The Vastness of God’s Love
Romans 5:5-11
Turn to Romans 5. If our society were asked today, how do you know that you are loved by God? The question, of course, would depend upon a belief in God. Obviously, if a person did not believe in God, there may be little evidence of His love to them, as they look at creation and merely see something that in their minds has evolved without a Creator. But if they did believe in a God who did create, they might see the love of God in the beauty of His creation. The joy they experience from the warmth of the sun and the majestic mountains. The joy of little children, the love within a marriage, and the funniness of a puppy. And the evidence of a loving Creator could go on and on, all the things in life that we enjoy, if we believe that all these things have come from the hand of God. Now, for the Christian, the love of God, of course, goes way beyond this, for when we start to discover from God’s Word not only what God has done for us in this life, but what God has done for us in eternity and all that is involved in our salvation.
Now, we might also want to ask the question, why would someone doubt the love of God? Well, someone might look around and see injustice and hatred. They may ask why God made some people so clever and others so simple, why some are so athletic, and others suffer from a severe disability. Or someone might question God’s love when they have suffered because of a loss. A spouse who walked away from their marriage, an abusive father, or a child they dearly loved who lost their life at a young age. All these things could, by some, contribute to their questioning of God’s love. And we, who believe the Scriptures, know that God knew that man would sin before He even created the world. In fact, it was part of His plan before creation that He would one day send His Son to die for the sins of the world. So, a person who is not a Christian, yet who believes in God, might ask, why did God do all this, knowing what would happen? The wars, the sin, the cruelty, and the abuse, why?
Well, the answer is that nobody knows, for these are only things that God knows and has chosen not to reveal to us. The Bible says, for who has known the mind of the Lord? Yet just because there are things about God that we do not understand does not mean that we do not believe in God, as our faith in many ways is like a child’s faith. And why wouldn’t it be? How could we ever know the mind of God? He is the Creator, and we are the created. We certainly know, and we believe what God has told us through His Word, and He has told us He is the Judge of all the earth and that He will always do what is right. And what we see in the world is from our perspective and not from God’s perspective. And the complete story has not been fully written yet. As Solomon said, in the end God will bring every work and deed into judgement. In other words, in the end, God will determine all things, not evil, not Satan, and not even man, but God. So, from our passage, I want to ask the question, how do we know God loves us? We have seven verses before us this morning that hover around the love of God that go way beyond what God has done for us in creation, as God has uniquely rescued mankind from his sin. So, in these seven verses, I notice five descriptions of God’s love.
“[A]nd hope does not put to shame, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us. For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will hardly die for a righteous man, though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him. 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. And not only this, but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.”
Romans 5:5-11 (LSB)
- A Conditional Love (vs 6-7, 10)
Now, many theologians speak of the unconditional love of God, but in our passage this morning, there is a condition placed upon those whom God loves. Did you notice that condition as I read? Verse 6, it says that Christ died for the ungodly, and (vs 10) for if while we were enemies of God. Simply, the condition of those whom God loves is only toward the ungodly. Now, there are some exceptions to this. Of course, God’s love for His Son, Jesus Christ, could never be greater, and we know that Christ was sinless. And though we are not told, the Lord must have a great love for His holy angels, as the Bible does tell us that God was pleased with all of His creation. But when we consider humanity alone, outside of the humanity of Christ, God’s love is preserved only for the ungodly. Paul gives an interesting illustration to help us understand this in the passage.
“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)
There are three characters in this short illustration: a righteous man and a good man (vs 7), and an ungodly man (vs 6). And I think we need to ask the question of what is the difference between these three guys? Now, the ungodly man we get. He is the guy who is, simply put, ungodly, and therefore, we could say that he is unlike God. And (vs 10) seems to shed more light on him, as he is an enemy of God, and we could assume that he does not love God. But what is the difference between the good guy and the righteous guy? Well, we might think that the good guy is good, but the righteous guy is better. But that is not really the case in this illustration. So, it would seem that the good guy is depicted better than the righteous guy. Why is that? Well, we could likely assume that the righteous man obeys the rules and keeps all the commands. But a good man goes beyond that, for he not only obeys the rules, but he also loves, and therefore he is generous and giving, and he serves and encourages. In other words, he goes beyond the rules, for he is not only righteous, but he is also kind and loving.
This is why someone may only die for a righteous man, which is assumed here as a rare possibility. But a greater possibility that someone would die for the good man. But of course, the conclusion of the story is that Christ died only for the ungodly. So, I suppose if we wanted to rate these three men, we would have the good guy up here, we would have the righteous guy here, and we would have the ungodly guy down here. And if you have been here for the past few weeks, you will realize that there is no such thing as a righteous man or woman in God’s eyes. Why? Because Paul has already taught that all men and women fall short of the glory of God. And if there are no righteous men and women, there certainly cannot be any good men and women. Remember, Jesus said that no one is good except God. And certainly, from God’s perspective, no one is good. Sure, from our perspective, there may be those whom we call righteous or good or ungodly, but there is only one kind of man in God’s eyes. And no one can truly become a Christian without this realization, the realization of our sinfulness, our ungodliness.
