that we may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. We pray, Father God, that your grace would be sufficient to listen and to apply all that you have. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. What are the three virtues of Christianity? Faith, hope, and love. So those are the three things.

So if you search through the scriptures, you'll find that those three virtues are scattered all throughout scripture. That when you're talking about our salvation and hope in Christ, either we're talking about faith, how justification is by faith alone, and then because of this justification, hope is what causes us to persevere and cause us to get us to our glorification.

But in the end, scripture says in 1 Corinthians 13, of faith, of hope, and of love, these three things will abide. But the greatest of these is love. Now why do you think that Paul identifies that love is the greatest? Does he actually even need to do that? Considering that our whole connection with God, your salvation, my salvation, is dependent upon this faith.

And then if you have this faith, this faith gives us hope, and hope is what causes us to persevere. It is a source of our joy, and even in the context of suffering that we talked about last week. But why does he feel the need in Corinthians to identify that love is greater than these?

I would think that they would all equally be important. But why does he identify love above the other two? I think the reason why he does that is because clearly the scripture teaches us that the purpose of faith and hope is to ultimately bring us to love. The Bible describes our salvation as having fallen short.

And so the goal of salvation is to get us back to God, and ultimately it is to have this love relationship with God. So the goal of faith is love. The purpose of hope is love. As Jesus says, "The greatest commandment can be summed up in 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength.'" So the greatest purpose of salvation is to love.

And again, in Ephesians 3, 17 to 19, those of you guys who know the book of Ephesians, it's divided into two parts. You have the indicatives and the imperatives. The first three chapters are about what salvation is, how Jesus loved us, how he pursued us. And then starting from chapter four through six, it's a description of, therefore, how we ought to live.

But at the end, at the conclusion of three chapters of revelation about our salvation, he concludes with all this knowledge that he's presented to them by saying, "My prayer is that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, that you being rooted and grounded in love may have the strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God." So I want to stop a minute and just highlight what he says at the end of that.

He says, "To be filled with the fullness of God, that you need to be able to grasp the breadth, length, height, and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge." In order to have the fullness of God in us, we need to be able to grasp the love of Christ.

Jesus himself said that the very identifying mark of a Christian, he didn't say holiness, not to say that the Bible doesn't teach us that we have to be holy. God is holy, so therefore we ought to be holy. But he said the identifying mark, the single identifying mark of a follower of Jesus Christ is love.

Not religiosity, not church attendance, and not how much you give, and not how many disciples you make, but love. And the love that he has for us reflected in our lives. Paul himself says in 2 Corinthians 5.14, "With all the pressure he feels of persecution, of being beaten, people betraying him, and people actually even questioning him, you know, is God really speaking through you?

Are you truly an apostle?" And in the context of all of this, he says he perseveres, and the reason why he perseveres, 2 Corinthians 5.14, he says, "Love of Christ controls us." In some of our translations, it says it compels us. So the reason why we do what we do is love.

What causes us to continue to do what we do is love. The whole purpose of salvation is so that we may experience more of this love. So it is no exaggeration that when we talk about justification by faith, that his whole point, and where he's been leading us, is through the text that we're reading right now.

Which in starting from verse five through verse 11, he's basically describing the love of God. So this morning, we're gonna be looking at these few verses, we're gonna start it this morning, because it expounds his love. It talks about who loves us, when he loved us, how he loved us, and then we'll briefly talk about why he loved us.

So first of all, the most important part of this, I believe, that starts it off is who loves us. Every single one of us, I mean, who doesn't want to be loved? We would say that food, shelter, and love is essential in every human being's life. And when we're loved, we change.

Whether it's the love of our parents, or love of husband and wife, or a romantic love, whatever that may be, when we are loved, and we feel loved, we change. But who loves us? The fact that this passage begins by teaching us that it is God. Again, there's no exposition of who God is in this text, but again, in order for us to fully appreciate what he's going to say about love, we need to first understand, again, it's nothing new, but this is, again, as a reminder to us why this is so significant.

