Doris Mahan had a series of,
I think, small heart attacks this week, and they put a stent
in her yesterday morning. So everyone remember them in
prayer. That family is so dear to us.
I was actually thinking, I don't guess Brother Henry's preached
here for six or seven years. That's amazing, isn't it? He's
been in Virginia that long, but he's been such a part of this
congregation he endures are so dear to us all. I'm very excited
about our Bible conference this week. beginning Friday. And, um, as the Lord opens up
a door, I hope we can all invite people to come to hear the gospel
begins this Friday. And I'm just very excited about
it. And we won't have midweek services
this week. Uh, and we'll meet Friday and
Andy Davis is going to preach for us tonight. I turned back
to Romans chapter five, if you would, I've entitled this message, you
probably guessed, Much More. Much More. Now, let's read verses
six through eight. This is what we've looked at
the last couple of weeks in Romans chapter five. Now, in these verses
of scripture, I'm getting ready to read. Paul tells us who Christ
died for and who God loves. And I want to be somebody that
he died for. And I want to be somebody he
loves. Now, understand this, I realize
that this religious world says that Christ died for all men
without exception and that God loves all men without exception. Two things about that. Number
one, it's not true. And number two, it makes the
death of Christ and the love of God meaningless. Well, who does God love? Who did Christ die for? Let's
look in verse six. 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 commendeth his love toward
us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. More glorious words have never
been spoken. Now, you cannot take the promise
to yourself that God loves you and that Christ died for you
unless you fit the character of the ones for whom he died
and the ones he loved. Now, it says when we were yet
without strength, without spiritual strength, not
just weak, but without strength. In due time, Christ died for
the ungodly. Now, who did Jesus Christ the
Lord die for? those who are without strength
and those who are ungodly. Now, if that description fits
you, he died for you. Who does God love? Verse seven,
for scarcely for a righteous man one will die yet, for a good
man some would even dare to die. Now you know what that means.
Someone who is a straight-laced, supposedly righteous man that
you feel threatened by, you feel condemned by, you feel judged
by, you don't even feel comfortable around him. You feel like you're
under their microscope. What Paul is referring to, or
who Paul is referring to, is a self-righteous jerk. Now, everybody
knows people like that. You may be one of them. I may
be one of them. But what he's saying is nobody's
going to die for somebody like that. Nobody likes them. You
don't even feel comfortable around them. But for a good man, a merciful
man, a gracious man, some would die. But God commendeth his love
toward us. in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Now, let me remind you of what
a sinner is. Some people will take the title,
but it's that and nothing more. What is a sinner? A sinner is
someone who has never kept One commandment of God, as far as
the Ten Commandments. No other gods before me. A sinner
is somebody who's put anything before God. No idolatry. A sinner is someone
who's committed idolatry. He's created concepts of God
that made him more comfortable with himself. And he's attributed
false things to God in order to justify or vindicate himself. He's made false gods. The third commandment, the prohibition
against taking his name in vain. The sinner is somebody who, if
he even says the Lord's name, it's in vain because he said
it. The commandment against breaking the Sabbath, against resting.
A sinner is someone who doesn't rest. The fifth commandment, honor
your mother and father. Honor all authority. A sinner
is someone who is not honored authority. Thou shalt not kill,
the sixth commandment. Thou shalt not kill a man physically.
Thou shalt not kill a man's character by slander, by innuendo, by silence
when you should be speaking. Thou shalt not commit adultery,
not physically, not in your heart, not spiritually. A sinner is
someone who is an adulterer. Thou shalt not steal. You won't be a thief. You won't
rob. You won't take credit for that
which does not belong to you. A sinner is a thief. Thou shalt
not bear false witness. You won't tell a lie. A sinner
is someone who's never even told the truth one time. Even when he quotes the truth,
he says it in such a way as to make himself look better. A sinner is someone who covets. Thou shalt not covet. Now, covetous
means more than just desiring what God hadn't given you. I
wish I had a bigger house or I wish I had a better car. It's
failing to be content, perfectly content and satisfied with Christ. A sinner. God loves sinners. That's amazing. That's wonderful.
