Introduction:
A. Perhaps you are a history buff and have studied the history of the Civil War.
1. There are literally thousands of powerful and personal stories that come out of those dark days
2. I want to share with you the amazing story of Sam Watkins, a young man from Columbia, Tennessee who enrolled in the Army of Tennessee at the age of 21.
a. It would be safe to say that no American soldier fought so long or so hard as long-suffering Sam.
b. The story of his days as a soldier is one of unbelievable hardship and unrelenting danger.
c. The list of his battles explains why, out of the 120 men who enlisted in Company H in 1861, Sam was one of only 7 who were still alive when, four years later, his commander surrendered the last major Confederate army in the field at Greensboro, North Carolina on April 26, 1865.
d. If you’re doing the math in your head, that is a 94% casualty rate.
3. And Sam wouldn’t have survived, either, if it weren’t for a good friend of his named William Hughes.
a. They were side by side on the front line at the Battle of “Dead Angle” near Kennesaw Mountain, Georgia when the Yankees overran their position.
b. Sam had just fired his gun and was in the act of reloading when a Union soldier rushed up to him, pointed his gun at Sam, shouted “Now I’ve got you” and pulled the trigger.
c. Let’s let Sam tell the story: “Everything I had ever done rushed through my mind. I heard the roar, and felt the flash of fire, and saw my more than friend, William Hughes, grab the muzzle of the gun, receiving the whole contents in his hand and arm, and mortally wounding him.”
4. Even though Sam Watkins was writing some 20 years after this episode, and even though we today are reading his account more than 150 years after it happened, we can still feel the intensity of emotion in the next words Sam wrote: “Reader” (he says), “he died for me. In saving my life, he lost his own. When the infirmary corps carried him off, all mutilated and bleeding, he told them to give me (his gun)….his blanket and clothing. He gave his life for me, and everything that he had.”
5. Can’t you hear the gratitude in those lines?
a. Can’t you hear Sam’s wonderment at his friend’s action?
b. Can’t you hear his enduring sense of appreciation at having been saved from certain death by the sacrifice of his friend?
B. Whenever we read of such heroic self-sacrifice, it has the power to stir our souls.
1. We admire, appreciate, and are awed by the sacrifice of one friend who would shed his blood for another.
2. As we turn in our study of Romans to chapter 5, the apostle Paul turns our attention to the nobility of such sacrificial friendship in verse 7 – “Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die.”
3. There are granite memorials all over this nation marking such heroes: the Marine who jumps on a live grenade to save his comrades – the Air Force pilot who sticks with his burning jet all the way to the crash so that he can steer it way from a crowded neighborhood – the Army private who braves the enemy fire to bring much-needed medicine to his fellow soldiers, only to lose his life in the process.
4. Such heroism doesn’t happen often, but when it does, it is always remembered – but mark it well: some will die for friends and comrades, but no one dies for the enemy!
5. That doesn’t happen…except at the Cross!
6. If Sam Watkins marveled that his good friend William Hughes was willing to die to save his life, then how much more ought we to be amazed at what Jesus did for us?
7. Jesus didn’t die for a friend – he didn’t even lay down his life for a good man – he went to the Cross for his enemies, for selfish, uncaring, ungodly, unsaved people like you and me before we were saved by his blood.
C. Today, as we continue our series on Romans and focus on Romans chapter 5, verses 6 through 11, I want us to understand and marvel about the assurance we have of our salvation.
1. Last week, as we looked at chapter 5, verses 1 through 5, we learned about the wonderful blessings that are ours because of our justification.
2. We learned that because we are justified by faith in Jesus, we now have peace with God, access to God and His grace, and we have the hope of glory, even in the midst of our adversity.
3. Ultimately, this new found peace with God, access to God and grace, and the hope of glory all provide the needed assurance of our salvation.
D. Our text for today is one of the mountain peaks of the Bible.
1. These verses are among the greatest in all the Bible.
2. Someone has called these verses “The John 3:16 of Romans.”
3. We are all familiar with those well-known words of Jesus: For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have everlasting life. (John 3:16, NIV)
E. With that verse in mind, let’s read Romans 5:6-11: 6 For while we were still helpless, at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For rarely will someone die for a just person—though for a good person perhaps someone might even dare to die. 8 But God proves his own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 How much more then, since we have now been declared righteous by his blood, will we be saved through him from wrath. 10 For if, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, then how much more, having been reconciled, will we be saved by his life. 11 And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received this reconciliation.