Who loves us? Deuteronomy 6, four. I think the family retreat, not family, the family retreat, the main theme is Deuteronomy 6, five, right? Or 6, four is the great Shema, and it says, "Hear, O Israel, "the Lord our God, the Lord is one." Called the great Shema, is a great proclamation, and so in the Jewish community, they would hang this on the doorpost to remind them every time they walked in and out of their home, to be reminded that there is only one God, and that God is your God, right?

A simple statement, but they were reminded this every time they entered the house, every time they exited the house, that the Lord our God, the Lord is one. There is no one like your God. In Psalm 19, one through four, it says, "The heavens declare the glory of God, "and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.

"Day to day pours out speech, "and night to night reveals knowledge. "There is no speech, nor are there words "whose voice is not heard. "Their measuring line goes out through all the earth, "and their words to the end of the world. "In them he has set a tent for the sun." I could have chosen probably, you know, hundreds of verses that would fit that same category, describing God in this way, that all of creation declares his glory.

The God who is about to expound his love toward us is the God who created everything. You know, we sometimes get short-sighted, again, that when we experience love, when somebody remembers our birthday, you know, buys a little cupcake, and you know, say, "Oh my God, that affects us. "It affects us for a week, you know, a month." And sometimes for longer than that.

"Oh, I remember my birthday, "or somebody brought me flowers, "or took me out to lunch. "Yeah, I remember, you were so kind to me." Right? But when we recognize who it is that is expressing his love toward us, that in and of itself should cause us to stop in our tracks.

Isaiah chapter six, one, two, three. Now I know you guys know that passage well. It is a calling of Isaiah into his prophetic ministry. But I want you to read the first part of it when it says, "In the year," in verse one, "In the year that King Uzziah died, "I saw the Lord sitting upon the throne." Typically, we kind of focus on the holy, holy, holy aspect of this passage, and where he falls down, woe is me, woe is me, I am nothing.

But I want to stop in the very first line, where it says the political environment, the historical environment behind where this happens is when King Uzziah dies. King Uzziah, was he a good king or a bad king? Those of you who are studying with us in Isaiah, I want this like pop quiz.

Okay, I'm gonna grade all of you. Is King Uzziah a good king or a bad king? He was a good king. How many good kings were there in the nation of Israel? Okay, very few. Like very few. There was exactly, it was about eight of them. King Uzziah was actually one of the very few good kings in the nation of Israel.

So almost every king before him, and almost every king after him was no good. They were corrupt. And so they were under the judgment of God. They were being attacked, and they were going back and forth. But Uzziah was actually a good king. During his reign, God blesses the nation of Israel.

What happens in this scene is Uzziah dies. And as a result of Uzziah dying, there's a turmoil in the nation. What are we going to do? We finally get a good king, and then he dies, and then the throne is empty. And so God is showing him a vision to basically tell Isaiah and the nation of Israel, the real king is still on the throne.

Uzziah might have died, and the throne may be empty, but the God of gods and the king of kings is still here. And that is the vision that he gives to Isaiah, basically telling Isaiah, "Everything is good. "I am absolutely still in control." And it is in that context, he says, "He saw a throne high and lifted up, "and the train of his robe filled with the temple.

"Above him stood seraphims, each with six wings, "with two covered his face, with two he covered his feet, "and with two he flew. "And one called to another and said, "'Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. "'The whole earth is full of his glory.'" Before Isaiah was commissioned to go represent God, he needed to first and foremost recognize who God is.

And that the God that he's going to represent, the God who has called him to speak on his behalf, he needed to see the glimpse of his glory so that he may represent him properly. So for us to understand justification by faith, that this is an expression of love, we need to first and foremost understand who it is that is declaring his love for us.

Right now, the political environment that we hear all the time is they're afraid that North Korea is going to get nuclear bombs. And every time there's uranium or something going on, coming back and forth in North Korea, everybody freaks out. Now, I want you to see it from North Korean perspective.

And it's not because I'm from North Korea, this is just hypothetical. I want you to hear this from North Korean perspective. America, you have nuclear bombs, why can't we have any? I mean, if you're a child playing in the playground, and one kid has a stick and the other kid wants a stick, it's like you can't have a stick because it's dangerous in your hands, right?

