But God Demonstrated His Own Love ... Series

But God … I have found these one of the most comforting words in the Bible. Despite my faults, and shortcoming, God loves me. God loves me, not for who I am, but in spite of who I am.

ILL: Juan Zamora of Richland, Washington, owed a bill he could not pay for a charge he did not make. After filling up with gasoline and charging the $26 to his PayPal debit card, he arrived home to a message on his answering machine. The message, from PayPal, asked him to verify a gas purchase of $81,400,836,908 and notified him of a $90 dollar overdraft fee. Imagine that. Juan did not have over 81 billion dollars in his PayPal account to cover the charge.

The debt we owe [to God] is our own, but we could not pay it any more than Juan Zamora could pay his $81 billion debt. Juan was eventually able to convince the company that, while gas prices may be extremely high, his Camaro would not hold $81 billion worth of gas. In our case, [the debt we could not pay] Jesus paid our debt for us. [1]

We know the verses:

Romans 3:23 (NKJV) for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

Romans 6:23 (NKJV) For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

The question this morning is, “Why did Jesus pay that debt for us?” As we are going to see it is all about God’s love for us. William Barclay in his commentary states that often we have it wrong about God.

“There is one thing to note here of quite extraordinary importance. Paul is quite clear that the whole saving process, the coming of Christ and the death of Christ, is the proof of God’s love. Sometimes the thing is stated as if on the one side there was a gentle and loving Christ, and on the other an angry and vengeful God; and as if Christ had done something which changed God’s attitude to men. Nothing could be further from the truth. The whole matter springs from the love of God. Jesus did not come to change God’s attitude to men; he came to show what it is and always was. He came to prove unanswerable that God is love.” [2]

Our focal verse is:

Romans 5:8 (NKJV) But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

We are looking closely at “But God demonstrates His own love”. Other translations has “proved His love.” Let’s put it all into context:

Romans 5:6–11

This is the overwhelming part for me about Jesus dying on the cross for me. He did not die for good people. He did not die for those who never lie cheat of steal, commit adultery, or do any immoral act. Jesus came to save the truly lost. He came to save those that needed saving. He came to save lost mankind. Not everyone see it quite that way. They may have never anything bad, at least in their eyes or in the eyes of the world. But everyone has offended Holy God at some point. “For all have sinned” and “The wages of sin is death.”

Romans 5:6 (NKJV) For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.

This verse talks about you and me. There was a time when we were “without strength” other translation have that we were “powerless,” or “helpless.” This, in context, does not mean physical weakness, but rather our moral frailty. At the right time, Christ died “for the ungodly.” In our moral frailty we were unable to understand, much less able to do those things of God. We were unable to even go to God. We were lost in our sins just as much as a condemned murderer. Verse 10 goes further and says we were enemies with God.

Then Paul changes gears for a moment. He takes a humanly look around and he makes the comment:

Romans 5:7 (NKJV) For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die.

Who would you die for? Let’s look at that for a second. We would jump up and say I would die for my wife, or my child, or another family member that is loved. I have read accounts of men in combat who would throw themselves on a grenade to save their comrades. Would you die for someone who held the cure for cancer? Would you die so many could live? Jesus makes the comment about love:

John 15:13 (NKJV) Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.