Paul writes in the fifth chapter
of Romans as follows, Therefore, being justified by faith, we
have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom also
we have access by faith 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, knowing that tribulation worketh
patience, and patience experience, and experience hope, and hope
maketh not ashamed. Because the love of God is shed
abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.
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 commended his love toward
us, In 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. Verse 8. But God commendeth his
love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died
for us. God commendeth his love toward
us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. The gospel at its heart, at its
root, is a manifestation, a revelation, a display of God's grace, his
abundant grace, his mercy, His love towards sinners. It's a manifestation of His love
towards sinners. God commendeth His love toward
us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Yes, it shows forth His grace,
His love towards sinners like you and I who first hated Him. Towards those who were his enemies,
as verse 10 tells us. 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. When we were enemies, we were
reconciled to God by the death of his son. When we were yet
without strength in due time, Christ died for the ungodly. God commended His love toward
us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. When we hated Him, when we despised
Him, when we had our backs turned against Him, when we shook our
fist up against the heavens, when we had no time for God,
When in our hearts, with the mob, we cried out, crucify him,
crucify him, away with this man, we will not have this man to
reign over us. When we were enemies, God commended
his love towards sinners, towards his enemies, towards
his people, though they hated him, He gave His Son as a sacrifice. He commended His love towards
them, to them, by giving His Son for them. Yes, the Gospel
displays God's great mercy, His long-suffering with sinners,
His forgiveness His boundless, boundless love. A love without
beginning, a love without end, a love that you cannot measure. You cannot measure it. It's without top, it's without
bottom. It's inexhaustible. Because God himself, in his very
being, in his character, is love. As John tells us in 1 John 4,
8, God is love. This love, his love, is in his
very character, is in his being to love. and to display his love
and to show his love. He is a God who delights in showing
mercy. He abounds in grace and love
for sinners. Though he be holy and cannot
stand in the presence of sin, though he is righteous, And righteousness
is at the heart of his character. He is pure, he is perfect, he
is holy, he is just. Though he be righteous, he is
nevertheless a God of love, who delights not in judgment, not
in sacrifice, but in mercy. and because man sinned, because
we sinned. God did not destroy this world
utterly because of its sin and cast it out and say I cannot
dwell with sinners and judge it as his justice demands. But he purposed and delights
in showing mercy and by offering his son in the place of his people
and taking their sin and making his son to be it. and laying
their sins upon his own son, and charging their guilt against
his own son, and sacrificing his son in their place, judging
his son as if he was them, Destroying his own son instead
of the sinner, God delivered sinners from judgment, from wrath,
from death, from hell. He showed them his love. He showed them his grace and
his mercy. Who is a god like unto this God? That pardoneth iniquity. Where
is there a God amongst the gods of this world, the religions
of this world? Where is there a God like this
God who gives himself as a sacrifice, as an offering in the place of
his people in order to spare them what their sins have earned? in order to deliver them from
the death that they have deserved, in which they have plunged themselves
in their own rebellion, in order to deliver them from their own
condemnation. Where is a God like this God, that lays down His own life,
that sinners might live? God is love. And he commends his love toward
us, his people, sinners, guilty,
wretches. He commends his love toward us
in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Have you considered His love. His mercy. His grace. The character of God that stands before a guilty world
and says unto all this world, behold my son. Look and live. He displays his
Son as his offering for sin. I gave my Son as an offering
for sin. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and be ye saved. In the darkness of this world, in the midst of our rebellion,
Every one of us having rejected Christ and despised Him, despised
God, despised His Gospel, God continues to declare the Gospel. He continues to shine forth the
light Every day, in the morning, the darkness is cast aside, the
sun shines, and the light of the gospel is displayed as God
lifts up the name of Christ in the midst of the generations.
