Our scripture today is in Romans 5. As we continue in the book of Romans, today we'll look at verses 6 through 8. Let us hear the word of the Lord. For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die. Yet perhaps for a good man, someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love toward us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. This is God's holy and inerrant word. It is the final authority for all things in faith and practice. Let us pray. Lord, we ask for your help for the Holy Spirit to be our teacher today Speak, Lord, enable us to hear, to listen well, in Jesus' name, amen. When we left off last week, verse 5 told us that the love of God has been poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit. It's a wonderful, wonderful thought. for all who have exercised faith in Jesus Christ. God loves you and he wants you to know it so much so that he's poured that love out into your heart by the Holy Spirit. God wants you to be secure, to live in security in knowing that truth, that you are loved by God. Well, I think we all deal with the issue of insecurity at some level or another. Insecurity. Well, we're insecure about whether or not people will accept us, whether or not we'll fit in, whether or not they will like us. We're insecure about our appearance. We're insecure about maybe if you're single, your prospects for marriage. We're insecure about our jobs. Our job security is something we worry about. Parents may be insecure about how they're doing. These are challenging things. And we could go on. But God wants us, those who know Jesus Christ by faith, to feel secure in His love for them. God doesn't want you to be like the daisy, feel like the daisy. He loves me, He loves me not. He loves me, He loves me not. He wants you to know and to be secure in His love. Now, when I know that I am loved by God with an unchanging love, a love that will never change. I don't have to worry about what others think about me or how I measure up in this world. Here's the thing, our feelings can come and go. Our subjective experience of God's love can waver. So Paul, in these verses, brings forth something concrete, something that is the most concrete thing he could ever And that is confirmation of the love of God. And that's the fact that Jesus Christ died for us. That is the great demonstration of God's love. So we know that Christ died for our sins. But what Paul is arguing here is that Christ's death is a confirmation and attestation of the love of God. love of God for us when we were the most unlovable. And so the security is so incredible that when we grasp it, we can live our lives without fear, without worry. We are then freed to live a life of unshakable confidence and purpose. Paul said this in Philippians, for me to live is Christ. to die is gain. He had a purpose in life. You can have that same purpose. You put your faith in Christ and realize this love that God has for you. So if we study these verses, I want to focus on three observations. First of all, Christ died for us when we were weak and helpless. Our translation says, for when we were still without strength. So God's Love extends to those who are weak, who are helpless, who are hopeless. You know, often in the world, those who are weak get kicked to the curb. Well, if you can't make it, tough. You just don't have any part in this world. Ben Franklin wrote in his Poor Richard's Almanac, God helps those who help themselves. That's not in the Bible. It was written by Ben Franklin, but it's not original with Ben. It probably came from ancient Greece, and who knows before then, but Aesop wrote one of his fables, and he included that in one of his fables. I didn't know this. And in the story he told, there was a man, I'm sorry, I can't get my, voice right here. There's a man who prayed to Hercules, who was considered a god, to help him out in a bind. And so Hercules supposedly appears to this man and says to him, get up and put your shoulder to the wheel. The gods help those who help themselves. Well, this is what the world has to offer. If you want something better for your life, you've got to make it happen yourself. And there's a sense in which There's some truth in that. But concerning our salvation, there's no truth in it. Concerning salvation, we were without strength to do anything for ourselves. That's the spiritual condition we all find ourselves in before we come to know Jesus Christ. Before we turn to him, we had no strength. We were unable even to turn from our sin. and seek Christ. You see, God saves those who are incapable of saving or helping themselves. He helps the helpless. When we were still without strength, Christ died for us. Have you come to the place in your life where you're willing to admit your helplessness and your weakness before God? to admit that there's nothing. You have no claim upon the Lord. You have nothing to offer to Him. You simply come to Him as you are. It's at that time the Lord will help you. Verse 6 talks about the time, in due time, at the right time, Christ died for us. So He came into the world in the fullness of time, in the sense of it was God's sovereign plan and appointment to send Jesus Christ at that particular moment in history. And he died for us in due time in the sense that when we