Let's turn, if you would, to
Romans chapter 5. Romans chapter 5, and we'll start
reading in verse 6 and read through verse 8. 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. So my question here this morning
is, how then can the ungodly sinner be one whom Christ died
for? To answer that, we're going to
have to look at a few scriptures, but first, let's turn over to
1 Peter chapter 4. Read verses 17 and 18. For the time has come that judgment
must begin at the house of God. And if it first begin at us,
then what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel
of God? And if the righteous scarcely
be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear? Now turn
over to Jude, the book of Jude, right before Revelation. Start reading in verse 12. These are spots in your feasts
of charity. And when they feast with you,
feeding themselves without fear, clouds they are without water,
carried about of winds, trees whose fruit withereth without
fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots, raging waves of
the sea, foaming out of their own shame, wandering stars to
whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever. And Enoch
also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying,
Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints.
to execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are
ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have
ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly
sinners have spoken against him. These are murmurs Complainers,
walking after their own lusts, and their mouth speaketh great
swelling words, having men's persons in admiration because
of advantage. But beloved, remember the words
which were spoken of before the apostles of the Lord Jesus Christ,
how they told you that there should be mockers in the last
time who should walk after their own ungodly lusts. Let's go back
to our text. So what we've read here is about
the judgment that will come upon the ungodly. So when we ask the
question, how can the ungodly sinner be someone who Christ
died for, because this is what we've read, that God commanded
His love toward us while we were yet sinners, Christ died for
us. So does that mean that all ungodly and that all sinners
are ones whom Christ has died for? Well, we know that that
can't be, because then there'd be no reason for hell. But if
we look at verses six and eight here, we see the words we and
the words us. So he says in verse six, when
we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the
ungodly. And in verse eight, but God commended
his love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died
for us. So when we say we and us, this
indicates that there's also a they and them. So it's not all with
that exception, but it is a we and an us that are ungodly and
sinners. What we do know is that there
will be a judgment and that God will punish the wicked and punish
sinners. and that the Son of God was sent
here to this world as a man, also being God, to save his people
from their sins. They shall call his name Jesus.
How can I know if I am one whom Jesus Christ died for? How can
I know if I am one whom Christ actually saved? What a question
for us to ponder. And there are many questions
that we may ponder that really have no value or are meaningless.
But this is a question that we must be confronted with. And
when I say confronted, I mean forced to face, to deal with
the outcome of the situation. Might be today, and I hope that
it is. Might be next week, might be
next year, and it might be right before we die. But it's going
to come when we weren't expecting it. And what called to my mind
was, have you ever been in a situation where you thought that you almost
did die? Where you may have been driving
your car really fast down the interstate and you hit a puddle
of water. car kind of turns, you've lost control. And you
know that it could catch and turn and flip that car over and
kill you. And there might have been a time you get on an airplane
and you fly along and you get in a storm and it takes that
plane down. It shakes the wings to the point where you think
they might rip off the plane and I'm going to fall eight miles
to the ground. And there might be where you
lay in bed at night, you're dead asleep, and then a storm comes
through, the thunder shakes the house, wakes you up, and you
think that it might rip the roof off and rip down the walls of
the house. And there's a moment when you think, has the Lord
returned? Your heart kind of stops for
a minute and you pause. It's like the seconds turn into
minutes. Minutes turn into hours. This
seemingly small amount of time seems like it lasts forever.
And you think, I'm not prepared for this. You look within yourself
for some sliver of comfort, some evidence that you don't need
to be scared before you die, but all you find is fear. What
if I'm not saved? This is being confronted with
the question we're asking this morning. Will I die and be ready
to face God? All of our fears, all of our
hopes, all of our desires, all of our earthly treasures, good
intentions, and even unfinished works are meaningless. At this
time, we're stripped of everything. And one question remains, am
I saved? Did Christ die for me? And die
in a way that is purposeful, where He knew me, where He sought
me, and where He actually saved me. Not a meaningless death or
an incomplete salvation where He died for all men everywhere
and unless I do something to make it work, then I'll be saved. This is nowhere in the Scriptures.
But yet there are millions of men and women who die trusting
in this lie. The Lord said, many in that day
will say to me, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name?
