When a man wants to prove His love for a woman, what does he do?
• He may write a poem.
• He may compose a song
• He may buy her an expensive gift.
• He may ask her to marry him.
What did God do to prove His love for us? Romans 5:8 gives us the answer: “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
The Big Idea: God proved His love for us by what He was willing to GIVE UP for us: His Son.
Why does God love us? “God is love” (1 John 4:8).
What is love? Dictionaries usually define “love” as deep affection or fondness.” The Bible defines it as self-sacrifice.
• “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son…” (John 3:16).
• “Husbands, loves your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her” (Ephesians 5:25).
• “…the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20).
I. The Action of God’s Love
In Romans 5:8 we are given the gospel in four words: “Christ died for us.” Every one of those four words is extremely important.
A. The person who died: “Christ”
Jesus Christ is God (the Son) who became a man. “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us” (John 1:14a). John 1:1 says, “The Word was God.” Why did God become a man? So He could die for us.
Would you be willing to become an ant in order to die for them? What Christ did was so much more humbling.
Christ died WILLINGLY.
“It is appointed unto men once to die” (Hebrews 9:27 KJV). For us, death is an appointment; but, for Christ, it was a choice. “No one takes [my life] from me, but I lay it down of my own accord” (John 10:18a).
B. The death He died: “Died”
Christ “became obedient to death—even the death of the cross” (Philippians 2:8). He didn’t experience an ordinary death. He suffered the death of the cross.
Christ died in HUMILIATION and AGONY.
We view the cross much differently than people of the first century did. Today we adorn our cemeteries and churches with crosses, and some people wear them around their necks. But in ancient times, crucifixion was synonymous with horror and shame. It was a death inflicted on criminals.
The cross was so offensive to the Romans that they refused to allow their own citizens to be crucified, no matter what they had done. Cicero (106-43 B.C.), the Roman orator, called crucifixion “a most cruel and disgusting punishment.” He said, “It is a crime to put a Roman citizen in chains, it is an enormity to flog one, sheer murder to slay one, what, then, shall I say of crucifixion? It is impossible to find the word for such an abomination.” Cicero also said, “Let the very mention of the cross be far removed not only from a Roman citizen’s body, but from his mind, his eyes, his ears.”
Those crucified were made a public spectacle, often being affixed to crosses in bizarre positions, and their bodies left to be devoured by vultures. For hours (if not days), the person would hang in the heat of the sun, stripped naked and struggling to breathe. In order to avoid asphyxiation, he must push himself up with his legs and pull with his arms, triggering muscle spasms causing unimaginable pain. The end would come through heart failure, brain damage caused by reduced oxygen supply, suffocation, or shock. Atrocious physical agony, length of torment, and public shame combined to make crucifixion a most terrible form of death.
Imagine the Son of God nailed naked to a cross.
C. The way He died: “For”
“For” {huper} = “on behalf of.”
Christ died IN MY PLACE.
During the U.S. Civil War, a farmer named Blake was drafted as a soldier. He was deeply troubled about leaving his family because his wife had died and there would be no one to support and take care of his children in his absence. The day before he was to leave for the army, his neighbor Charlie Durham came to visit him. “Blake,” he said, “I’ve been thinking. You’re needed here at home, so I’ve decided to go in your place.” The farmer was so overwhelmed that for a few moments he was speechless. The offer seemed too good to be true. He grasped the hand of the young man and praised God for this one who was willing to go as his substitute. Sadly, Charlie was shot and killed in the first battle. When the farmer heard the bad news, he immediately saddled his horse and rode out to the battlefield. He found the body of his friend and arranged to have it buried in the churchyard near the spot where they had often stopped to talk after the services. On a piece of marble he carved the inscription with his own hands. It was roughly done, but with every blow of the hammer on the chisel, tears fell from his eyes. He placed the marker on the grave of his devoted substitute. Many villagers wept as they read the brief but touching inscription: He died for me.
Christ died for me, in my place, as my substitute.
D. For whom He died: “Us”
Think about how we are described in Romans 5 (this description applies to all of humanity, not just a part of it):
• “Powerless” (v. 6) = “helpless.” We were unable to save ourselves.
It’s often said, “God helps them that help themselves.” But Romans 5 teaches that God helps them that cannot help themselves.
• “Ungodly” (v. 6) = “those who refuse to worship God.”
• “Sinners” (v. 8)
• “Enemies” (v. 10)
Christ died for SINNERS.
II. The Nature of God’s Love
A. God’s love is UNEQUALLED
“His own love”
“Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die” (Romans 5:7). This verse is interpreted a few different ways. One interpretation: There is a difference between a “righteous” person and a “good” person.
• “Righteous” = someone we respect.
• “Good” = someone we love.
“Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13). The pinnacle of human love is the giving of one’s life for a person one is close to—a spouse, child, or best friend—but God sent His Son to die for people who hated Him. When we were His “enemies”—neither “righteous” nor “good”—(v. 10), Christ died for us.
B. God’s love is UNDESERVED.
“While we were still sinners”
“But where sin increased, grace increased all the more” (Romans 5:20b).
“Grace” = undeserved kindness.
Someone has said, “In the gospel, we discover we are far worse off that we thought, and far more loved that we ever dreamed.”
C. God’s love is UNIVERSAL.
Every person on this earth is the object of God’s love (not just the “good” people).
But God’s love is also personal. Christ “gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20). Instead of “me,” insert your own name, and make the verse your own. He “gave himself for __________.”
During World War II’s Battle of Britain, the Royal Air Force’s valiant defense of the skies over Britain foiled Hitler’s plans for an invasion of the British Isles, prompting Prime Minister Winston Churchill to say in the House of Commons, “Never in the history of mankind have so many owed so much to so few.” But when we think of the cross of Christ, and the person who died on it, what we say is: Never if the history of the universe has mankind owed so much to One.
III. My Response to God’s Love
A. I should receive God’s GIFT of love.
God offers eternal life to whoever would like to receive it. “Whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16b).
B. I should be SURE that God loves me.
“While we were still sinners”
If God loved me before I was His child, I shouldn’t wonder now if He loves me.
C. I should love GOD in return.
“We love him, because he first loved us” (1 John 4:19 KJV).
How do I prove that I love God? By obeying His commands. “This is love for God: to obey his commands” (1 John 5:3).
D. I should love OTHERS in the same way God loves them.
“Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another” (1 John 4:11).
“By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another” (John 13:35).
Who should we love? Remember that Christ died for His enemies. He prayed, “Father, forgive them” (Luke 23:34).
“Love your enemies” (Matthew 5:44).
How will you respond to God’s love for you?
THE LOVE OF GOD
Romans 5:6-8
“But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
The Big Idea: God proved His love for us by what He was willing to ____________________ for us.
I. The Action of God’s Love
A. The person who died: “Christ”
Christ died ____________________.
B. The death He died: “Died”
Christ died in ____________________ and ________________.
C. The way He died: “For”
Christ died ____________________.
D. For whom He died: “Us”
Christ died for ____________________.
II. The Nature of God’s Love
A. God’s love is ____________________.
B. God’s love is ____________________.
C. God’s love is ____________________.
III. My Response to God’s Love
A. I should receive God’s ____________ of love.
B. I should be ____________ that God loves me.
C. I should love ____________ in return.
D. I should love ____________ in imitation of the way God loves them.
