For Whom Did Christ Die?

Delivered on Lord's-Day Morning, September 6th, 1874, by

C. H. SPURGEON,

At the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington

Christ died for the ungodly.''Romans 5:6.

In this verse the human race is described as a sick man, whose disease
is so far advanced that he is altogether without strength: no power
remains in his system to throw off his mortal malady, nor does he
desire to do so; he could not save himself from his disease if he
would, and would not if he could. I have no doubt that the apostle had
in his eye the description of the helpless infant given by the prophet
Ezekiel; it was an infant'an infant newly born'an infant deserted by
its mother before the necessary offices of tenderness had been
performed; left unwashed, unclothed, unfed, a prey to certain death
under the most painful circumstances, forlorn, abandoned, hopeless. Our
race is like the nation of Israel, its whole head is sick, and its
whole heart faint. Such, unconverted men, are you! Only there is this
darker shade in your picture, that your condition is not only your
calamity, but your fault. In other diseases men are grieved at their
sickness, but this is the worst feature in your case, that you love the
evil which is destroying you. In addition to the pity which your case
demands, no little blame must be measured out to you: you are without
will for that which is good, your cannot' means will not,' your
inability is not physical but moral, not that of the blind who cannot
see for want of eyes, but of the willingly ignorant who refuse to look.

While man is in this condition Jesus interposes for his salvation. When
we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly';
while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us,' according to his great
love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses and
sins.' The pith of my sermon will be an endeavour to declare that the
reason of Christ's dying for us did not lie in our excellence; but
where sin abounded grace did much more abound, for the persons for whom
Jesus died were viewed by him as the reverse of good, and he came into
the world to save those who are guilty before God, or, in the words of
our text, Christ died for the ungodly.'

Now to our business. We shall dwell first upon the fact'Christ died for
the ungodly'; then we shall consider the fair inferences therefrom;
and, thirdly, proceed to think and speak of the proclamation of this
simple but wondrous truth.

First, here is THE FACT''Christ died for the ungodly.' Never did the
human ear listen to a more astounding and yet cheering truth. Angels
desire to look into it, and if men were wise they would ponder it night
and day. Jesus, the Son of God, himself God over all, the infinitely
glorious One, Creator of heaven and earth, out of love to me stooped to
become a man and die. Christ, the thrice holy God, the pure-hearted
man, in whom there was no sin and could be none, espoused the cause of
the wicked. Jesus, whose doctrine makes deadly war on sin, whose Spirit
is the destroyer of evil, whose whole self abhors iniquity, whose
second advent will prove his indignation against transgression, yet
undertook the cause of the impious, and even unto death pursued their
salvation. The Christ of God, though he had no part or lot in the fall
and the sin which has arisen out of it, has died to redeem us from its
penalty, and, like the psalmist, he can cry, Then I restored that which
I took not away.' Let all holy beings judge whether this is not the
miracle of miracles!

Christ, the name given to our Lord, is an expressive word; it means
Anointed One,' and indicates that he was sent upon a divine errand,
commissioned by supreme authority. The Lord Jehovah said of old, I have
laid help upon one that is mighty, I have exalted one chosen out of the
people'; and again, I have given him as a covenant to the people, a
leader and commander to the people.' Jesus was both set apart to this
work, and qualified for it by the anointing of the Holy Ghost. He is no
unauthorised saviour, no amateur deliverer, but an ambassador clothed
with unbounded power from the great King, a Redeemer with full
credentials from the Father. It is this ordained and appointed Saviour
who has died for the ungodly.' Remember this, ye ungodly! Consider well
who it was that came to lay down his life for such as you are.