That's glorious. Christ died for the ungodly. God loves sinners. Now, if you're without strength,
if you're ungodly, and if you're a sinner, listen to me, Christ
died for you. God loves you. Your salvation
has already been accomplished. But don't I have to believe?
Sure you do. You got to believe this. You got to believe this. When he said it is finished,
salvation was finished, accomplished, done. Now, after Paul makes this
glorious statement regarding who God loves and who Christ
died for, Five times in the remainder of this chapter, he uses the
phrase, much more. Much more. You know, the Lord
used this phrase a couple of times. He said, if God so clothed
the grass that's in the field, shall he not much more clothe
you? Oh, you of little faith. If you
then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children,
how much more shall he give good things to them that ask him?
Much more. Isn't that a beautiful phrase?
Much more. Now, the reason Paul uses this
phrase is because he knew we all have a tendency to believe
much less. Isn't that so? much less of how glorious he
is, much less of how sinful we really are. And I fear we believe
much less of the freeness and the completeness of his salvation. He knows how we have the tendency
to believe much less. So he uses this glorious phrase
much more. Now, let's look at each of these
in verse nine. He says much more than after
he talked about God's love and Christ's death, who he died for,
who he loves. He says much more than being
now justified by his blood. We should be saved from wrath
through him. Now, the first much more has
to do with justification and justification has a much more
with it, doesn't it? It's much more than we think.
Much more glorious than any of us can get a hold of. much more being now justified
by his blood. Now turn to Isaiah 53. While you're turning there, let
me remind you of what justification means. Justification means I'm just. If God justifies me, that means
I have no sin. That means I've never done anything
wrong. and it means I have always done
that which is right. That's what justification is. In Isaiah 53, Isaiah says, who
hath believed our report? Who believes that a sinner can
really be justified? That's the message of the gospel.
Who had believed our report and to whom is the arm of the Lord
revealed? Doesn't seem like many people
believe, does it? But instead of giving up and becoming more
discouraged after making this complaint regarding the unbelief
of man, he goes on to give the most astounding description of
the work of Christ that you'll find anywhere in all the word
of God. Isaiah 53, there's not a more
important chapter in the Word of God than this concerning the
arm of the Lord and the report. And let's read it together. For
he, the Lord Jesus Christ, shall grow up before him as a tender
plant and as a root out of dry ground. Now that's an incredible
thought, isn't it? You think of a crack in the parched
earth and a little plant springing up out of it, tender. He grows
up before him. You think of the Lord growing
up before his father, his father beholding his son. This is the
son of my love. And he grew up before him working
out a perfect righteousness as a tender plant, as a root out
of dry ground. And we didn't know any of this
was going on. His brothers and sisters didn't know this was
going on. I think that's one of the most amazing thing. They
had God in their house growing up with him and they didn't get
it. They did not know who he was. You know, that makes you
think or makes you know that men really don't know what righteousness
is, do they? Here, perfect righteousness was
growing up before them and they did not get it. They didn't understand. Verse two says, he hath no form
nor comeliness. There was nothing outstanding
about him as far as his physical appearance. He didn't have a
halo around his head. He didn't have something that would tell
you, this is God. He had no form or comeliness. He was an average looking man,
probably about average size. And when we shall see him, there's
no beauty that we should desire him. There wasn't anything about
him that made people want to follow him physically. Verse
three, here's what we're guilty of. He is despised and rejected
of men. A man of sorrows and acquainted
with grief. You know all of his life long
that could describe him being around us. And we hid as it were
our faces from him. He was despised and we esteemed
him not. There's the greatest indictment
against our character. We esteemed him not. Verse four. While he was doing this, we didn't
realize it. Surely, verse four, surely he
had borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. Yet we did esteem
him stricken, smitten of God and afflicted. But he was wounded
for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace
was upon him. He bore the chastisement and
with his stripes, we are healed. When Peter quotes this in first
Peter, he says, by whose stripes you were healed. I want you to
think of the significance of that. You've already been healed.
