If you would turn with me to
John chapter 15, and just hold your place there for a minute
or two, John chapter 15. While you're turning there, let
me say that that little four-letter word, L-O-V-E, love, is a word
that's used by most every one of us, in most cases, probably
every day in some form or another. We say to our spouses, I love
you, and we say I love you to our children, siblings, our dearest
friends. Oftentimes, though, without really
giving much thought to the magnitude of that little word. Now, in
the Thesaurus Dictionary, synonyms for the word love are deep affection,
fondness, tenderness, warmth, intimacy, attachment, endearment,
devotion, adoration. idolization, passion for, desire,
infatuation, compassion, care, regard, concern, kindness, charity,
unselfishness. zeal for, fondness of, goodwill,
devotion, and the list went on and on. As often as I use that
tool of the Sars Dictionary, I don't think I've ever looked
up a word that had so many synonyms. But friends, to fully understand
the vastness and the greatness of that little word, we must
look to Christ who is love. That's what y'all are saying
about. And according to our Lord, the greatest love of all is shown
to us in verse 13 of John chapter 15. If you turn there with me,
look at verse 13. Greater love hath no man than
this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. According to the Lord Jesus Christ
Himself, the epitome of love is the laying down of one's life
for his or her friends. Now listen, that is exactly what
Christ did for His people. Exactly what he did. He laid
down his life so that his elect who were chosen before time began
might have eternal life. And it's the greatest love of
all. That's what our Lord said, isn't
it? He said, greater love hath no man than this. And the thing
or things that make this even more wondrous and glorious and
cause us to see that this love is so great and even greater
is when it's realized what kind of people that this love is directed
to. And he calls them friends. How
wonderful is that? With that said, the title of
my message this morning is, What We Are. and what Christ did. Or we could simply call it the
greatest love of all. But when we see what we are and
what He did, we will admit in our hearts that it's the greatest
love of all. So, in consideration of time,
I want to show you three things that clearly show what we are
and what Christ did for us from one passage of Scripture. Turn
with me to Romans chapter 5. Romans chapter 5 the first thing
that we are is found in verse 6 For when we were yet without
strength in due time Christ died for the ungodly We are ungodly. God's chosen people by nature
are ungodly. All men and women are born ungodly,
even those for whom Christ laid down His life for. Yes, all men
and women by nature, birth and practice, are unholy, born condemned. We are godless, blasphemers,
profane, immoral, corrupt, depraved, sinful. wicked and evil sinners. And the child of God will take
sides with God against himself and say, that's so, that's what
I am. Isn't that what David did in
the psalm we wrote? He said, against thee and thee
only have I sinned. that you might be just when you
speak concerning me. Oh, has God shown you that you
are all these things, corrupt, depraved, sinful, wicked, and
evil, blasphemous, profane, immoral? If He has, that's a good thing. And it's only because of the
sovereign grace of God in Christ. Now if you would hold your place
here and turn with me just quickly over to 2 Peter 2. I want to
read just three verses here for you. 2 Peter 2 verses 4-6 and
holding your place in Romans 5. Verse 4, For if God spared
not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered
them into chains of darkness to be reserved unto judgment,
and spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person,
a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the
world of the ungodly. Verse 6, And turning the cities
of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, condemned them with an overthrow,
Making them an example or an example Pattern unto those that
after now look at those words Should live ungodly should live
ungodly doesn't sound like to me very good news for the ungodly
There was a place in the gospel, a place that escapes my mind
right now, but our Lord sent out his disciples to preach the
gospel and he told them, and I'm paraphrasing a little, but
he said, those that don't receive you or hear you, you shake off
the dust under your feet for a testimony against them. And
he said, I'm telling you the truth, that it shall be more
tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for
that city. There are some of you that have
yet to bow to Christ. You've heard with your natural
ears the wonderful words of life and Him and Him alone, but not
with your spiritual ears. God has not yet given you spiritual
ears or you would not remain indifferent. I'm telling you
the truth as the scriptures bear witness. Now listen to me. If
you leave this world without Christ, there awaits only eternal
damnation for you. He that hath the Son hath life,
and he that hath not the Son hath not life. Friends, if God
doesn't save you and make you righteous in Christ, you will
one day soon experience the wages of sin, which is an eternal death. Our Lord said in Luke 13, 28,
there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth when you shall see Abraham
and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God
and you yourselves thrust out. Now I'm preaching this morning
for a verdict. Brother Mahan told me years ago
as a young preacher, why he took any interest in me, I'll never
know. I think he just took interest in everybody. But he told me
years ago, he said, preach for a verdict. Preach for a verdict. That's my intention. Do you believe
that Christ is God? I'm asking you. Do you believe
that Christ is God and that He lived, died, and rose again for
ungodly sinners? Or will you continue to ignore
the message of this great love and perish in your sin? I'm asking
for a verdict. Will you trust your soul alone
in and on the work of the Lord Jesus Christ who shed His blood
for the remission of sins? Or will you trust in your own
works of righteousness? Hear again the word of the Lord.
