Introduction
Love is in the air. It's Valentines! There are many kinds of love. Whitney Houston can sing: "The greatest love of all…is to love yourself." In 1 Samuel we read that "…Jonathan made a covenant with the house of David…and Jonathan had David reaffirm his oath out love for him, because he loved him as he loved himself" (1Samuel 20:16,17). The prophet Isaiah asks a rhetorical question: "Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne?" (Isaiah 49:15). Andres Bonifacio answers his own question. "What love exists, surpassing, in purity and nobility, one's love for the motherland? What love? None other, ever." Perhaps most appropriate for the occasion, here is Elizabeth Barrett Browning, addressing her husband, Robert: "How do I love thee? Let me count the ways…"

For many it is a truism that the love of God is the greatest of all loves. Not our love for God but his love for us! A truism that we need to appreciate. God loves us. He loves me, and he loves you - each one of you. What does that mean? If God really loved me, he would give me long life and good health. He would make me good-looking like Aga Muhlach or like Charlene Gonzales if I were a woman. I would want GOD to enable me to sing like Luciano Pavarotti or Kiri Te Kanawa. Why not as rich as Lucio Tan or Henry Sy? Certainly spare me from disasters like the stampede at Ultra. If God really loved me…

The Bible says God really loves us, each one of us without exception. Not quite in the way I have just described, but more truly, more profoundly. God desires our greatest good and highest welfare. Paul says in Romans 5 verse 8: "God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While were still sinners, Christ died for us". The supreme demonstration of God's love for us, the proof that he cares very deeply for each one of us, desiring our greatest good and eternal welfare, is Christ's death on the cross.

Did you notice how verse 8 begins? "But." "But God demonstrates his own love for us…" The little word "but" is intended to draw a sharp contrast between what is said before, and what happens after. Before and after. We can appreciate the demonstration of God's love only if we understand our situation before Christ came into our lives. "Before" means "B.C." - before Christ. Our situation, our condition, was terrible. Paul gives five descriptions, each of which is bad enough, but taken together is terrible. Here they are: helpless, wicked, undeserving sinners, whom God regards as his enemies!

1. Helpless, or powerless
Many people do not accept this description of themselves. They are too proud to admit it. They think that if they do their best, God will accept them. They want to be able to help themselves. Nearly all religions depend on good works of some kind for acceptance with God. Works of religious piety - prayer and fasting, penance, pilgrimage, etc. Works of philanthropy - feeding the hungry, caring for the sick, visiting the prisoner. Works of philosophy - achieving knowledge, understanding, enlightenment. Paul says not all our piety, philanthropy, or philosophy, can help us. We were helpless and powerless. We could not help or save ourselves. We were even more helpless than the victims of the stampede in Ultra. Only God can save us.

2. Ungodly, or wicked
Again, many people will not accept that this describes them. Hitler perhaps, or Stalin; Idi Amin or Pol Pot - but not me! I am not responsible for the Vizconde massacre; I am not Abu Sayyaf. Certainly I am not a suicide bomber out to kill innocent civilians! I am not even a tax evader, a corrupt politician or an adulterer! How can I be described as wicked or ungodly? However, we ask our friend who says all this: Is God the God of your life? Do you honor him as he deserves? Are you subject to his direction and rule? Is God the only one you worship or are there many idols that compete with him - power and wealth, career and family, sex and food and pleasure? If God is not our God, we are worshipping idols. We are ungodly and wicked.

3. Undeserving
Paul does not actually say "undeserving" but he gives two illustrations to bring out this description. First he speaks of a righteous or upright man. Then he mentions a good or attractive man. It is rare, or unusual, he says, for us to give our lives to save an upright or righteous man. For example, you see former Supreme Court Chief Justice Hilarion Davide cross the street at an intersection, and you also see a speeding jeepney about to hit him. Do you jump into the street to grab him and get him out of harm's way, at the risk of your own life? Conceivable. However, it seems more likely that you would give your life for a good, attractive person. Like your favorite grandfather. Grandpa is dying of a bleeding peptic ulcer and his blood type is AB - only 4% of the population. He needs two liters of blood and you are qualified because you are also type AB. You give your blood but at the risk of your own life. When Christ died for us, we were neither upright nor good. We were completely undeserving! Not worth dying for.

4. Sinners
Undeserving sinners! Sinners are those who miss the mark. God's standard is the bull's eye but our arrow falls short; it does not even hit any part of the target. We fall short of God's standard because sin has defaced and distorted God's image in us. We have been disqualified from sharing the glory of God. We are far away from his saving presence. Sinners may also be described as those who break the law. Each of us has a sense of right and wrong but when we see the sign, "Do Not Enter" are we not drawn to go in? The prohibited is attractive! We fall short of God's standard and we break God's law. God's standard is the spotless white of the bride, but our best efforts are only like the filthy rags in the kitchen used to clean up what the dog threw up! (Isaiah 64:6).

These four descriptions are terrible! Helpless, wicked, undeserving sinners - that was our condition B.C. - before Christ came into our lives. The fifth description is the worst of all.

5. Enemies
We are God's enemies! People find this description the most difficult to accept. They say: I am not mad at God: Why should he regard me as his enemy? Perhaps I don't really care about him, but I just want him to leave me alone. Let me be! We are strangers to each other; so what? Many of you do not know my brother Val in Chicago. If I told you that he regards all of you as his enemies, what would you say? Val is crazy! Mad! Strangers, yes; enemies? Ridiculous. Many people think of God like that. They think God is just like my brother Val - a stranger. Of course you can ignore Val and it doesn't make much difference to your life. But God? That is something else. You cannot ignore God. He is the Maker of heaven and earth! He upholds the universe! He created each one of us for himself. He wants each one of us to know him, to love him, to worship him, and to enjoy him forever! But we have turned away from him, rejecting his rule, preferring to go our own way. We are rebels! And therefore, enemies! Separated from God because of our sin and rebellion, and in danger of being separated from God forever, unless and until we are reconciled to God through Christ.

Conclusion
All who put their faith in Jesus have been justified, or put right with God, says Paul in Romans 5:1. The five descriptions are no longer true of them. They were helpless but God's power has saved them. They were wicked and ungodly but now Christ has come into their lives to transform their character. They are still undeserving because grace always means undeserved favor but they have now received God's grace. They are no longer sinners and rebels because Christ has reconciled them to the Father by his death. God offers them amnesty and they said Yes. Our whole condition B.C. -- before Christ - has changed drastically! All because Christ died for us, and we put our faith in him. How do you know that God loves you? You know because Jesus died for you. Hallelujah!