And in thy name cast out devils. And in thy name done many wonderful
works. To which he'll say to them, I
never knew you. Depart from me, you workers of
iniquity. But we've done many wonderful
works. but you didn't honor the son. You twisted the word. You made salvation governed by
man's will and not by God's. You robbed God of his glory. The scripture says to give unto
the Lord a glory that is due unto his name. Your wonderful
works, his name is wonderful. and we're to dare to mention
our wonderful works to Him whose name is wonderful? He is Jesus. He's the Christ. He's the Savior. He's King. I must know and I
must be sure that He died and that He saved me. To do this,
we first must examine what we know about who we're told Christ
did die for. And that's what we're told here
in verses 6 and in verse 8. Am I like them? What makes me
any different? Well, first, we're told there
are three different types of people. There's the ungodly,
there are those who are without strength, and there's sinners. So the ungodly are those who
are destitute of the fear of the Lord. They have no fear of
God. Condemning God, they condemn
God in His will, in all that He does, they condemn Him. They
don't want Him to rule over them. They're anti-God and anti-worship. There's nothing in them desirous
or affectionate towards God. These are the ungodly. The without
strength, without strength is no ability. Strength is based
on the premise that you have the power or capacity to do something. These are without strength. The
other thing that the writers said about without strength was
they said it can also be said sluggish in doing right. You
know why you would be sluggish in doing right? It's because
you don't want to. So you've ever been in a situation
where you knew you should do what was right, but in reality,
you didn't want to do that. But you did it anyway, because
it's what was right. But in your heart, you were saying,
I don't want to do that. It's because that's what our
sinful nature is. We're without strength. And thirdly, We've
heard of ungodly, without strength, and sinners. Sinners are those
who are devoted to sin. It's not enough that we may just
had a sin or two, we're devoted to it. It's what we love, it's
what we embrace, and it's what we are. It's all that we can
be. We're not free from sin in thought, we're not free from
sin in word, and we're not free from sin in what we do, in our
deeds. We can only sin. Do we not like the way this sounds?
That those are who Christ died for, the ungodly, sinners, those
without strength? Pharisees didn't either. Doesn't
sound like you? Ungodly, sinner, without strength? Maybe not. But take heed, because
these are whom Christ died for, whom he came to save. Well, most
people would have the common sense in hearing that to say,
well, I've got to at least have my bases covered. So I'll agree
to be a part of that group, because if you're saying that's who Christ
died for, well, I want to be a part of that group. We'll each
have enough sense to save our own hide to say, I'm going to
be a part of that, because you know the alternative of which
is, we're told, not anything else. So there's a man that I
know that he is, I was mentioning this to some of the guys last
night when we got together. that he would profess to be a
Christian. He also reads books on aliens
and reads books on Eastern religion and on Muhammad. And I said, Vince, what are you
saying you believe? Which one is it? He's just like,
well, I don't know. Well, which one is it? Well,
I kind of believe them all. He wants to have his bases covered
just in case whichever one comes back he can say, well, yeah,
I believe that. So you believe everything but stand for nothing.
So this is the whole concept of having your bases covered.
Well, I want to be a part of that group. Well, be careful
what you agree to. Because if you're one of those
who is described, the ungodly and the sinner, as we've seen
before here, it said that Christ died for the we and the us, that
are the ungodly and sinners, not ungodly and sinners without
respect. So if you're one of these described,
then you're guilty before God. You're a lawbreaker, dead in
sins. And God's law says you must die
to pay for your sin. Question. If you truly to believe
yourself to be a sinner and that you're guilty, could I then find
fault with God if he passed me by? Would I say that he's unjust
for passing me by because I'm a sinner? Well, most people would
know the answer to that. You should say is, well, no,
I wouldn't. Well, how about if he passed by one of your loved
ones? Would you feel the same way? Someone whom you wanted
him to save, but he passed by. Would we feel the same way? Well,
if I do find fault with God, being a sinner, for passing me
by or my loved ones by, then all I really prove is that I
don't believe I'm a sinner. and that God ought to corrupt
his holiness, his justice, who he is, just to save my skin,
or my children, or my spouse. I wish God to make a mockery
of himself and of his law, just to satisfy my wants and my desires. And let me follow this up by
saying, I don't want to die, and I don't want to be punished
for my sin, or my spouse, or my child, or my friends, or any
of my loved ones. But what I'm saying is that if
I did and if God did punish me and he said to me that you're
guilty and you'll have to pay for your sins, I know in my heart
that it's true. I am guilty. I did sin and I
should deserve what I'm getting because that is the penalty for
sin is death. You see, mercy is never owed. Mercy that is owed is not mercy.
