2 Corinthians chapter 5. I want
you to keep your Bibles open after I
read my text. We'll be going to different scripture
this morning. A very solemn but encouraging
portion of scripture. 2 Corinthians chapter 5. I want
to read these two verses. in verses 14 and verse 15. For the love of Christ constrains
us, because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were
all dead. And that he died for all, that
they which lived should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto
him which died for them, and rose again. That is where we
will eventually end up this morning, the constraining love of Jesus
Christ. Paul was speaking here in this
fifth chapter about the resurrection of the dead. But mainly he's
speaking about the resurrection of those who are still alive
when the Lord comes. The changing of their bodies
when The Lord comes, and look here what He says in verse 1
of this chapter. He calls our body this earthly
house. Look how He says it. We know
that if this earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved,
we have a building of God, that house not made with hands, eternal
in the heavens. Our body is called an earthly
house. It's born of a woman, it's born of corruptible seed,
and it only lives for a few days. Job said, man that's born of
woman is here for just a few days and he's full of troubles.
But Paul is saying here, a change is coming. There's going to be
another house that he calls here, the house of God, not made with
hands. And that's going to be a completely
different house. The change that is coming upon
the believer, upon the saint, is going to be such a change,
the taking down of the old house and the building of the new house
is such a change, it's almost unrecognizable when you look
at these bodies now. I want you to look here in Philippians,
just over to your right, just a little bit in the third chapter.
In chapter 3 of Philippians, and look in verse 20 and verse
21. This new house is called the
house of God, not made with hands. In other words, it's not earthly. It's not a mortal house. And
he speaks of that often in the scriptures, but look how he says
it here in Philippians chapter 3 and verse 20. Our conversation
is in heaven from whence also we look for the Savior, the Lord
Jesus Christ, who shall change our vile bodies. Now why would he call our body
vile? Well, because it's infected with
sin. There's sin in these members.
This body is full of sinful infirmities that always have to be kept in
check. It's full of natural infirmities.
It gets sick. It gets weak. And finally, it
dies. And when it dies, it begins to
rot and to smell, and it has to be put back in the dirt so
it can completely rot. It is a vile, mortal body. But look at this. He shall change. this bow body, that it may be
fashioned like unto His glorious body. Now isn't that amazing? He said this is the house not
made with hands. This is God's building, a new
building. And it's going to be fashioned
like unto the glorious body of the Lord Jesus Christ. And look
what He said, He is able even to subdue all things unto Himself. That's the change that's coming.
It'll be on a morning something like this. Maybe there'll be
a sunny morning, a warm morning with a few clouds in the air.
And suddenly, the Bible tells us in the twinkling of an eye,
the Lord Jesus is going to come down from heaven And He is going
to work this great change upon the bodies of His people, and
they're going to be glorious. They're going to look just like
Him. And He says this house is not only a building of God and
a house made without hands, but it's eternal in the heavens.
In other words, that change that's wrought will be eternal. They
are going to look like Him and they are going to be with Him
forever. Now isn't that an amazing verse? This is taught all through
the Scriptures. And He says back over here in
our text, look back in verse 2. Having such a hope because
of this. In verse 2, for in this, because
of this, we groan. The believer is groaning in his
spirit. You know the whole creation is
groaning. The believer is groaning, the creation is groaning, eagerly,
earnestly, desiring, he says here, to be clothed upon with
our house which is from heaven. It's from heaven. He that's going
to change it is from heaven. And it's going to be a heavenly
house, a spiritual house. It ain't going to be an earthly
house anymore. Why is this so important? Why
does he tell us here that we're groaning, earnestly, desiring,
this house which is from heaven. Why is that so important? Well,
He tells us in verse 3, look at this, If so be that being
clothed, we shall not be found naked. There's going to be two
kinds of people on the day of resurrection. There's going to
be those who are clothed in the glorious likeness of Jesus Christ,
and there's going to be those who are naked. In other words,
there's going to be a resurrection of the just, And there's going
to be a resurrection of the unjust. There's those who are going to
stand there holy in the likeness of the Lord Jesus, and there's
those who are going to stand there unholy and naked and shameful. Daniel told us of a time when
many that sleep in the dust of the earth was going to awake.
