Introduction
How do you demonstrate your love to someone?
Some people give flowers.
Others give cards.
Still others buy jewelry.
One of history's most breathtaking expressions of love is the Taj Mahal, built by Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan in memory of his beloved wife, Mumtaz Mahal.
After she died in 1631, Shah Jahan was devastated and commissioned the construction of this magnificent white marble mausoleum as a tribute to her.
It took over a decade to build and remains one of the most stunning architectural wonders in the world—a lasting testament to his deep love for his wife.
But even that magnificent expression of love pales in comparison to a love that died for you.
Scripture
Let’s read Romans 5:6-8:
6 For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— 8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Lesson
Romans 5:6-8 teaches us how God demonstrates his love for sinners.
Let’s use the following outline:
1. What Did God Do? (5:6)
2. Why Did God Do It? (5:7-8a)
3. When Did God Do It? (5:8b)
I. What Did God Do? (5:6)
First, what did God do?
Paul said in verse 6, “For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.”
God sent his Son, Jesus Christ, to die on the cross.
He did that to pay the penalty for all of our sins.
We should pay the penalty for our sins.
We should die and be cut off from God for all eternity.
We should be sentenced to hell.
But, by his grace, God allowed our penalty to be paid by Jesus.
He paid the penalty for all our sins.
He died and was cut off from God in our place.
He suffered the pains of hell in our stead.
That is what Jesus did on the cross.
He died so that we might live.
If you go to Scotland, or any place where there are lots of sheep, you’ll see a very unusual sight sooner or later.
You’ll see a little lamb running around the field, and you’ll notice it has what looks like an extra fleece tied to its back.
You’ll see little holes in the fleece for its four legs and usually a hole for its head.
If you see a little lamb running around like that, that usually means its mother has died.
Without the protection and nourishment of a mother, any orphaned lamb will die.
If you take the orphaned lamb and try to introduce it to another mother, the new mother will butt it away.
She won’t recognize the lamb’s scent and will know the new baby is not one of her lambs.
But thankfully, most flocks are large enough that a mother has recently lost a lamb.
The shepherd will skin the dead lamb and make its fleece into a covering for the orphaned lamb.
And then he will take the orphaned lamb to the mother whose baby just died.
Now, when she sniffs the orphaned lamb, she will smell her lamb's fleece.
Instead of butting the lamb away, she will accept it as one of her own.
Similarly, we have become acceptable to God by being clothed with Christ due to his death on our behalf (From Peter Grant’s sermon, “In What Way Is Jesus Christ Different?”).
So, what did God do?
God sent his son Jesus to die on the cross as a substitute for sinners, so that we could be clothed with the righteousness of Christ.
II. Why Did God Do It? (5:7-8a)
Second, why did God do it?
Paul said in verses 7-8a, “For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die—but God shows his love for us….”
God sent Jesus to die to show his love for us.
In his excellent commentary on Romans, Donald Grey Barnhouse tells the story of a tough youngster from the streets of one of our large cities.
His sister had been disabled and needed an operation.
The operation was provided for her.
But after the operation, the girl needed a blood transfusion, and the boy, her brother, was asked to volunteer.
He was taken to her bedside and watched tight-lipped as a needle was inserted into his vein and blood was fed into his sister’s body.
When the transfusion was over, the doctor put his arm on the boy’s shoulder and told him that he had been courageous.
The youngster knew nothing about the nature of a blood transfusion.
But the doctor knew even less about the actual bravery of the boy—until the boy looked up at him and asked steadily, “Doc, how long before I die?”
The boy believed that he would have to die to save his sister.
And he thought that he was dying drop by drop as his blood flowed into her veins.
But he did it anyway!
Why?
Because he loved his sister (Donald Grey Barnhouse, Romans, vol. 2 [Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1999], 177).
That story tells us something about the highest of human love.
Yet, when we read Romans 5, we realize that God’s love is not shown to friends but to enemies.
Someone once said that if you ever doubt the love of God, look at Calvary.
At the cross, you see God's love in its fullness.
What a great love this is!
So, why did God send Jesus to die?
God sent Jesus to die to show us his great love for us.
If you ever doubt God’s love, look to the cross.
III. When Did God Do It? (5:8b)
Third, when did God do it?
Paul said in verse 8b, “… in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
God’s Son died while we were still sinners.
It is not as if some are nice and worth dying for.
No. All of us have sinned and fallen short of God’s glory.
Each one of us deserves to die for our sins.
And yet, God sent Jesus to take our death upon himself.
In the 1993 movie In the Line of Fire, Frank Horrigan is a Secret Service agent assigned to protect the President.
Horrigan had protected the president's life for over thirty years, but he was haunted by the memory of what had happened thirty years before.
Horrigan was a young agent assigned to President Kennedy on that fateful day in Dallas in 1963.
When the assassin fired, Horrigan froze in shock.
For thirty years afterward, he wrestled with the ultimate question for a Secret Service agent: Can I take a bullet for the President?
In the movie's climax, Horrigan does what he had been unable to do earlier: he throws himself into the path of an assassin’s bullet to save the President.
Secret Service agents are willing to do this because they believe the President is so valuable to our country and the world that he is worth dying for.
They would not take a bullet for just anyone.
At Calvary, the situation was reversed.
The Creator of the Universe took a bullet for us.
At the Cross, we see how Jesus died in our place.
And he did that while we were still sinners (Leadership, Vol. 16, no. 2).
Conclusion
Swiss theologian Karl Barth was once asked, “Dr. Barth, what is the greatest thought that has ever gone through your mind?”
The questioner probably expected some complicated and incomprehensible answer, as if Einstein were being asked to explain the theory of relativity.
But after he had thought a while, Barth replied by saying: “Jesus loves me, this I know. For the Bible tells me so” (James Montgomery Boice, Romans, vol. 2 [Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1992], 539).
Thank God for his love demonstrated through Jesus’ death on the cross at Calvary. Amen.
