In an early scene from the movie The Fellowship of the Ring, which is one of the movies from the popular The Lord of the Rings series, Frodo Baggins hears Gandalf coming. And running to meet him, he blurts out, you're late. To which Gandalf, after slowly coming out from under his hat and revealing his eyes, looks at Frodo and says, a wizard is never late. He arrives precisely when he means to. Nor is he early, but he arrives precisely when he means to. The carol says, long lay the world in sin and error pining till he appeared and the soul felt its worth. Another one says, late in time, behold him come, the offspring of the virgin's womb. In other words, we might be prone to think that why didn't He come sooner? Why let the world lay in sin and error pining for so long? Why let thousands of years go by? Why let grief and misery pile so high before He came? We might be prone to think Christ was late. Paul is going to teach us here this morning in Romans 5, verses 6 to 10, that Christ was not late in His coming. On the contrary, He arrived precisely when He meant to, or as Paul says it, quote, at the right time. Or as he says it in Ephesians, in the fullness of time. An administration suitable, suitable for the fullness of time. Or as he says in Galatians 4, but when the fullness of time came, God sent forth His Son. or what he calls in Titus 1.3, the proper time. Let's read it together, Romans 5, verses 6 to 10. 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 toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more than Having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath through Him. For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life." Let's pray. Father, I come before You in the name of Your Son. I have absolutely nothing and am nothing apart from the vine. It can do nothing. The flesh profits nothing. And so I come before You, Lord, totally inadequate. totally unworthy, even as a Christian, that you should look my way, that I should pull your heavenly eye to look my way. But I ask on behalf of Christ, on behalf of His glory and His name, in His will, in His purposes, in His intercessions, in His blood, in His atonement, in His life, in His resurrection, in His birth, in His value, in His ability, in His pouring out of His own Spirit right now from heaven, that He, and you through Him, in a Trinitarian, mysterious way, would grant to a simple, sinful, weak and needy man that You've ordained through preaching to make known the mysteries of the universe, the glories of Your attributes, that You would come and help me and help us to feel all that there is to be felt from what You inspired. It's Your Word. Romans 5, 6-10, and that all my speaking would be, as Peter said, one who is speaking the oracles of God. And that in all the power would be serving in the strength that you supply, so that in all things you may be glorified and honored through Jesus Christ. The saints may be helped. In Jesus' name, Amen. So obviously our focus today in this text is God's love in our past. And if you've been tracking through this series, I hope you have. If you haven't, I can bring you up to speed. We began this series Two weeks ago, when Christmas began, after Thanksgiving began in the world that we live in, we said, whether you celebrate Christmas or not, it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas. And there's all these things passing through our faces. And one of them, we said, was nativity scenes. And so amidst all the other things, you kind of come across a nativity scene, maybe in The store, maybe driving down the road, you see one in the yard. Maybe you see a live nativity scene. I don't know, but you come across them. Someone has one on the mantle. Decorative scenes, live scenes, but they're there seeming to suggest to us the need to get Christmas right. amidst all the other things. And we said from launching from the opening of Luke's Gospel, verses 1 to 4, that it is biblical to get it right. Luke wrote his story because Theophilus had heard all kinds of stories that he might get it right. And so one of the ways, we said, to get it right is to look at the scene itself and to talk about how he was born in a feeding trough, and all those things, and that's biblical. But another biblical way to get it right, the way we're coming at it this year, is to pull back the curtain and actually go behind the scenes of Christmas. And so we asked a deeper question this year, an ultimate question, Why was there a nativity? What is, in a word, the necessity of the nativity? And John 3.16 gave the answer. And the answer was, God loved the world. That was the motive behind it. And so we set out on a course then to have five sermons on the love of God and to know something of the necessity of the nativity so that from this moment on, every time you see one, you look at a nativity and you think, and you reflect, and one of the thoughts that passes through your mind is, God loved the world. And we looked at that in