Some of them would awake to everlasting life, And others would wake to
shame and everlasting contempt. And Paul said, here is why we
live in this hope. Here is why it is so necessary
that we be changed and put on this glorious body. Because he
said, if we don't, if this change isn't brought in us, then we
are going to appear naked. Our sin and our shame is going
to be Now, brothers and sisters, I know what the Bible teaches
about the body of the saints. We just read it, didn't we? It's
going to be glorious. A glorious body, a strong body,
an eternal body. I don't know what the lost are
going to look like. I know there's going to be a
resurrection. I know they're going to be in their bodies.
I don't know what those bodies will look like. But we know this,
they'll be sinful and they'll be ashamed Because they'll stand
there as it were naked before the Lord of glory. So he goes
ahead here now to say in verse 4, For we that are in this tabernacle,
in this earthly body, we do groan, being burdened. Not for that
we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be
swallowed up of life. We that are in this present body,
we groan, because we're burdened. Why are we burdened? Well, there's
a lot of reasons why we're burdened. We're burdened because of warfare
that's going on inside of us. There's the new man warring against
the old man. There's the old man warring against
the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit warring against him. This
is what made Paul say, O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver
me from this body of death? I'll tell you another thing that
burdens us. We can't trust like we want to. We can't believe
like we want to. Larry dealt with that this morning,
didn't he? Only believe. And what happens
when you only believe? You won't be afraid. We don't
believe like we should. We don't follow like we should.
We don't love like we should. We just can't do what we want
to do, Kevin. And that's a burden to us. It's
a burden to us. We can't love perfectly. We can't
serve Him perfectly. We can't worship Him perfectly.
We're burdened because of the darkness and the rebellion of
the world that we live in, even our own families. Rivers of water
run down my eyes because they keep not your word. They keep
not your law. Don't it bother you to see rebels
in our midst? It does, doesn't it? We're burdened
to see so many lost people perishing without any hope. My heart's
desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they might be
saved. It's a burden to me. We're burdened with these temporal
troubles, ourselves and others. Man that's barned of woman is
a few days and full of trouble. But Paul is telling us here in
this verse, we're not just longing to be out of this body. We're
not just hoping to die today and go be with the Lord. It's
more than that. Here's what we've grown in earnestly
for, that this whole mortal body might be swallowed up of immortality
and life without even tasting of death. Look over here in another
place to your left in 1 Corinthians chapter 15. Look how he says
it here. Look in chapter 15 of 1 Corinthians. And look in verse 51. Behold,
I show you a mystery. We shall not all sleep. Some
of us are going to be living when the Lord comes. We shall
all be changed. How quick! In a moment. In the
twinkling of an eye, at the last trump, for the trumpet shall
sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we
which are alive and remain shall be changed. For this corruptible
must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality."
If you don't know what immortality is and you want some more information
on it, go home and look it up and study it. It's amazing. It's
something that can't rot, it can't perish, it can't sin, it's
holy, it's incorruptible, it's immortal. So when this corruptible have
put on incorruption, and this mortal have put on immortality,
then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, death
is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your sting?
O death, O grave, where is your victory? The sting of death is
sin. The strength of sin is the law. But thanks be unto God,
which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. That's
what we're groaning for. This change. This mortal body,
this mortal being might be swallowed up of immortality. Now, why does
a believer live like this? Why does he live hoping and groaning,
desiring eagerly for this change? We'll look back over in our text
again. Look in verse 5. Now he that hath wrought us for
the selfsame thing is God. who hath also given unto us the
earnest of His Holy Spirit." God is working in us. When He
saves an individual and gives him grace to believe, He starts
working this hope in him. He gives him this hope which
causes him to desire not only to be with the Lord, but to be
changed and to be like the Lord. If you hear this morning, I don't
care how happy you may be in this world. I don't care how
good things are going for you right now. If you're a true child
of God, God is working in your heart a desire and a hope, even
a longing for this change to put off this mortal body and
put on immortality. Now He's doing that. When He
gives us His Holy Spirit in regeneration, He gives us the spirit of adoption,
and that spirit within us is groaning. Oh, waiting. He's waiting for that change.