The text says Christ died. He did a great deal besides dying, but the
crowning act of his career of love for the ungodly, and that which
rendered all the rest available to them, was his death for them. He
actually gave up the ghost, not in fiction, but in fact. He laid down
his life for us, breathing out his soul, even as other men do when they
expire. That it might be indisputably clear that he was really dead,
his heart was pierced with the soldier's spear, and forthwith came
there out blood and water. The Roman governor would not have allowed
the body to be removed from the cross had he not been duly certified
that Jesus was indeed dead. His relatives and friends who wrapped him
in linen and laid him in Joseph's tomb, were sorrowfully sure that all
that lay before them was a corpse. The Christ really died, and in
saying that, we mean that he suffered all the pangs incident to death;
only he endured much more and worse, for his was a death of peculiar
pain and shame, and was not only attended by the forsaking of man, but
by the departure of his God. That cry, My God, my God! why hast thou
forsaken me?' was the innermost blackness of the thick darkness of
death.

Our Lord's death was penal, inflicted upon him by divine justice; and
rightly so, for on him lay our iniquities, and therefore on him must
lay the suffering. It pleased the Father to bruise him; he hath put him
to grief.' He died under circumstances which made his death most
terrible. Condemned to a felon's gibbet, he was crucified amid a mob of
jesters, with few sympathising eyes to gaze upon him; he bore the gaze
of malice and the glance of scorn; he was hooted and jeered by a ribald
throng, who were cruelly inventive in their taunts and blasphemies.
There he hung, bleeding from many wounds, exposed to the sun, burning
with fever, and devoured with thirst, under every circumstance of
contumely, pain, and utter wretchedness; his death was of all deaths
the most deadly death, and emphatically Christ died.'

But the pith of the text comes here, that Christ died for the ungodly;
not for the righteous, not for the reverent and devout, but for the
ungodly. Look at the original word, and you will find that it has the
meaning of impious, irreligious, and wicked.' Our translation is by no
means too strong, but scarcely expressive enough. To be ungodly, or
godless, is to be in a dreadful state, but as use has softened the
expression, perhaps you will see the sense more clearly if I read it,
Christ died for the impious, for those who have no reverence for God.
Christ died for the godless, who, having cast off God, cast off with
him all love for that which is right. I do not know a word that could
more fitly describe the most irreligious of mankind than the original
word in this place, and I believe it is used on purpose by the Spirit
of God to convey to us the truth, which we are always slow to receive,
that Christ did not die because men were good, or would be good, but
died for them as ungodly'or, in other words, he came to seek and to
save that which was lost.'

Observe, then, that when the Son of God determined to die for men, he
viewed them as ungodly, and far from God by wicked works. In casting
his eye over our race he did not say, Here and there I see spirits of
nobler mould, pure, truthful, truth-seeking, brave, disinterested, and
just; and therefore, because of these choice ones, I will die for this
fallen race.' No; but looking on them all, he whose judgment is
infallible returned this verdict, They are all gone out of the way;
they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good,
no, not one.' Putting them down at that estimate, and nothing better,
Christ died for them. He did not please himself with some rosy dream of
a superior race yet to come, when the age of iron should give place to
the age of gold,'some halcyon period of human development, in which
civilisation would banish crime, and wisdom would conduct man back to
God. Full well he knew that, left to itself, the world would grow worse
and worse, and that by its very wisdom it would darken its own eyes. It
was not because a golden age would come by natural progress, but just
because such a thing was impossible, unless he died to procure it, that
Jesus died for a race which, apart from him, could only develop into
deeper damnation. Jesus viewed us as we really were, not as our pride
fancies us to be; he saw us to be without God, enemies of our own
Creator, dead in trespasses and sins, corrupt, and set on mischief, and
even in our occasional cry for good, searching for it with blinded
judgment and prejudiced heart, so that we put bitter for sweet and
sweet for bitter. He saw that in us was no good thing, but every
possible evil, so that we were lost,'utterly, helplessly, hopelessly
lost apart from him: yet viewing us as in that graceless and Godless
plight and condition, he died for us.

