Sermon Transcript:

We do not gather here today because of tradition. It is not the calendar, but the resurrection of Jesus, that makes today a day of celebration. Today is considered a holiday. The word holiday is a shortened version of “holy day” but for us every day is a holy day, because in Jesus, we have been purchased for God. We don’t need spring colors, decorated eggs, or chocolate to celebrate because we have an empty tomb, a risen King, and the gift of the Holy Spirit.

We gather today, as we do every Sunday, to celebrate that Jesus has died and risen again for our salvation. This is not a seasonal sentiment, but a continuous celebration of sovereign grace. It is a message of hope and love that is equally relevant and urgent in every season and every single day until Jesus Christ returns. The message of Easter is good news for every day and it is our main message today.

Believers can rejoice every day in God’s love, knowing we are accepted, because while we were still sinners, Christ died and rose for us.

As we turn to Romans 5, the apostle Paul walks us through the wonder of the gospel in three parts. In verses 6 through 8, he shows us the sheer magnitude of God’s grace. Then, in verses 9 and 10, he explains what that grace has accomplished for those who believe. And finally, in verse 11, he shows us the only fitting response: a life overflowing with joy in God through Jesus Christ. Beginning at verse 6, 

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.

Paul says Jesus died “at the right time”. You could say, “in a nick of time”, when there were no other options He stepped in. He died at the exact best moment to accomplish the redemption of all who would be saved. “At the right time” means it happened at the moment of greatest need and greatest result. It was the exact moment for God to accomplish His plan to save a people for Himself.

But here is what makes that even more staggering: Jesus did not die for the worthy, but the unworthy. He didn’t die for good people, He died for guilty people. If we think we are good enough to earn God’s acceptance we simply do not understand the seriousness of sin or the holiness of God. God’s standard is perfection. Human beings were created good and given everything needed to live righteously. But rather than enjoy fellowship with God in paradise our first parents chose instead to try and become their own gods, breaking fellowship with the one true God.

Each of us have inherited their rebellious nature and have all done the same, following our own selfish desires rather than living according to His word. In doing this, we have traded eternal blessings for a sentence of death. In sin, we have rejected God and aligned ourselves with the devil, becoming slaves to sin. A few verses later Paul says we were enemies of God. It is not just that we do not deserve heaven, we deserve hell and this is a problem for which there is no human solution.

That’s why the apostle Paul says we were weak, ungodly, and sinners. To be weak means that we were powerless. We did not have the capacity to do what was right, much less the ability to save ourselves. Even our best deeds fell short and were insufficient to remove our sin and guilt. We couldn’t cleanse ourselves because we have unclean hands. It would be like trying to clean up a spill with an oil soaked rag, every swipe just spreads the stain. 

To be ungodly means that we were living in disregard of God’s character and laws. We didn’t just make mistakes, our lives were characterized by a desire for things that God hates. That doesn’t mean we were as bad as we could possibly be, but it means there remained nothing truly pure in us because we were sinful from the heart. Just like there is some salt in every drop of ocean water, there was some rebellion and selfishness in our every thought and deed.

To be a sinner is to be one who is marked as a law breaker; someone who is guilty and waiting for judgment. One who does not deserve leniency, cannot earn righteousness, and has no rightful claim to heaven. In verse 9 Paul says we have earned God’s wrath. That is what our good works were worth, we deserved to be paid not in blessings, but in wrath.

That is who we are apart from the grace of God. Weak. Ungodly. Sinners. We don’t like to hear this, but it is the truth. We like to think there is some kernel of righteousness in us, some residue of moral goodness, but Ephesians says we were dead in sin. The world tells us we can do anything if we put our mind to it. Religion tells us if we receive certain sacraments or do certain works we can get some kind of credit, but the Bible says we can’t do anything, at least nothing spiritually good. Dead people cannot do anything and we were spiritually dead.

This sounds harsh, but it is actually the key to opening the door of heaven because only when we understand the depth of our need will we begin to grasp the greatness of God's grace. The diagnosis may be grim, but it prepares us to see the beauty of the cure. The point of this truth isn’t to beat us down with guilt, but to lift our eyes to the cross, where in one picture we see the true horror of our sin and the amazing love of our God. 

It is only when we understand that we must die and be reborn, that there is nothing worth renovating, that we understand our true condition and the amazing gift God offers in Jesus. We can’t be united to Jesus in the power of resurrection life if we’re not united to Him in His death on the cross. We cannot wear the robes of righteousness God offers in Christ if we insist on clinging to the filthy rags of our own righteousness. 