Listen to how Paul says in Romans chapter 8 and verse 16. You've
not received the spirit of bondage again to fear. You've received
the spirit of adoption whereby you cry, Papa, Papa. Is that
what your kids call you? Papa, Papa. That's Daddy, Daddy. Father, Father, the Spirit bears
witness with our spirit that we are children of God. And if
children of God, then join heirs of God and join heirs of Jesus
Christ. Listen, if so be that we suffer
with Him, that we may be glorified together. For I reckon that the
sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared
with the glory which shall be revealed in us. if so be that
we suffer with Him, that we may be glorified together. For He
said the whole creation is groaning and travailing together in pain
unto now, and even we which have the firstfruits of the Spirit,
we're groaning within ourselves. What makes us groan? God makes
us groan. He makes us long for this change. What? What kind of change? The
redemption of the body. And this is what the Lord's doing
in the hearts of His people. They're longing for the accomplishment
of that which Jesus Christ secured for them in His dying. And that is a full and complete
redemption of the whole man. The whole man. That's what Paul
is saying here. And look what he says in verse
6. Back over in our text. In verse
6. Therefore, he said, because the
Holy Spirit is working in us to live in this good hope of
a resurrection. We are always confident. That
word means we're always of good courage. We're cheerful. We're
of good courage. Because we know that while we
are at home in this earthly bound body, we are absent from this
glorious presence of the Lord. This hope gives us courage, doesn't
it? It cheers us. It comforts us. Can you imagine this man and
the things that he suffered? And yet he says, because we have
this good hope and the Holy Spirit is working in us, this longing
and desiring. We have good courage. It didn't
mean he never had any trouble. My goodness, look right back
over in the fourth chapter. You don't think this man has
some trouble? Look back over in the fourth chapter and look
in verse 8. We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed
We are perplexed, but not in despair. Persecuted, but not
forsaken. Cast down, but not destroyed. Look what he says in verse 14. Knowing that he which raised
up the Lord Jesus shall also raise up us by Jesus and shall
present us with you. In verse 16. For which cause
we faint not. We are having all kinds of trouble
he says. But we have this good courage and we're not fainting.
Why? Though our outward man perish,
the inward man is renewed day by day. For our light afflictions,
which are for a moment working for us, a far more exceeding
and eternal way to glory. While we look not at the things
which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things
which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not
seen, they are eternal. Good courage. Good courage. Paul said, we're looking at things
which can't be seen. We're here in this temporal life,
but we're considering things that are eternal. Now, how can
you do that? How can you see things that's
not seen? How can you be in this wretched, miserable world, in
this vile body, and yet live every day of your life being
encouraged? Well, you can if you look around
you. You can if you're living by sight and feelings. But look
back again at our text and look in verse 7. Chapter 5 and verse
7. For we walk by faith and not
by sight. We can see things that's eternal
because we're looking by faith. Faith in what? Faith in God.
Faith in the Word of God. Faith in the Son of God. In the
promises of God. We live by faith and not by sight,
not by feelings, not by dreams, not by signs, but by faith. Only way to live, isn't it? We
walk with God by faith and not by sight. Listen to this. In
John chapter 14, the Lord Jesus Christ said to his apostles,
you believe in God, believe also in me. In my father's house are
many mansions. There's many dwelling places.
There's room there. If it were not so, I would have
told you. You think he's out to deceive
his people? You think he's going to lie to them just to make them
feel better about things for a while and then face the consequences
afterwards? He's not that way, is he? He's
a faithful witness. He's honest. He's honest. If
it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place
for you, and if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come
again and receive you unto Myself. That's what Paul is talking about.
That where I am, there you may be also. And you know what Paul
says? I believe Him. I believe Him. I tell you one thing, brothers
and sisters, we either have to believe what Christ said, We
have to credit what He said. We have to give Him credit for
who He is and what He said, or we have to call Him a bald-faced
liar. He's either out to lie to us
and deceive us, or He's telling us the best good news that any
poor sinner could ever hear. You're going to be with me. You're
going to be like me. You're going to be with me for
all eternity. Which one is it? Paul said, I
believe Him. I am of good cheer. I live with
hope in this wretched world through all my troubles because I walk
my faith in my Savior, my faith in His Word and not beside Him. And because he ascribed all this
credit to the Lord, he said, I am content, I say, I am confident,
I am willing, in verse 8, right now to be absent from this earthly
body and to be present with the Lord. That's my desire because
I believe Him. This is what He said in Philippians
1.23, listen to this, "...having a desire to depart and to be
with Christ, which is far better." Is that presumption or what?
