to go ahead and do this and stay in Romans 5 verses 1 through 11. We'll get back to the book of Acts sometime before I die and we'll get back to finishing Psalm 119 as well. But for the next two Sundays we'll be looking at Romans 5 verses 1 through 11. We want to focus today on our being saved by Christ's death and next Sunday on being saved by Christ's life. That will be the way we'll divide it in a very generic way. Today we'll focus on how we are saved, justified by Christ's death And next week, the theme will be being saved by Christ's life. And today in particular, the focus on God's demonstration of His great love to us through Christ. And Ben did do a good job last week of giving the context, but I think the context is so very important in Romans 5. And so we look at the context. Romans 5, 1 says, therefore, so we're looking back to what he said before, and I think he's looking back to the first four chapters. And we see back in Romans 1 through 4, Paul unleashes the great doctrine of justification by faith in Christ. In chapter 1, he says, and you know this, that mankind is without excuse, that no one can stand before a holy God. The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, he says in Romans 1.18. And in verse 5 of chapter 2, it says, Sinners are treasuring up for themselves wrath in the day of wrath and the revelation of righteous judgment of God. And Paul goes on in chapters two and three to say, no matter whether you're religious or not, whether you're moral or not, you stand condemned before God if you're outside of Christ. No one is righteous. No one. No one even seeks God. All are guilty before God. He makes it plain and clear. But then we get to verse 21 of chapter three, and you know this, because we seem to repeat it every month, and that's okay. In verse 21 of chapter three, on this great but now, or but God versus, but now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed through faith in Jesus Christ to all and on all who believe. For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus whom God set forth as a propitiation by his blood through faith to demonstrate his righteousness, that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus Christ. And in chapter four, after stating this justification by faith, the only hope for condemned sinners, in chapter four, He speaks in more detail of justification by faith alone. It's not by works, it's by faith alone. And he uses Abraham and David as examples. Even in the Old Testament, the saints in the Old Testament were still saved by justification, by faith in a Savior. So that takes us then to Romans 5, verses 1 through 11. where Paul then starts to then unfurl the great benefits and blessings of this justification. And he seems to be building these things point by point. Even those first five verses last week, you had to have noticed that. It just seems to be this building of a tower. It's just like Jenga or something, but it never falls. And he starts building up. You have peace. You have access. You stand in grace. We glory and rejoice in this justification by faith. But he goes on even farther. He's building a tower. And you have these phrases in these 11 verses. Not only that, so he's building another thing. Much more than he's building another part. Much more. Not only that, it's this whole building up of this wonderful case of the benefits and the blessings of justification by faith. So that's the context. The focus, and by the way, there is a very brief outline in your bulletin if you're trying to keep track of where we are. It is brief, but it's there. The focus, then, of Romans 5, verses 6 through 9, which is what we're going to focus on today, the focus on Romans 5, verses 6 through 9 is on the greatness of the love of God demonstrated toward us through Christ on the cross. And in verse 8, Paul writes, but God, in one of those but verses, but God demonstrates his own love toward us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. God demonstrates, He commends, He manifests, He exhibits His great love to us in Christ. And so what Paul is doing here in verses six through nine, he shows how great this love of God is by comparing it to how sinful we are by nature. He shows the greatness and the assurance of God's love by showing our total unworthiness of it. And brother and sister, It's so very important to see the sinfulness of our sin compared to the holiness of God. In fact, God can't show you that to the full because it would destroy you, I think. But we have to have a glimpse of that, an understanding of that. If we don't understand our sinfulness compared to His holiness, we will never fully appreciate or rest in the greatness of the love of God. We will never rest securely in His love unless we realize that there's nothing that we have done. There's no worthiness on our part, but it's all God's love and sovereign power that redeems us when we deserve none of it. Else, when we do sin, I think we've all experienced this, when we do sin and our love grows cold as a result, that's the obvious result of sin in one's life, Our love for God grows cold, and then we become unlovely, quote, unquote, at least in our mind before God. Then what we do is we assume that God's love is fading. We may even assume that God's love is gone or removed from us. So when we understand the sinfulness of our sin and the holiness of God, we then can understand, appreciate, and rejoice in the sufficient