I would have you remember that the view under which Jesus beheld us was
not only the true one, but, for us, the kindly one; because had it been
written that Christ died for the better sort, then each troubled spirit
would have inferred he died not for me.' Had the merit of his death
been the perquisite of honesty, where would have been the dying thief?
If of chastity, where the woman that loved much? If of courageous
fidelity, how would it have fared with the apostles, for they all
forsook him and fled? There are times when the bravest man trembles
lest he should be found a coward, the most disinterested frets about
the selfishness of his heart, and the most pure is staggered by his own
impurity; where, then, would have been hope for one of us, if the
gospel had been only another form of law, and the benefits of the cross
had been reserved as the rewards of virtue? The gospel does not come to
us as a premium for virtue, but it presents us with forgiveness for
sin. It is not a reward for health, but a medicine for sickness.
Therefore, to meet all cases, it puts us down at our worst, and, like
the good Samaritan with the wounded traveller, it comes to us where we
are. Christ died for the impious' is a great net which takes in even
the leviathan sinner; and of all the creeping sinners innumerable which
swarm the sea of sin, there is not one kind which this great net does
not encompass.

Let us note well that in this condition lay the need of our race that
Christ should die. I do not see how it could have been written Christ
died for the good.' To what end for the good? Why need they his death?
If men are perfect, does God need to be reconciled to them? Was he ever
opposed to holy beings? Impossible! On the other hand, were the good
ever the enemies of God? If such there be are they not of necessity his
friends? If man be by nature just with God, to what end should the
Saviour die? The just for the unjust I can understand; but the just
dying for the just' were a double injustice'an injustice that the just
should be punished at all, and another injustice that the just should
be punished for them. Oh no! If Christ died, it must be because there
was a penalty to be paid for sin committed, hence he must have died for
those who had committed the sin. If Christ died, it must have been
because a fountain filled with blood' was necessary for the cleansing
away of heinous stains; hence, it must have been for those who are
defiled. Suppose there should be found anywhere in this world an
unfallen man'perfectly innocent of all actual sin, and free from any
tendency to it, there would be a superfluity of cruelty in the
crucifixion of the innocent Christ for such an individual. What need
has he that Christ should die for him, when he has in his own innocence
the right to live? If there be found beneath the copes of heaven an
individual who, notwithstanding some former slips and flaws, can yet,
by future diligence, completely justify himself before God, then it is
clear that there is no need for Christ to die for him. I would not
insult him by telling him that Christ died for him, for he would reply
to me, Why should he? Cannot I make myself just without him?' In the
very nature of things it must be so, that if Christ Jesus dies he must
die for the ungodly. Such agonies as his would not have been endured
had there not been a cause, and what cause could there have been but
sin?

Some have said that Jesus died as our example; but that is not
altogether true. Christ's death is not absolutely an example for men,
it was a march into a region of which he said, Ye cannot follow me
now.' His life was our example, but not his death in all respects, for
we are by no means bound to surrender ourselves voluntarily to our
enemies as he did, but when persecuted in one city we are bidden to
flee to another. To be willing to die for the truth is a most Christly
thing, and in that Jesus is our example; but into the winepress which
he trod it is not ours to enter, the voluntary element which was
peculiar to his death renders it inimitable. He said, I lay down my
life of myself; no man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself.'
One word of his would have delivered him from his foes; he had but to
say Begone!' and the Roman guards must have fled like chaff before the
wind. He died because he willed to do so; of his own accord he yielded
up his spirit to the Father. It must have been as an atonement for the
guilty; it could not have been as an example, for no man is bound
voluntarily to die. Both the dictates of nature, and the command of the
law, require us to preserve our lives. Thou shalt not kill' means Thou
shalt not voluntarily give up thine own life any more than take the
life of another.' Jesus stood in a special position, and therefore he
died; but his example would have been complete enough without his
death, had it not been for the peculiar office which he had undertaken.
We may fairly conclude that Christ died for men who needed such a
death; and, as the good did not need it for an example'and in fact it
is not an example to them'he must have died for the ungodly.