I don't find fault with God. There's no one else that is responsible
for my sin. How then could God the Father
ever allow his son, his only son, in whom he's well-pleased,
to die for the ungodly and for sinners? Well, to answer this,
we're gonna have to go back. So if we look back in Romans
4, verse 17, this is God speaking to Abraham, He says, as it's
written, I have made thee a father of many nations. So this is God's
promise to Abraham. And this is before Abraham had
any children. Abraham was 100 years old. But
yet God gave the promise before Abraham ever believed God. God
said, I have made thee. And this was before the children
were ever told of, where Abraham was already a father. But yet
God said, I have made thee. God made the heavens, he made
the earth, he made light, and he made life. Could he not also
make a hundred-year-old man a father? This tells us, and then the verse
tells us something about God. It says, after he says, I've
made thee a father of many nations, before him whom he believed,
even God, who quickeneth the dead and calleth those things
which be not as though they were. And so to understand these things,
this quickening of the dead and these calling of things which
are not as though they were, we're gonna have to go back even
further. How could Christ die for ungodly? So if we turn over
to Acts chapter nine, This is the story of Saul of
Tarsus, Paul the Apostle. Acts chapter 9 verse 1, and Saul,
yet breathing out threatenings, and slaughter against the disciples
of the Lord. You imagine that, slaughtering
the disciples of the Lord. Went unto the high priest, and
desired of him letters to Damascus and to the synagogues, if he
found any of this way, whether they were of men or women, that
he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem. And as he journeyed,
he came near Damascus, and suddenly there shined around about him
a light from heaven. And he fell to the earth and
heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou
me? And he said, who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus,
whom thou persecutest. It is hard for thee to kick against
the pricks. And he trembling and astonished
said, Lord, what wilt thou have me do? And the Lord said unto
him, arise and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what
thou must do.' And the men which journeyed with him stood speechless,
hearing a voice, but seeing no man. And Saul arose from the
earth, and when his eyes were opened, he saw no man, but they
led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus. And he was
three days without sight, and neither did eat nor drink. And
there was a certain disciple at Damascus named Ananias, And
to him said the Lord in a vision, Ananias, and he said, behold,
I am here, Lord. And the Lord said unto him, arise
and go into a street which is called Straight, and inquire
of the house of Judas for one called Saul of Tarsus, for behold,
he prayeth, and hath seen in a vision a man named Ananias
coming in and putting his hand on him that he might receive
his sight. In verse 13, we see Ananias realizing what the Lord
has said to him, Ananias answered, Lord, I have heard by many of
this man how much evil he has done to thy saints at Jerusalem.
This is not somebody that you want me to go see and that you
want to go talk to your saints. This guy is taking people bound
to be killed that are preaching in thy name. And here he hath
authority from the chief priests to bind all that call on thy
name. But the Lord said unto him, go thy way, for he is a
chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles and
kings and to the children of Israel, for I will show him how
great things he must suffer for my namesake. And here we see
Ananias went his way and entered into the house, putting his hands
on him, said, Brother Saul, the Lord, even Jesus, that appeared
unto thee in the way as thou camest, hath sent me, that thou
mightest receive thy sight and be filled with the Holy Ghost.
And immediately there fell from his eyes that it had been scales.
He received his sight forthwith, and arose, and was baptized.
And when he had received meat, he was strengthened, and then
saw certain days of disciples, which were at Damascus. And straightway
he preached Christ in the synagogues, that he is the Son of God. So
we see here that Ananias is saying, I've heard of this man. You don't
want anything to do with this man, Lord. This he's done much
evil to thy saints. But yet the Lord says, he's a
chosen vessel unto me. And then when the Lord did something
for him, he said, straightway, which is also said immediately,
he preached Christ, that he's the son of God. So we see Saul,
he's an evil man, there's no light in him, and he's persecuting
the Lord's people, even trying to kill them. But yet, something
was different now. to where one day he's persecuting
people, trying to kill them, the next day he's immediately
going into the heart of the people with whom he was supposedly serving,
telling them that Jesus of Nazareth is the Son of God. So that which
he completely stood against before, yet something's different. So
what was it? What was different about him?
