For whom did Christ die? That's
my subject this morning. For whom did Christ die? The answer is found right here
in Romans chapter 5 and verse 6. It is given by divine inspiration,
so there's no question at all about the answer. For whom did
Christ die? Did the Son of God die for me? Did He die for you? The answer
is plain and clear. If you are described in this
sixth verse of Romans chapter 5, God's darling Son died for
you. If you are not, you have no reason
to think so. For whom did Christ die? For when we were yet without
strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For whom did Christ die? For
folks utterly without strength to help themselves toward God. For whom did Christ die? for
men and women who are utterly, completely ungodly. For whom did Christ die? When
we were yet without strength, in due time, Christ died for
the ungodly. Our text brings us immediately
to the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ and sheds light on our
former state and on the state of all Adam's fallen race. It
lets us see where we were and what we needed. Do we ask how
did the Lord Jesus look upon us when he died for us? The answer
is clearly given. He looked upon us as sinners
with no strength and utterly ungodly. This is a good description
of the human race. It is often described in scripture
as a sick man, one whose disease is so far advanced that is altogether
without strength. No power remains in his system
to throw off the disease. It's a mortal malady, a plague
of the heart, and has no desire to throw it off. He couldn't
save himself if he would, and he wouldn't save himself if he
could. Man's condition is set forth in scripture often like
this, a picture of weakness, helplessness, and disease. Perhaps
Paul has in his mind's eye the picture that Ezekiel gave us
in Ezekiel 16 of an infant cast off from his mother's womb, an
aborted child despised by his mother. taken from her womb and
by his mother's own hands, thrown into an open field, and there
the infant dies, polluted in its own blood, corrupt and vile,
having suffered mortality in the most cruel manner possible
by the hands of its own mother, being despised of her. Perhaps,
he pictures in his mind, that which Isaiah described of the
nation of Israel. When he said the whole head is
sick and the whole heart faint. That's a good description of
humanity. A people laden with iniquity. A seed of evil doers. Children that are corruptors. That's what we are. A seed of
evil doers. Corrupt, but worse than that,
children that are corrupters. You pause and think about that. If it doesn't shock you, it ought
to. You and I have never touched
anyone we didn't corrupt. Isn't that sad? We've never had influence on
anyone we didn't corrupt. Children that are corruptors,
from the sole of the foot unto the crown of the head, there
is no soundness in us but wounds and bruises and putrefying sores. And they've not been closed,
neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment. Hear me, you who
are yet lost and without Christ. You who are yet without faith
in our Redeemer, this is your condition before God. You're
corrupt and corrupting. Cast off from God, dead in trespasses
and in sins. That means unless God does for
you what you have no inclination for Him to do. unless God does
for you what you cannot and will not do for yourself. If God leaves
you alone, hell is your everlasting portion. Oh, may God step in
and stop you from your bad rush to hell. But blessed be God,
our text also brings us glad tidings. For while man was in
such a condition as we have seen described in the Scriptures,
The Lord Jesus interposed himself to save sinners. And when we
were yet without strength, in due time, Christ died for the
ungodly. God commends his love toward
us, and while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. And that, according to his great
love, wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses
and in sins." No wonder John wrote as he did. Herein is love. Not that we loved
God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation
for our sins. The very essence of Paul's message
in this fifth chapter of Romans is to show us the great indescribable
display and commendation of God's love. If you would know God,
if we would know God, are you interested in knowing God? If
you would know the love of God, if you would know who God is
and what the love of God is, go to Calvary. and behold the
dying of the God-man in our flesh. The Lord Jesus Christ shows us
the reason for His dying is not in man's moral excellence, but
rather in His own everlasting love for us. Where sin abounded,
grace did much more abound. The people for whom Christ died
were seen by Him when he died for us as the exact opposite
of everything pure and good and holy. He came specifically to
die for the ungodly. In those words, Christ died for
the ungodly, there is hope for sinners. As I was preparing this
message, as I've been sitting here waiting to preach this message,
I've been asking, and now I ask you, is there an ungodly soul
here? Anybody here ungodly? Vile. Vile. Wretched. Ruined. Corrupt, corrupted. Have I found you? If there is, this message is
for you. Oh my soul, dwell much upon this blessed fact. When
I was God's enemy, a sinner, ungodly, Christ died
for me. Great God, when I approach thy
throne in all thy glory, see, this is my stay, and this alone,
that Jesus died for me. How can a soul condemned to die
escape thy just decree? A vile, unworthy wretch am I,
but Jesus died for me. Burdened with sins, oppressed
and chained, how can I get free? No peace can all my efforts gain,
but Jesus died for me. My course I could never safely
steer through life's temptuous sea. Did not this truth relieve
