Romans chapter 5, and we'll begin
with verse 6 through verse 11. For when we were yet without
strength in due time, Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely
for a righteous man will one die. 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 than being now 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, being reconciled, we shall be saved
by his life. And not only so, but we also
joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received
the atonement or reconciliation. Matthew Henry introduced his
comments on this section of verses that I've just read with these
words. The apostle here describes the
fountain and foundation of justification laid in the death of the Lord
Jesus. The streams are very sweet, but
if you run them up to the spring head, you will find it to be
Christ dying for us. It is in the precious stream
of Christ's blood that all these privileges come flowing to us.
and therefore enlarges upon this instance of the love of God which
is shared abroad. Last Sunday evening, we looked
at the first five verses and we might consider them as streams,
as streams that come from the spring head. We looked at justification,
peace with God, access to the throne of grace, and knowledge
which enables us as God's children to rejoice even in tribulations. Those streams, if we refer to
those things as streams like Matthew Henry did, they are sweet. They are sweet. Justification,
peace with God. But, oh, the springhead. the spring head from which those
streams flow. How sweet is the love of God
in giving his son to be the author of eternal salvation for all
them who obey him. I'm going to divide my message
tonight into three parts. First, I want us to look at a
description of those for whom Christ died. And let's see if
we can see ourselves here, if we are described by these three
descriptions of those for whom Christ died. I trust that we
can. First, we see in verse six that
Christ died to save those without strength, without strength. Think with me for just a minute
of the many different ways without strength that is true about us. We were without strength to please
God. No matter how much we desired
it, no matter how much we may have wanted to please God, we
were without strength to please Him. The scripture says in Romans
8 in verse 8, so then they that are in the flesh cannot please
God. And we all, as we come into this
world, are in the flesh. That is, that's all we are. We
don't have two natures when we're born into this world. We have
one nature, that which is born of the flesh is flesh. And they
that are in the flesh cannot please God. We were without strength. to please God. The word cannot
speaks of inability, doesn't it? Inability. We don't have
the ability. Sin has so disabled us from being
able in ourselves of pleasing God because everything that we
do is tainted with sin because of who we are. Everything that
we do, if it's our thoughts, It's our words, our actions,
everything that we do is tainted with sin because we are born
sinners. Pat and my wife, we like to buy
these boxes of mixed chips. I don't know if any of you ever
do that, but you get a box of chips. You get potato chips,
sour cream chips, frito chips. But they always seem to put a
lot of Cheetos in those boxes. And neither one of us really
care for Cheetos, but our great-grandchildren do. Their parents not so much. Why? Because when you eat Cheetos,
you get Cheeto dust on your fingers. And then everything you touch,
if you're in your dad's new car, or if you're at home and touch
the wall, everything you touch, it's got that yellow Cheeto dust
on it. And that's a poor example, but
it's the truth about us. Because of born in sin, everything
that we do is tainted with sin. Remember the illustration in
the scripture when God told the Israelites, before he gave the
law concerning the tabernacle and the beautiful, beautiful
altar that is involved in the tabernacle, it's a big altar,
you know, covered in corruptible wood, the humanity of Christ,
and then the brass covered over with brass so it could take the
heat. But before God gave the the instructions
for that altar, he told the Israelites, he said, now if you build an
altar, you take stones and stack them up. And usually that's what
they would do. They would take, Abraham built
an altar. We know that. Every place that
Abraham moved his tent, that's one thing he did. He built an
altar to sacrifice unto the Lord. But God told the Israelites,
don't you, Don't you put your tool, don't you put your chisel
and hammer and try to straighten those stones out and make them
all so pretty because, why? Because of their nature, their
sinful nature. Everything that we touch, we
know. We're without strength, inability. That's the way we were when Christ
died for us. or when Christ died for those
he came to save, we were without strength. We were without strength
to perfectly obey God's holy law. God's holy law, we know,
requires love to God, perfect love, absolute perfect love to
God, and love to our neighbor as ourselves. But we were without
strength. We couldn't do that. No matter
how much we desired to do it, no matter how much we tried,
but we couldn't do it. Now this, you know, this was
one of the great mistakes of the Apostle Paul. Before the
Lord saved him, he was a Pharisee of the Pharisees. And he tells
us here in Romans chapter seven and verse seven, he said, I was
alive once without the law. He was alive once. or without
the law once. He was alive once without the
knowledge of the law. That the law is spiritual. It's not just dealing with these
outward actions, but it has to do with the thoughts and intents
of the heart. Out of the heart, our Lord said,
proceed these evil thoughts and everything else that we're contaminated
with. Christ, he died to save those
without strength, without strength to please God, without strength
to keep God's holy law. And let me tell you something
else, without strength to deliver ourselves from the pit, from
the pit. You say, what's the pit? Well,
it refers, of course, to hell. And you know that verse in Job
where God's deliver him from going down to the pit. have found
a ransom, God saying that, but we were without strength to deliver
ourselves. Can you see yourself there? Christ
died to save those who were without strength. And then second, we
are told Christ died to save the ungodly. Now, how do we define
that, the ungodly? What does it mean to be ungodly?