How could a man really say that? I have this desire to leave this
body, just to lay it down, let them take it and cut its head
off, boil it, bake it, cut it to pieces, put it in boiling
oil, let them do what they want to do with this body. I have
a desire to depart and to go be with the Lord Jesus Christ. That's not presumption, brothers
and sisters, at all. It's not. That's just the truth
that awaits every blessed believer. He's not being flippant about
this at all. He didn't live his life in a
careless manner. He was very conscious of what
God required of him and demanded of him. He was careful to live
his life in a way that was pleasing and accepted to God. He wasn't
flippant about this. He wasn't. When he said, I have
a desire to depart and go with, to be with Christ. I've seen
people, wretched people they were, having no grounds for a
good hope at all. And you'd hear them talk and
you'd think they was ready just to sprout wings and fly away.
You ever hear them talking like that? Not him. Boy, this is serious. This is
serious. He wasn't flipping about this.
He was just telling the truth. Look what he said in verse 9.
Wherefore we labor, we labor in faith and love, We're ambitious
in all that we do, that whether we are present with the Lord
in heaven or we're in this body upon this earth, we may be accepted
of Him. That's the way He lived His life. If you and I believe the Lord
this morning, then we have reverence for Him, don't we? And we're
just like this man. We don't live our lives in flippant
disregard for what the Lord requires of us and demands of us. We're conscious of that. We don't
live in sin and serve our sin and then talk about going to
be with the Lord. Those who have this hope have
this reverence in their heart. And when they get up of a morning
and when they go to bed of an eye, this is their desire. This is their felt need. Everything
I do and think and say, I want to be accepted in His sight. Look what he says here in verse
10. Here's the reason for that. For
we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that
every one may receive the things done in his body according to
that which he hath done, whether it be good or bad. We all must appear before Jesus
Christ. He's the judge of all the earth.
You know the Lord Jesus told us that the Father's not going
to judge any man. He says He's given all judgment to the Son.
And Paul said that God was going to judge the secrets of men by
Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is the only fit
person to judge humanity. Because He's the Son of Man.
And because He knows us, doesn't He? He knows the thoughts of
everybody. He knows the motives of everybody.
He knows what they're thinking. He knows what they're saying.
He knows what they've done. And he's a just judge. He's the only one that's fit
and able to judge anybody. And Paul is saying here, all
of us have a scheduled court appearance before the judge of
all the earth. We must appear before him. This is why you and I should
pray every morning before we leave our house, Lord, that everything
I do today be accepted in your sight. David even prayed that
the words in my mouth and the meditations in my heart didn't
be accepted in your sight. And when we come back home and
before we go to bed of a night, we pray like this, Lord, forgive
me today where I've sinned and come short. Why do we have this
attitude? Because we know, we know that
we have this scheduled court appearance before the Lord of
all the earth. We must stand before Him to give
account of the things done in this body. And you know something,
brothers and sisters, it's got to be a source of relief and
assurance and comfort for us to know that we're aware of that
and that we've got this clear conscience This open conscience
between us and the judge of all the earth. We live that way.
We're not hiding anything from Him. It'd be a great comfort
if you had done something and they was taking you to court
and you had already talked to the judge that you was going
to stand before and confessed all, wouldn't it? Judge, you
know me. I mean, you've done talked about
this. I ain't afraid to come here and appear before you because
you already know everything. I've told you everything. Living
with a clear conscience. Look here how Paul says it in
chapter 4. Look in chapter 4 and look in verse 2 how he talks
about having this conscience towards God. Chapter 4 and verse
2. But we have renounced the hidden
things of dishonesty. not walking in craftiness, nor
handling the Word of God deceitfully, but by manifestation of the truth,
commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight
of God." We're walking before God in His sight. Look what he says back over in
verse 11. Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, knowing the
fear of the Lord, We persuade men. Paul said, we know that
we're going to have to come and appear before Him, and knowing
therefore the Lord. Boy, that He's a just Lord. Knowing the fear of the Lord,
we persuade man. Boy, this man, I tell you what, he knew He knew something about
the Judge, didn't He? He saw Him in His resurrected
glory. Remember when He appeared to
Saul of Tarsus on the road to Damascus? He said, I saw Him
and His glory was above the brightness of the sun. That's the Judge
that we must stand before. This man was caught up into the
third heaven. He knows what the courtroom looks
like. He saw the judge seated on his throne. He knows what
takes place there. He knows what's going on there
and what's said there. He was there and came back down
to earth, didn't he? And he said, it's so awesome
I can't even talk about it. The Holy Spirit impressed upon
this apostle's mind of what the coming of the day of the Lord
was going to be like. He said He's going to come in
flaming fire, didn't He? With all His holy angels. And
He's going to take vengeance on those who know not the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. He's
coming to be glorified in His saints and admired of all of
them. But He's a just judge. And Paul
said, therefore, because we know the terror of the Lord, We know
that there is no appeal from His decisions. When He says to
the righteous, come inherit the kingdom. Or He says to the cursed,
depart. There is no appeals from that.