Was it just that he was convinced differently? No. Was it maybe
that he was scared? Well, probably so. If you were
walking and the light shone on you and you were blinded and
heard the voice of God, you'd be scared too, but it doesn't
last. because we can see from Pharaoh,
where he dealt with God through Moses directly, and all the plagues
that he went through, and he was sorry many times, but wait
till those Israelites get out into the desert a little further,
and how sorry and how repentful he was, that went away pretty
fast. So being scared and being convinced are not things that
will change a man. God had to give him a new heart. This is
what he did for Saul. He gave him a new heart. This
is this quickening of the dead, the life that only God can give. Secondly, how was Saul a chosen
vessel? What could we see from the outside
that God saw to say, he's a chosen vessel unto me? After all that
we've seen that he did? What would we say that the Lord
should have done unto him? Well, I know I would have said
the Lord probably, if I didn't know the outcome, would have
turned him into a pillar of ash for persecuting his church, persecuting
his people. But God had a plan that was purposed
from before Saul ever was. And that's what we call predestination,
which is nothing more than saying a plan that was purposed from
before. Well, why was this needed? Well,
if God had to find a reason in Saul to do anything for him,
would he have found it? How about you? How about me? If God had to find a reason in
me or in you to do anything for us based on what he's seen of
us thus far, would he be able to find a reason to do something
for us? No. Anything we bring before God
is imperfect. It's polluted and it's corrupt.
And the problem is not what we're bringing, if we're thinking,
well, we'll bring something else that he will accept. The problem
is the one bringing it. We are sinful and sinners, and
anything that we can offer to God is going to be tainted and
polluted and corrupt. We thank God for predestination,
and we thank God for his electing grace. This is the only way in
which a sinner is made a chosen vessel. Somebody might be thinking,
well, that's not fair. That's not right for some to
be chosen and for some not to be chosen. That's just not fair. What did the ones that weren't
chosen do to not to be chosen? Well, if we want fair, then God's
only option is to send us to hell because That's all that's
left because if he didn't select me and predestinate me in Christ
before I had the opportunity to sin, he would have found no
reason in me to select me and to elect me as one of his people.
It's the only way that God can save a man. The only option available
to God where he won't lose his justice just to save my skin. Is that what we want? No, we
don't want that. Election means God chose somebody
that otherwise would have been damned, would have been lost,
who never would have chosen Him. If He chose somebody, and He
had to have done it before we were ever born, or had the opportunity
to sin, or He certainly could have never chosen me, Chosen
before I was given the opportunity to become an ungodly and a sinner
before him God chose me. Well, how did he choose me? Let's
look over in Ephesians chapter 1 Paul an apostle of Jesus Christ
by the will of God. So right there we see immediately
Paul just didn't decide to be a disciple. It says right here,
backing up what we read in Acts chapter 9, Paul was an apostle
of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and that's the only way.
To the saints which are at Ephesus, to the faithful in Christ Jesus,
grace be unto you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord
Jesus Christ. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places in Christ. This was done beforehand,
hath. according as he hath past chosen
us in Christ before the foundation of the world, that we, his elect
people whom he chose, should be holy and without blame before
him in love. having predestinated us, the
elect, unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ who himself. Why did he do that? According
to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of
his grace wherein he hath made us. accepted in the beloved,
in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of
sins according to the riches of his grace. So you see here,
he hath made us accepted. It's something that he had to
have done for us before the foundation in the world. And in chapter
two, verse five, he says, even when we were dead in sins, he
hath quickened us together with Christ. By grace, you are saved. How are the chosen chosen? the
only way anyone was ever chosen, and that was in Christ before
the world began. If Christ died for the ungodly,
for those who are without strength and who are dead in sins, then
they're utterly helpless, and the only way that they will be
saved is that Christ does it all for them, from the start
to the finish, from God's electing grace to the giving of spiritual
life. If you will, turn with me to
Ephesians, or Ezekiel chapter 37, please. So we've seen how God elects
a sinner from before the foundation of the world, but here we see
in the course of our life in this world, he has to give us
this quickening power of the Holy Spirit, give the man in
time spiritual life. And this is typified through
this chapter in Ezekiel. This is Ezekiel being carried
into the land of dry bones, where all these dead bodies were, and
they've been dead for years, and just these skeletons lay.