Well, the other kid's like, "You got a stick? Why can't I have a stick?" Very simple, right? End of argument. North Korea should have nuclear bombs, right? I hope that's not what you're thinking. The reason why everybody is concerned about North Korea having nuclear bombs is because nuclear bomb, the power that it has, in the hands of an unstable government that is willing to destroy maybe even the world.

And that's what they're concerned about. Imagine if you never knew anything about the gospel. That you didn't grow up in the church, you never heard the name Jesus Christ, you never heard about him being crucified for us, and you, for the first time in your life, realize that God who created the universe, whose very reason why you are even breathing today, why the earth is rotating at a consistent speed, why we don't burn out and we don't freeze to death, that all that power is in this being's hands, that he's real.

And that not only is he real, he is omniscient. And he knows all your deeds, he knows all your thoughts. Would your first response be, thank God you exist. Would that be your first response? Probably not. Your first response would be probably terror. Because you're gonna be combing through everything that you've been hiding from other people.

Every sin that you committed in darkness, every crime that you committed, every corner that you cut, every lie that you've told, everything that you've watched on the internet, everything that we've done that we've been trying so hard to hide and ashamed to tell other people to know that this powerful God who could squash me knows all of this stuff, would fill us with terror.

That would be the normal, natural response of who you and I are, 'cause we have no power to do anything about it. It would make us much more nervous that this God would exist than North Korea having these nuclear bombs. 'Cause these nuclear bombs, they're just bombs. I mean, it's very, very dangerous, but this being can actually squash us.

We grew up in the church, or a lot of us, or sometimes we've been in the church so long, we just assume the love of God. We just assume it. But when you recognize who it is that declares his love for us, that in and of itself should be a source of celebration.

That that God who's able to crush us, who is almighty, who is omniscient, he says he loves us. That that in and of itself, that that would stop us in our track, and that should cause us to change and to come before him, thanking him every day and worshiping him.

But he doesn't stop there. That's not where he stops. He actually begins there, and then he describes his love in this way. So we talked about who. But he describes the depth of his love by describing to us when he loved us. When did he love us? In verse six, while we were yet sinners.

Verse eight, while we were weak, in verse six. Verse eight, while we were yet sinners. Verse 10, while we were still enemies of God. While we were still weak, while we were still sinners, while we were enemies of God. You know the difference between a love relationship while you're dating, in the beginning stages, or later on when you have a good marriage and you've been together for many years?

The difference between these two love is one is a because of, right? And anybody who says otherwise, you're lying. He's like, no, no, no, I love my girlfriend despite. Liar. Nobody practices despite love in the beginning. We all love, it's like, why, why do you like him? Why do you love her?

She got long hair. (audience laughing) Right, that's the kind of girl I like, right? She's quiet, she's loud, she's, that's it, it's this kind of personality. She loves to serve, she loves children. We have all this stuff, because, right? Why do you like him? He's tall, he's handsome, he's worked hard, he's athletic, we have all these reasons.

It's because, right? So in the beginning of our relationship, it's, you know, we always talk about, oh, you know, that love, you know, the honeymoon love, when you first met, the first love, you know? And we romanticize that, and thinking, like, I want to go back to that, right?

But the problem with that love is it's very weak and superficial, right? And I remember, I know a guy, okay, and again, he's not in this room, so don't turn around and look to see who I'm talking about. I know a guy who broke up with his girlfriend. This is a long time ago.

This is back in high school. He broke up with his girlfriend because his girlfriend went swimming. We all went swimming together. She came out of the pool, and he took a picture, and she didn't look good wet. And it just ate him up. It just ate him up, and he just couldn't let it go.

And we were all like, what is wrong with you, right? But he just couldn't let it go. Just look at the picture, and she's just, you know, her hair is all, you know, it's not her normal, like, you know, the Madonna hair back at the time that they had, and it's like, all of that went flat.

And then she came out of the pool, and she was like. (audience laughing) And that's when the picture was captured, and he had that with him. He just couldn't let it go. And he ended up breaking up with her. We're like, what is wrong with you, right? But that's how superficial that love is.