1. I want to borrow an outline from Ray Pritchard, who broke the message of these verses into three points:
a. First, Our Impossible Problem.
b. Second, God’s Incredible Solution.
c. Third, Our Infinite Gain
2. The main point that I hope we walk away with today is: the cross of Christ should give us great assurance.
3. As long as I remember that Jesus died for me – and he died for me even before I cared for him, while I was “still a sinner,” and an “ungodly” man – then I can never doubt my salvation.
a. Our salvation is based on the fact of the atonement – not on our feelings of the moment.
b. We all go through emotional ups and downs – every now and then, even the strongest of Christians has moments in which they question their relationship with God.
c. But if we will simply return to the truth of these verses, we will be reminded that our salvation is based on who God is and what God has done more than on anything else.
I. Our Impossible Problem.
A. Did you notice the four words that Paul used to describe our condition apart from Christ?
1. Paul says that we were “helpless” and “ungodly” in verse 6.
2. Then he calls us “sinners” in verse 8, and “God’s enemies” in verse 10.
3. Without Christ every person is a powerless, ungodly sinner who is God’s enemy.
4. That is not a pretty picture, but it is an accurate one from God’s vantage point.
B. Let’s talk about those four descriptions of our condition.
1. Being helpless is never a good situation to be in – it means that a person is powerless to do anything about their situation.
2. Being ungodly, sinners says that we fall far short of being holy and righteous.
a. One commentator explained that the word “ungodly” means to be “mighty in evil.”
3. You might remember when we were studying chapter 3 we saw how Paul described the total depravity of humankind.
a. Included in Paul’s description are these things: There is no one righteous, not even one.
There is no one who seeks God. There is no one who does what is good, not even one. Their mouth is full of cursing and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood. There is no fear of God before their eyes. (Rom. 3:10-18)
4. But we must also keep in mind that “ungodly,” or “godless,” doesn’t just mean those who wallow in sin, but it also applies to the moral person who invents their own morality, who lives to please themselves, and has set themselves up as their own god.
5. The first three of those descriptions culminate in the final one – we are enemies of God.
a. God’s justice requires that sin and rebellion must be judged and punished.
b. And although we may not want to be God’s enemy, our sin puts us in that position.
6. This sin entered the world at the time of Adam and Eve, this has been and continues to be the condition of all people, everywhere, at all time.
a. And it doesn’t matter if a person accepts that as truth or not – these things are true without regard to anyone’s personal opinion.
b. A person may say, “I’m not ungodly” or “I’m not God’s enemy” or “I know lots of people who are worse sinners than I am.”
7. But this is the hard, cold truth about all of us, if we stand on our own before God, apart from Christ and apart from divine grace.
C. Thankfully, God didn’t leave us in our impossible situation to fend for ourselves.
1. Let’s move from the bad news of our impossible situation to the good news of…
II. God’s Incredible Solution
A. So what was God’s incredible solution? While we were in our helpless and terrible state, Jesus died for us.
1. And why did God do this for us? Because He loves us.
2. Verses 7-8 reveal the unearthly nature of God’s love.
3. Sending His Son to die for people who refused to believe in Him and worship Him reveals the magnitude of God’s love for us.
B. Paul’s point is that God’s love for us is so great that He went far beyond what any of us would do.
1. Paul wrote: For rarely will someone die for a just person—though for a good person perhaps someone might even dare to die. But God proves his own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Rom. 5:7-8)
2. Paul uses an analogy that contrasts a person’s willingness to die for a “just” or “righteous” person, or a “good” person.
a. A “righteous” person is someone we might respect, but someone we would rarely die for.
b. A “good” person is someone we might love or someone who loves us, and so we might be willing to die for them.
3. Paul’s point is that rarely will a person give his or her life for someone they merely respect, but occasionally a person will die for someone they love – like a soldier for his buddies, or a parent for their child.
