The Love of God
Romans 5:8-21

In the year 1826, the British-Burmese war came to an end.
All during the war an American, Adoniram Judson, endured the agonies of a primitive prison. At the same time on the outside his wife attempted daily to secure his freedom. But finally victory came and
Judson was instrumental in the peace negotiations. With this out of the way, the General wanted to give the Burmese commissioners a state dinner to impress them with British pomp. The dinner was announced by a regimental band in full regalia. As the general came opposite Judson's tent, the music stopped and the procession halted. The general went into the tent. In a moment he reappeared with Nancy Judson on his arm. Ceremoniously he led her to the head of the table and seated her on his right hand.

The Burmese officials knew Nancy very well. For a year and a half she had abased herself before them for the smallest favors. She had endured rebuffs and insults without a murmur of anger. As the Burmese took their own seats, they looked with fearful eyes at the pair at the head of the table, the wife of the American missionary and the commanding general of the British army. If she cared to tell what she knew--.and if she were anything like a Burmese, she would–almost every one of them had something to fear:. probably death, certainly torture.

The Burmese did not know English, but they could tell the general was talking about them. One of them in particular showed fear. As he tried to eat, the food slipped off the fork he held in his trembling hand. The man's behavior attracted General Campbell's attention. "What is the matter with the owner of the pointed beard over there'?" the general went on. He seems to be seized with a fit of ague." Nancy Judson looked at him carefully, warm recognition in her expression. "1 do not know, " she said, "unless his memory may be too busy. He is an old acquaintance of mine. Probably he considers himself in danger now that he sees me under your protection.”

She told the story of how Adoniram had been placed in fivepairs of fetters and thrust into the inner Prison, half dead with fever, and how it was to this man’s house she had walked early one morning to see if' he would help a little. It was this man who had kept her waiting in the hot Burmese sun until noon, who had heard her request indifferently and refused it with contempt. 1t was he who had seen her silk umbrella as she turned to leave and snatched it out of her hand. It was he who had laughed and said, "Only fat people need to fear sunstroke. The sun can't find a woman as thin as you."

The English officers along one side of the table found it difficult to keep courteous silence as she told the story. But their looks at the shrinking official spoke even louder than their indignant words," By a sort of intuition he seemed to know what Nancy said. His face writhed with fear his hand shaking uncontrollably, he tried to wipe the perspiration that oozed from his death-pale face. Nancy took pity
on him. In Burmese she assured him softly, "You have nothing to fear."

Such a love as this is only possible because it is derived. The love of the Judsons was due to the grace of God in their lives.They loved the people inspite of their sin, their persecution, and hate. Such a love is only possible because God loves and has loved. The love of the unconverted man is strong toward his friends but is lacking toward his enemies. The greatest expression of love is that of God thru Christ. We are told that Christ died for the ungodly. This is the central thesis of the NewTestament. The verses before us express this fact and its implications:

I. All men sinned (in Adam)

1. The statement of verse twelve is one of the most discussed verses in the book of Romans.,The passage proceeds to compare the first man Adam and the Second Man Christ. There is a comparison
of acts. By one act Adam sinned and death entered, By another act Christ died and the grace abounds to life. There is obviously a parallel connection between the two beginnings: Christ and Adam.
The question and issue enters: When did all men sin? There are two different but basic views involved: 1) In viewing the whole of man kind as a solidarity when Adam sinned, all man kind sinned.

By distinguishing nature and person, as we do in the Trinity, we can say that our nature was on trial in Adam, although we were not in person. Consequently our nature fell and we all sinned in Adam and share in the guilt by virtue of our nature there. 2) The other view is that all have sinned, because of personal sin. Adam is the
story of every man who falls into sin. We all rebel against God. There is not causal relationship between Adam and our sin. There is a real problem with this view. If death is a result of conscious sin, infants die without personal sin. This must be explained. One must explain also how the whole of mankind naturally turns to sin

2. It seems to me that the first view is more in keeping with the facts of our knowledgeand understanding. This view, that all men have a relationship to Adam' s sin by virtue of their nature, is a skandlon to reason, but it is a fact of life. The nature of a child is such that without personal involvementin sin he dies. There are certain observations that point up the relationship with Adam's sin.

First, sin is a universal phenomena. All around the world sin shows its evil face. There is no place on earth where one cannot find the consequences of sin.

Second, sin is the psychological testimony of every individual. There occasionally arises a person who claims to live in sinless perfection claiming that he has never sinned. When such does occur we seldom question the truth of what he says; instead we go to the crux of the matter of questioning his sanity. It used to be said that one needed in life was to be well-bred. Goethe claimed that well-bred children could be produced if the parents were well-bred. It is a little late for this. From the time of our ancestors, since the fall of Adam, we parents are without exception not only not well-bred but burdened with sin and branded by death, and we go on begetting children of death.

Third. Sin is so easily come by and virtue seems so difficult. We have a three year old boy whom we love very dearly. We thanked God for him and never cease to pray for him. We have attempted to rear the boy as we think he ought to be reared. There are certain things that we have tried to avoid with him. Where he got them I do not know. He has the habit of losing his temper every once in a while. He must have gotten it from his mother, but not from me. He has a tendency to be selfish. He wants his way. He has a tendency to be disobedient in direct opposition to the fourth commandment of honoring one's parents. Where did he get all this? The only ultimate explanation is that he is a child of Adam. Thomas Goodwin, 17th century President of Magdalen College, Oxford,said, "In God's sight, there are two men--Adam and Jesus Christ--and these two men have all other men hanging at their girdle strings.(Bruce p.127) It is aaid that in Holland a single rabbit can undermine a dyke so that the sea floods the lower lying land behind it. Adam was the "rabbit" that undermined the dam with his disobedience, and since then the history of the world has been flooded with a sea of blood and tears.(Luthi, p.69).

