Romans 5:6-11: What Makes Grace So Amazing?

Romans 5:6-11: What Makes Grace So Amazing?

Please turn with me in your Bible to Romans 5. If you’re using one of the Story Bibles we provide, that’s on page 780. We’ve been working our way passage by passage through Paul’s letter to the Romans, and this morning we come to Romans 5:6-11. Romans 5:6-11: 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. 9 Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. 10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. 11 More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation. 

Without a doubt, this passage is one of the richest and most precious passages in the entire Bible. It gets right to the heart of the gospel and tells us why God’s grace is so amazing. And for that reason, you may assume that I’ve been looking forward to preaching it. But to be completely honest with you, I’m not sure that’s entirely true. As we’ve come closer and closer to this passage, a part of me has been almost dreading it, to a degree. And that may sound strange, but the reason part of me hasn’t been looking forward to preaching this passage is because it’s so rich and so precious that I wonder, “What could I possibly say that would do justice to the glorious things Paul speaks about here? If I personally am so far from grasping the glory of these truths myself, how could I ever hope to convey them adequately to others?” And that’s probably true for many passages in the Bible, but this one especially. Coming to this passage feels like coming to the base of an inconceivably high mountain—a mountain that rises so far above the clouds that you can’t even come close to seeing the peak. You can see a few of the foothills and that’s about it. The rest is shrouded in mystery. And of course there’s a sense in which we’re able to grasp the fundamental truths of the gospel that are conveyed here. If we couldn’t understand anything, we couldn’t be saved. But when it comes to grasping the breathtaking glory of the gospel and the sheer magnitude of God’s grace, we quickly discover how hopelessly beyond us such a task is. So I just want to start this message by telling you how utterly inadequate everything I’m about to say is going to be. But who knows? Perhaps God will show up and do something wonderful. 

One thing I pray he does through this text is to help us see with even slightly greater clarity what makes God’s grace in the gospel so amazing. You might compare the gospel to one of those Magic Eye pictures that used to be all the rage when I was a young kid. The idea was to see a 3D image within what appeared to be a random pattern of colors. For example, if you look at this picture the right way, you can see a man riding a horse. There’s an image hidden within the apparent randomness of this pattern. Some of you may even be able to see it right now if you’ve had some practice, while many of us undoubtedly cannot. And many times, the gospel seems to work the same way. Of course, I don’t think God intentionally hides or obscures the truths of the gospel, but it does seem like some people “get” the gospel more than others—even among Christians. Some Christians are absolutely stunned and in awe of the grace they’ve received. It’s like they really “see it” in a way that’s difficult to describe. And because of that, they’re ready to lay down their very lives for the sake of the gospel. In contrast, though, it seems like other Christians—perhaps even a majority—understand the gospel enough to be saved and are thankful for what God’s done for them, but they lack that deep sense of awe and amazement and therefore are notably less zealous in their devotion to the Lord. And I do want to be careful in saying that, because I understand that there are legitimate differences from person to person related to natural temperament. But even accounting for differences in temperament, some Christians just seem to “see” the gospel and see its glory and see its magnificence in a way that others don’t. You might say that the penny has dropped for some but not for others.

Yet my prayer is that by the end of this message, the penny would drop for at least some others in this room—that God would use this passage in Romans 5 to help us really “see it” and grasp what makes grace so amazing. So that’s the main idea I’d like you to understand from Romans 5. God’s grace is more amazing than we can comprehend. God’s grace is more amazing than we can comprehend. And there are two things in particular that make God’s grace in the gospel so amazing. Number one, the cost of the rescue. And number two, the wretchedness of the sinner. 

The Cost of the Rescue

So first, the cost of the rescue. Our rescue from sin came at an unimaginably high cost. Jesus had to die. Verse 8 says that “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” That phrase “Christ died for us” means two things. First, it means he died in our place. He functioned as our substitute. We should have been the ones to suffer the penalty for our sins, but Jesus stepped in and took that penalty on himself. That’s what happened on the cross. He died “for us” in the sense of dying in our place. In addition, Jesus’ death was “for us” in the sense that it was for our benefit. His death enabled us to have all our crimes against God expunged. Paul says in Colossians 2 that it’s as though there was a record of debt that stood against us, detailing the massive debt we owed to God’s justice because of our sin. Yet Paul says it’s as though Jesus took away that record of debt by nailing it to the cross. So Jesus died for us in the sense that his death was both in our place and for our benefit. 

