Timing is Everything

Brian Carroll / General Adult

Unashamed - A Study of Romans / Romans 5:6–11

Paul now explains the objective foundation beneath that hope. God’s love is not inferred from favorable circumstances; it was demonstrated at the cross. Christ died for the weak, ungodly, sinful, and hostile. If God reconciled us when we were enemies, we can trust him to complete our salvation now that we are his.

Introduction

•	My wife and I bought our first house in 2007.

•	We had done everything "right."

•	Got pre-approved for one of those low down-payment, first-time homebuyer loans.

•	Found a cute three-bedroom on a small lake in a neighborhood that was just down the street from our church.

•	We felt like we'd made it.

•	Like we'd finally arrived at actual adulthood.

•	We signed the papers, got the keys, and spent that first weekend hauling boxes in and imagining all the things we could do to make it ours.

•	Before we could get all the boxes unpacked, the bottom fell out of the global economy.

•	Banks that had been around since before my grandparents were born started collapsing in a matter of days.

•	Dollars disappeared from the stock market like they were never there.

•	And our neighborhood — this quiet, settled neighborhood that had been fine for years before we ever showed up — got absolutely hammered by foreclosures.

•	One by one, the houses  around us emptied out.

•	Lawns stopped getting cut.

•	For-sale signs went up, and before long, most of them turned into bank-owned signs instead.

•	Our home value did exactly what you'd expect a house to do in the middle of all that: it dropped.

•	Fast, and further than we ever imagined it could.

•	Our little house on the lake was underwater.

•	We owed the bank more than the house was worth.

•	We didn't get to pick our timing.

•	We just picked a house.

•	Turns out we'd picked it during, statistically, one of the worst windows in modern American economic history to sign a thirty-year mortgage.

•	We didn’t really have any options other than to stay and ride it out.

•	We stayed.

•	Kept making the payment every month on a house worth less than we owed on it, because leaving would have locked in a loss we couldn't afford to take.

•	We waited for the market to come back.

•	It did, eventually.

•	But "eventually" took years.

•	We lived in that house for eleven years and made a little over $5,000 when we sold it.

•	Here's what I've thought about ever since: nobody plans to buy a house at the worst possible moment.

•	You don't sit down, check a calendar, and think, "This looks like an excellent time for the global economy to collapse — let's sign right here."

•	Bad timing just happens to you.

•	It doesn't send a warning.

•	It definitely doesn't apologize afterward.

•	I tell you that story because this morning, we're going to talk about timing of a very different kind.

•	Romans chapter 5 is going to show us a moment when God did something at a very specific point in time — not by accident, not because the calendar happened to line up in His favor, but because it was exactly, deliberately, the right moment.

•	And here's the strange part: by every human measure, it looked like the worst possible moment to do it.

•	Not once we'd gotten our lives together.

•	Not once we'd proven ourselves worth the investment.

•	While we were, in Paul's own words, still weak. Still ungodly. Still sinners. Still, honestly, His enemies.

•	That's the exact moment Christ died for us.

•	Turns out God's timing doesn't work anything like our timing does — and this morning, that's very good news for every one of us.

•	Let’s turn our attention to Romans 5.

Scripture Reading

Romans 5:6–11 ESV

⁶ For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.

⁷ For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die—

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

⁹ Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God.

¹⁰ For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.

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

•	Last week we camped out in the first five verses of this chapter and talked about access.

•	Access to peace with God.

•	Access to grace.

•	Access to hope.

•	Access to the love of God, poured directly into our hearts by His own Spirit.

•	All of it obtained "through Him" - through Christ, and through nothing else.

•	That's a remarkable list of blessings for people who never did anything to earn a single one of them.

•	And it raises a question we didn't stop to answer last week: on what basis does God extend any of that to us?

•	Access isn't something you grant yourself.

•	Somebody with the authority to do it has to open the door, and somebody has to pay whatever it costs to open it.

•	So who paid it? And when?

•	That's exactly where Paul takes us this morning.

•	He doesn't just tell us that access was secured.

•	He tells us the circumstances surrounding it — the state we were in, and the moment God chose to act.

•	And if you're expecting Paul to say God waited until we'd cleaned ourselves up, or proved we were worth the investment, or at least met Him halfway — that's not what you're going to find here.

•	Paul is about to describe the worst possible moment, by every human measure, for God to do what He did.

•	Not our best moment.

•	Not even a neutral moment.

•	Our worst.

•	That's where verses 6 through 11 take us - the timing of the cross, and why that timing changes everything about how much you can trust what comes after it.

•	And the first place that takes us is this:

While We Were Weak (v. 6)

•	What does weakness mean to you?