If he died for you, whether you know it or not, you've already
been healed. Now, if he died for you, you'll
find it out. I have no question about that. But by whose stripes
we are healed. Now he makes a confession of
sin. Verse six, all we like sheep have gone astray. Every one of
us, we've turned everyone to his own way. And the Lord had
laid on him, hath made to meet upon him the iniquity of us all. Peter said who his own self bear
our sins in his own body on the tree. Now that's another amazing
concept but my sin actually was born in his body and if he took
it that means I don't have it anymore. Sin cannot be two places
at once. If it's in him it's not in me. Verse 7, he was oppressed, he was afflicted,
yet he opened not his mouth. He made no attempt at defending
himself. Now, how many times have I been
accused of something that I did not do and I defend myself, my
little self-righteous, arrogant soul? How could someone accuse
me of something like that? I didn't do that or I didn't
think that or How could they? Well, the Lord didn't try to
defend himself. Why? He was guilty. That's why. He really was guilty. He felt the shame and the disgrace
of the sin that he bore in his own body on the tree. The reason
he didn't defend himself is he's guilty. He was oppressed and he was afflicted,
yet he opened not his mouth. He's brought as a lamb to the
slaughter and as a sheep before shears is done. So openeth he
not his mouth. He was taken from prison and
from judgment. And who shall declare his generation?
For he was cut off out of the land of the living. For the transgression
of my people was he stricken. And he made his grave with the
wicked and with the rich in his death, because he'd done no violence.
Neither was any deceit in his mouth, yet it pleased the Lord. to bruise him. Yes, wicked men
nailed the nails, drove the nails in his hands and feet. But who
was it that was directing all this? It pleased the Lord to
bruise him, him being delivered by the determinate counsel and
foreknowledge of God. It pleased the Lord to bruise
him. He hath put him to grief when thou shalt make his soul
and offering for sin. Now you see that word offering
for sin? That same Hebrew word is also translated sin and guiltiness
and trespass. And you could just as easily
translate that in all those ways. When thou shalt make his soul
sin. And isn't that exactly what the
New Testament teaches in 2 Corinthians 5, 21, for he had made him sin
for us who knew no sin. All the filth of our sin, he
was made to be. The trespass, the guiltiness.
Thou shalt make his soul sin. And here's what will happen from
that. He shall see his seed. I was talking about all of his
seed. the elect, those who believe,
those for whom he died. He shall prolong his days and
the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. He shall
see of the travail of his soul and shall be satisfied by his
knowledge. Shall my righteous servant justify
many. That's what he does. He justifies
many. He takes many people and he makes
them absolutely just. By his knowledge shall my righteous
servant justify many for he shall bear their iniquities. Therefore
will I divide him a portion with the great and he shall divide
the spoil with the strong because he has poured out his soul unto
death. He was numbered with the transgressors.
He bear the sin of many. and made intercession for the
transgressors. Now, that's what justification
means. Much more being justified. Isn't justification much more? It's much more than me or you
have any idea of, but it's altogether glorious. Much more being justified,
being now justified by His blood, like we just read about in Isaiah
53. We shall be saved from wrath through him. Now turn back to
Romans 5. Verse 10. For if when we were enemies,
we were reconciled to God by the death of his son, much more
being reconciled, we should be saved by his life. Now don't
miss this word. For if when we were enemies,
enemies, it's taken from the word to hate, hostile, people
who actually hated God. It's not about we, it's not about
me and you. People who were actually hostile towards the Lord. And
if it were in our power, we put him out of business. We'd kill
him. We'd murder him. And isn't that exactly what happened
on the cross? When men were left to themselves, and this is me
and you. Don't just think about them back then. This is what
would happen if the Lord withdrew his hand from me, or if he withdrew
his hand for you, you and I would murder him if it were in our
power. And the cross is proof of that.
If when we were enemies, hostile toward him, malintent. We were reconciled to God by
the death of his son. Now, we were enemies, not even
a desire for reconciliation. When I think of Adam in the Garden
of Eden after he fell, He didn't ask the Lord to forgive him.