There is a story recorded in Luke 7. A man named Simon, a Pharisee, who welcomed Jesus into his home. And while they are having supper, the meal is interrupted by a sinful woman who anoints Jesus with an expensive jar of perfume. She knelt at the feet of Jesus, crying great tears, which fell onto His feet. Then she proceeded by wiping her tears from His feet with her hair, and she kissed the Lord’s feet, and anointed them with her perfume. And of course, Simon—who would likely be considered a good man, at least a righteous man in his day—was shocked that Jesus would allow such a sinful woman to touch Him. And the story concludes by Jesus saying, “I tell you, her sins—and they are many—have been forgiven, so she has shown me much love.” This woman who washed Jesus’ feet realized her sin, but the Pharisee did not realize his sin. Both were sinners, both were ungodly, but only the woman realized it. As there is nothing within us that would recommend us to God. Paul has said that there are none righteous and that there are none who seek after God. Paul includes no list of goodness when describing mankind.
So, here we see that God’s love is conditional in that He loves only the ungodly, not the perceived righteous or good. I guess we could say that the bad news is that we are all ungodly, but the good news is that this is the kind of person that the Lord died for and loved. And thinking of this love for the ungodly, and considering the vastness of God’s love, what if we believed that Jesus died for us because we were godly or righteous or good or that we were trying to please God in some way, or that God loved us because we were a fairly good person? And then at some point, you disappointed God, or your passion for God was not at the same level it once was during a season of your life. How would that affect your assurance of God’s love for you? See, the great news is that God loved you when you were ungodly. God loved you while you were a sinner, as God’s love for you was not dependent upon you, but it is a conditional love from God’s perspective. A love for the ungodly
- A Personal Love (vs 8)
I just want to spend a moment here, but to notice that term (vs 8), but God demonstrated His own love. Brothers and sisters, may we never miss the personal love of God toward His people. This is not a generic love to the ungodly, but this is a love that comes personally from God. God loves you. God cares for you. Paul wrote:
“But God, being rich in mercy because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.”
Ephesians 2:4-7 (LSB)
There is no greater thing than knowing that you are loved this way by God. That the Maker of all things would love His children. And in this passage this great love of God caused God to act on our behalf. J. I. Packer wrote that God’s love is a “determination of God’s whole being … an attitude freely chosen and firmly fixed.” Puritan Thomas Brooks wrote:
“My grace, saith God, shall be yours to pardon you, and My power shall be yours to protect you, and My wisdom shall be yours to direct you, and My goodness shall be yours to relieve you, and My mercy shall be yours to supply you, and My glory shall be yours to crown you. This is a comprehensive promise, for God to be our God.”
Thomas Brooks
- A Surpassing Love (vs 5)
“[A]nd hope does not put to shame, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.”
Romans 5:5 (LSB)
This demonstrates God’s lavishness to the sinner in giving His love. His love is poured out. Hard to even describe this kind of love. I don’t know if you have ever been to Niagara Falls? Growing up in Stoney Creek, we used to go a few times a year and line up on the Queen E to get to the Falls. And as a kid, I would watch those falls, and you see water after water after water rushing over the Falls. They say 3,160 tons of water flows over the Falls every second. This would represent the pouring out of God’s love, that we would never find in anyone else, but God, our Heavenly Father. Paul wrote:
[S]o that you—the eyes of your heart having been enlightened—will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe.”
Ephesians 1:18-19a (LSB)
We asked the question earlier of why things are the way that they are in our world. But we would also need to ask this question: why did God invest so much into ungodly sinners, and why did He love us to such a degree? And just as that water at Niagara Falls just seems to be endless, so too, God’s love is not only surpassing, it is also:
- A Continual and Endless Love (vs 8)
“But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”
Romans 5:8 (LSB)
Notice in that verse, it says that Christ “demonstrates” His love, His own love. Yes, it says that Christ died for us, as that was a one-time act in history. So, you would think that it would say that Christ demonstrated His love. But the Greek verb here is in the present tense; Christ demonstrates His love. The promise here is that it is an ongoing love, and the assumption is that we would experience that ongoing love. I was thinking that even in our breaking of bread, we remember the event of Christ’s death and burial, and that has been commanded for us to do. But the effect of His death demonstrates to us a love that continues. The forgiveness, the love, the care, and the salvation. God’s love is demonstrated in an ongoing way. So, the question is not God’s surpassing love, this outpouring of love, or this continual and endless love of God. That is a given; that is not in question. The question is this: Am I filled with that love continually? Is it a moment-by-moment experience on my part, for it is on God’s part? Paul wrote this to the Thessalonians:
“And may the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God and into the steadfastness of Christ.”
2 Thessalonians 3:5 (LSB)
Here we have Paul praying that God would do something for the Thessalonians. Notice he wants to direct their hearts into the love of God. During our last men’s study, our topic was contentment. And we discussed the pull of all the things in the world that may attract us, not necessarily even bad things, but things that can pull us away from God and His work and ministry. And what Paul is praying here for the Thessalonians is that God would give their heart a sight of the love of God. He prays that He would direct their hearts into the love of God. That God becomes more attractive, satisfying and valuable than any earthly thing. “May the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God.” And then of course, Paul’s great prayer for the church in Ephesus.