my fear that Jesus died for me? And Lord, when I behold thy face,
this must be all my plea, save me by thy almighty grace, for
Jesus died for me. Now let me show you three things
in our text this morning. First, I'll spend the bulk of
my time showing you the doctrine plainly stated in our text. And
then I want to show some obvious clear, unmistakable inferences
that must be drawn from our text. And third, I want to stir our
hearts in proclaiming the message of this text. All right, first,
what's the doctrine of our text? What is it? It is the glorious
doctrine of the gospel of God. Never did human ear listen to
more astounding and at the same time more cheering words than
that which Paul declares here. When we were yet without strength
in due time Christ died for the ungodly. Angels desire to look
into it. You know the angels of God meet
with us here three times a week desiring to understand what God
has revealed in the Redemption of Sinai by His Son. The angels
of God desire to look into it. How much more should we, day
and night, relentlessly study, meditate, and dwell upon this
subject? In due time, Christ died for
the ungodly. The Son of God, Jesus Christ
Himself, God over all and blessed forever, the infinitely glorious
one, the holy one of Israel, the creator of heaven and earth,
stooped to become a man. He stooped to take on himself
our nature. He stooped to become a servant
and to become obedient unto death. This pure-hearted, perfect God-man
stooped to take on himself our sin, and die in the room instead
of ungodly sinners who deserved to die, making Himself the one
who deserved to die, bearing our guiltiness as His guiltiness,
our sin as His sin, our curse as His curse, and our death became
His death. Oh, what an astounding thing. The infinite God who cannot die,
dies. when He hung upon the cursed
tree in human flesh. God who cannot sin was made sin
when He hung upon the cursed tree in our flesh. God, the Holy
One, became guiltiness when He was made sin in our flesh upon
the cursed tree. At the very first glance of this
verse, You have an answer to our question, for whom did Christ
die? And it's given really in four words. Let me give them
to you briefly. He died for those who are weak, without strength. Without strength. This is the
condition you are in who are here without Christ. You think
that you're morally and spiritually strong. And you think that when
I decide to, I'll trust Jesus. When I get ready to, I'll come
to the Lord. When I get ready to, I'll believe
on Christ. When I get ready to, I'll start
serving the Lord. Oh no, you won't. You haven't
the ability, nor the will, nor the inclination. You have no
desire to do so. You're without strength. Legally
weak. You cannot obey God's holy law. Morally weak. You cannot do good,
but only evil. You seek to mend your life and
correct your ways, and as soon as you get one thing straightened
out, you think, well, now I'm beginning to improve a thousand
more, crop up more evil than those before. Spiritually weak. We are men and women, incapable
of redeeming our own souls. Incapable of saving ourselves. Incapable of turning to God.
Incapable of seeing light. Incapable of hearing God speak.
Incapable of anything good. We could do nothing to help ourselves.
Anybody here like that? You find yourself without strength. Oh God. You know I've tried and I've
tried and I've tried and I've tried and I'm without strength. I've tried to pray and I can't
pray. I've tried to believe and I can't believe. I've tried to
come to Christ and I can't come. Oh, if there's ever been anybody
weak, here I am, weakness itself. Hear this, the Son of God says,
my strength is made perfect in weakness. Christ died for folks who were
without strength. They're described also as ungodly. Christ died for the ungodly. Does that describe you? To be
ungodly is to be without God. And fallen man by nature has
been without God, without hope. Without Christ in this world,
ever since Adam and Eve were driven from the garden. Going
astray from the womb, speaking lies. That's the nature of every
human being. Without God. Ungodly. To be ungodly is to be a blasphemer. Oh, I wouldn't blaspheme God.
I wouldn't blaspheme God. when I was a boy, profanity was
as common in our household as breathing. But we had a neighbor up on the
hill who, he didn't speak so much profanity as my dad and
mother would speak around the house, but everything he would
say was GD this and GD that, GD the other thing. And you know
my folks actually bragged on, they'd say, well, I've never
said that. Ah, but blaspheme God. That's
the nature of man. You may bite your tongue and
not do so, but man by nature is a blasphemer. One who looks
upon God, thinks of God, and speaks of God with no fear of
God. With utter irreverence. That's blasphemy. That's blasphemy. There is no fear of God before
their eyes. To be ungodly is to be an idolater. Idolaters are men who have a
God. Not men and women who worship
God, but men and women who have a God. And you've all got a God. Everybody's got a God. Everybody's
got a God. Your God may be in this church. You've joined this church and
now you feel good. Your God may be in some religious
system. Your God may be your imagination
of your own righteousness. Your God may be a decision you've
made. Your God may be your relationship
to somebody. My daddy's a preacher. My mama
teaches Sunday school. My daddy's a deacon. My daddy's
a missionary. You have a refuge, but a refuge of lies, a refuge
of lies that soon will be swept away, either by the hand of God
laying bare His holy arm and striking you dead at the feet
of His Son in great grace, or at the hand of God laying bare
His holy arm in the day of judgment and bringing you down to hell.
