Sin and Grace
(No. 3115)
A SERMON PUBLISHED ON THURSDAY, OCTOBER 22, 1908.
DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON LORD'S-DAY EVENING,
NOVEMBER 1, 1874.
"Where sin abounded, Grace did much more abound." Romans 5:20.
[Other Sermons by Mr. Spurgeon upon this text are as follows: Sermons
#37, Volume 1–LAW AND GRACE and #2012, Volume 34– GRACE ABOUNDING
OVER ABOUNDING SIN]
THERE are two very powerful forces in the world which have been here
ever since the time when Eve partook of the forbidden fruit in the
Garden of Eden. Those two forces are sin and Divine Grace. A very great
power is sin, a power dark, mysterious, baleful, but full of force. The
sorrows of mankind–from where did they come but from sin? We would
have known no war, nor pestilence, nor famine, nor would anything of
sickness or sorrow ever have smitten the human race had not sin sown
its evil seed in this earth! Sin is the Pandora's box from which all
evil has come to mankind. See what ravages death has made–its hillocks
are everywhere! Its mighty scythe mows men down as the mower cuts down
the grass of the field–but death came by sin and after death comes
judgment and, to the ungodly, the doom that never can be described, the
eternal wrath whose blackness the wildest tempest cannot imitate! Who
dug this pit? It was the Justice of God on account of sin and sin must,
therefore, be charged with the authorship of sorrow, disease, death and
Hell. This is no mean power with which we have come into conflict–it
is a veritable Goliath–stalking along and defying the whole race of
mankind!
The power that is to fight and overcome sin is never described in the
Word of God as the natural goodness of human nature. Pshaw! That is but
as wax before the fire, or as the fat of rams upon the altar–it is
consumed in a moment in the fierce heat of sin. The force to combat sin
is never described in the truthful pages of God's Word as the power of
human endeavor to keep the Law. Indeed, this has been tried and it has
utterly failed! The way to Heaven is not up the steep sides of
Sinai–that granitic mountain is too rugged and too high for unaided
human feet to climb. Not there can be found the weapons with which a
man may slay his sins and fight his way to everlasting bliss.
The only counter force against sin is Divine Grace, so my text tells
us, and we may learn the same Truth of God from a hundred texts
besides. And what is Grace? Grace is the free favor of God, the
undeserved bounty of the ever-gracious Creator against whom we have
offended, the generous pardon, the Infinite, spontaneous loving
kindness of the God who has been provoked and angered by our sin, but
who, delighting in mercy and grieving to smite the creatures whom He
has made, is always ready to pass by transgression, iniquity and
sin–and to save His people from all the evil consequences of their
guilt. Here, my Brothers and Sisters in Christ, is a force that is
fully equal to the requirements of the duel with sin, for this Grace,
of which I am going to speak, is Divine Grace, and hence it is
Omnipotent, Immortal and Immutable. This favor of God never changes and
when once it purposes to bless anyone, bless him it will and none can
revoke the blessing! The gracious purpose of God's free favor to an
undeserving man is more than a match for that man's sin, for it brings
to bear upon his sin, the blood of the Incarnate Son of God–and the
majestic and mysterious fire of the eternal Spirit who burns up evil
and utterly consumes it! With God the Father, God the Son and God the
Holy Spirit united against sin, the everlasting purposes of Grace are
bound to be accomplished, sin must be overcome and my text proved to be
true–"Where sin abounded, Grace did much more abound."
I. To illustrate the great principle of my text, I ask you to notice,
first, that the context refers us to THE ENTRANCE OF TRUE LAW. "The Law
entered, that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, Grace
did much more abound."
Instead of giving any historical statement concerning the introduction
of the Law in the days of Moses, I am going to speak about the
experimental matter of the introduction of the Law of God into our
hearts. Those of you who have been converted remember the time when the
Law of the Lord first entered your heart. The Law engraved on the two
tablets of stone, the Law recorded in the Bible does but very little
for us–but when the Law really enters our heart, is does much for us.
What does it do?