yet infinite love of God for his people, and we rest secure in it. So that's the context and the focus. The topic, though, that's central to verses six through nine is the love of God. The topic that's central here is the love of God. And that really is the transition we see between verse five and verse six in Romans 5. In Romans 5.5, that's the first mention of love in this great letter to the Romans. When you think about that, that's interesting. All the way to Romans 5, before we have love being mentioned in this letter to the Romans. And in verse five, Paul says, the love of God has been poured out into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, which has been given us. When we are regenerated and we're given a new heart by the power of the Spirit, God's love is poured out into our hearts. And Romans 5.6 begins with four, when we were still without strength, pointing back to what was just said in verse five. It's as if with verse six, we're looking back to verse five and saying, because of this great love that I've just introduced, I will now give you evidence or proof of this great love in the following verses. And so an outline of what we're going to look at today in verses six through nine, an outline, a very simple outline. It'll be hard to get too lost, although maybe some of the details will get lost. But Paul uses four characteristics and one contrast to drive home his point of the great love of God in Christ Jesus. Four characteristics and one contrast. He goes through four increasingly condemning characteristics of the sinner. Four increasingly condemning characteristics of the sinner. And then he gives one incredible contrast. contrasting the love of God to the love of the sinner, so we can see the wonder of God's love given to sinners through Christ. So that's the very brief outline we'll use as we walk through these verses. So first of all, let's look at the four condemning characteristics of the sinner. We have to understand who we are outside of Christ first. Four condemning characteristics. Look at verse six. That's where we'll start. And we've said already that the whole section, there's this building up of blessing after blessing, like we're building a tower to show where we can rest in and rejoice in our justification by faith in Christ. But much like he builds those things up, he also builds up a negative description one upon the other to show how undeserving we are of this love. And then we'll see the greatness of God's love demonstrated to us through Christ in contrast. So I want you to see this progression This adding up and the last one is the worst that summarizes all four. So in verse six, Paul says, for when we were what? Still without strength. Still without strength. That's building block number one to see how sinful you are outside of Christ. That means we were helpless. We were powerless. It speaks of our inability. Some would say that's our total depravity. Paul tells the Ephesians in chapter two, verse one, that you who have been made alive, you were dead in trespasses and sins. Before God miraculously raises us from the dead and gives us new life, we're dead to God. We're without strength, we're helpless, we're unable. And so at salvation, God is not merely trying to put out a hand to help us up. because we're dead. What happens when you reach out a hand to try to help up a dead person? Nothing. We need much more than a helping hand. We need a spiritual awakening. We need a new heart. We need regeneration. We cannot respond to God. We need more than a helping hand because we're helpless. We're without strength. We are unable to obey or seek God. The second condemning characteristic, still in verse six, we were without strength, but then it goes on to say, in due time, Christ died for thee, who? For the lovely, for the attractive, for the worthy? No, it says for the ungodly. Not only are we unable, but we're ungodly. And ungodly doesn't just mean we're unable or that we do bad things. Unable means that we're actually opposed to God and his holiness. We're not only unable to obey and to honor God, but we're actually opposed to Him in our ungodliness. We're opposed to who He is and what He requires. And outside of Christ, our nature is to be opposed to Him. We naturally do not seek Him. So we're unable, we're ungodly. But then thirdly, in verse eight, another building block, but God demonstrates His own love toward us in that while we were still sinners, still sinners, not only unable and opposed to God as ungodly people, but we actively sin against Him. Our nature does not only not seek Him, but sins against Him, willingly against a holy God. Then lastly, in verse 10, we said, following through verse 9, we can peek into verse 10. Verse 10, for if when we were enemies, Unable, ungodly, sinning against God, but this final description is of all men who are outside of Christ, and it summarizes all of them, and it's even worse. We are enemies to God, actively hating God, shaking our fists at God. We do not like God. We wish he were dead, that we could be unencumbered to do whatever we wanted to do. And so you just see the bad news of the gospel? Do you see this progression? That those who are outside of Christ, they are unable, they are ungodly, they are sinners against God, and they're hateful enemies against God. Those are the four condemning characteristics that lay the foundation to why this love of God is so great. But maybe it