And in displaying Him, God commends His love toward us. And that while we were yet sinners,
while we were yet sinners. Christ died for the ungodly. He died for sinners. Believer,
while you were yet in your sins, Christ died for you, for your
sins, for your rebellion, for your rejection, for your unbelief,
for your iniquity. He took it all. He bore it all
and He washed you clean in His blood. When we were enemies,
we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son. Oh, what love He commends toward
us. What love. What love this is. Not just love
as men love, as women love. Where they love those that love
them. Where we love that which we find
lovable. Where we love those who love
us in return. But God commends his love to
those who hate him. He comes unto those who put his
son to death and says, I gave my son for you. I gave my son for you who hated
him. As Paul says, for scarcely for
a righteous man will one die. Someone might die for someone
they love. And peradventure for a good man,
some would even dare to die. There are those who've given
their lives to protect others. But God commenced his love toward
us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. He gave himself for his enemies. When we were enemies, we were
reconciled to God by the death of His Son. When we hated Him,
He set His love upon His people. When they hated Him, when they
despised Him, when they shut their ears to Him, when they
sought their own way, their own pleasure, their own glory, He
loved them and gave Himself for them. And this message, this Gospel,
displays this unmerited grace, this unmerited favour, this mercy,
this love, which none of us have sought and none of us deserve. For we were enemies when God
gave his Son. in the place of sinners. When he gave his son for the
ungodly. When God's son, God himself died
for sinners. Not only did the Father offer
the Son, but as God, as one God in three Persons, God Himself
gave Himself for sinners like you and I. God commendeth His love toward
us, that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Do you know
this love? What is your response to this
love? Are we indifferent? Are we indifferent
to a God who gave his all? Who gave his all that sinners
should live? Would we rather pursue what we
see in this hateful world around us. Would we rather seek love
from those who let us down? From those who only befriend
us for what they can gain from us? This world is a world of
dog-eat-dog. This world is a world in which
we soon discover that even those that we count as friends and
loved ones can let us down. How many find themselves even
amongst a crowd to be lonely? How many find themselves with
none that they can truly trust? How many are betrayed? The love you find in this world
is rare and fleeting and invariably self-centered. Nothing like this love for sinners. Yes, God commendeth his love
toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for
us. Yet sinners. By nature, we are
so different from this God. God is love. And we, by nature,
Full of sin. Full of enmity towards God. Enmity towards the truth. Enmity
towards his gospel. Full of hatred and unbelief. Full of resistance to a God who
might rule over us. To authority. We resist all authority
by nature. We fight any that rule over us. And ultimately we fight against
God. We're so self-centered. We do
that which brings us what we want. We seek after our own things,
our own pleasure. We have no time for God. We're
anything but righteous. We're anything but loving by
nature. Full of unbelief. Paul says later
in Romans in chapter 8, For they that are after the flesh do mind
the things of the flesh, but they that are after the Spirit
the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is
death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because
the carnal mind is enmity against God, for it is not subject to
the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are
in the flesh cannot please God. By nature, we do not want to
know. We have no desire to discover
God. We have no desire to love God. We have no desire to serve God. And we're so blind to what we
are by nature. Our opinions of ourselves are
so great Though our sinful, rebellious
nature bubbles up to the surface on a daily basis, though we respond
even to others in the world, when somebody crosses us, when
somebody opposes us, when somebody refuses to do what we want them
to do, when somebody crosses our path, we will so easily oppose,
so easily argue, so easily content. Our sinful nature is there to
be seen on a daily basis and yet we cannot see it. We look
at everyone else as being the trouble and we consider ourselves
to be so self-righteous. Any wrong that we do is the result
of somebody else's failing. You caused me to do this. You
caused me to react like this. I'm the product of their making.
We find fault with everyone but ourselves. And ultimately we
shake our fist at God and say, I'm like this because thou has
made me like this. We never own our own guilt. How unloving we are by nature. We see this throughout the scriptures. We're all sinners. We're all
sinners like Adam, the first man, who in innocence, having
been given all things by God, walking with God in the Garden
of Eden, in innocence, he did that one thing that God said,
don't do. He turned from God. to take of
the fruit that God said, don't eat of that tree. He saw a tree
that promised wisdom and knowledge. And he sought wisdom and knowledge
of his own, apart from God. He sought his own glory. He went
his own way, as we all have done, and in so doing he plunged into
sin. himself and the whole human race,
we all, in Adam, turned from our Maker. We all went our own
way. Just as Adam did, so we've done. We turned our backs upon God.
We read of every character in the Scriptures. Even those who
knew God, we see their iniquity. Abraham, whom God called out
of Ur of the Chaldees. How he lied about his wife Sarah. Jacob, whom God loved. What a deceiver, what a liar,
what a schemer Jacob was. There was nothing in Jacob for
God to desire. And yet when Jacob was a sinner,
Christ gave himself in Jacob's place in love for Jacob as an
offering for his sin. David, that great king and psalmist,
was an adulterer, a liar. He had Bathsheba's husband killed
in the battlefield. How often he went his own way. How often he turned to his own
wisdom. And yet how God loved him. Peter, that disciple, who was
with Christ throughout his life, Throughout his ministry he followed
him for those years as Christ went about preaching the gospel,
healing the sick, making the blind to see, the deaf to hear,
the lame to walk. He saw Christ's miracles, he
heard the gospel from Christ's own lips. He promised to follow
Christ even unto death. And then he denied him three
times with curses and oaths. Left to himself. He was nothing. Like these, we are all sinners. There is none righteous, no not
one. There is none that seeketh after
God. There's none that understandeth.
