Christ Died for the Ungodly
JCC 14.02.10 pm
Rom 5:6-12
To genuinely say “Jesus died for me” you must also say “I have no strength to save myself. I am ungodly. I am a sinner.”
Illustration: (Spurgeon)
“If Christ died for the ungodly, this fact leaves the ungodly no excuse if they do not come to him, and believe in him for salvation. Had it been otherwise they might have pleaded, ‘We are not fit to come.’ But you are ungodly, and Christ died for the ungodly, why not for you?”
God’s love is a love beyond even the best love a human can give
A good man might die in martyrdom for another good fellow, but Jesus died for those who were neither righteous or good
When Jesus was arrested there was a man in prison who was a known terrorist, Barabbas
One prisoner was allowed free at Passover
The people chose Barabbas over Jesus
Signifying that Jesus took this ungodly man’s place
But God demonstrates His own love
How does the death of the Son demonstrate the love of the Father?
It was harder for the Father to send His only Son because God the Father was in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself
2 Corinthians 5:19 God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation
God has reconciled the world
How has God changed the world?
Through Christ
Col 1:19-23 For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell, and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross. And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight--if indeed you continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel which you heard, which was preached to every creature under heaven, of which I, Paul, became a minister.
God isnot reconciled, but the world
God had to do something about sin
Why couldn’t he just change things in Eden when Adam sinned?
He had one way of saving us
Through the blood of Christ
The world has now been turned around towards Him
In the Old Testament without an atoning sacrifice there could be no access for sinful men into the presence of this Holy God
The heart and centre of the divinely revealed religious system of God's ancient people was that without a propitiatory (defined as mercy seat in the English dictionary) sacrifice there could be no acceptable approach to God
There must be acceptance before there is worship
There must be atonement before there is acceptance
This atonement consisted in the shedding of blood
The blood-shedding was the pouring out of life; for the life of the flesh is in the blood
The whole system was designed to teach the holiness and righteousness of God
The sinfulness of men and the guilt of sin; and, above all, to show that it was God's will that forgiveness should be secured
Not by any works of the sinner or anything that we could do
With Christ, His death was the purpose for which He came down from heaven: "For this cause came I to this hour" John 12:27
From the outset it was the overshadowing event
It was distinctly foreseen and voluntary
Mark 10:45, He says: "The Son of Man came to give His life a ransom for many."
We are not in the habit of paying ransoms
But, to the Jew, a ransom was an everyday custom
It was what was given in exchange for the life of the first-born
It was the price which every man paid for his life
So, when Christ made the statement, it was a concept which would be immediately grasped
He came to give His life a ransom, that through the shedding of His blood we might receive redemption
The object of the death of Christ was the forgiveness of sins
His death was the means for men to obtain forgiveness of sin and eternal life John 3:14, 16; Matthew 26:28
The testimony of the New Testament writers, both in Acts and in the Epistles, is that Christ died no accidental death, but suffered according to the will of God
The work of Jesus on the cross for us is God’s ultimate proof of His love
He may give additional proof, but He can give no greater proof
The horror of sin is that it wrenched the human race from God
Christ died because God loves
If the cross is the ultimate demonstration of God’s love
And death through sin
Death entered the world and spread to all men as a result of Adam’s one act in Gen 3
God promised Adam in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die Genesis 2:17
The principle of death was introduced into the world when Adam sinned and it has been rife on earth ever since
Every grave is evidence to the spread of sin since the time of Adam
We may not like the fact that we are made sinners by the work of someone else
But then is it fair to be made righteous by the work of another man Jesus?
There had to be a payment
Let’s break down this passage by looking at 4 truths about who we are:
1. Verse 6 says that we were “powerless”
To be “powerless” means that we can’t change our nature on our own
This word in the New Testament is usually applied to the sick and feeble, to those who have been wiped out by some kind of disease
It’s also used in the moral sense to denote an inability with regard to any undertaking or duty
Specifically it means that we have no power to come up with a plan of justification on our own ¬
Left to ourselves, none of us is able to do even one small thing to please God or achieve salvation
2. The phrase “ungodly” in verse 6 means that we had no desire to change in the first place
We are not only helpless, but also vile and obnoxious
The word “ungodly” indicates that we were both irreverent and sinful, and have deliberately withheld from God what is rightfully His
3. The third truth is seen in verse 8 ¬ we are “sinners,”
Meaning that we were desperately in need of change but we couldn’t make it and didn’t want to really make it
We were neither righteous nor good when Christ died for us
We had totally missed the mark
Even being slightly out on a target board means you missed the mark
4. The fourth phrase is even stronger and is found in verse 10: we were “enemies” of God
Because of our powerlessness, our ungodliness, and our sinning ways, we were considered to be enemies of God ¬
Not a very popular teaching, especially when we’re focusing on God’s love
Ephesians 2:3 adds that we were by “nature objects of God’s wrath.”
The truth of the matter is that we have rebelled wilfully against God’s commands, broken His moral law, and acted in total defiance of His known will for us
If this seems a hard saying, then let me tell you where I got the information from
The Bible
All this helps us see the depth of God’s love
It helps us see that we don’t have any claim on His love ¬ we don’t deserve it
God’s love is not dependent on anything in you or me because there is nothing in us that forces God to love us
There is no reason for God to love us
You are not a naturally lovable person ¬ and neither am I
Sin has infected our lives so much that it has distorted even the parts we think are beautiful
Sin “spoils” everything it touches
This love compels us to tell others
2 Corinthians 5:14 and verse 20: “For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died…we are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making His appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God.”
Because we have been the recipients of His incredible love, we are called to be ambassadors of that love and share it with others
That’s why we partner with missionaries who take the gospel around the world
Love calls people to salvation
In the passage from Romans 5 that we looked at earlier, the word “for” is used 4 different times
The meaning is so broad that no one English word can convey what it really means
Here’s how it should be translated, “for the benefit of” or “on behalf of” or “instead of.”
When the Bible says that Jesus died for you, it means that He died on your behalf, in your place, so that you can enjoy all the benefits of His work
Let me paraphrase Romans 5:8: “But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died instead of us ¬ for our benefit, and on our behalf.”
And this is the good news of the gospel message
Instead of us receiving death, we can now have life
The choice is ours
God has done everything to ensure that
