Christ Died for the Ungodly
Romans 5:6 

Introduction

Paul’s writes, “For a good man someone might possibly dare to die, but God demonstrated his love for us in this; while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” 

What an incredible statement that is! Christ died for you, me, Daniel – not because we are the good man for whom someone might possibly dare to die.  Rather we are the reverse of good.  Christ died for the ungodly. 

I.                    The fact of Christ’s death.

A.     “The Christ” died.

I notice that Paul is very careful here to use the title that goes with the office which Jesus holds.  There are lots of offices in life and each office has a title that goes with it.  There is the highest office in the land – the office of the President of the United States and the who fills that office, regardless of what his personal name is, is called – The President. 

Likewise, each state has an office of Governor and though the personal names may change, the person who holds that office is called – The Governor.  In the Church there is the office of the ministry and the title of the person who fills that office is –The Pastor.  In the home there is the office of the parent and the ones who hold those offices are called – The Mother and the Father. 

In Israel there were three offices that were filled by a variety of people throughout history.  There was the office of Prophet, Priest and King.   

The Prophets taught the people about God.  The Priest made sacrifice for the sins of the people and the King governed the people.  The history of Israel documents many different individuals who filled those three offices.  Names like Elijah, Isaiah, Jeremiah were prophets.  Samuel and Aaron were Priests.  David, Solomon were great Kings. 

But all of Israel knew that one day there would come one man who would fill all three of those offices at the same time.  He would be the Prophet, Priest and King. And title that was to be given to this most unique individual, of which there would only ever be one, would be – The Christ. 

The Christ would be the prophet par-excellence who would teach the world about God in such a perfect way that He could say, “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.  I and the Father are one.” 

He would be the king par-excellence who would govern the world with perfect justice and perfect truth in such a way that He could say, “Come, follow me.  I am the way, the truth and the life.” 

He would be the priest par-excellence who would offer Himself as that one sacrifice for sin that would be the substitute for all who sin so that John the Baptist may rightly proclaim, “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” 

Now common sense would tell us that by virtue of the worthiness of the person who fills this office – and furthermore by the high esteem of the office itself, the Christ would live for the worthy, the most righteous, the most cooperative, the most law abiding, God-loving, peace-keeping, self giving, good people.  But Paul warns us here to put aside all common sense and reason because The Christ did not live for the good man – He died for the ungodly. 

B.    The Ungodly

The ungodly are those who are unrighteous, rebellious, unlawful, wicked, trouble-making, self-centered and God-hating people. 

I came across a good description of ungodliness in the Waterville Sentinel on March 16, 1999 in a little article called, “Man Sues God.” The article read as follows: 

“A Pennsylvania man’s lawsuit naming God as a defendant has been thrown out by a court in Syracuse.  Donald Drusky, 63 of East McKeesport, Pa, blames God for failing to bring him justice in a 30-year battle against his former employer, the steelmaker now called USX Corp.  The company fired him in 1968, when it was called U.S. Steel.  The suit by Drusky against God reads,   “The defendant God is the sovereign ruler of the universe and took no corrective action against the leaders of his church and his nation for their extremely serious wrongs, which ruined the life of Donald S. Drusky.”  Drusky wanted God to return his youth and grant him the guitar-playing skills of famous guitarists, along with resurrecting his mother and his pet pigeon.  Drusky argued that if God failed to appear in court, federal rules of civil procedure say his must lose by default.  U.S. District Judge Norman Mordue last week found the suit – which also named Ronald Reagan and George Bush, the television networks, all 50 states, every single American, all federal judges, and the 100^th through 105^th congresses as defendants – to be frivolous.” 

This arrogant ungodliness was described very accurately by C. S. Lewis several decades ago.  Lewis noted that “ancient man approached God as the accused person approached the judge.  For the modern man the roles are reversed and now he is the judge and God is on the stand and it is God who must explain himself and His actions.  Oh, man may be a kind judge and if God can give a reasonable excuse for allowing war, poverty, and disease, he is ready to listen to it.  The trial may even end in God’s acquittal.  But the important thing is that it is man who is the judge and God who is the accused and on trial.”  (God in the Dock.   Eerdmans.  1970. P.244). 

I’m not so sure that the ancient man was any better however for isn’t that precisely what men and women did to the Christ when they tired him both in the civil courts before the governor Pilate and in the religious courts before the High Priest Caiaphas.  Men and women sat at the bench and judged the Christ and declared Him guilty by their verdict – “Crucify Him,  Crucify Him.” 

These are the very ungodly men and women whom the Christ died for and they are you and me.  You and I may not see ourselves that way but the Christ does.  Christ sees us as we really are and not as our pride says we are.  He sees us on our own and without God; enemies of our own Creator; dead in trespasses and sin;  corrupt through and through; hearts set on evil continually  and even when we occasionally try to do what is good we do it with blinded judgement and a prejudiced heart – or as St. Matthew reminds us, “Like sheep without a shepherd.” 

