Today, I would like you to turn
in your Bible to the book of Romans, to the book of Romans
chapter five, and I'll be speaking to you today from verse six,
Romans chapter five, verse six. Let me read verse six down through
verse 10 of Romans chapter five. 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. Much more then, being now justified,
cleared of all guilt, justified by his blood, we shall be saved
from wrath through him. For if when we were enemies we
were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more,
much more being reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. Because He lives, we live. Because He lives, we live. Now I want to camp this morning
on verse 6. In this phrase that's found in
verse 6, Christ died for the ungodly. Charles Spurgeon, a
well-known preacher of the past who pastored a very large church
over in London, England back in the 1800s, had this to say
about verse 6, in these five words, that Christ died for the
ungodly. He said, I would not mind if
I were condemned to live 50 years more and never be allowed to
speak but these five words, if I might be allowed to utter them
in the ears of every man, woman, and child who ever lived. This
is the best message that even angels could bring to fallen,
ruined sinners. Christ died for the ungodly. Now, my friend, that's a good
statement. A good statement. And it's a scriptural statement.
Christ died for sinful men and women. This is the sum and substance
of our gospel. This is the very core and heart
of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is the subject matter
of all God-honoring preaching. That's why Paul said, I'm determined
to know nothing among you but Jesus Christ and Him crucified. This verse and these five words
speaks volumes about the gospel of God's glory, the blessed gospel
of the glory of God. We see in this verse, first of
all, we see who died. Who died? It says here that Christ
died. The Lord Jesus Christ is no unauthorized
Savior. He's no maverick Savior. The
Lord Jesus Christ is God's well-beloved Son. He's the authorized Messiah. That's what the word Christ means. The Lord Jesus Christ is God's
Messiah, God's anointed. God's Savior and Mediator and
Redeemer of a people. He said, this is my beloved Son
in whom I am well pleased. We know that the Lord Jesus Christ,
Jesus of Nazareth, the man who was despised and hated and rejected
by men, is none other than God's Savior. No other name under heaven
given among men whereby we must be saved. He's the only savior,
the only mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. Our Lord asked his disciples
one time, whom do men say that I, the son of man am? And they
answered him and said, well, some men say that you're John
the Baptist. John had been killed and some
were saying that the Lord Jesus was John. raised from the dead. Others said that you're Jeremiah
or Isaiah or Elijah or some other prophet. But he looked him dead
in the eye and he said, Whom do men say? Whom do you say? I know what men are saying. I
hear what men are saying. But what do you say? Whom do
you say that I am? And Simon Peter answered and
said, Thou art the Christ, the son of the living God. And our
Lord said unto him, Blessed, you are a blessed man. You've
been blessed of God, Simon, son of Jonah, for flesh and blood
didn't reveal this unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven."
The revelation of God concerning Jesus Christ is that He is who
He said He was, God Almighty coming to flesh to redeem a sinful
people. The Lord Jesus Christ, my friend,
was a real man, bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh. He took
upon Him flesh and blood, like unto ours, apart from sin. But,
my friend, He was more than a mere man. He was God Almighty manifest
in the flesh. Listen to this scripture in John
chapter 1, verse 1. In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. And verse 14
says, The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld
His glory. the glory as of the only begotten
of the Father, full of grace and truth. The Lord Jesus Christ
is fully and totally a man, and fully and totally God. He's the
God-Man-Meteor, God's Christ, God's Messiah. My friend, it's
who He is that gives merit, power, and glory to what He did. God
purchased us. The Lord Jesus Christ is God. God bought us, redeemed us with
His own blood on Calvary's tree. We see who died. Christ, the
Lord Jesus Christ. The second thing we see that
this verse declares, it declares why He died. It says here that
Christ died for the ungodly. He died for. He died in the room
and in the stead as a substitute for all God's sheep, for all
God's elect. The Lord Jesus Christ didn't
die as a martyr or as an example. He died as a substitute. He didn't
die because He was guilty. He had no sin. He knew no sin.
He died because His people, His people, His sheep were guilty
before God. God laid the sin of a certain
people on the Lord Jesus Christ. God made the Lord Jesus Christ
the believer's substitute. Down in verse 5 of this chapter
of Romans, down in verse 8 rather of Romans chapter 5, it says
that God commendeth his love toward us in that while we were
yet sinners, Christ died for us. In Romans 4.25 we read, He
was delivered for our offenses, raised again for our justification. We see that truth of substitution. God made Him to be sin for us
who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness of
God in Him. Isaiah, many years, hundreds
of years before the Lord Jesus Christ ever was manifest in the
flesh, prophesied of Him. His substitutionary work and
His blessed person saying that He was wounded for our transgressions,
that He was bruised for our iniquities, and the chastisement of our peace
was upon Him, and with His stripes we are healed. Being the representative
man that He was, that He is, and a substitute, He stood as
God's substitute for His elect. The Lord Jesus Christ satisfied
God's offended justice by bearing their sin death. He said, I laid
down my life for the sheep. He bare our sin in his own body,
his own body on the tree, bearing our sin as a substitute, thereby
making full eternal atonement for those for whom he stood.
