Introduction
Some years ago, a 14-foot bronze crucifix was stolen from Calvary Cemetery in Little Rock, Arkansas. It had stood at the entrance to that cemetery for more than 50 years. The thieves figured that the 900-pound cross probably brought about $450 and so they cut it off at its base and hauled it off in a pick-up where they cut it into small pieces and sold it for scrap. The cross was put there in 1930 by a Catholic bishop and had been valued at the time at $10,000. Obviously, the thieves didn’t realize the value of that cross.
That’s how it is today in the world, but also sadly in the church. This is part of the reason why the Book of Romans was written because The Apostle Paul fully understood the value of the cross. Once you can behold the magnanimous stature of what the cross means for the life of the believer and every person who responds to God’s invitation to come, everything changes.
If you remember, Paul was a Jewish Pharisee - a religious legalist who had risen to a type of Jewish aristocracy in the Sanhedrin Council. He trusted in being right with God through his position in the council and his strict adherence to Jewish Law.
Yet perspective changes everything and when Paul encountered Jesus while Paul was on his way to Damascus to persecute the early Christians, Paul’s perspective shifted from his own limited view to God’s view. From that time forward, Paul became a champion for the cross, preaching and teaching the known world who Jesus is and what the death and resurrection of Jesus did for all of humanity.
The Apostle Paul wrote the Book of Romans around 57 AD as a treatise to the Christians in Rome. The central theme of this letter is our Justification of God through faith. Because, like Paul, it is that faith in Christ that changes our perspective. As Christians, hope is central to our faith. Hope rests in the understanding that we are not alone in our sufferings. Because of God’s grace, we can learn how to endure our sufferings, which produces character, which springs into hope. This is a promise we can stand on. Jesus, who endured all things for us, offers us His strength by which we can endure. As Paul wrote to the Philippian Church from a jail cell, “I can do all through Him who strengthens me.” (Philippians 4:13).
With that, look at a passage from Romans with me that conveys the grand nature of the Cross and God’s immense love that provides us with an eternal promise:
6 For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For one will hardly die for a righteous man, though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die. 8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him. 10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. 11 And not only this, but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation. (Romans 5:6–11 LSB)
What Paul does in Romans is help us change our perspective to see the real value of the cross. The cross is not a trophy for our wall but answers the question of the necessity for faith in God. Today I want to share with you 3 critical points regarding the value of the cross:
I. The Severity of Our Condition (vv. 6-7)
6 For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For one will hardly die for a righteous man, though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die. (Romans 5:6–7 LSB)
Notice that the Apostle Paul does not use flattering language when describing our spiritual condition in our relationship with God. He uses words to describe us like, “weak” (verse 6), “ungodly” (verse 6), sinners (verse 8), and enemies of God (verse 10).
The word “weak” is used to describe the helpless (CSB) state of the believer; unable to defend oneself. It is ?s?e??? in Greek, which literally means “powerless from sickness.” That’s the state of all of us in our battle against sin apart from Christ.
9 “The heart is more deceitful than all else And is desperately sick; Who can know it? 10 “I, Yahweh, search the heart; I test the inmost being, Even to give to each man according to his ways, According to the fruit of his deeds. (Jeremiah 17:9–10 LSB)
21 “For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed the evil thoughts, sexual immoralities, thefts, murders, adulteries, 22 coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, and foolishness. 23 “All these evil things proceed from within and defile the man.” (Mark 7:21–23 LSB)
That’s one reason why Christ is often referred to as our Shepherd (John 10:11) and we are referred to as his sheep. It is not a flattering analogy. Philip Keller was a sheep rancher. In his book, "A Shepherd Looks at the Twenty-third Psalm," he says that sheep require more attention than any other livestock. They just can’t take care of themselves.