I think it's a very easy way to define it. We're just not
like God. We're just not like God. No, not as we come into
this world. God's holy. We're not holy. God's pure. We're not pure. God's just. Absolutely just. We're not just. We're unjust. Look back here at Romans 4 in
verse 5, where the apostle wrote, but
to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that, now notice
this, that justifieth the ungodly. Him that justifieth the ungodly. Now that text, It's the text
that Charles Spurgeon used in writing his book, Salvation by
Grace. And he brings out this truth,
we all know it so, that when a person gets a little concerned
about their soul, about their relationship to God, the first
thing they think they need to do is clean up their life. make
a change, and then believe in Christ and be saved. No, God
justifies the ungodly, the ungodly. That's what we were, and that's
who Christ died for, the ungodly. That's a tragic mistake many
people make, not to say that you don't, become saved in order
to be saved. You know what I mean? You don't
become saved to be saved, no. We're lost, we're undone, and
we look to Christ and we're saved. That's just the way it is. And
then the third thing that he says, tells us, describes those
for whom Christ died is sinners. Christ died to save sinners. Notice that, if you will, in
verse eight, God commendeth his love toward us and that while
we were yet sinners, while we were yet sinners, Christ
died for us. Have you ever heard these words?
They're part of a hymn written by Joseph Hart. He was a great
hymn writer, but in one of the stanzas to that hymn, he has
these words. What comfort can a savior bring
to those who never felt their woe? A sinner is a sacred thing. The Holy Ghost hath made him
such. New life from him we must receive
before for sin we rightly grieve. But the words I want to emphasize
is a sinner is a sacred thing. The Holy Ghost hath made him
so. Now you understand what he meant
by that. It didn't mean that the Holy Spirit, that God is
the author of sin, that God made us sinners. But no, we are born
sinners, but it is God the Holy Spirit who reveals to us, who
makes us aware to know that we are sinners. Double-died sinners,
if you please. Jerusalem sinners. The Holy Ghost
makes us to know that. Charles Spurgeon used that in
that book I've just mentioned, Saved by Grace. A sinner is a
sacred thing. The Holy Ghost hath made him
so. And he went on to say it is truly so that Jesus seeks
and saves that which is lost. The end, I-N-N, the end of mercy
never closes its doors upon such, upon sinners. Neither weekdays
nor Sunday, our Lord Jesus did not die for imaginary sins, but
his heart's blood was spilt to wash out deep crimson stains
which nothing else could remove. Christ died for those without
strength, for those who are ungodly, for sinners. I preached from
this passage one time in California. I've preached from it several
times over the years, and there's so much here. But I remember
thinking, why didn't you just say that Christ died for God's
elect? Why go through those three things,
that Christ died for for those without strength, that Christ
died for those who are ungodly, that Christ died for sinners?