Our high priest entered in once into the holy place, having obtained,
not with the blood of bulls and goats, but with his own blood,
having obtained eternal redemption for us. So we see who died. We see why he died. He died as
a substitute, not as a martyr, not as an example, but a substitute,
as a sacrifice to put away the sin of God's people. The third
thing this verse declares, it declares for whom he died. It said that Christ died for
the ungodly. For the ungodly. Our blessed
Lord did not die to redeem fallen angels. The Scriptures declare
He took not on Him the nature of angels, but He took on Him
the seed of Abraham. Our Lord Jesus Christ didn't
die for righteous men. He said, I'll have mercy, not
sacrifice. I'm not come to call the righteous,
but sinners to repentance. Our Lord didn't die for the fallen
angels, nor for righteous men, nor for religious men, nor for
men who think they're deserving by their merit, by their work,
that they deserve and merit salvation, that they merit grace. The Lord
Jesus Christ died for His sheep who were lost. He said, I came
to seek and to save that which is lost. for the transgression
of my people, he was stricken." Now, my friend, honestly, before
God, I want to know. I need a mediator. I need a substitute. I need a righteousness and redemption
before God. I want to know if Christ died
for me. I want to know if he stood for
me as surety and mediator. Well, I believe we can know.
I believe we can answer that question, did Christ die for
me, by asking ourselves this question. Now, be honest. Be
honest before God. He knows your heart. He knows
your thought. Did Christ die for me? Well, let me ask you,
do you consider yourself ungodly? Ungodly? Can you identify with
the Apostle Paul when he said, O wretched man that I am? Secondly,
do you consider yourself deserving of God's wrath? Do you know that
you deserve that by the wages of your sin is death and that's
what you deserve before God? Do you know that you're deserving
of God's wrath and His disfavor? Thirdly, do you esteem Jesus
Christ as your only hope, as your only remedy for sin, as
your only righteousness before God? My friend, if we can identify
and know ourselves to be ungodly, if we know we're deserving of
God's wrath, And if by God's grace and the revelation of God,
if we esteem Jesus Christ as our only hope, our only Mediator,
our only Redeemer, then my friend, we can have confidence before
God that the Lord Jesus Christ stood as our substitute, as our
Mediator. You listen to the Apostle Paul.
He said, this is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation
that Christ Jesus came into this world to save sinners. of whom
I am chief." Now, do you know yourself to be the chief of sinners,
deserving of God's wrath and disfavor? My friend, pardons
for the guilty. That's right. Pardons for the
guilty. Mercies for the miserable. Salvations
for sinners. Can you say with the publican,
Lord God, be merciful to me, thee, sinner? The Lord said that
man went down to his house justified. Rather than the other, the Pharisee
stood and bragged on himself and went to hell. The publican
cried out for mercy and God said this man went to his house justified. Well, lastly, in closing, we
see that the Lord Jesus Christ died for the ungodly and why
he died and who died. But lastly, when did he die? It says here in verse 6, For
when we were yet without strength in due time, Christ died. Galatians 4 verse 4 declares,
When the fullness of time was come, God sent forth his Son,
made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were
under the law, that we might be made, that we might receive
the adoption of sons. Christ died according to God's
appointed time. He died the appointed death,
at the appointed time, and he was the appointed sacrifice. Him being delivered, Peter said
in Acts 2, him being delivered by the determinate counsel and
foreknowledge of God, you have taken and by wicked hands have
crucified and slain the Lord of glory. He didn't die as a
helpless victim of vicious men, but he died the appointed sacrifice
of a holy God. They did what their wicked heart
determined to do, but God, they did what God determined before
to be done. He said, no man takes my life
from me, I lay it down. And if I lay it down, I have
power to take it again. This commandment have I received
of my Father. My friend Calvary was appointed
by God. And the Lord Jesus Christ full
well knew why he came. He came to lay down his life
for his sheep, for his people. When did he die? In due time. The second thing we see in verse
6, that He died when we were yet without strength, when we
were in total darkness without light, when we were in total
depravity without righteousness, when we were in total bondage
without liberty. We had absolutely no way to recommend
ourselves before God, but it says down in verse 8 that He
commended His love toward us. John said here in his love, not
that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to
be a propitiation an atonement, reconciliation for our sins. My friend, this is the only hope
a sinner has before a holy God. Christ died for the ungodly. If you would like a copy of today's
message, you write to me and I'll send it to you free of charge.
My address is Zebulon Baptist Church, 6088 Zebulon Highway,
Pikeville, Kentucky.