the first message, but then we went in the second message over to 1 John 4, 7 to 21, and why did we go there? Because I knew what John said there about God's love. And if we're going to focus on it and get the Christmas right and get the love of God right, we have to untangle it. from our love. So there's this tendency to photobomb, if you will, the love of God with our love. And so John is getting that thing untangled over there. So we spent the second message there. Well, how does that journey lead us to here today? Well, in this way. The fact that we are not to look at the love of God in relation to our own love does not mean we are not to think of it in relation to other things. According to this text, in order to get the love of God right is to look at it in relation to one thing, namely time, history, your past, when Christ came and died. And so we have come to our third message then in this series, behind the scenes of Christmas, from the Nativity to the Trinity, five sermons on the love of God, this one being God's love in our past, as we focus with Paul on when Christ came and died. As I see these verses, Paul focuses on it from three angles. In verse 6, he takes a look at what we may call the information on when Christ came and died. And that is meant to actually do something in your life and not just listen to a sermon in vain. It's meant to do something. And so in verses 7 and 8, that takes him to the demonstration of when Christ came and died. And all of that is leading to one great, magnificent, implication of logic. And so we have in verses 9 to 10, that carried Paul through the Mediterranean Sea on a piece of wood, day and a night, in the deep. He endured it because of the deep, deep love of Jesus. And so we have the implication in verses 9 to 10. And I'll tell you what, I'm hoping for my own heart that I never forget this sermon, and I never forget the truth in it. I feel like this text, I don't know how well I'll do at preaching it, but I feel like the truth, if you could just get the truth, not that it's such a good homiletical message, not that it's such good illustrations, but if you could get the truth out of this text, If you had only Romans 5, 6 to 10, I feel like you could endure the stake with ease, with ease. I'll put it to you this way, I believe if there was one message that I could ever get in my own Christian life, and I could ever recommend that anyone get, if I had to choose one, out of the about seven years of preaching so far, I would pick this one. I would pick this one. If I could have it for myself, and if you could have it, I would pick this one. Point number one, the information of when Christ came and died, verse 6. Notice Paul says, it was at the right time. He is always talking about this. You ever thought much about it? Titus 1.3, the proper time. There was a proper time. God didn't just flip it about it. He didn't arrive early or late, precisely when He meant to. There was some properness to it, some reason for it, what A.T. Robertson calls, that Greek scholar, the due season. It was ripe. The fruit of history was ripe for the picking. He picked it at the right time. Something was ripe. at this time, but what made it right then? What made it right was the type of people humanity had become. Look at verse 6. For while we were still helpless, that's number one, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly, that's number two. Helpless translates the Greek word that means literally without strength. It has the word for strength in an A in front of it, negative, no strength. Zero strength. So when you see Paul say helpless, he doesn't mean having a rough time. He means no help. God does not help those who help themselves. He helps those who cannot help themselves. John 5 is a good illustration of this. The man there, lame in his feet. This word sometimes is translated ill or sick, referring to physical helplessness. It gives us a good picture of spiritual helplessness. In John 5, verses 5 to 7, our Lord goes to this man and asks him if he wishes to be well. And the man says, well, I don't have anyone to put me in the water. And when it's stirred, other people get there before me. The guy basically says, yeah, I wish to get well, but I can't. I'm helpless. And that's what's meant by this term. That's why in Romans 8.3, Paul says in the moral realm, not just in the physical realm, but in the moral realm, he says what the law could not do. It was without strings. The law could not do something weak as it was through the flesh. What does that mean? It means rules no longer work with human beings the way they come out of the womb today. They don't have the ability to obey one rule. It doesn't matter if it's the Ten Commandments or if it's Dad's commandments. Flesh is weak. The Spirit is willing, Peter, but the flesh is weak. And it's a lesson slow to learn, but it's a lesson the man in Romans 7 learned. No matter what interpretation you take, that's the main point. What the law could not