But your refuge of lies He will destroy. And then the apostle
describes those for whom Christ died as sinners. Sinners. Sinners. If we confess our sin, that's our nature, that's our
name, that's our game. Sin. Sin. If we confess our sin, that doesn't mean Mark Daniels
gets caught stealing at work and he's made a bad act and folks
have brought shame and reproach on his family and church, so
you come down here and tell us what you did. That's not it.
That's easy. That's easy. It's easy to stand
up here in front of adulterers and confess you're an adulterer.
It's easy to stand here in front of drunks and confess that you're
a drunk. It's easy to stand here in front of thieves and confess
that you're a thief. That's not what he's talking about. If we
confess our sin, if you will do before God what you wouldn't
dare do before your husband or wife, Rip open your heart and acknowledge
what you are. See it. That's all you are. That's all you are. Just see
it. That's all you are. Well, I can't
do that. Well, you'll go to hell then.
If we confess our sin, He is faithful and just to forgive
us our sin. and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Physician of my sin-sick soul,
to thee I bring my case, my raging malady control, and heal me by
thy grace. Pity the anguish I endure. See
how I mourn in pine, for never can I hope for cure from any
hand but thine. I would disclose my whole complaint. But where can I begin? No words
of mine can fully paint that worst distemper sin. It lies
not in a single part, but through my frame is spread a burning
fever in my heart, a palsy in my head. Oh, God give you ears
now. Your ungodliness, your irreverence,
Your weakness, your exceeding sinfulness, that's the strongest
plea you have for God's mercy. Christ came to save sinners.
Christ died for sinners. And the strongest plea you can
take to God, the strongest argument you can give to God is your sin. Own it. Listen to this word from
the Psalmist David. For thy name's sake, O Lord,
pardon mine iniquity, for it is great. Lord, why should you pardon my
iniquity? Why should you pardon my sin?
Because there's never been any like it. There's never been anybody
else quite like me. Pardon my iniquity for your name's
sake. my iniquity is great and you
pardoning my iniquity will make your name great in all the earth. And then Paul says we were enemies. Enemies. Enemies. Verse ten, when we were enemies
we were reconciled to God. Enemies. God Almighty in His
holy justice was alienated from us because of sin. But His justice
was satisfied by the death of His dear Son. His anger was put
away and fury is no more in Him. And now we who were God's enemies
had been reconciled to God by the blood of His Son. And in
the preaching of the gospel, I call on you who are yet fighting
God, who are yet fighting God, I will not bow to Christ. I will not have Christ rule me. I'm calling on you. Lay down
your little shotgun and be reconciled to God. You're going to lose
this battle. Christ is going to conquer you, either by his
grace or by his wrath, but conquer you he will. Be sure you get
the connection between verses 5 and 6. Paul says, The love of God is
shed abroad in our hearts, for in due time Christ died for the
ungodly. The source and foundation and
revelation of all God's covenant mercy, love, and grace is the
love of God. The love of God is commended
toward us in this. Christ died for us. Oh, blessed
Redeemer, Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, thank you for coming
into the world to die for sinners. But when did he do this? In due
time. God's time for everything is
exactly the right time. God's time for everything is
exactly the right time. How often in the scriptures do
we read, and it came to pass? It came to pass because God appointed
it, and it came to pass because God brought it to pass and it
came to pass at God's time. The Lord Jesus Christ died in
exactly the hour God before the world was made ordained that
he should die. He died upon the cursed tree
at Calvary exactly according to the prophecy of Old Testament
Scripture with such precision that it could never be doubted
that he who died at this time with all the other things by
which he identifies himself as the Messiah of God is that one
promised in Genesis 315, the seed of the woman who has come
to crush the serpent's head. Let me give you just a few. The
death of our Lord Jesus Christ had to come before the end of
civil government in Israel. Now this prophecy was made in
Genesis chapter 49 long before Israel became a nation. The scepter
shall not depart from Judah nor a lawgiver from between his feet
until Shiloh come and unto him shall the gathering of the people
be. So Messiah had to die sometime after the nation of Israel, Judah's
people were brought to be a nation. and sometime before they were
destroyed as a nation in 70 AD. The death of Christ had to take
place sometime before the destruction of the Second Temple built at
Jerusalem. And it had to take place toward
