Experiencing the Love of God

Transcript

GRM 935
3/27/2005
Experiencing the Love of God
Romans 5:5-11
Gil Rugh


I want to direct your attention to the book of Romans and the 5th chapter. All we know and understand about Jesus Christ, His coming to earth, His life on earth, His death on the cross and His resurrection is contained in the Bible. We’re privileged to have a message from God that unfolds the work that He has done and is accomplishing, and what He is even going to bring to completion in a yet future time. We talk about the love of God much, and that is a love that is experienced in our hearts. One of the songs that we sang said you ask me how I know He lives, He lives within my heart.

In Romans 5:5 we are told that the hope that we have in Jesus Christ, a hope that has future dimension, something that is yet unrealized is a hope that will not disappoint. God has planned and promised a glorious future for His children. That is our hope, and that is a hope that is secure because God is able to accomplish what He promises. So our hope does not disappoint because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us. That is the subjective dimension of our salvation. It is part of our experience. When we place our faith in Jesus Christ as our Savior, we receive His salvation, which means we are forgiven our sins, we are born again into God’s family and the Spirit from God comes and lives within our physical bodies. And He gives us the experience, if you will, of God’s love in our hearts. But we must be very careful. That experience of God’s love in our hearts is anchored in the objective facts of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Some people are basing their whole hope for eternity on how they feel in their hearts. That is a horrible, horrible mistake. Our feelings are subjective, they are not reliable. They cannot tell us the truth in and of themselves.

We all know ….. accounts of people who have sincerely believed a lie, who have believed in someone who was deceiving them. They felt in their heart things were okay, only to be shattered by the reality. So when Paul writes to the Romans and says the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us, he goes on to explain in verse 6, for. And so that subjective experience of the love of God in our hearts is founded in and explained by the work of Jesus Christ in time and in history. Those objective facts that happened outside of ourselves, outside of our experience, but were accomplished by the Son of God so that we might experience through faith the reality of salvation.

Look at Romans 5:6, for while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. He is explaining to us how we can have the overwhelming joy, why we have overwhelming joy. We’ll tie that back to what has preceded in a little bit. Why we have a hope that is sure, why we understand the experience that has transpired within us, of the …..of God through the ministry of the Holy Spirit. While we were still helpless. There are 4 words that I want you to mark in your Bibles, we’ll be emphasizing them as we come to each one, but I’ll mention them all to you now. That word helpless, circle it, underline it, however you mark your Bible. At the end of verse 6 the word ungodly, down near the end of verse 8 the word sinners, and then in the first part of verse 10 enemies. Helpless, ungodly, sinners, enemies. You must understand something of our condition to understand what Easter is all about and what is so marvelous and amazing about the death and resurrection of Christ, and what it really means to talk about the love of God. The love of God is something that can be experienced in the heart, within the person, but only as we come to understand the love of God as demonstrated in the objective facts that happened in time and history.

Paul says, for while we were still helpless, weak, in a condition unable to do anything for ourselves. Helpless and, if you will, hopeless. At the right time Christ died for the ungodly. Now we have jumped into the book of Romans in chapter 5. If we had started at the beginning and worked up to this point, we would have known that through most of the first 3 chapters Paul would have spent time explaining in detail our weakness, our helplessness, our ungodly condition. We are sinners, there are no exceptions. I realize in the day of self-esteem and self-promotion we don’t hear as much about the matter of sin, of being in a weakened, helpless, hopeless condition as ungodly people. But the Bible says indeed that’s what we are. And there are no exceptions. In chapter 3 of this letter to the Romans the Apostle Paul had written, there is none righteous, no not one. From God’s perspective as He evaluates us, there is not a righteous person in and of themselves sitting in this room. There is not a person that is righteous because in their heritage, because of their own efforts, because of their own goodness. Not even one, in fact there is none on the face of the earth. There is none righteous, no not one. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Now we can delude ourselves and deceive ourselves into thinking everything is fine. But it doesn’t change reality.

