THE UNDERLYING GOSPEL FOR THE DYING YEAR – Charles Spurgeon
The Underlying Gospel for the Dying Year
Introduction
“For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.” Romans 5:6.
Hope in the Midst of Affliction
Beloved friends, whatever the condition of a child of God, he is not without hope. A believer in the Lord Jesus Christ may be very sorely tried. His afflictions may be multiplied, and they may be very keen, but even in that condition, he has hope. It is not possible for him to be forsaken of God—his God must help him. If the worst comes to the worst, and he is altogether forsaken of men and sees no way of escape out of his tremendous difficulties, still, his God must help him. He has no right whatever to be afraid!
The argument of our text is this—since the Lord Jesus Christ saved us when we were ungodly and came to our rescue when we were without strength, we can never be in a worse condition than that! And if He then did the best thing possible for us, namely, died for us, there is nothing which He will not do. In fact, He will give us all things and He will do all things for us, so as to keep us safely and bear us through.
The argument is that, looking back, we see the great love of God to us in the gift of His dear Son for us when there was nothing good in us—when we were ungodly, when we had no power to produce anything good—for we were without strength. At such a time, even at such a time, Christ came on wings of love and up to the bloody tree He went—and laid down His life for our deliverance! We, therefore, feel confident that He will not leave us, now, and that He will not keep back anything from us whatever we may need.
He has committed Himself to the work of our eternal salvation, and He will not be balked of it. He has already done too much for us to ever run back from His purpose, and, in our worst estate, if we are in that condition tonight, we may still confidently appeal to Him and rest quite sure that He will bring us up even to the heights of joy and safety!
The Three Points of Consolation
There are three grand points of consolation suggested by the text. The first lies in this one line, “Christ died for the ungodly.” The second lies in this sentence, Christ died for us “when we were yet without strength.” And there is a rich vein of comfort in the third statement, that Christ died for us “in due time.” “In due time Christ died for the ungodly.” Time is often a very important element when one is in trouble. In the nick of time Christ came for our deliverance—and so He will again.
First Point of Consolation: Christ Died for the Ungodly
The first point of consolation in our text is this—if any child of God, here, is in sore dismay and bowed down by reason of trouble, fancying that God will leave him—let him first meditate on this word, “CHRIST DIED FOR THE UNGODLY.” I should like to have this sentence put up at the corner of every street, “Christ died for the ungodly.” I am afraid that it would cause a great many observations to be made. Some would kick at it very heavily, but there are others who would leap very joyfully at the sight of it.
“Christ died for the ungodly.” Does it mean what it says? The common notion, not expressed in so many words, but harbored in many minds, is that Christ died for the godly—that Christ died for good people—but the text says, “Christ died for the ungodly.” “This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.” I say again that the current notion, unexpressed but still believed, is that Christ came into the world to save saints. This is not true. He came into the world to save sinners, or, to come back to the very words of the text, “Christ died for the ungodly.”
A Personal Story of Revelation
I remember reading of a young woman who had long been in great distress of conscience. She found comfort from an utterance of Mr. Moody Stuart in prayer, when he quoted these words of my text, “Christ died for the ungodly.” She had never caught at that idea before—she had always been trying to see something good in herself and she thought that if she could spy out some good thing in herself, then she would know that Christ died for her! It was like a new revelation when she really understood that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners and that He “died for the ungodly.”
Now this must be true, for Scripture puts it so plainly, “Christ died for the ungodly.” It must be true for, in the first place, there was nobody else to die for but the ungodly! In this same Epistle, Paul says that all mankind, both Jews and Gentiles, are under sin. As it is written, “There is none righteous, no, not one: there is none that understands, there is none that seeks after God. They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that does good, no, not one.” So he sums us all up with his sweeping condemnation, “None righteous, no, not one.” And so, if Christ had died for anybody, He must have died for the ungodly, since the whole human race has degenerated into that condition!