He didn't sue for mercy. He ran and hid from God's presence. He didn't want to be around the
Lord. He wanted to be absent from him. And when the Lord brings
him to himself and comes to him, what does he do? Does he say,
I'm sorry, please forgive me of the great wickedness I've
committed? No. He says, the woman that you
gave me. She gave me of the fruit and
I did eat. This is all your fault. If you wouldn't have given me
this woman, this would have never taken place. There was no attempt
at reconciliation on Adam's part. Who did all the reconciling?
God did. For if when we were enemies,
We were reconciled to God by the death of his son. You see,
all of God's reason for anger was removed because of the death
of Christ. Consequently, there is no anger. He didn't have a reason to be
mad. You see, the only reason for anger is sin. And that sin
was removed. And I love the time of the removal.
when we were enemies. Not when we said, I'm sorry.
Not when we cried for mercy or cried for forgiveness. But if
when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death
of his son. Turn with me to Colossians 1
for just a moment. Hold your finger there in Romans
5. Verse 20. This speaks of his reconciling
work. And having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him
to reconcile all things to himself. By him, I say, whether they be
things in earth or things in heaven, and you that were before
time alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet
now hath he reconciled in the body of his flesh through death
to present you holy and unblameable. and unreprovable in his sight. Now he doesn't have any reason
to be mad at somebody like that, does he? And this is what the blood
of Christ actually accomplished. This is what he actually accomplished
by his death. This is the reconciliation he accomplished. He made everybody
he died for. And remember, if you're without
strength, if you're ungodly, and if you're a sinner, you're
somebody he died for. Now I can assure you that. He
made everybody he died for. and unblameable and unreprovable
in his very sight. That's what he did in justification. Now notice what it says back
in our text in Romans chapter 5. For if when we were enemies
we were reconciled to God by the death of his son, much more
Being reconciled, having been reconciled, we shall be saved
by his life. Now, what all does that mean?
We'll be saved by his life. We're saved by his death, weren't
we? Yeah, we were saved by his death. We're also saved by his life.
It means two or three things. First of all, it's his life that
is my life before God. That's my personal righteousness,
his life. I am the way. the truth and the
life. No man cometh through the father
but by me. But it also means this. This is a reference that
we were reconciled to his death. He was raised from the dead.
Now how many times I wonder over the centuries have men made a
will that they wanted carried out after their death and upon
their death it was not carried out. I think of all the fights
that have taken place over inheritances and when people died, people,
you know, somebody wants this part, somebody wants that part.
And maybe things are stretched in order. And the fellow's will
is not carried out. But you know what? The Lord's
will is always carried out because he's alive to make sure it is. He live it. This is the will
of him that sent me, that of all which he hath given me, I
should lose nothing, but raise it up again at the last day.
And he's alive to make sure it takes place. Being reconciled,
we should be saved by his life. Let me tell you why I'll be saved,
because there's a life in heaven, my life before God, and he's
at the right hand of the Father, interceding for me. representing
me, we shall be saved by his life. Look in verse 15 of Romans
chapter five. Second sentence. We're going
to next few weeks. We'll look at Romans five. It's
such an important chapter. I'm just wanting to deal with
this much more right now, though. So he says in verse 15, for if
through the offense of one many be dead, Much more, the grace
of God and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ,
hath abounded unto many. Now through the offense of one,
many be dead. And that's what took place in
the Garden of Eden. Look in verse 12 of the same chapter. Wherefore,
as by one man, sin entered the world. When Adam fell, when Adam
rebelled against God, sin entered the world. It was not there before,
but now it is. and death by sin, so that death
passed upon all men, for that all have sinned. Now, when Adam
sinned, he sinned as a representative man, and when he sinned, you
and I sinned in him. It's more than his sin simply
being charged to us, although his sin is charged to us. We
actually sinned. When he sinned, we sinned. Now,
death passed upon all men, and that all sinned. But what took
place with the Lord? For through the offense of one,
many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace."