were so weak, in fact, spiritually, we had expired. We're spiritually dead, which is what Ephesians 2.1 tells us. We can be alive biologically, but spiritually, we're dead. And so sin has left us in a state of moral inability, moral incapacity. We cannot save ourselves. We cannot atone for our sins. We cannot deliver ourselves. We can't contribute the first thing to our salvation. We can do nothing to move God to get him to love us. He loved us when we had nothing to offer to him. When we were in the most helpless state, the weakest condition, the most unlovable condition. God loved us and sent Jesus to die for us. That's why we sing in the hymn Rock of Ages, Nothing in my hands I bring, simply to thy cross I cling. Naked, come to thee for dress. Helpless, look to thee for grace. Foul, I to the fountain fly. Wash me, Savior, or I die. So our help comes from God alone. Psalm 121, the psalmist says, where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord who made heaven and earth. He doesn't say my help comes from the Lord and then I got to pick up myself and do the rest. No, he doesn't. It's the Lord. Start to finish. Saving help comes when we turn our lives over to him by faith in the perfect finished work of Jesus on the cross. And this is not something we work for. It does not make us worthy of God's help. It saves us when we believe. So God doesn't meet us halfway when we take the first step. No, God took the first step. He went all the way and he does it all. And so he couldn't have gone any further to rescue us spiritually than he did. And he rescued us from spiritual and eternal death. There's no other way he could have rescued us other than by giving his son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. He died on our behalf and in our place. He was our substitute. So for those who have trusted in Jesus Christ, what greater proof of the love of God could we ask for? There is no greater security we can hope for than to know that God loved us, gave his son for us, when we were without strength. Secondly, from our passage, we see that Christ died for us when we were undeserving. Christ died for us, yes, when we were weak and helpless, but also when we were ungodly, rebellious lawbreakers. We weren't just weak and couldn't help ourselves, but But we were good people. No, we were weak and despicable rebels against God. So God's love is a gracious love. It's given to the undeserving. Christ died for the ungodly. You know what it means to be ungodly? It means to be destitute of any reverence, any love, any admiration of God. It means you don't want God. You don't love God. And basically, if you could talk to God, you would tell him to stay away from your life. I know that. My own experience. Whenever anybody tried to talk to me about the Lord, I pushed them away. Who was I pushing away? I was pushing God away. I was pushing Jesus away. But Christ died for us when we were pushing Him away. He was crucified because the people pushed Him away. They say crucified. and He died for us when we were ungodly. God loved those who did not love Him. He died for us when we were living for ourselves. He went to the cross for those who did not worship God and did not want God, who despised Him. That was you and that was me. So, can we say amazing love, astonishing love, incomparable love, in order to fully appreciate God's love for us in Christ, you see, we have to first come to grips with how sinful and undeserving we truly are. The great Welsh preacher, Dr. Martin Lloyd-Jones, said in the 20th century, he said, in order to measure the love of God, you have to first go down before you can go up. You do not start on a level and go up. We have to be brought up from a dungeon, from a horrible pit, and unless you know something of the measure of that depth, you will only be measuring half of the love of God. He died for us. He loved us when we were at our worst. Psalm 40 verse 2 says, He brought me up out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay. That's talking about our sin. And he set my feet upon a rock. And that's talking about Christ. So as believers, we need to be reminded that since God loved us when we were totally depraved, rebellious, that he loves us even when we mess up today as Christians. Even when we blow it, even when we wander from the path. Remember, the Lord is my shepherd. continues to love and bring back his wandering sheep. So come back to Jesus today. Come back to him. He loves you. He loves you still, no matter what you may have done. How many of us have sinned? We've done something wrong and we think, I've blown it again. And how long have I been a Christian now? And how many times have I blown it? I shouldn't have acted that way. How can God love me when I'm such a miserable Christian? I am not worthy to be called the name Christian. Well, it's at such times we need to remember the reality of God's saving grace. His grace is not given to us only at the beginning of the Christian life. And then if we mess up, He takes it away. No, that is not true at all. God's grace continues to flow to us as undeserving, sinful Christians. You don't deserve God's grace anymore now, 20 years after you got saved, than the moment you came to Him. If Jesus died for you when you were ungodly, do you think he will