The sum of our text is this'all the benefits resulting from the
Redeemer's passion, and from all the works that followed upon it, are
for those who by nature are ungodly. His gospel is that sinners
believing in him are saved. His sacrifice has put away sin from all who
trust him, and, therefore, it was offered for those who had sin upon
them before. He rose again for our justification,' but certainly not
for the justification of those who can be justified by their own works.
He ascended on high, and we are told that he received gifts for men,
yea, for the rebellious also.' He lives to intercede, and Isaiah tells
us that He made intercession for the transgressors.' The aim of his
death, resurrection, ascension, and eternal life, is towards the sinful
sons of men. His death has brought pardon, but it cannot be pardon for
those who have no sin'pardon is only for the guilty. He is exalted on
high to give repentance,' but surely not to give repentance to those
who have never sinned, and have nothing to repent of. Repentance and
remission both imply previous guilt in those who receive them: unless,
then, these gifts of the exalted Saviour are mere shams and
superfluities, they must be meant for the really guilty. From his side
there flowed out water as well as blood'the water is intended to
cleanse polluted nature, then certainly not the nature of the sinless,
but the nature of the impure; and so both blood and water flowed for
sinners who need the double purification. To-day the Holy Spirit
regenerates men as the result of the Redeemer's death; and who can be
regenerated but those who need a new heart and a right spirit? To
regenerate the already pure and innocent were ridiculous; regeneration
is a work which creates life where there was formerly death, gives a
heart of flesh to those whose hearts were originally stone, and
implants the love of holiness where sin once had sole dominion.
Conversion is also another gift, which comes through his death, but
does he turn those whose faces are already in the right direction? It
cannot be. He converts the sinner from the error of his ways, he turns
the disobedient into the right way, he leads back the stray sheep to
the fold. Adoption is another gift which comes to us by the cross. Does
the Lord adopt those who are already his sons by nature? If children
already, what room is there for adoption? No; but the grand act of
divine love is that which takes those who are children of wrath even as
others,' and by sovereign grace puts them among the children, and makes
them heirs of God, joint heirs with Jesus Christ.'

To-day I see the Good Shepherd in all the energy of his mighty love,
going forth into the dreadful wilderness. For whom is he gone forth?
For the ninety and nine who feed at home? No, but into the desert his
love sends him, over hill and dale, to seek the one lost sheep which
has gone astray. Behold, I see him arousing his church, like a good
housewife, to cleanse her house. With the besom of the law she sweeps,
and with the candle of the word she searches, and what for? For those
bright new coined pieces fresh from the mint, which glitter safely in
her purse? Assuredly not, but for that lost piece which has rolled away
into the dust, and lies hidden in the dark corner. And lo! grandest of
all visions! I see the Eternal Father, himself, in the infinity of his
love, going forth in haste to meet a returning child. And whom does he
go to meet? The elder brother returning from the field, bringing his
sheaves with him? An Esau, who has brought him savoury meat such as his
soul loveth? A Joseph whose godly life has made him lord over all
Egypt? Nay, the Father leaves his home to meet a returning prodigal,
who has companied with harlots, and grovelled among swine, who comes
back to him in disgraceful rags, and disgusting filthiness! It is on a
sinner's neck that the Father weeps; it is on a guilty cheek that he
sets his kisses; it is for an unworthy one that the fatted calf is
killed, and the best robe is worn, and the house is made merry with
music and with dancing. Yes, tell it, and let it ring round earth and
heaven, Christ died for the ungodly. Mercy seeks the guilty, grace has
to do with the impious, the irreligious and the wicked. The physician
has not come to heal the healthy, but to heal the sick. The great
philanthropist has not come to bless the rich and the great, but the
captive and the prisoner. He puts down the mighty from their seats, for
he is a stern leveller, but he has come to lift the beggar from the
dunghill, and to set him among princes, even the princes of his people.
Sing ye, then, with the holy Virgin, and let your song be loud and
sweet,''He hath filled the hungry with good things, but the rich he
hath sent empty away.' This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all
acceptation, that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners.' He
is able to save to the uttermost them that come unto God by him, seeing
he ever liveth to make intercession for them.' O ye guilty ones,
believe in him and live.