Some criticize our doctrine for being too harsh. They say we should simply focus on the love of Jesus. They ask if it is really necessary to put so much emphasis on the total depravity of sinners and the slavery of our fallen will? The answer is yes, because the greatest obstacle to salvation is pride and self-confidence. A person will not take the medicine they need if they don’t think they are sick. 

There are many who clothe harsh doctrines in soft words. They make people feel good about themselves and seek only to encourage them without confronting them with their need for salvation. That may seem kind, but it is actually cruel because it leaves sinners confident in the very things that will condemn them. It is like allowing someone to sleep in a burning building because you didn’t want to disturb them.

In the Bible, evangelism begins with the law and moves to the gospel. It begins with showing sinners their inability so that they run to God for rescue. That is what Jesus did. That is what the apostles did and that is what we seek to do.

Paul’s words may seem harsh, but they are compassionate because they strip away all false hope, making clear that to be saved we must despair of ourselves and trust in Jesus alone for our salvation. Only one thing can save us, to cast ourselves upon the mercy of God in Jesus Christ.

The cross shows us that the old man cannot be improved, he must be crucified. But men do not go to their death willingly and he is no exception. He will claw and kick and scream to be free from the cross. He will plead that it is not necessary, that there is another way. He’ll say, 'Nobody’s perfect,' as if that were a defense rather than a confession of guilt. He’ll say, 'Only God can judge me,' not realizing this is the very thing he should fear. He’ll say, 'God knows my heart,' but this is precisely the problem, God does know our heart. Jeremiah 17:9 says,

9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?

Jesus says that out of the heart come all kinds of wickedness. Don't listen to him. Don’t follow your heart, follow instead the Word of God. Every one of us knows we are not truly righteous.  If we could project your every unedited thought, motive, and secret desire onto this screen for everyone to see, there is nobody here who would have nothing to be ashamed of. This place would empty out before we could hit play. We have failed to live up to our own standards, let alone God’s perfect law. But that is what is so amazing about grace. Paul not only makes clear our great need, but also our great savior. Look at verse 8,

8 … God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

You may be a tremendous sinner. If so, you are no further from salvation than a small sinner because Jesus died for sinners. If you see your weakness, then rejoice, God sent His Son to die for those who are weak. He didn’t wait for us to make the first move. His love and grace came before our response. He showed His love for us while we were still sinners. 

Salvation is a gift. It cannot be earned, only received. We are not saved because we are good, but because God is. Salvation is something God accomplished for us and we receive it simply by trusting that He has done it and will keep His promise to complete the work for us. If anyone asks why we, being weak ungodly sinners, think we are going to heaven, the only answer we can give is that Jesus died for us. 

As 17th century pastor Samuel Rutherford said, our salvation hangs by a thread, but praise God, it is a thread of Christ’s spinning. All our trust is based on only one hope, but it is an infallible hope purchased by the most costly thing in all the universe, the precious blood of the Son of God!

Why should Christ die for me? Whatever the reason, it is found in Him and not in me. I don’t know the answer, but because He did, I know without a doubt that God loves me.There are many things in the world I don’t understand but I can be satisfied that God loves me because He sent Jesus Christ to the cross for me not at my best, but at my worst. 

Jesus went to the cross knowing every sin I would ever commit. Nothing can come up tomorrow that will change His mind. He paid for them all. Brothers and sisters, all those things you are ashamed of, He paid for them. All those regrets, He washed them away. The love of God is so much better and deeper than any other love. Jesus said that there is no greater human love than that a person lays down their lives for a friend. The love of Jesus is far better. Verse 7 says,

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.

It is rare for a person to be willing to give their life for someone else. Paul says hardly anyone is willing to die for even a righteous person. He says, perhaps for a good person, some will die. Meaning there may be people who would die for someone whose goodness they have personally experienced, but even that is rare. 

But the depth of God’s love is displayed in that Jesus dies for those who were neither righteous or good. Human love is always a response to something that attracts it but God’s love isn’t like that. God doesn’t love us because we’re lovely, it is His love that makes us lovely. His love is of an altogether different kind. It is entirely selfless and pure. It is perfect love. 