Because we love, at that period of love, we love because, because they're pretty, because they do this, because that, and that's why you love. But a love relationship that grows and matures, and is founded upon the covenant of God, is despite, despite all the weaknesses, despite all the things that we try so hard to hide.

And again, Esther and I have been married for 24 years, and in those 24 years, you know, everybody begins by trying to hide your weaknesses, right? So if you're messy, you start out by cleaning up your room, right? And it probably takes about five, six days to realize this guy's not clean, right?

Or she's not clean, or whatever. So whatever it is that we're trying to hide, we try to hold off. And so some things get revealed in months, some things get revealed in years. But eventually, everything gets revealed. You can't hide from your wife. You can't hide from your husband.

And if you have a good relationship, eventually it builds into, despite, right? Despite the fact that I know all your weaknesses, and I know all your sins, and I know all the things that you try to hide from me, and all the times that you've disappointed me, all the bad temper, and all the stuff that I've seen.

Despite that, I love you. And so there's a kind of a security that exists in a love relationship that's gone through all that turmoil, seen all the ugliness, and they're committed. So in the beginning of the relationship, there's a, again, especially when you're dating, there's always this anxiousness that if you don't dress properly, if you don't comb your hair right, if you have bad breath, if you go in the water and take a bad picture, that this may end the relationship, right?

That's how superficial it is. A lot of times in our relationship with God, we have this kind of security like we're dating God. That if we don't have our things right, and if we don't read the Bible enough, that somehow our relationship with God is gonna be severed, and we're always anxious.

See, God describes this love, He says, "No, He loved us when we were weak." The word weak in Greek literally means without power. Without power for what? Without power that you had no way of doing anything about your salvation. There's nothing you could have done. In Jeremiah chapter 13, 23, it says, "Can the Ethiopian change his skin "or the leopard his spots?

"Then you also can do good who are accustomed to do evil." Did you hear what he said? If you're in the habit of doing evil, for you to simply say, "I'm gonna be good now." He said, "That's no different than a leopard saying, "I'm gonna get rid of my spots." In other words, he says, "Impossible." Jeremiah 2, 22, "Though you wash yourself with lye "and use much soap, the stain of your guilt "is still before me, declares the Lord God." There's nothing that you could have possibly done.

He says, "While we were still weak." He didn't look upon us and said, "Who has the most potential? "Who has the kind of hair that I want? "Who has the kind of talent? "Who can keep themselves from whatever it is "that they should keep themselves from?" He didn't look at the people with the most potential.

He didn't look at the prettiest. He didn't look at the fastest. He said, "Despite, while we were yet weak." He loved us. "While we were still sinners." The word sinner, basically, in the Greek word, hamartion, the most basic word that is used for hamartion. Basically, the word hamartion means to fail, to completely miss the mark.

Again, in Romans 3, 23, he says, "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." You've utterly failed. That God didn't choose us because we were potential A students. He said, "While we were rebelling against God." While we had no desire for Him. We weren't out seeking Him and saying, "You know what, let's go find people "who are coming to me, and let's go "and get them, help them out." No, he said, "While we were still sinners." While we had no hope.

And then in verse 10, he says, "While we were enemies of God." Not only were we weak and helpless, not only were we rebelling against Him, but he said, "We were actually enemies of God." In Ephesians 2, 3, "Among whom we all once lived "in passion of our flesh, carrying out the desires "of the body and the mind, and were by nature "children of wrath." By nature.

We were his enemies. Years ago, you know, I shared this when Dr. Pang was in the first service, but there's something that I remember him telling me about his testimony that stuck with me for years, and even to this day. I remember when he first became a Christian, I was kind of intrigued, because we spent so many years praying for Dr.

and Mrs. Pang to come to Christ. Some of you guys would know who he is. And so I asked him, one day we were having lunch, and I asked Dr. Pang, "Dr. Pang, "so what finally brought you to repentance "and to accept Christ?" And he said, and I remember very specifically, he said, "For 35 years, people have been trying "to get him to come to church, "and he just wasn't interested." And I remember, again, Tanya and Valerie praying for them, and I remember spending so much time talking about, you know, sharing the gospel with them, and then when they finally came to Christ, it was kind of like, unbelievable.

