Sovereign Grace Chapel, located
at 135 Annabel Lane in Beaver, West Virginia, invites you to
listen to a gospel message concerning Jesus Christ our Lord. Good morning, and welcome to
this early morning TV broadcast. I want to read Romans chapter
five, read from Romans chapter five rather. Just want to read
a few verses. I want to read Romans chapter
five, verses six through 11, and listen to these words. For
when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the
ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous
man will one die. Yet peradventure for a good man,
some would even dare to die. But God commendeth his love toward
us, and that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved
from wrath through him. For if when we were enemies,
we were reconciled to God by the death of his son, much more
being reconciled, we shall be saved. by his life, and not only
so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom
we have now received the atonement, or the word could also be reconciliation. I have a title, and I want you
to think about this. It's simple, but I think it's
to the point, especially to the point for my message this morning.
Here's my title. This is, you can say, my subject.
Christ's death got the job done. Do you hear what I just said?
I said Christ's death got the job done. Now it's sad that I
have to say this. Sad that it's so. But men and
women have been so, so hoodwinked. So indoctrinated by denominational
opinion. The world thinks Christ's death
was some grand attempt to make salvation possible. Now you know
that's true. I'm not building up some straw
band now and beating the daylights out of that straw band trying
to make my own point. You know this is true. Men and
women believe today. They teach today. It's taught
from podiums similar to this right here in places called churches
that Christ's death was some grand attempt to make salvation
possible. Preachers will say things like,
God's done all he can do. Even speaking about the grand
and glorious person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
they'll make statements like, God's done all he can do. Now it's up to you. This is not
the language of Holy Scripture. It's certainly not the language
of our text. Now, I just have two points,
but I want to try to elaborate on some things from these two
points. First of all, the first thing this morning, let's just
get right to it. Look at the people for whom Christ's
death got the job done. Do you hear what I'm saying?
Remember, that's my title, that's my subject. Christ's death got
the job done. So let's look from our text.
Let's look at the people for whom Christ's death got the job
done. Number one, sinners. Sinners. Look at it. Romans chapter
five, verse eight. But God commendeth his love toward
us in that while we were yet sinners. Do you see it? Sinners. Christ died for us. So who did Christ die for? Sinners. But it's more than that. Our
text has much more than that. Look at this second thought under
there. Look at the people for whom Christ's
death got the job done. Remember, that's my title, that's
my subject. Christ's death got the job done. And we're looking
here at the people for whom Christ's death got the job done. First
of all, remember, what? Sinners. Chapter five, verse
eight, but also that, there's more than that. Chapter five,
verse 10, look at what it says. For if when we were enemies,
do you see that? Enemies, who did Christ die for?
Sinners. Who did Christ die for? The enemies
of God. Do you see that? The enemies
of God. I asked myself this question.
I asked you this question by nature as you're born, who you
are in and of yourself, in and of yourself. Are you a God-hating
sinner? That's what an enemy is. Enemies
hate one another. This says, for if when we were
enemies, do you see it? For if when we were enemies,
are you a God-hating sinner? But you know what? Our passage
is not done yet. Remember, Christ died for sinners. Christ died for the enemies of
God. But also look at verse six again. Christ died for who? The strengthless. Strengthless,
do you see that? Chapter five, verse six. For
when we were yet, do you see those next two words? If you're
reading along, you can see them right there. For when we were
yet, what does that say? without strength. Not of little strength. Not of
weak strength. Without strength. We can look at these people,
see who they are in the text? Look at the people for whom Christ's
death got the job done. Sinners. Enemies of God. Strengthless. No spark of good. That's strengthless. No ability
to believe, that's strengthless. No will free from Adam's fall. You realize we fail in Adam,
don't you? When Adam sinned in that garden,
we sinned in that garden. Wherefore as by one man sinned
in and into the world, it's even here in our text, I didn't read
all of it. Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world,
and death by sin, so death passed, passed upon all men, for that
all have sinned. How did they all sin? They sinned
when Adam sinned. And read the rest of this chapter.
It clearly teaches this truth. No spark of good, no ability
to believe, no will free from Adam's fall. You and I by nature,
you and I by nature, you and I, and me by nature. You and I by nature are God-hated,
powerless sinners. I ask you that. Have you ever
seen that of yourself? Are you? Now I made the statement
that you are. But I'm asking you now, have
you ever seen it? Has God ever revealed that to you? Has he
ever opened your eyes, spiritually speaking now, and your ears,
spiritually speaking now, and your heart, spiritually speaking
now, to see what you really are, that you're a sinner, that you're
an enemy of God, that you're strengthless. Maybe you've tried
to believe and tried to repent and has tried and tried and worked
and worked and nothing seems to cut it. You know why? Because
you are strengthless. You, you are. Or may I put it, are you? Are
you a God-hating, powerless sinner? Are you offended at such a thought?
