All right, do you still have
Romans chapter five? Romans five. Follow along with me in this
one verse of scripture. Verse six, Romans five, verse
six. The Lord willing, this will serve
as our text this morning. For when we were yet without
strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. We, God's sheep, that's where
he finds every one of his sheep, without strength. That's a sad condition. Without
strength. Unable to help ourselves out
of that lost condition. No way of recovery by ourselves. Depraved. Deplorable. Desperate. And here we read,
we're helpless. We're without strength. There
are a number of examples of this found in God's Word. In Luke, the book of Luke, we
read of a man who he fell among thieves and they stripped him
of his raiment. They took everything that he
had and they wounded him. And they departed from him, leaving
him for dead. They just left him for dead.
This man was without strength. He's helpless, hopeless. He can do nothing about his condition. But then a Samaritan passes by. And he stops, and he comes to
him where he is. And that Samaritan bound up his
wounds. He poured in oil and wine and
he set him on his own beast. That beast that he was riding,
he set him up on that beast and he took him to an inn and took care of him. And the next day he departed.
That fellow departed and he took out two pence and he gave it
to the keeper of that inn, to the host, and he said to him,
Whatsoever thou spendest, whatever it takes to take care of this
man, when I come again, I'll repay thee. This man could do nothing for
himself. He was completely dependent on another. Why is that so difficult for
us? We live under a delusion that
we can take care of ourselves sometime. And it's so painful
when we find out that we can't. When we figure out that we're
dependent on someone else, this man was completely dependent
on that Samaritan. If left to himself, He would
have died. Listen, those folks that took
everything he had and wounded him, they left him for dead. Left for dead without strength. Yet he is saved by the work of
another. Turn to Mark chapter five. Here's
another example. Mark chapter five. Look at verse 35. Mark 5, 35. was speaking here, and it says,
verse 35, while he yet spake, there came from the ruler of
the synagogue's house certain which said, thy daughter is dead. Why troublest thou the master
any further? This maiden is obviously helpless. They said she's dead. And as
soon as Jesus heard the word that was spoken, he said to the
ruler of the synagogue, don't be afraid. Be not afraid, only
believe. And he suffered no man to follow
him save Peter and James and John, the brother of James. And
he come up to the house of the ruler of the synagogue and he
sees the tumult. Imagine, this child had just
passed away and it says, they wept and wailed greatly. And when the Lord came in, he
said to him, why do you make this ado and weep? The damsel is not dead, but sleepeth. And everybody around when they
heard that, they laughed him to scorn. But when he had put
them all out, he took the father and the mother of the damsel,
and them that were with him, and he entered in where the damsel
was lying, and he took that damsel by the hand, and he said to her,
Talitha, Cumi, which is being interpreted, damsel, I say unto
thee, arise. And straightway the damsel arose
and walked. It was clear there was life there. She rose up and she walked. And she was 12 years old and
they were astonished with great astonishment. There's only one to heal. There
is only one to help. This little girl was without
strength. She could do nothing for herself.
Those around could do nothing for her. Turn back to the Old
Testament. Turn to Ezekiel 16. Ezekiel chapter 16. Look at verse three. Familiar passage of scripture.
Ezekiel 16, verse three. Go back to verse one. Again,
the word of the Lord came unto me saying, son of man, cause
Jerusalem to know her abominations and say, Say this, thus saith
the Lord, the God unto Jerusalem, thy birth and thy nativity is
the land of Canaan, thy father was an Amorite, thy mother an
Hittite, and as for the day of thy nativity and the day that
you were born, thy navel was not cut, neither was thou washed
in water to supple thee, Thou was not salted at all nor swaddled
at all. None I pitied thee to do any
of these unto thee, to have compassion upon thee. But thou was cast
out into the open field to the loathing of thy person in the
day that thou was born. And when I passed by thee, And
it saw thee polluted in thy own blood. I said unto thee, when
thou wast in thy blood, live. Just speak the word, live. Yea, I said unto thee, when thou
wast in thy blood, live. This infant is without strength. This infant was unwanted. cast
out into the field to perish. You know, we were born just like
this child of sinful parents, without strength, without ability,
without desire to do anything about it. And even worse, listen, we're
helpless, hopeless, without power, without any ability and there's
none to help. There was none to help. Look
back at verse five. Look what it says there. It says,
none I pitied thee. No one had pity on this child.