We've all gone out of the way. We've all become unprofitable.
There's none that doeth good, no not one. Our throats are like
an open sepulcher. Our tongues have used deceit.
The poison of asps is under our lips. Our mouths are full of
cursing and bitterness. Our feet are swift to shed blood.
Destruction and misery are in our ways. And the way of peace
we have not known because there's no fear of God by nature in our
eyes. We don't fear God so we go our
own way and we multiply our own sins. Which is why God sent a
law which when we are measured up to we are found to be guilty. Now we know that what thing soever
the law sayeth, it saith to them who are under the law, that every
mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before
God. Therefore by the deeds of the
law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight, for by the law
is the knowledge of sin. If God in his love should put
you under his law and show you what you are in comparison with
his righteous demands, you will discover something of your sin,
something of your guilt, something of how far off from God you are
by nature. But God be pleased not to leave
us there. Not to leave us in condemnation. Not to leave us under the condemning
letter of the law, which finds us all out. But to bring us to
that knowledge of Christ in the gospel. But now the righteousness
of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and
the prophets, even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus
Christ, unto all and upon all them that believe, for there
is no difference. For all have sinned and come
short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace
through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. whom God hath
set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood to
declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are
past through the forbearance of God. To declare, I say, at
this time his righteousness, that he might be just and the
justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. Has God brought you
to see His love in the manifestation of His righteousness in Christ
at the cross? Has He set forth His Son at the
cross in your place as Christ hung there in the darkness, bearing
sin, bearing the guilt his people sins, bearing the outpouring
of God's wrath. Has God brought you to see Christ
by faith suffering in the hours of darkness for sin? Drinking
the cup of God's wrath, did he drink it in your place? Did he
hang there upon the cross in the darkness for you? Did He
bear your sins in your place upon the cross? Did He drink
that cup of God's wrath for you? As God commended His love towards
you, in that while you were yet a sinner, Christ died for you. Did He hang there Bearing your
sins, your iniquity, your unbelief, your rejection, did he suffer
that you might go free? That you might be spared, that
you might live? Have you seen his love in Christ? Our problem by nature is we don't
know we are sinners. We don't see a need for salvation,
we don't accept it. We're steadfast in our unbelief. We're steadfast in our enmity
towards God. We're steadfast in our rejection
of the Gospel. We're steadfast in our rejection
of His Son. We reject His love time and time
again. And when God comes in his gospel
and says, behold my son, look unto him. And we hear of Christ
in the darkness, suffering by faith in the darkness because
of the sins of his people. When we hear of him by nature,
we turn aside. or we spit upon him, or our hearts
still cry out, crucify him, crucify him. And they're as sinners, while
we pass by as sinners, caring nothing for him. Christ says,
is there any sorrow? I come to my sorrow. Is it nothing
to you, all ye that pass by? Is it nothing to you that I hang
in the darkness for sin? That I die in the place of sinners? Is it nothing to you? Is there
any sorrow like unto my sorrow? And as we pass by, God points to His Son. And God commendeth His love toward
us, towards His own, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ
died for us. As Christ hung upon the cross
in the darkness Has God come unto you by His Spirit, in His
Gospel, and said unto you, is it nothing to you, all ye that
pass by? See my love for sinners. See my grace. See my mercy. See my son. Yes, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for the ungodly. Christ died for his own. Christ
died for us. How did God show forth his love? How does he commend his love?