I went to see the doctor recently for a checkup and he was pointing out an area where things they check are not in balance. I said, I feel fine. He says, yes, but this does not check out right. Now I either have to believe the evaluation he gives or go on with my own subjective feeling, I feel fine. But that doesn’t mean everything is fine, does it? That’s the way it is in the spiritual realm. I can sit here and say I don’t think I’m a sinner, I think I’m fairly righteous. But you understand the only one who can render a credible evaluation is God Himself and He says we are not okay, we are helpless, we are ungodly. Seven hundred years before Jesus Christ the prophet Isaiah said, all our righteousnesses are like filthy, polluted rags before God. The best of our religious efforts, the best of our deeds as God looks at us, we are polluted.

Now Romans 5:6 says, while we were still helpless at the right time. Paul wrote to the Galatians and said, in the fullness of time God sent forth His Son. In the plan of God, it’s a time that He had appointed, He sent forth His Son from the realms of glory to be born of a virgin in Bethlehem so that He might die for the ungodly. At the right time Christ died for the ungodly. We were helpless, we were the ungodly. Why did Christ die? If people can be saved by their good works, if people can be saved by trying to be the best person they can, by keeping the Ten Commandments, by going to church, by being baptized, by their efforts, why did Christ die? When the ungodly could have cleaned up their own lives. But they couldn’t, for the penalty for sin is death. The same God who has evaluated us and said there is none righteous, there is none who does good, all have sinned, there is not a just man on the face of the earth who does good and does not sin has also said the that the penalty for our sin is death. And so we understand we are all sinners. The penalty for sin is death and Christ died for the ungodly.

Now this is amazing. Verse 7 further clarifies, for one will hardly die for a righteous man, though perhaps for the good man someone would even dare to die. Jesus said in John 15 while He was still alive on the earth, greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. There are those exceptional acts where someone does give their life on behalf of someone else. But you know the amazing thing about Christ’s death for us, He wasn’t dying for a righteous person, He wasn’t dying for a good person, He wasn’t dying for someone who liked Him. Because down in verse 10 we will be told that we were enemies of God when He died for us.

So verse 8 gives that startling contrast, but God demonstrates His own love toward us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us. This is the amazing, awesome demonstration of the love of God. People talk about God’s love and oh I don’t think a loving God would ever send people to hell. I don’t think a loving God would ever judge people. But you understand that the loving God of the Bible is also the holy God of the Bible. He is the righteous God, He is the God who must exercise judgment. In His holiness He must deal with sin. But His love is demonstrated even among those who were sinners, ungodly, His enemies. He had His Son die for us. God demonstrates His own love toward us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us. So yes through believing in His Son we have experienced the love of God in our hearts, but you must first understand the great demonstration of God’s love, and have responded to that act of love in the giving of His Son before you can genuinely experience that love in your heart.

Way back toward the end of your New Testament, just before the last book of the Bible, the book of Revelation. In the book of I John 4:9, by this the love of God was manifested in us or unto us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him. You see that emphasis again. How do you know about the love of God? People talk about God’s love and what a loving God would do and would not do. But you know so much of that talk is just a projection of human thinking, of a human being trying to play God by giving authoritative directives and directions and instructions and information on what they say God is like, on what they say God will do. And preachers are great for this. But you know what? Only God can tell us what He is like, only God can tell us what He will do. And here we are told, by this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. That word propitiation means satisfaction, to be the sacrifice that would satisfy the demands of a holy and righteous God. So anytime someone wants to talk to me about the love of God I say well then let’s talk about Jesus Christ, let’s talk about your sin and my sin, let’s talk about your ungodly condition and my ungodly condition. Because there is no way to know anything in a genuine way about the love of God unless you understand something of sin, what it means to be a sinner, helpless, lost and on your way to hell. And God sent His Son to be the sacrifice to pay the penalty for your sins.

Come back to the book of Romans chapter 5, verse 9. The picture is not done. Much more therefore. There is an added dimension. Not just that He died for my sins that I might be forgiven and have a relationship with the living God, much more then having now been justified by His blood, by His blood, by His death as a sacrifice. That word justify is a basic Greek word meaning righteous, having been declared righteous. What Christ did in dying for us has made it possible for us to be brought into a right relationship with God so that He can consistent with His holiness, His righteous character declare us righteous. Much more than having been justified by His blood we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him. We shall be saved. There is a future dimension to our salvation. The wrath of God is going to be poured out upon unbelieving, unsaved people. You know you can feel good about yourself and still be dying of a terrible disease. I remember a well-known preacher that I have great respect for, I read his writings still today. A few years ago went to see his doctor, doctor told him you are a dying man and you will be dead within 3 months and he was. Couldn’t believe it, ….. was dead. He felt good, people didn’t think he looked bad, but he was in terrible condition. That’s the way many people are. I feel good about myself, I’m sure everything is okay. There is coming wrath.

