Demonstration Of God's Love Series

This is the tragic thing about living a life without Christ. Those who do not know Christ can never know how much the Father loves them. Our God demonstrated His love when we were least deserving. He did something: He gave us His only Son who “died for us.” No wonder the Bible says, “Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends” (John 15:13).

God proved His love toward us. How? It was not by writing His love in flaming letters across the sky nor by belting His strong voice from heaven expressing His love. The Bible says, “When the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law” (Galatians 4:4).

Each of us longs to be loved. And God loves us so much that He demonstrated “His own love toward us”: He sent His Son.

No one on the earth has DNA like yours. No one has a thumbprint just like yours. You are an individual, loved by the Lord. And the love you can voluntarily return to Him is indescribably valuable to Him.

The price Jesus paid to “demonstrate” His love was great. Every lash of the whip, every sound of the hammer, was the voice of God saying, “I love sinners.”

1) Unmerited or Forgiving Love:

Read: Romans 5:6-10

When it comes to love, actions speak louder than words. When it comes to God’s love, the cross speaks loudest of all.

Here is one of the truly great statements about the meaning of Christ’s death. In Romans 5:6-10 the apostle Paul writes:

For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— but lGod shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from othe wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.(Romans 5:6-10).

Jesus dies for us:

1. While we were still helpless V-6

"For while we were yet weak" (v. 6a). By using "we," Paul includes himself among the weak and ungodly.

"at the right time" (v. 6b). There are at least three ways that the time was right:

It was the right time in history. The Pax Romana (Roman peace) made it possible for people to travel and communicate widely, making it easier to spread the Gospel.

It was the right time in our lives. We were needy because of our sin, and Christ's death and resurrection satisfied our need for reconciliation and forgiveness.

It was the right time eschatologically-the time that suited God-that fit God's plan for the salvation of the world.

"Christ died for the ungodly" (v. 6c). This is an astounding idea. Christ didn't die for godly people (which we would expect) but for the ungodly (hard to imagine).

2. While we were sinners V-8

"But God commends his own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us"(v. 8). It doesn't seem to make sense that Christ would die for sinners, but Jesus says, "Those who are healthy have no need for a physician, but those who are sick do" (Matthew 9:12). Jesus' logic is compelling. Why would he save people who do not need it? Why wouldn't he save sinners-those in need of salvation?

We might have expected this verse to say that Christ proved his love for us by dying for us, but instead it says, "God commends his love toward us" by Jesus' death (see 1 John 4:10).

3. While we were enemies V-10

"Justified" (v. 9) and "reconciled" (v. 10) have similar but different meanings. Justified has a courtroom ring to it. To be justified is to be declared innocent-to be vindicated. Reconciled has to do with relationships, suggesting a bringing together of those who have been estranged. There is a natural progression, then, from justified (v. 9) to reconciled (v. 10a) to saved (v. 10b). One could hardly be reconciled to a righteous God without first being justified, and one could hardly be saved without first being reconciled.

"For if, while we were enemies" (v. 10a). In what sense were we ever enemies of God. Jesus said that Satan

was God's enemy (Luke 10:18-19). James tells us that "whoever wants to be a friend of the world (Greek:

kosmos) makes himself an enemy of God" (James 4:4). The kosmos is the world that is opposed to God.