God’s Great Demonstration of Love

Transcript

GR 1424
03/21/10
God's Great Demonstration of Love
Romans 5:6-11
Gil Rugh

We're studying the book of Romans together, so if you'd turn in your Bibles to Romans 5. There is no more wonderful message in the world than the message of God's salvation, the wonder of it that the eternal God would reach down to this sin-cursed earth and have His Son become the Savior. Remarkable. The plan of salvation is simple and clear but it is full and amazing. We say it is simple because the plan is that we are sinners and the Son of God suffered and died on the cross, was raised from the dead so that whoever believes in Him might enter into the salvation that God has provided. But it is so full and rich that we never exhaust it as we study through it.

The book of Romans is unfolding the message of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the gospel meaning simply the good news. God's good news to mankind that there is a Savior. The message starts out with the fact of our sin, being under condemnation, being under judgment. We'll come back to that subject in the section before us today. You cannot understand God's plan of salvation if you don't understand something of the condition of man that makes salvation such a necessity. So Romans 1:18 through chapter 3 verse 20 presented the fact of our sinful condition, all of us. And Paul made clear that Jew and Gentile alike are all under sin, all guilty before God, all destined to judgment before a God who does not show partiality.

Having established the fact that we are all sinners, that we are unable to make ourselves acceptable by our own works or efforts, he turns to talk about the matter of justification, God providing righteousness for sinful people. And that's chapter 3 verse 21 through chapter 5 verse 21. And we have come into chapter 5 and Paul has been making clear that God has provided salvation, he began this discussion in chapter 3 verse 21 and following, through the death of His Son. And it is applied to each and every individual who believes in Jesus Christ, comes to rest upon Christ alone as their Savior. Salvation is by grace through faith and Paul has demonstrated that it is only through faith in the work that God has done in our behalf and what He has promised to us in Christ that we are saved.

When we began chapter 5 we began with the word “therefore“, building on what he has been emphasizing about God providing salvation in His Son. And that salvation is applied to us when we believe. “Therefore having been justified by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” That relentless effort, it's through Christ by faith in Christ that has enabled us to be declared righteous by a holy God, justified, declared righteous, absolved of guilt before the throne of the living God. And it's through Christ that we have obtained our introduction or access into the grace in which we now stand. We have through Christ entered into grace when we believed in Him, we were justified, we become part of the marvelous plan of God's salvation. We were declared righteous by God, absolved of guilt before a holy God.
We have peace with God. Now the enmity has been ended, we have a relationship of peace with God. And we exult, we rejoice, we have that confident rejoicing of the hope of the glory of God. God has declared us righteous, but salvation is a package, if I can us that terminology. By that I mean those whom God declares righteous, those whom He justifies, He promises that He will glorify them. So now as those who have entered into the salvation that God has provided through faith in His Son, we live in light of the hope of the glory of God, that time when God will bring us into the glory of His presence, that time when we will be glorified in these physical bodies. The glory of God, if you will, will be bestowed upon us and we will be changed, transformed. Our very bodies will undergo the change. And we'll see that as we move further along in Romans.

We not only exult, have confident rejoicing in our hope of the glory of God, we have confident rejoicing in our tribulations, our trials, the pressures of life. That was verse 3. Not in spite of our trials and tribulations, but in them. Just like we exult in the hope, we exult in the tribulations. Because I like to suffer? No, but I like knowing what God is doing with those sufferings, how He is using those sufferings. To develop endurance in my life, which will result in proven, tested character, which will focus my hope even more strongly. That's the process, it's a maturing process. We'll talk about that in chapters 6-8, God's work of ongoing sanctification as He prepares us for glory. So we appreciate what the trials are doing and they benefit us. They are for our good. There is pressure there, we noted that the word translated tribulation basically carries the idea of pressure, you are under pressure. And that develops stability in your life, endurance, stick-to-itiveness. Just like a little child, a two- or three-year-old. They have a short attention span, that's why they're not in here with us. People say we like family worship, well three-year-olds have a hard time tracking for an hour. But what do we expect? When they are young we understand they are not going to focus well. They'll want to do this for a short time and they quickly lose interest and do something else. But you know over time as they grow they're going to have to develop that stick-to-itiveness, to stay with something and see it through. That's what God is doing with our trials, producing endurance. That ability to continue to live under pressure and difficulty. That results in proven character, character that has passed the test. It's been put through the fire and come out proven, refined, tested. And that brings us to hope. That's what God is doing, all toward the goal that God has established for us—the hope of glory in His presence. And this hope will never put us to shame, will never disappoint us.