The first thing the Law does to most men is to develop the sin that is
in them. Paul writes, "I had not known sin, but by the Law: for I had
not known lust, except the Law had said, You shall not covet." But as
soon as he found that there was a Law against a certain sin, by some
unhallowed instinct of his unrenewed nature, he wanted to do the very
thing that he was forbidden to do! It was like that with us–the first
effect of the entrance of the Law of God into our hearts was to develop
the sin that was already within us. "That is a dreadful thing," says
one. Yes, it is, but look at the matter from another aspect. Here is a
man who has within him a dire disease which will be fatal if it is
allowed to remain, so the physician gives him some medicine which
throws the disease out. The man used to have a beautiful complexion,
but after he has taken that medicine, his face is covered with
blotches. Is that a bad thing? Yes, the blotches are bad, but the
hidden disease was worse! While that disease was concealed within his
system and was killing him, he probably did not even know that is was
there. He knew that he was not well and, perhaps, thought that he was
dying as the result of some other complaint. But now he sees what the
disease is, and everybody sees it, and now that which looked like an
evil thing may turn out to be for real good to the man.
So does it often happen mentally, morally and spiritually. A man's
wicked heart is full of enmity against God, yet he thinks–and perhaps
he is right in thinking–that he is outwardly a strictly moral man.
But, lo, the Law of God, with its requirements of perfect purity and
absolute obedience, enters his heart and he rebels against it–and now
the sin is apparent, even to himself! It is now likely that this man
will repent of sin. It is highly probable that this development of his
latent sin will lead him to form a different opinion of himself from
any that he ever had before and, therefore, though the sin is evil and
the development of it is evil, yet, where sin abounded, Grace shall
much more abound and so good shall come out of the evil after all!
When the Law enters a man's heart, it also brings his sin out in very
strong relief. He never saw his sin to be so black as he now sees it to
be. A stick is crooked, but you do not notice how crooked it is until
you place a straight rule by the side of it. You have a handkerchief
and it seems to be quite white–you could hardly wish it to be
whiter–but you lay it down on the newly-fallen snow and you wonder how
you could ever have thought it to be white at all! So the pure and holy
Law of God, when our eyes are opened to see its purity, shows up our
sin in its true blackness and in that way it makes sin to abound! But
this is for our good, for that sight of our sin awakens us to a sense
of our true condition, leads us to repentance, drives us by faith to
the precious blood of Jesus and no longer permits us to rest in our
self-righteousness! And so it can be said of us that, though the
entrance of the Law has made our sin to abound, "Where sin abounded,
Grace did much more abound."
The entrance of the Law of God into the heart very generally causes
great anguish. Well do I remember that experience and so do some of
you. When the Law entered our hearts, it came not merely with a
straight rule and with a perfect pattern of whiteness to show us our
deformity and our blackness, but it also came with a heavy whip–and it
laid that whip about our shoulders and every time it fell it stung us
to the quick. A little while ago, I met with a Brother who said to me,
"You cannot too forcibly describe the anguish of a convicted
conscience, for," he said, "I remember when I reckoned how long it
would be before I must, in the ordinary course of nature, be in Hell. I
said to myself, 'Suppose I live to be 80 years of age, yet how short a
time it will be before I must be enduring the Infinite Wrath of God!'"
Yes, that is the effect that the Law of the Lord often produces upon a
man when it enters his heart. It brings a mirror before him and says to
him "Look in there and see not only what you have done, but also what
is the just consequence of your evil deeds." A man no longer quibbles
at God's Justice when the Law once gets inside his heart–it shuts his
mouth except for groans and sighs–and he has plenty of them.
It may be thought, by some people, to be a very sad thing that the Law
should come into a man's heart to break it and to cause him such sorrow
and anguish as I am trying to describe. Ah, but it is not so–it is a
very blessed thing! You cannot expect God to clothe you until He has
stripped you, nor to heal you until He has cut the proud flesh out of
your wounds. When a woman is sowing with a fine white silken thread,
she must have a sharp needle to go first, to make a way
for the thread to go through after it. And the anguish of spirit which
the Law creates in the soul is the sharp needle which makes a way for
the fine silken thread of the Gospel to enter our heart and so to bless
us. Let us thank God if ever we have experienced the entrance of His
Law into our hearts for, although it makes sin to abound, it makes
Grace much more abound!
When the Law gets thoroughly into a man's heart, it drives him to
despair of himself ' 'Oh," he says, "I cannot keep that Law!" Once he
thought that he was as good as other people and a little better than
most–and he did not know but that with a little polishing and a little
help, he might be good enough to win the favor of God and go to Heaven!
But when the Law entered his heart, it soon smashed his idol to atoms!
