WHAT THE CROSS MEANS TO SINNERS: SALVATION OR CONDEMNATION ---

Romans 5:6-21

“6 For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. 8 But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. 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. 11 And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement. 12 Wherefore, 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: 13 (For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law. 14 Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come. 15 But not as the offence, so also is the free gift. For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many. 16 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 offences unto justification. 17 For if by one man's offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.) 18 Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life. 19 For 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 offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound: 21 That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.”

We should be quiet and respectful as we again make our “Cross Examination.” However, it was anything but quiet and respectful the day Jesus died on the cross. It was literally a madhouse. What’s amazing is that out of that scene came “good news.” The word “gospel” (euangelion) means “good news.” We are all acquainted which what good news is, although we don’t hear much of it. Good news for….

...a student at the end of the semester would be, “I passed.”

...a soldier away from home would be, “The war is over, I’m coming home.”

...a young married couple would be, “We’re going to have a baby!”

...a couple with 5 or 6 children would be, “We’re not having another baby.”

...an older person would be, “The doctor said its not cancer.”

All of us like “good news,” but before someone is truly prepared to receive God’s “good news” we must hear and understand and take to heart the “bad news.”

As we continue our “Cross Examination” there are two conclusion to which we come. As we draw near the cross we see… (1) God more clearly. (2) Ourselves more clearly...and its not pretty, is it?

How you taken a good look at yourself lately? And, have you taken a good look at the cross? I will be the first to admit that after years of studying Christ and His cross much of it still remains a mystery. That should not surprise us. If the cross is “the hinge of all history,” if God was doing on that one day what He had never done before or will ever do again, then our finite minds should not expect to take it all in.

However, there are some elements out of the cross that we can easily see clearly.

1. The Gravity of Our Sinfulness.

Nothing reveals the gravity of sin like the cross of Jesus. If there was no way to deal with our sin but by the cross then our sins must be horrible beyond all of our understanding.

Back in 1973 Karl Menninger, hardly a professed Christian, wrote a best-selling book entitled Whatever Became of Sin? If he were to write a follow up 37 years later it would be entitled, Who Said There Is Such A Thing As Sin?

The word “sin” itself has not just fallen on hard time, it has basically fallen completely out of people’s vocabulary and their sense of reality. What was once a settle theological reality has been hijacked by psychology and has been toned down so as not to offend. The Bible uses words like “unrighteousness … iniquity...trespass...transgression...lawlessness.” The modern terms are accident …blunder...lapse...sickness...victims.

We are what we are. We do what we do. And because of who we are and we do what we do, we’re going where we’re going!

Go to the cross. Look closely. Look long. Take it in. Do you see your sinful self there? Do you feel the sting of sin? Do you smell the stench of sin? Do you see the stain of sin? Do you, at least a little, see sin for what it is?

To say to someone, “You do know you are a sinner, don’t you?” you cannot ask or answer that question lightly. It would be like a doctor saying to you, “Well, you know your child has cancer, don’t you” There’s nothing frivolous, nothing light-hearted about that. The way we talk about sin exposes how little we know about sin.

Allow me to say “out loud” what we all know down deep in our hearts.

We are Reprehensible! How does that hit you? “Reprehensible” means “to reprimand; to correct; to find fault with; to censure; to blame.” The behavior of those at the cross is a snapshot of human behavior in us all. Have you come to despise yourself in light of the death of Christ in your behalf?

We are Rebellious! Every act of sin, every sinful attitude, every sinful omission is in direct rebellion to God. “Every broken heart, every unwanted child, every war and tragedy can be traced back to our rebellion against God,” Max Lucado, In the Grip of Grace, p. 19. Our sins are an affront to the holiness of God.

“All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way…” Isaiah 53:6. The first phrase can be a statement of our ignorance, but the second is a clear statement of our insolence. We have both turned away and turned against God. The Bible says we are “enemies” of God, Romans 5:10. Most of our sins are not out of ignorance, but out of intent. We are “by nature the children of disobedience and children of wrath,” Ephesians 2:2, 3.

