The Blessings of Salvation, Part 5

Again, back to Romans chapter
five. The passage is there in the bulletin
with some place for notes, but it will be helpful to have your
Bibles opened to that great chapter, which we have begun. We are looking
at the blessings of salvation. We have been considering this
great subject for several weeks, and we Certainly have seen and
understood Paul to be speaking of salvation in past weeks, but
here in a special focus in chapter five in the first eleven verses,
Paul really begins to focus in on what are the great blessings
to the Christian who enjoys the salvation of God. We’ve spent
no little time in this section. We saw, first of all, in the
first two verses, that the Christian is blessed with a life of peace
with God. Even such peace as which we just
sang about. That now, whereas we once were
at enmity, now God has enacted a peace treaty and we are at
peace with him. We also live a life of confident
worship now. There at the end of verse two,
when Paul said we exult in the hope of the glory of God, we
look forward almost boastingly, certainly in full praise of God
for what God has accomplished on our behalf. We exult in the
hope of the glory of God. We live a life of confident worship,
not wishful thinking. Thirdly, And this is where we
are, this great section which begins in verse three and courses
all the way down through verse eleven. We live a life now of
which recognizes a life of divine assistance. We enjoy as Christians
a life of God’s help. We saw the need of that help
in verse three that we exalt in our tribulations and those
tribulations are exactly what that word points them to be.
They are grave, great difficulties. They are exacting. They take
their toll. They wear us down. They are trials
and tribulations and hardships of every form and sort. We saw
also the process, the great unfolding process of divine assistance.
We want God to fix it overnight, don’t we? But we saw that God
doesn’t often do that. In fact, almost rarely in the
case of the Christian does God take us through a trial instantaneously. Look at the process. When Paul
says we exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings
about perseverance and perseverance brings about proven character
and proven character brings about hope and hope does not disappoint
because it brings about, as we surmised, it brings about experiencing
the glory of God. It’s a process. It’s an unfolding
process in God’s plan, but it’s divine assistance that gets us
there. We saw not only the need in the
process of divine assistance, but the assurance, the great
confidence that God gives to us that he is going to help us. What was it? The love of God. And that’s why we said it’s not
something that we take in faith, we know it because we’ve felt
it, we’ve experienced it, we’ve seen it. When Paul says, because
the love of God has been poured out within our hearts, he points
back to everything he says and he says, we exult in our tribulations. We know that it’s a process,
but we know he’s going to help us because we know that he loves
us. We know that we have come to
know the love of God. We’ve come to experience it and
rest in it. Last Lord’s Day, we considered
the agent of divine assistance. Who is it that God uses to help?
God uses the helper that he sent for that very purpose. Look again
at verse five. Not only do we exult in our tribulations
in the midst of this process. Because the love of God has been
poured out within our hearts, but Paul says explicitly that
that love has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy
Spirit. who was given to us. God has
an agent. God has a helper. God has a helper
that is going to get us through these trials for the purpose
of allowing us to experience a life of divine worship. We
want to know that we can walk with God and enjoy God’s assistance. And we’re almost there. We’re
almost to the end of this great section. of this life of divine
assistance, but Paul has one more hope. One more encouragement
to give us with regards to this divine assistance, and we’ll
get there momentarily. It has been attributed. To our
great American patriarch, Ben Franklin. That God helps those
who help themselves. You know, a lot of people, that’s
the most, that’s the single most referenced verse that is not
in the Bible. Studies have been shown that
that’s what people go looking for. They look to find where
that verse is, and it’s not in the Bible. I’ll tell you where
it is. It’s in Ben Franklin. It’s in a book called Poor Richard’s
Almanac that Ben Franklin penned. when he wrote an alphabet full
of homespun wisdom. And it’s A to Z. It goes like
this. I’m not going to read all of them, but a number of them
are pretty on target. Pretty good pieces of wisdom. Letter B. Be always ashamed to
catch thyself idle. That’s good wisdom. Nothing against rest. But, he
says, beware of idleness. C, the letter C. Cheese and salty
meat should be sparingly eat. I’m sure you’ll want to write
some of these down. I wanted to give you both of those because
it goes from the very practical and really true to a head-scratcher. Early to bed, letter E, early
to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise.