The devil lies about God’s character, but if you ever doubt that God is loving, merciful, or gracious, just think about Jesus on that cross. He is there for no other reason than that God loves you. God didn’t save us so He could love us. He loved us, so He sent His son to save us. Jesus didn’t come to convince the Father to love us, but because He already did. Verse 8 says,

He died for us

Jesus didn’t die to make salvation a possibility, He died to make it a reality. The cross wasn’t a gesture; it was a finished work; it was an accomplishment. There is a big difference to someone on death row to hear they have been granted a new trial, vs. hearing they have been pardoned and are free to go. 

Jesus is not waiting on us to complete what He started. We need not add any works of our own because His death fulfilled all righteousness and He did it for us. He purchased the salvation of every person who would ever put their faith in Him. 2 Timothy 1:9 says God,

9 … saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began

Jesus died an actual death to pay for actual sins in the place of actual sinners. It is like someone else paying for a pickup order at the grocery store. The price has been paid for exactly what you needed and it has your name on it. It’s yours, it has your name on it, and it's paid in full, you simply go and receive it. 

Jesus did not come merely to make salvation available, but to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through Him. Matthew 1:21 says,

21 … you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”

The cross is an attempt, it is an accomplishment. As He hung there, just before taking His last breath, Jesus cried out, “it is finished.” Do you ever wonder why He does that? He knew it was finished. The Father knew it was finished. He says this for our benefit. He said it so we would know that everything He came to accomplish was completed. The penalty for every sin of everyone who will ever believe was paid and God was satisfied.

Friends, if you are wearing yourself out trying to earn God’s love, you can stop. God’s love was never for sale, it was poured out freely when you had nothing to offer. He didn’t wait for you to be strong. He loved you in your weakness. Jesus died for you when you were ungodly, while you were a sinner, He gave His life for you.

Jesus took our sins away and cast them as far away as the east is from the west. Satan cannot threaten us with our unworthiness, because we don’t deny it. We confess it. Our faith may be weak, but our Savior is strong. If Christ died for us when we were His enemies, then it is unthinkable that He would abandon us now that we are His friends. The blood of Jesus silences the law and silences the devil.

If you do not yet know the peace of being accepted by God, you can receive it now if you will believe in Jesus. 

16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.

All our sins, whatever they are, can be forgiven and we can have peace with God if we trust in the perfect works of Jesus rather than our own as our testimony before God. Listen to what Paul says Jesus has accomplished for those who believe, beginning in verse 9, 

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.

We are justified by His blood. Justification is the language of a courtroom. It means that we have been declared innocent in the eyes of the law. We are justified by His blood because the penalty for all our crimes has been paid by Jesus. The law demands death and a death was provided.

Since there are no longer any charges against us, we are free from the punishment of sin. We don’t need to fear, because now we have a clean record. Our fines have been paid by Jesus who is our substitute and representative.

Although we were enemies of God, we are now been reconciled because of Jesus. The relationship that was broken due to our unfaithfulness has been restored. As long as we defended our sin and insisted we were right, reconciliation was impossible but by confessing our sins against God and accepting the forgiveness offered in Jesus, we are now able to enjoy fellowship with God. Because of Jesus, we have been adopted into the family of God. 

Paul says if the death of Jesus has done all this for us, how much more shall we be saved by His life? The glory of the gospel is not only that Jesus died for us, but that He has been raised from the dead for us. This is the joy of Easter! The resurrection of Jesus proves that sin has been conquered and death has been defeated. It shows that it really was finished, the justice of God is satisfied and there is no longer any condemnation for those who believe. 

We have confidence we are forgiven and that we too will be raised to eternal life because Jesus was raised. He is alive and intercedes for us. He is seated at the right hand of the Father with all honor and glory meaning all things are under His power. We worship a living Savior. If Christ was not raised, our faith would be futile but the resurrection proves that even death has been defeated. 

The tomb is empty. We trust in a living Savior. Our confidence is not wishful thinking, it is a resurrection reality. Jesus is alive and because He lives, we know we are forgiven. Because He rose, we know we too will rise. Right now, He is seated at the right hand of the Father, clothed in glory, ruling with power, and interceding for us. The empty tomb is a receipt for the cross. It is the proof the debt has been satisfied. It is the vindication of Christ’s righteousness, and that of everyone for whom Jesus is their representative. The resurrection proves God is able and willing to keep His promises, including His promise of eternal life. Romans 8:32 says,

32 He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?

He says since Jesus has died and is risen nothing will prevent God from fulfilling His promise to perfect us in the glory of eternal life with Him. A few verses later in Romans 8:38–39 he says,

38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Since our salvation does not depend on us, but on Jesus, and since Jesus has already proven that He is greater than any other power in heaven and earth, and even greater than death itself, all who trust in Him can walk with assurance in our salvation. 