And we have the confirmation of it because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who dwells within us. We'll talk about that objective demonstration of the love of God in a moment, the giving of His Son. But there is also that subjective side that the Spirit of God has confirmed the great love that God has for me in my heart. And you know what it was like when you came to trust Christ as your Savior. All of a sudden the light comes on, you know and understand what you did not before and you have that awareness and knowledge of the greatness of God's love for you, that you belong to Him.

Paul is continuing this theme, in fact the issue of the love of God or the declaration of God's love poured out in our hearts in verse 5 leads us into verse 6. “For while we were still helpless“, you'll note that “for”, we're continuing this discussion and we're going to focus on the love of God in verses 6-8 and the great demonstration of God's love that has been confirmed to us by the Holy Spirit. That is found in verse 8, “God demonstrates His own love toward us.” There we have that demonstration of His love that we have entered into and have the Spirit of God confirming and manifesting some of its fullness as we have come to believe in Christ.

So you pick up in verse 6, “for while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.” You talk about the love of God and it's open to confusion. That is always true. That was true in the day when Paul is writing to the Romans, it is true today. You know people like to talk about the love of God, that's a great way to start a conversation with a person. Ask them, have you ever considered how great God's love for us is? Isn't it wonderful to know there is a God who loves us? And people don't mind talking that way. Most people, Roman Catholic, Protestants, religious people like to talk about the love of God. But you know when you talk about the love of God, we have the love of God being poured out in our hearts Paul wants us to understand clearly what that love is. So he says, “while we were still helpless.” Helpless, weak, without any power, without any ability to help ourselves, rescue ourselves. This goes back to what he talked about in the first part of Romans. We were sinners, we were not able to be saved by our works before a holy God. Not by keeping the Ten Commandments, not by keeping the Law, not by our best religious activity. We are helpless, we are those under condemnation because of our sin. We were helpless. “At the right time Christ died for the ungodly.” We're helpless but at the right time. Galatians 4:4 says in “the fullness of time God sent for His Son.” In the sovereign plan of God He provided His Son.

Turn back to Acts 2. Peter is preaching the sermon on the day of Pentecost when the church begins. He says in verse 22, “Men of Israel, listen to these words. Jesus the Nazarene, a man attested to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs which God performed through Him in your midst, just as you yourselves know: this man, delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God.” At the right time, the predetermined plan of God, His Son was delivered over to the hands of godless men. “You nailed Him to the cross, put Him to death, but God raised Him up again.” That's the message of the wonder of God's love. At the right time Christ died for the ungodly.

You know people like to talk about the love of God, they don't like to talk very much about being ungodly. Come back to Romans 5. I want you to mark some words if you don't already have them marked. In verse 6 mark the word “helpless“; then at the end of verse 6 the word “ungodly“; then down in verse 8, “in that while we were yet sinners“, mark that word “sinners“; then down in verse 10, “if while we were enemies“, mark that word “enemies.” Those four words tell it like it is, that's our condition when Christ died for us—helpless, ungodly, sinners, the enemies of God. That's what He is unfolding here.

“At the right time“, verse 6, “Christ died for the ungodly.” This has already been emphasized. The first three chapters of Romans basically talked about our ungodly condition. Look back in chapter 3 verse 22. He talks about the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. “For there is no distinction, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” This is our condition, we are sinners, we are ungodly. But at the right time God had His Son die for the helpless ungodly, those who had no power, no ability to help themselves out of their horrible predicament and condition. “Christ died for the ungodly.” That's an amazing statement and so amazing Paul is going to go on and develop it, to emphasize the fact that what God has done here has ongoing implications. That will carry us back to our hope. We exult in hope of the glory of God. That's part of the plan of God's love for us.

