It's a lot of pressure to live up to here. Well, good morning. As Glenn said, my name is Ben. It feels somewhat important to mention that I am a meritimer, not a Nova Scotian, but I grew up in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island. And after a few stints in Ontario, I moved back to the east coast happily to Halifax two years ago. And I'm really happy to be here. As Glenn said, I was recently, well, I should say I'm currently the music and ministry coordinator at Christchurch Halifax, working with Mike. But was recently licensed to preach in the Eastern Canada Presbytery, which is the presbytery both our churches are a part of. And I'm happy to be able to do that here with you this morning. So our passage this morning that we're going to look at is Romans chapter five, verses six to eight. If you have a Bible, you can flip to it. I believe it will be on the screen as well. But before I read the passage, let me say a prayer for us. Heavenly Father, we thank you for your word. We thank you that through it, we can know who you are and what you're like, not as as we imagine, but as you reveal yourself to us. And we thank you that through your word, you continue to speak to us even today by your spirit. Help us to hear your word. Understand it, believe it and obey it. In Jesus name, we pray. Amen. So here God's word from Romans five, verses six to eight. For while we were still weak at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person, though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die. But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. In 1991, Heritage Minutes, these 60 second short films, each illustrating important moments in Canadian history, they began appearing on Canadian television and Canadian radio. One of these Heritage Minutes depicts an event that happened not very far from where we sit this morning, the Halifax explosion. Halifax was a particularly busy port during the First World War, which was home not only to Canada's navy, but also a base for navy vessels and supply and merchant ships from around the world who came to Halifax to be repaired or to find more supplies. On the morning of December 6th, 1917, two of these ships, a French vessel and a Norwegian vessel, they collided. It quickly became apparent how serious this situation would be because the French vessel soy was laden with explosives and it was going to blow. Now Vincent Coleman, he was a trained dispatcher who worked in the north end of the city at the Richmond Depot. In the morning, he got word of just how serious this situation was. But rather than run, he sent frantic messages trying to stop a train full of passengers headed for Halifax. He wouldn't leave his post until he knew that the train had received the message. Eventually, the train did acknowledge Coleman's message and several hundred passengers were saved as the train stopped short of the eventual blast zone. But by that point for Coleman, it was far too late to flee the blast. Now I admit there aren't too many commercials that would cause me to shed a tear, but that commercial, the Halifax Explosion Heritage Minnet, brought me close on more than a few occasions. Vincent Coleman sacrificing his life for innocent train passengers. It's incredibly courageous and inspiring. There are many more incredible stories throughout history of those who have sacrificed similarly. And even if you look at pop culture, movies, literature, we find this idea. One person sacrificing their life for the good of another over and over again. Whether you're here today this morning as a Christian or not, I think we can all agree that these types of stories, both historical and fictional, are attractive. There's something in us that's drawn to them. Why is that? I think it's because we want to be loved in this way. We want to know love where someone would willingly give their life for ours, where someone would fully and completely put their needs above our own for our own good. Well, here in our text we have another picture of incredible, sacrificial awe-inspiring love. But this love, this love in Romans 5, is unlike any other story. It far surpasses any other historical or fictional account. And so it's worthwhile for us to spend some time in these verses this morning seeing what this incredible love is all about. And so we're going to look at it in three parts, these verses. The necessity of God's love, the surprise of God's love, and then the certainty of God's love. So that's the necessity of God's love, the surprise of God's love, and then the certainty of God's love. First, the necessity of God's love. At the beginning of our text, Paul is telling us something about the kind of people that Christ died for. He says, while we were still weak, Christ died for the ungodly. And then again in verse 8, while we were still sinners. So Paul here, he has three words to describe the type of people that Christ died for. Weak, ungodly sinners. The word weak in this instance, it's not primarily describing a physical weakness. Rather, it's speaking of a spiritual or a moral weakness. Some translations use the word powerless. But in this context, it's telling us something about a person's inability to save themselves. The word ungodly speaks not only of disobedience to God's commands, but opposition to God himself. We might use the word enemies of God. This is not simply ignoring God's commands when it's inconvenient, or a few moral slip ups here and there. Paul is talking about people who are enemies of God. People opposed to God and actively working against him. And then this third word, sinners, in some sense combines these two words. As one commentator put it, Paul is referring to impious people refusing to worship the God who created them. While living and loving contrary to his holy character and commands. So weak, ungodly sinners. People who have clearly rebelled against God and in pride and arrogance gone their own way. Thinking that they know best. Maybe your thought is here this morning. Wow, these people, they actually sound really terrible. Who is Paul speaking about? And here's the bad news. Paul in his letter to the church in Rome describes all of humanity in this way. Weak, ungodly sinners. In the first chapter, Paul tells us, For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, Who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. So that they are