That is the final decision. And Paul says, since we know
Him, the Terah, we persuade men. We persuade men. What does He persuade men to
do? Well, He persuades men to come to Christ. Come to Christ
now. Don't wait till death. Don't
wait until you have to stand before Him. You're going to come
then, but now is the time to come. Come to Him for grace. Come to Him for salvation and
mercy. The only way to face that solemn
judgment is to face it in Christ. That's what he's trying to persuade
men. There's no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus. Come to Christ. Trust in Christ. Give yourself up to be saved
by Christ. Man, you have to be washed from
your sin. You have to have a new birth.
You have to have a new heart and a new spirit. That's what
he was persuading men about. But if men aren't persuaded,
He says here, they don't believe what we're telling them. And
boy, so many don't. The Lord who hath believed our
report. But He says here, God knows our
hearts. God knows. God knows what our mission is.
He knows if we're honest. He knows if we're sincere. He
knows. And Paul says, I trust that your conscience also bears
us witness. You know that we're honest. You
know that we're sincere. Boy, isn't this so important?
This is so important, isn't it? It don't seem like sometimes
that we're doing a lick of good. Here, this little body of believers
does. It seems like we just struggle,
and it seems like maybe we're not getting much done. But you
know, here's the thing. God knows. God knows. He knows if we're honest. He
knows if we're sincere. He knows. And here's the next
thing. You and I know. Here's the confidence
I have in you that you are honest. That you are sincere. We're not
playing church, are we? We're not trifling around with
the gospel in the souls of men. We're honest. And he said, before
God, who knows us, and before you who know us, we're honest
about this thing. We're sincere about this thing.
We're not playing with this thing. Boy, it's important. It's important,
ain't it? It's important what this apostle
is telling us here. And he tells us here in verse
12, we commend not ourselves again unto you. In other words,
he said, I don't have any desire to brag and commend myself to
you. I don't even want to defend my
ministry. But he's saying here, I want to give you an occasion
that you may glory on our part before those wretched false apostles
who do nothing but reproach me And all they have the glory about
is their outward appearance. You had these fellows that followed
the Apostle Paul around, and they said he's just preaching
for money. He's suffering because he's some sadist. He just likes
to suffer. Look at the rest of us. We're
not suffering. We preach the same thing he's preaching, but
we're not suffering. What's wrong with him? Something's
wrong with him. Paul is telling them this. He
said, I don't have to commend myself to you again. You know
me. I mean, he's telling them, look
in your own hearts. How has God used my ministry
to save you and to strengthen and comfort you? You bear me
witness. And those false apostles that
reproach me and accuse me, He said, they don't know nothing
about the power of the gospel of Christ. They don't know nothing
about the inward conversion and heart worship and heart repentance
and heart faith. They just glory in circumcision. They glory in human wisdom and
outward show. Everything they do, they do to
be seen of man. That's what Paul is telling me. And look here what he says in
verse 13. For whether we be beside ourselves, it is to God, or whether
we be sober, it is for your cause. Boy, that's what, that's what,
that's what, you know what this world, even a lot of religious
people will think of you, if, if you're, if you're really serious
in your profession of Christ, you know what some people are
going to think of you? Man, you're beside yourself. You're taking
this way too seriously. That's what they told Paul when
they took him for a prisoner and he was before Festus. He was telling how Christ appeared
to him on the road to Damascus and how he sent him to be an
apostle and preach to the Gentiles, delivering the gospel to them
and delivering them from the power of Satan to God. And Paul
said, I wasn't disobedient, man, I went. I went and I was preaching
to everybody. That Jesus Christ had indeed
died for sinners and He had raised again. And He's saving men by
the grace. And poor old Festus jumped up
and screamed down and said, Paul, you're beside yourself. You have
gone out of your mind. You're insane. You're mad. And Paul said, no. Most noble
Festus, I'm not mad. I speak the words of truth and
sobriety. I'm not mad. They said that about
our Lord, didn't they? Even his friends, when these
big crowds started throwing at him, he was healing them and
preaching the gospel to them. His friends tried to go lay hands
on him. They said he's mad. He's beside himself. Well, it's
all right to be beside yourself. It's all right to be insane if
you're insane for God, isn't it? It's all right to be a fool
if you're Christ's fool. So Paul says, If they call me
insane or if I'm sober, it's for God's glory and it's for
your good. And that's all I'm concerned
about. That's what he said, wasn't it? That's all I'm concerned
about. What was it that motivated this
man and his fellow laborers to live such a holy, dedicated,
self-denying lives? And you can see from this chapter
and all their writings, man, there was nobody like these men.