the end but before the end of Daniel's prophecy of 70 weeks. All of this says that Jesus Christ
of Nazareth, that one who died at Calvary some 30 years before
70 AD, this is He, the Christ of God of whom the scripture
spoke. In due time, Christ died. But
only after it had been thoroughly demonstrated that man could do
nothing to redeem himself from the Adam fall. The Law had run
its course for 2,000 years. God gave His Law on Mount Sinai
and He said, do this and you'll live. Is that what He said? Do
this and you'll live. And they said, well that's no
problem, we'll do that. That's no problem, we can do that. And
man has been saying it ever since. For 2,000 years the Jews said
we'll keep God's Law and with every breath broke it. Man demonstrated
that Law won't sail. Religious ritualism had run its
course, but man was still lost. All the wisdom of the Greeks
and the Egyptians had reached its epitome. But man, when he
reached the epitome of wisdom, the epitome of philosophy, the
epitome of logic, when man had reached the days of Aristotle
and Plato, he's still more ignorant of God than ever. with no knowledge,
with no understanding, foolish by reason of sin. The culture
of the Roman Empire, we like to think of the United
States of America as a great society, and it is as societies
go. But civilization with the Roman
Empire had reached its apex. We modern our modern democracies
after Rome. Citizens of Rome, that was the
apex of society. Now man is civilized and he's
educated. He's learned. Oh, what learning
went into building the streets of Rome and the systems of Rome.
Oh, what learning went into building those roads that reach all over
the empire. What great learning. The civilized
man became more corrupt and more corrupt and more corrupt and
more corrupt with all this learning and all this civilization. Oh,
how history repeats itself. Oh, how history repeats itself.
We now have a society in which only those who do not want to
complete school don't get through high school. The only ones who
don't get through high school are folks who just flat don't
want to get through high school. If you can't add two plus two,
you can still graduate. The only reason not to go through
high school is because you just don't want to do it. And most
folks go to college and get a degree. And everybody is so learned. Oh, what learning we've got.
And what moral decadence. and perversity and vileness spews
from the educational system. Learning doesn't do any good
to help man. Now, at the time of God's appointing, after sin
had run its course for 4,000 years and man is left in utter
ruin, the Lord Jesus died for the ungodly. Christ died. He who is the Christ, the anointed
one of God, died. We think about the crucifixion
and the Savior's death upon the tree. And we are moved by the things
he suffered, as we should be. But oh God, help me to know something
about the dying of my Savior. I said to Fred this morning,
I'm beginning to learn, I'm 65 years old now, I'm beginning
to learn, beginning to learn that there's no way on this earth
I can understand what you're going through if I've not been
through it. There's no way on this earth
I can understand what you feel if I haven't been through what
makes you feel what you feel. We do our best to understand,
but we can't do it. No wonder the Apostle Paul prayed
like this when he was an old man in prison after preaching
the gospel for years. Oh, that I may know him in the fellowship of his suffering. Oh, Spirit of God, teach me to
know him who died. He, the Holy One, made sin so
that the reproaches of them that reproached thee have fallen on
me, he cried. Reproach broke his heart. that one who is the Immaculate
Lamb of God took on himself our sin and made himself the just object
of God's holy wrath. Made himself the just bearer
of the terror of the Lord made himself worthy to die the enemy
of God. Who can fathom such a sacrifice? In due time, Christ did that
for me. Christ died for the ungodly. Now, that's the doctrine of our text.
There are some things that must be reasonably and must be rightly
inferred from the text. It's clear that if Christ died
in my place, I cannot die. That's as clear as the nose on
your face. He died as a substitute. He died
in the room and place of the ungodly. He died in the room
and place of sinners. Loved and chosen of God from
eternity. And if Christ died for me, I
cannot die. Lindsay has for the last couple
of weeks been working on John 18. And those soldiers came to
arrest the Lord. And the Lord Jesus accosted them
and said, And they said, we seek Jesus of Nazareth. He said, I
am. And they fell away as dead men. And then He said, now that
you know who I am, who did you say you were looking for? And
they said, we're seeking Jesus of Nazareth. He has said, I am. Let these go their way. And then in verse 9, the Spirit
of God tells us, this was done that the Scriptures might be
fulfilled of them which thou hast given me. none is lost.