bothers you that I've just said that if you're outside of Christ, you're an enemy of God. Maybe like some you would say, well, I didn't know we were having any quarrels. I like God. Does that bother you to be said that outside of Christ, you're an enemy of God? Well, I want us to take a little time to look at that because we must understand that outside of Christ, our sin and our sinfulness makes us God's enemies. That's what the Bible teaches. Do you understand that outside of Christ that you are at war with holy God? You're not just not as obedient as you should be. You're at war with God. If you've not been reconciled to God through Christ, the Bible says you're at war with God. And whether you perceive it to be true or not isn't the question. It's true according to what God has said. If you do not believe a knife is sharp, it doesn't keep it from slicing you when you grab it. But worse yet, God is at war with you, sinner. And that is a war you cannot win. God, by his nature, his character, and his person, he desires, he deserves, and he demands worship and obedience. And everything exists and is made in reference to him and to glorify him. And for God to not enforce this is for him to deny his own glory. This does not make him conceited. It makes God, God. He desires, deserves, and demands all glory, laud, and honor to be given to him. And understand, without Christ, if you do not love your Lord God with all your heart, soul, strength, and mind, you are at war with God. Without Christ, if you do not love your neighbor as yourself, you are at war with God. And again, even worse, he is at war with you. And we talk often about our need to be saved. And the question should be asked, well, saved from what? Saved from sin? Yes. Saved from Satan? Yes. Death and hell? Yes. But ultimately, we must be saved from who? God himself. and His wrath against our sin that is justly deserved. And sin itself is not impersonal. Kids, if I asked you a question, what is sin? What would you tell me? What is sin? Sin is any one of conformity unto transgression of the law of God. It's a lack of conformity to and a transgression against the law of God. That's the simple summary of sin. And sometimes we think, oh, well, sin is breaking God's law. And we think it's impersonal, but understand the law of God represents God's nature, his character, his righteousness, his person. And so to transgress God's laws, then to transgress God himself and God will not be mocked. So not only is there nothing lovable or worthy about you before God, left to yourself, you're an enemy of God. And the Scripture says, if you're outside of Christ, you're a child of wrath and you are condemned already. Again, we saw it in Romans 1.18 that the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men. It's interesting, those words for ungodliness and unrighteousness in Romans 1 are synonyms for the ungodly and the sinning in Romans 5. As we said earlier, our sins are daily storing up the wrath of God against us. It's only God's amazing grace and mercy and patience that holds Him back from judgment now. Without Christ to swallow up God's wrath as He did on the cross, without Christ to swallow up God's wrath building up against us moment by moment and day by day, you will one day suffer the outpouring of God's wrath yourself. And unlike Christ, you will never be able to drink it to the full, but you'll be under that wrath for eternity. Yes, God is love and he's grace and he's mercy, but he's also holy and righteous and just. And there's been a war because of our sin against a loving, but holy God. And out of love, I must warn you that outside of Christ, you're an enemy of God. You are a helpless, ungodly, sinning enemy of God, and you need to be reconciled in Christ and his work on the cross. So in Romans 5, we see this increasingly condemning list of characteristics of who we are outside of Christ, a helpless, ungodly, sinning enemy of God. But then, but then, We get some relief as we now see the contrast that Paul gives to show us in the greatness of God's love toward us in Christ Jesus. Look at verse seven. In verses seven and eight, we see this contrast. I think this is maybe a little bit difficult to see, but I hope we can see it this morning, this great contrast. In verse seven, it's a verse that, is this out of place? What is this? Is this merely a parallel of some things? I don't think so. I think what God is doing here through Paul, through the Spirit, In Romans 5, 7, he's trying to show us now a contrast between the frailty of sinful man's love in verse 7 to the infinite love of God in verse 8. And so verse 7, Paul says, for scarcely, for scarcely a righteous man will one die, yet perhaps for a good man, someone would even dare to die. I think what's going on here, he's saying scarcely, Really rarely would someone give their life for a just or worthy man. I think the wording here implies that this just or worthy man is someone who is admired, perhaps a role model. He has worth to him, but he's not personally known. So he's saying, scarcely one would give their life for someone who's a worthy man, who's admired, but we don't necessarily know him. We might sympathize with a man like that, but would we die for him? Scarcely, you know, we're looking at the frailty of the love of sinful man. But then the second part, he says, yet perhaps for a good man, someone would even dare to die. Now, a good man is one who is not just