We all know that. We’ve all heard that of Ben Franklin.
That’s nothing new. G, the letter G, God helps those
who help themselves. There are others that are quite
curious. One of the girls may not care
for if Jack letter J. If Jack’s in love, he’s no judge
of Jill’s beauty. Now, there’s another version
of this. Bear with me. Ben Franklin wrote
it. There’s another version of that
that says. Does a man love a woman because
she’s beautiful or is she beautiful because you love her? And then
if you have any sense of intelligence, the answer is yes. One today, letter O, is worth
two tomorrows. Speak little, letter S, do much. That’s good wisdom. That’s good
insight. And so on it goes. There’s plenty
of others. You can look it up on the Internet.
It’s there. But I wondered where that phrase came from. God helps
those who help themselves. It came. Well, we think that
it came from Ben Franklin or did it? You see, if Ben Franklin
hadn’t invented that little phrase, somebody else would have. And
as history proves, somebody else did. In 1733. Ben Franklin’s words were recorded,
at least for the first time, and they were repeated again
in 1840 by Thoreau, who said, God cannot give us any other
help than self-help. This kind of a modern day twist,
a little Ben’s saying. In 1640, Ben perhaps heard it
from this writer, George Herbert, who said, help thyself and God
will help me. So Ben is not only intelligent
and not only witty, but he’s a plagiarist. Erasmus in 1545
said the gods do help the doer. In 472, Aeschylus said to the
man who himself strides earnestly, God also lends a helping hand. God helps those who help themselves.
You know, Benz is a little wordsmith, right? Real tight. In 450, 22 years earlier, in
the Talmud, it was recorded, If thou wilt lift the load, I
will lift it too, said of God. And in AD 95, use your own hand instead of
calling upon fortune. In other words, God helps those
who helps themselves, or does he? God doesn’t wait around to meet
us halfway. God doesn’t wait until we have
crossed the bridge in order to come and to greet us. The great
misperception of the parable of the prodigal son is that God,
once he sees the sun heading his way, only then does God move. That’s where the parable breaks
down. God had long since drawn the son to himself. God always
moves first. And it’s God, the one that helps
the helpless. That’s what Paul wants to tell
us. Go back again to Romans chapter five, we’ll take it in full,
but we’re really going to focus on verses six through eight. Paul wrote, therefore, having
been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord
Jesus Christ, through whom we also have obtained our introduction
by faith into this grace in which we stand. And we exult in the
hope of the glory of God. And not only this, but we also
exult in our tribulations. Knowing that tribulation brings
about perseverance and perseverance brings about proven character
and proven character, hope and hope does not disappoint. Because the love of God has been
poured out within our hearts. Through the Holy Spirit who was
given to us. For while we were still helpless. At the right time, Christ died
for the ungodly. For one will hardly die for a
righteous man, though perhaps for the good man someone would
dare even to die. But God demonstrates his own
love towards us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died
for us. And you can look at this beginning
of that passage, verses six through eight, And you can see that little
word for and it begs the question, what is the connection between
verses six through eight and verses three through five? Paul
ties these two passages together with that little word for. But
what is he explaining in verses six through eight? It could be
that he is explaining the clause immediately preceding the Holy
Spirit who was given to us. And the thought would be something
like this. The Holy Spirit was given to
us for Christ died for the ungodly. It doesn’t quite fit, does it?
The only reasonable explanation is that if we go back just one
clause further. Paul’s argument begins to make
sense. His argument goes like this.