Come back to Romans 5:7. In verses 7-8 Paul uses an argument that goes from the greatest to the lesser. If God has done the greatest thing for us it naturally follows He'll do the rest for us as well. The greatest thing being having His Son die for us when we are sinners. He had His Son die for us when we're sinners, we can be sure He is going to finish the process then. So you have verse 7, “for one will hardly die for a righteous man, though perhaps for a good man someone would dare even to die.” And a righteous man, a good man, not a big difference. Some would say a good man is someone that you have received more benefit from. But the point is clear. I mean, it's rare for someone to die for a righteous man, but occasionally it will happen for a good man. I mean, there are stories from wartime conditions where someone has given his life for a fellow soldier. And there are those rare cases where a person does give his life for someone else. And perhaps for a good man someone would even give his life.

But, verse 9, “God demonstrates His own love toward us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us.” You understand we're not talking about God providing His Son for a righteous person or a good person. We're talking about Christ dying for ungodly people, for sinners. I mean, understand how serious this is. Sin is against a holy God, it's an offense against Him personally. We are ungodly, sinners, but the demonstration of God's love is that while we were sinners Christ died for us. We will be called enemies down in verse 10. I mean, now here God will take His Son, His only begotten Son and have Him die for those who are ungodly sinners, who are of no use or value to Him.

Back up to Romans 3. A few years ago it was popular when self-esteem was blowing through the country for the church to get caught up in that wind. And you'd hear people say, you are so valuable. That's evidenced by the fact that Christ died for you. That's just the opposite of what the scripture says. And we noted this in Romans 3:12, “all have turned aside, together they have become useless, worthless to God.” I mean, Christ didn't die for you because you were so valuable, He didn't die for me because He saw something of worth in me. The amazing thing about His love, He died for us worthless, useless, hell-deserving sinners. That's what we were good for, that's what we were deserving. And yet He had His Son leave His presence in glory, be born into the human race, suffer and die on the cross to pay the penalty for those who are ungodly sinners, of no value to Him. Why? That's the great demonstration of love, of God's love. What a great way to have a conversation with a person. Religious people don't mind talking about the love of God. Talk to someone when you go to lunch today and have been to church. Isn't it wonderful that God is a God of love? Most people would agree, it's the kind of God they want to believe in. I mean, and can you imagine the greatness of God's love? Would there be any limit? No, but do you really know what the greatest demonstration of God's love is? The greatest demonstration that has ever been given? God's love was demonstrated, the Bible says, most fully, most clearly, most dramatically in having His Son die for us. Oh yes. Do you know why He had to die for us? Because you were an ungodly sinner, worthless to God, deserving of hell. All of a sudden the conversation goes dead. Why? People don't mind talking about the love of God as long as they are thinking of some sentimental emotional feeling, but you know you cannot understand the love of God. You're talking about something you know nothing about unless you know something about sin, something about being ungodly, something about being the enemy of the living God. You know what the great manifestation of God's love is? In your wretched, sinful, hell-deserving condition, God had His Son come to this earth and die for you. That's the marvelous manifestation of God's love.

That's what Romans is saying in chapter 5 verse 8. “God demonstrates His love for us, in that while we were yet sinners.” He didn't say if you clean up your life a little bit, if you try harder, if you get rid of some of those sins that really I can't put up with, I can't tolerate, then I'll do something for you. Just the opposite. We were helpless, all our righteous deeds were like filthy, polluted rags, as Isaiah the prophet says. We think, I'm not like some people that do those terrible things. We're like the Pharisees and say, I thank you, Lord, that I'm not a sinner like this man. I pray every day, I do all these ...... We go to church, we .......... And we think, God is a God of love and He knows I'm doing my best. I try to avoid those things and not do things that would be displeasing to Him. Therefore ............. We don't understand the love of God. You have to understand you are sinner, you are ungodly, you are under condemnation and you are helpless to help yourself.