We are Repulsive! Do you see yourself that way? Well, that really not the question. The question is, how does God see your sins? Get a look at yourself in Revelation 3:16. Jesus threatened to “spue” the lukewarm Laodicean out of His holy mouth. The word “spue” literally means “to vomit.” Our sins makes God want to puke, excuse my French. Our sin is not merely distasteful, but is utterly disgusting!

Maybe while watching the evening news they reported something that even turned your stomach. Maybe it was about a pedophile priest or a drive-by murder or a suicide-bomber killing innocent by-standers. If events like that can make sinners react in disgust and anger, Wwhat about a holy God? It is His law that we have broken. It is His Word we have disobeyed.

We are Responsible! Who is the blame? Because we have not seen ourselves for who we truly are we have developed a culture of “victims.” Charles J. Sykes observed as far back as 1992 that “victimism” has so infected our culture that it is now our national mascot and our National Anthem has become “The Whine.” Sykes says “victimism is reshaping the fabric of society… employment policies, criminal justice, education, (and) urban politics.”

Who is responsible for what we have become? Is it our DNA, our parents, our culture, our upbringing, our education or lack of it, or environment? These are all convenient, satanic alibis. We are not animals at the mercy of base instincts. We are not computers programmed for predictable responses. No, we are creations of Almighty God with genuine freedom of choice and action, thus morally responsible for what we do.

You might ask, “Well, what if we are predisposed in certain ways? Some experts are saying some people are predisposed to be alcoholics or liars or homosexuals.” Even if that were true, we have a responsibility to behave in a moral way. All tendencies toward sin are inherited through Adam. “Wherefore, as by one man sin entered the world,” Romans 5:12. “Sin rules every human heart, and if it had its way, it would damn every human soul.”

All our hearts are so deeply stained by sin that…

· “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” Jeremiah 17:9.

· “Both Jews and Gentiles...they are all under sin. There is none righteous, no, not one. There is not that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one,” Romans 3:9-12.

We are slaves to sin. Strangely, we are free to engage in any sin, but not free to liberate ourselves from sin.

Sin is a debt, a disposition, a defilement, a domination.

Most disagree and are outraged with this appraisal. They look around and say, “Compared to everyone else, I’m a decent guy.” Hay, a pig might say the same thing as he looks at his buddies at the trough. “I’m just as clean as everyone else,” the pig could piously say. Compared to humans, pigs need a lot of help knowing what being clean is all about. And compared to God, humans need the same help. The standard for what is right and wrong, what is acceptable and not acceptable is not others people. God himself is the standard. And compared to God, we are a murky, muddled, miserable mess.

Let’s keep working on this crazy idea that people are not “big sinners.” God has lived in perfect sinlessness for all eternity. I’d be thrilled with a sinless hour! I’m still working at that, but it has never happened. For the sake of contrast, let’s say you only averaged one sin an hour. Do the math. Let’s say you sleep 8 hours a day, so you are awake 16 hours and you live 75 years. I’ll take off the first 10 years because of your ignorance and innocence. That leaves 65 years, times 16 sins per day. The total would be 379,600 total sins at only one per hour.

Now, fast forward to the moment you stand before God. He is perfect. Heaven is perfect. And you? You would be perfect, were it not for the 379,600 sins on your record.

There is nothing God hates more than sin, and there is nothing God loves more than the sinner.

How many times do you have to lie before you become a liar? Just one. How many times do you have to steal before you become a thief? Just one. The Bible says in James 2:10, “For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.”

Just as sin is beyond our full comprehension, so is God’s love. The bad news is far worse and the good news is far better! God could have abandoned us to our fate...left us to reap the fruit of our wrong-doings...perish in our sins. But because of love, God came after us in Christ. God does not condone our sin, nor does He compromise His holiness. Rather than dismiss our sin (which He cannot do because of His justice), He assumed our sin and sentenced Himself as its only acceptable payment.

2. The Giving of God’s Son.

· Romans 5:8 “But God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”

Isn’t God’s love amazing!