What was it that constrained them to live like they lived
and preach like they preached? Man, they gave their lives, didn't
they? They put their neck on the line for the glory of Jesus
Christ. Holy men! What constrained them
to live and hope and do like they did? Well, he tells us here
in verse 14. The love of Christ constrains
us. That's what motivates us. Well,
they've got a hold of something, they just couldn't get over it.
The love of Christ constrains us. He said here, we thus judge.
This word judge means they made a judgment. We've rendered a
judgment about this. We've collected all the evidence. We've examined it. And we've
rendered a decision, we've come to a conclusion. And this conclusion
has a profound effect upon us. The love of Christ. If He died
for us, then what love? What love? Give me just a minute. Just take
me just a minute and we'll look at this. Look at it first as
our version says. If one died for all, then we're
all dead. First of all, he's speaking then
of substitution, isn't he? If one died for all, Christ died,
and He died as a substitute in our place, in our room, and in
our stead. And what condition, according
to our version, were we in when Christ died for us? We were dead. that if one died for all, then
all were dead. And He's speaking here, He's
not even speaking here of all the elect. Most of God's elect
hadn't even been called yet. He was speaking here specifically
of all the believers. Those who believed in Christ,
that He had died for them. That's who He's speaking of. In Ephesians chapter 2 verse
1, listen to this very familiar passage. You have be quickened
who were dead in trespasses and sins. What good thing can you
say about anybody for whom Christ died? Nothing. When He died for
them, they were dead and sinned. I want you to turn right quickly
to Romans chapter, look over Romans chapter 5 right quickly. Romans chapter 5 and look at
this. Look what Paul said here, speaking of those for whom Christ
died. Look in verse 6, Romans 5, 6. For when we were without
strength in due time, Christ died for the ungodly. This tells
us two things, that we were without any strength to deliver ourselves. We had no moral strength, we
had no will, we had no understanding to deliver ourselves. You were
without strength, no power or ability. What power does a dead
person have? None. Christ died for us when
we were not able to deliver ourselves. Secondly, He died for the ungodly. In due time, He died for, in
the room and place of, the ungodly. When God made us, we were just
like Him. We had His image. We had holy
characters. We had righteous natures. But
sin entered and what happened? We became unlike God. Now we're
not like God at all. Sin has defaced His image. You
look at a lost man, an unregenerate man, and there's nothing about
that man that's like God. He is un-God-ly. He is ungodlike. And the Apostle
Paul is saying here, when we were ungodly, Christ died for
us. Look in verse 8, look at this.
But God commended His love towards us, and while we were yet sinners,
Christ died for us. This word here, sinners, means
trespassers. We were trespassers. We all know
what that means. You see a sign that says, no
trespassing. And don't that give you some
pause? But it don't when we're lost.
God put up the sign that says, no trespassing. And what we do?
We step right over the sign, don't we? We go right on. Trespass
into forbidden territory. Sin against His law. Sin against
His will. Sin against His Son. Sin against
His people. Sin against mercy. Sin against
light. We are sinners. Sinners against
God. All have sinned. And that is
when Christ died for us when we were yet sinners. Here it
gets even worse than this. Look in verse 10. For if when
we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son,
how much more being reconciled shall we be saved by His life? We were enemies of God. The carnal
mind is hostile towards God. When sin entered, we didn't become
indifferent towards God. We became His enemies. There's
nobody that lives straddled fence. Lost men aren't straddled fence.