The enemy of God, and we are in that condition and God sent His Son to die for us. That's amazing. That's the message. “God demonstrates His own love toward us.” Back in Romans 5:5 we are told “the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.” This love of God is objectively presented. We enter into the experience of that love, the enjoyment of that love, we receive that love personally when we place our faith in Christ, declared righteous by God. And now that love, we realize it and understand it and know it in a way that we never did before. We may have known about it, we may have heard about it, we may have talked about it, but when you place your faith in Jesus Christ and are transformed by His power, forgiven your sins, declared righteous, now the Holy Spirit who has come into your life at that time pours out that love in its fullness. And you understand the love of God. I knew about it, but now I know it, I've entered into it, it's part of me.

Verse 9, where is Paul going with this. Well he hasn't lost his focus on the hope of glory that we have. We exult in the glory of God. We're coming back to that down in verse 11, “not only this but we also exult in God.” So he is tying this all together and showing the realization of the hope that will not disappoint, is guaranteed. Because the God who has done the greatest thing for us in having His Son die for us while we were sinners, while we were ungodly, now that He has cleansed us, brought us to Himself, it took the death of His Son. You can be sure He is going to give us everything else as well.

“So much more then“, verse 9, “having now been justified by His blood we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him.” And verses 9-10 are going to run parallel statements here, similar to what we have in verses 7-8, emphasizing the same truth and applying it. So here verse 9, “having been justified by His blood.” You know there is no justification before God apart from the death of Christ. Justification has been provided. But as Paul has been emphasizing from chapter 3 verse 21 through all of chapter 4, it takes faith in the work of Christ and the promise of God centering in Christ to bring salvation to a heart, to an individual.

“Much more then, having now been justified by His blood“, we have believed that Jesus Christ died for me. I am resting, relying upon Him and His finished work for my salvation. Having been justified, I am declared righteous by God. We shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him. Justified by His blood, that's His death. The wages of sin is death. Christ died. Now having been justified by His blood as those who have believed in Him. Justification is by grace through faith. We shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him. This ties to the hope of glory. Back in chapter 5 verse 1, “having been justified by faith.” The end of verse 2, “we exult in hope of the glory of God.” And down in verse 5, “hope does not disappoint.” So he is proving that. We've been justified by faith, now we have confident rejoicing in hope of the glory of God that God has promised for those who love Him. And verse 5 is reminding that this hope will not disappoint, it will be realized because the love of God has been confirmed in our hearts by the Holy Spirit. Now in verse 9, “having been justified by His blood, by faith in His death, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him.” I mean, there are only two destinies, two ends of the road we are on—wrath and glory. Well we've been promised glory. So having been justified by His blood, the death of Jesus Christ, we shall be saved from the wrath through Him. That's the assurance that we'll get to the glory because those that are justified by God will be glorified. That's the point. That means we will be saved from the wrath which is to come.

We looked in Romans 8, turn over to Romans 8:30, “these whom He predestined, He also called; these whom He called, He also justified; these whom He justified, He also glorified.” So the hope of the glory of God that is ours will not disappoint us, we will arrive there. That means, coming back to chapter 5 verse 9, those who have been justified by the blood of Christ will be saved from coming wrath, the wrath of God that will be poured out on sinners.

Back up to chapter 1 verse 18, this is where we started in the first main section of the book of Romans. “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness.” Who did Christ die for? The ungodly. “And unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness.” Men are under the wrath of God, they are experiencing something of that wrath today as they have been turned over to the control and domination of sin in their lives to pursue that which they desire in opposition to God. But you understand that those people are on the broad road to destruction, as Jesus said. They've come through the broad gate, they are on the broad road and it ends in destruction. That's what Paul is talking about. Those who have been justified by the blood of Christ, His death, they will be saved from wrath, that coming wrath. They are no longer under the wrath of God and they are no longer on the road that will culminate in the wrath of God.