Romans 4, 5 says, But to him that worketh not, Oh, that should
be music to our ears right there. To him that worketh not, stop
your work and cease from your work, and bow at the feet of
he that has done all things well. But to him that worketh not,
but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith, his faith
is counted for righteousness. If we can see the great love
of Christ who loved the ungodly, in this we can. If we can all
but see the great love of Christ who loved and died for the ungodly. And that's exactly what verse
6 says that Christ did for the ungodly. Look at it again, back
in Romans 5. For when we were yet without
strength, having no strength of our own, in due time Christ
died. for the ungodly greater love
hath no man than this that a man lay down his life for his friends
now in verse 8 we find the second thing that we are by nature and
by practice it says but God commended his love toward us in that while
we were yet sinners Christ died for us friends we're ungodly
We're sinners. We're ungodly sinners is what
we are. Every one of us by nature hate
God. That's just a fact. Oh, we're
evil doers. We're transgressors. We're violators
and offenders of God's holy law. Trespassers who are dead in sin. But what did Christ do for sinners?
And verse 8 says He commended His love towards us while we
were yet sinners, ungodly sinners. How did He commend His love towards
His chosen yet ungodly people? Christ died for us. Christ died for us. Greater love
hath no man than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. Our Lord said, I came not to
call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. Paul told us here
in Romans 5 verse 19, For as by one man's disobedience many
were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be
made righteous. The Apostle Paul in 1 Timothy
1 verse 15 said this is a faithful saying. It's worthy of all acceptation. We should all bow and accept
this as a truthful and faithful saying from God Almighty that
Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. And every child
of God says, I'm chief. I'm the chief. Hebrews 7 says,
For such an high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled,
separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens. Now
unlike other high priests, friends, he does not need to offer sacrifices
day after day. First for his own sins, and then
for the sins of his people. The Lord Jesus Christ, our great
high priest, sacrificed for his people's sins. once for all,
when He offered Himself as the perfect sacrifice. No more need
to sacrifice again and again and again. The perfect sacrifice,
the sacrifice that satisfied God. How great must Christ's
love be. He who is holy, harmless, undefiled,
and separate from us, voluntarily made Himself to be sin for us. Oh, you can't earn it, you can't
merit it, and you sure don't deserve it. It's a free gift.
And oh, how His love takes on an extreme greatness. when we
consider those for whom He died. They're ungodly. Ungodly sinners. He's holy, we're unholy. He's
harmless, we're wicked. He's undefiled, we're defiled. Yet, He laid down His life. You know, no man could take it.
No man can take God's life. He had to voluntarily lay it
down. Isn't that what? He gave up the
ghost. He gave it up. He gave it up. Greater love hath no man than
this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. The beloved
John said in his little epistle, chapter 3, verse 16, 1 John,
Hereby perceive we the love of God. How do we perceive the love
of God, John? Because he laid down his life
for us. There's the love of God. No greater
love is there than that. Now, let me ask you, does that
move your heart? Does it move your heart? Honestly
now, does that not cause your soul to rejoice? If it doesn't,
then I'm afraid that you're dead. You're spiritually dead in trespasses
and sin. However, to those of you whose
hearts are moved and your souls rejoice, in Romans 5, look at
verse 9, for it tells us, much more than, much more than, I
like the way that starts, Being now justified by his blood, we
shall be saved from wrath through him. That's good news, isn't
it? It is if you're a sinner. If
you're ungodly, if you're an ungodly sinner, that's good news.