II. Let us now consider THE PLAIN INFERENCES FROM THIS FACT. Let me
have your hearts as well as your ears, especially those of you who are
not yet saved, for I desire you to be blessed by the truths uttered;
and oh, may the Spirit of God cause it to be so. It is clear that those
of you who are ungodly'and if you are unconverted you are that'are in
great danger. Jesus would not interpose his life and bear the bloody
sweat and crown of thorns, and nails, and spear, and scorn unmitigated,
and death itself, if there were not solemn need and imminent peril.
There is danger, solemn danger, for you. You are under the wrath of God
already, and you will soon die, and then, as surely as you live, you
will be lost, and lost forever; as certain as the righteous will enter
into everlasting life, you will be driven into everlasting punishment.
The cross is the danger signal to you, it warns you that if God spared
not his only Son, he will not spare you. It is the lighthouse set on
the rocks of sin to warn you that swift and sure destruction awaits you
if you continue to rebel against the Lord. Hell is an awful place, or
Jesus had not needed to suffer such infinite agonies to save us from
it.

It is also fairly to be inferred that out of this danger only Christ
can deliver the ungodly, and he only through his death. If a less price
than that of the life of the Son of God could have redeemed men, he
would have been spared. When a country is at war, and you see a mother
give up her only boy to fight her country's battles'her only
well-beloved, blameless son'you know that the battle must be raging
very fiercely, and that the country is in stern danger: for, if she
could find a substitute for him, though she gave all her wealth, she
would lavish it freely to spare her darling. If she were certain that
in his heart a bullet would find its target, she must have strong love
for her country, and her country must be in dire necessity ere she
would bid him go. If, then, God spared not his Son, but freely
delivered him up for us all,' there must have been a dread necessity
for it. It must have stood thus: die he, or the sinner must, or justice
must; and since justice could not, and the Father desired that the
sinner should not, then Christ must; and so he did. Oh, miracle of
love! I tell you, sinners, you cannot help yourselves, nor can all the
priests of Rome or Oxford help you, let them perform their antics as
they may; Jesus alone can save, and that only by his death. There on
the bloody tree hangs all man's hope; if you enter heaven it must be by
force of the incarnate God's bleeding out his life for you. You are in
such peril that only the pierced hand can lift you out of it. Look to
him, at once, I pray you, ere the proud waters go over your soul.

Then let it be noticed'and this is the point I want constantly to keep
before your view'that Jesus died out of pure pity. He must have died
out of the most gratuitous benevolence to the undeserving, because the
character of those for whom he died could not have attracted him, but
must have been repulsive to his holy soul. The impious, the godless'can
Christ love these for their character? No, he loved them
notwithstanding their offences, loved them as creatures fallen and
miserable, loved them according to the multitude of his
loving-kindnesses and tender mercies, from pity, and not from
admiration. Viewing them as ungodly, yet he loved them. This is
extraordinary love! I do not wonder that some persons are loved by
others, for they wear a potent charm in their countenances, their ways
are winsome, and their characters charm you into affection; but God
commendeth his love towards us in that while we were yet sinners Christ
died for us.' He looked at us, and there was not a solitary beauty spot
upon us: we were covered with wounds, and bruises, and putrefying
sores,' distortions, defilements, and pollutions; and yet, for all
that, Jesus loved us. He loved us because he would love us; because his
heart was full of pity, and he could not let us perish. Pity moved him
to seek the most needy objects that his love might display its utmost
ability in lifting men from the lowest degradation, and putting them in
the highest position of holiness and honour.