The love of God has been poured out within our hearts. For Christ
died for the ungodly. That’s the line of reasoning
Paul is trying to confirm to us from the very start of this
passage. Remember, Paul is trying to confirm,
confirm to us God’s willingness to help us to render divine assistance. His argument includes the insistence
that we have already experienced the love of God. We know the
love of God. It is experiential. We have it
in our hearts. We looked at that last week and
we saw a number of testimonies from Paul and from others about
this love of God, John 3, 16, for God so loved the world. That’s something that we can
know and experience. Because he gave his only begotten
son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish. When you
come to faith in Christ, you come to faith in Christ because
you know and have experienced the love of God. Ephesians 2,
4. Ephesians 2.4 testified of it
as well, but God being rich in mercy because of His great love
with which He loved us. We sensed it. We felt it. It
moved us. It brought us literally to repentance. Titus 3.4, but when the kindness
of God, our Savior, and His love for mankind appeared, only then,
once we really sensed that God loved us, Did salvation and the free offer
thereof make any sense to us at all? We know the love of God, we’ve
already experienced the love of God, and what Paul does here
is bear proof that this divine love is verifiable by virtue
of Christ’s death. It’s an echo of John 3.16. It’s
a death that was rendered for the ungodly. What Paul does is
provide a second modifier for that little clause in verse five. The love of God has been poured
out within our hearts and thereby he provides us with the fifth
and final point of our little subsection here in our consideration
of divine assistance. And Paul’s point is simply that
if the foundation has been established. God will complete this grand
project that has been undertaken by him. The salvation of souls. Did you hear what I said? If
the foundation has been established, God will finish the project. God, having begun the process
of salvation by offering his own son in death for sinners,
will continue that process of salvation By divine assistance
to his children, the argument is just that simple. Go back
again to the text, would you, to chapter five or six where
Paul says, and you know my tendency, let’s find a simple sentence
and you could summarize it simply by this for Christ died. But that isn’t quite enough.
That doesn’t quite do it. Christ’s death, if it had no
purpose whatsoever, does nothing for anyone. But the death was
intentional. It was purposed. And it says
explicitly that Christ died for the ungodly. It had a purpose. And it was valid. And it was
accepted by God. The connection is simple. If
you look at verse 5 and you look at verses 6 and following, the
connection is simple that Christ’s death For us, when we were still
devoid of the Holy Spirit, when we were still outside of the
pale of salvation, while we were still hopeless and godless, is
overwhelmingly a proof of God’s love for us. Martin Lloyd-Jones, when he opened
his Bible and he saw Romans 5-6, he said, this is one of the greatest
verses in all of the Bible. He characterized it as Paul’s
exposition, really, of John 3,16. And of this verse, he said this.
A man who knows that he is justified by faith only is a man who should
enjoy great certainty, peace with God, standing in the grace
of God, rejoicing in hope of the glory of God, And nothing
can shake that. The whole object of this statement,
beginning at verse six, is to substantiate and to make that
yet more certain. Nothing can give greater assurance
of the certainty of our salvation and its finality than the love
of God. And may I add, nothing can testify
more clearly of the love of God than the death of Christ on our
behalf. That’s Paul’s design. He wants us to know that tribulations
can’t shake us. He wants us to know that we have
divine assistance and his great means of communicating that to
us is to remind us of the death already shed for us. The death
of Christ, our Lord. He simply says it. And it’s almost a truth that
we might read over. Christ died. The love of God has been poured
out within our hearts. For Christ died. We would almost read over that,
wouldn’t we? We’d almost skip that great truth. The poll is
trying to make here. Trying to drive home the point
that we have divine assistance, we have God’s help and we know
that God loves us. Why? Because Christ has already
died. Paul could never set aside a
focus on that great truth, Romans 8, 32, which first we’ll look
at one day. He who did not spare his own son, but delivered him
over for us all. Second Corinthians 514, the love
of Christ controls us, having concluded this, that one died
for all. Christ died. Ephesians 5, 1 to
2, be imitators of God as beloved children and walk in love, just
as Christ also loved you and gave himself up for us. Christ
died. First Thessalonians five. God
is not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through
our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us so that whether we are
awake or asleep, we will live together with him. Christ died. Titus two, ten through fourteen,
check that eleven through fourteen, which verse I have suggested
is the greatest statement on the gospel in all of Scripture,
says this. For the grace of God has appeared,
bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to deny ungodliness
and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly
in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and the appearing
of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus, who
gave himself up for us. to redeem us from every lawless
deed and to purify himself for himself a people for his own
possessions, zealous for good deeds. Christ died. Those collective
thoughts express the love of God that is stated in unmistakable
terms in the most clear language that God could ever use. The
sacrificial death of the Lord Jesus Christ on our behalf. What
one pastor said was the gift of Christ to die on our behalf
is everywhere in Scripture represented as the highest possible and conceivable
proof of the love of God to sinners. The highest possible and conceivable
proof Of the love of God to sinners, God says, I mean, Paul says here
that, look, you’re going to have divine divine assistance in the
midst of this tribulation. You know that because God loves
you and you know that because Christ died. Well, for whom? Paul couldn’t say it any more
clearly for the ungodly. People wrangle and wrestle about
the atonement and that isn’t my purpose here today to talk
about, you know, the explicit nature of the atonement. Who
did Christ die for and how? We know who he died for, in a
sense, right here, Christ died for the ungodly. Paul had already
used this term and in recent terms, In Romans 4, 5, he says,
but to the one who does not work, but believes in him who justifies
the ungodly. That’s us. That’s what happens
when you come to Christ, you believe that somehow God can
make something out of absolutely nothing. God justifies the ungodly. By way of reminder, one commentator
said of that particular statement, the faith which justifies is
not mere ascent. It is an act of trust. The believer
falls upon God for justification. He believes that God will justify
him even though he is ungodly. It is an act of confidence in
reference to our acceptance with God. He who exercises faith should
feel and acknowledge that he is ungodly and consequently undeserving
of the favor of God. But he believes, he believes
that God can take nothing and make it into something. This
ungodly is a powerful word. This has reference to being utterly
irreverent. not just a sinner, but one who
defies God in everything that he does. He is impious, he is
irreverent, he is ungodly. It is an overwhelming refusal
to acknowledge and obey the law of God, said one. Those that
show a marked want of conformity to God’s mind and will. They
don’t want what God has to offer. They don’t want God’s ways. They
will not adhere to God’s ways. Said one, this word ungodly denotes
open irreligion, a practical atheism, a contempt of God and
all that belongs to his worship. Whereas the word sinner that
will come across in verse eight and just a moment below, it goes
much more to the moral side of that particular nature, and it
points explicitly to the sins of our flesh. One Puritan pointed out that
man was made by way of reminder, man was made in the image of
God. And there was something of the
glory of God upon him. This image of God, which is upon
man, has now by sin been defaced, and we are no longer like God. We were meant for the glory of
God and to reflect the glory of God, and now we are simply
seen, if we are outside of Christ, as ungodly. Man in his sin is now ungodly,
and God’s overwhelming love comes into bold relief against that
black backdrop. Then once we begin to consider
our true nature, our true state, that we are ungodly and sinful. And that God sent his son to
die. For that group of people, totally unrighteous, totally
unlovable, totally deserving God’s wrath. Paul had already said that it’s
we. You look back at the text while
we were still helpless. We get to that little phrase
in a moment. But he’s already included even
himself. In that designation of ungodly,
he’s already included all of us. He’s already included all
of mankind in that by saying we were helpless And now we know
that we are the ones who were ungodly. If you do not know the
Lord Jesus Christ, that’s what the scripture says about your
state, your spiritual condition. You are ungodly. You don’t look
anything like God, like the stamp that he originally placed upon
you. Yet another Puritan said it was
not for those who were in some degree godly. It’s not like we
had to meet him halfway. It’s not like we had to get a
jump start on our godliness. There’s not those who are in
some degree godly or disposed in some measure to do the will
of God that Christ died. I mean, picture it this way. You do a kindness for someone.
Let’s examine who that was for. It isn’t somebody who’s a friend
to you. It isn’t somebody who has maybe done a favor for you
in times past, or even a neighbor who you happen and, you know,
you owe the common courtesy of a wave as they drive up the block.
It’s not for them at all. Not even is it somebody who maybe
slandered you. They don’t know you, and so they
said something, they repeated something that had been said
to them, and so they slandered you. It’s not even them. If someone who not only broke
into your house and took all your stuff, but killed you and
everything that you loved and held dear, it is for them that we do the
kindness. That’s what Christ did when he
came and died on our behalf. He came for enemies. He died
for the ungodly. Christ said one died for the
ungodly, not only for the weak, but for the wicked. The fact
that the death of Christ for sins and on behalf of sinners
is made so prominent in the New Testament scriptures shows that
he came into the world not so much to be a teacher of men.