And in verse 1 he says, chapter 37, The hand of the Lord was
upon me, and carried me out in the spirit of the Lord, and set
me down in the midst of a valley which was full of bones. and
caused me to pass by round about them, and behold, there were
very many in the open valley, and lo, they were very dry. They'd
been there a long time, and there was no life in these bones. They're
dead. And he said unto me, Son of man, can these bones live? And I answered, O Lord God, thou
knowest. And he said unto me, prophesy
upon these bones and say unto them, oh ye dry bones, hear the
word of the Lord. Can these bones live? What was
the only thing God said to do to say unto those bones? He said,
preach to them. He preached to them that they'll
hear the word of the Lord. And what happens in this, in
verse five, thus saith the Lord God unto these bones, behold,
I will cause breath to enter into you. Had they live, I will
cause breath to enter into you, and I will lay sinews upon you,
and I will bring upon flesh upon you, and cover you with skin,
and put breath in you, and here's your part, you shall live, and
you shall know that I'm the Lord. And this is the only way that
we'll live. When it comes from Him, the I will, and our part
is you shall. This is the only way that we
will live, is if He commands it. Life is a command, it's not
a choice. It's a command, and if God says
live, then you'll live. There's no choice in the matter. Aren't you thankful for that,
that there is no choice in the matter, that if I'm alive, it's
not by something I'm doing or have to keep doing, it's because
God said to me, live. And it's not only shall we live,
but we'll be glad to. You see, this is the new nature.
He's put in a new spirit in me where this is what I want to
do. I want to serve the Lord. It's not something that I have
to do. This is what we want to do. Saul, when he received the
Lord's spirit, it said, what did he do? He immediately preached
Christ. That's what he wanted to do because
he was given a new spirit. So if we go back to our text
in Romans 4, I've made thee a father of many
nations before him, who believed even God, who quickeneth the
dead, so that's the spiritual life, and calleth those things
which be not as though they were. This is calling us saved in Christ
before we ever were as the elect of God. In verse 10, 18, Abraham,
who against hope, believed in hope that he might
become the father of many nations. According that which was spoken,
so shall thy seed be." So we see Abraham believed God, that
God would do what he said he would do. And in verse 19 it
says, And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body,
which was now dead, for he was about a hundred years old, neither
yet the deadness of Sarah's womb. He staggered not at the promise
of God through unbelief, but was strong in faith, giving glory
to God, and being fully persuaded that what he had promised, what
God had promised, God was also able to perform. So he was fully
persuaded. And you think, yet he's still
in his flesh. Abraham's still a hundred years
old. Sarah laughed when she heard it. She's like, Abraham, you're
crazy. You're not going to have a son
with me. I'm a hundred years old and you're a hundred years
old. And the world will think we're crazy too for believing
God at his word. But yet Abraham believed God
at his word before he ever did anything. Why? Because God told
him that you'll be a father of many nations. That's why he believed.
This is faith, and this is our only evidence of spiritual life. Do we have any life in us? Do
you believe God? Faith is our only evidence of
spiritual life. Can I have the same faith as Abraham? Yes. Well, how's that? Believe God
at his word? But I don't know if I can. I
don't, or even what do I believe sometimes? I have so many doubts. Well, he knows that. And that's
why we're to ask the Lord to do for us what we can't do. You
see, you can't make yourself believe, but you can ask him
to give you faith to believe. Abraham couldn't make himself
a father either, but yet he trusted the Lord to do it for him. So
we're asked the Lord to make us willing, to give us faith.
The Lord said to ask and you shall receive, seek and you shall
find, knock and it shall be open to you. Do you believe God at
his word? These are the Lord's words, we're
to do this. Well, I do. And in believing verse 22, and
therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness. Righteousness
shall be imputed to you in believing. Now it was not written for his
sake alone that it was imputed to him, but for us also, to whom
it shall be imputed, if we believe on him who raised Jesus our Lord
from the dead, who was delivered for our offenses and raised again
for our justification. I'd like to say one word a little
bit about this word imputed. So I know our pastor has made
a point to make sure we understand that there's no such thing as
an imputed righteousness, such as there's some other kind of
righteousness other than imputed. So imputed not being an adjective. And so I understood that, but
this helped drive it home with me. I was kind of studying the
word imputed. The word imputed actually means
reckoned. And so when you and I say reckoned, what it means
today is not the same thing that it meant in the word here. So when we say reckon, we're
saying, I suppose. Do you think this happened? Well,
I reckon so. I suppose it did, but I'm not really sure. That's
not what that word means, reckon, where it's written here. Reckon
here, imputed, this word deals with reality. It says, and they
gave the example, if I reckon that my bank has $25 in it, then
my bank really has $25 in it. And if I don't believe that and
believe otherwise, then I'm deceiving myself because my bank really
has $25 in it. If you have the statement there
in front of you, you say it, you're deceiving yourself. So
right here when we read that it was imputed to him for righteousness,
it was reckoned to him that Abraham, you really do have righteousness.
