God’s Love Displayed for Sinners - Romans 5:6-11

Introduction to Romans 5:6-11

If you are visiting our church for the first time, if your friend or relative invited you, we warmly welcome you. You may be aware that there are two public holidays annually that are associated with Christianity.

The first is Christmas, where we remember the birth of Christ and then there is Good Friday, where we remember the death of Christ. There is a third, which we will celebrate this Sunday, where we commemorate the resurrection of Christ.

For today, we want to focus on the death of Christ.

Why did He have to die? What is the significance of His death? Why is His death so central to the Christian faith that the most common symbol representing Christianity is the cross?

The passage in Romans 5:6-11 before us will explain all of that for us.

We began last week in this new section of Romans with the blessed benefits of having obtained righteousness from God by faith.

We have peace with God, we live in the realm of grace, not law, we can look forward to the promised glorification by God, but meanwhile, in this life, God is seeking to grow us and He often does it through suffering.

Perhaps you may say, the first three are okay for me to have, but not the last one. But God has already told you what you can expect from it if you are willing to submit to God’s perfect will for our sanctification.

V. 6 continues with where we left off last week. We see that the final product of suffering is hope.

Because God will surely fulfill what He promised us, we will not be put to shame. The evidence is in how God has already poured His love beyond measure into our hearts by means of the Holy Spirit.

I. God’s Love Displayed Through Christ’s Substitutionary Death For Us (5:6-8)

So with the word “for”, it signals that Paul is continuing from v. 5 where he was talking about God’s love poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit.

A. God’s Love Displayed for the Weak and Ungodly (5:6)

What does it mean that we are weak? That is a description nobody wants. If someone calls you weak, that is not a compliment but an insult and you get offended. The word as it appears here most probably doesn’t mean physical weakness.

Rather, in this context, it is a weakness shown in that we were utterly unable to do anything to please God and we are utterly unable to initiate the steps towards reconciliation with God.

In fact, we had no desire to end the hostility towards God. We will see this later in the passage.

But the next description of these people also seems to point to our unwillingness to resolve the hostility, these are the ungodly. The ungodly, as the term denotes, have no desire to be godly.

We are weak because we are ungodly.

And it is in our rebellion, in our ungodliness, that Christ died for us at the right time. We are reminded of the unfolding of God’s plan of redemption.

At the right time, Mary gave birth to our Lord Jesus Christ in that manger. Gal 4:4 says “But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.

In the gospel of John, you will hear Jesus frequently say this: “My hour/ time has not yet come.”

For example, when Mary told Jesus that the wine had run out at the wedding in Cana, Jesus responded: “Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come.” (Jn 2:4).

When Jesus’s brothers suggested that He go to Jerusalem during the feast of booths to display his works, Jesus responded: “My time has not yet come, but your time is always here. 7 The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify about it that its works are evil. 8 You go up to the feast. I am not going up to this feast, for my time has not yet fully come.” (Jn 7:6–8).

Then in 7:30, “So they were seeking to arrest him, but no one laid a hand on him, because his hour had not yet come.”

8:20 “These words he spoke in the treasury, as he taught in the temple; but no one arrested him, because his hour had not yet come.”

In 12:23, “And Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.”

“Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But for this purpose I have come to this hour” (12:27).

There was an appointed time for Christ to sacrifice himself for the ungodly. And in the fullness of time Christ came into this world for the express purpose of dying for the ungodly. God had it perfectly timed for that to happen.

Note what Peter preached in Acts 2:23, “this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men.” 1 Tim 2:6 “Christ Jesus gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time.

God’s definite plan is carried out in the fullness of time.

Nobody can do anything to delay, postpone, thwart God’s plan.

If God has planned this before the foundation of the world in His foreknowledge, it will definitely take place according to His divine timetable and it has. It is never too late or too early, the timing is always perfect.

“Christ died for the ungodly.”

The word “for” can also be translated “on behalf of.”

Christ died on behalf of the ungodly. It means that Christ died as our substitute. Christ died in our place. In other words, Christ died the death that we were supposed to die. Gal 3:13, “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree.”

Jesus took the punishment we deserved as sinners.

That is why this doctrine is called the substitutionary atonement of Christ.

“Substitutionary” comes from the word “substitute.”

Jesus was our substitute on the cross. We were supposed to be up there because we deserved to be. The wages of sin is death, and since we have all sinned against God, we deserve the wage of sin which is death.

Notice the prophet Isaiah’s emphasis of Christ’s substitutionary work on behalf of us: But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. 6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

B. God’s Love Is Totally Contrasted with Human Love (5:7)

The most magnanimous display of love is when someone dies on behalf of another person. Jesus says in John 15:13, “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.

Paul’s point in this verse is that if it is so hard for someone to die for a righteous or good person, how much more difficult is it to die for a condemned sinner?

On the other hand, Jesus didn’t die for righteous or good people, but for people who are “weak”, “ungodly,” even “enemies.”

C. God’s Love is Infinitely Greater (5:8)

With the word “but” we see a contrast.

God’s love is infinitely greater in magnitude and dependability than even the greatest human love. The word “shows” makes the point that the death of Christ is a demonstration, a proof of God’s love for us.

God does just say He loves us, He proves His love by showing us.

And when did God demonstrate His love for us?

While we were still sinners, while we have no interest in knowing God, while we are still in active rebellion against Him, while we have no desire to please Him, God Himself offers the greatest demonstration of love anyone can ever give, the sacrifice of His only begotten Son to die for our sins.