The Dagon of self-righteousness speedily falls before the Ten
Commandments of God and is so broken that it can never be mended. Men
try to set the stump of it up on its pedestal again, but as long as the
Law of the Lord is in the same temple with self-righteousness,
self-righteousness can never be exalted again! To some people it seems
to be a dreadful thing to give a man such a bad opinion of himself,
but, indeed, it is the greatest blessing that could come to him, for
when he despairs of himself, he will fly to Christ to save him! When
the last crust is gone from his cupboard, he will cry to the great
Giver of the Bread of Life, whereof if a man eats, he shall live
forever! You must starve the sinner's self-righteousness to make him
willing to feed on Christ–and thus the very depths of his despair,
when he thinks that he must be lost forever–will only lead him, by
God's abundant love, to a fuller appreciation of the heights of God's
Grace!
Once more, when the Law of God enters a man's heart, it pronounces a
curse upon him. That was a singular scene which was beheld over against
Mount Ebal and over against Mount Gerizim, where one company read the
curses, and another company read the blessings out of the Book of the
Law. Now the Law can do nothing for a sinner but say to him, "Cursed is
everyone that continues not in all things which are written in the Book
of the Law, to do them." But the Gospel comes in and it replies to the
curse of the Law with such words as these, "Blessed is he whose
transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man
unto whom the Lord imputes not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is
no guile." Let the Law curse as it may, the Gospel's blessing is richer
and stronger, for the Gospel says, "Therefore being justified by faith,
we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." And, "there is
therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who
walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit."
II. Now I change our line of thought and come closer home to
Christians, by noticing that the great principle of our text is also
illustrated in THE AFTER-EXPERIENCE OF THE BELIEVER.
Some young converts imagine that as soon as they believe in Christ and
find peace with God, they will be perfect and have no more sin within
them. Such an erroneous idea will only prepare them for a great
disappointment, for conversion is not the end of the battle with
sin–it is only the beginning of that battle. From the moment that a
man believes in Jesus, and is thereby saved, he begins his life-long
struggle against his inbred sins. I hear that there are some Brothers
and Sisters who have become perfect–and I am pleased to hear it if it
is true. But I am glad they are not members of my family! I do not
think I could live with them very peaceably, as I have generally found
that the so-called "perfect" people are usually not at all pleasant
people to be associated with those of us who do not profess to be
perfect. We wish we were perfect and we wish that other people were
perfect, but up to now our investigations have led us to believe that
the perfection which is claimed by certain persons is, in every case, a
mistake–and in many cases is a delusion and a sham!
Our opinion is that men, after they are converted, and begin to examine
themselves in the light of God's Word, if they are at all like we are,
find sin everywhere within them–sin in the affections, so that the
hearts lusts after evil things–sin in the judgment, so that it often
makes most serious mistakes and honestly puts bitter for sweet, and
sweet for bitter–sin in the desires, so that though we try to curb
them, they wander here and there, where we would not–sin in the will,
so that Lord Will-be-Will proves that he is still very proud and wants
to have his own way–and is not willing to bow submissively to the will
of God–sin in the memory, so that the most godly people can often
recollect a snatch of a bad old song which they used to hear or to
sing, far more readily than they can remember a text of Scripture which
they wish to treasure up in their memories, for memory has become
unhinged, like all the rest of our faculties, and is quick to retain
evil and slow to retain that which is good! Brothers and Sisters in
Christ, in what part of our body does sin not dwell? Is there any
single faculty, or power, or propensity that we have which will not
lead us astray if we will let it do so? Are we not obliged to be always
upon our guard against ourselves and to watch ourselves as a garrison
of soldiers would have to watch the natives of a country whom they had
subdued, but who were anxious to throw off the yoke of the foreigners
who had overcome them? In a similar fashion, Grace is a foreigner in
possession of our nature and it holds by its own superior force what it
has won–and only by its supernatural strength are we kept from falling
back our former position!
Thus you see how sin abounds, even in the heart of a Believer. But,
blessed be God, Grace does much more abound there, for although the
will is still strong, there is a higher power that subdues and controls
it so that our will is being gradually conformed to the will of God.
Our affections, though they are apt to grovel here below, do soar
towards Christ, for He has really won our hearts. Our desires do go
astray, yet their main tendency is towards holiness. Blessed be the
name of the Lord, unless we are awfully deceived, we desire to do that
which is well-pleasing in His sight! Our memory, too, though I have
already confessed its faultiness, does often enable us to remember
Jesus Christ and it will never forget Him, whoever else it may forget.
