February 14, 2016

Pastor Dan’s Message

Romans 5:6-8 “God’s Love”

Turning Point Wesleyan Church

Today, we are going to take a look at Chapter 5, verses 6 through 8. But before we begin with something new, let’s recap what we covered last week. In Chapter 5:5, God is telling us:

5) (ESV) “And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s Love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.”

5) (NLT) “And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God Loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love.”

We have Evidence of God’s HOPE and We Must rest assured that we have a Life within His HOPE. We can never be GOOD ENOUGH without Him. No matter how hard we try. We will always fall short. But when we live our lives through Him, then we are always Good Enough.

Let’s showing respect for God’s Words as we read Romans 5:6-8.

NLT)

6) When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners.

7) Now, most people would not be willing to die for an upright person, though someone might perhaps be willing to die for a person who is especially good.

8) But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.

ESV)

6) For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.

7) For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die—

8) But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

We find within these verses, a description of God's love towards us. What does it mean to you when we read verse 6? “When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners.”

When we witness the birth of a kitten, a puppy, and for sure if we are fortunate enough to be there when a mother gives birth to a daughter or son, those babies are as precious and helpless as anything I can think of.

That is a good image to latch onto when we think of us that is you and me, when we don’t have God in us. However I asked for you to visualize your appearance, your abilities in the absence of God in your life, I believe with a great degree of accuracy, you would not see yourself as a newborn kitten, puppy or a baby, helpless, without strength and venerable. 

Oh Yes, I belief most of us would have an image that is quit opposite of that.

When we are walking without or with weak faith, we believe we are the strong ones because we make our decisions and it is those who turn their lives over to God who are actually the weak ones. But don’t’ you see, that is the lie. With sin in this world, things are not as they are. They change and become just the opposite as what they should be.

When we live within this world:

·        We have thoughts of how does this affect me.

·        We hang on to and we do not forgive and forget others for what they have done to us.

·        When we make our decisions on what we want to do, we are living within this world.

·        And when we live within this world, things are not as they seem.

·        Things are totally upside down, backwards, and they do not contain the Truth.

Verse 6 says that while we had no strength, when there was no Truth within us that is when Christ died for us. We thought we were of strength, doing the things we want to do and being who we want to be but that is when we are weak; as a new baby, helpless, defenseless, and lost.

Paul describes the greatness of God’s Love.

This Love which is given to the underserving, to those without strength, to the ungodly, to sinners.

In verse 6 it says, “Christ came at just the right time.” All the way through the Gospels, we hear of Jesus comparing His Ministry to a time line. Even way back when Jesus preformed His first miracle. That was at the wedding when Mary told Jesus that they were out of wine. Do you remember it? Jesus told his mother “Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come.” (John 2:1-11)

Then there is another example later in John 8:20. Just days before He was betrayed, Jesus was teaching in the Temple and He was not withholding any punches from letting the Teachers of the Law know how far they have missed God’s Plan. “But he was not arrested, because his time had not yet come.”

Everything Jesus did was to God’s Plan, not of His Own. Everything happened in the right order and at the right time. Everything.

Some 2000 years ago, when Jesus was born and when He died, the world was just at the right time.  

·        The world was just spiritually ripe enough.

·        It was economically perfect.

·        It was just at the excellent time when the spoken and written languages were perfected enough so His Word could be shared to all and recorded in writings.

·        The world was in an excellent shape politically. The right people were in power so God could use them to do the necessary things for God’s Plan to be lived out.

·        And the world was just right geographically. People had moved and were living in just the right places so that God’s Word could spread to the whole world.  

Everything; that is Everything was Perfect. Sometimes within life, we find it very difficult to understand why things are happening to us or those who we love. This is especially apparent when something happens to young people.

But we must find comfort in knowing that God is in Control and it is all according to God’s Plan. Everything that happens is according to God’s Plan.

6) When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners.

7) Now, most people would not be willing to die for an upright person, though someone might perhaps be willing to die for a person who is especially good.

I have to admit that I have found it difficult to come to the meaning of some of the words found with this scripture.

“Not be willing to die for an upright person, though someone might perhaps be willing to die for a person who is especially good.”