Now, if somebody's dead, dead in sins, the only hope they have
is this thing called grace. Much more the grace of God. and the gift by grace. Now, what is grace? Now, I love the first place it's
mentioned in the scripture. In Genesis chapter six, verse
five, it says, God saw the wickedness of man was great in the earth
and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was
only evil continually. What a description of man. Is
it accurate? Absolutely. Absolutely. When God looks in my heart and
your heart, he sees what passes through our minds. He sees only
wickedness continually. That's it. Every imagination
of the thoughts of his heart, only evil continually. Now, verse
8, it's talking about all men. Verse 8 of Genesis chapter 6
says, but Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. Noah was
included in that group that God saw that the wickedness of man
was great but Noah found grace. You all want to be one of those
buts don't you? But Todd found grace in the eyes of the Lord. Unmerited unsought favor. The grace of God is the gospel. There's no gospel without saving
grace. Saving grace is not a provision
God has made. I was listening to a preacher
the other day. He talked about God made provision for grace. And
I thought, no, God doesn't make provision for grace. God gave
grace. God doesn't make provision for forgiveness. God forgives.
If all it is is a provision that it's up to me to whether or not
I'll take it or reject it, That's not God's grace. That's not forgiveness. Grace is saving grace. By grace, you are saved. Now let's go on reading. Verse
15, for through the offense of one, many me dead, much more
the grace of God and the gift by grace. It's called the free
gift. It's called in verse 17, the
gift of righteousness. Now this gift, this is this gift
of God. It's truly, it's the only truly
free gift there is. It's a gift with no strings attached. There's nothing you have to have
to measure up to this gift. I love what the Lord said to
the woman at the well, if you knew the gift of God, the free If you have nothing to recommend
you, this gift is for you. It's called the gift of righteousness.
We don't normally think of righteousness as a gift, do we? We think there's
something we do in order to achieve this. There's something we, some
character we display or some way we act that'll make us righteous. But here the Bible tells us righteousness
is a gift. Is this a gift you want? A free
gift of grace. A gift of unmerited favor. The
free gift of God. And this all comes by one man.
Oh, I want this gift. Look what it says. The gift by
grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ hath abounded unto many. This gift has abounded, has overflown
to many. Look in verse 17. For if by one man's offense,
death reigned by one. Now, to reign means to exercise
sovereignty. If by one man's offense, death
reigned by one, how much power do you personally have to prevent
death? Absolutely none. Because death
reigns. It exercises sovereignty over
you. You cannot prevent it. For if
by one man's offense death reigned by one, much more they which
have received abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness
shall reign in life by one. Now, the reign of death is brought
upon by the reign of sin. Down in verse 21, it says that
as sin hath reigned unto death. Sin has complete control and
power and dominion over every natural man. You can no more not sin than
you can create a universe. You know that? The natural man
is under the complete control and dominion of sin. Somebody
says, well, not me. Well, you just proved you are.
You're totally blinded. I mean, you're under its complete
grip. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You're under
the control of sin. But much more, they who receive
the gift of righteousness, if he gives it, you'll receive it.
And if you don't receive it, it's because he never gave it.
Because wherever he gives something, people receive it. They receive
the gift of righteousness. Have you received the gift of
righteousness? Where this is a gift God's given
you, and your righteousness is not something you've achieved.
It's not something you've done. It's something he's given you,
and you've received it. Now much more, as sin hath reigned
unto death, much more they that receive grace and the gift of
righteousness shall reign in life by one. Now, the scripture
says he's made us. kings and priests to God. What do kings do? They reign.
They reign. And listen to me right now. You
listen to this real carefully. If you right now are looking to
Christ, Jesus the Lord, as your only righteousness before God,
you're reigning with him. Sin doesn't have dominion over
you. There's a time when you couldn't do that. You didn't
even know what it meant to do that. But now you do. You really
are somebody who looks to Christ as your righteousness. He's your only plea before God.
You've got nothing else. You're reigning with Him. He
reigns, and you're reigning with Him. Now, somebody says, it doesn't
seem like much of a reign to me as far as I look at myself.