Turn over to I Thessalonians 1:9, “they themselves report about us, what kind of reception we had with you.” Now note this, “and how you turned to God from idols to serve a living and true God. And to wait for His Son from heaven whom He raised from the dead.” Keep that statement in mind, we're going to talk about the life of Christ in a moment as He was raised from the dead. Jesus who rescues us from the wrath to come, coming wrath. We're not under the wrath of God today, we won't be part of the wrath of God as it is poured out on the world in the 70th week of Daniel. And we will not experience the ultimate wrath of God in an eternal hell.

Turn over to I Thessalonians 5:9, “for God has not destined us for wrath but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep we will live together with Him.” That's glory, to live together with Him. In John 14 we're told, “In my Father's house are many dwelling places. If it were not so I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am there you may be also.” That's the ultimate goal, to be in glory with Christ. God has not destined us for wrath but for obtaining salvation. How? Through our Lord Jesus Christ who died for us. So whether we are awake or asleep, whether you experience physical death or you don't, you can live together with Him.

II Thessalonians 1. He's talking about affliction, those on the road to glory often experience afflictions, tribulations, trials, pressures as we talked about in Romans 5. We exult and rejoice in those tribulations. But the world, they add to those tribulations and often they seem to be avoiding them. But note verse 6, “after all it is only just for God to repay with affliction those who afflict you, to give relief to you who are afflicted and to us as well, when the Lord Jesus will be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels and flaming angels, dealing out retribution to those who do not know God, to those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. These will pay the penalty of eternal destruction away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power when He comes to be glorified in His saints.” You see two ultimate destinies.

Come back to Psalm 73, the psalmist here is Asaph. Verse 2, “as for me my feet came close to stumbling, my steps had almost slipped.” Why? “For I was envious of the arrogant, I saw the prosperity of the wicked.” I look around and it seems the wicked, the ungodly, the sinners are doing so well. They have the good life, they don't have trouble and their kids don't get sick and they don't lose their jobs. And I look around and it seems they are doing so well. Verse 5, “they are not in trouble like other men, they are not plagued like mankind.” “Pride is their necklace,” all that goes on. They are just doing so well. Verse 12, “these are the wicked, always at ease, they have increased in wealth.” And Asaph began to think, “surely in vain I have kept my heart pure, washed my hands in innocence for I have been stricken all day long and chastened every morning.” My wicked neighbor has nothing but the good life and I have nothing but trouble. And every morning I get up for more trouble. But he said things were brought into perspective. “When I pondered to understand this“, verse 16, “it was troublesome in my sight until I came into the sanctuary of God. Then I perceived their end.” I went to worship the Lord and things got put into perspective, I realized we have two different ends. I'm going to glory, they are going to destruction. “You have set them in slippery places, you have cast them down to destruction. They are destroyed in a moment, swept away by sudden terrors.” And he says my bitterness, I got it together. Verse 23, “nevertheless I am continually with you. You have taken hold of my right hand. With your counsel you will guide me, and afterward receive me to glory.” You know I got shortsighted, I looked around me and just what is going on right here, what I can see right here and the wicked are doing well and I am doing poorly. But then I got my perspective right and I looked down the road at the end and they are going to destruction and I am going to glory. That put it all in perspective. “Whom have I in heaven but you and besides you I desire nothing on earth. My flesh and my heart may fail but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. Behold those who are far from you will perish.” Verse 28, “as for me the nearness of my God is my good.”

Sounds similar to the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit. Similar kind of experience. I'm walking with the Lord. I'm in trouble, I'm in trial, I'm under pressure but the Lord has my hand. I'm walking with Him. The wicked don't seem to have any trouble but they are on their own on a road to destruction. Keeps things in perspective.

