Please turn with me once more to Romans chapter number 5. Romans chapter number 5. And our text for this evening's message is from verse 6 down to verse number 8. Romans chapter 5 from verses 6 down to verse number 8. For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. or scarcely, for a righteous man will one die. Yet peradventure, for a good man, some would even dare to die. But God commendeth his love toward us in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Amen. And our title for this evening's message is this, Did Christ Die? for you? Did Christ die for you? If someone came up to you in the street and asked you the question, what is a Christian? Who is a Christian? What does it even mean in 2024 to be a Christian? Now, many people will say, oh yes, I have much faith. Or many people will say, I am a person of faith. Usually, what that means can vary greatly from person to person. Does it just mean someone who believes that there is one God? Or just someone who comes to church occasionally. Or worse, I think in our day, many do not have any idea what it means to be a Christian. When the surveys come, you'll often see the statistics of people who are supposedly Christian in every nation, and the census forms come around, and a lot of people tick the box for Christian. People with some vague knowledge of what it means to be a follower of Christ. They know, well, I'm not going to tick the atheist box. I don't think I could quite go that far. Agnostic, not so much. My parents are Christians. I guess I'm a Christian. You might even think, well, I'm a sinner. but no one's perfect. Over a billion people across this world claim to be a Christian. Over a billion. In Scotland alone, there's 2.1 million people out of over five million people that claim to be a Christian. That's 38% of the country. I ask you here this evening, do you believe that every single person that has said that they are a Christian, are a Christian? You probably say, well our government and other things would probably work very differently if that were true. Some are undoubtedly Christians, there are Christians around. But what difference would it make to the world if over one billion people were indeed Christians? Do you think it would change communities, families, all sorts of other things? No, it would not be perfect people, but it would be changed people who love Jesus Christ. I think it is clear to see that not everyone who says they're a Christian is indeed a Christian. In the same way today, not every single person, and this is a very strange phenomenon that we have in the last couple of years, who claims that they can transition from being a boy to a girl or a girl to a boy is truly what they claim to be. Reality is more important than our feelings. What is a Christian? It is someone who follows Jesus Christ. Who has found forgiveness in Jesus Christ. And someone who knows, by faith, that Christ has died for me. Christ has died in my place. He has rose from the dead in my place and He sits at the right hand of the majesty on high, interceding for me. He is my advocate, he is my representative, he is my only hope. That's what a Christian is. A Christian says, Christ died for me. And if Christ has died for you, friend, surely we should live for him. Our first point. that we're going to look at here this evening is number one, unable. Number one, unable. Verse number six, especially the first half of verse number six. For when we were yet without strength, in due time, Christ died for the ungodly. For when we were yet without strength, What can you do if you are without strength? You can do nothing. And someone who is without strength is helpless. Helpless. Men, women, children, we struggle with this. Fallen creatures. Fallen actual man. I can contribute something to this. Or it is my decision. modern-day evangelicalism for a long time has fought against this idea, including the Roman Catholic Church, that man is dead in trespasses and sins. He is lifeless. Often you might hear the illustration that there's a rope being dropped down and all you've got to do is lay hold upon it. Well, the problem with that illustration is this, friend. The rope is being dropped down, but your arms cannot move. You're dead. You need heavenly life. We cannot contribute anything to our salvation. Jesus died for people who, when they were yet without strength. We want credit. We can often see, oh yes, they've fallen down. Oh, I have made mistakes. But we want the credit for picking ourselves back up again. If indeed we do lay hold upon the gospel, it is God who has made us able. It is God who has made us able. But there's a natural pride that says, I will, I'm going to do this. But we're creatures, we're limited. Romans chapter six and verse 23, Romans chapter six and verse 23 says this, for the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Death. We were speaking this morning about the horrors of death, or last night. A dead person lying in a hospital bed, cannot help themselves. Genesis chapter 2 and verse 17 speaks to our condition. Genesis chapter 2 and verse number 17 says this, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil thou shalt not eat of it, for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. surely die, and death came upon Adam. This is the prohibition, this is the limit to Adam and Eve. They were told thou shall not eat of the fruit of the knowledge of, tree of the knowledge of good and evil. There was perfect enjoyment of the Garden of Eden. Adam and Eve there. And they were warned if they went beyond a certain boundary, if they ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, they would die. They died, that moment, they ate. They didn't die for a couple hundred years afterwards physically, but the process of dying began at that moment. From there on, no longer could they help themselves. It was all of grace, all of God's mercy. The Lord brought the gospel. The seed of the woman would crush the head of the serpent, Genesis 3 verse 15. And wonderfully, Adam trusts this promise of life. He calls his wife Eve, the