abandon you when you stumble or fall? No, he's immutable. He's unchanging. His love is unchanging. And we need to remember that our justification, our acceptance by God, these things are not based on our performance. Our acceptance with God is based upon the finished work of Christ and that alone. Dr. Francis Schaeffer put it this way. He said, whenever I sin, he's speaking to Christians, whenever I sin, whenever I lose my sense of peace with God, what's the one thing that can comfort me? The one thing comforting, an overwhelming fact is that when I was totally a sinner without strength and without one thing to commend me to God, it was then that Jesus died for me. God still forgives. He still loves the believer who has wandered from the path, who has blown it. Because he made a full payment for your sins already, and he did it out of love. He's not going to stop loving you. Paul said in verse seven, for scarcely for a righteous man will one die, yet perhaps for a good man, someone would dare to die. And it's a rare thing to die for another human being. We kind of like life. We don't want to do that. But maybe someone would die for, you know, a good person or a family member maybe. These things, you know, do happen. But no one is going to die for a scoundrel. No one's going to die for somebody who's a worthless, you know, scum of the earth type of person. Verse 8 says, while we're still sinners is when Christ died for us. So that kind of love is unheard of. It's unparalleled. And so what does it mean to be a sinner? Strong's Bible dictionary says that a sinner is someone who is not free from sin, one who is devoted to sin. So Jesus died for you. He devoted himself to you in his death while you were devoted to sinning against him and against the Father. That's amazing. That's amazing love. So that's what you were before you came to know Jesus. You were a slave to sin. You were devoted to sin. You loved sin. I love sin. We all did. You were a sinner. But Christ died for sinners. While we were still sinners. is when Christ died and saved us. So you weren't a good person when Jesus died for you. You were corrupt, you were wicked, you were bent on going your own way instead of God's. You were a filthy sinner. God knows that, but do we know it? Dr. Sproul writes that at the heart of every corrupt human being, even in one who's partially sanctified, even in the believer, there remains a little thought that says, I was not that bad. He said, Rarely do we come to a full conviction of our helplessness and wickedness. We work to suppress full admission of our guilt and hopelessness. Have you been trying to convince yourself that you're not so bad after all? Do you think of yourself as a decent person? Newsflash. Jesus didn't die for decent people. He didn't die for the righteous. He didn't die for good people. He died for derelicts, renegades, wretches. When John... What's his name who wrote Amazing Grace? Yeah, so when he wrote Amazing Grace, he said, Amazing Grace that saved a wretch like me. John Newton was a slave trader and he saw the evil of what he was doing and he left the slave trade when he got saved. When he understood that God loved him, even in the midst of what he was doing, and had sent Christ to die for him. He never got over how amazing that was. That's why he wrote the most well-known hymn in America, or maybe the world. Can you say that? Amazing grace, yes, we can say that, that saved a wretch like me. Yes, I was, I am, without Christ, a wretch. So why does Paul tell us that God loved us while we were sinners? To show us that the love of God was very early. It really it predates our conversion. And we know from the Bible that it predates our existence, because from eternity, the Bible says we are chosen in Christ. Paul wants us to know that God's love did not arise from any loveliness in us. or any love in us or any potential love in us for the Lord. Do you know if there's any love in your heart? Guess what happened? Guess where it came from? Go back to verse 5. It was poured out into your heart, the love of God by the Holy Spirit. Because before that, we were without love. We loved ourselves. That was it. If he loved us when we were ungodly sinners and enemies, it must be due to the sovereign, free grace and love of God. And this is gracious, undeserved love. And so what does that say to us? It says, renounce not only your sins, but renounce the least ounce of worthiness that you think you have. either in the past, now, or ever. Not only renounce your sins, but renounce your righteousness, because your righteousness, the righteousness that gets you into heaven is the righteousness of Jesus Christ and Him alone. Accept His grace and love. You know, that's hard for proud people. Proud people have a difficult time receiving a gift, don't they? Accept the gift. Thank you, I do thank you. You see, that's what we have to say to God. Thank you, Lord, you did for me what I could never do. So rest in the dying, loving arms of Jesus. Third, and briefly, Christ's death on the cross is the grand demonstration of God's love for you. So he demonstrates. He wants to demonstrate to you. He wants to prove it to you. You know, how do I love thee? Let me count the ways. Well, just one way. You don't have to count very high. Christ died