That's what we're doing in Romans 5, come back. So verse 9, “having been justified by His blood we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him.” So I'm guaranteed I'm not going to experience wrath, I'm going to experience glory. There will be no disappointments. God has done for me the most overwhelming thing, had His Son die for me. So we pick this up in verse 10, “if while we were enemies.” There is our fourth word—helpless, ungodly, sinners, enemies. We weren't just poor helpless people, we were wretched sinners, ungodly, enemies of God who had no ability to help ourselves. “If while we were enemies we were reconciled to God.” Here we pick up a new great theological word. We've talked about justification, where God declares us righteous; we've talked about redemption, where Christ by His death pays the penalty to set us free from the power and penalty of sin; we've talked about propitiation, where the death of Christ bears the wrath of God, it turns the wrath of God away from us. Now we talk about being reconciled, being brought into right relationship with God. All part of what God has provided for us in Christ.

“If while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son.” That's saying the same thing as verse 9. Now justified by His blood. Justified doesn't mean the same thing as reconciled, but it involves the same process. You see they both happen by His blood. Through the death of His Son I am declared righteous, through the death of His Son I am brought into right relationship with God. “If while we were enemies God would have His Son die to reconcile us to Himself, much more having been reconciled we will be saved by His life.” I mean now Christ is alive, in the glorious presence of His Father. God has done the greatest thing for us in having His Son die for us. “Much more“, verse 10, “having been reconciled we shall be saved by His life.” Now that we belong to God we are no longer His enemies, we are no longer the ungodly sinners because we have been declared cleansed, declared righteous. Now that Christ is alive, we'll be alive with Him.

I mean if God did the great thing, the hardest thing we might say, had His Son, His only begotten Son die for us, now He's taking care of the problem. Of course we will live with Him, we will be saved by His life. Because He lives we will live also. We'll get into this in Romans 6 when he talks about, we've died with Christ, we've been raised with Christ to newness of life.

Turn over to Romans 8:32, same kind of argument here. “He who did not spare His own Son but delivered Him over for us all.” Note this, “how will He not also with Him freely give us all things.” I mean, if God would give His precious Son to die for us, I mean, that's the ultimate gift, then He'll give us everything else with Him as well. That's the point.

Look over in Ephesians 2:4, “but God being rich in mercy because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions made us alive together with Christ.” You see again the concept, you talk about the love of God, you have to talk about our sinful condition and what God did for us with His Son. “He made us alive together with Christ, by grace you have been saved, and raised us up with Him, seated us with Him in the heavenlies in Christ.” That's the position we have, now we belong to God, are the sons of God. “So that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace and kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.” God plans for us for all eternity because when we enter in to the hope of the glory of God we'll be there for all eternity. For all eternity God will be displaying His love, His grace, His mercy by our presence there as we've talked about already in our study of Romans.

There will be no saved angels in heaven, you understand, only saved men, men generically, men and women, people, because Hebrews 2 says Christ didn't become an angel and die for angels. He became a man and died for humanity. So that's the plan of God, the plan for us for ages to come, to realize the fullness of what He has promised to those that believe in His Son.

Come back to Romans 5. And we pick up, “and not only this“, we're not done, “but we also exult.” There is our word again. Remember back in chapter 5 verse 2, “we exult in hope of the glory of God.” Verse 3, “we also exult in our tribulations.” Now verse 11, “and not only this, but we also exult in God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Where all this focus of confident rejoicing is, it's in God, the One who has promised us the hope of the glory of God, the One who has told us what He is doing with our tribulations in preparing us for the hope of the glory. Now we also exult, have confident rejoicing in God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Everything is through our Lord Jesus Christ, through faith in Him; through our Lord Jesus Christ, through faith in Him.

“Through whom we have now received the reconciliation.” Verse 10, “while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son.” Verse 11, “we have received the reconciliation through our Lord Jesus Christ.” What Christ did on the cross was the demonstration of the love of God as His Son was crucified, bearing our sins in His body on the tree that we might die to sin and live to righteousness, Peter wrote. “And by His wounds we are healed.” Marvelous plan of God to reconcile us to Himself, bring us into right relationship with Himself.