And that's every one of us by nature. Laying out there in that
empty field to the loathing of our person. The law, what does the law do? It condemns me. It can only do
one thing, that's find fault with me. God's holiness, God's
absolutely holy. When he looks upon me in that
condition, his holiness is offended, rightly so. Truth, the truth
testifies against us, declares us guilty. And justice, God's
justice, if left in that condition, is gonna bear its mighty sword
and destroy Every one of us. Think about what a horrible,
horrible sight this is. But it's a picture of every fallen
sinner. Every sinner. We read in Isaiah
1, verse 6, from the sole of the foot to the head, there's
no soundness. It's nothing but wounds and bruises. and putrefying sores. They haven't
been bound up. They haven't been mollified with
ointment. What did we read in Romans 5,
6? It says this, when ye were yet without strength. Helpless. Helpless. And if there's any help, If there's
any help from such a fallen creature, it can only come from Almighty
God. The Lord says, I saw thee polluted
in thine own blood. That little infant wasn't left
there, was she? He said, I saw thee polluted
in thine own blood. And I said this, I said, live.
He speaks life to a dead sinner. And if we read on that text,
the Lord says this, he says, it was a time, it was a time
of love. A time of love. For God so loved,
he gave. He gave his only begotten son. And this has manifested the love
of God toward us because God sent his only begotten son into
the world that we might live through him. It's by his love. And he says,
when I saw this, it was a time of love. And he covered her nakedness. Is that not what he did for every
one of his sheep? covers our nakedness. He said,
I'm going to enter into a covenant with thee. He said, thou becamest mine. You don't belong to those sinful
parents anymore. You belong to me. You're a child
of the king. He said, I washed thee, and I
clothed thee, and thy renown, it was such that it went forth
among the heathen. for thy beauty. What about her
beauty? Where'd that come from? It was
perfect beauty, and it was through him, all of him. Where was she found? Where was
this infant found? The same condition as all of
us, without strength. We'll turn back to our text,
turn back to Romans chapter five. When we were yet without strength, in due time, in due time, Christ
died for the ungodly. In due time. When is that? That's
in God's time. That's in His time. That's when
He's pleased to save. A time to save, a time to help.
He comes to those that are going to be saved. Those whom He has
saved. when they were without strength.
And he comes in his power and his grace. Isn't it even more magnified? We're brought to the absolute
lowest of lows and God's pleased to come and save us. Who gets
the glory in that? It's not because a man let somebody
do something for him. It's all of him. It's all of
God. In Deuteronomy 32, 36, God's
word says, for the Lord shall judge his people and repent himself
for his servants when he seeth that their power is gone. Takes all the sap right out of
us. None to shut up, none left. And
sadly, we have to be brought to this point. We have to be
brought to our knees before we will cry out for help. In due
time, in his time. 1 Peter 5 verse 6 says, humble
yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God that he may
exalt you, when? In due time, in due time, God's
time. Back to here again in Romans
5, 6. when you were yet without strength in due time, look at
these next two words, Christ died. Christ died. And then these five
words here, Christ died for the ungodly. Five words, five words. In these five words, we have
the gospel. The good news, Christ died for
the ungodly. Now it's very important, we've
got to know this, who died? The Lord Jesus Christ died. He's the only begotten, well-beloved
Son of God. And He came to this earth in
human flesh, in human nature. In Matthew 16 verse 13, turn
there with me, turn back just a few pages to Matthew 16. Look at, again, Matthew 16 verse
