Good morning. It is great to
be here and to see you here. So if you'll bear with us this
morning, we'll try to address issues that are altogether important
We don't worry about trivial things. We don't have a dress
code. We don't tell you what to eat,
nor what to drink. We tell you who God is, who Christ
is, and what we are, nothing but low-down sinners from head
to foot. And our only hope Our only hope
is Christ Himself. My title this morning, well let's
see, you can be turning to Romans 5, 5th chapter of Romans, and there are, how shall we say
this, Three words within the space
of five verses, that is what I'm aiming at this morning. It's not comforting to the natural
man. Some people just get in a huff
and storm out the door and say, I ain't gonna listen to that.
Well, if you don't listen to it now, you're gonna wish you
did in eternity. Because this is the people that
God saves in Christ. In verse 6 they're called ungodly. Christ died for the ungodly. Now that is the simplest of sentences. And yet people are all in a buzz
if you try preaching it. I know. I've been booted out
of many Baptist churches and I counted an honor. an honor
that God gave me to put some backbone in this back that didn't
have any. Not literally, spiritually. Second word is in verse 8, and
it is sinners. Christ died for sinners. Well, what about good people?
There ain't no good people. Every member of the human race
from Adam up until now are sinners. We like to think how good we
are, how much we do for God, how much money we give and all
this junk, and it ain't worth talking about. Christ is worth talking about. In verse 10, We're called His
enemies. God sent Christ into this world
to save His enemies. And if you find out you are one
of those, He's on your trail. And you can't get away from Him.
You might get away from me, that ain't hard. If you wait a little
while, I'll be dead, I'm getting old. But you can't escape Him. You remember in Philippians chapter
3, Paul spoke of his being captured by Christ on the road to Damascus. He used a very strong word. He
said, I was apprehended. That's what we do to thieves
and murderers. The police put, they apprehend
them, put them in cuffs. That's what Christ does in the
gospel spiritually. Oh, but preacher, I've got to
do something. Well, just tell me what it is then. I don't know
what it is, because it isn't. You are to come as empty-handed
as you were the day you were born, and so must I. So let's look at these three
little words and this subject, Christ died for the ungodly. First thing I want to do is read
you this chapter. And if I talk too much, I won't
read the whole thing. But if I can stay in a pace,
I'll try to do that. Now before we start to read, let's Let's beg the Lord to presence
Himself in this out-of-the-way place. O Lord our God, we come to You this day through the merits and blood
of our Lord Jesus Christ whom you sent into this world
to save sinners, and we are indeed the chief of sinners. Lord, we come with your word
opened in front of us. We pray that you would open our
understanding to what we read. Let us see who Christ is and
what He's accomplished for sinners and why He did it. Take the blessed words of this
book and burn them into our souls
that we never leave them. We go to our graves believing that we know the Lord Jesus Christ
who alone can save. And Lord, God of heaven and earth,
we dare to meet you on that ground. Oh, what a blessed day that will
be. We beg now for your help. Give this poor backward preacher
the right words to say and the strength to say it. We beg in our Savior's name.
Amen. Verse 1, Romans chapter 5, Therefore,
being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our
Lord Jesus Christ. How do you get faith? through
our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom also, by Christ also, we have
access by faith into this grace, the important word now, grace,
into this grace wherein we stand and rejoice in hope of the glory
of God. And not only so, but we glory
in tribulations also. Now, that ain't always easy to
do, is it? We're in trouble. We're in a
sickness that's likely to take us to our grave. The death of
loved ones. We glory in tribulations also. Knowing that tribulation works
patience. Now there's a breed of preachers
in America who will lie to you on that point, and they tell
you if you'll make a decision and accept Jesus, everything's
hunky-dory from there on out. I'm here to tell you that ain't
the case. Why does He give us tribulations?