II. All Men are objects of God's love.v.8

1. The nature of God's love is now set forth for us. lt is contrasted with man's love. Christ died for the ungodly,v. 6, and sinner,v.8.  Paul does not deny that human love may lead one to die for another. But it would require a strong motivation. One does not lay down his life for anybody at all; hardly even for a righteous man, even though his worth might seem to justify it.

One would be most likely to make the sacrifice for a relative or a benefactor. But for whom did Christ sacrifice his life? Not for benefactors, but for enemies; not for the righteous, but for sinners and the ungodly." This is unmotivated love, love that is not calculating for a return or a price, or gain.

2. Paul is eager to show the "unmotivated" character of divine love. With this in mind he piles up negative expressions to indicate how unworthy they were for whom Christ died. He calls them helpless and ungodly. v.. 6, sinners (vs.8) and enemies of God (v.l0). Luther used an exceptionally striking expression to indicate the difference between divine love and human love. "Human love is something gained on the basis of mutual response and merit. Divine love is spontaneous or springing forth without regard to the worth or loveiness of the object loved." (N. 20ID-201.)

3. There is only one way to measure love. Love can be measured only in terms of whether one will give of himself. The degree of giving is the standard. We express our love to relatives by a gift which is a token of respect and admiration for them. Parent provide material advantages for children because they love them. A child is given a bicycle, a car, a toy, and the parent gives of himself to provide such.

Greater love is expressed in instances of a woman who works
long hours in the absence of a husband to provide her children with money for the securing of an education. Her life is spent in that fashion. The depths of a mother's love occasionally is expressed risking her life or giving up her life in the attempt to rescue one of her children in danger. It is at this point that we see something of the great love of Christ. How many of you would give your life for your family? Some of you may say I probably would. Many of you perhaps would say not. How many of you would give your life for a total stranger? Here's where the difference comes in. Would you give your life for a morally bankrupt bum who is nothing but a tramp? The love of God is such that  Christ died for all.

4. It is not just another death. It is a death that is redemptive in nature. If I should die for another I can impart no power. But the death of Christ came to fulfil the promise covenant of old in which we are given the redemptive gift of God's Spirit and He works in us to bring about full redemption in Christ. This is God's love in death for every man. If God is for us, who can be against us?

III All men can be redeemed v. 18.

1. There is a new doctrine that is really old, but it is making its way in America. It is the doctrine of modified universalism. The doctrine takes the form that if Christ died for all men, then all shall be saved. It is a type of universalism that argues that love would not be fulfilled if anyone was left out of Christ’ s love.

The tone of Scripture is cast against such a doctrine. Surely it is noble to want to see everyone redeemed; but it is a fact of existence that must be faced. There are people who cast their vote against the kingdom of heaven. There are those who do not want to believe in such a place. It would be a basic offense against love to force a heavenly life upon one who does not want to accept it. God has
respect to the individual. The Scripture speaks of judgement upon those who"do not know God and upon those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus." (2 Thess. 1:8) "They shall suffer the punishment of eternal destruction and exclusion from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might” (1:9).

2. The point of Christ's death is that there is acquittal and life for all men., The son of God is the message of heaven to us that we can be saved. All men can.
There was a certain man at a swimming pool each Thursday night who Came out of the shower room, went straight to the edge of the water and dipped his big toe into the pool, and then climb to the highest diving board, make a wonderful dive, and swim up and down the pool with splendid form. It was difficult to understand why such an expert swimmer and diver should resort to a novice habit of sticking his toe into the water before entering. Upon being asked the reason for his action he replied, "I used to be an instruction in a large college for men. My job was to teach swimming and diving. I was in the swimming pool nearly every day and knew every inch of the place. One night I could not sleep and decided to slip into the swimming pool and have a swim, thinking the exercise would induce sleep. "I did not put on the lights in the pool, "he continued," for knew every inch of the place and the roof was made of glass. The moon shown through, throwing the shadow of my body on the wall at the other end. My body and arms made a perfect sign of the cross. I cannot explain to you why I did not dive at that moment; I had no premonition of danger of any kind. I stood looking at the shadow of the cross, I began to think of the cross of Christ and its meaning. I was not a Christian. I found myself repeating the words of a hymn I had learned as a boy, "He died that we might be forgiven, He died to make us good, that we might go at last to heaven, saved by His precious blood. I cannot tell you how long I stood poised on the diving board or why I did not dive. I came down from the board and walked along the pool to the steps that I knew led to the bottom of the pool and began to descend. I reached the bottom and my feet touched the cold smooth bottom of the pool. The night before the caretaker had drained the pool dry and I knew nothing about it. I realized then, that had I dived I would have dived to my death. The cross on the wall," he added,”it saved me that night I was so thankful to God for His mercy in sparing my life that I knelt on the cold bricks and asked the Christ of the cross to save my soul.I experienced a two-fold deliverance that night. That, sir, is why I always put my toe into the water before diving.

3. This presents a picture of all mankind. We stand on the board ready to dive to our destruction. The cross of Christ stands out as a sign of deliverance. God wants to save your life. He wants you to be delivered from sin and its destruction. He died that we might be forgiven that we might go at last to heaven, saved by his precious blood." The cross stands as the means for your salvation.
It is also your warning against self-destruction. Do you hear its words of meaning for you?

Concl:
1. You who hear my voice are objects of God's love. Christ
died for the ungodly which includes you. Although the Scripture speaks of all men dying in Adam it does not speak of judgement for this. The judgement that is spoken of is always in reference to the fact of rejection of God's great gift. His love stands out as the fact of his concerning for you. Rejection of Christ can be your dive into self-destruction,