13. Our Lord asked this question.
See verse 13, it says, when Jesus came into the coast of Caesarea
Philippi, he asked his disciples saying, whom do men say that
I the son of man am? Who do men say that I am? And
they answered him. Look at verse 14. They said,
well, some say you're John the Baptist, some say you're Elias,
others say Jeremiah, others say that you're one of the prophets. Whom do men say that I am? And you know, everybody, you
just ask around, everybody's got an opinion of who they think
Jesus Christ is. He was born, think about this,
the Lord Jesus Christ was born 2,000 years ago. Not in a palace,
but in a barn. And he was placed in a manger,
laid in a stall, surrounded by shepherds and cattle. And probably everybody here's
been inside a barn before. He was born in a barn. His friends,
they weren't the high and mighty of the time. They were poor people. They were unknown people. They
were publicans. and sinners. The Lord Jesus Christ created
this, He created this world. And there's no indication He
even owned a plot of land. He went about doing good. He
went about healing the sick and raising the dead and preaching
the gospel. And after 33 years, He was accused
of all things heresy. And the only witnesses they had
were false witnesses that were hired to testify against him.
He was taken and brutally treated by soldiers. He was denounced
by all the high and mighty religious people of that day. And then
he was sentenced to be hanged on a cross. He did have 12 so-called friends,
12 followers. One of those betrayed him for
30 pieces of silver. Another, Peter, denied him three
times. I don't know him. I do not. And
the others all departed from him when he was crucified. He was nailed to the cross. Think
about that. The Lord of Glories nailed to
a cross between two common thieves. And as He died on that cross,
even the Father turned His head from Him. Our Lord, as He hanged on the
cross, He said, My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me? And he was taken down from that
cross and he was buried in a tomb that didn't even belong to him.
It was a borrowed tomb. Who is he? Who is the Lord Jesus
Christ? And his disciples answered and
they said, well, here's who man say you are. But then he looked
at them. And he said, whom say ye that
I am? That's not what others say, not
what others think, not what others' opinions are. What think ye of
the Christ? What think ye of Christ? Whose
son is he? And Simon Peter answered and
said this, who is he? Thou art the Christ, the son
of the living God. Almighty God spoke this from
heaven. He said, this is my beloved son
in whom I'm well pleased. Was that ever said of, could
that be said of any other man but Christ? Who died? Christ died, the Son of God died. And how did he die? He died the
death of shame. He died under the wrath and judgment
of his father. Paul writing to the Philippians,
he said, being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself
and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Well, why did he do that? Why? Why did the Lord Jesus Christ
die? He died for his people. He died
for, in the stead of, and as a substitute for all of God's
elect. He died, listen, that God might
be just in punishing sin and justify in being merciful to
sinners. As He hung there on the cross,
right, He was made, Scripture says He was made sin. The Son of God was made sin. Made to be sin that knew no sin.
He knew no sin. That we might be made the righteousness
of God in Him. The Lord Jesus Christ, He knew
no sin. He's the spotless Lamb of God. He knew no sin. He did no sin. We can't even begin to imagine
that, can we? He was perfect, absolutely perfect
before the law of God, but there on the cross, our sins were laid
on Him. Reckoned to Him. He was numbered
with the transgressors. He bare the sin of many. He bore our sins in His body
on the tree and He suffered and died under the wrath of Almighty
God. Made sin. that we might be made the righteousness
of God in Him. He became what He could never
be, sin. And in doing so, He made His
people what we could never be, righteous, righteous before God
the Father. He died. Our Lord spoke and he
said this, he said, I lay down my life for the sheep. Well, back to our text. Look again at Romans chapter
five. Verse six again, for when ye
were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. Here at the end of this verse
we see who he died for. He died, Christ died for the
ungodly. Are you hearing what I'm hearing?