•	Maybe you think about physical weakness.

•	You’re sick and your fever just broke - you’re not going to be headed out to do any kind of strenuous yard work at that moment.

•	Maybe you’ve had a joint replacement and those first few PT appointments feel more like the T stands for torture instead of therapy.

•	Perhaps you think of emotional  or psychological weakness.

•	It’s been a difficult season and you feel like one more thing is going to be more than you can handle.

•	You’re not sure what the breakdown looks like, but you can tell that it’s getting close.

•	Paul points to weakness here as our default condition.

•	Paul’s word choice here is telling.

•	He uses the word “weak.”

•	In Greek, you can often negate a word by essentially putting the letter A in front of the word.

•	So when Paul says that we were weak, he is negating the word for strong.

•	In other words, whatever your concept of strong is, we were the exact opposite of that.

•	He’s not just talking about physical strength.

•	The word can be used to describe us when we are sick or even physically handicapped.

•	It can also speak to moral weakness as well.

•	Various translations handle that word a little differently, but they all are pointing at the same idea.

•	KJV - without strength

•	CSB - helpless

•	The point Paul is making by using this word is to again remind us that we are wholly (with a “W” not with an “H”) deficient to solve our spiritual problem.

•	He is again taking human effort out of the equation.

•	Yesterday was the kickoff to the college football season and you’ll frequently hear frenzied fans in a stadium chanting when the visiting team commits some kind of flagrant penalty…You Can’t Do That!

•	That’s what Paul is saying to us by declaring us weak…You can’t do that!

•	But our weakness isn’t the main idea.

•	He’s been making that point through five chapters.

•	If you’ve paid attention to all 18 of these sermons then our inability to secure our salvation has been one of those great recurring themes.

•	You can’t get Romans 1-5 and honest read and walk away with any notions of contributing anything to the process.

•	It’s been said “You contribute nothing to your own salvation except the sin that makes it necessary.”

•	The main idea is that our abject weakness provides the exact conditions for our rescue.

•	Specifically he says that it was the right time.

•	That’s not about the clock on the wall or the calendar on your desk.

•	It’s not talking about the literal date that Jesus died.

•	That’s about the season or the era.

•	Paul is essentially saying, “When we were at the bottom with no way out, that was when Christ came to die for us.”

•	And just to drive the point home, he tells us that we were not only weak - but also ungodly.

•	Remember how I told you that he made the word weak by negating the word strong.

•	Guess what - he does the same thing with ungodly.

•	So take whatever your concept of godliness or reverence or piety and flip it over.

•	That’s who Jesus died for.

•	Because we were weak, we lacked the strength to solve our problem.

•	And even if we could muster a little bit of strength to try, we are also ungodly.

•	That means that even if we had an ounce of strength, we wouldn’t have a clue where to look put it to work.

•	That’s our story. That’s our identity.

•	When it comes our ability to secure any kind of right standing before a holy God, we are absolutely powerless and absolutely godless.

•	And if none of that human effort was capable of getting you ready for God to act, that logic runs the other direction too.

•	Somebody in your life right now — you've decided they're not ready.

•	Too angry. Too far gone.

•	Too wrapped up in whatever they're wrapped up in, to hear anything about Jesus from you.

•	So you wait. You're saving that conversation for whenever they seem more receptive.

•	But if God didn't wait for you to be ready, what makes you think you should wait for them to be?

•	Because God says - now.

•	THIS is the right time to make known the power of the cross and the might of my love.

While we were sinners (vv. 7-8)

•	I’m sure you’ve heard someone say (if you haven’t said it yourself), when someone is convicted for a particularly heinous crime…

•	Maybe a crime against children or a serial rapist.

•	“I hope they bury them under the jail.”

•	That statement comes from a longing for justice deep within our hearts.

•	I think it stems from the image of God within us.

•	What we’re saying is that we don’t want them to be the recipients of any kind of grace or mercy.

•	If the prison is burning down, don’t bother trying to get them out.

•	Paul says it’s not beyond the realm of possibility that you might be willing to sacrifice yourself to rescue someone you see as good - but nobody is putting their neck on the line to rescue THAT criminal.

•	Our problem is that we are THAT criminal.

•	We may not have their particular list of offenses, but we have our own.

•	It may be true that offenses don’t necessarily have legal consequences this side of eternity -

•	However, our offenses are nevertheless damnable before the presence of a Holy God.

•	Remember, not only are we weak, we’re also godless.

•	And verse 8 makes it painfully clear.

•	We are sinners.

•	That means we have transgressed God’s laws.

•	We don’t deserve grace or mercy or freedom.