4. But the awesome quality of God’s love for us is seen in the fact that Christ died for us while we were still sinners – while we were still hating God and living in rebellion against Him.
a. Jesus didn’t die for good people; He died for bad people.
b. Jesus didn’t die for saints; He died for sinners.
c. Jesus didn’t die for friends; He died for His enemies.
d. Jesus didn’t die for people who loved Him, He died for people who hated Him.
C. The death of Jesus on the cross for our sins is the greatest and final proof of God’s love for us.
1. To know that God loves us, all we need to do is look to the cross.
2. When we gaze upon the bleeding Son of God on the cross, we see the love of God at work.
3. I love the words from the old hymn “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross.”
a. Verse 3 says: See from his Head, his Hands, his Feet, Sorrow and Love flow mingled down! Did ever such Love and Sorrow meet? Or Thorns compose so rich a Crown?
b. Final verse: 5. Were the whole Realm of Nature mine, That were a Present far too small;
Love so amazing, so divine, Demands my Soul, my Life, my All.
D. What Jesus did on the cross should remove all doubt of God’s love for you and for me.
1. Let me point out one final gem found in this verse about God’s love – Paul wrote that God “proves his own love for us…” (vs. 8).
2. The NIV chose the word “demonstrates” – “But God demonstrates His own love for us…”
3. Note that the verb is in the present tense – God proves…God demonstrates…
a. The Bible doesn’t say that God “proved” or God “demonstrated” His love.
b. God’s love isn’t past tense – God’s love continues to be expressed in the present by what Jesus did on the cross in the past.
III. Our Infinite Gain
A. There is one final assurance that I want us to grasp from verses 10 and 11: For if, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, then how much more, having been reconciled, will we be saved by his life. And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received this reconciliation.
1. In these two verses, Paul argued from the lesser to the greater.
2. If God saved us when we were enemies, surely He will keep on saving us now that we are His children.
3. Bringing rebellious sinners into relationship with God is an act of amazing love (vs. 5-8).
4. Now that God has done that, Paul suggests, we can be absolutely confident that God will do what seems to be the “easier” thing: deliver from wrath people whom God has already brought to himself.
B. Paul sums up our infinite gain through the death of Christ in three tremendous statements.
1. First, we have been justified by Jesus’ blood (vs. 9).
2. Second, we have been reconciled by Jesus’ death (vs. 10)
3. Third, we have been saved by Jesus’ life (vs. 11).
C. What does it mean that we are saved by Jesus’ life?
1. I don’t think Paul is talking about Jesus’ earthly life that He lived for 30 years 2000 years ago.
2. I don’t think Paul is talking about the resurrection when Jesus was brought back from the dead.
3. What I think Paul is talking about is Jesus’ present glorified life at the right hand of God in heaven.
4. We have life right now because Jesus lives to intercede for us.
5. Look at how Hebrews 7 reveals this truth: But because he remains forever, he holds his priesthood permanently. Therefore, he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, since he always lives to intercede for them. (Heb. 7:24-25)
6. Andrew Murray said, “Oh how bold I would be if only I could hear Christ in the next room praying for me. But distance makes no difference. He is praying for me in heaven.”
7. Billy Graham used to say, “I don’t preach a dying Jesus. I preach a living Christ.”
8. Thank God that Jesus is alive today.
9. As long as Jesus is alive, we will be saved by His life.
D. All of this causes us to rejoice.
1. We rejoice in the hope of the glory of God (vs. 2).
2. We rejoice in our sufferings because of what they produce (vs. 3-4).
3. And we rejoice in our reconciliation (vs. 11).
4. We rejoice in the gift of our salvation because it is not a reward for the righteous, but is a gift for the guilty.
5. It was Poor Richards Almanac that gave us the phrase “God helps those who help themselves.”
a. But the Bible nowhere teaches any such thing.
b. What the Bible teaches is radically different – the Bible teaches that “God helps those who can’t help themselves.”
c. Or if you prefer, “God helps those who are willing to admit they cannot help themselves.”
6. We were so helpless and lost, “but God did something about it.”
a. Praise God for all the “Buts” in the Bible.
b. But God proves His own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (vs. 8)
7. And because God did so much for us initially in Christ, don’t you think God will continue to do so much for us to make sure we remain protected from His wrath?