They're not saying, well, I'm just indifferent. I just don't
want... No, you're God's enemy. When we were God's enemies, when
we hated God, that's when Christ died for Well, there's an eternal difference
between Him who died and those for whom He died. And you know
what? We must know this. We need to
know this. We weren't friends of God when
He died for us. We need to know that. If we're
going to make a proper judgment, we need to know that. We thus
judge that if one died for all, then all were dead, dead in sin. Sinners, enemies of God. And
look what He says in verse 9. of this chapter. Much more than
being now justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath,
saved from wrath through Him. Christ died for us to save us
from the wrath of God. The wrath of God. Well, God's
not playing with sin, is He? He don't have one good thought
about sin. He threatens it You know He created a hell to punish
it? He is going to make a lake of fire to put the devils and
un-regenerate being in them. He is going to watch as the smoke
of their tarment ascends up forever and ever. You say, Bruce, is
that God? That is God! He is holy, He is just, and He
has a wrath against sin. And the Bible says He is angry
with the wicked every day. He even hates all workers of
iniquity. And His wrath is coming. And
Paul said, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, stood in our place
and this wrath fell on Him. He groaned upon the cross in
our place, in our stead. And death consumed Him. He suffered the pains of it.
Why? To deliver us from all of this. That's the first way that we
look at our text. And what was it that motivated
him to be a substitute? Love. Love. Paul says, he loved me and gave
himself for me. He wasn't compelled to do it.
He did it out of love. Greater love hath no man than
this, that a man lay down his life for his friends, and how
much more for his enemy? Love. The love of Christ constrains
us. If we consider the Greek as we
look at this text, the Greek literally says this, But we thus
judge that if one died for all, then all died. And what does
that speak? That doesn't speak just of substitution.
That speaks of union, doesn't it? If he died, all he died for
died with him. Union. He took His people to
Himself. And this is the way you and I
must look at this. This is the way we must judge
this. We must remember and believe that Jesus Christ took all of
His people to Himself and says, listen, I'm going to represent
you. You can't do it yourself, but
I've come down from heaven to be your representative. So everything
that I do, you do. Isn't that wonderful? I tell
you how wonderful it is. You wait until it warms up a
little bit and get you a sharp pointed shovel and go out there
and dig down in the ground until you find a big old red worm and
you hold it up and you say, red worm, I'm going to become what
you are. I'm going to become a worm full
of dirt that I can make you what I am. That's what this verse
is teaching us. Look back yonder in the manger
when the Son of God came forth from His mother's womb. You came
forth. You were without spot or blemish
or any such thing. When He walked and did good and
pleased His Father, you did it. And when He hung on Calvary's
tree suffering the penalty of a broken law, you suffered. And
when He died, you died. And when they put Him in the
grave, they put you in the grave. And when He raised by His power,
you raised with Him. Isn't that what Romans 6 is teaching
us? We've been planted together in
the likeness of His death. You died with Christ. And everything
now where He sits and what belongs to Him and all of His reward
is yours. The Father loves the Son and
has given everything into His hands. Everything is His. Everything is yours because you are in Him. He has
taken you and brought you into union with Himself and represented
you. We thus judge that if one died
for all, then we are all dead. That's amazing, isn't it? And look at the effects this
had upon these men, upon Paul and these men. In verse 15, And that he died
for all, and we've judged this out of great love, that they
which live now should not henceforth live to themselves. But unto
him that died for them and rose again. What was it that motivated
these men to live for him and not himself? This love. This
love. Why do you and I sin so easily? Why do we have so much trouble
with self-denial? Why do we get so discouraged
and despondent? Because we don't live like these
men live. We don't live in this light that
they lived in. When we think of living the Christian
life in self-denial, it's just something that God commands of
us to do. Take up your cross and follow
me, and if you don't, you're not worthy of me. And we just
think of this, boy, we've got to do this. We've got to find
some way to deny ourselves. We've got to find some way to
live for the Lord and not ourselves. And we struggle with that because
we're looking at the wrong place. Old Martin Luther, he was so
conscious that he needed to deny himself and live to the Lord,
but he couldn't find any way to do it. He couldn't find any
motive, no restraints. He knew he had to. He knew God
told him to. But he said, I know what I'll
do. I know what will motivate me. I know where I can subdue
myself and live to the Lord. I'll fast myself after that."
And he almost died fasting. But he said, I still didn't have
that desire. I still couldn't live to the Lord. He said, I
know what I'll do. I'll strip myself naked and I'll
go out on the cold brick in the wintertime. And he did that and
froze himself after that. But he said, I still couldn't
live to Him. He said, I know what I'll do. I'll pull my pants
down and sit on sharp sticks. He did that to his butt off the
bed. I still can't live for him, he said. What was it that grasped the
hearts of these men and made them deny themselves and live
cheerful lives, putting their neck on the line for the glory
of Christ and the good of His church? They got a hold of this
thing right here. The dying love of Jesus Christ. And they couldn't get over it.