You know what I mean? Even though we've been praying, we believe in a mighty God, but when it happens, like, "Oh, really?" So I asked him, "So what triggered it?" And I remember what he shared with me, it was, you know, it stuck with me, and he said, "The Bible." I said, "What about the Bible?" He said, "I started reading the Bible, "and it came to a point where he started to be convinced "that this was written by God and not man." So, I read the Bible every day, I just give the Bible to people then, you know?

So he said, "So what about the Bible? "What did you read in the Bible that caused you "to think that this was written by God?" And he said, "Well, there's other stuff, "but the main thing that he pointed out was "when Jesus told his disciples to love your enemies." I said, "You know, we hear that all the time.

"If you've grown up in Sunday school, "you've heard that Bible study lesson all the time." But again, as a person who was outside the church, and when he was reading that for the first time, he said, "This is not a love that human beings practice. "This has to be from something else." And that changed his perspective, that what is taught in Scripture is beyond human practice and human reason.

And then he began to read the Bible from a different perspective, and then that's what he said caused him to come to Christ. Again, I thought it was so profound, because being raised in a church myself, I heard that since I was a kid. Love your enemies as yourself.

But if you really think about it, whoever practices that? Nobody, I've never seen it, and even the closest thing that we see about mother's love for their child, even then, we don't see enemies. Only God can demand that of his disciples, because that's what he did. Only God could demand that from his followers, from his children, from his friends, because that's exactly what he was about to do.

He loved us while we were weak, while we were sinners, and while we were still his enemies. Imagine how Romans, how Paul describes mankind. In Romans chapter three, 10 through 11. So I want you, I know you know this passage, but I want you to read this and pay attention to what it says, and then I'm gonna give you an assignment that you're gonna accomplish right here in this room, okay?

This is how mankind is described. This is you and me. None is righteous, no not one. No one understands, no one seeks for God. All have turned aside. Together they have become worthless. No one does good, not even one. Their throat is an open grave. They use their tongues to deceive.

The venom of asps is under their lips. Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood. In their path are ruin and misery, and the way of peace they have not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes. Now if we read that and said, you know what, whoever this is a description of, and then I asked you as an assignment, so after verse 18 say, therefore, if this is God describing you and me, therefore, what would you expect to come after that?

Would you expect, therefore, he loved us? Is that what you would expect? No, what we would write, if this was an assignment, and you fill in the rest, right? We found the manuscript, we found the book of Romans, but we don't have the next part. We only have verse up to 18, and it describes that this is the state of mankind.

We would say, therefore, what would naturally follow this, therefore, God was angry and burned with his jealousy, and he ruined the world. Therefore, because they were stiff-necked, and no one was seeking God, that no matter how much he was patient with them, they wouldn't turn. Therefore, he brought the flood.

Therefore he stopped the world. Therefore, every single one was judged according to their sin. That's what you and I would expect would come after verse 18. We wouldn't expect, therefore, he died for us. See but that's exactly how the Bible describes our salvation. That at just the right time, he says in verse 6, at just the right time.

We talk about the just the right time, you know typically we expound on the Romans and Alexander the Great, and how he brought the world together. There was a road that led to every part of the world at that time. The language was united with Greek, and yeah all of these things definitely contributed physically to getting the Gospel out.

And it was the perfect time, politically, financially, culturally. But I believe there's something much more deeper going on than this superficial political environment. There's two ways that I think we ought to understand this text when he says that he loved us despite, right? Despite the fact that we were weak, despite the fact that we were sinners, despite the fact that we were enemies of God, that at just the right time, just the right time means one, that when we were utterly helpless, when the scripture says that the law came to make sin utterly sinful, meaning when we were absolutely helpless, when we've exhausted everything that we had to possibly think that we can save ourselves, and we couldn't.

So again, if you've ever read about how lifeguards get trained, they say when somebody is drowning, you wait, right? Not until they drown, then it'd be too late, right? But right before. They're kicking and screaming, and if you jump in and try to grab them at that time, their desire to stay alive, if they're kicking and screaming, they're going to bring you down too.