8. Our job is to stay connected to the vine so that we can produce much fruit.
9. When writing to the Colossians, Paul gave this prescription: So then, just as you have received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, being rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, and overflowing with gratitude. (Col. 2:6-7)
10. With God’s help let’s continue to live in Christ, being rooted and built up in Him which leads to a bubbling over of thankfulness.
a. Because we know Jesus and the salvation based on God’s grace that comes through Him, we should be people of joy and thanksgiving.
b. Grace, mercy, and joy should pour forth from our countenance, our words and our actions.
E. Allow me to end with this life-changing story:
1. In January 1997, British yachtsman Tony Bullimore was sailing solo deep in the Southern Ocean and a gale was raging.
a. The waves, reaching the height of a five story building, rushed on him with a sound like roaring thunder.
b. As his yacht plummeted down the face of a wave it hit something submerged in the water and turned upside down.
2. Tony, who had been sheltering in the 6 foot by 9 foot cockpit found it had become his prison.
a. As giant waves buffeted the boat, water poured in and out a broken window, and was knee high at one end, and waist high at the other.
b. The air temperature was down to 36 degrees, and it was pitch black – the sun couldn’t penetrate the overturned yacht.
c. Twelve times Bullimore left the cockpit in a vain attempt to release his life raft.
d. Meeting with no success he took refuge in his little cabin.
3. Sitting inside the cold inky darkness Bullimore had few rations – he had some chocolate and a device for making fresh water from salty sea.
a. His fingers became frostbitten and Bullimore thought that he was going to die.
b. The odds of being rescued seemed impossibly small.
4. Four four long days Tony survived then late one night a RAFF plane located him and dropped an electronic probe next to his yacht.
a. Bullimore could hear the faint pings, and with hope rising in his heart, started tapping on the hull to communicate to whoever was listening that he was alive.
b. Early the next morning the HMAS Adelaide drew alongside, and some sailors were dispatched to bang on the hull.
c. Tony heard the banging, took a deep breath, and swam out through the wreckage of his yacht to meet them.
5. How did he feel at that moment?
a. Bullimore says “When I looked over at the Adelaide, I could only get the tremendous ecstasy that I was looking at life, I was actually looking at a picture of what life was about. It was heaven, absolute heaven. I really, really never thought I would reach that far. I was starting to look back over my life and was starting to think, `Well, I’ve had a good life, I’ve done most of the things I had wanted to do’ I think if I was picking words to describe it, it would be a miracle. An absolute miracle.”
6. Reflecting on the experience later Bullimore told reporters “…Now that I’m getting a bit old there is one thing, and I don’t mind telling the world, I’ve become more human. In these last six days I’m a different person. I won’t be so rude to people, not that I was, but I’ll be much more of a gentleman and, equally, I’ll listen to people a lot more. And as a dear old friend of mine, David Matherson, said when he had a heart attack…he said that when he got over it and opened his window in his bedroom and he peered out and smelt the fresh air and all the rest of it, he said: `God it was like being born all over again, life was great!’ Well that’s how I feel now, like being born all over again.”
7. Tony Bullimore learned the power of hope.
a. It was hope of being rescued that drove him to survive and it was the fulfilment of hope that brought him such joy and a new perspective on life.
8. In the same way the gospel promises hope to all of us, we were hopelessly lost and dead in our transgressions and sins, but God made us alive in Christ.
9. Bullimore reflects a common outlook among those who’ve had a brush with death.
a. In almost religious language he says it’s like being born all over again, a fresh start at life, and one he will make better effort toward.
10. The death and resurrection of Jesus likewise brings us a fresh appreciation of life, a fresh start and a new way of living.
a. We are born again into a living hope.
b. Being born again gives us a whole new outlook on this life and the one to come.
c. God’s love poured out in our hearts gives us the assurance that we are His and that He will make good on all His promises.
d. This gives us true life and true joy and great assurance.
Resources:
Romans: Be Right, The Bible Exposition Commentary, by Warren Wiersbe
Romans, The NIV Application Commentary, by Douglas Moo
Romans, Interpretation – A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching, Paul Achtemeier
“That’s Incredible,” Sermon by Ray Pritchard
“Reason To Rejoice,” Sermon by Dan Williams
“God’s Love Demonstrated,” Sermon by Steven Lawson