Turn as we close to one other passage on reconciliation. These are two major passages—Romans 5 and II Corinthians 5. Justification, redemption, propitiation, reconciliation—great theological words that convey great truth that we who are the enemies of God are now brought into right relationship with God. So we read in II Corinthians 5, and earlier in this chapter he has talked about the anticipation we have of being in the presence of the Lord back in verse 6. Verse 14, “the love of Christ controls us, having concluded one died for all, therefore all died; and He died for all so that those who live may no longer live for themselves but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf.” “If any man be in Christ“, verse 17, “he is a new creature“, a new creation. Verse 18, “now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation.” You see there is our word reconcile, reconciliation. Same word we have in Romans 5. All these things are from God who reconciled us to Himself through Christ. What did He do? He gave us the ministry of reconciliation, not the work of reconciliation. That was accomplished by Christ. He gave us the ministry of reconciliation, namely that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them. That's what it means when God was reconciling the world. He was providing the Savior who turned away His wrath, propitiation, so that we could be redeemed from our trespasses, declared righteous.

“He has committed to us“, verse 19, “the word of reconciliation.” The work of reconciliation has been done by Christ, but now the ministry of reconciliation, the word of reconciliation has been given to us. What is it? “Therefore we are ambassadors for Christ as though God were making an appeal through us.” We're just a mouthpiece speaking on behalf of God. “We beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.” Christ did the work of reconciliation, but the work of reconciliation does not become beneficial to you until you believe in Jesus Christ. You must be reconciled. I thought Christ reconciled us. He did potentially, the work has been done, the penalty has been paid. Then we are all saved. No, because God in His purpose and plan has declared that you must receive the gift of life through faith in His Son. That was the whole argument of Romans 4, right? With Abraham. Justification. The courtroom of God is by faith alone, not faith plus works.

“So we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” There is our justification. We have become the righteousness of God in Him so God could declare us righteous because He credits His righteousness to our account because our penalty was paid by Him. So now we believe in Him, we are no longer enemies as Abraham was called the friend of God. We've been redeemed.

What a plan, how great the salvation. You know how sad people talk about the love of God and have no understanding. We ought to bring that to them. You know people say, my God is a God of love. That's wonderful, you know the Bible says that God is a God of love. And He is a God of greater love than we can imagine. I mean, you are right, He is a God of love. Do you know what the great demonstration and manifestation of God's love was and is? “While we were sinners Christ died for us.” Do you know why He had to die for us? We were His enemies, we are sinners, we are ungodly. Isn't it amazing that God would love you enough to have His Son come to this earth and take your place? Die so that you could live? And now you say I'm not interested, I want to talk about the love of God. What does that say to God? You know what the Bible says? God considers that trampling underfoot the death of His Son, Hebrews 10. You regard it as something unholy because God has sent His Son to take your place, to die for your sin, wretched, ungodly enemy of His. And you say I couldn't care less. I don't mean that. That's how God takes it, there are no other alternatives. That's the plan of God. That's why Jesus said there is a narrow gate, there is a wide gate; there is a narrow road, there is a broad road. One ends in destruction, one ends in life in glory.

This is the great demonstration of God's love. That's why we have confident rejoicing in our hope, in our God and in our tribulations. It's all part of His, now we walk hand in hand with Him, now we belong to Him, now He is leading us to glory. That's the culmination of the process in His presence.

Let's pray together. Thank you, Lord, for the wonder of your plan of salvation, the greatness of your love. Lord, it is easy for us to become self-righteous, to compare ourselves with other people and think we are better than some. We've never been as bad as others. We're trying our best. We fail to realize the hopelessness of our condition, the helplessness of our condition. We can do nothing to save ourselves, we are ungodly sinners, we are your enemies. And yet in that very situation your Son came to this earth and died for ungodly sinners who were your enemies, who could do nothing for themselves, so you did for them what they could not do for themselves. And now you offer the gift of life, forgiveness, glory to all who will place their faith in your Son, rest upon Him and Him alone for their salvation. Then the Spirit of God makes known to us the greatness of your love as it is poured out in abundance in our hearts. We praise you for the gift of your Son, we praise you for the gift of salvation given to all who believe in Him. The One in whose name we pray, amen.