do. That's what you need to get out of it. Weak as it was through the flesh. Martyn Lloyd-Jones has a wonderful analogy of this. He takes the wooden handle shovel with the metal spade. He says there's nothing wrong with the metal spade. It's well able to get dirt out of the ground. But it's the wooden handle shovel that breaks. It's weak. And so you say it could not. Weak as it was through the wooden handle. And in the same way, there's nothing wrong with the law. It's a good law. It's a good rule. Love the Lord your God. Good rule. Right? Good rule. No idols? Good rule. No thieving? Good rule. No coveting? Good rule. Weak as it was to the flesh. As soon as those Israelites said, this is the law, go give it to them, Moses. What did they say? Notice the word will. All that the Lord has spoken, we will do and we will be obedient. That is not just a history lesson. That is a morality play. When you read your Old Testament, it is a picture saying, look, men much better than yourself have tried to be obedient and have failed. When you read the book of Kings, and he went astray, and he went astray, and he went astray. Stop trying to keep the law is the message. You cannot keep this law. what the law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh. So he's speaking of us when we were helpless, when you took off running, you kept on trying to be a Christian, trying to read your Bible, trying to not look with lust, trying to do this, fumbling, fumbling, fumbling, fumbling, until you say, wretched man that I am, who will deliver me? That's what the law was meant to do. To get your soul to despair. I can't do this. I can't measure up. I can't even... And what happens in Christianity is you're always like, what would Jesus do? That is not a law either. 1 Corinthians 13, love is this and this. It is not to be turned into a law. He says we were without strength, helpless, weak, very weak. He also says we were ungodly. Paul says that in Ephesians 2, without God in the world. Ungodly. No fear of God. No concern for God. Not seeking to live for the glory of God. I didn't even know the first time I heard, when I read Desiring God, that God sought His own glory with a clear conscience before God. I can tell you that thought never entered my mind. about God. Before that, I was the guy in the psalm that said, you thought I was altogether like you. And now I'll state the matter before you. And he did. And I just couldn't believe it. Like, this is God? He seeks His own glory? Like, what a prize has been hidden from me my whole life. But ungodly, there was this time of ungodliness. So it reminds you of Romans 4, 5, the most famous verse. He's getting at the gospel here. But to the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is reckoned for righteousness. So let me tell you what this means. He came at the right time. The information is it was the right time. And how was it the right time? Because it was right. He didn't come in Genesis 3 at the end of the chapter. He waited until you made a mess. Okay? He waited. It's like He let Peter deny Him three times. Like one, He may say, oh man, could have got it. No, not once, not twice, but three times and by a little girl to make it very plain how we kill. And so He let history unfold. He let the Jews get a running start. He let the Greeks get a running start at wisdom. He let politics get a running start and everything failed. Why? So that we would know this, Christ died for the ungodly. He wanted you and me to feel that. And he needed ungodly rebels to do it. And so he providentially let history go this way, on purpose, to send Christ at this time, so that you can see he died for the ungodly. He could just told us that, like the angels don't get that, like, look, he's willing to die for the... They don't know it. They never been ungodly. But he let humanity get ungodly, and this is the point. You remember the story Paul Washer told? I don't know who he got it from, but it's one of those illustrations that's like one of those golden illustrations about the girl from Rio. Do y'all remember that one? Some of you don't. Some of you knew. So let me tell it to you. The story was about this single mother and her daughter. They lived in Rio de Janeiro. And the mother knew, the mother knew because they were poor and impoverished, if they stayed there, that her daughter was going to grow up and go into the city and get involved in the sex trade and all this stuff and prostitution. So she moved to another town. And he got a little dirt house, little nothing job, and is working for her baby. And one day, as her daughter's growing up, she's now a young teenager, one day she comes home from work, there's a note on the bar. I've gone to Rio to find a life. It happened. She left. The mother was distressed. She took all her money, and she printed pictures of her daughter. She went to Rio, got on a bus, went to Rio, put these pictures everywhere, all over the place, till she ran out of her money, and in despair, she