Unless their shepherd makes them move on, sheep will actually ruin a pasture, eating every blade of grass, until finally, a fertile pasture is nothing but barren soil. Sheep are near-sighted & very stubborn, but easily frightened. An entire flock can be stampeded by a jackrabbit. They have little means of defense. They’re timid, feeble creatures. Their only recourse is to run if no shepherd is there to protect them. Sheep have no homing instincts. A dog, horse, cat, or bird can find its way home, but when a sheep gets lost, it’s a goner unless someone rescues it.
27 “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; (John 10:27 LSB)
That’s the state of the one who is trying to live life apart from Christ. We are ignorant of our spiritual demise. Or, as Paul puts it at the end of verse 6, “ungodly.” That word means, “living without regard for religious belief or practice.” What an amazing and life-altering understanding of God. He didn’t send His son, Jesus for the self-righteous and spiritually astute. He sent his son for those who have no regard for anything of God.
The other word that Paul uses to describe us is ?µa?t???? - hamartolos, or sinners. That is, those who do not measure up to God’s standard. That’s who Christ came for and that is our condition the fact is, unless we understand that condition, we cannot be saved
Dietrich Bonhoeffer said, “He who is alone with his sins is utterly alone. It may be that Christians, notwithstanding corporate worship, common prayer, and all their fellowship in service, may still be left to their loneliness. The final breakthrough to fellowship does not occur because, though they have fellowship with one another as believers and as devout people, they do not have fellowship as the undevout, as sinners. The pious fellowship permits no one to be a sinner. So everyone must conceal his sin from himself and from their fellowship. We dare not be sinners. Many Christians are unthinkably horrified when a real sinner is discovered among the righteous. So we remain alone with our sin, living in lies and hypocrisy. The fact is, we are sinners”
Because of that fact, Paul identifies a fourth condition of every man born, we are enemies of God (verse 10). This word that Paul uses, ??????, as an intense hatred and hostility. We are captives of Satan. I hate to break it to you, but God didn’t have your picture on His refrigerator to give Him warm fuzzies, but there is a fierce burning your life exhibits against his righteousness. And yet despite this, at the perfect time and for our helpless state, Christ died for us.
Don’t let verse 7 pass you by Romans 5:7 “For one will hardly die for a righteous man, though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die.” The point Paul makes is that none of us would find it easy to die for another and if called upon to do so, it would help if the person for whom we died was a worthy person. Maybe even one who helped or cared for us. Did God then die on the Cross for us because we were good or worthy of His love for us? No, Christ died for us while we were unworthy sinners.
II. The Significance of God’s Character (v.8)
But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8 LSB)
This is one of the greatest declarations in all of the Bible. In our helpless, sinful state as enemies of God, Christ died on our behalf. Some try to deny that sin exists. Others try to explain away sin. Still, others try to redefine the word sin. No matter what people try to do with sin, sin does not and will not go away. Sin is still alive and well in our very own lives. Ever since the first sin of Adam and Eve, no one can, will, or is able to escape sin. Each of us has inherited a sinful nature from our very first parents. We are not born into this world as friends of God but as enemies. "Even from birth the wicked go astray; from the womb, they are wayward and speak lies" (PSALM 58:3). Life begins at conception. Sin starts with life. We are sinful.
That sin stands in ardent opposition to the character of a Holy God. The death penalty is demanded the sin of the world.
"for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God," (Romans 3:23 LSB)
"For the wages of sin is death, but the gracious gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 6:23 LSB)
“For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.” (Mark 10:45 LSB)
Consequently, because God is holy, because He is just, yet because God is love and does not desire anyone to perish, the justice demanded by a holy God for mankind’s sin was satisfied through the cross. You see, God did not just turn a blind eye to the presence and power of sin over our lives, but demanded full atonement for our violation of His holy law and against His righteousness to be paid in full. For that reason, to reconcile God’s justice with His love for us, He provided the only acceptable payment for the penalty of our sin, His own son.