In other words, God did not show His love to lovable people worthy of His love. As human beings, it is hard to love someone who rejects you and hates you.

But God shows His love to sinners by offering His best gift, His sinless Son to die in our place.

In other words, when we think about God’s love for us, His love cannot be considered apart from Christ’s death on the cross.

II. God’s Wrath Averted by Christ’s Death for Us (5:9-11)

Note the repeated occurrence of the phrase “much more” and the like in vv. 9, 10, 11, 15, 17, 20.

It is a common form of argument from the minor to the major, but in this case, Paul seems to argue from the major to the minor.

“If evidence proves a less probable proposition it also proves a similar, more probable proposition” (Thielman).

If God has already done the most difficult thing as described in the beginning of vv. 9-10, how much more can we depend on Him to do the easier thing described at the end of these verses.

With the word “therefore,” Paul is now going to explain the superlative results of Christ’s death for us.

A. Preservation from God’s Wrath (5:9-10)

“Justified” recalls what we saw in v. 1 and also the entire section that came before ch. 5. The price for our justification is the blood of Christ that was shed on the cross.

I mentioned previously that blood is not just a synonym for death.

Why is blood so important for our justification?

Because “without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins” (Heb 9:22). The practice of the shedding of the blood of bulls and goats in the OT was foreshadowing the ultimate shedding of Christ’s blood once and for all for the forgiveness of sin.

The cost of our justification is not cheap; justification can be obtained only at the cost of Christ’s blood.

This is the most difficult for God to accomplish.

Now if God can do that most difficult thing through the shedding of His Son’s blood on the cross for weak and ungodly sinners, then how difficult is it for God to save these sinners from His impending judgment?

Paul has already mentioned the wrath of God several times in this book beginning in 1:18; 2:5, 10, 11). Paul is talking about God’s judgment.

The basis of our escape from the wrath of God is that Christ has already appeased the wrath of God on our behalf.

Because we have been justified, we have a right standing with God, and hence we will escape His wrath.

With the absence of wrath means there is in v. 10, reconciliation.

Notice that Paul uses the word “enemies” in this verse.

For everyone who has not put their faith in Jesus, this term accurately describes our relationship with God.

We were God’s enemies.

The enmity is on the part of humanity, but the enmity is also on the part of God.

Enmity is on the part of man because he sinned against God by refusing to acknowledge God and give him glory and thanksgiving.

Instead, they suppress that knowledge and continue to indulge in their own sins and worship the creature rather than the Creator.

Later in Rom 8:7, Paul says, “For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. 8 Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.”

The way God describes an unbeliever is not that he has a neutral feeling towards God, but there is hostility and animosity towards Him as an enemy.

But the fact is that God is also angry with the wicked everyday.

Sin is extremely offensive to God.

But He is not just angry with the sin, He is angry with the sinner because the sinner is the one who committed the sin and should therefore be responsible for his sin.

When an accused stands before the judge and he is found guilty of crime, it is this criminal who will be punished.

The judge doesn’t sentence the crime; he sentences the criminal. That is what God as the righteous Judge does as well.

We should not minimize the wrath of God toward sinners.

This is certainly not a good situation to be in.

Something must be done to remove the hostility so that peace can be restored.

Last week we examined what it means to have peace with God. Peace with God means that the hostility in our relationship with God has been removed, and now we are friends with God.

That comes through the death of Christ on the cross. When Jesus shed His precious blood on the cross, that act appeased the wrath of God and Jesus paid the penalty that we rightly should pay for our sins.

The hostility between us and God is removed, and we are at peace with God.

Now, Jesus didn’t stay dead in the tomb, He rose again, and here in this last phrase, Paul also emphasizes the resurrection of Christ and through his life, much more shall we be saved.

In His resurrection, He conquered death, hell, Satan, and sin.

Paul explained in 1 Cor 15:17 that “if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins.”

So while we often emphasize the death of Christ on the cross, and we should because it is important, we also need to emphasize the resurrection of Christ from the dead for our salvation.

Furthermore, the living Christ is now interceding for believers before the Father.

B. Rejoicing in God (5:11)

The word “rejoice” is the word meaning “to boast.”

We boast in God.

We can boast in the amazing love displayed in His amazing grace to save us and to declare us righteous before Him, so that we can be at peace with God. We have good reasons to praise and glorify Him, something that unbelievers have no desire to do.

The basis of our boast in God is that Jesus has already done the necessary work of granting us reconciliation with God.

“The reconciliation accomplished was a gift from the Father and Son, and the human response is simply to receive gratefully the gift given” (Schreiner). The designation that Jesus is Lord also emphasizes the position that Christ has in our lives.

Conclusion

This afternoon, you have a choice to make.

Are you going to reject the love of God for you?

Are you willing to face the wrath of God as His enemy?

Don’t you want to experience peace with God?

Jesus didn’t shed His blood and die for worthy people who are righteous and good. He died for the weak, the ungodly, the sinners, the enemies of God.

God displayed His love for us that way.

If we want to escape the wrath of God, if we want to stop being enemies of God, if we want rather to rejoice in our great God who has done this amazing work of saving us from our sin through the blood of His Son, then we need to put our complete trust in Jesus, not in our own efforts to save us from our sins.

We also need to turn away from our sin, the very sin that caused Jesus to die on the cross.