went back home. And one night, her daughter, still a young girl, but looked 15 years older than she really was, stumbling down the stairs of a hotel room. She had become a prostitute. She had been with a man. She's coming down the stairs, barely awake, can hardly see. And she catches a glimpse of something on the wall and looks a little more at it. And she recognized a picture of her. Picture of her mother. That's what she left, pictures of her everywhere. And she goes over and looked, and she stumbles over to it, and you know what it said? I don't care what you have become. I don't care what you have done. Please come home. Don't you know, like, you can be a Calvinist and still say that? Don't you know that? God, I read in my Bible, pleads with you, like me pleading with you, as though God were pleading with you through me. He says, come and let us reason all day long. And so this is the gospel. He died for the ungodly. for the ungodly, and says, come, let him who thirsts, come, take the water of life freely, without money, without... buy wine and milk. Why do you spend your labor on that which does not satisfy? For the sure mercies of David I will do you good. So this is the information of when Christ came and died. He came at this point. to make it plain that He died for the ungodly. So if you're ungodly, if you're a prostitute, if you have ruined your life, you have qualified yourself for redemption. That's what you've done. If you're unqualified in this circle, in that circle, in this circle, Christ has a circle for you. He came for the ungodly. Now, this is meant to do something, I said, in your life, not just kind of walk off like, well, that was a neat thought. That's a pretty big thought in Christianity. Thank you for the thought. No. So, point two, the demonstration of when Christ came and died. Verses 7 and 8. It's meant to demonstrate something. The word means there in verse 8, God demonstrates. Look, God is active here. Do you see this? Pay attention to the grammar. God is the subject. Demonstrates is the verb. God is demonstrating. God creates. We need to look at the world. God demonstrates something. We need to get our highlighter out. Highlight it. He wants me to see this. What does He want me to see? Well, He wants me to see His love. But how? Notice the contrast. Paul is drawing between 7 and 8. That's how. You see it? Verses 7 and 8 are split with a but. Verse 7 you have the best of human love. contrasted with divine love in verse 8. What is the best of human love in verse 7? Look at it. For one will hardly die for a righteous man. A comrade finds it a hard thing to do. Right? He needs to kind of sit with his canteen and make peace. Okay? And the family and everything. This is the right thing to do. When it's his best friend. That's what Paul is saying. Human beings sacrifice things hardly for someone they think is righteous. And then he says, for the good man, someone might. They might. Okay? Might. Says very few dare. even to die. Human beings are so selfish, like it'd be their own kid, and then like, is it me or the kid? Like sometimes that happens. And it's like a dare, like you just, boom, to do what no one ever tends to do. I think of the movie Armageddon, and Harry is on that asteroid, And there's the whole world down there. And of course, it's not a Christian movie, so he's thinking of it as just good people and families and people and their kids and playing and life going on. And he has this opportunity to save everybody. So he's thinking of them as good people, right? Good, kind people, joy in life. And there's this real emotional scene and there's this serious talk, like, who's going to do it and who's going to do it? You know, you're really mustering up and gritting your teeth like, I'll be the one and do it. That's what Paul's saying. Perhaps, sometimes, they might do it. But who dies for a world of useless, unworthy, wretches? Paul says, God does. God does. Notice it. For one will hardly die for a righteous man. And 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. While He's got the detonator to blow up my son, and everybody is sticking out the middle finger down there. And He says, That's what Paul said. A world of rebels and God-haters and enemies with swords out. If they could storm the throne and kill God and take Him off, they would. Those people. Unbelievable. I think of Spurgeon. Of course I would, right? He's one of the great gospel preachers ever. The great gospel text makes sense. But he told another one of those illustrations, which many of you know, because I've used it. It's not broke, don't fix it, right? And it's the street sweeper analogy, because it gets at exactly what Paul is saying. What does it mean? What is this demonstration, this thing that I'm to see and get about the love of God, and this contrast here, not for good and righteous people, but for sinners? Spurgeon said, let me attempt to put it this way, he says, there was a painter, He came to a village, city, and he wanted to draw a painting. And he wanted his painting to be candid and natural. And so he wanted just the town to be doing its normal thing. And so he went around and he got this person and that person and the bus guy and this guy and that guy and that guy. Will you come be in my painting? Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. I'll pay good, fine, okay, whatever. One of the people he chose as a street sweeper And back then they didn't have the machines that go through the Walmart parking lots, you know, they had street sweepers. And they were pretty filthy people, you know, especially if the road wasn't even paved back then. I mean, it was pretty dirty, dust everywhere. And he said he would come. He told him the time. The day came for the painting and everybody was gathering together and the guys got to stand up and was putting everybody in their place, what they were doing. And lo and behold, here comes the street sweeper walking up. And people were shocked because when he walked up, the artist had sent him away. And so I thought they invited him to come. Why did he send him away? Why'd you send him away? He says, Well, the guy went home last night, got off work, took a shower, put on cologne and soap and nice clothes, the best he had. I didn't invite him like that. I invited him as a filthy, smelly street sweeper. And Spurgeon says, so God invites the sinner. not as righteous, not as good, but as ungodly. In full ungodliness, you're invited to Christ. And if you hold back one sin or try to pin one good piece of clothing, you will be rejected He only receives you fully ungodly, fully unrighteous, with nothing but the public in prayer, God be merciful to me, the sinner. Now, what are you supposed to get out of this, Christian? This. I'll never forget this one. Do you notice something funny about the word demonstrates there? If you allow your eye just to scan it, it's not in the past tense. Demonstrates, not demonstrated. What does this mean? Paul's writing to these Christians after the death of Christ, and he says, God is today demonstrating something through that past death. The only thing I know to compare this to is what people do when they typically have an office or job, even a trucker. You're going to put pictures of your family up. They're past pictures, but those past pictures are meant to get you through the present day. Right? You put these pictures up, and they're standing there. They're a demonstration right there of something in the past, and they're to get you through the present. God, the Creator, your Redeemer, the one true living God, He is today, through this Word, demonstrating to you a picture from the past when Christ died for you that He means for you to cling to right now. Today. in the present. It's the demonstration. Every day I wake up, I'm to cling to it, I'm to have this thought that no matter how bad I think I may be doing, God means for me to go to this cross, Fanny Crosby. Jesus, keep me near the cross. They're a precious fountain, free to all. The healing stream flows from Calvary's mountain. All of this is leading to one fine logical implication, though. Got the information on when Christ came and died? You've got the demonstration. You're supposed to live by this every single day somehow. And it all has to do with the implication in verses 9 to 10. Now, implication is a logic word, and I trust that you'll be able to see the logic words that Paul is using. For example, in verse 9, much more, then. See that? You know how to think logically, like, church starts at what time? The ball game is at what time? The movie is at what time? So, therefore, we leave it this time. We know how to draw logical inferences. And then is a logic word. So, another one there in the text is the word if in verse 10. For if this, then this. So Paul's thinking logically here. So he's saying, I've given you the information of when Christ came and died, right at the right time, and that's how that works, and here's the demonstration, you're to cling to this every day, and here's the implication, the logical inference that is to save your life, literally unto the end. That's what gets me about this text. This is a window into how Paul lived. This is what strengthened his soul. And this is what it is. This is the kind of logic he's using. It's called greater to lesser, or harder to easier. Just let me give you one example. Suppose a man Spends hours in days, several days, lots of heartache, lots of trips back and forth to the store trying to hang Christmas lights. And he goes through all the trouble he's on. He fell in the bushes, and it rained, and this tore down, and the dog got this. I mean, he persevered through it all. And he got it all hanging up. Everything's fine. He checked every single bull. Everything is working. And all there's left to do is plug it in. The force of Paul's argument is this. If he did the harder thing, all of that work, and he did that harder thing, surely, if this is all that's