So the way that they're trained is, you wait until they've exhausted their energy, and they look like they're going to pass out. And just at the right time, when they're absolutely helpless, and they have no strength to fight, you jump in and you drag a limp body who's breathing, and you drag them out of the water.

That's how they're trained. When Paul says, "at just the right time," he's talking about the nation of Israel, mankind, who has absolutely exhausted everything that they had in their resources, and they throw up their hands and say, "This is it! There's no more! There's nothing that I could do!" It's kind of like, you know, when you get this glow stick when you're young, you know what I mean?

You get it at Disneyland, I think, right? And then you go home, when you're a little kid, you want to see, and so you go into the closet and you turn off all the lights, right? You turn off all the lights because you don't see it well. When you turn the lights on, you take that out, it's like, "Whoa!

Look at this!" Because it's much better, right? Just like even when you want to go see the star, you have to go where there's no lights, no distraction, and the stars seem that much brighter. So when the scripture says, "at just the right time," he demonstrated his love toward us, is that when we were absolutely helpless, when we were seeped in our sin, when we had no thought of God, when we were in our sins as darkest as dark could be, that's when he stepped in.

And that was the right time. Not only was it the right time because we were absolutely helpless, it was the right time because it was God-ordained. Meaning this was not some plan B, that he tried everything and nothing worked, so therefore let's try this now. He said, "No, just the right time," that he's been waiting for this appointed time, just like it says in Ephesians 1 through 5, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.

Even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him in love, he predestined us for adoption through Jesus Christ according to the purpose of his will." So if you read Ephesians chapter 1, over and over again it says, "He was according to his purpose," "It was according to his will," "It was according to his desire," "He was predestined," "He predestined us," "He elected us," "And this is according to his purpose," over and over again, that this was God's plan from the beginning, before the foundation of the world.

And he's been waiting for an opportune time when we were absolutely helpless, so that when he came, that we would recognize him as our Savior. How does this affect us? Why does he tell us this in the context of him talking about justification by faith, and joy and hope?

And what is the point of telling us that he loves us in this way? Absolute security. Absolute security. That if he was mindful of us while we were rebelling, everything that we try so hard to hide from him and hide from other people, that we're so afraid to be exposed.

Even this morning, you guys are doing a great job. Because when I look at this audience, I see a lot of good Christians. You know, you brought your Bibles, most of them, most of you, you know. If not, you have your phone. Most of you have dressed nice, most of you.

Combed your hair, took a shower, you know, nobody is flipping through a magazine right now, at least I can't see it, right? You're all paying attention, you know, nobody is cussing your head out. I don't see a single drunk person here. You know, we're all doing a great job, right?

But every single one of us, there's sins that we are trying very hard not to be exposed. It may be even last night. It may be even this morning. And you come into this room, and you're doing your best. And it's not that you want to be a hypocrite, it's just there's things that you're wrestling with.

And we do a great job when we're at church. But there's a sense of guilt, like, is God going to love me? Will God answer my prayers? Does this affect my salvation? We won't admit it, but there's some insecurity in your heart because of the things that you are guilty of.

See, what this reminds us of, is that He didn't go around and say, "You know what? I have hope for you, because if I pour my love into you, I think, you know, I see potential in you." And He basically took people who have potential, and decided to love us.

No, He said, "Despite your weakness." Because He knew we had no other way of salvation, but by His grace. While we were yet sinners, He knew that we wouldn't turn around and make Him our Lord by our own will. So He came and got us. While we were yet enemies, while we were blaspheming His name and shaking our fists at Him, He knew we would never change team, because the world is too attractive.

And so, instead of judging us, He decided the only way that you and I would ever have any hope, is if He decided to practice agape love with us. Despite all of that, He came to us. That alone should cause us to say, "God of this universe decided to love me, the omnipotent, omniscient God.

And He loved me despite all the things that I'm trying so hard to hide from other people." But it doesn't stop there. The real punchline, the crescendo of His love, isn't the fact who He is, even though that in and of itself should stop us at our tracks. The fact that He loved us despite who we were, that in and of itself should stop us at its tracks.