This kind of description of the human condition makes us cringe and we don’t like to hear this.  Robert Schuller would object and say we need to get rid of that medieval notion of sin.  Shirley McClain would ridicule and claim that men and women are basically good and it’s just a matter of getting in touch with the goodness inside you.  The common man and woman today may agree with parts of this assessment but then quickly add that if God is really love – none of this should bother Him much. 

But would it offend you beyond repair if I were to tell you that the one I’ve had in mind as I described the human condition as ‘enemy of God,’ ‘dead in trespasses and sin,’ ‘corrupt,’ ‘blind,’ and ‘prejudice is Daniel? 

Not Daniel we shudder!  He’s just an infant.  So innocent, so pure.   Yet,  isn’t this what David meant when he wrote, “Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.”  (Ps.51:5).  In another Psalm David says, “Even from birth the wicked go astray;  from the womb they are wayward and speak lies.”  (Psalm 58:3). 

Now before you object too loudly to this harsh assessment of this beautiful infant, let me remind you that this is not only the truest assessment of him, but it is also the kindest assessment that one can make of him.  For if Daniel is ungodly – then Christ died for him because Christ died for the ungodly.  And if Christ died for Daniel, then all his sins are forgiven, then he is a child of God, then he is a child with a future and a hope.  

 The whole reason that Daniel’s parents have brought him to Baptism is not because he’s such a beautiful baby or because he’s so innocent, or because he has the potential to become a lover of God and follow Him. 

No!  At just the right time while he was still powerless, as powerless as an infant, Christ died for Daniel and all the benefits of Christ’s death – forgiveness, new life and salvation, have been given to him through Baptism. 

II.                  By Grace for All.

A.     God’s grace to the ungodly.

It is the same for all who believe and are baptized of whatever age.  Christ died for the ungodly and that is you and me.  What a welcome word that is to all of us.  For if Christ had died for those who were righteous or good or of some potential to be either, then anytime our lives ran into any kind of trouble, the only inference we could honestly draw is that he did not die for me. 

If Christ had died for the honest, the thief crucified with Jesus would never have heard him say, “Today, you will be with me in paradise.”  If He had died for the sexually pure, the woman caught in adultery would never have heard Jesus say to her, “Neither do I condemn you.  Go and sin no more.”  If Christ had died for the firm in faith, none of His own disciples would be saved for they all abandoned him and ran away.   

B.    New Light On The Grace of God.

Doesn’t all of this put a new light on the grace of God? Christ handed Himself over to death out of pure pity for the thief, and the adulteress, and the disciples, and Daniel, and you and me.  It was solely His love for humanity that moved Him to this act of greatest love – because the character of those whom He died for could not have attracted him. 

This is the attitude of Jesus that Matthew describes in our gospel today.  When Jesus saw the crowds, he had compassion for them.  Why?  Not because He admired them but because they were harassed and helpless like sheep without a shepherd. 

It is not admiration for men and women that caused God to send His Son into this world to die but because God so loved the world – He sent His Son. The point we all want to understand here is that the gospel is not a prize we win for our virtue  - it is the forgiveness of our sins.  It is not a reward for health but the medicine we need because we are sick. 

            B.  New Light On the Seriousness of Sin.

Doesn’t all of this also put a new light on the seriousness of our sin.  If God had forgiven us without killing His Son on the cross, we might be able to take our sin lightly.  But since the pardon for all our sin comes through the bitter sufferings and death of the Christ, we can no longer take our sin lightly. 

When we look at Jesus dying on the cross for Daniel, me, you – we must end our dabbling around in sin as if it did no one any harm.   Every wound of that is inflicted upon the Christ is an argument against sin for it is our sin that has caused those wounds. 

A 6 year old girl was suffering from terminal cancer in it’s final stages.  Tubes ran in and out of her tiny frame and she was in constant pain.  Despite all of this, she had a joyful attitude and a wonderful smile which she greeted anyone who would visit her with.  One day however her pastor visited her and noticed that she was not in her usual cheerful state.  He thought it must be due to the pain and advanced stages of the cancer.   The girl began to cry.  “What’ the matter,” asked the pastor.  And the little girl explained the reason for her sadness by saying, “I’m going to get a new body soon in heaven.”  “That’s right,” the pastor assured her.  “But that’s happy news.  Why are you crying?”  And with a wisdom far beyond her years she said, “I’m going to get a new body when I get to heaven, but Jesus will always have the scars.”  (Defner.  “Seasonal Illus.”  P.47). 

The prophet Isaiah saw the same thing and said, “By His stripes we are healed.”  We will never know the full evil of our sin until we see what it cost The Christ to put it away. 

So then,  why on earth would we ever deceive ourselves by saying that we have no sin?  Isn’t that to argue against ourselves if Christ has died for the ungodly?   Rather let us confess our sins for Christ died while we were still sinners.  

And let us turn away from our sins and turn to our Baptism where we have inherited all of the benefits of Christ’s death – forgiveness, new life and salvation  - solely because He loves us.