And this price he paid in his death is infinitely beyond our comprehension. That’s what I’m referring to by calling this point “the cost of the rescue.” Of course, when anyone sacrifices their life for others, it’s not something we take lightly. We have a deep respect for the soldiers who have lost their lives defending this country. We honor policeman and firefighters who die in the course of their duties. But there’s a sense in which the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross is an even greater sacrifice than any of these. First, Jesus was of infinitely greater worth than anyone else who’s ever lived. He had more intrinsic value than all the rest of the world put together. [[Think about what made the funeral of George H. W. Bush a week and a half ago so newsworthy. Why was the service held in the Washington National Cathedral? Why was there such extensive media coverage? Obviously, it was because of who Georg H. W. Bush was. He was a pretty important guy—a former president of the United States. So when he died, there’s a certain sense in which it was a larger loss for our country than the death of “regular” people like you and me. That’s why the flags of our nation continue to fly at half-mast. And in a similar though not identical way, Jesus was worth infinitely more than all the rest of the world put together.]] So when his blood was spilled on the cross, it was an infinitely greater loss than anything else. The sacrifice of his life was an incalculably high sacrifice because of who he was. He was the very Son of God. That’s why Peter reminds his readers in 1 Peter 1:18-19 that “you were ransomed…not with perishable things such as silver or gold but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.” So that’s one reason why the cost of our rescue was unimaginably high. It was the blood of Jesus, the sinless Son of God, that was spilled on the cross. 

In addition, when Jesus breathed his last, he was suffering something more than just physical death. He certainly did die physically, but he suffered more than that. You may remember that in the garden of Gethsemane, Jesus was actually sweating blood as he anticipated his immanent arrest and crucifixion. He was terrified. And at first, you might assume he was terrified at the thought of dying. But if you compare Jesus before his death to others who came after him who were martyred for their Christian beliefs, those martyrs of subsequent centuries seem much more courageous. There are records of Christians boldly embracing the cruelest forms of death and even rejoicing that they get to suffer such things for the sake of the gospel. But then you look back at Jesus and see him sweating blood. Why is that? Was Jesus less courageous than his followers? How could he pray in Matthew 26:39, “Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will” while others rejoiced in their martyrdom? It was because when Jesus died, he wasn’t merely suffering physical death. He was suffering the full, undiluted wrath of God against sin. That’s what made him sweat blood. That’s what made him desperate enough to pray that if possible the cup would pass from him. The “cup” contained God’s wrath. Jesus was about to be crushed under the wrath of Almighty God. So that’s what made the cost of the rescue so great. It was the sinless Son of God who suffered on the cross, and he suffered not just physical death but the full wrath of God. Hopefully, in all of this, you’re starting to see what makes God’s grace so amazing. 

The Wretchedness of the Sinner

But not only it is important for us to understand the cost of the rescue, we also need to understand the wretchedness of the sinner. That’s point two: the wretchedness of the sinner. You know, that’s a harsh word, isn’t it? “Wretchedness.” It almost sticks in your throat as you say it—definitely not the way we’d prefer to describe ourselves. We’d rather think of ourselves as fairly good people. Of course, nobody’s perfect, but surely we’re not that bad, right? We help those in need, we donate money to worthy causes, and for the most part we try to treat others the way we’d like them to treat us. That’s how we like to view ourselves. And we become all the more confident of our goodness when we compare ourselves to “bad” people in our society. We think we’re good because…well…we’re not like them. Plus, isn’t self-esteem really important for our mental health? Surely calling ourselves “wretched” can’t at all be good for our self-esteem. 

Yet when you look at the way Paul describes people prior to salvation here in Romans 5, he has a perspective that’s just a little bit different than that. After reading what he writes in this passage, it’s difficult to come away with any view of ourselves other than wretchedness. Notice the terms Paul uses to describe us. In verse 6, Paul starts out by calling us “weak.” He says that it was “while we were still weak” that Christ died for us. That word “weak” can also be translated as “powerless” or “helpless.” Prior to conversion, we were utterly powerless to rescue ourselves or really do anything about pour spiritual condition. Then notice what Paul says after that. He says, “For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.” Now, Paul could have just said, “Christ died for us.” That would have been a perfectly accurate and smooth-flowing sentence. But Paul doesn’t say that. Instead, he goes out of his way to detail another aspect of our wretchedness and says that “Christ died for the ungodly.” That was us. Everything about us was “ungodly” in that it was totally contrary to God. Our character was contrary to his character, our will contrary to his will. 

Then in verses 7-8, Paul states, 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. There we encounter yet another uncomfortable word Paul uses to describe us: sinners. We were sinners in the sense that we repeatedly violated God’s standards of righteousness. He said to do this, and we didn’t do it. He said not to do that, and we did it. We violated his standards. Then Paul uses one more word to describe us down in verse 10. He calls us “enemies.” He states that it was “while we were enemies [that] we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son.” I mentioned last week that there was enmity on both sides of the relationship. Through our sin, we had declared God our enemy, and in his justice, God had declared us his enemy. So were thoroughly separated and indeed alienated from God with no possibility of reconciliation apart from something quite radical, namely the sacrifice of Christ. 