But the real punchline in this is the third part, is how He loved us. See, each one of these things He says, "Therefore He loved us," in verse 6, "while we were still weak at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly." Verse 8, "But God demonstrates His own love toward us, while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." Verse 10, "For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled by God by the death of His Son." Each one of these statements, He said, not only did He love us despite the fact, He said He loved us to the point of death.

He would send the most precious thing that He has, and offer it up to us. So in Romans 5, verse 8, it says, "God demonstrates, He reveals His love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." See, He qualifies that, before that, in verse 7, He said, "For one would scarcely die for a righteous person, though for perhaps a good person, one would dare even to die." In other words, what Paul is saying, and what the Holy Spirit is telling us this morning, is that in human practice, and what you and I understand, that every once in a while, you may hear of a hero who jumps on a grenade to save his friends.

And the world celebrates. Like, he gets a Purple Heart, and the family gets compensation. They get honored, because it is that rare. To die for somebody, for rarely, maybe, maybe if somebody really deserved it, these are my friends, and I would take a bullet, I would die for them, and he actually does it.

The most human response is not that. "Oh, grenade!" Maybe grab somebody else to protect you. Instinctively. You didn't think this through. Just instinctively, that's what you may do. So the fact that this guy went toward it, is like, "Oh my gosh, this guy is going to… we're going to build a monument for him.

We're going to remember him forever." He said, "Maybe, every once in a while, you may see that kind of love, that they would sacrifice for their friend. But to sacrifice for an enemy? You throw a bomb, and you're captured in an Al-Qaeda prison, and a bomb gets thrown in there?

You don't jump toward that." You guys are like, "Yes! Take some of these suckers out with me." Right? When's the last time you heard somebody jumped on a bomb to protect his captors? So that's what he's saying in verse 8. Possibly, that the closest that you and I could possibly imagine the depth of love, the greatest of love, that you and I could possibly even imagine, and write scripts and movies, poems about, is possibly every once in a while, somebody would be brave enough, honorable enough, to die for somebody who was righteous, but Christ died for the unrighteous.

While we were helpless. While we were sinners. While we were enemies of God. And that's why, he's John 3, 16, it says, "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son." You know the word "so" here, isn't like, "God so loved the world." The word "so" basically means "demonstrates." This is the means in which he loved.

God demonstrates his love toward us, by sending his only begotten Son. So in other words, what is he saying? Justification by faith is an expression of his love. It is not just a legal standing. It is not just, "We're going to erase your sins." It's an expression. It's a glorification of his love.

When he said, "It's time for you to glorify your Son, that I may glorify you." What was he glorifying? To glorify something is to put it on pedestal, so everybody can see. And what is the greatest thing that you'd want to see? It's love. And it is not just any love.

It is the greatest love. It is the love that you and I could not possibly imagine. You wouldn't be able to be creative enough to write a script, a Hollywood movie, to write a script that way. And he said, "It's that love that was put on a pedestal on the cross, so that you and I can see this love and be affected." And that's why Paul says, "I am compelled by the love of Christ." When we saw the glory of Christ, we saw his love manifested on Christ.

And that's what changed us. And that's what continues to change us. As you guys know, we're in political season, and Donald Trump is quoted almost every other day, especially when he quotes the Bible. He quoted two Corinthians something, and he's like, "I read my Bible every day, especially two Corinthians." (audience laughs) Recently he talked about how he said, "I practice the Bible.

Eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth. You mess with me, I mess with you." So basically he was warning everybody who's cutting him down, he's like, "I'm going to remember you. This is biblical. Eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth." And obviously all the theologians jumped at him.

He's like, "That's novel, that text." The purpose of that text is actually for restraint. God was trying to restrain Israel because our natural tendency is that if you hurt me, I will hurt you and your brother. You slap me and you poke me in the eye, I take both your eyes.

You smash my car in, I smash your car and your house. Don't mess with me. Because that's our natural tendency. We don't have to tell you that. That's our natural tendency, is vengeance. So what God was restricting them of is vengeance, because God knows our natural tendency is to seek vengeance.