·        An Upright – Righteous Person

·        Good Person or especially Good Person

In order for us to gain a full understanding, it will be necessary for us to go back and review what was said in Romans, Chapter 1. Here it is explaining to us that God is not just intelligent, but rather everything in life comes from God Himself and it is well thought out, it is planned and it is being orchestrally played out throughout time for all of His Creations.

Romans 1: 19) “They know the truth about God because He has made it obvious to them. For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities – his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God.”

Take a moment and look at how a flower is put together. They are not only used in the reproduction of themselves but they provide food for insects. How its beauty is not for itself but for the life of the entire plant which grew it. What about the leaves on a tree? How wonderfully are they put together? They are of beauty on their own as well but they are also built like a very smooth running machine. They exchange carbon monoxide for oxygen. 

But just as before with the flower, the leaf does not live life for itself but rather it is for the rest of the tree which grew it. It exists for the health and growth of the limbs, branches, and the trunk and even down deep into the roots.

What about the beauty of this rock which we call earth? The earth’s beauty is very complex.

·        We have water which we can see in ponds, lakes and oceans as well as what oozes around things down deep within.

·        We have the soil which blows in the wind and allows seeds to sprout and to take hold within.

·        We have the hard and solid rocks. Some are very colorful while others hold great value to us.

·        We have the pressure of the earth which creates and holds oil and gasses within which we extract to use to support our lives.

·        All of this makes this ball which we call earth such a well put together planet but none of it is created for itself but rather it is made of parts which were created to support the whole.

·        This wonder earth spins 24/7. It spins of a constant speed of a little over 1000 miles per hour. Does that stir up any motion sickness within anyone? (1037 miles per hour)

·        And not only is the earth spinning at an incredible speed, but it also flying through space so that within 365 1/4 days we will have returned to the same location which we are at right now, all the while creating for us the wonderful flavors of Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter. This earth of ours flies through space and around the sun at a rate of just over 1000 miles per second. (67,062 miles per hour)

When we look at this all, all of God’s Creation. How can anyone not see God’s finger prints on everything? By being a witness of this; By being alive; I ask you, How can anyone not know and understand that God has this all together.  

When I think people who may reject that God is God, several types of people come to mind.

·        There are those of the 1^st Group. Those who just don’t think. They are the ones who don’t know God and choose not to know Him. And through their lack of effort, they don’t allow themselves to understand so therefore, they don’t allow their faith to begin.

·        And then there are those of the 2^nd Group. Those who put all of their trust and understanding into their knowledge and within their understanding and of their capacity of doing. In this group you will find Scientist, Lawyers, and Engineers and so on. These are the ones who are all too fast to tell you that there is no God.

But here is what God is saying in Romans, Chapter 1. Since you live within this world which He, God created, then there is no excuse, none at all for not knowing of Him and not knowing Him. None. I believe it is easy for us all to put those people who belong within those two groups, putting them into this scripture and say that no one would be willing to die for those who refuse to see and understand that God is Real. It is reasonable to place both of those groups in the “Upright Person’s” place within this scripture but is that what this scripture is telling us? Is that the true and full meaning behind it?

In Romans 1:28-30, God illuminates the effects of some very ugly sins of this world. Sins which in one way or another, have at one time or another, filled both yours and my lives. And God points out that He has abandoned us to our sins.

·        Foolish thinking

·        Doing things which should have never been done.

·        Being filled with wickedness

·        Being full of sin

·        Greed

·        Hate

·        Envy

·        Murder

·        Quarreling

·        Deception

·        Malicious Behavior

·        And Gossip

·        Backstabbers

·        Haters of God

·        Insolent

·        Being full of Pride

·        Boastful

·        And disobeying your parents.

Here God is lumping them all together. Within the same breath, He is taking what we may think are extremes cases of different kinds of sins. Some are very terrible and unthinkable sins while some of the others are almost innocent sins. God puts them all together as He tells us because of these sins, He is abandoning us.

Along with today’s example, God gives us three important issues to come to grasp with.

1.   Romans 1: 19 - No one is exempt, not even one. God showing that through His nature we are exposed to Him so there is NO EXCUSE available to anyone for not knowing of Him and not knowing Him.

2.   Romans 1:28-30 – God showing that there is such a wide range of things which we can do which separates us from Him. Murder to disobeying our parents. Regardless, all of it and any of it removes us from Him.