Observe another inference. If Christ died for the ungodly, this fact
leaves the ungodly no excuse if they do not come to him, and believe in
him unto salvation. Had it been otherwise they might have pleaded, We
are not fit to come.' But you are ungodly, and Christ died for the
ungodly, why not for you? I hear the reply, But I have been so very
vile.' Yes, you have been impious, but your sin is not worse than this
word ungodly will compass. Christ died for those who were wicked,
thoroughly wicked. The Greek word is so expressive that it must take in
your case, however wrongly you have acted. But I cannot believe that
Christ died for such as I am,' says one. Then, sir, mark! I hold you to
your words, and charge you with contradicting the Eternal God to his
teeth, and making him a liar. Your statement gives God the lie. The
Lord declares that Christ died for the ungodly,' and you say he did
not, what is that but to make God a liar? How can you expect mercy if
you persist in such proud unbelief? Believe the divine revelation.
Close in at once with the gospel. Forsake your sins and believe in the
Lord Jesus, and you shall surely live. The fact that Christ died for
the ungodly renders self-righteousness a folly. Why need a man pretend
that he is good if Christ died for the ungodly?' We have an orphanage,
and the qualification for our orphanage is that the child for whom
admission is sought shall be utterly destitute. I will suppose a widow
trying to show to me and my fellow trustees that her boy is a fitting
object for the charity; will she tell us that her child has a rich
uncle? Will she enlarge upon her own capacities for earning a living?
Why, this would be to argue against herself, and she is much too wise
for that, I warrant you, for she knows that any such statements would
damage rather than serve her cause. So, sinner, do not pretend to be
righteous, do not dream that you are better than others, for that is to
argue against yourself. Prove that you are not by nature ungodly, and
you prove yourself to be one for whom Jesus did not die. Jesus comes to
make the ungodly godly, and the sinful holy, but the raw material upon
which he works is described in the text not by its goodness but by its
badness; it is for the ungodly that Jesus died. Oh, but if I felt!'
Felt what? Felt something which would make you better? Then you would
not so clearly come under the description here given. If you are
destitute of good feelings, and thoughts, and hopes, and emotions, you
are ungodly, and Christ died for the ungodly.' Believe in him and you
shall be saved from that ungodliness.

Well,' cries out some Pharisaic moralist, this is dangerous doctrine.'
How so? Would it be dangerous doctrine to say that physicians exercise
their skill to cure sick people and not healthy ones? Would that
encourage sickness? Would that discourage health? You know better; you
know that to inform the sick of a physician who can heal them is one of
the best means for promoting their cure. If ungodly and impious men
would take heart and run to the Saviour, and by him become cured of
impiety and ungodliness, would not that be a good thing? Jesus has come
to make the ungodly godly, the impious pious, the wicked obedient, and
the dishonest upright. He has not come to save them in their sins, but
from their sins; and this is the best of news for those who are
diseased with sin. Self-righteousness is a folly, and despair is a
crime, since Christ died for the ungodly. None are excluded hence but
those who do themselves exclude; this great gate is set so wide open
that the very worst of men may enter, and you, dear hearer, may enter
now.

I think it is also very evident from our text that when they are saved,
the converted find no ground of boasting; for when their hearts are
renewed and made to love God they cannot say, See how good I am,'
because they were not so by nature; they were ungodly, and, as such,
Christ died for them. Whatever goodness there may be in them after
conversion they ascribe it to the grace of God, since by nature they
were alienated from God, and far removed from righteousness. If the
truth of natural depravity be but known and felt, free grace must be
believed in, and then all glorying is at an end.

This will also keep the saved ones from thinking lightly of sin. If God
had forgiven sinners without an atonement they might have thought
little of transgression, but now that pardon comes to them through the
bitter griefs of their Redeemer they cannot but see it to be an
exceeding great evil. When we look to Jesus dying on the cross we end
our dalliance with sin, and utterly abhor the cause of so great
suffering to so dear a Saviour. Every wound of Jesus is an argument
against sin. We never know the full evil of our iniquities till we see
what it cost the Redeemer to put them away.

Salvation by the death of Christ is the strongest conceivable promoter
of all the things which are pure, honest, lovely, and of good report.
It makes sin so loathsome that the saved one cannot take up even its
name without dread. I will take away the name of Baalim out of thy
mouth.' He looks upon it as we should regard a knife rusted with gore,
wherewith some villain had killed our mother, our wife, or child. Could
we play with it? Could we bear it about our persons or endure it in our
sight? No, accursed thing! stained with the heart's blood of my
beloved, I would fain fling thee into the bottomless abyss! Sin is that
dagger which stabbed the Saviour's heart, and henceforth it must be the
abomination of every man who has been redeemed by the atoning
sacrifice.