Verse 3, knowing that tribulation works or produces patience, which
everybody has plenty of until we need it. And patience works
experience, and experience works hope, and hope makes not ashamed
because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy
Spirit who is given unto us. Verse 6, For when we were yet,
or still, without strength, In due time, Christ died for the
ungodly. Now many, many, many, many centuries
went by before Christ came into this world and became God incarnate
in human flesh. So there were a lot of generations
throughout the Old Testament that God taught in words and
pictures and types and symbols to teach them something of who
God is in Christ, to reveal Christ to them to the saving of their
souls. I've lost the chapter right now,
but it's in the book of Hebrews, where they give that catalog
of faith. You'll find a great many Old Testament characters
in that list. Chapter 11, is that right? Thank
you, Craig. In due time, Christ died for
the ungodly. For scarcely or hardly for a
righteous man will one die, yet peradventure for a good man some
would even dare to die. But God commends his love toward
us in that while we were still, what's that word, sinners, Christ
died for us. died for us. He didn't die for
anybody except sinners. No exceptions whatsoever. Oh my soul, today's religion
would lose infinitely more than it keeps. Because the gospel
being preached in this generation is a lie from start to finish.
Everybody's out to see how many members they can get in their
church, how many buildings they can build, how many this, that
and the other. It's ridiculous. It's plum crazy. They want your money, they don't
want you. They'll just put up with you if you'll keep giving
them money. That ain't hard to figure out.
That's just plain old sorry downright human nature. And if it wasn't for the grace
of God, we'd be doing the very same thing. Alright, verse 7. Scarcely for a righteous man
will one die, yet peradventure for a good man some would even
dare to die. But God commends His love toward
us, in that while we were still 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." If you take that word apart, you can make it say,
ah, I forgot it, that's the atonement. At one minute. Yes, I'm just
dumber than the rest of you. At one minute. If you see the
answer I'm looking for, I want you to go and give it to me.
That won't bother me a bit. Alright, verse 12. Wherefore,
as by one man's sin, by one man sin entered into the world. Now who is this one man? He's
the first Adam. The one in Genesis that was the
first human being on this earth. The first Adam. Why do we call
him the first Adam? Because Christ is the second
Adam. 1 Corinthians 15. By one man, sin entered into
the world. And death by sin. And so death
passed upon all men, for that all have sinned. For until the
law, sin was in the world. But sin is not imputed or charged
when there is no law. Nevertheless, death reigned from
Adam to Moses. even over them that had not sinned
after the similitude of Adam's transgression, who is the figure,
Adam, who is the figure of Him that was to come, the Lord Jesus
Christ. Nevertheless, death reigned from
Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the
similitude of Adam's transgressions, who is the figure of him that
was to come." All right, I'm going to leave off the rest of
the chapter. I don't want to, but I need to. And I'll try to keep this as simple
as I know how to do. which may not be very good. First thing I wish to consider,
and I ask you to do so as well, if Christ died for my sin, if
God the Son died for my sin, how great must be my sin? If the only way to reconcile
me to God is to put Christ to death in my place, how great
my sins. We're right here in Romans. If
you'll hang on to chapter 5 and go to Romans chapter 7, Verses 13 and 14, Romans 7, 13
and 14. Now the vast majority of religious
people, if they were honest, they'd do
like Thomas Jefferson and just cut it out of their Bibles. He
didn't believe in miracles, he cut every one of them out of
the New Testament. Hey, that's better than acting
like you love it when you hate it. Verses 13 and 14, "'Was then
that which is good made death unto me?' God forbid! But sin, working death in me,
by that which is good, that sin by the commandment might become
exceeding sinful. For we know that the law is spiritual,
but I am carnal, I'm fleshly, I'm spiritually dead, sold under
sin. Without Christ, we are the slaves
of sin. Now, you understand when we talk
about sin that we got a high road and a low road. You know,
some people like to go to the bars and the honky-tonks and
all this place. Other people go to golf courses and wherever
else we go, you know, in our life in this world. It is, outside
of Christ, it is pure flesh. It's carnal. Now I hope that statement will
help us. If it's not too much trouble
for you to turn back and forth, I'm going to come back to Romans
7. If I get that far, if we don't get on the ball, we won't get
back there, but I'm going to try. All right. In regard to this matter of our
sin, how do we know our sin? We see it in the light of God's
law. What is God's law? Well, for
working purposes, it is the Ten Commandments. A lot of others
could be added, but this covers the whole thing. But preacher, can we keep the
law? I should be asking you that question.