worthy, but he's valuable, perhaps even loved. And someone we know, but he says, Perhaps for a good man, a loved, valuable man, someone would even dare to die. But still notice the even dare to die part. It shows that it's still against our nature. There's a hesitancy to give our lives for someone, even someone who's worth much to us. That's because death is the one thing to which we are the most averse. But do you see the point? We would rarely die for a worthy man. We would occasionally maybe dare to die for a good or a loved man. A righteous man is approved, a good man is loved, but sinful man is not at all inclined to lay down his life for either. That's not our nature. So that's the picture of the sinful man's love. Now look at verse eight. Again, whenever you see but God or but now, it's time to smile ahead of time. But God in verse eight, but God demonstrates his own love toward us. And that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. And the point is by Paul, you could not even bring yourself to give your life for a worthy or a valuable or a loved man or a sinner. Yet Christ died for you, a helpless, ungodly, sinning enemy of God, one who is not approved, one who had no intrinsic worth or good or loveliness. Do you see that contrast? The one who would scarcely die for a righteous or a good man is, in fact, completely unrighteous and not good. Yet Christ died for sinners like these. Remember the contrast, those four characteristics. Remember this contrast. Remember, outside of Christ, we're not just unlovable, we're enemies. Christ died for his enemy. This should stun you. Young people, if you're on the battlefield, what does your enemy want to do to you? That's a hanging curve ball. Kill you. We in our sinful nature, we want to get rid of God. We want to kill him. But yet Christ died for us. And there's a sense that we did kill Christ. Our sin put him to the cross. And one of those hymns that we love to sing, but we haven't sung for a long time. Oh, holy Jesus, who was the guilty? Who brought this upon thee? Alas, my treason. Jesus hath undone thee. Twas I, Lord Jesus. It was I who undone thee, I crucified thee. But God in his providence and his love set Christ to die in the place of his people. Unless we think Christ is a mere victim, the hymn goes on to say, for me, kind Jesus, was thine incarnation, thy mortal sorrow and thy life's oblation, thy death of anguish and thy bitter passion for my salvation. And Christ fully took the wrath that our sins deserve fully, purposely, out of God's great love displayed towards us. But also understand one other thing. We think of Christ and his sacrifice, but understand that it is God the Father who sends his beloved son to die in our place. It's one thing to give your own life, isn't it? But think about giving your son's life for others. I know most of you, even the ones I don't know, you look pretty good. And you are all worthy and good and useful and lovable to me. I think I can say that. I like you. Would I give my life for you? What you'd like to think, I'd say yes, but no really. Would I, I might dare to, But would I offer my son's life for you? I would not even dare. But God in his infinite redeeming love did just that. We cannot imagine the horror of watching the cross from the Father in heaven's view, pouring out his righteous wrath that our sins and our unrighteousness deserved onto his beloved son, that we might be set free. And so God sent his son to die for his helpless, godless, sinning enemies to swallow the righteous wrath we deserved and that we earned, we who are his people. So can you see the great love of God in Christ when you now read Romans 5, 8 that says, but God demonstrates his own love toward us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. This is the same thing we see elsewhere in scripture. Ephesians chapter 2 Paul says and you he made alive who were dead in trespasses and sins in which you once walked according to the course of this world according to the prince of the power of the air you who were fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind and were by nature children of wrath just as the others but God but God he tells the Ephesians who is rich in mercy because of his great love with which he loved us and Even when we were dead in trespasses, He made us alive together with Christ. By grace you have been saved. To the Colossians, Paul says, And you who were once alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled in the body of His flesh through death to present you holy and blameless and above reproach in His sight. And then you see the great security and the permanence of God's love in Christ. Look at verse nine. Look at verse nine. Much more than, again, he's increasing, he's amplifying it again. Much more than having now been justified by Christ's blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. That much more than is from the greater to the lesser. In other words, if God is willing to do the greatest thing of sending his son to die for and to take the wrath of helpless, ungodly, sinning enemies, don't you think he will then do whatever is lesser to keep you his? If out of love the father was willing to do all that he has done to justify you by the death of his son, don't you think he will do anything else necessary to bless you now? If out of love, his son would humble himself as a man to swallow all the wrath that you deserve, don't you think he will