To close this point. Christ's death for the ungodly is the grandest
argument to make the ungodly love him when they are saved. To love
Christ is the mainspring of obedience in men'how shall men be led to
love him? If you would grow love, you must sow love. Go, then; and let
men know the love of Christ to sinners, and they will, by grace, be
moved to love him in return. No doubt all of us require to know the
threatenings of the wrath of God; but that which soonest touches my
heart is Christ's free love to an unworthy one like myself. When my
sins seem blackest to me, and yet I know that through Christ's death I
am forgiven, this blest assurance melts me down.

If thou hadst bid thy thunders roll,

And lightnings flash, to blast my soul.

I still had stubborn been;

But mercy has my heart subdued,

A bleeding Saviour I have view'd,

And now I hate my sin.'

I have heard of a soldier who had been put in prison for drunkenness
and insubordination several times and he had been also flogged, but
nothing improved him. At last he was taken in the commission of another
offence, and brought before the commanding officer, who said to him, My
man, I have tried everything in the martial code with you, except
shooting you; you have been imprisoned and whipped, but nothing has
changed you. I am determined to try something else with you. You have
caused us a great deal of trouble and anxiety, and you seem resolved to
do so still; I shall, therefore, change my plans with you, and I shall
neither fine you, flog you, nor imprison you; I will see what kindness
will do, and therefore I fully and freely forgive you.' The man burst
into tears, for he reckoned on a round number of lashes, and had
steeled himself to bear them, but when he found he was to be forgiven,
and set free, he said, Sir, you shall not have to find fault with me
again.' Mercy won his heart. Now, sinner, in that fashion God is
dealing with you. Great sinners! Ungodly sinners! God says, My thoughts
are not your thoughts, neither are my ways your ways. I have threatened
you, and you hardened your hearts against me. Therefore, come now, and
let us reason together: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be
as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as
wool.' Well,' says one, I am afraid if you talk to sinners so they will
go and sin more and more.' Yes, there are brutes everywhere, who can be
so unnatural as to sin because grace abounds, but I bless God there is
such a thing as the influence of love, and I am rejoiced that many feel
the force of it, and yield to the conquering arms of amazing grace. The
Spirit of God wins the day by such arguments as these; love is the
great battering-ram which opens gates of brass. When the Lord says, I
have blotted out thy transgressions like a cloud, and like a thick
cloud thine iniquities,' then the man is moved to repentance.

I can tell you hundreds and thousands of cases in which this infinite
love has done all the good that morality itself could ask to have done;
it has changed the heart and turned the entire current of the man's
nature from sin to righteousness. The sinner has believed, repented,
turned from his evil ways, and become zealous for holiness. Looking to
Jesus he has felt his sin forgiven, and he has started up a new man, to
lead a new life. God grant it may be so this morning, and he shall have
all the glory of it.

III. So now we must close'and this is the last point'THE PROCLAMATION
OF THIS FACT, that Christ died for the ungodly.' I would not mind if I
were condemned to live fifty years more, and never to be allowed to
speak but these five words, if I might be allowed to utter them in the
ear of every man, and woman, and child who lives. CHRIST DIED FOR THE
UNGODLY' is the best message that even angels could bring to men. In
the proclamation of this the whole church ought to take its share.
Those of us who can address thousands should be diligent to cry
aloud''Christ died for the ungodly'; but those of you who can speak to
one, or write a letter to one, must keep on at this''Christ died for
the ungodly.' Shout it out, or whisper it out; print it in capitals, or
write it in a lady's hand''Christ died for the ungodly.' Speak it
solemnly, it is not a thing for jest. Speak it joyfully; it is not a
theme for sorrow, but for joy. Speak it firmly; it is indisputable
fact. Facts of science, as they call them, are always questioned: this
is unquestionable. Speak it earnestly; for if there be any truth which
ought to arouse all a man's soul it is this: Christ died for the
ungodly.' Speak it where the ungodly live, and that is at your own
house. Speak it also down in the dark corners of the city, in the
haunts of debauchery, in the home of the thief, in the den to the
depraved. Tell it in the gaol; and sit down at the dying bed and read
in a tender whisper''Christ died for the ungodly.' When you pass the
harlot in the street, do not give a toss with that proud head of yours,
but remember that Christ died for the ungodly'; and when you recollect
those that injured you, say no bitter word, but hold your tongue, and
remember Christ died for the ungodly.' Make this henceforth the message
of your life''Christ died for the ungodly.'