Then stop if you are. If you're offended by what I've
just said, now, what I've just said's come from the book of
God. If you don't believe the book of God, fine, there's nothing
I can say that will convince you of anything. But if you have
some inkling, just something inside you says, I believe this
is the word of God. I asked you, are you a God-hating,
powerless sinner? Does such a thought offend you?
If it does offend you, if you say, I will not believe that,
then let me tell you this. Stop your whining about Christ
not getting the job done for you. If you're a sinner, God
showed it to you. If you're an enemy of God and
God showed you that it's not just what you do, now what you
do and what I do, it is seeing in God's sight, but where does
that flow from? It flows from down in here in
our wicked, evil, God-hating hearts. That's where it flows
from. And if you're a sinner, if you
know that deep down inside you by nature you're an enemy of
God, that you are strengthless, that you are powerless, then
I say there is hope for you. Because Jesus Christ died for
who? Sinners. He died for the enemies of God.
He died for those that are strengthless. Christ died for these God-hating,
powerless sinners. But our text isn't done yet.
We're still on number one, remember. Look at the people for whom Christ's
death got the job done. Remember, they're sinners. They're
the enemies of God. They are strengthless, but here's
the fourth thing under this first point. Christ's death got the
job done for who? For when we were yet without
strength, Christ, without strength, I'm sorry, let me read it again.
For when we were yet without strength, in due time, Christ
died for thee. What's that next word? Do you
have your Bible? If you don't, listen to the next word. Just
one more word in that verse. Godly. You see that? Men argue, there is this argue
about it. For whom did Christ die? He died
for the ungodly. It's what this says. For when
we were yet without strength. Remember, strengthless. Enemies
of God. Sinners, but it's more than that,
as I said. For when we were yet without
strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. Are you an ungodly, strengthless,
God-hating, enemy, sinner? Are you that? If you can taste that, if you
can feel that inside you, and you know that your life is all
about you, not God, that how you spend your time and your
thoughts and in your actions, And in your desires, that you
spend your time about you and the things of this world, and
you know that you've tried to be religious, you've tried to
be moral, you've tried to believe, you've tried to repent, even
tried to go to church, and that just didn't seem to work for
you. And you know that, you see that deep down in your soul,
that I'm telling you, if you are, if God has shown you that
you are a sinner, that you are an enemy of God, that you are
strengthless. If God showed you this, and that
you are ungodly, Christ died for you. But if you reject that,
and you say, I will not hear that, then I have nothing for
you. I have no message for you, because
in due time, Christ died for the ungodly, when they were yet
without strength. But God commended his love toward
us, and while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. For if when
we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son.
Now I can hear it. I can hear it. Some wise acre says, but everyone
is all these things. All have sinned and come short
of the glory of God, yes. But I ask you this. Ask them
if they are. I challenge you. Go out to Walmart
later on today. It's early, I realize it's early
in the morning. You're listening to this broadcast. But later
on today, go out sometime this evening and walk around to the
people you see in Walmart. And you ask them, are you a sinner?
And I'm sure a lot of them will say, yeah, yeah, I'm a sinner.
But then say, are you an enemy of God kind of sinner? Well,
then the numbers start to dwindle. Well, are you an enemy of God? Are you a sinner? Are you a strengthless
sinner? Well, I mean, I believe in free
will. I believe I can if. No, strength
less. The numbers start to dwindle.
Ask them. I challenge you. Go into Walmart and ask them.
Are you ungodly? You know, I dare say, not all,
but I dare say that even some of the drunks laying under the
bridge, poor soul, with his bottle of wine or his marijuana cigarettes
or his heroin or his cocaine, whatever it is, and you ask him,
are you ungodly? And I'd say, many of them say,
well, no, I'm not ungodly. Now, yeah, I'm a sinner, yeah,
I'm bad off, but I realize I could pull myself up by my own bootstraps.
I'm not talking about those kind of folks. I'm talking about sinners. I talk about enemies of God.