Can you keep it? I can't. How come I can't? Because I'm a sinner. And even saved sinners cannot
keep it, though they wish they could. Do you recall in the Gospel accounts,
according to Jewish law, which was dictated by God to Moses, Lepers, people with leprosy,
if they're walking on whatever they call roads, it was probably
just a path, maybe as big as that aisle, but they were commanded
by God to cup their hands around their mouth and utter two words,
unclean, unclean, I'm a leper. I'm a sinner. Leprosy is the
greatest type of sin in the whole of the Bible. So these people
went several yards off the road, let people pass because they
do not wish to spread that disease. And that was the quarantine that
was put upon them. even their kings. What's his
name? Craig and Isaiah 6, Uzziah. King Uzziah died. Because he
wasn't satisfied with being king, he wanted to be king and priest.
So he went to the temple, got one of those censors that you
put incense in and light a candle and just, you know, just whatever
that means. I don't even know what it means.
But I know this, God smote him with leprosy. The priest tried
to keep him from doing it. They said, please don't do this.
Look, I'm the king, I'm going to do whatever I want to do,
and he did. And he walked out of that place a leper. He had
to live in what are called several houses, that is, at the backside
of nowhere where nobody else lives. That's where he spent
the rest of his days before he died. No wonder Isaiah begins,
Isaiah chapter 6, in the year that King Uzziah died, I saw
also the Lord. That's where Isaiah got his commission. He found out who God is. Let me just quote you these verses,
if I can, back in chapter 7. We see our sin in the light of conscience. We know we're awful, we know
we think bad thoughts, we do bad things. on and on and on
and on and on. But I believe it's the last two
verses in chapter 7, Paul said in verse 24, O wretched man that
I am, who shall deliver me from this body of death? I thank God
through Jesus Christ my Lord. That's the only deliverance there
has ever been is in Christ. Fourthly, we see like nowhere
else our sin in the light of Calvary's cross. Now my second point, if Christ
died for my sins, how great must be God's love for sinners that
He would send His only begotten Son To die? Yes, He did. If God had not willed it and
purposed it, it could not have ever taken place. But indeed,
He did. And the Scriptures tell us this
plainly in many places. For example, John 3.16, For God
so loved the world that He gave His own begotten Son, the only
one He had, We see God's love in creation. The beauty of the natural world
is astounding to say the least. And it's all God's doing. This love for sinners that God
has, we see in predestination. Y'all look like you might be
going to sleep on me, so I'm going to ask you to turn to the
Book of Acts. I'm just joking. Oh, let me see, what am I looking
for? Acts 13, I think it is. Well, if I could get out of Corinthians
I might find it. Acts chapter 13. Verse 48, Acts 13, 48. And when the Gentiles heard this,
now if you're not a Jew, you're a Gentile. So you ought to know
which one you are, which makes no difference in this case. as
many as were ordained." I'm getting ahead of myself. When the Gentiles
heard this, they were glad and glorified the word of the Lord. Well, what had happened? Oh,
they got kicked out of the regular places of worship in that city
because they wouldn't bow down to the request of the Jewish
synagogue, that they not preach Christ in that place. And so
Paul and Barnabas preached it anyway, and here's what it says. And when the Gentiles heard this,
they were glad and glorified the word of the Lord. Now here
it is. This is plain English, and ain't
nobody in here that can't understand this word. And as many as... as were ordained to eternal life,
did what? Believed. Now, do you know that
that word, ordained, in other places in
our Bibles, it is translated predestinated? And if you confess yourself to
be a believer in predestination, buddy, there are some places
you're not welcome. But this ain't one of them. We love God's
predestinating grace. If we had to will it, if it was
up to our wills, we might as well figure on a wardrobe for
hell and let's just go jump off the edge of the earth or something.