left to complete the work, it's not to be doubted that he's not just going to plug it in. That's the kind of argument Paul's using. If a guy climbs a mountain and endures rain, and snow, and sleet, and hunger, and thirst, and sleeplessness, and all that, and he finally gets to the top of the mountain, and all he has to walk on to get to the top is a nice, flat plateau of green ryegrass, do you think he'll stop at that point? If he went through all that? It's the trip where you're going to see a friend and you go all the way around the world in flights and canceled and everything and bad weather and you finally get there and there's one step left just to knock on the door. Do you think you won't do it? Paul is saying, if God has done the harder thing of loving you when you were His total enemy, and the most repulsive you could have ever possibly been to His divine being and holiness, and in justifying you when you were totally ungodly in His sight. And He did all of that through giving His Son. Surely, He will not do the easier thing of simply saying, well done and good and faithful servant, enter in. That's the way Paul's thinking. Surely he won't do the easier thing of like, helping me have a good prayer time every now and then, right? That's not as hard as giving a son when I was in this state. So think of the classic movie, Beauty and the Beast. You can feel the weight of this. Do you know the story, right? The majority of the movie that prints is a beast. And Bale loves him, even though he's a beast. And in the very end, he's changed. He's now this pretty man, and handsome, and he's got all the good clothes on, and they're smiling and dancing together. And now they're together happily ever after. What Paul's saying is, If you're watching that movie, and if she loved him when he was a beast, now that he's like that, do you think she'll reject him? God loved you when you were a beast in His sight. And now that you actually have the Holy Spirit, you actually have fruits of the Spirit, you actually have the mind of Christ, do you think He's going to reject you? That's what He's saying. So I want you to do something for me right here at the end of this message. I want you to, every believer in here, imagine the worst point you have ever been at in your whole life. I want you to imagine your thought life, the stuff that nobody knows, stuff that has crossed your mind, that if it were put on this TV and here, in shame, you would run out. You would run out of here in shame if people knew what they're going to do. Your mind during your life to this far, thoughts you've had, desires you've had, You get all of that. Or maybe there was some point in your past where you were just totally debauched in sin. Try to get it in your mind. Think, when was I? This is biblical, right? Okay, so don't get freaked out by this. Paul says, remember, Ephesians 2. Remember you once were this, okay? So it's biblical. So think about it. Get it in your mind. Here I am. I was the most detestable. Nobody would have wanted to have anything to do with me. They would have hated me. I was most repulsive to all men. If anybody knew that this point right here, you got that in your mind? Got that point? At that point, Christ loved you the most. He's never loved you more than He loved you at that point. When your condition was the worst, His love for you was the most. When you were the most unlovable, He loved you the most. When your heart had no love for Him, His was overflowing with love for you. When you had no interest in Christ, Christ considered your interest more important than His own and died for you. When you did not even care to pray, He let out strong cryings with tears for you. Imagine your struggle as a believer. I didn't read my Bible as much today. It melts in front of this text. What? When you didn't even have a Bible, he loved you the most. I only got just a quick prayer in today when you didn't even know prayer. I wasn't quite good with my kids. I kind of lost my..." When you were horrible with your kids, He loved you the most. Matt Chandler tells a story from years ago. It's become sort of popular now. After some years have gone by, it's a wonderful story, a wonderful way to conclude this message. Perhaps some of you have heard it. It's called, Jesus Wants the Rose. And the way Matt tells it, is he was newly converted and he was still in college, and a lady sat by him in class one day. She was like seven or eight years older than him. She was a single mom, had a kid, was trying to go back to school, had never even heard of Jesus. or much at all. And he started kind of speaking to her a little bit. And him and some of the guys in his crew started serving this woman. She was actually involved, he said, in an affair with another married man at the time. Lots of stuff in her life was messed up. She hadn't heard of the Gospel or anything. They had been talking to her. And he invites her to come hear a brother perform, who sang and played an instrument of