I talk about men and women who know they're strengthless. I'm
talking about men and women who know this, I'm ungodly. Down in here, thoughts arise
that God ought to put me in hell forever. God ought to banish
me into the darkness of condemnation forever. I deserve it. If I went
to hell, God's law would clap. God's law would clap. Remember, we've just taken a
look from the scripture, from this passage of scripture itself,
and this is not an isolated text. There are many more throughout
the scripture, but we're looking at these verses in detail. What
do they actually say? It says Christ died for sinners.
Christ died for the enemies of God. Christ died for those that
are strengthless. Christ died for the ungodly.
God ever put you there? ever shown you what you really
are? So I tell you, everybody's like that. No, they're not. Not
everybody's thirsty. Not everybody's hungry. Not everybody
thirsts after the righteousness of God. Remember our Lord, the
master himself said, seek ye first the kingdom of God, all
these things will be added to you. And he also said that those
that hunger and thirst after righteousness, why? Because they
don't have any. They hunger and thirst after
righteousness because they're totally devoid of it. Now our
Lord said, he that hungereth and thirsteth after righteousness,
what did he say? Shall be filled. Why? Christ died for sinners.
Christ died for the enemies of God. Christ died for the strengthless. Christ died for the ungodly. Now here's my second point this
morning. I want us to hear this morning. I want us to hear. I
need to hear it. I can't prove this to you, but
as God is my witness, I'm not preaching down to you. At one
time, I was one of those people who said, I may be a sinner,
but I'm not an enemy of God. I mean, I made a profession of
faith and was baptized and joined the church when I was just that
big, five or six years old. I did not see myself as an enemy
of God. I certainly did not see myself
as strengthless. I certainly did not see myself
as ungodly. But one day, all of a sudden,
God rocked my boat. All of a sudden, God Almighty
rang my bell, and God began to show me what I really am, not
just what I was doing. That was bad enough, but that
the fountain from which all of this doing came was right in
here. in here in my mind and my heart. But here's the thing, here's
the second thing. I want us to hear from our text. Hear God's
Christ getting the job done for a wretch like me. You hear what
I just said? Remember, we've looked at the
people for whom Christ's death got the job done. Now here's
the second point. I want us to hear God's Christ
getting the job done for a wretch like me. And can I maybe just say maybe
for a wretch like you? Do you see that? Do you know
that? Look at it, just five things here. Five things here by remaining
time. First of all, and this is just
a general statement. I'll show these other four. We'll
look at it from the text, but I'm kind of summarizing the whole
thing in this first point. Remember, here God's Christ getting
the job done for a wretch like me. For a wretch like you. Here it is. Christ died for. You see it? Christ died for the
ungodly. For. He died, we could say, in
the place of. This old Scott Richardson, pastor
at Katie Baptist Church, Fairmont, West Virginia, gone on to be
with the Lord now, but he used to say he died in your room and
your stead. Christ died for the ungodly. Christ, think about it now. This
is the preponderant testimony of our passage, of our text this
morning, but it's the preponderant testimony of all of Scripture. Genesis to Malachi, Matthew to
Revelation. It's the sum and substance of
all of this book. That's right, it began even in
Genesis. It goes all throughout the book, even our Lord Jesus
Christ. It's declared by the prophet
David and then revealed again by the writer of Hebrews that
Christ said in the volume, Christ said in the volume, the volume
of the book, it is written of me. So now let's hear God's Christ
getting the job done for a wretch like me, for a wretch like you. Christ died for the ungodly.
Christ suffered the judgment due their ungodliness. Have you
ever wondered why he had to cry on that cross? Why Christ had
to cry on that cross? Why he cried out, my God, my
God? The sun went dark. The sun, I
think it was for about three hours. The sun went dark and
he cried out, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? You know what God did? God the Father turned His back
on the Son. You know why? Because He was
made sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the
righteousness of God in Him. And when God seen sin, and it
says, He bore our sins were in His own body on the tree. When
God Almighty seen our sin, our, the ungodly sin in the Son's
body, not His own sin, our sin, God the Father turned His back
on Him. Christ suffered the judgment due their ungodliness. That's the summary of the whole
thing, but now let's look at a few of the particulars. Here's
the second thought of this. Remember, we're looking at this.