Well, it may not, but we reign by faith. I mean, it's something
we look, if he reigns, I do too, because it says as he is, so
are we in the world, in this world right now. And as he reigns,
I'm reigning too. And the very fact that by his
grace, I can look to him lets me know that sin doesn't have
dominion over me. There was a time when I didn't
even know what that meant, but I do now. I'm looking to him
and I'm reigning with him much more. And then verse 20, Romans
chapter five. Moreover, the law entered, God's
holy law, that the offense might abound. Now that's very important. It doesn't say God's law entered
to restrain the offense or to check it or to make it less. And generally when we think of
the law, we think of the law as being someone that, something
that will restrain sin. I mean, if you, if you see a
police officer behind you, you're not going to speed. You're going
to slow down and you're going to try to stay in line with what
they expect. And we think, well, the law will
kind of keep sin down. And it does outwardly, but in
the heart, all it does is increase it. All I have to say is do not
do something and do not, or do not think something. That's exactly
what you'll do or think in your heart. The strength of sin is
the law, and the law entered that the offense might abound,
that it might overflow, so that you see that all you do before
God is sin. Do you see that regarding yourself? All you do before God, this is
all you do, is sin. But, where sin abounded. Are you a place where it abounds?
Well, if you are, 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. How did sin reign unto death?
How much choice do you have in preventing death? What ability
do you have to prevent it? Could you say, I'm not going
to die. I'm not going to hold it off. It's not going to happen
to me. Well, you can say that all you want, but it's still
going to happen. Sin reigns unto death. But in that same manner,
wherever you find me a place where sin abounds. Grace much more abounds, and
it reigns. It will not take no for an answer. You find me a place where sin
abounds, and I'll find you a place where grace does much more abound. You know, the gospel's always
a much more, isn't it? All the truth of scripture is
a much more. And you know, even in glory,
After, I know there's no time, but for lack of a better word,
after 10 billion years, we're always going to hear much more.
Much more. He's going to use attorney to
show us the exceeding riches in kindness of his grace. Much
more. And I want to give you one last much more. There was a man by the name of
Bartimaeus. You can read about him in three
of the gospel accounts. He was a blind man. And he said
by the wayside, begging. Now I have no doubt that this
man, as he said by the wayside begging, had heard of the accounts
of Jesus of Nazareth. And one day when he was sitting
there, he heard someone say, he gave sight to the blind. Oh,
that registered with Bartimaeus. He was blind. Son of a blind
man. And I know that he thought to
himself, if he ever passes my way, I'm going to cry out for
mercy. And so he sits there by the highway
side begging. That's all he could do. He's
poor. He couldn't work. He's blind, he couldn't see.
He said by the highway side bagging. All of a sudden he heard a commotion,
a bunch of people coming toward him. He said, what, what's this
mean? And somebody said to him, Jesus of Nazareth passeth by. And immediately he began to cry
out, Jesus, the son of David, have mercy on me. He knew if
he ever passed by, that's what he was going to cry, have mercy.
And that's what he did. And you know what the crowd said? Hold your peace, Bartimaeus.
Don't cry out like this. But you know what the scripture
said he did? He cried out the much more. A great deal. Jesus, the son of David, have
mercy on me. The one thing he asked for was
mercy. And the Lord stopped and he commanded
him to be called. And all of a sudden, the same
people that told him to be quiet now said, be a good cheer. He's calling you. And the scripture
says that he rising, he cast away his garments. And anybody,
anytime somebody comes to Christ, this is exactly what they'll
do. They'll cast away their filthy garment of righteousness. They'll
see what it is and they'll cast it away. They'll get rid of it.
And he arose and came to Jesus. And the Lord said, what wilt
thou that I should do unto thee? And he said, Lord, that I might
receive my sight. And he said, be it unto thee as you will go your
way. Go your way, you're set free.
Your faith has saved you. You know what Bartimaeus did
when he went his way? He followed Jesus in the way. Now, cry the more. A great deal. Jesus, thou son
of David, have mercy on me. Let's pray.