Christ died for the ungodly. Listen, not just for those who
were without strength, helpless creatures that were going to
perish, but guilty, sinful creatures
deserving of death, deserving of condemnation, worthless, vile,
obnoxious, a people unworthy of any favor
with God. Listen to just a few of these
passages from God's Word. We read that while we were yet
sinners, Christ died for us. According to his great love,
wherein he loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses and
sins. Scripture says he came to seek
and to save who? That which was lost. I ask you, could there be a statement,
could there be a truth any more encouraging than these five words? Christ died for the ungodly. That word ungodly, it means no
reverence. A person who has absolutely no
reverence for God, for who he is, for what he did. Irreverence,
contempt. It means to be contempt with
God. That's us. He doesn't say he died for righteous
men. It doesn't say he died for religious
men, people that go about putting on a show of religion. He didn't
die for good men. He didn't die that men could
be good. The Word declares he died for
the ungodly. Not a reward for being self-righteous. He died to forgive us of our
sin, to put it away. You know, there was a woman,
there was a sinful woman that walked into a room where our
Lord was, surrounded by people, and she walked up quietly, and
she got down at his feet, and she washed them. She washed them with her tears. She washed them with the hairs
of her head. Could there be anything more
humbling than that? His feet. And she put perfume
on them, fine perfume on them. And the people that were all
around, they had a problem with that,
didn't they? A woman that everyone knew was
a sinner. Everybody knew that about this
woman. She knew this about herself. And our Lord said to her, thy
sins, which are many, are forgiven. There was another woman. She
was taken in the very act of adultery. And she was drug into
the middle of a service. That woman was a sinner. And
yet our Lord said to her, it was all over and done with. He
said, neither do I condemn thee. He said, where are thine accusers?
She said, none Lord. He said, neither do I condemn
thee. Go and sin no more. Our Lord, he passed through Jericho.
There was a publican there named Zacchaeus. Publicans were notorious
sinners. Were awful. People in town, when
they seen this, they murmured. Our Lord went to his house. And
the people, they weren't happy about that. They murmured. They said, he's
a guest with a man that's a sinner. What did the Lord say to Zacchaeus? He said this, he said, this day. Boy, no doubt Zacchaeus rejoiced
in that day that the Lord had made, didn't he? He said, this
day is salvation come to your house. for so much as he's a
son of Abraham. God's word doesn't say that he
died the just for the just, does it? He died the just for the unjust. I'll close with this. Last night
I was reading, I love that account of the prodigal of the prodigal
son. He wasted away everything he
had, his money, his substance, that which his father had given
him. He joined himself to a farmer. He was out in the field. Listen,
he'd come from a wealthy family. And now he spent away everything
he had on riotous living And he goes to some farmer and he
says, just give me a job. Let me feed the pigs. Let me
take care of them. Says he would have fain eat the
husk that the swine did eat, basically what was left over
when those pigs were finished eating. I thought, can you imagine
this boy's appearance? Can you imagine what he looked
like? His clothes all tattered and
torn. Can you imagine, I just think
about this, how awful he must have smelled. Any of you been
around pigs? I grew up about a mile from a
farm and on a windy day, you could smell that farm. It was
awful. And this prodigal, Scripture
says he comes to himself. And he returns to his father. He says, why do I live like this? I could be a servant in my father's
house if you'll take me. And he goes to his father. And
his father saw him, saw him a great way off. You know, he saw him, he could
have locked the doors and just said, let's hop in the car and
let's get out of here before he gets home. But that's not
what he did, is it? He was a great way off and the
father saw him and he had compassion on him. And I don't, I think
I've seen this for the first time last night. Turn to Luke,
Luke 15. Luke 15, verse 20. Do you have verse 20? He arose,
the prodigal. He arose and he came to his father,
but when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him. And his father had compassion
on him. And he ran. This is still talking about the
father. The father ran to him. You'd think it'd be the other
way around, wouldn't you? We were yet without strength. Running wasn't an option on our
part, without strength. And the father, listen, he had
compassion. The father ran and the father
fell on his neck. That son's filthy. There's nothing
desirable about him at all. The father ran and fell on his
neck and he kissed him. And listen to what he says. This
is my son. Most of us would, we'd want to
hide that kid somewhere, wouldn't we? We wouldn't want, this is
my, he's mine. This is my son. Bring forth. Not some old clothes we were
getting ready to donate to Goodwill. You come and put the best robe
on him. And you put a ring on his hand,
shoes on his feet, and you bring forth a fatted calf and kill
it and let us eat. For this my son was dead. and is alive again. He was lost,
and now he's found. Let us eat. Let us eat and be
merry. We'd be thinking, my gosh, when
the neighbors look over here and see us with this boy that's
been gone, what are they going to say? He's mine. He's my, let us eat
and be merry. You know there's joy in the presence
of the angels of God over one sinner, one sinner that repenteth. For when we were yet without
strength in due time, Christ died. For who? For the ungodly. Thank God for his word.