We're hearing from the word, God's Christ, getting the job
done for a wretch like me. Here's the second thought. God
manifested, I'm sorry, Christ manifested God's love in this. Get the job done death. Do you
see what I'm saying? He manifested God's love. Romans
chapter five and verse eight, look. But God commendeth his
love toward us. Think about it. Oh God, help
me to get this, help you to get this. God's love is not just
some emotion. God's love is his action. God's
love is who he is in Christ. But God commendeth his love toward
us in that while we were yet sinners, before we ever believed,
before we ever repented. before we ever joined up with
God's people and rejoiced in the glory and the power of the
personal work of Jesus Christ. When we were yet sinners, Christ
died for us. Christ manifested God's love
in this get the job done death. And I'm here to tell you he got
the job done in his death. How can I say that? Look at this
third thing. Christ got the job of justification
done. It's right here in our text,
do you see it? Christ got the job of justification done. I
don't know if that's even proper English or not, but it's still
truth. Christ got the job of justification done. Look at chapter
five, verse nine. Much more then, being now justified
by his blood. The thing about this, the book
of God is clear. Hebrews is absolutely clear. He shed his blood once. He's not continually shedding
his blood. He's not continually using his
blood in some mysterious, spooky way. He shed his blood once on
Calvary's tree. He offered one sacrifice for
sins forever. This book says much more than
being now justified by his blood. Do you see it? We shall be saved
from wrath through him. What wrath? All wrath. Wrath
right now, wrath in the great day to come, wrath at the great
white throne judgment. But God commendeth his love. This is God's love in action.
Jesus Christ shedding his blood, his precious blood for who? Sinners. Sinners. Christ Jesus shedded
his blood for the very enemies of God. Christ Jesus shedded
his blood for the strengthless. Christ Jesus shedding his blood,
dare I say it, yes I do, even for the ungodly. Those things ring a bell in my
ear. Sinner. Enemy of God. Strengthless. Ungodly? I own that. I own that before God. So remember,
we looked at the people for whom Christ's death got the job done,
but now we're looking at this. We're hearing God's Christ getting
the job done for a wretch like me. Maybe. Are you a wretch? Are you getting the job done
for a wretch like you? Remember, he died for the ungodly. Christ manifested God's love
in this get the job done. Christ got the job of justification
done, but it's even more than that. Look at chapter five, verse
10. Excuse me. Look at it. Verse
10, are you following along? If not, listen. If you're not
following, if you can't follow, that's fine, but listen. I'll
read this word for word. For if, he's explaining verse
nine and verse eight. For if, when we were enemies,
do you see that? For if, when we were enemies,
we were reconciled to God by the death of his son. So when
did he reconcile me? Listen to me now. He didn't reconcile
me when I believed. He didn't reconcile me when I
repented. He didn't reconcile me when I went into the waters
of baptism to confess Christ and give answer of a good conscience
toward God. He didn't reconcile me when I
joined up with God's people. He doesn't reconcile me as I
ask him for forgiveness of my sins. God's people engage in
all these things, but he reconciled us when we were enemies. Do you
see it? For if when we were enemies,
we were reconciled to God, how? By the death of his son. Anyone, now listen to me now,
anyone and everyone who is reconciled to God were reconciled to God
when Christ died on that tree. If you're not, you will never
be reconciled. You can't repent enough. You
can't believe enough. You can't join the church strongly
enough. You can't go into the waters
of baptism long enough Reconciliation comes by the death of Jesus Christ. That's how it happened. Christ
Jesus' death got the job done. And that's what we're hearing
from God's Word right here. Hear God's Christ getting the
job done for a wretch like me. He died for the ungodly. He,
Christ, manifested God's love in this get the job done death. Christ got the job of justification
done. Christ got the job of reconciliation
done by his death. Now, one more, one more, number
five. Those for whom Christ died will
receive. this reconciliation, or as it
puts it here, atonement. Look at verse seven. And not
only this, not only that, not only did he reconcile us to God
by his death when we were enemies, but look, and not only so, but
we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we
have now received the atonement, or that word could be reconciliation.
You see, everyone who's ever repented, Everyone who's ever
believed. Everyone who's ever truly repented
and believed and been baptized. Everyone who's ever truly repented,
believed, baptized, joined up with God's people. They did so
by and through the Lord Jesus Christ himself. He's the fountain
of it and he's the flow of it. He's the cause of it. He's the
reason for it. Those for whom Christ died will
receive that reconciliation. I got a question. How bad are you? You hear what
I said? I'm asking really, come on now.
You don't have to put on a show for me, and there's no need for
you to put on a show for everybody else. How bad are you? Do you need a possible salvation?
Or do you need a salvation that got the job done? I want you
to consider that problem. Do you need a salvation where
Christ just made it possible if you'll do the right thing?
Or do you need that kind of salvation from a Jesus Christ, the Lord,
from the Lord of glory himself, from God manifest in the flesh?
Do you need a salvation that got the job done?