It's utterly foolish. This Word is glorious. And yet I can't count the churches
that I know of persons, at least one lady that sat here for several
weeks, And she didn't show up the next time, and she came to
my door. She said, I don't believe in
predestination. I said, well, I'm sorry, but
I thought you believed the Bible. Well, her preacher tells her
that this word doesn't mean what I think it means. But you know, win some and lose
some. I cannot count. the number of
Jehovah's Witnesses that have come to my door. And got another call yesterday
morning. Two women, one elderly lady, another younger lady. And
they wanted to share with me these things, you know. I said,
you're not welcome in this house. I could have given them the acid
test, which I have done many times. This door swings on this
one condition, if you can answer this question rightly. Is Jesus
Christ God Almighty or is He not? Now, buddy, they just get
up in a flurry and literally run back to their cars. It's
just crazy. They ought to run. It's a lie
that they believe. And I'm sure I'm not going to
change their minds, but I know who can. If it pleases Him, He will. How great are our sins! How great indeed! How great is God's love for sinners, we see God's love in creation,
we see His love in predestination, Acts 13.38. Covenant, mercy, and grace would
not let this world perish is determined to save a people out
of Adam's fallen race. We see God's love in divine providence. Through many dangers, toils,
and snares, I have already come. Tis grace hath brought me safe
thus far, and grace will lead me home. And if grace doesn't lead us
home, brothers and sisters, we ain't a-going. Fourthly, now every time I change
points, now I've got to start my numbers all over, so Ed quit
sweating it. We see God's love in our conversion. And our estimate of it is, we
agree with Paul, I was apprehended. Apprehended. We were on the Damascus road
to hell, and Christ arrested Saul of Tarsus, and he still
arrests sinners to this day, on the very threshold of destruction. Our Lord spoke to Saul of Tarsus from
heaven, and Paul is on the Damascus road. headed there to arrest
Christians and take them back to Jerusalem and either put them
in prison or stone them to death. But those days are over, and
he doesn't even know it. And when Christ spoke to him
from glory, He said, Who are you, Lord? He said, I am Jesus
whom you persecute. Persecute. Don't think we ain't ever persecuted
him. Back to chapter 5. Romans chapter 5, this time verse 8. Romans 5, 8, But God commendeth
His love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ
died for us. Now, do you see here a great
mystery? Nobody knows how many people
Christ redeemed on that cross. Because He does not redeem everybody. But this is how He redeems His
sheep. And when their time comes, dear
friend, they're coming. Hell and high water can't stop
it. He speaks and it's done. This is who God is. These are his blessed attributes. If you want a book worth reading
a thousand times, there are some blue books around here about
yea wide and about the size of that right there on the attributes
of God by A.W. Pink. So just take one. We'd love for you to. Number five. We see like nowhere
else. God's love on Calvary's tree. Christ is the eternal, all-powerful
Son of God. He died under absolute humiliation
and curses and condemnations, all for our sins, not His own. but mine, mine." Verse 9, much more than being
now justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath
through Him For if, when we were enemies..." We've got to stop here just a
minute now. Have you ever been God's enemy? Don't answer me, just think about
that. Have I ever been God's enemy? Now if I can't recollect that, it means that I still am. If you've never been lost, you
can't be saved. Now this, you know, this is just
simple language that we're using to describe these things. And yet vast numbers of people,
vast religious organizations, Baptist and otherwise, don't
dare touch these things. I'll tell you again, I found
it in my Bible after I got home a few weeks ago when I was going
to show you this little newspaper article. It's from a church in
Fayetteville and it's in the Fayetteville Observer and it's
an ad about that long and about that wide. And the heading says,
will you come back to church if we promise not to throw the
book at you? Now that's what I've been doing
since I started this morning. I'm throwing the book at you. If you leave this place thinking
you love God, instead of the truth that we hate Him, we got
a problem. A real problem. They went on to say in that ad, we promise not to throw the book
at you. Our God is a God of love and
mercy. Well, is he a God of justice? Does he hate sin? If God is love, how come everybody
dies? Most of whom are not ready for
glory and wind up in hell. when we were enemies. We either were His enemies, and
now by His grace we are not, or we're still His enemies, one
or the other. Alright, let's read a little
further. Where did I stop? Didn't get past the first line
of verse 10. 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. Christ is
our Savior both in His death and in His life. And it's talking
about His resurrected life to glory, where He sits on a throne. And all that belongs to Him is
His forever and ever and ever, and He can't lose a single one.
They're called sheep in our Bibles in many places, and He's not
missing a single one. I can't tell you if you're His
sheep or not. I can't do that. I wouldn't know
where to start. But I'll tell you, you find a
copy of this book, If you can't find one, I'll give you one.
It's in this book. And if God would be pleased,
he could show it to you. Oh, my. Oh, my. Oh, my. That's enough for this morning.