for you. There's no greater proof of God's love than that. Where else are you looking to be convinced that God loves you? You know, when Jesus wept, you know, that's the shortest verse in the Bible. That's a great fact. Everybody knows that. Jesus wept. Who was he weeping for? He was weeping for Lazarus, who was in the tomb. Lazarus had been a friend of his. And the people saw that, and you know what they said? Behold, how he loved him. What if Jesus wept for you? Would that make you believe that he loved you? What if Jesus healed you? of a terrible sickness or disease, would you believe then that he loved you? What if Jesus answered all your prayers, gave you everything you ever asked for, would you believe then that he loved you? What if he died for you and gave his life for you and suffered in your place that you might be saved? Would you believe that he loved you then? Well, if you don't believe that, There's no, that's the final answer, but that's the answer we need. He has died for you. He did give his life for you. What more could he do to prove his love for you? He gave himself for you. Not just, I mean, he has all the riches, you know, he owns the cattle on a thousand hills, all the silver and gold are mine, says the Lord. He could give you more wealth than Elon Musk. But he gave you himself. James Montgomery Boyce, who's no longer among us, among the living, or at least in this world, he gave the following illustration of God's love. He said there was a minister who was once talking to a couple who were having difficulties in their marriage. Well, I've been in that situation as a minister. And there was a lot of bitterness and pain, coupled with an acute lack of understanding, right? Husbands and wives sometimes have a hard time understanding each other. And at one point in the exchange, the husband spoke up in exasperation. He says, I've given you everything to his wife. I've given you a new home. I've given you a new car. I've given you all the clothes you can wear. I've given you, and the list went on. And then when he had ended, she sadly said, that much is true, John, you have given me everything but yourself. So God, he gave us everything. More than everything, he gave us himself and that is everything. Have you given yourself to him? If not, let today be the day that you receive Christ and give yourself completely to him. and receive what He has done for you. Perhaps you know that Jesus died for sinners, but you wonder if He really meant it for you. Are you included? Well, here's what Paul could say in Galatians 2.20. He says, I live by faith in the Son of God. Do you have faith in the Son of God? Paul said, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me. If you have faith in the Son of God, you can say that. when you personally put your faith in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, then you'll know, then you'll be able to say with confidence, He loved me and gave himself for me. As we close, I just want to list six things, just very brief sentences. And I'm not going to ask you to say them out loud. I started to do that today to get you to repeat it, but that seems cultish, right? I just tell you a phrase and you have to repeat it. You haven't even had time to think about what it means. But I'm going to read six sentences, and if you can say them in your heart, say them to yourself. Number one, I am a helpless, wretched sinner who deserves God's judgment. Can you say that? Two, I cannot do a single thing to merit God's favor or pay or make up for my sins. Three, Jesus is a mighty Savior who endured God's full judgment, the full payment on the cross. Four, by receiving Jesus Christ as my Savior and Lord, I can know His love. I can know that I'm saved. Five, I know that Jesus loved me because He gave Himself for me. Can you say finally, Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so. I am a little one who belongs to him. Yes, Jesus, Jesus loves me. Yes, Jesus loves me. Yes, Jesus loves me. The Bible tells me that while a sinner, Christ died for me. Let's pray. Lord, when we stand at the foot of the cross, we are indeed standing on holy ground. Moses stood at the burning bush and you said, take off your sandals for the place where you're standing is holy ground. But there's a place that's even more holy, if that's possible, and that's at the cross. We stand in awe and in wonder. that the eternal son of God became man so that he might die, might suffer and die in the place of sinners and rescue them and save them from the penalty and the power and even the presence of sin. Father, let every heart in here be certain. Let every heart be secure by putting their faith in Jesus as their own personal Lord and Savior. May that be the case for each and every soul here today. And if not, Lord, I pray that you will change hearts and turn them to see the beauty of Jesus, our Lord and Savior. In his name, I pray. Amen. We're closing hymn, and I remind you that a few minutes after the service, we will be eating. You're welcome to join us for the meal. And if you have to leave, leave, but you're also welcome to join us for the meal and the study that follows. So let's turn now in our hymnals to number 455, and we'll sing the first, third, and the last stanzas of, And Can It Be, that I should gain.