without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him. But they became futile in their thinking. And their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for created things. And then he goes on in chapter 3 to tell us, None is righteous. No, not one. See, all of humanity is born in sin. Weak, ungodly, sinful from birth, deserving of God's wrath, and unable to save themselves. So who is Paul speaking of? Paul is speaking of you and me. Paul is speaking of all of humanity. If we stop to consider this for a moment, this is terrible news. Because we're under the wrath of God and we deserve his punishment. But in the love that we also desperately want, that we crave, it seems unattainable if what Paul has to say about us is true. If that's true, how could anyone love us? The truth is, if left to ourselves, we have no hope. We can't dig ourselves out of this mess. We're weak. We're unlovable. And the harder we try, the further we fall. Now, this is no doubt an offensive message to our modern ears. Because it goes against the many messages that culture bombards us with. And it goes against the lies that we're tempted to believe in our own hearts. That you're not so bad. That you can do this on your own. The answer lies within. Just look within. Be yourself. Everything will be alright. We want to believe that we're strong in and of ourselves. That the good things that we have and the good things that we've done aren't gifts of grace. But in some sense, they're because of our own hard work and ingenuity. We want to hold on just to a little bit of that superiority as we look around at the world and see all the problems around us. The late Tim Keller, this is what he writes, The preaching of the gospel is terribly offensive to the human heart. People find it insulting to be told that they are too weak and too sinful to do anything to contribute to their salvation. It's offensive to liberal minded people who charge the gospel with intolerance. Because it states that the only way to be saved is through Christ. It's through the cross. The gospel is offensive to conservative minded people because it states that without the cross, so called good people are in as much trouble as bad people. It's the ultimate the gospel is offensive because the cross stands against all schemes of self salvation. The world at times, all those becoming less true, appreciates some aspects of religion and morality, at least in general. The world thinks that moral religion is a good thing for society, but the world is offended by the cross. The cross is by nature offensive and we only grasp its sweetness if we first grapple with its offense. But if someone understands the cross, it is either the greatest thing in their life or it's repungent to them. It's neither of those two things. They haven't understood it. Apart from the love of God in Christ, we have no hope. We're weak or ungodly or sinners, and this is what it means that God's love is necessary. Because apart from it, there is no hope of salvation. Apart from it, there is no forgiveness. There's no reconciliation. There's no healing. There's no life. There's no love. We cannot fix the problems of the world. We cannot pay the debt of our own sin ourselves. The love of God in Christ is necessary for salvation. And this leads to our second point, the surprise of God's love. Amazingly, inexplicably, God pours out his love on those who are weak, ungodly and sinful. While we were still weak at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly. God shows his love for us and that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Paul, he knows that this is crazy, that this is unbelievable, unexpected, almost unexplainable good news for a rational mind. That's why he explains it in verse seven. He says, for one will scarcely die for a righteous person, because a morally upright person. Though perhaps for a good person, someone who's done a lot of good, one would dare even to die. But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Now, there's no doubt about it. Vincent Coleman, he's a hero for saving all those lives on the train. And yet, in some small sense, we can understand his sacrifice. We can make sense of it. We have a category for it, saving a train full of unsuspecting, innocent people. Or maybe you've seen or you've read the books, The Lord of the Ring. One of the characters, Boromir, he almost succumbs to the dark power of the ring. But then he redeems himself and he sacrifices his life to save Mary and Pippin, two little lovable hobbits. And in some sense, I think we can make sense of that, too. What can be more innocent than lovely little hobbits? But who would think of giving their life for an ungodly sinner? Jesus. But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. This is incredible, awe inspiring, surprising love. This is good news. And many commentators, including John Calvin, he speaks of this verse as Paul's version in some sense of John three sixteen. For God so loved the world that he gave his only son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. Their point is this, that the good news could not be any better. It couldn't be any sweeter. Christ died for sinners. Christ died for people like you and people like me. Maybe you're here this morning, though, and you know these verses really well. Maybe Romans is your favorite book. Maybe you've heard great sermons on this text already. But if you're honest, if I'm honest, God's love at times feels unsurprising. It feels normal, maybe expected, or maybe you would even use the word deserved. At times, you and I can convince ourselves that we're actually more like innocent little hobbits than enemies of God. We tend to think there is something lovable in us, that we are actually owed God's love, and in the process, we actually diminish the love of God. Jesus, in Luke chapter seven, he addresses something similar. Jesus, he went to dine at the house of Simon the Pharisee. Now Simon was a very religious man. One commentator put it, he took great pride in his religious observance. He never ate unclean food. He tithed meticulously. He kept all the commandments of Moses. He kept his distance from notorious sinners. This is what Luke tells us as they reclined at the table, Simon and Jesus, a woman notorious for her sin throughout the city, brought an alabaster flask of ointment and standing behind him, standing behind Jesus at his feet, weeping. She began to wet