So that was our condition prior to conversion: weak, ungodly, sinners, and enemies—not exactly the kinds of words that elevate your self-esteem. But here’s what these words do accomplish: they help us see how amazing God’s grace really is. Until we understand how wretched and how utterly loathsome we were prior to salvation, we’ll never be able to fully appreciate what God’s done in saving us. We won’t be able to see what makes grace so amazing. Think about the classic hymn by that name, “Amazing Grace.” Perhaps some of you have heard versions of the song that alter the original lyrics in order to remove the word “wretch.” The original lyrics state, “Amazing grace, how sweet the sound the saved a wretch like me.” And that’s kind of an uncomfortable line for many people to sing—even those who want to sing about “amazing grace.” So, musicians sometimes alter the lyrics to say, “Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a soul like me,” or sometimes, “that saved and strengthened me,” or even “that saved and set me free.” Just about any of these options apparently seems better to a lot of musicians than confessing our wretchedness. Yet by removing the word “wretch” from the song, I believe you remove the very thing that makes grace so amazing in the first place. Perhaps it would be more appropriate for musicians who remove “wretch” from the lyrics to retitle their version of the song and call it “Ordinary Grace” or even “Grace to an Amazing Person,” but not “Amazing Grace.” Because you can’t have amazing grace without wretchedness. 

The fact is that God showered his grace on you even through you were a wretch. You know, a lot of people seem to think that Jesus died for us because there was something within us that he found attractive—some good quality that made us desirable to save. After all, that’s often an element of our love for others. For example, I was drawn to love my wife by the kind of person that she is. If there wasn’t something about my wife that attracted me to her, I wouldn’t have married her. So our love for others is virtually always occasioned by something desirable we see in them. We love them because they’re lovable. But if Romans 5 shows us anything, it shows us that God loved us even when we were profoundly unlovable. Again, verses 7-8: 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. Think about that. While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. You know, I’ve heard some moving stories of people sacrificing their lives for other people. I’ve already mentioned soldiers sacrificing their lives for our country. I’ve also heard stories of parents sacrificing their lives for their children. I remember hearing of a mother who was out walking with her children and saw a car coming right at them on the sidewalk. So the mother pushed her children out of the way but didn’t have time to get herself out of the way before the car hit her. She then ended up dying. And there are many other stories out there of people sacrificing their life for someone who was dear to them. But you know what I haven’t heard a story about? I haven’t heard a story of someone sacrificing their life for an enemy. Yet that’s what Jesus did. He gave his life for people who were not only undeserving but who were in fact ill-deserving, meaning that we deserved the exact opposite of what Jesus did. We were wretched and deserved a wretched end. And the more you understand that wretchedness, the more you’re able to see the indescribable beauty of the gospel.  

It’s kind of like the stars. Where do the stars go during the daytime? Do they temporarily cease to exist? Obviously that can’t be the case. But why can’t we see them? Well, it’s because of the sunlight. Our sun is too bright for us to see the other stars. So if you want to see the stars, you have to go outside at night, when it’s pitch black outside. Usually it also helps to go outside of the city and get away from all the artificial light. And then, when everything else is dark, you can see the beauty of a star-filled sky. And the darker the sky, the more beautiful the stars appear. That’s how it works with God’s grace as well. It’s only against the black background of our sin that the beauty of God’s grace becomes fully visible. In order to see the beauty of grace, you have to grasp the blackness and the utter loathsomeness of your sin. 

Conclusion

And once you really grasp that, several things will become apparent to you. First of all, if Jesus did indeed die for you even when you were in such a wretched condition, there’s really nothing he can’t ask of you now. You owe him everything. Partial commitment isn’t an option. Conditional commitment isn’t an option. You owe him everything. There’s no part of your life that you can rightfully keep back as your own. Jesus purchased it all. As 2 Corinthians 5:15 states, and [Jesus] died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised. So Jesus dying for us should inspire us to live for him. 

It should also inspire us to love our enemies. As we grasp the love God’s shown us even in our wretchedness and when we where his enemies, it should cause us to treat our enemies much differently than we would be naturally inclined to do. It should enable us to love them just as God has loved us. Think about that person at work who you know has talked about you behind your back. Think about that person of a different political affiliation than you who intentionally distorts and misrepresents your viewpoints on a regular basis. Even think about that person who’s caused harm to someone you love. As you grasp the vastness of the disparity between the judgment you deserved and the grace you’ve received, you’ll be able to love even your enemies. 

Then one final thing: as you grasp the way God’s loved you even in your vile condition, you’ll be able to rest in his unconditional love even when you blow it in your Christian life. There’s nothing you can do that will ever make God stop loving you or even love you a little bit less. Regardless of how hard you fall or how miserably you fail, his love for you won’t diminish at all. Of course, if you’re truly saved, you won’t desire to sin and will in fact be grieved by your sin. But even in your grief, you can be comforted by the fact that God still loves you just as much as he ever has. Kind of like that Chris Tomlin song describes. It says to God, “You see the depths of my heart and you love me the same.” That’s the kind of love God has for us, and we can rest in that and be comforted by that. 

And maybe this morning, you’ve been listening to the things I’ve said and realize that you’ve never truly embraced Jesus and what he’s done for you. Well this morning, you can. And I invite you to do that even before you leave here this morning. Tell Jesus that you want to forsake all the ways in which you’ve been rebelling against him and that you’re placing your trust in him alone to rescue you and make you fit for heaven. And if you’ll do that, you can experience firsthand what makes grace so amazing.