some kind, and she was finally warmed up to come to that. And so they came, and the guy did great, the brother who was doing the singing, he did great. Well, then the preacher gets up there, and he gets up there and right off the bat he says, me talking about sex. And then Matt's like, okay, well this, I don't really know how this is going to go. And the guy proceeds to do the typical moralistic religious thing to try to scare and fear monger all the young people out of that. You know, like, you don't want these diseases, and you know, just went down that whole trail. And so he's just sitting there just like, what is this guy doing? Like, I finally got her to come. And really, he's just sitting there like, really, Lord, this? And I was just hoping for the gospel, maybe just something. And this guy's just going on. And I forgot to tell you, Part of it, it was always like 99% of the time, every time I see a prop, I'm like, can I just leave? But there are some preachers that just have to have all these props and stuff. And so I'm leaving a little percentage there. So it might be a good sermon with a prop. But this guy had a rose. And so at the beginning of his sermon, he's like, here, pass that around. I just want everybody to smell it, feel the texture, good feel, good smell, pass it around. And so it's just being passed around while he's preaching. And so he gets to the end, he's like, where's the rose? Oh, yeah, the guy over there has it. He brings it to him, and of course, it's just demolished, wilted, Crumped over, stems broken, like almost all the petals are gone, and the ones that are there are all flopped over, looking sad. And literally, Matt says, the climax of the guy's message is to hold up this foul rose, who's been through all these ends, and say, who would want that? He's literally sitting there with a woman who is the rose. And she's sitting there. She's bent her hands. She's sitting there. And the guy's like, who would want that? Who would want this? Mic drop, he thought. And Matt said he was so angry and just burst in with zeal like he wanted to just scream out and say, Jesus wants the rose. That's who wants the rose. That's the gospel. And he says, He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. That's the gospel. That's what Paul is saying. When you think of the nativity, yes, sermon one, think, God loved the world or that wouldn't be there. That's what's behind the scenes. And then say, I got this problem, this issue of like tangling my love up in here. So I got that untangled. I'm the disciple whom Jesus loved. I'm just going to stay there. He says, then go over here to the timing. Late in time, behold Him come. Offspring of the virgin womb. Long lay the world. in sin and error pining, till He appeared. And think, that nativity happened at a certain time. And God actually has thought it all through in His plan, so that when I see it, I say, it happened at that time, and that was the right time. And what I'm supposed to think as I focus on that, is He did it that way to tell me, Jesus wants the rose. So that's the third thought in this series. You look at the nativity, and you think, that happened in a certain time in history. Jesus wants the rose. And if He wanted it then, How much more does he want it now? That has kind of been repaired. A few petals have been added. It's been put in the water of the church. It's kind of starting to stand up a little bit. That's what Paul's saying. If he wanted it then, like I know your prayers are not that great, but you got some. Right? And I know your Bible reading is not where you would like it, but you got some. And I know your parenting is not all that, but it's better than being unregenerate parenting. Right? You're at least like talking about Christ in the right way. And so he's saying, if he wanted it then, he will want it to the end. That's what Paul had in his mind. He never forgot who he was. He never forgot when Christ came for him. He tells us in Galatians 1, while I was advancing in Judaism, God revealed his son to me. He never forgot the while. So may the Lord help us this year to see what Paul saw, the dependability of the love of God. The dependability of the love of God. If he loved you, then he can't help but draw the inference. It's an easy thing to get you through wrath at the end. The hard thing was sending His Son to die for you when you were wicked. Well, may the Lord help us all to see this truth and may He help us to remember it. Live it and breathe it in. Cling to it for dear life. What a life it would be to be able to remember it. I wish every day I could just get up thinking, He wants the rose. And if He wanted it then, when I was so wilted, I know I just have a few petals, Lord, but I can do that math. I can say, He wanted it then, He wants it now. I'm coming, I'm coming to read, I'm coming to church, I'm coming to fellowship. I'm pressing in, pressing on until that final day. Let's pray. May I ask Jeremy Poe, our brother there, to close us.