his feet with her tears and wipe them with the hair of her head, kissing his feet and anointing them with the ointment. Simon, he was shocked, and he was shocked not in a good way. And this is what he says of Jesus. If this man, if Jesus were a prophet, he would have known who and what sort of woman this is who was touching him. For she is a sinner. More often than not, we think like Simon. Thank goodness I am not like them. We feel somehow deserving of God's love and in doing so we diminish the incredible love of God in Christ, who died not for put together people, but for sinners. He came not for the healthy, but for the sick. Paul is clear, we are far from innocent. Rather, we are weak, ungodly enemies of God. We deserve his wrath and judgment, not his love. But this is the good news. Christ gave his life for those who are weak. Christ gave his life for those who can't save themselves. Christ gave his life for the ungodly. Those who smell of sin and its decay, who willingly and joyfully trample on the promises of God living in opposition to him. Christ gave his life for traitors, who have rebelled against the king and have given their lives to another. Christ gave his life for people like you and people like me. Christ loves people like you and people like me. Sacrificial love, it's almost always surprising. It is not what we expect. But how much more surprising is God's love for us? We weren't innocent trained passengers or lovable hobbits. We were enemies of God. And yet Christ willingly gives his life for ours. God's love is necessary and that we cannot be saved apart from it. It's surprising in the sense that it goes beyond, so far beyond any category that we can make sense of. Christ sacrificing his life for the guilty. But as our third point says, God's love is also certain. And this is really the main point Paul is trying to get across in this larger section of Romans. In Romans chapter five, believers in Christ who are righteous in God's sight, who are loved by him, have a certain hope of future glory and eternal life. God's love is certain. See, if there was something lovable in us, if there was some power within that we could muster up to save ourselves, God's love would actually be in some sense based on us and our performance. And then these types of questions would follow, am I lovable enough? Am I doing enough? Does God still love me? Has he ever loved me? That would actually be crushing, imperfect people trying to please the holy God. But as it is, there was nothing lovable in us. For while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. And this, this is what actually makes his love certain. Because our certainty of God's love, our assurance of it, depends not on our love for God, or on our power, or on our strength, or our ability to pull ourselves together, but our assurance depends on God's love for us. And that means that we can have a certain hope of future glory and eternal life with him in his everlasting love. If you're here this morning and you're a Christian, in dying for you, Christ has taken your sin upon himself. The wrath of God that you deserved was put on Christ, and the perfect life of Christ, his righteousness, was given to you, imputed to you, so that now you can stand before God, righteous in his sight, assured of his love through this glorious exchange. You can be certain of his love. And now you partake of the blessings of this glorious exchange, justification by faith that Paul is writing about at the start of chapter 5. And he says we have peace with God, access into God's grace, hope of the glory of God, and joy even in our trials, knowing that God is using them to develop perseverance, character, and hope. These blessings are certain because they're not based on us, but they're based on God's love, that sent Christ to die for us while we were yet sinners. If God loved and cherished us when we were his enemies, how much more can we be certain of his love now that we are reconciled to him? If you're a Christian here today, it's this certainty that frees us to live as we truly ought. It brings us peace and security as we rest from striving, knowing that salvation is a gift of God, not something that we earn or achieve. It's this certainty that allows us in seeing Christ lay down his life for our own, to then go and lay down our own life for the good of others, empowered by his spirit, comforted by the certainty of his love. So you sure his love we can face whatever comes our way, and we can lay down our lives for others, knowing that the best is yet to come, eternal life, his unending love forevermore. But maybe you're here this morning and you're not sure if you're a Christian, maybe you're not a Christian yet, maybe you're just exploring what Christianity is all about. Maybe you're here and you long to be loved with this incredible sacrificial unending love. The bad news is Paul is telling you that your sin deserves punishment and that there is no way that you can save yourself. There's no way that you can pay for it yourself. Apart from Christ, you're hopeless. But Christ has died for sinners. Repent and believe the good news. Admit that you're hopeless apart from Christ's love, that you're deserving of God's punishment, unable to save yourself and enter into his assuring, comforting, certain love. Believe that Christ is Lord, that he is your hope and your salvation. Trust in his love because the love of God is unlike any other love we could know. Once again, the late Tim Cowley, this is what he says, to be loved but not known is comforting, superficial. To be known and not loved is our greatest fear. But to be fully known and truly loved is a lot like being loved by God. It's what we need more than anything. It liberates us from pretense, it humbles us out of our own self-righteousness and it fortifies us for any difficulty that life can throw at us. The certain surprising love of God in Christ is our only hope. It's what we all desperately need and long for. And in receiving it, it frees us to live and love as we truly ought. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for your incredible, surprising, certain love. Apart from it, we would have no hope. But in Christ, we can be assured of this certain love. By your spirit, help us to live lives of sacrificial love and share the good news of salvation for sinners with those around us. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.