God gave His Son for us, Romans 8:32. “He that shared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall be not with Him also freely give us all things?” The very heart of the Christian gospel is God became a human being in the person of Jesus. At His birth they called Him, “Emmanuel...God with us,” Matthew 1:23. It seems trivial to say, but “Isn’t that amazing.”

God gave His Son to die for us.

God gave His Son to die for us. Do we know what this love is?

- “Without strength,” Romans 5:6a. Powerless, helpless, weak

- “Ungodly,” Romans 5:6b. Un-cola = without cola. Ungodly, without God.

- “Sinners,” Romans 5:8. Missed the mark. Wayward

- “Enemies,” Romans 5:10. In rebellion against God’s authority. At war.

God gave His Son to die for us because of His love. A young woman wrote: “Dearest Jimmy. No words could ever express the great unhappiness I’ve felt since breaking our engagement. Please say you will take me back. No one could ever take your place in my heart, so please forgive me. I love you, I love you, I love you! Yours forever, Marie. P.S. And congratulations on willing the state lottery.”

Why would God send Jesus to the cross? Love! “His love” carries the idea of “His very own” love, because there is no love like God’s love. The word “commendeth” in Romans 5:8 means “to put on display, to demonstrate. God put on display His own unique love, in that His Son died for sinful, godless, rebellion and helpless people like us.

We don’t know anything about that kind of love, Romans 5:7. A young man who is in love will “wine and dine” a young lady because he believes she is worthy of his time and gifts. Jacob served seven years for Rachel because of the love he had for her. But God died for His enemies. He gave His best, His only, His everything for those who deserved nothing from Him but rejection and wrath!

Does that kind of love constrain you today? What kind of cold, hard heart can be unmoved by love like God’s love?

It should not surprise us that since our sins are so great and God’s son is so glorious, that salvation could only come to us as a gift. We do not deserve salvation. We cannot earn salvation.

3. The Gift of Salvation.

· “Justified by His blood...saved from wrath through Him,” Romans 5:9.

· “Reconciled to God by the death of His Son...saved by His life,” Romans 5:10.

· “Free gift…gift of grace” Romans 5:15.

· “The gift…free gift” Romans 5:16.

· “Gift of righteousness…” Romans 5:17.

· “The free gift…” Romans 5:18.

“God gracious work of bestowing upon guilty sinners a justified justification, acquitting them in the court of heaven without prejudice to his justice as their Judge,” J. I. Packer.

“When God justifies sinners, He is not declaring bad people to be good, or saying that they are not sinners after all; He is pronouncing them legally righteous, free from all liability to the broken law, because He Himself in His Son has borne the penalty of their law-breaking,” John Stott, The Cross of Christ, p. 187.

Salvation is a “God-thing.” It must be a free gift, without works, because it was purchased for us at the high price of His own blood. So what could be left to pay by us? Christ “finished” salvation, so there is nothing for us to contribute.

A young boy had earlier professed His faith in Jesus Christ and was being considered for baptism and church membership before a small board of adults. One of the adults said, “Son, tell us about you salvation.” The boy said, “Well, its simple. I did my part and God did His part.” Thinking the boy was confused in his understanding, another adult said, “Son, you will need to further explain what you mean. “Like I said, Its simple. I did my part and God did His part. I did the sinning and God did the saving!”

What does the cross do to the sinner?

· Humble us, stripping us of any deception of self-righteousness.

· Breaks us, causing us to openly and genuinely confess our sinfulness. Before we can begin to see the cross as something done for us, we have to see the cross as something done by us.

· Frightens us, making us aware that we deserve nothing but the fiery judgment of God.

· Enables us, giving us grace to receive God’s gift of salvation.

· Changes us, placing within us a new heart of thanks and obedience.

Don’t let your pride and ego cause you to stumble over the cross today.

“Amazing love! How can it be,

That Thou my God, shouldst die for me?” --- Charles Wesley

The Lord of glory, God’s only Son, the Messiah was crucified in our place, bearing our penalty, securing our pardon, and now by the blood of the God’s Lamb we are redeemed and washed white and will one day be gathered for eternity with our crucified, risen Savior.