The Need for Christ’s Death
And that is the state by nature of every man that is born of woman. Some are openly ungodly. Many are religiously ungodly, a very dangerous, because very deceitful, condition—having the form of godliness, but denying the power thereof. This first point is clear, then—Christ must have died for the ungodly since there was nobody else for whom to die.
And, next, only the ungodly needed that He should die for them. If you are godly, if you are good, if you have perfectly kept the Law of God, what have you to do with Christ? You are already saved! In fact, you are not lost, and so you do not need any saving.
If you have kept all the Commandments from your youth up, you may well say, “What do I lack?” If you are so good that you could hardly be better and have a most respectable robe of righteousness of your own in which to appear before God, I ask again, What have you to do with Christ? Why should He die for a man who has not any sins that need washing away?
Christ’s Death for the Ungodly
“Christ died for the ungodly” because nobody but the ungodly needed that He should die for them. There is one point that we must mark, Christ did die for the ungodly. His form of death was just that which the ungodly deserved—He died by sentence of the Law of God. He died nailed to the Cross—He died the death of a felon with a thief on either side of Him. He died in the dark, crying, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken Me?” He died, not as One who had, Himself, sinned, but He died as sinners have to die, for He took upon Himself the sins of the ungodly.
And being found standing in their place, He felt the scourge of God that should have fallen upon the ungodly. Christ really died for the ungodly. They tell us that He died to confirm His testimony, in which respect His death is no better than the death of any martyr who dies to confirm His testimony! But the text says, “Christ died for the ungodly.”
The Argument for Salvation
Now then, I want you, who are the people of God, to pick up the argument out of this Truth of God. If Christ did this crowning act of dying for the ungodly, do you think that He will ever cast away the man who has peace with God?
Read the first verse, again, “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Now, if He died for you when you had no peace with God, when, in fact, you had no God at all—when you were ungodly, that is, not under the influence of God—when you were enemies to God by wicked works, will He not save you now?
If you feel within your heart, tonight, a sweet reconciliation to God, your heavenly Father, then, whatever your trouble is, do not believe that God can leave you! Whatever the deep depression of your spirit, do not imagine that He can forsake you! He that died for you as ungodly will certainly save you, now that you have peace with God through Him.
The Second Point: Christ Died for Us When We Were Yet Without Strength
Now we come to a second well, to see whether we can draw waters of comfort out of it, also. According to our text, CHRIST DIED FOR US, “WHEN WE WERE YET WITHOUT STRENGTH.” I must only say a word or two here, because the time will not allow me to enlarge. First, we were naturally in a lost condition through the Fall when we were born into this world, and we lived in it for years, “without strength” to do that which was right.
When we began to wake up a little to thoughts of God and Divine things, we heard the Truth of God preached, but we were still without power of access even to the Gospel. We were told to repent, but our hard heart would yield no waters of repentance. We were told to believe in Christ—the preacher might as well have commanded the dead to rise out of their graves!
The Power of Christ’s Death for the Powerless
But when we were in that sad state, without one of the Graces which are now our strength, without one of those holy fruits of the Spirit which are now the source of our consolation—even then, “when we were yet without strength,” Christ died for us! When every sinew was snapped, every bone broken, every power gone, life itself evaporated—for we were dead in trespasses and sins—even then Christ died for us!
The Third Point: Christ Died for Us in Due Time
Now I come to the last point, which is also full of consolation. I think that I heard someone heave a deep sigh and say, “Ah! It may be as you say, it may be all true, and I trust that it is, but I am in such trouble that if I do not get help directly, I shall be done for. I have to cry, ‘Make haste, O God, make haste for my help!’ I need a God who can do what David’s God did when ‘He rode upon a cherub and did fly: yes, He did fly upon the wings of the wind.’”
That is the kind of God that you need, yes, and that is the kind of God that you have! He wIll come flying to your deliverance, as I will now try to show you.
Here is the third well of consolation, CHRIST DIED FOR US IN DUE TIME—“In due time Christ died for the ungodly.”
Conclusion
Be of good cheer, and rest assured that He who gave Himself up to die for you, will never lose you, but will keep you even to the end.