3.   Romans 5:7 – And here in today’s words. God is pointing out that it is even in the closest of things which will separate us from Him as well.

Romans 5:7, God is referring to the difference between an “upright person” and an “especially good person”.

I have searched in this, trying to come to a solid understanding of why God is using these two types of examples here. And I have found:

·        An Upright Person does what is right

·        But a Good Person does what is right and they live their lives by a code of ethics.

Now I must point out here that in either case, it doesn’t matter which one, neither person is saved unless they have turned their lives over to God and have begun to live a new life through Him. We Must All Understand that.

·        By living your life in a Righteous way, it does not lead to salvation.

·        And by living your life as a Good Person, it does not lead to salvation.

But with that being understood, let’s go back to the difference of those two types of people and why did God include this point within His Word. As we had talked about, in Romans 1:28-30, God illustrated in a very wide and extreme way, that sin of all nature drives us away from God. But here, God is illustrating to us that it is even in the closeness of the two which will separate us from Him.

God is demonstrated that even when we feel we are doing what is right, and I am talking about even within our personal walk with Him, we can so easily get misdirected and miss out on where He was wanting for us to go.

It is sometimes pretty obvious to us on the big stuff. We shouldn’t murder, we shouldn’t commit adultery. But it is also in the little things. Remember the old saying, ‘God is in the Details’?

We must keep a watchful eye in our pursuit of God and in our walk with Him. Just as a skipper of a ship stays at the wheel, you need to stay at yours and you need to stay awake. God may lead us on a path which resembles the flight of a butterfly but if He does, that is what we need, to grow step by step by step. But we most certainly don’t want to fly as a butterfly does when God is leading us on a straight line.

It is so easy to get mislead and it is also just as easy for this world to lead us into compromising our beliefs and our faith.

Here is an example of just how far sin and our embrace of sin has already led some of us away from God. Recently, there was a trial of a man who within just days of being released from prison for a sexual crime, broke in a house of an elderly couple, killed the grandfather, rapped the 70+ year old grandmother and then proceeded on and killed her and then he moved to do the same to the 5 year old granddaughter That is when he police showed up and stopped him. The scary thing is during this man’s 2^nd trial, the jury was going to dismiss the charges that is until one man stood up and wouldn’t agree.

I know this story, even though it is true it is hard grasp and hard to understand but just take a moment and see where our country is compared to His Truth.  

·        We are a country of it being right to do what you want. If it FEELS GOOD – DO IT

·        Abortion is legal and it has become as easy as taking a pill at home.

·        It is socially acceptable if a person wants a child, then they can go out and make it happen without any connection to the second parent.

·        It is socially acceptable and encouraged for same sex couples to get married and be recognized as a family.

·        It is socially acceptable and encouraged for same sex couples to adopt children.

I don’t believe I need to go on.

We all know how far we have come but remember, all of these steps have been through very small baby steps, through small differences and changes. Doesn’t that tie into our scripture for today? Just like the difference between a Righteous Person and a Good Person. God's Love is a Love that is so far better and beyond even the best of love among humans. And Jesus died for all. Include those of us who were neither righteous nor good.

·        How does the death of Christ on the cross, demonstrate the Love of Our Father?

It is in the facts that:

·        It is Harder for the Father to send His only Son, to die for us

·        And it is because God the Father is in Christ, Reconciling the world to Himself. (2 Corinthians 5:19)

Let me ask you this. Would it not be easier to understand and to accept if the cross was demonstrating the indifference, the insignificance, and the importance of God the Father?

A God who let the innocent Jesus, allowing Him to be taken up by wicked men, tortured, and crucified all the while God the Father did nothing?

That is until you know the Truth. That is knowing that God the Father and Jesus Christ are One.

With knowing of that Truth, it demonstrates the Truth of the Love of God which was upon that cross.

The work of Jesus on the cross was for you and it is God's ultimate proof of His love for you.

Now God may give additional proof to you, but He can give no greater proof.

·        If the cross is the ultimate demonstration of God's love,

·        It is also the ultimate demonstration of man's hatred.

·        And it also proves that the height of man's hatred CAN NOT defeat the height of God's love.

The demonstration of God's love isn't so much in that Jesus died, but in whom Jesus died for - undeserving sinners and rebels against Him.

8) But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.