By offering his son. in his people's place. God shows
forth his love by dying for a people he loves, by dying for a people
he loves, for us in particular. Those he died for, he died because he loves them. He gave his son as an offering
for sin. God himself in the person of
Jesus Christ died for sinners, for those who hated him, for
those who were his enemies, for those who were without strength,
for those who cared not for him. for those who would not have
him reign over them. As the parable says, the citizens
of this kingdom of this king sent a message after him saying,
we will not have this man to reign over us. Are you like that? Towards this
God that commences love in offering himself as a sacrifice for sin. As your heart cried out, I will
not have this man to reign over me. In John 15 we read, This cometh
to pass that the word might be fulfilled that is written in
their law, they hated me without a cause. You hate him even though he died for sin. Even though He gave
Himself as an offering for sin, for sinners like you and I, even
though He manifests His love towards you who are not worthy
of it, towards us who are guilty wretches, towards us who rejected
Him, even though we've put Him to death in our hearts, even
though His love is so great, so free, So merciful, do you
yet hate Him without a cause? In 1 John 4 we read, In this
was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent
His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through
Him. Herein is love. Not that we loved
God, but that he loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation
for our sins. Here is love. Herein is love. Not that we loved God, but that
he loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation for our
sins. And even though we hear of this,
and even though we know this, our hearts by nature hate him. We've had a cause. And yet God commendeth His love
toward us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us. His love. What manner of love
is this? What manner of love is this?
What boundless love? What inseparable love? Paul writes in Romans 8, What
shall we say then to these things? If God be for us, who can be
against us? He that spared not his own son,
but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also
freely give us all things? Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. who is he that condemneth? It
is Christ that died, yea, rather that is risen again, who is even
at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for
us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation,
or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril,
or sword? As it is written, For thy sake
we are killed all the day long. We are accounted as sheep for
the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are
more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded. that neither death, nor life,
nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present,
nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature
shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is
in Christ Jesus our Lord. Oh what a love! God's people,
this His elect know If they've been found in this love, if they
know Christ died for them, there's nothing that can separate them
from it. It's eternal, it's everlasting,
it's without a beginning and without an end. Nothing can pluck
us out of His hands. What manner of love is this?
It abounds. It abounds towards His people. He gave His Son for them. Then He will do anything to keep
them. He will watch over them. He loves
them eternally. no matter what circumstances
we may be in, no matter what our state is, no matter how cold
the believer's heart may grow, no matter how far off we may
wander, no matter how low we may stumble, no matter how weak
our faith may be, no matter how great our doubts may be. He loves
his own and he loves them to the end. He loves them everlastingly. He gave His Son for them. Oh what comfort there is for
us as believers in this. Consider His love. He commends
His love toward us as believers in that while we were yet sinners,
Christ died for us. He gave Himself for us. He gave
Himself. He gave His all. then He will
keep us to the end. No matter how great my unbelief,
no matter how great my sin may be, His grace and His love is
greater. Where sin abounded, grace did
much more. abound. Moreover, the law entered
that the offense might abound, but where sin abounded, grace
did much more abound. That as sin hath reigned unto
death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal
life by Jesus Christ our Lord. Yes, grace abounds. There's nothing
we can do to separate ourselves from the love of God in Christ
Jesus. If we're His, if He died for
us, if He's brought us to see Him and to fall down upon our
face before Him and believe Him and trust Him, if He's shown
us His Son and shown us His Son washing away our sins in His
blood, there's nothing that can take away His grace, nothing
that can overcome His love, nothing that can overcome His mercy.
He commended His love toward us in that while we were yet
sinners Christ died for us. It's the same today as it was
then. His love abounds. For when we were yet without
strength in due time Christ died for the ungodly. The ungodly. Are you ungodly? Are you a sinner? Have you rejected Christ and
His Gospel? Then see His love in giving Himself
to sinners like you and I. Has He commended His love to
you by giving Christ in your place? Did He die for you and
for your sins? Are you ungodly? Do you know
His love? His love. Can you with Paul cry
out, I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live. Yet not
I, but Christ liveth in me, and the life which I now live in
the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved
me and gave himself for me. Paul knew him. Paul had gone
about persecuting the church, putting believers to death, having
them stoned for believing on Jesus Christ. He hated Christ
and he hated his gospel. And yet God met him and cried
out under him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? And his
eyes were opened to see his Saviour. And he came to know that when
Christ died for him, when he was yet in his sins, he died
with Christ. Christ bore Saul, Paul. That sinful man Saul was crucified
with Christ that Paul should rise again with him. He died
with him and he rose with him. and he lives with him, and the
life which he now lives in the flesh, he lives by the faith
of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me, he
says. How did God in Christ die for
you? Were you crucified with him? Did you rise in Christ? Your sins washed in his blood,
Having his life, his faith, his love, his mercy, his grace, can
you with Paul say of him, he loved me. He loved me and gave
himself for me. Amen.