Yes, and our whole nature, though I have truly spoken of its faults, is
a new nature which God has worked within us–a nature that is akin to
the Divine and in this nature Grace triumphs over sin so that where sin
abounds, Grace does much more abound.
The same Truth of God may be learned in another way. Sin abounds in the
Believer, not merely in the shape of the original sin in which he was
born and in the tendency to sin which is always present with him, but
sin mars the best thing he ever does. Did you ever examine one of your
own prayers? Did you ever look at it critically after it was finished?
Shall I tell you what it was like? It was like something that man had
manufactured and which, when observed by the naked eyed, looked very
beautiful. Put a microscope over it and look at it. Take a needle if
you like, for that seems to be one of the most polished pieces of metal
conceivable–and as soon as you place it under the microscope, you say,
"Why, I have got a rough bar of iron here! Surely it cannot be a
needle." Yes it is, but you are now looking at it with a power far
beyond your ordinary sight. And, in like manner, when the Grace of God
opens a man's eyes to see his best actions as they appear in God's
sight, he sees that those actions are marred by sin. There is not
anything that he has done which appears to him to be what it ought to
be when he looks at it aright in the light of God's Word. The most
consecrated action of his life, the most devout communion with Christ,
the most intense ardor after God falls far short of what it ought to be
and has something in it which ought not to be there! When the Grace of
God is strong within us, it makes sin appear to abound even to our own
vision–we see it in every hymn we sing, in every prayer we pray, in
every sermon we preach!
Not only do we see sin in our best things, but we also discover sin in
our omissions. We were never troubled about that matter before, but now
we recollect that what we do not do is often sinful–not merely the
wrong that we commit, but the good that we omit–the good that we
neglect or forget to do. There is much sin there. Then we begin to
examine our thoughts and our trivial utterances. And we see them all
crusted over with sin. Tested under the light of God's Word, everything
seems to be honeycombed through and through with sin, so that sin,
indeed, abounds. Well, what then? Why, then, this blessed text comes
sweetly home to our hearts. "The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses
us from all sin." And now, how gloriously Grace abounds! Now we prove
the power of that precious blood which can wash us whiter than snow, so
that God Himself shall say to each one of us, "There is no spot in
you." Beloved Brothers and Sisters in Christ, I do firmly believe that
a deep and clear sense of sin is necessary to a right estimation of the
power of pardoning love. I am sure that it is a great blessing to us
when we have a deep sense of our sinnership. God forbid that we should
ever pray as the Pharisee did, "God, I thank You that I am not as other
men are." Far better would it be for us to imitate the publican, and
cry, "God be merciful to me a sinner." None but those who are lost,
prize the Savior who came to seek and to save that which was lost! None
but those who feel that they are foul and vile rightly value His
cleansing blood. O Beloved, when your sin abounds, then is the time to
remember that Grace much more abounds! Sinner as you are, you are
forgiven, you are "accepted in the Beloved," you are saved, you are a
child of God, you shall be in Heaven before long, to praise forever the
Grace that shall be crowned with Glory!
Once more on this point. I believe that many of you have had an
experience similar to mine and that there have been times when you have
been living especially near to God and walking in the light of His
Countenance, when, all of a sudden, the sin that dwells in you has
seemed to attack you just when you least expected it. I know that my
fiercest temptations often come to me immediately after my highest
enjoyment of communion with God. They seem to come like a sharp draught
of cold air the moment you step out of a warm room, and you hardly know
what to do–you are scarcely prepared for it. It will sometimes happen
that a tempter which you thought you had quite overcome, will rush upon
you like a lion out of a thicket, or a passion which you thought had
been most eventually conquered, will come sweeping
down upon you like a hurricane from the hills and your poor little
skiff upon the lake seems well-near overwhelmed with its furious
onslaught! Then, as you look at yourselves, and are surprised to find
so much sin in yourselves, you know that sin abounds–what do you do
then? Well, I believe that, at such times, Christians try to nestle
closer than ever under the wings of God and they feel humbler–and they
go to the precious blood of Jesus with a more intense desire to prove
again its cleansing power! And they cry to the Strong for strength and
they feel more than they ever did before, their need of the Holy
Spirit's sanctifying power. Ralph Erskine said that he was more afraid
of a sleeping devil than of a roaring devil–and there was good reason
for his fear–for when the devil was roaring, the saints would be more
on the watch than when he was quiet. The worst temptation in the world
is not to be tempted at all. But when there is a strong temptation and
your soul is fully aware of it, you are on your guard against it. The
wave of temptation may even wash you higher up upon the Rock of Ages,
so that you cling to it with a firmer grip than you have ever done
before and so again where sin abounds, Grace will much more abound!