do whatever is necessary to save you from the wrath to come? And if out of love, his spirit gives you a new heart and seals you and pours out God's love into your hearts, don't you think he will continue to do so to the completion of your salvation? To teach or to believe that salvation can be lost is an offense to the powerful sovereign love of all three persons of the Trinity. And here you have the idea that if Christ died for us when we were sinners, how much more will he save us from future punishment now that we are perfectly declared righteous in him through faith. And one thing that's wonderful about this passage, you notice the past tense? You were helpless, you were ungodly, you were sinners, you were enemies, but you have now been justified. It's all in past tense. When you come before Christ in repentance and faith, you have now been justified and redeemed. Count on it and rest in it. And so in closing, Do you see the great love of God in Christ Jesus? Do you see how you're saved, justified by the death of Christ? Do you see the great love that is demonstrated by God through Christ in that death? And do you see the great permanent security in it? And the great wisdom that God saved us when we were completely undeserving? So all glory goes to God and God alone. In Romans 8, Paul goes on to say that, what then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? All glory and honor and all security goes to God through the love he demonstrates through Christ. So brother and sister in Christ, Please hear me, brother and sister in Christ. If you can hear a sermon like this, as muddled as it might be, as mumbled as it might be, with the poor grammar or whatever it is, but if you can hear a sermon like this and not have a smile come to your face, not have a lift come to your heart, then something's wrong. Rejoice in the love of God, rest in it, revel in it, and may it empower you to love and to serve and to work for God through Christ all the more. And be reminded, Christian, that we are to be like Christ, especially toward our brother and sister. Christ himself said, greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends. He says, this is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. And Jesus' disciple wrote, by this we know love, because he laid down his life for us, and we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. And so a believer who can stay at odds with a brother or sister in Christ must not understand the love of God in Christ Jesus. Look at Christ loving his enemy to the point of death. And I think that you too can lay down your life for your brother or your sister, can you not? But for those who are outside of Christ, friend, if you have not surrendered your life to this Lord Jesus Christ, understand that you are currently a dead ungodly, sinning enemy of God. Instead of God's love being poured out into your hearts, God's wrath is being stored up to be poured out onto you for all eternity. You're outside of this great and powerful and totally satisfying love of God's. And I humbly say that the love of Christ compels us to tell you that you must come to the fountain of God's love and mercy in Christ Jesus alone. You are like we once were. Past tense. We were without strength. We were sinners. We were enemies of God. But now come and know the love of Christ like we do now. A love that is manifest fully and powerfully and savingly on the cross. A love that will never let you go. Let us pray. Dear Heavenly Father. Amazing love. How can it be? that thou, my God, shouldst die for me. Lord, I pray that in the midst of all of our doctrine and all of our reading and all of the important and necessary things of our faith, Lord, that we would not lose sight of this foundation of the infinite, all-sufficient, amazing love of God in Christ Jesus. We thank you and we praise you that though we were unable, ungodly, sinning enemies against you, O God, You not only stuck out a hand to help, but you entered in and you gave us a new heart that we might repent and believe and rise and come to you and know this love of God being poured out into our hearts, being redeemed and justified before you in Christ and Christ alone. Oh, we thank you. And Lord, if this is a picture of your love towards us, then we ask that you would enlarge our hearts towards you, that we love Christ more. We'd love your word more. We'd love your people more. We'd love our neighbor more. And Lord, that we would, without any effort really whatsoever, we could tell others of this great love of God that can only be known through Christ Jesus, the only means of justification before holy God. Help us then to rejoice and to rest and revel in this great love of God in Christ. Lord, for those who are outside of Christ in our midst this very day. Lord, I pray that the words that were preached from your word would not seem mean spirited. They would not seem needlessly condemnatory. But Lord, you'd use them by your spirit to penetrate cold hearts. That Lord, you'd burst open hearts of rock, hearts of stone, and replace them with hearts of flesh. And there'd be a coming before Christ, a turning from the violence of sin, in repentance and faith to Christ, to a newness of life and justification before you, and starting that wonderful eternal journey of being in the presence of God because of his love and living for his glory. Oh, may it be so this day. It's in Jesus' name we pray these things. Amen.