You know, when we observe the Lord's table, we often read this
verse. But the last time that our Lord
sat down to supper with his disciples, the scriptures say he took the
cup and he gave thanks and he said, for this is my blood. of the New Testament which is
shared for many for the remission. of sins. God the Son laid down
His life, allowing His pure and sinless blood to be shed, and
now all His chosen are justified and saved from the impending
wrath of God through Him. Brother, you don't preach much
on how we should live. You can't live good enough to
be saved. You can only be saved by looking
to Him. God said, when I see the blood,
I'll pass over you. No condemnation to those that
are in Christ Jesus. Third thing is we are enemies. Look at 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. Now,
not only are we ungodly sinners, but we're enemies. By nature,
we're enemies of the One who loved us and gave Himself for
us. That's what Paul said in Colossians
1, verse 21. And you, oh, and you that were
sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works,
yet now hath He reconciled. Look at verse 10 again. We were
reconciled to God. How? by the death of his son. Greater love hath no man than
this. And he laid down his life for
his friends. To truly understand the greatness
of Christ's love, we must consider that He who loved us was infinitely
holy. This past Wednesday night, we
looked at Job 25, verse 4, which said, How then, if God being
holy and we being ungodly, if God being perfectly righteous
and us being unrighteous, self-righteous, how then can man be justified
with God? How? How can He be clean that
is born of a woman? There's only one way. Just one
way. Christ said, I am the way, the
truth, and the life. For He hath made Him to be sin
for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness
of God in Him. That's the way. That's the way.
He became what we were and in doing so he justifies us and
he still remains just. His strict justice is satisfied
and God is not offended because God himself shed his own blood
that we might have life. I'm telling you, there is no
greater love than that. No greater love than that. That a man lay down his life
for his friends. No wonder that Paul in Romans
3 verse 26 says, Declare, I say at this time, His righteousness.
What are you preaching on Paul? I'm preaching on His righteousness.
I'm telling you about Christ and His perfect righteousness. That God might be just and the
justifier of him that believeth in Jesus. That's how He's both.
By taking my sin and giving me His perfect righteousness. He's
just and justifier. And there's no greater love,
no greater love than this. Every child of God has a perfect
righteousness in which they're able to stand before a thrice
holy God. But brother, I don't feel holy.
I don't feel righteous. You don't have a thing to do
with what you feel. Does it? Feelings doesn't have
anything to do with it. Emotion doesn't have anything
to do with it. What it does have to do with
is that Christ died for the ungodly. While we were yet sinners, Christ
died for us. And as we were enemies, oh enemies,
we were reconciled to God by what? The death of His Son. With much more being reconciled,
we shall be saved by His blood. We were ungodly, and Christ made
us holy. I can't put it any plainer than
that. We were yet sinners, and Christ made us righteous. We were his enemies, and God
made us his friends. Greater love hath no man than
this. Oh, know that a man lay down
his life for his friends. The God-man. All God. All man. Who can understand such
a thing? I can't. But I believe it. All God and all man laid down
his life for his friends. How great is the love of Christ
when you consider these things. When we were yet without strength,
Christ died for the ungodly. Oh, you ponder that. knowing
yourself to be nothing but ungodly. You ponder that. You who were
without strength in due time, in the day of love, when God
crossed your path with the gospel, you saw that Christ died for
the ungodly. While you were yet sinners, I'm
talking about the worst of the worst, Christ died. for us. When we were enemies,
we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son. So how
great is the love of Christ? In closing, let me ask you that
question. Well, Paul said it's so great
that who can separate us from it? Who shall separate us from
the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, distress,
or persecution, or famine, nakedness, or peril, or sore? Nay. No, sirree, in all these things
we're more than conquerors through Him that loved us. We love Him
because He first loved us. That's what the Scripture says,
is it not? For the love of Christ constraineth
us. It keeps us and it holds us together
because we thus judge that if one died for all, all his chosen,
not all the world, then we're all, all his chosen, dead. Christ died for the dead, the
ungodly. Enemies. And Ephesians 3.19 says,
and to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge. Oh, friends,
don't try to understand it. Just cling on to it, grab hold
of it, and love the fact that God in Christ loves you, that
you might be filled, now listen, with the fullness of God. filled with the fullness of God.
Oh, the love of Christ most definitely passes and goes beyond our ability
to know, but in Him we are filled with the fullness of God. That's
something I can grab hold of. Greater love hath no man than
this, that a man, that a man lay down his life for ungodly
sinners, enemies that he now calls friends. What a Savior. What a gospel! What a God!