III. Now I must close with a few general observations upon another
matter. The great Truth revealed in our text is not only illustrated by
the entrance of the Law into the hearts of Believers and in the
after-life of Christians, but also IN ALL THE BLESSINGS OF SALVATION.
It is very wonderful, but it is certainly true, that there are many
persons in Heaven in whom sin once abounded. In the judgment of their
fellow men, some of them were worse sinners than others. There was Saul
of Tarsus, there was the dying thief, there was the woman in the city
who was a sinner–a sinner in a very open and terrible sense. These and
many more of whom we read in the Scriptures were all great sinners–and
it was a great wonder of Grace, in every instance, that they should be
forgiven! But did they make poor Christians when they were converted?
Quite the reverse! They loved much because they had been forgiven much.
Among the best servants of God are many of those who were once the best
servants of the devil. Sin abounded in them, but Grace much more
abounded when it took possession of their hearts and lives. They were
long held captive by the devil at his will, but they were never such
servants to Satan as they afterwards became to the living and true God!
They threw all the fervor of their intense natures into the service of
their Savior and so rose superior to some of their fellow disciples who
did not so fully realize how much they owed to their Lord. I trust that
any here present who have gone far in sin may be saved by the
immeasurable Grace of God before they leave this building and that,
throughout the whole of their future lives, they may love Jesus Christ
better and serve Him more than others who have not sinned as deeply as
they have!
The same Truth of God comes out if we think of what sin has done for
us. O Brothers and Sisters, sin has infected the nature of man with a
foul leprosy, a deadly disease, but Jesus has cured the disease, and
given us a life of a holier kind than we ever knew before! Sin has
robbed us, but Christ has restored to us more than sin ever took away
from us! Sin has stripped us, but Christ has clothed us in a better
robe than our natural righteousness could ever have been. Well do we
sing of Jesus–
"In Him the tribes of Adam boast More blessings than their father
lost."
Sin has brought us very low, but Christ has lifted us higher than we
stood before sin cast us down! Sin took away from man his love to God,
but Christ has given us a more intense love to God than Adam ever had,
for we love God because He has first loved us and given His Son to die
for us and we have, in His greater Grace, a good reason for yielding to
Him a greater love! Sin took away obedience from man, but now the
saints obey to a yet higher degree than they could have done before,
for I suppose it would not have been possible for unfallen man to
suffer, but now we are capable of suffering for Christ and many martyrs
have gone signing to death for the Truth of God because, while sin made
them capable of suffering, Christ's Grace has made them capable of
obedience to Him in the suffering–and so of doing more to prove their
allegiance to God than would have been possible if they had never
fallen! Sin, dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, has shut us out of
Eden, yet let us not weep, for Christ has prepared a better Paradise
for us in Heaven! Sin has deprived us of the river that rippled over
sands of gold and of the green glades of that blessed Garden into which
suffering could never have come unless sin had first entered, but God
has provided for us "a pure river of Water of Life," and a lovelier
garden than Eden ever was! And there we shall forever dwell through the
abounding Grace of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ which has abounded
even over our abounding sin!
Sin has separated us from God, but Grace has brought us nearer to God
than we ever were before sin divided us from Him. Until Christ became
Man, there was no man on the earth and there would have been no man who
was more to God than man could be to his Maker. But now there lives a
Man who is more to God than any created being ever could be, for that
Man is also God and He sits at the right hand of His Father and shares
with Him the control of the universe! That Man has brought the human
race nearer to the Deity than the mere act of creation could possibly
have done. Glory be to God for Jesus Christ, the Man from Heaven, the
Son of Mary and the Son of the Highest! Sin worked us untold mischief,
but Grace has made even that mischief to be a gain to us, for now we
are bought with blood as, otherwise, we never could have been. Now we
know both sin and righteousness as we could not otherwise have done and
now the whispering of the old serpent, which was a lie, has proved to
have a Truth of God concealed in it, for we are indeed as gods, since
we have become partakers of the Divine Nature by virtue of our union
with the Christ of God! O wondrous Fall, which would have broken us
hopelessly had it not been for still more marvelous Grace! O wondrous
restoration which has lifted us up and made us more perfect than we
were before we were broken–and elevated us to a Glory of which we
could never have dreamed had we lived with Adam and Eve in Paradise and
remained in innocence forever!