Or an example for people. But to become a propitiatory
sacrifice for the sins. Christ died. for the ungodly. You see, Charles Hodge goes on
to make the point, you know why this is so important? Because
if for a moment we held to the idea that God loves us because
we loved him. That God moved because we first
moved towards him, we loved his law, we began to obey it and
God moves towards the helpless. He says that if that were the
case, then our salvation would only last as long as we continued
to love him. Did you get his point? And he
goes on to say, if that was the case, then our salvation would
depend on the constancy of our treacherous hearts. But seeing that God loved us
while we were yet sinners, while we were ungodly, our salvation
depends not on our own loveliness, but on the constancy of the love
of God. What a great truth. If he says not only while we
were ungodly, but while we were helpless, look at that passage
again. While we were helpless at the
right time, Christ died for the ungodly. We have no power within ourselves
to help ourselves. That little word was used to
mark those that were utterly sick and helpless. Now, we know
that theologically speaking, that merely to call us sick is
not good enough, especially when Ephesians says that we were dead
in our trespasses and sins. But what he’s saying here is
that we were weak, so weakened that we were utterly incapable
of helping ourselves with regards to salvation. We couldn’t meet
God halfway. We were powerless, we were utterly
incapable, totally helpless to rescue ourselves from sin and
from the chains in which we were bound. But Christ, Christ began
to move. Because of the love of God and
not because of anything within us, we were utterly helpless
and Christ moved. We were powerless for good, and
so contrary to Ben Franklin and his homespun wisdom, God did
not wait for us to begin helping him. God does not help the helpless,
help those who help themselves. He helps the helpless. He helps
those that are utterly incapable. of helping themselves. It’s much
better. It’s a much better truth than
what Ben shared. One put it this way, we are weak
with regards to doing right, but we are very strong to do
wrong. We are strong to sin, weak to
resist. And the special helplessness
referred to here is man’s inability to redeem himself or to put himself
into a savable state. You know, we want to climb into
the raft. We want to climb the ladder halfway to God and have
him tow us up the rest of the way. It doesn’t work that way. God jumps in and swims to the
bottom of the ocean where he finds you dead and utterly incapable. Lloyd-Jones said it this way,
it means that we are entirely devoid of any spiritual strength,
total inability in a spiritual sense. Man is totally incapable,
not only without any strength in the matter of his salvation,
he is not able to understand spiritual truth. 1 Corinthians
1. He is totally unable to please
God, to obey God, totally, completely incapable of saving ourselves.
And in that particular context, Christ died. Christ died in those
conditions while we were in that condition, unable to save ourselves,
unable to obey him, unable to render any spiritual good, unable
to even improve ourselves in the slightest degree. Christ
died while we were still helpless. But not only that. In the midst of the The truth
that Paul is unfolding to us that we were ungodly, that we
were helpless. Spurgeon preaching in John 644,
which passage reads, No man can come to me unless the father
who sent me draws him and I will raise him up on the last day.
We were utterly helpless. Spurgeon said it this way. Through
the fall and through our own sin, the nature of man has become
so debased and depraved and corrupt that it is impossible for him
to come to Christ without the assistance of God and with the
Spirit. Now, that’s news to a lot of folks. A lot of folks who
name the name of Christ believe that they came to Jesus, not
that Jesus came to them. Spurgeon continues, now the reason
why man cannot come to Christ is because his nature is so corrupt
that he has neither the will nor the power to come to Christ
unless drawn by the Spirit. We declare upon scriptural authority
that the human will is so desperately set on mischief, so depraved
and so inclined to everything that is evil, and so disinclined
to everything that is good, that without the powerful, supernatural,
irresistible influence of the Holy Spirit, no human would ever
be constrained to come to Christ. Christ died for the ungodly.