Why didn't you just say that Christ died for his elect, for
those he chose? Well, the answer is very simple,
isn't it? No one is ever commanded to believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ because he is one of God's elect. You won't know that. You won't
ever know that until you believe. till you come like a guilty sinner
that we are and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and then you
know that you are one that God chose from before the foundation
of the world and you are one that Christ died to save. Why? Because now you love him and
you love him because he first loved you. Here's the second
point of the message. The time when Christ died to
save. Verse six. First of all, for whom did Christ
die? He died. For whom did Christ
die to save? I want to put that in. Whom he
died to save. Those without strength, ungodly
sinners. Now, notice the time when Christ
died to save. Verse six, for when we were yet
without strength in due time, in due time, or in the margin
that reads according to the time, according to the time. Well,
we know in Hebrews chapter one in verse two, the apostle says
that God hath in these last days spoken unto us by his son. In other words, in these last
days, the apostle says, is when Christ came into this world,
in these last days. So Christ came and he died in
these last days. You say, well, The world's been
going on now after that for 2,000 years. No, in the last days of
that old dispensation. When that dispensation, sometimes
called the Mosaic dispensation, in the last days of that dispensation,
because we know by his death, He fulfilled all the types and
all the shadows and all the pictures in that old dispensation. He fulfilled the law. You know,
fallen man, religious man's love ceremony. We're just born, we're just inclined,
all of us by nature, we're inclined to ceremony. Ceremonies in which
we can participate. Maybe candle lights or candle
services or incense burning or images or pictures or all kinds
of ceremonies. We're just inclined to that.
Our flesh is. It just has a propensity to go
in that direction. Ceremonies in which we can participate. and feel good, feel good about
ourselves. And what a deception that Satan
has caused people to believe and teach that the sacrifices
for sins must go on. That they must continue when
the scripture is very clear that by his one sacrifice for sins,
he hath perfected forever them that are set apart, sanctified. I want you to look at this verse
in Hebrews 9, 14. Hebrews 9, 14. I remember hearing Pastor Bill
Sasser one time speaking about visiting these cathedrals. I
think they'd gone to Europe or maybe they'd been to Palestine. I don't know. But he said, you
know, you can't help but be impressed when they tell you this is a
well. This is Syker's well where the Lord Jesus Christ sat and
spoke to the woman of Samaria. And he said, I am supposed to
know better, but he said, you still cannot help from just being
impressed by these circumstances. And all of us, that's the flesh,
we're inclined to ceremonies and things like that. When God
is the Spirit and they that worship God must worship Him in spirit
and in truth. You could go and sit by the well
of Samaria. There's nothing special about
that. You could find the tomb in which
Christ's body was laid. There's nothing special about
that. No. Most likely, if we went to
those places, we'd just get kind of a fuzzy feeling about it. You know? It'd be impressive
to us, right? Man just loves ceremonies. And
that's the reason most religion today has so many ceremonies. But the worst of all, As far
as I'm concerned, it's those who teach that we must continue
to make sacrifices, to put away sin. No, no, no, no. Here in Hebrews 9 and verse 14,
the apostle said, how much more shall the blood of Christ, how
much more shall the blood of Christ than the blood of animals?