•	We deserve divine justice.

•	And it applies to all of us.

•	Remember, Romans 3:23 made that very clear:

Romans 3:23 ESV

²³ for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

•	Sadly, the word sinner tends to land in the category of religious language.

•	We know what it means, but we lose the force of the word.

•	If somebody walked in here today and introduced themselves as a convicted felon, you’d likely step back, even if it was unintentional.

•	That’s what sinner means - except the law we transgressed is not adjudicated by man, but by God.

•	We are convicted felons that have broken God’s law.

•	That’s what it means when the bible says you are a sinner.

•	So in v. 6, it was the right time for Jesus to die for the ungodly.

•	And lest we too eagerly point our finger at all the ungodly people out there.

•	V. 8 make sure that it is understood that the ungodly is us.

•	But why would God do such a thing?

•	Because in the middle of this argument that Paul has been building, chapter 5 has introduced us to an undeniable face of God’s nature - love.

•	He said it back in v. 5, talking about the fact that God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit.

•	But now we see that glorious motivation behind God’s plan to save sinners.

•	To show his love for us.

•	What a mercy this is!

•	Show me a greater example of love than what we’ve just encountered in these three verses.

•	Go ahead - I’ll wait.

•	You won’t find one.

•	Because this is the greatest one.

•	John said it this way:

1 John 4:10 ESV

¹⁰ In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

•	We were so weak that we couldn’t fix our problem.

•	We were so godless that we didn’t know where to look to even try.

•	We were so criminal that we have no hope of acquittal, pardon, or commutation.

•	And God says - that’s who I’m going to show my love for.

•	That one right there…

•	He has no moral strength.

•	He has no spiritual ability.

•	And he is legally guilty on every single charge.

•	That’s who I’m going to rescue through the death of my son.

•	And that death is more than just a good devotional thought to cause us to love God more.

•	There are cosmic consequences in play here.

While we were enemies (vv. 10-11)

•	So we were powerless, godless, convicted felons who willingly and unwillingly continue to transgress God’s law.

•	That’s a mouthful, so Paul gives us a good summary word.

•	We were God’s enemies.

•	Listen…you need to let that settle in your ears.

•	If you’re not a follower of Christ - if you haven’t been born again.

•	Right now, in this place today…you’re not on neutral footing.

•	You are God’s enemy. If that characterization bothers you, I hope it bothers you enough to do something about it.

•	But look at God’s timing yet again.

•	While we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his son.

•	So while we were weak and unable, Christ died for us.

•	While we were sinners and unwilling, Christ died for us

•	Now while we were enemies and unfriendly, Christ died for us.

•	Paul said it this way in Col. 1:21-22

Colossians 1:21–22 ESV

²¹ And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds,

²² he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him,

•	And that death accomplished what we could not - reconciliation.

•	In Romans 5:2, Paul said:

Romans 5:2 ESV

² Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

•	We stand in grace because we have been reconciled.

•	To be reconciled means to have friendly relations restored.

•	We stand in grace - which means we continually dwell in God’s favor.

•	But it has absolutely nothing to do with anything we possibly could have done to earn it.

•	But this is why we stand there - we’ve been reconciled.

•	We were too weak to earn it on our own.

•	We were too wicked to want it on our own.

•	And we were too hostile to head to the negotiating table first.

•	Instead, God said let me solve all of these problems in one fell swoop, in just the nick of time.

•	And the beautiful refrain of this passage is exactly how God handled it - Christ died for us.

•	And in that we have cause for rejoicing.

•	We’ve acknowledged that Romans has been a very heavy series.

•	Paul has constantly exposed us.

•	And in every light we’ve been found missing the mark.

•	But that should come as no surprise, because that’s what sinners are excellent at doing - missing the mark.

•	The word for sin in the New Testament carries the idea of an archer missing the target.

•	To be called a sinner is to be one who never hits the target.

•	Despite our condition, God has made his love known to us.

•	He has demonstrated it through the death of Jesus.

•	And he has let us experience it through the gift of the Holy Spirit.

•	But that’s the beauty of this whole argument.

•	When you’re stripped down to nothing and you’ve got nothing left to offer.

•	That’s when you see the divine hand reaching into the pit of despair, calling you to your feet, and giving you a new place to stand as one who is not only reconciled, but as one who is now part of the family of God.

•	You no longer crumple in weakness before the Almighty, instead you stand in grace.

•	And now Paul says, that’s cause for rejoicing.

•	We rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

•	It is through him that we have been reconciled.

•	And inasmuch as you may be in the room as an enemy - there are so many more in the room today who stand as those who have been reconciled.