And the condition of that was we were still helpless. But look
again at the timing. Look at the timing of Christ’s
death. While we were still helpless at the right time, Christ died
for the ungodly at the right time. There have been a lot of different
ideas projected with regards to what this time was. Some said
that certain prophecies had to be fulfilled, and there certainly
is a lot of truth there. But what it points back to, if
you look at this phrase in its simplicity, is that God was absolutely
in control of the exact moment that Christ pierced into our
existence in the point of history, before the foundation of the
world. God had a plan. Before there was a creation,
before there was a world, before there was even a species called
human, before there was any sin, God had a plan. And God had laid
out this plan from eternity past that at the right moment, at
just the right second, Jesus Christ was going to come
and was going to take on human flesh and ultimately at that
right and perfect moment by God’s own design, Christ would die. That’s how explicitly God planned
it. God planned it down to the second,
and he did so from eternity past. This didn’t just happen. This
didn’t catch God off guard. It wasn’t like God had to execute
plan B or C or D. God planned this all from the
very beginning, that Christ would die for the ungodly, for those
who were utterly helpless, and he did it at just the right moment. I love the way, the privilege
that I have to dig in and to read volume after volume of what
different folks think that this means, but one hit the nail on
the head. Listen. There was a long providential
preparation, a remarkable concurrence of many conditions before the
fullness of time for God to send forth his son had come. What
a man could do to help himself by experiencing the evil of sin,
by civil laws and religious rights, by philosophy, by the help of
divine laws and sacrifices must be shown. In other words, he
said we had to experience all that life had to offer up to
that point. And then to select a nation that
must be prepared by centuries of discipline to comprehend these
new doctrines. Time must be allowed for the
human race to grow into the historic age. A language more copious
and precise than any earlier one must be developed, pointing
to the language of Greek. A government wider and stronger
than the world had ever before seen, pointing to the Roman government,
must be consolidated. to favor unwittingly, even while
it wickedly opposed the dissemination of the gospel. And then. When all this protracted, complex,
wonderful preparation was completed. At the right time. Christ died
for the ungodly. You see the particular points in history, as he goes on to
say, when it had been proved beyond any doubt that man was
incapable of saving himself, when the law had a full opportunity
to do its work, when the Roman civilization and law and culture
had had their opportunity, Egypt had risen and waned, Assyria,
Babylon, China, the world had full opportunity and time to
save itself. But it had completely failed.
Sufficient time had been allowed to prove that nothing else could
save man. At the right time. Christ died
for the ungodly, Paul was so taken with that thought that
in almost every letter that he writes, he brings up this point.
Listen, Galatians 4, you know the passage, right? So also we,
while we were children, were held in bondage under the elemental
things of the world. But when the fullness of time
came, God sent forth his son, born of a woman, born under the
law at the fullness of time, at the right time. To the Romans, he wrote in chapters
three, Verse twenty six. He said the demonstration of
his righteousness at the present time, that righteousness had
an entry point into world history to the Ephesians, he wrote. Pondering
the things of God and all of the benefits and blessings that
God had bestowed upon mankind, he said, with a view to an administration
suitable to the fullness of times at the right time. Christ died
for the ungodly. To Timothy, he wrote in not cryptic
words, I urge that in treaties and prayers and petitions, thanksgivings
be made on behalf of all men. And he goes on to say there is
one God and one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus,
who gave himself as a ransom for all the testimony given at
the proper time. For Paul, everything was Christ
Moving forward, Christ was the great hinge point of history.