Back up in the book of Romans, just a page or so, to chapter 2, Romans 2:5. About those who do not come to believe in Jesus Christ as their Savior. Romans 2:5, but because of your stubborness and unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God. There is coming a day when God’s wrath is going to be poured out in a fullness and a fierceness that demonstrates His righteous hatred of sin. And people will be sentenced to the eternal suffering of a fiery hell. Now back in chapter 5 verse 9, much more then, having been justified by His blood we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him. I have not only been cleansed from my sin, but I am assured that I shall not experience the coming wrath of God.

Why? Verse 10, for if while we were enemies, we were helpless, we were ungodly, we were sinners, we were God’s enemies. You say I’m not God’s enemy. Jesus said He who is not with Me is against Me. There is no middle ground, there are no neutral people. People who have not cast themselves on the mercy of God and placed their faith in Jesus Christ are the enemies of God. He who is not with Me is against Me. If while we were enemies we were reconciled to God. There’s another word brought in. We were brought into right relationship with God, we who were the enemies of God have become the friends of God through the death of His Son. Much more having been reconciled we shall be saved by His life. The argument is, if God would have His Son die for us while we were sinners, while we were His enemies, now that we have experienced forgiveness and new life in His Son how much more we will experience the fullness of God’s promises because Jesus Christ is alive. You see Jesus Christ did not just die on the cross to pay the penalty for sin, He was raised from the dead, victorious over sin. And all who believe in Him not only have their penalty paid by being identified with Christ in His death and burial, but also by being identified with Him in His resurrection to newness of life. So the resurrections of Jesus Christ from the dead and the fact that He is alive today is my assurance that I will never experience the wrath of God. I will never come under His fierce judgment for sin because in mercy and grace He provided His Son to die for me. And I have cast myself on His mercy. I am a hell-deserving sinner, and ungodly person, helpless, unable to do anything for myself, the enemy of God who opposed Him. By His grace I have cast myself on His mercy. God, I can do nothing for myself, your evaluation of me is true. But I claim what your Son has done for me, I believe He died for me, I believe that you will forgive me as you promised, and I believe that all you promise to those who believe in Him will be realized.

So verse 11, not only this, but we also exalt in God through our Lord Jesus Christ. We have this overwhelming joy to glory and boast in God because I know what He has done for me and I know His promises to me will be fulfilled. That’s how the chapter began in chapter 5. Chapter 4 ended in verse 25, Christ was delivered over because of our transgressions, He was raised because of our justification. The death and resurrection of Jesus Christ are what guarantee my forgiveness and secure my future. The end of verse 2 of chapter 5, we exalt in hope of the glory of God. And even in the difficulties of the present life we exalt in our tribulations. Why? Our future is settled and secure.

One more passage and we are done. Romans chapter 8, where Paul reminds us again, nothing will ever separate us from the love of God. Those of us who have really come to believe in Jesus Christ have entered into all that God promises as a free gift to those who will believe in His Son. Look at Romans 8:32, He who did not spare His own Son but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things. Who will bring a charge against God’s elect? God is the one who justifies. Who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes He who was raised who is at the right hand of God who also interceded for us. Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Tribulation, distress, persecution? Nothing. Verse 38, for I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Any wonder we celebrate a resurrected Christ? He has provided cleansing and forgiveness, made it possible for me who was His enemy to become His friend, to become His child. And He secured my future for all eternity, and there is only glory and blessing ahead of me. I trust you’ve come to know this Savior, placed your faith in Him.

Let’s have a word of prayer before we continue to honor Him through song. Father, thank you for your Son, Jesus Christ. Thank you for the message of life in Him. Lord, even as we continue to proclaim the truth of Him in song, may this truth grip our hearts and Lord I pray for any who are here today, perhaps a regular attender at this church, perhaps a visitor today. It doesn’t matter. But Lord each and every one must come to understand their helpless, lost condition and place their faith in your Son. May this day of celebrating the resurrection of Christ be a day of salvation. We pray in Christ’s name. Amen.