It's not just something that you might have that you can't
see. You really have it before God. And so that's when it says,
it's not written for his sake alone, it was imputed to him,
but for us also, to whom it shall be reckoned if we believe on
him that raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. So this, it helped
me to understand imputed as it's not just something we're supposing,
this is fact. And in chapter five, verse one,
he says, therefore, who is delivered again for our offenses, raised
for our justification, therefore, being justified by faith, we
have peace with God through our Lord Jesus. And they do a little
disservice in the way that was written. So that word being actually
means having been declared righteous. So when it says being justified. So if we read it that way, having
been declared righteousness. Having been declared righteous,
then by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus. So
what comfort that gives you that knowing that having been declared
righteous, it's been done before. This is not something that's
being done. It's already been done. This
is not something we're working towards. It's been done. So,
having been declared righteous, first, is done in the past, before
I could even mess it up. Because if I could, I would mess
it up. I know myself well enough to
know that. Having been declared righteous, secondly, is it's
declared. It's not earned. It's not something
you can attain to or fail from. It means somebody else had the
power and the right to declare it unto me. And thirdly, having
been declared righteous, that means no sin. That means I'm
accepted by God and have the righteousness that God will accept. Who had this power, this right,
this foresight to declare the having been made righteous? Well,
it was Him who was made my sin. Him who was made sin, which was
my sin, for us, which is the elect in Christ, who knew no
sin, that we, the elect in Christ, might be made the righteousness
of God in Him. You see, that's how the ungodly,
this we that we read about here, can truly be declared righteous.
So when we read of the ungodly, these are those whom, in the
course of time, were ungodly, but yet God declared righteous
before the foundation of the world. And this is the only way
that we have any confidence that Christ has done anything for
us. I have his righteousness, and
is there anything that God could be more pleased with? So in Romans
5.1, this is how we have peace with God. I've been declared
righteous. God's not mad at me anymore.
I have peace with him through our Lord Jesus Christ. And this
salvation is an accomplished, effectual salvation. This is
one where someone is really saved. And it's the only salvation I
have any confidence in because it's the only salvation there
is. It's where Christ does it all. And the only person who
would not rejoice in this salvation is the person who wants a part
in it, a part in obtaining it, a part in obtaining the glory.
They're the same ones we read about earlier where the Lord
said to depart from me. You see, there's one throne in
heaven. There's one to whom glory belongeth. There's one God and
one Savior, one faith and one righteousness. Now, can you see
now why the ungodly, those without strength, and sinners are the
ones whom Christ died for? They're the only ones who can
do nothing to save themselves. They're the only ones who are
shut up to the mercy of God in payment for their sins. And they're
the only ones then that can truly believe and exalt the Son only,
who gave them His righteousness by taking their sin and their
ungodliness for them. So, if we read these verses again,
for when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ
died for the ungodly. in verse eight, but God commended
his love toward us, and that while we were yet sinners, Christ
died for us, in verse nine, much more than, and this is that same
being that we read about in verse five, So we can read it as, having
been declared righteous, much more than having been declared
righteous, by his blood we shall be saved from wrath through him. For if when we were enemies,
when we were ungodly, when we were sinners, we were reconciled
to God by the death of his son, much more, here's that being,
the same being again, much more, having been reconciled, we shall
be saved by his life. what a thing to consider. That
first, that He lives. And that secondly, I'm not saved
by my faith, by my belief, by what I know or how much or how
little or what I do. I'm saved by His life. And that's
the only comfort that we have and the only confidence there
is that God's done anything for me. He's coming again. And all flesh one day will be
put down. And I asked the Lord to hasten
that day because I'll be given a new body. A new body that never
will have known sin and ungodliness. And I won't have to live in this
body of flesh that I am now, where we have to struggle through
the day and deal with sin, which is really all we know. But yet,
we're told this promise and we're to believe it. But until then,
like Abraham, I'll ask the Lord to make me fully persuaded that
what he promised, he's able also to perform. And yet, he tells
us that we are having been made righteous, and he already has.
Hope that was a blessing to you. Thank you.