“For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that He would give you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being firmly rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God.”
Ephesians 3:14-19 (LSB)
Christian, this is the kind of love in which God loves you. A love that is described with great breadth, and length, and height, and depth. And if you know Him as your Saviour and Lord, this love is yours. And Paul’s prayer is that we would know this, always. A few verses we will get to at some point in Romans 8:
“Who will separate us from the love of Christ? … For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Romans 8:35a, 38-39 (LSB)
Nothing will ever separate us from God or from His love. But Paul’s prayer is that the Christian would know this and truly experience it in his life. Finally:
- A Rescuing Love (vs 9-11)
“Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him.”
Romans 5:9 (LSB)
Here we see the cost to this great love, the blood of Christ. And Paul’s point is that if we have been justified by Christ’s blood, His death, the obvious conclusion is that we will also be saved from God’s wrath through Christ. Not that God’s wrath is eliminated, but it is no longer placed upon the believer, as it has already been placed upon Christ. Therefore, the promise is that we will be saved from His wrath through Christ. Understand that in His great love, God does not overlook sin. But sin has been placed upon His Son on our behalf, which demonstrates the love of both the Father and the Son.
“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.”
Romans 5:10 (LSB)
Verse 9 spoke of justification, whereas verse 10 speaks of reconciliation. While justification emphasizes that we who are sinners have been declared righteous by God, reconciliation stresses that we, who were formerly enemies of God, are now in right relationship with Him. And the reason we were enemies is that we were created by God, but by nature we refused to worship Him and love Him as the Creator. And because we were also disobedient to Him, the result, we were under His wrath. And understand that this condition of our relationship between God and man, that of disbelief and disobedience on our side, and God’s judgement from His side would never change, unless God acted. In other words, there would have been no initiative on man’s part. That if God did not act, man would have forever turned his back on God. And therefore, man would have been forever condemned. And notice the focus of the action by God in both verses, (vs 9) it was the blood of Christ, and (vs 10) it was the death of Christ. There is no need to distinguish between these two, as they are both describing the same thing, of Christ giving His life for all those who would ever believe. Listen to Paul in Romans 8:
“Who will bring a charge against God’s elect? God is the one who justifies; who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us.”
Romans 8:33-34 (LSB)
Here we have the promise of God in His great love that He will never accuse those whom He has justified. He will never condemn those for whom Christ has died. And then, don’t you love Paul’s final words here (vs 11) and not only this! This sounds like us when we have a great story to tell, and we give a bunch of information, and then at the end, “And guess what!”
“And not only this, but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.”
Romans 5:11 (LSB)
The believer, because of what Christ has done, has every reason to boast. Not in his own goodness, but in the greatness and love of God. But maybe some of you this morning do not know God. Sure, you may believe in some kind of Creator, but you do not know the true God who sent His Son to die for sinners, for your sin. So, the Apostle Paul would say, know His love today and receive Him as your Lord. Come, turn from your sin, and believe in the One who can rescue you from eternal wrath.
In our study of Job on Sunday nights, we discussed the thought pattern of many of the Old Testament saints as they likely viewed life with a longer tunnel than we do. Job, who lived rather early, is believed to have died when he was around 210-220 years old, and his speech exemplified a longer walk with God while on earth. Whereas for us it is much shorter, for we see life as 70 years if we are fortunate, or maybe 80-90 years, and then eternity. Whereas the Old Testament saint often, especially the early ones, spoke less of eternity and more of their present walk with God. And I believe we miss that a bit, as we may look so much to eternity—and there is good reason for that—but in that, we may consider some of these great truths as something we tend to put off grasping until eternity and even appreciating better in eternity.
Now, admittedly, we who know Christ, I don’t think we will ever fully understand the greatness of what Christ has done until we enter heaven. The day we stand with all the saints from all time and truly know the breadth and length and height and depth of His love, nor will we fully understand the real meaning of reconciliation with God until then. But the hope of this passage that we do not want to miss today is that we would gain a greater glimpse of it now, today. Why would we ever want to wait when Paul has revealed the truth to us this morning? For there is presently such a deep, deep love of Christ toward the believer, amen?
Let’s pray. Father, we thank You this day for the peace that comes through reconciliation with You. That through Jesus Christ, our Lord, we have been justified by faith. Therefore, we no longer stand as enemies but as beloved children, reconciled to You through the precious blood of Christ. And Lord, we ask on behalf of those who do not yet know this peace with God, that they too would find this kind of joy, that not only awaits us in eternity, but is ours presently, that we, in a great way, would know this kind of love today. And so, we pray that even through the uncertainties of life, even in the afflictions that You purposely allow into our lives that have been determined by You for our good and for Your glory. Ahat through all of these, we would be certain that You are good and loving. For You are a great God and You are a good God. And all God’s people said, amen.