The Lord Jesus says to God's holy law, here I am, take me,
but if you take me, my sheep must go free. There's no possibility
that any sinner for whom Christ died shall perish under the wrath
of God. Well preacher, how can I know
Christ died for me? I believe on the Son of God. and believing on the Son of God,
God the Spirit, sheds abroad in my heart the love of God,
giving me this blessed assurance, Christ died for me. If Christ
died for me, the law of God has no claim upon me. The law says,
be holy, be perfect. The law says, do this and live. Do that and die. And men read
that and they get terrified, especially when they have sorry
preachers who try to put them under the law. And they talk
about Sabbath keeping and doing this, that, and the other. Brother
Alan Jellett told me he had to ask a well-known older preacher
in the London area to come while I was preaching over there. And
he said, he said, Brother Fortner actually says that we don't in
any way keep the Sabbath, doesn't it? Allen said, well, yes, of
course he does. I can't be identified with that.
Oh, no, no, no, no. We're free from the law, but
we can't go that far. And so folks are terrified. Terrified
they've done something they shouldn't have done on Sabbath day. Terrified
they said something they shouldn't have said, went somewhere they
shouldn't have go. Terrified of law. And I certainly am aware that
I've broken the law in every point. and do so every day. I'm certainly aware of the fact
that I have not ever in any way kept one commandment of God's
holy law. I'm fully aware of that. And
I am even more fully certain and aware of this fact. I have
fulfilled the law in every detail. in a substitute Christ who died. When he said, it's finished,
this is the period. This is the stopping point of
the law. The law has no claim upon me
if Christ died for me. Certainly, it's clear from this
text of Scripture that you who yet refuse to believe on the
Son of God are without excuse. Jesus Christ demonstrates irrefutably
both his willingness and his ability to save every sinner
who comes to him. You know what Luke says about
him one day? He got done and they brought folks. Oh, they
kept bringing folks and they kept bringing folks and they
kept bringing folks and they kept bringing folks. I mean,
it's like folks lined up. where they're giving away free
state dinners. Just folks kept coming. They just kept coming.
They kept coming. And at the end of the day, this
is what Luke says in Luke chapter 9. He healed as many as had need
of healing. He still does. He heals as many
as have need of healing. That means you're without excuse.
If Christ died for the ungodly, then there's no hope for you
who think yourself righteous. And surely, surely, if Christ
died for me, if Christ died for you, he died for us. That we henceforth
should not live unto ourselves, but unto him who died for us
and gave himself for us. Him who loved us and gave himself
for us. Oh, what a constraint. For utter wholehearted consecration
to the Lord Jesus. He died for me. He died for me. Long time ago, Brother Mahan
was preaching a place and he had dinner a couple of times
with a lady, a widowed lady and her daughter. And the daughter
was grown, nearly a grown woman, and she spoke so admirably of
her father. And Brother Henry, after some
time, asked the young girl before leaving, he said, the young lady,
he said, He said, you speak so admirably of your daddy. How
come? How come? She said, when I was
a little girl, my daddy was in bad health. He had a bad heart.
And the doctors told him that he couldn't strain himself at
all. Any strain would kill him. And one day we were at the beach,
and I got out too far in the water. And my daddy saw me drowning. And he hurriedly jumped into
the ocean. and swam to where I was and pulled
me out of the water and fell over dead by my side. She said, my daddy died for me. I can't help but love him. I can't help but love him. He
died for me. I can't help but honor him. I
can't help but give myself to him. I'll leave the third point with
just this. How this ought to stir our hearts
to proclaim this good news. In due time, Christ died for
the ungodly. I see Wap sitting back there.
I tell you, one of the reasons I have such great, great anticipation
for God's work in Cornelius where the Frank called. Some of you,
I'm sure, observed this from the time Stacey and Frank started
attending here nearly eight years ago. They live an hour and 45
minutes from here. Do you know they seldom ever
came here? For the first years, I can't
remember a time they came. Did they didn't bring somebody
with them to hear the gospel? The reason you're sitting there hearing
this good news is because somebody cared enough to tell you, come
hear about this Savior. This is the message God sent
us to proclaim. Do everything you can to call
sinners to hear this message for their good and Christ's glory. Let us give ourselves individually
as a congregation And I pray that you'll pray for me that
I may give myself in preaching the gospel of God's grace, give
myself utterly to this blessed work, to my dying breath. In due time, Christ died for
the ungodly. Amen. and there's all these great people.