mother of all living. They believe by faith alone. Same gospel message from Genesis 3 all the way through. But they were given life, heavenly life. no longer dead, no longer lifeless. God brought life to dry bones. You see this in Ezekiel chapter 37, Ezekiel chapter 37. Ezekiel and chapter number 37. Verse 1, the hand of the Lord was upon me and carried me out in the spirit of the Lord and set me down in the midst of the valley which was full of bones. Then later, a few verses later in that same chapter, it says, and he said unto me, prophesy upon these bones and say unto them, oh ye dry bones, here the word of the Lord. And you may be reading this and thinking, well, how can dry, lifeless, dead bones hear? They cannot, unless and until the Lord gives them life. Verse five, thus saith the Lord God unto these bones, behold, I will cause my breath to enter into you, and ye shall live. Now myself and among many other Reformed believers believe that this is the ethnic Jews gathered together and many of them will come to know the Lord in the future. But the same way that they're lifeless and dead without the Lord, so are we. We need this life. We need this breath to be placed inside us so that we are alive. Dead in sins, you see what it means to be dead in sins? You see what it means for the text to say, when we were yet without strength, when we were helpless, when we were dead, when we were without any strength at all, Christ died for us. We can't take any credit for it, can we? And that's what a believer sees. A believer sees that he cannot take any credit for his salvation. You have been rescued, dear believer, you have been rescued, not of your own strength, not of your own power. And that is wonderful. You know why that's wonderful? If it was by our strength, if it was even possible. It is not. But if it were even possible, how quickly we would lose it again. We are sinners, we are frail. But the same Lord who died for you, died specifically for you, the believer, you are without strength. What strength do you have to undo his salvation? You did not achieve it and you cannot lose it. If you're a believer, Christ died for you. Your works. See, often we think, I fall into a specific sin. It's quite embarrassing. I've been a believer for such a length of time, maybe a few years, I thought I was finished with that area of my life, I fall back into it. How can I even be a believer? Friends, are you looking to Jesus? That's the question. If you think you're sinless, I am concerned for you. If you think, aha, I haven't sinned in five years, well friends, then at that point you are a heretic and you know not the Lord at all. The believer is grieved by his sin. If you're grieved by your sin, saddened by your sin, that is encouraging, but don't stay there. Look unto Jesus. Turn to Him. He is the one who's taken away your death. Do you not see the love that He has for you, dear believer? And I speak to believers here. His death has become your death. Galatians 2.20. Galatians chapter 2 and verse 20. It says this, I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live. Yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. And the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me. and gave himself for me. And many people will teach as well that Christ died for every single person. That every single person is included in this atonement, the death of Christ. Christ did not die for the angels. What comfort could it be that there are countless multitudes in hell today? Did Christ die for those as well? Friend, He died for a specific people, given to Him by His Father. John 17 and verse nine. John 17 and verse number nine. This is the high priestly prayer. that Christ prays and he says, I pray for them. I pray not for the world, but for them which thou has given me. They, for they, are thine. I pray not for the world. I pray for those whom thou has given me. And if you're a believer here today, friend, Jesus prayed specifically for you. He died for you. You may be an unbeliever here actually today, having yet not come to Christ. There are other people, there are other ones that the Lord has died for out there in the world. We don't know who they are. They don't go around walking around with t-shirts that say elect, so we can just witness and evangelize to them. We share the gospel to every creature. But the Lord has infallibly died for all those. Whosoever believeth in him shall not perish, but have everlasting life. How do you know that he has died for you? You have life. You have life. You have fled from the wrath to come. You see that sin is horrible, and you trust in Jesus Christ. then you know that Jesus died for you. So number one, unable. Number two, unwilling. Unwilling. Verse number six again, for when we were yet without strength, in due time, Christ died for the ungodly. Ungodly. Not for good people, but for the ungodly. In dying for the helpless, he also died for those who are unwilling. So imagine you go to a prison and you have the key and you show it to the prisoner. I have the key. I can unlock you if you just say yes. But what if that prisoner says, no, I love where I am? I love the squalor in which I live. And it's a horrible prison, it stinks. It is vile. What would you think of such a person? You probably think, oh, he deserves to stay there. Friends, until we have life, we are unwilling. We will stay slaves to sin unless God has given us a new heart and a new nature. We are unwilling. We are willing. In one way, we are slaves to sin, but we freely, willfully sin, because we love it, by nature. Those are the people, you and I, whom Christ has died for. You see, we don't really understand how truly bad we are. We don't. Many times it's like, oh, were you searching for religion? Oh, you were searching for something. We may have been searching for something, but it was not after God until the Lord gives us a new heart. Seek the Lord. To seek the Lord is something we don't do naturally. It is something contrary to our nature. In Psalm 14, Psalm number 14, it says this, verses two and three, the Lord looked down