And that was to restrain Israel, restrain God's people. But the next form is justice. Justice is basically getting what you deserve. And we demand -- if we don't have justice, I mean, riots will break out, right? Justice! We were falsely accused, and we demand -- if somebody does something wrong to us, and the police doesn't come and punish the other person, justice.

We demand justice. Imagine if God took vengeance on us. You and I would not be here. Imagine if God practiced justice with us. We would be crushed. I mean, think about North Korea. I mean, you go into that nation, and you say, "I think Kim Jong-un is a little overweight." Prison.

Right? Because in that nation, that's justice. What are you going to do about it? Right? He's a dictator. You're in their country. Right? What are you going to do about it? If they chose to practice whatever justice they think is right. Imagine if God of the universe practiced justice with us, and what He thought was fair.

You and I wouldn't be here. You wouldn't even understand what I'm saying. You'd be like, "Oh, this babbling." You know? "Why doesn't Kim Jong-un just stop?" Right? I say, "Inside joke." Right? Why? Why? Why? You know, you're not going to -- The fact that you even understand what I'm saying is because God had mercy.

See, mercy is the next stage. It's withholding what you deserve. You deserve the wrath. You and I deserve the wrath. But God said, "You know what? I'm going to show mercy. I pardon you." Right? "I'm not going to put you in prison. I'm not going to kill you now." So, the whole world is under the mercy of God.

Right? Right now. Because we're all experiencing common grace. Because there's enough oxygen for all of us. Everybody experiences some level of love. That the world is not blown up. That we are able to live and enjoy life to a certain degree. So, we're all experiencing a level of mercy.

See, but justification by faith is not vengeance. It's not justice. And it goes even beyond mercy. It's grace. Grace is receiving what you don't deserve. It's somebody who slaps you on the face and you go back and you buy him a nice meal. Right? Somebody who wronged you and then you choose to love that person for their sake.

See, that's grace. And that's what He's trying to reveal to us. That the love that is compelling Paul, that even in the context of being beaten, even in the context of possibly losing his life, what motivates this man to preach the Gospel in the midst of suffering, to rejoice, he says, "The love of Christ." When a man or a woman is gripped by the love of Christ, love makes us do weird things.

And some of you guys remember when you first fell in love, the amount of driving you did. Some of you guys were penny pinchers. All of a sudden you became very generous. And you remember. Some of you guys don't take a shower every day. You were taking a shower every day.

A lot of things that you did that was very strange. I see it. I'm not going to mention specific things. I've seen it. I've known a lot of you guys for a long time. I've seen some stuff. Like you were a different person for a period. Your hair was different.

Love makes us do things that you wouldn't normally do. It makes you beside yourself. It gives you energy that you didn't have before. Even in the context of misery at work, you have a smile on your face. That's what love does. And that's what Paul says. Our Christian life ultimately is about loving our Lord Jesus Christ with all our heart, soul, mind and strength.

Why? Because He first loved us. Because He loved us. And we are consumed by this love. Think about every time. Every time you disappointed God. Think about every time you told God, "I'm not going to do it anymore." Think about all those nook and crannies in your private lives that you've done so well to hide from other people.

That God knows all of them. Not only in the past, He knows tomorrow. He knows even today. Knowing all of that, He didn't say, "Therefore, I'm going to judge you." He said, "Therefore, the only way I can save you is by stepping off of my throne and being equal with God." Did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but He humbled Himself and became nothing.

He walked among us, so that He can be a sympathetic High Priest. And so that we can be drawn to Him, to the throne of grace. That we can enter with confidence. And His ultimate exclamation mark is, He died on the cross, and He says, "Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest." How many of you are struggling because you see your relationship with God as a dating relationship?

That you're afraid that if you don't put your best, that somehow something's going to happen? That maybe you don't pray because you think that God's going to stop, God stopped answering your prayers because you weren't good enough? Justification by faith is a firm reminder. He loved us despite. He loved us while we were weak, while we were sinners, while we were enemies.

So therefore, by the blood of Christ, come. Come to Jesus. Come to Jesus. Would you take a minute to pray with me?