Christ was the point in time where everything changed when
Christ burst into the world. The verse I just cited a moment
ago, Titus chapter three. Paul, a bondservant, pardon me,
Titus chapter one, verses one through three, Paul introducing
himself, Paul, a bondservant of God. It goes on to say, in
the hope of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie, promised
long ago, but at the proper time manifested even his word in the
proclamation with which I was entrusted according to the commandment
of God, our Savior. It was at just the right moment
that God burst into the world and introduced the world to the
righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. It was the right time. It was
the right time to minister to our helplessness. Enough was
enough. We had tried and failed. Mankind
had tried every conceivable approach to earn their way to God and
nothing had worked. Nothing. God’s sovereignty is written
in this. Just like in Acts chapter two, when Peter said, men of
Israel, listen to these words, Jesus, the Nazarene, a man attested
to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs which God performed
through him in your midst, just as you yourselves know this man
delivered up by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God,
you nailed to the cross by the hands of godless men. This didn’t
catch God off guard. This didn’t surprise him in the
least. God was planning this all along. Not only the conditions of Christ’s
death for the ungodly and the timing of Christ’s death for
the ungodly, but look finally at the context of Christ’s death
for the ungodly. Take it from verse six, for while
we were still helpless at the right time, Christ died for the
ungodly, for one will hardly die for a righteous man. Though
perhaps for a good man, someone would dare even to die. But God
demonstrates his own love toward us in that while we were yet
sinners, Christ died for us. The contrast is simple. Some
people tried to propose that there’s a sharp contrast between
the two references here in verse seven, a righteous man and a
good man. They tried to say that some people, you know, nobody
would die for a righteous man, but some You know, you could
make the argument that some might die for a righteous or a good
man. Well, to me, that is way overly restrictive of an interpretation
of the passage. It’s perfectly reasonable to
understand what Paul is saying here. One man, one kind of man
using two synonymous words. He’s a righteous man, a good
man. There’s no distinction here. And what he’s pointing to is
that, look, It’s a rare thing for people to give their lives
sacrificially, even for a good or righteous man. And you certainly
have cases and causes where that happens. He’s not saying it’s
impossible. You have a noble soldier who
will lay down his life for his comrades by falling on a hand
grenade. I know that’s true. What he’s
saying is it’s rare. Many will stand in front of a
bullet to protect their loved ones. Many would do that. But
the opportunity to do so is rare. What is contrasting here is the
Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ doesn’t
die on behalf of good men or righteous men. However, you want
to split hairs over what those things mean. Look at it. While we were sinners, while
we were ungodly, while we were utterly helpless, we hadn’t contributed
anything to the pool of salvation. And at that moment, in that particular
context, Christ died for us. We have a tendency think more
of ourselves than we are. Paul strips that all away, doesn’t
he? And he strips it away by saying, look, even for a very,
very good man, even for a deeply beloved person, it is all you’ve
got to give to give your life for that person. Very few would
do it even for a good person, but Christ did it. For utterly
unworthy people, ungodly people, You say, so what do I do with
this? It’s interesting, Charles Spurgeon was addressing the issue
of pride when he said simply regarding the love of Christ.
And urged us, even as my brother John did to start the service
to stand at the foot of the cross. And count the purple drops by
which you have been cleansed, see the thorn crown, mark his
scourged shoulders. Still gushing with crimson streams,
see the hands and feet given up to the rough iron and his
whole self to mockery and scorn. See the bitterness and the pangs
and the throes of inward grief showing themselves in his outward
frame. If you do not lie prostrate to
the ground before that cross, you have never seen it. If you
are not humbled in the presence of Jesus Christ, you do not know
him. You who were so lost that nothing
could save you, but the sacrifice of God’s only begotten Son. Think of that. And as Jesus stooped
for you, bow yourself in lowless, lowless, pardon me, lowness at
his feet. A sense of Christ’s amazing love
to us has a greater tendency to humble us than even a consciousness
Of our own guilt. A merciful God. We humble ourselves
before you, we desperately need your help. And Lord, we count
with great confidence. The hope, the truth that you
will render aid because you have loved us and we know that you
love us. We sense it, we’ve experienced
it, and there’s no greater proof of that than the fact that our
Lord Jesus Christ really and truly died for us. Humble us, Lord, and use us for
your glory. It’s in Jesus name that we pray. Amen. So we close, if you would
take your bulletins and Turn to Jesus Messiah and let’s stand
together and sing. He became sin’s wonderful sin
And we might become His righteous men He humbled Himself and carried
the cross Isn’t that amazing? What’s so amazing? Jesus, Messiah,
King of all kings Blessed Redeemer, Emmanuel Oh, rise down from heaven, Jesus
of Zion His body’s a bridge, his blood’s
the wine Broken for us, all for love All that trembled as the
tale was told Loved so amazingly Oh, so amazing! He was not my lover, but he was
the one thing that still grieves me tonight. Emmanuel will rescue for sinners
the ransomed from hell All I want is in You All I want
is in You All I want is in You You’re richer, You’ve got the
life of the Lord Jesus, Messiah, the King of all things Blessed
Redeemer, in secret with me Lord have mercy Save us, Messiah
Lord of all Save us, Messiah Lord of all you