Jesus provides everything we lacked. We were weak, but we live in the power of Christ. We were ungodly, but Christ is our righteousness, we were sinners, but in Christ we have the Holy Spirit and are made saints before God. We are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession. He died that we would have life, and He lives that we have life eternal.

We are free to live as those who are God’s children, with the confidence we are loved. With the certainty that God will keep His promise and Jesus will return one day to bring us to where He is. We too will be resurrected to unimaginable glory where we will see His face, with no sin to separate us from Him.

How then should we respond? How do these truths shape us and guide us as we walk in light of them? Paul tells us in verse 11. Not only do we have reconciliation, but,

11 More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

The appropriate response of believers to these truths is joy. God’s love frees us to rejoice in God through Jesus Christ. Throughout most of human history it was considered a terrifying thing to be in the presence of God. It was more likely that someone would be destroyed than blessed if they encountered the divine, especially those who opposed God. But this is the amazing grace of the gospel, that God takes those who are broken and outcasts and makes them His treasured possession.

The love of God is like the tenderness of a good mother. When she sees her little one covered in filth, bleeding, and broken, even if it resulted from the disobedience of the child, she does not turn away in disgust. She runs to her child, takes them in her arms, cleans them up, and puts medicine on the wounds. She is compassionate and devoted to the well-being of her child.

If we have put our trust in the promise of God to save us then we can be sure God is not against us. We can be more certain about that than we can our own mother. We can be filled with joy knowing that we are at peace with God. There is much turmoil in the world, but we take heart because the one who loves us is greater than the world. When we suffer, we do so as those who know that God is good and that He loves us. As those who know whatever difficulties we face, they are only temporary because our Savior lives and He is coming for us. 

We can rejoice because through faith in Jesus God has become our Father and we His children. Worship is no longer a duty owed to the creator, but a delight expressed to a loving Savior. Our entire lives are liberated to be lived in celebration of Jesus Christ, knowing we are loved, we are accepted, and there is no condemnation waiting for us. Our past is not an occasion for shame, but a testimony to God’s grace. In Luke 15:7 Jesus says,

7 … I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.

So brothers and sisters, let us rejoice, for Jesus Christ is risen. Let us rejoice, not with fluctuating emotion or seasonal enthusiasm, but with hearts anchored in the rock-solid reality that Jesus has died, Jesus has risen, and Jesus is coming again. Rejoice, not because we are worthy, but because Jesus is. Let our lives be marked by a joy the world cannot give and the grave cannot take away, a joy rooted in the unchanging truth that through Christ, we have peace with God. The debt is paid. The wrath is removed. The Judge has become our Father. And our future is as secure as the love of the Father for His perfect Son. Let that joy sustain us in trials. Let it guard our hearts in seasons of doubt. Let it shape our words and witness in the world. And let it lead us to praise, not just on Easter Sunday, but every day, because every day Christ is risen, and every day God loves us. 

This is what it all ultimately boils down to. This is the bottom line of all the thousands of theology textbooks and courses and podcasts. Those with faith in Jesus can rejoice every day in God’s love, knowing we are accepted, because while we were still sinners, Christ died and rose for us. If we rejoice in God, we will love Him. If we rejoice in God, we will love others. If we rejoice in God we will tell others about Him.

Nearly every discouragement and challenge we will face in our lives as believers is the result of forgetting this truth. Forgetting who God is, who we are, and who He has made us to be through the sacrifice and resurrection of His Son. It turns out that the very thing that most blesses us is the thing that brings Him the most glory; that we rejoice in the gift He has given us in the salvation accomplished through Jesus Christ. The great 17th century theologian John Owen wrote,

“The greatest sorrow and burden you can lay on the Father, the greatest unkindness you can do to him is not to believe that he loves you.”

What more could God do to prove His love than to give His only Son? The cross is His answer to every doubt and need, and the resurrection is proof that no enemy; not sin, not Satan, not even death, can undo what Christ has done for us.

If you have not yet come to Jesus for this joy; the joy of forgiveness and reconciliation with God: you are not here by accident. Today is the day of salvation. Tomorrow is not promised to us but Jesus stands ready to receive you today. Come to Him. Don’t wait.

And if you are already a believer, rejoice! Jesus is alive. He loves you. And He is coming again soon.