who through the eternal spirit offered himself without spot
to God, purge your conscience from dead works. Those dead works
there are the works of the law. Dead works to serve the living
God. And I was looking at the fact
that we're told that Christ offered himself without spot to God. You know, under the law, the
priest, as well as the sacrifice, had to be without spot. You can
read that in Leviticus, I believe it's chapter 21, but a man born
into the family of Aaron, if he had any blemish, any physical
infirmity or anything like that, blind or club-footed, he couldn't
be a priest. Now, he could eat the bread,
he could eat the meat that was brought in the sacrifices. He
was in the family of Aaron, but he could not approach the altar
with the sacrifice. The priest had to be without
blemish. We all are familiar that the
animal, the sacrifice, had to be without blemish. when God gave the instructions
concerning the Passover lamb. Remember, they put that lamb
up on the 10th day, and those four days, he was slaughtered
on the 14th day, but those four days, part of what that was for
was to examine that lamb and to make sure there's no spot
there, there's no blemish there, and Christ, by the eternal spirit,
we're told, offered himself unto God without spot. That is, as
a priest, as a man, he had no sin of his own. He was perfectly
holy, and he offered himself as a sacrifice, and the sacrifice
is without blemish and without spot. Yes, how much more shall
the blood, the scripture here says, shall the blood of Christ
who through the eternal spirit offered himself without spot
to God purge your conscience from dead works to serve the
living God. Our Lord, when he was here, you
know, went into a synagogue one time and There
was a man with a demon in there and the demon even cried out,
we know who thou art, thou holy one of God. Has thou come to
torment us before the time? Even the demons recognize the
holiness, the unblemished person of Jesus Christ. Now, here's the third part of
the message. The benefits mentioned for those
Christ died to save in verses 9 through 11. We've come back
to the streams now. We were at the streams. I'm using
Matthew Henry's analogy. We were at the streams when this
chapter began. We've come up to the fountainhead,
to the springhead. We've looked at the sacrifice
by which all these blessings and benefits in the stream come
to us, and now we've come back to the stream. We're going to
look at a few more blessings. First of all, he mentions justification
again in verse nine, much more than being now justified by his
blood. Justified. We've dealt with that. We know what that means, but
think of it as a holy God, the thrice holy God. declaring a
person who's washed in the blood of Christ to be just as if he
had never sinned. Justified. What a blessing, what
a blessing, what a sweet blessing in that, is that stream. Then
the second thing we see, we're saved from wrath to come. Much more, in verse nine, much
more than being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved
from wrath through him. Let me ask a few questions just
for you to think about. Is the God of present day religion
the God who destroyed the world by flood? Is he? Is the God of present
day religion the God who destroyed the cities of Gomorrah, Sodom
and Gomorrah, with fire from heaven, brimstone from heaven? Is the God of modern day religion
the God who declared, the Lord Jesus declared this, fear not
them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul.
but rather fear him which is able to destroy both body and
soul in hell. You know, in the book of Revelation,
the apostle tells us that there's a time coming when men will pray
to the mountains and to the rocks. Fall on us and hide us from the
face of him that sits on the throne and from the wrath of
the Lamb, for the great day of His wrath is come." When we read
the wrath of the Lamb, nothing is more gentle, no animal I don't
suppose you can imagine would be more gentle than a little
lamb. Christ is the Lamb of God, but
there's coming a day when the Lamb is going to manifest His
wrath. Paul told the church at Thessalonica
that they were saved from the wrath to come. Well, you know
this, that God's wrath will not come upon those for whom Christ
died to save. It will not. Not one drop. If you think of God's wrath as
liquid, not one little, tiny, drop will fall upon those for
whom Christ died to save. Why? Because it all fell upon
our head upon Christ. He suffered the wrath of God. Reconciliation, notice that in
verse 10. That's another one of the benefits
that come to us through the stream. Reconciliation in the death,
that's in verse 10. For if when we were enemies,
we were reconciled to God by the death of his son. Much more, being reconciled,
we shall be saved by his life. Reconciliation in the death of
the Lord Jesus, we read in one of the Psalms, mercy and truth. Think of that, mercy and truth. Mercy, God crying for the forgiveness
of the sinner. Truth, God's justice demanding
to be satisfied. Mercy and truth have met together. Righteousness and peace have
kissed each other. And that's only in the person
of Jesus Christ, where mercy and truth meet together, where
God is both just and the justifier of all who believe in Christ. And the last thing, preservation,
in verse 10 also. For if, when we were enemies,
we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more
being reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. Preservation. We shall be saved
by His life. What does that mean? Christ is
alive tonight. He's living tonight. And you
know what He's doing? He's our advocate with the Father. And every time we sin and we
do, He's always there making intercession for us. We shall
be saved by His life. One day, our full salvation will
come unto us, body and soul. We shall be saved, presented
faultless before God's holy throne. We're kept by the power of God
through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last
time. What a passage. What a passage. There's so much there. And as
I was reading through that, I realized I missed one of those four things
at the first. Enemies. Christ died to save
his enemies. Did you see that? He did. And were we his enemies? Yes, and worse than that, we
were enmity with God. An enemy may be reconciled. Enmity? No. We were enmity with God. May the Lord bless His word to
all of us here this