One practical remark I want to make before I close. It is this–if you
have received this Grace which has abounded over your sin, take care
that you do more for Grace than you ever did for sin. It is amazing how
much people will do for sin–what they will give, what they will spend,
and what they will endure to gratify their passions and serve their
cruel taskmaster, Satan! I should not like to guess what some men waste
on their lusts. I should not like to make a calculation as to what some
people spend in a year on what they call their pleasures. Well,
whatever the amount is, shall they give more, shall they do more for
their god than we give and do for ours? Shall they be more intense in
their adoration of Satan than we are in our obedience to God? That must
never be, nor must we ever permit them to outdo us in the praises of
their treasure! They make night hideous with their praises of their
god, Bacchus–but we do not often annoy them with the songs of Zion! It
would be as well, perhaps, if we did, but we are often cowards in not
rendering due praises to our God. They are not ashamed to make the sky
ring with their lascivious notes–then let us pluck up courage and
solidly assert the glories of our God and the wonders of our Lord and
Savior, Jesus Christ! Especially, let us never be ashamed to say, "He
loved me and gave Himself for me–blessed be His holy name forever and
ever. Amen."
EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: ROMANS5.
Verse 1. Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God
through our Lord Jesus Christ [See Sermon #1456,
Volume 25–PEACE–A FACT AND A FEELING–Read/download the entire
sermon, free of charge, at http://www.spurgeongems.orgQ This verse
deserves to be
printed in letters of gold. If you can truthfully say this. If it is
indeed true of you, you are the happiest people under Heaven. Let us
read the verse again–"Therefore being justified by faith, we have
peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ."
2. By whom also we have access by faith into this Grace wherein we
stand and rejoice in hope of the Glory of God. We are not only at peace
with God, but we are permitted to draw near to Him, have access to Him,
have access to His favor, to His Grace. We may come to God when we
will, for He is reconciled to us, and we are reconciled to Him, so we
may now think of Him with joy and gladness.
3. And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also. Somebody seemed
to say to the Apostle, "You talk about peace with God, and access to
God; but you are troubled in mind, you are sickly in body, you are poor
in estate, just as other people are." So Paul replies, "Yes, we know
that it is so, 'but we glory in tribulations also.'"
3. Knowing that tribulation works patience. It is sent for our good. We
accept our trials as a part of our estate and in some respects, the
very richest part of our estate! We get more good out of our adversity
than out of our prosperity. Our troubles have made men of us, whereas
our joys might have unmanned us. Trials have braced us up and we glory
in them, "knowing that tribulation works patience."
4. And patience, experience; and experience, hope. The longer we wait,
the brighter do our eyes get. Our very trials, when they have passed
over us, leave us stronger and happier than we were before. Our
experience works in us hope.
5. And hope makes us not ashamed; because the love of God is shed
abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit which is
given unto us. [See Sermon #829, Volume 14–THE PERFUMING OF THE HEART]
What a blessed thing t is that when troubles are shed abroad outside
us, the love of God is shed abroad inside us–when we are tried
without, we are comforted within–and so we are made strong and we have
no cause to fear!
6. For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for
the ungodly. [See Sermons #1191, Volume 20–for whom
DID CHRIST DIE?; #13345, Volume 23–FOR WHOM IS THE GOSPEL MEANT? and
#2341, Volume 39–THE UNDYING GOSPEL FOR THE DYING YEAR] And as He died
for us when we were ungodly, what will He not
do for us now that He has sought us as His own? He gave the highest
proof of His love to us when we were most unworthy of it, so will He
leave us now? God forbid!
7. For scarcely. Now the Apostle goes away from his theme, carried away
by the still greater subject of the love of God in Christ Jesus and the
way of reconciliation by Christ–he goes on to that theme–"For
scarcely."
7. For a righteous man will one die. However "just" Aristides might be,
nobody would die for him! However "righteous" a man might be, he would
not, by his justice or righteousness, win enough affection to induce
anybody to die for him.