They lived by faith in this. He got in their affections. And
they said, how can I live to myself? I don't want to live
to myself. I hate myself. I want to live
for His glory. I want to enjoy Him. Because
they got a hold of this dying love. We thus judge that if one
died for all, Then we're all dead. That's why we can't live
any more cheerful. This is why we get down so easy. This is why we've got this whole
thing of the Christian life. We've got to do it! And we've
not yet found the motive that these men found. I know I need
to pray. You ever feel like that? Boy,
I know I need to pray. I know I need to pray. I know
I need to read. Oh, I need to read. I just ain't
reading enough. I need to read. Oh, I need to deny myself. Oh,
I need to go. Oh, I need. I just got to. And
you know something? It just burns us to death, doesn't it? If we can get a hold of what
these men got a hold of, the dying love of Jesus Christ, and
boy, we can get this into our heart, I'm just convinced it
will change us. We'll live as we never lived
before. You cannot force the Christian life. You can't. You
can't force it. You ever try to do that? We do
it all the time, don't we? Well, it's Wednesday night. I've
got to go to church. It's Wednesday night. I've got
to get a message. I've got to do it. And it's this motive, this motive. Paul said, I don't live to myself
anymore. I live to Him. Paul, how can
you do that? Tell me. Give me some help on
this. This dying love that's got in my heart. It's got in
my heart and I'm so cheerful about it. Even in my troubles,
I'm so hopeful. Every time I get a letter from
Lance Heller and Robin there in New Guinea, I've sat and talked
with them what kind of place that is. That's one of the roughest
terrains in the world and one of the most dangerous places.
I know what he left to go over there and preach to those tribes
of people. And yet every time I get a letter
from him that's got his picture on it. Do you see the picture
of him walking across the little bridge and underneath it said,
going off to preach? Do you see his face? He had a
smile that bright on his face. Every time I see a picture of
Lance Heller, they take it there in one of those jungles, one
of those little huts, he got a big smile on his face. Remember
what he said in his last newsletter? He said, I want to live under
this influence, this influence, Christ and Him crucified. Remember that? That's the influence
that these men were living under. This is why they were so hopeful,
cheerful, dedicated and holy men. The love of Christ constrains
us. But it can't be forced, not even
this. We might say, oh, I believe that
Christ died for me and I love Him for it, but it can't be forced. It can't be imitated. We can
have this in our head, but I'm talking about getting it in our
hearts, the power of it, the love of it. One scripture in
closing, look over in 1 Peter chapter 5. There's such a thing
as having these things in our head But then we realize, oh,
they're just not having the effect upon our hearts that we want
them to have. Well, that's where grace comes
in. That's where grace comes in. And look how Peter says this
right quickly in 1 Peter chapter 5 and look in verse 6. 1 Peter
chapter 5 and verse 6. Likewise, ye younger, submit
yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of you be subject one
to another. and be clothed with humility,
for God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble. Humble
yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, that
He may exalt you in due time." Humble yourselves under the mighty
hand of God. And Luther, when he read this,
he said, okay, I'll pull my clothes off and lay on the cold floor.
Okay, I'll humble myself, I'll fast myself half to death. And
he realized, That wasn't what Peter was talking about. He tried
that and he was still full of pride and self-righteousness
and rebellion against God. And he said what he realized,
with a command, must come grace. Who was that said that, Larry?
I keep forgetting his name. Give a command. What's your command?
Augustine. Augustine. He said, Lord, command
what you will, if you'll give grace to keep the command. I've tried to humble myself before
God, and I bet you have too. I want to walk humbly before
Him. And you can't do it, can you? You just can't do it until
He gives you grace. And when He gives you grace to
see the love of Christ, when He gives you grace to see yourself
as you really are, down you go. at His feet in utter humility. And when He gives you grace to
judge as we ought to judge. The Son of God loved me so much
while I was an ungodly enemy, a sinner, and could not help
myself. He gave Himself for me. He came and took me to Himself,
this worm, and said, Listen, Bruce, I'm going to do everything
for you. You just watch me. You rest. You sit on the sidelines. And I'm going to do it all for
you. And when I see that, oh, it constrains me to deny myself
and live for His glory. That's what Paul is saying. That's
what he's saying.