Thus the Christian's hope is not wishful thinking nor guesswork. Rather Christian hope is based upon the solid foundation of God's reconciling love for us. This love is seen in Jesus' death on the Cross and the shedding of His blood on our behalf.
James Edwards said, “Christ died” is a historical statement of fact. Christ died "for us" is the interpretation of why Christ died. In the face of animosity and rejection, Christ offered His life as the supreme sacrifice “for us.” The Greek preposition “for” (huper) means “on behalf of,” or, “in place of.” Jesus took our place. It is one thing to believe that Christ died, it is different to confess that He died for me, in my place, for my sin. It is the necessary confession of becoming a Christian.”
That’s the kind of love that God has for us; that even in our helpless, weak, sinful state as His enemies, Christ died for us.
III. The Security of God’s Covenant
Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him. 10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. 11 And not only this, but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation. (Romans 5:9–11 LSB)
"Much more" continues to take us from the greater to the lesser. If God did the greater, will He not even more readily do the lesser? The great thing is the justification in Christ's shed blood and atoning death. Those who receive their just standing before God have it based on the blood atonement of Christ. Those in Christ, covered by the blood atonement of Christ, have the assurance of deliverance "from the wrath" of God.
The death of Christ saves us from the power of sin, the penalty of our sin, and, one day, the presence of our sin. In other words, Christ’s death is the payment for our debt today and the surety of our salvation.
He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.(2 Corinthians 5:21 LSB)
Martin Luther said, "There is no justification without sanctification, no forgiveness without renewal of life, no real faith from which the fruits of new obedience do not grow." What we learn in this passage is that “justification” leads to “reconciliation.” But unlike the limited forgiveness of sin that resulted in the offering of the Old Covenant, the atoning sacrifice of Jesus has complete power to cover our sins once and for all. Because of its limited power to justify, the Israelites, year after year, went back to living under the condemnation and resulting guilt of the law.
Conclusion
In this realization, we as believers live in the eternal hope of Jesus. That hope begins with the honest revelation of our hopeless and helpless state apart from God’s intervention. It is the pride of life that keeps us from accepting what God has given freely to us through faith. “Faith is one of life’s greatest and most powerful facets, and without it, it would be like living life without purpose or meaning” (Zacharias). When we come to that realization, our hope is shifted from the temporal human achievement to come to God or be a god ourselves, to an unshakable realization God established the security of our hope Himself.
In 1960, Israeli undercover agents orchestrated the daring kidnapping of one of the worst of the Holocaust’s masterminds, Adolf Eichmann. After capturing him in his South American hideout, they transported him to Israel to stand trial. There, prosecutors called a string of former concentration camp prisoners as witnesses. One was a small man named Yehiel Dinur, who had miraculously escaped death in Auschwitz.
On his day to testify, Dinur entered the courtroom and stared at the man in the bulletproof glass booth - the man who had murdered Dinur’s friends, personally executed a number of Jews, and presided over the slaughter of millions more. As the eyes of the two men met - victim and murderous tyrant - the courtroom fell silent, filled with the tension of the confrontation. But no one was prepared for what happened next. Yehiel Dinur began to shout and sob, collapsing to the floor. Was he overcome with hatred? By the horrifying memories? By the evil incarnate in Eichmann’s face?
No. As he later explained in a 60 Minutes interview, it was because Eichmann was not the demonic personification of evil that Dinur had expected. Rather, he was just an ordinary man, just like anyone else. And in that one instant, Dinur came to a stunning realization that sin and evil are the human conditions. "I was afraid about myself," he said. "I saw that I am capable to do this ... exactly like he. Eichmann is in all of us." (Chuck Colson)
In our therapeutic culture, people cringe when they hear words like evil and sin. We’d prefer to talk about people as victims of dysfunctional backgrounds. But there are times when it becomes obvious that those categories are simply insufficient—times when the evil in the human heart breaks through the veneer of polite society and shows us its terrifying face. Suddenly the value of the cross is realized. Will you come to him today?