from heaven upon the children of men to see if there were any that did understand and seek God. They're all gone aside. They're all together become filthy. There is none that doeth right. There's none that doeth good. No, not one. None. So if the gospel offer was just made available to all people, and nothing else, and of our own free will, those are the only people saved, none would be saved. All would go to hell. That is our condition. For the Lord takes pity upon sinners who do not seek after Him. He pours out His Spirit, giving them life. He has given you life, dear believer, that you would turn, that you would see for the first time how horrible sin is, and you would also see how beautiful Christ is. that you would run to him, that you would flee to him. Do you see the sinner by nature, we are by nature and Adam unwilling, not just unable, unwilling to come to God. The gospel that is often presented to people, if it were true, if it were, well, it's up to you to make up your own decision. If it was up to the will of man, we would be without hope. Now we share the gospel to all sorts, we plead with them. We plead with them, we share the gospel with them, but it's the power of God that makes a difference. It's the power of God, not their will. If it was up to the will of man, do you know what we probably should be doing? We should probably entertain people, bring them all in. And then when they're there, pressure them to make a decision. But that doesn't save anyone, does it? It is the power of God unto salvation that changes a lifeless, unwilling, stubborn, rebellious sinner and turns him or her into someone who loves the Gospel, who loves Jesus Christ. This is the glory. This is the splendor. This is the radiance of the Gospel. It is powerful. It is powerful because it changes criminals. I'm sure you've probably seen stories where people go to prison and they've done horrible things and then they may do an interview later on in their life and they say, I wish I never did that. They have some kind of remorse. They're in prison for 20 years or whatever the case may be. And we may feel some sympathy for them. They wish they could go back and change it. But by nature, we'll never seek the cure until and unless God does a supernatural work in our hearts. That's what makes the difference. That's what unlocks the key. That's what unlocks the door in that prison door. God opens it. God gives, takes away the heart we have and puts a heart in there. that will want good things and that will hate sin. He will make a people willing. So friends, though you are not perfect, none of us are, do you look to Jesus? Have you been made willing? You're saddened by your sin, that's encouraging. You want to be more like Christ, That's encouraging. You wish you were more sanctified than you are. That's encouraging. The Lord has died indeed for you. A third point, undeserving. Undeserving, and he's died for the ungodly. He has died in verse eight as well. Verse six is he's died for the ungodly. Verse eight, he has died for us. And who's the us? While we're yet sinners. Undeserving. And as we said this morning, our sin cannot enter into heaven. The reason heaven is so wonderful, glorious, it is spotless, pure, unblemished. The reason Christ is a perfect Redeemer is because He is without sin and kept the law of God perfectly. We do not deserve the least of the Lord's mercies. We must see this, undeserving. God hasn't provided something for us that we deserve, he's provided for something we don't deserve. It even says it in verse seven, for scarcely for a righteous man will one die, even for a righteous man. Yet peradventure, perhaps for a good man, some would even dare to die. Here we have this unparalleled. Love of God on display. He doesn't just die for people who are, first of all, seeking after Him, and then responds to them. He seeks after the people who are in the midst of their rebellion, and takes them and changes them. He grabs them and lifts them out of the miry clay, gives them a new heart. It's not against our will, it is because the Lord has changed our will. He's given us a new appetite to see that what is in our own hearts is wicked. We are undeserving. And there's a sense in which the longer you are a believer in Jesus Christ, the more wretched You think you are. You'll notice this with the saints of old. The longer they would have known the Lord, the more they would see their own sin, the more they would see their own sense of undeserving. The Lord has given you more light to see how far short you fall. And in the midst of the night, when it's pitch dark, What can you see that you couldn't see before? The stars shining forth. It's in the blackness of our sin that he has rescued us from, that we see the radiance of the gospel truly shine forth. We are undeserving. We are... We learn about hell. And one of the most terrifying things about hell, it's not even just that people go there, it's the fact that we all deserve it. That's the most terrifying thing about hell, the eternal wrath of God, without any mercy or grace. We all deserve it. And how many people, every minute, cross the United Kingdom, enter into an eternity in hell. These aren't good people. We aren't good people going into eternity. God does what is just. That's what is so terrifying about it. And it is, we are just as bad as they are. Many people who go to hell are far better people morally than we are. but He still died for us. But God commendeth His love, His love toward us. You think those friends of yours, when they've seen you in your most time of need, and you're at your lowest, and you're sick, or you're in difficulty, and then you see those amazing friends who come and come alongside you and help you, You see how much they love you. How low were we when we were in sin? How low were we when we were slaves to sin? Have you got a friend in this world who has done for you what Jesus has done for sinners? If you think of that passage in Ezekiel, why will he die? The way is open. The Lord is urging you here this evening to come unto Him. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die, but peradventure for a good man, some would even dare to die. We're all undeserving. All of us. There are people There are people who have preached the gospel. Who are out in the world today. They've written books about the gospel. They know the gospel, it seems, intimately. And they're out in the world. That's a terrifying reality. We are all undeserving. It doesn't matter what station or what status we serve, whether we are office bearers, ministers, elders, deacons, whatever role you play in the church, we're all undeserving. All of us. And the devil wants you to forget that. Because when you think you're deserving, what will we do? We will complain. We will give out. But what should we do? Give thanks to the Lord for every good mercy. Friends, there's even a sense of which, if the Lord never sent us a gospel, He is worthy of all the praise, all the honor and all the glory. He doesn't owe us anything. He is infinitely loving. He doesn't owe us anything. He doesn't owe the fallen angels anything. Yet, mercifully, Christ died for us. That should make us thankful. That should make us grateful to be a Christian. Whatever else is going on in your life, whatever's going on, be grateful that you're a Christian. Be grateful that when you die, you're going to heaven. Whatever else is going on, will that matter? Whatever thing that's worrying you, keeping you up at night, will it matter in 100 years time? Very often, it will not. Our fourth and final point is this, unburdened. Unburdened. Unable, unwilling, undeserving, unburdened. Verse number 8 once again, but God commendeth his love toward us in that while we are yet sinners, Christ died for us. And sin is a great burden, a great and cruel taskmaster. It weighs us down. Have you ever read Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan? That burden gets heavier and heavier. Christ's death has taken that away. And the invitation this evening is this. Do not carry that burden any further. Look unto Jesus. Be relieved from that burden. He has taken that burden. He has taken that guilt. He has offered forgiveness. If you will trust Him, if you will accept Him, if you will receive Him and follow Him and take Him as your own. Matthew chapter 11 and verse 28. Matthew chapter 11 and verse number 28. Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me. For I am meek and lowly in heart, and you will find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. This is one of the passages that led me to the Lord many years ago. There are many young people, in fact older people too, In the fits of despair, they don't know what they believe, they don't know what they stand for, they don't know who they are. And they're burdened. Many of them turn to alcohol and drugs and all sorts of other things to alleviate that burden. That guilt. To forget. To deaden the conscience. And if you have a good friend, perhaps you talk to that friend and share your problems with them and you feel unburdened. You feel a bit of relief. Friends, we have a much greater friend in Jesus. This is eternal and heavenly relief. He takes our burden and His yoke is easy, it's light, it's wonderful. See, many of us face guilt for the things we've done in the past. We often feel guilt for things we've done to other mere men in this world, things that will plague us, things that we wish we had time to fix and to, we wish we never did them. But remember this, Psalm 51, against thee the only have I sinned. And David had wronged many people when he penned that under the inspiration of the Spirit of God. And he saw that his sin was against God first and foremost. It's not that you don't ask for forgiveness to people you have wronged in your life. But God has been wronged. God has been offended. The patience that the Lord has For the last 6,000 years that He's endured, that He has sent preacher after preacher, He has sent the Scripture, and what have we largely done? We have rejected the Gospel in so many ways. In a modern day, And we've rejected so much of the blessed teachings that we've been handed down. But the Lord continues to show mercy in saving sinners. Sinners are still saved today. Yes, in Scotland, but all around the world. God saves sinners. God unburdens and takes away. the burden of those who will look to Him. But perhaps you're here this evening, and your faith has been weakened. You may well be a true believer in Jesus Christ, and you may be at a point in your Christian walk, you're baxling, you've fallen into serious sin, and it has caused you great anguish. You don't know if you're a believer. You're not sure. Friend, the answer is not flee from Christ, the answer is flee to Christ. The devil wants you to continue down that road. Your faith may have grown cold for a season, but today is the day that you seek to lay down that burden. to look unto Jesus. Whatever that sin is, it's not worth that loss of sweet and blessed assurance in your life. The devil wants the true believer to doubt that they are a Christian, and the devil wants the false professor to not ever question. Flee from fornication. Flee from drunkenness. Flee from your lust. Flee from whatever is causing you this. Flee and find rest in Christ. Do you have a better friend in this world than Jesus? Could you possibly have a better friend? Do you have a friend who will pay all your debts? When you've been silly and you've done many foolish things, have you a friend who will come and take your burden? Will you have a friend who will come at your lowest moments of criminality against Him and pay the debt in order that you may be forgiven? Friends, we have the greatest friend in Jesus, those who lay hold upon Him. the greatest reward, the greatest treasure. And if he is your great reward here this evening, if you trust in him, he has died in your place. Friends, he hung on a Roman cross in agony for hours. He bore the wrath of God so that you'd be saved. Will you not come? Will you not flee? What a friend we have in Jesus. He died for sinners like you and like me. Let us stand and pray before Almighty God.