7. Yet perhaps for a good man some would even dare to die. There might
possibly be some who would die for a John Howard, or a man of that ilk.
8. But God commends [See Sermon #104, Volume 2–LOVE'S COMMENDATION]
His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for
us. When we were not even just, much less good, "Christ died for us."
9. Much more then, being now justified by His blood, we shall be saved
from wrath through Him. As He died for us, He will certainly save us.
He who died for the ungodly will never cast away those whom He has
justified. The death of Christ for His own people is the guarantee that
He will love them even to the end!
10. For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the
death of His Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by His
life.Did He love us when we were His enemies? Then most assuredly He
will love us now that we are His friends. Did His death save us? Then,
will not His life also save us? As He took such pains to reconcile us
to His
Father, will He not take equal pains-no, "much more [See Sermon #2587,
Volume 44–"MUCH MORE"] to preserve us safe to the end?
11. And not only so. Paul seems to go up a ladder and when he gets to
the top of it, he sets up another on the top of that one and proceeds
to mount that! This is the second time that we have read, "And not only
so."
11. But we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we
have now received the Atonement. Christ has made Atonements for us, and
God has accepted that Atonement on our behalf. We also have received it
ourselves and now we are glad in God–glad that there is a God, glad
that there is such a God, and glad that He is our God and
Father in Christ Jesus! [See Sermons #1045, Volume 18–JOY IN A
RECONCILED GOD and #2550, Volume 44–JOY IN GOD]
12. Therefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by
sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned. It was
by one man's sin that we all fell through the first Adam. Does anyone
object to the justice of that? I pray you, do not object to what is
your only hope! If you and I had each one sinned for himself or herself
apart from Adam, our case would probably have been hopeless, like the
case of the fallen angels who sinned individually and fell, never to be
set up again! But inasmuch as we fell representatively in Adam, it
prepared the way for us to rise representatively in the Second Adam,
Christ Jesus our Lord and Savior! As I fell by another, I can rise by
another! As my ruin was caused by the first man, Adam, my restoration
can be brought about by the Second Man, the Lord from Heaven! 13, 14.
(For until the Law, sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when
there is no Law. Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even
over them that hadnot sinnedafter the similitude of Adam's
transgression, who is the figure of Him that was to come. Infants die,
although they have never sinned. They die because death is the penalty
of sin–and as they die for faults not their own, so are they saved by
righteousness not their own. They die, for Adam sinned. They live, for
Jesus died.
15-17. But not as the offense, so also is the free gift. For if through
the offense of one many are dead, much more the Grace of God, and the
gift by Grace which is by one Man, Jesus Christ, have abounded unto
many. And not as it was by one that sinned, so is the gift: for the
judgment was by one to condemnation, but the free gift is of many
offenses unto justification. For if by one man's offense death reigned
by one; much more they which receive abundance of Grace and of
the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by One,[See Sermons
#2544, Volume 43–THE ONE AND THE MANY and #2744, Volume 47–LOST
THROUGH ONE–SAVED THROUGH ONE] Jesus Christ). Adam's fall
was terribly effectual–it has brought death upon the human race, age
after age. And Christ's death is wonderfully effectual, for on behalf
of all those for whom He died, His Atonement so prevails as to put
their sins away forever!
19. For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the
obedience of One shall many be made righteous. That is the wonderful
doctrine of "the Gospel of Christ." It is rejected in these evil days.
They call it simple and I know not what besides, but here it is put as
plainly as words can put it, "As by one man's disobedience many were
made sinners, so by the obedience of One shall many be made righteous."
20. Moreover the Law entered, that the offense might abound. The Law
was not given to Moses to stop sin, or to forgive sin, but to make men
see how evil sin is and to make it evident to them how evil they are!
20. But where sin abounded, Grace did much more abound. There was more
Grace than terror even in the Law! It has served a gracious purpose,
for it was given to make us realize our guilt and so might drive us to
seek the Grace of God for its forgiveness. Salvation is all of Grace!
Sin cannot conquer Grace–it has had a hard struggle for it, but Grace
will ultimately win the victory in all who believe in Jesus.
21. That as sin has reigned unto death, even so might Grace reign
through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. The
drift of the whole chapter is to comfort Believers in the time of
trouble by the fact of the great love of God to them in the Person of
Jesus Christ their Lord and Savior.