•	All of the transgression you have stacked up against God has been forgiven and you are set right before God.

•	Your felony count hasn’t been minimized.

•	Every last sin you have ever committed is still very much in play.

•	But instead of you bearing the cost it demands, Jesus paid for every single transgression.

•	Christians ought to be the happiest people on the planet.

•	Because they stand reconciled to God.

Conclusion (v. 9)

•	I skipped verse 9 on purpose when we came to it earlier in this passage, because I wanted revisit it at the end.

•	Look at what it says: "Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God."

•	Paul has spent this whole passage proving one thing: that God did the hardest possible work, at the hardest possible moment, for people who brought nothing to the table but their weakness, their sin, and their hostility.

•	Weak. Sinners. Enemies.

•	That's not a resume. That's a rap sheet.

•	And that's exactly who Christ died for.

•	Now Paul takes that same argument and points it forward instead of backward.

•	If God did that — if He justified us, declared us right before Him, while we were still His enemies — then what exactly is left that could stop Him from finishing the job?

•	Think about which of those two things is actually harder.

•	Reconciling an enemy costs everything.

•	It costs a cross.

•	Keeping a friend?

•	Sustaining someone He's already died for, already adopted, already filled with His own Spirit?

•	That's not a harder task.

•	That's the easier one.

•	And Paul says: if God already did the hard thing, you can trust Him for the easy thing.

•	He’s certain of it…he said in:

Philippians 1:6 ESV

⁶ And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.

•	This is where verse 9's logic becomes the most practical verse in the whole passage.

•	Because some of you in this room are exhausted from trying to hold onto your own salvation.

•	You're not doubting whether Jesus died for sinners.

•	You believe that part.

•	What you doubt is whether He's going to stick with you all the way to the end — whether today's failure, or this year's struggle, or whatever's sitting on your conscience right now, is the thing that finally makes Him let go.

•	Paul's answer is not "try harder so He doesn't let go."

•	THE HEART OF IT - Paul's answer is: He already did the harder thing, back when you were His enemy.

•	He's not going to abandon the easier work now that you're His child.

•	Your assurance was never supposed to rest on your consistency.

•	It rests on His finished work at the cross, and His ongoing commitment to finish what that cross started.

•	If God's timing was perfect enough to send Christ to die for you at your absolute worst, His timing is perfect enough to complete whatever He's doing in you now — on His schedule, not yours.

•	That's the whole sermon in one sentence: God's timing is everything, because you were never going to get the timing right on your own.

•	Remember our house on the lake.

•	We didn’t get to pick our timing, and “eventually” took years longer than we wanted it to.

•	Some of you are underwater in something right now, and it doesn’t feel like the market is turning anytime soon.

•	Romans 5 does not tell you when those circumstances will change.

•	It points you to the moment when God settled your greatest need forever.

•	Our timing was an accident. God’s was never an accident.

•	He was not scrambling to fix a situation He didn’t see coming.

•	At exactly the right time, Christ died for us.

•	You may not know when your circumstances will change, but the cross proves that God’s love can be trusted.

•	So here's where that leaves us this morning, and I want to speak to two different people in this room.

•	First — if you have never turned from your sin and trusted Christ, hear exactly where you stand today.

•	You are not neutral. Paul has already told us that.

•	You are God's enemy, whether or not that feels true to you right now.

•	But you are also not outside the reach of what we just read.

•	The same God who reconciled people at their absolute worst is still doing that today.

•	This isn't an invitation to clean yourself up first.

•	You can't.

•	That's the whole point of everything we've walked through in Romans up to this moment.

•	It's an invitation to stop standing at a distance and come to the God who already proved, at the cross, exactly how far He's willing to go to bring you back.

•	Turn from your sin.

•	Trust in what Christ has already done.

•	Let Him do for you what you have never been able to do for yourself.

•	Second — if you are already in Christ, but you've been carrying your walk with God like it's still in question, this passage is for you too.

•	Maybe you've had a hard week, or a hard year, and somewhere along the way you started relating to God like He's still deciding whether to keep you.

•	Stop measuring your standing by how strong you feel today.

•	You were never strong.

•	Not on your best day, and certainly not on your worst.

•	Your assurance was never about your strength.

•	It was about His timing, and His timing already accomplished the hardest part on your behalf.

•	Rest in that. Rejoice in that, the way verse 11 tells us to — not just relief that the danger passed, but real joy in God Himself, through Jesus Christ, through whom we have now — present tense, settled, finished — received our reconciliation.

•	God did not wait for you to become worthy of His love.

•	He is not waiting now for you to earn the rest of it either.

•	He has already done the hard thing.

•	Trust Him to finish what He started.