And, oh, dear friends, you that are not saved, take care that you
receive this message. Believe it. Go to God with this on your
tongue''Lord save me, for Christ died for the ungodly, and I am of
them.' Fling yourself right on to this as a man commits himself to his
lifebelt amid the surging billows. But I do not feel,' says one. Trust
not your feelings if you do; but with no feelings and no hopes of your
own, cling desperately to this, Christ died for the ungodly.' The
transforming, elevating, spiritualising, moralising, sanctifying power
of this great fact you shall soon know and be no more ungodly; but
first, as ungodly, rest you on this, Christ died for the ungodly.'
Accept this truth, my dear hearer, and you are saved. I do not mean
merely that you will be pardoned, I do not mean that you will enter
heaven, I mean much more; I mean that you will have a new heart; you
will be saved from the love of sin, saved from drunkenness, saved from
uncleanness, saved from blasphemy, saved from dishonesty. Christ died
for the ungodly''if that be really known and trusted in, it will open
in your soul new springs of living water which will cleanse the Augean
stable of your nature, and make a temple of God of that which was
before a den of thieves. Trust in the mercy of God through the death of
Jesus Christ, and a new era in your life's history will at once
commence.

Having put this as plainly as I know how, and having guarded my speech
to prevent there being anything like a flowery sentence in it, having
tried to put this as clearly as daylight itself,'that Christ died for
the ungodly,' if your ears refuse the precious boons that come through
the dying Christ, your blood be on your own heads, for there is no
other way of salvation for any one among you. Whether you reject or
accept this, I am clear. But oh! do not reject it, for it is your life.
If the Son of God dies for sinners, and sinners reject his blood, they
have committed the most heinous offence possible. I will not venture to
affirm, but I do suggest that the devils in hell are not capable of so
great a stretch of criminality as is involved in the rejection of the
sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Here lies the highest love. The incarnate
God bleeds to death to save men, and men hate God so much that they
will not even have him as he dies to save them. They will not be
reconciled to their Creator, though he stoops from his loftiness to the
depths of woe in the person of his Son on their behalf. This is
depravity indeed, and desperateness of rebellion. God grant you may not
be guilty of it. There can be no fiercer flame of wrath than that which
will break forth from love that has been trampled upon, when men have
put from them eternal life, and done despite to the Lamb of God. Oh,'
says one, would God I could believe!' Sir, what difficulty is there in
it? Is it hard to believe the truth? Darest thou belie thy God? Art
thou steeling thy heart to such desperateness that thou wilt call thy
God a liar?' No; I believe Christ died for the ungodly,' says one, but
I want to know how to get the merit of that death applied to my own
soul.' Thou mayest, then, for here it is''He that believeth in him,'
that is, he that trusts in him, is not condemned.' Here is the gospel
and the whole of it''He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved:
he that believeth not shall be damned.'

I am a poor weak man like yourselves, but my gospel is not weak; and it
would be no stronger if one of the mailed cherubim, or sworded
seraphim' could take the platform and stand here instead of me. He
could tell to you no better news. God, in condescension to your
weakness, has chosen one of your fellow mortals to bear to you this
message of infinite affection. Do not reject it! By your souls' value,
by their immortality, by the hope of heaven and by the dread of hell,
lay hold upon eternal life; and by the fear that this may be your last
day on earth, yea, and this evening your last hour, I do beseech you
now, steal away to Jesus.' There is life in a look at the crucified
one; there is life at this moment for you. Look to him now and live.
Amen.

PORTIONS OF SCRIPTURE READ BEFORE SERMON'Ezekiel 16:1-14; Romans
5:1-11.

HYMNS FROM OUR OWN HYMN BOOK'174, 502 (v. 4, 5, 6), 553.
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