Transcription downloaded from https://sermons.heritagesermons.org/sermons/8727/romans-quality-poor/. Disclaimer: this is an automatically generated machine transcription - there may be small errors or mistranscriptions. Please refer to the original audio if you are in any doubt. [0:00] A meal would always have a little oven shoved in somehow. Well, when Paul and the Pharisees were still outwardly respectable and very much regarded by the people, they were greeted with their titles, Rabbi this and Rabbi that, in the synagogue and marketplace, and they loved it well. Paul said that for such an one, scarcely or hardly, one would die. [0:39] They regarded them so much that there is the probability, not the certainty, that one would die for such a person. [0:50] Yet, there is venture for a good man, and by a good man the Holy Ghost can't be viewed as a benevolent, the kindly, benevolent man, the man that gave well to the temple and to charity, who was quite ready to empty his pocket out, even literally so, for the benefit of a good God. [1:19] Yet, says the Holy Ghost, even for such a man, there is only a fair advantage. There is probability, there is not a certainty, that one would die. [1:33] But God commanded his love to us in that while. We are not righteous, and we are not good. We are sinners. [1:43] We are sinners. We are sinners. Let it be today, that is still through. [1:55] Now, God's love. What can we say of that? It really seems a presumption on the path anymore for man to try and talk about the love of God. [2:11] We were on this team a little last Lord Day evening, where we had to be. It is a revival one. On the subject, we thought of this text more or less all the week in and out of time, bubbling up. [2:30] Oh, the love of God. We can never get far removed from this one thing about it to start with. [2:42] That the pure sovereign beyond it is so attractive. Here you have two classes in the subject. The righteous, the good. [2:54] God passes them by. Here you have the third class, the sinner. Who he is. We are trying to talk about precious. [3:06] He certainly is a righteous. He certainly is a good man. But God passes them to that the world's regard and respect and might even die for. [3:20] God speaks now. The sinner. God speaks now. Oh, the free child. If only you and I just really get to the bottom. [3:33] I know your heart because I know mine. I know your legal mind because I know mine. And I may measure your corn by my bushes and not me far out. [3:45] You and I live always looking for something in us. Or something that we do. I don't mean so much in our good works as such as faith, believing, hope, expecting, or loving exercise. [4:04] And we argue that, according to the beganity of our minds, that if I believe that, if I love that, if I hope that, these inward words change. [4:19] Then we say, I should believe God did love me. And how? Faith, hope, and love have their sphere. But not in this matter. [4:30] Not in this matter of the love of God. Faith, hope, and love, and similar graces are all the effects of the love. [4:40] And of course, when will you and I get clear of that legal spirit? I begin to think that we won't get right clear of it till we are out of this body of flesh or heaven. [4:58] But I do beg of God to subdue it, not let it predominate. Because if it predominates, there's no peace for you. There's no joy. And what did we read this morning? [5:08] Our Lord himself said, these things have I spoken unto you. And let your joy, my joy in you, might be full. [5:22] Gave your religion for that real. Where's your joy? Christ's joy in you. Where's the fullness of it? [5:35] We have to say where. No wonder. Why? That's why. We're looking here. Instead of there. We're looking at something good. [5:49] Something fruitful in us. Or attached to us. And then we say, I should be a joyous man. Whereas the opposite is true. [6:00] If you and I could only look with a clearer, Firm and more steadfast eye To the love of God Flowing like a river Free With no conditions in it No quantity can't call for From the individual in it I loved you freely. [6:25] I loved you with a sin out. We make a lot of boasts About our knowledge of the doctrine of grace. You'll pardon me, won't you? [6:36] I don't see so much of the grace And the strength of it As I would like. We've got a lot of illegal Networking about us Still Shame on us Who have been brought up As we've been brought up With an open Bible The ministry of the truth And yet here we are still Grobbing in the dust With respect To ourselves If we could see Forgive my reputation That I would like to be The leading in God's hand Of killing This spirit of this This legal spirit of Wanting to be Or feel Some in myself Fit For God to know Well it's free realism Duty paganism Right to the bottom In other respects You wouldn't tolerate that For a minute Don't tolerate in your own heart Begin it out [7:36] Leave other people alone We've got plenty to do If we look here What we want therefore is The realization of that Beautiful world in E.P.O. [7:49] Where you have a picture to the full By God himself There's the image Cast out in its blood and guilt And that's what comes to you As much Even a man or a woman To feel disposed Passed by Such an arch Well says God That's you My people There you are When I passed by I didn't ask you to pray I didn't ask you to believe I didn't ask you to feel anything Because I knew you would gain When I passed by you My time Was the time of life See Sovereign Free And I said unto thee When Thou within thy Thou To live Ah now That's the start All the night [8:50] He never saw anything in us And he never will see anything in us Of ourselves To love But he loves in spite Of all that's there To the contrary Now having said that See how this divine love of his Operates God so loved the world That he gave His only begotten son Loving God Must unfold In a very much Lessor way Of course If there is love In an individual He or she Can't keep in the heart A secret It must come out And it will come out Not so much in words Always be careful Of one that talks A lot about loving Keep your hand in your pocket Up to your elbow [9:51] That needs to be Well added Keep it out to the world No it's not in words It's in words Love will come out Little isolated deed Perhaps to begin with Then it develops And that later becomes So foolish manifestations That you can't doubt it There's not love in word only But in deed And in truth Well God did that Oh he so loved That he gave his only begotten son He could not give that If he had given all the celestial hierarchy All the angels And there are thousands And thousands of them And they've never sinned And they are mighty in wisdom And they've said in power To be given them It wouldn't have done [10:53] No It wouldn't have saved us And why? The angelic nature can't make An atonement of man sin We're sinners That's got to be dealt with So he sent and gave his son In the likeness of sinful flesh The flesh was real The sin was He had no sin There's the likeness of sinful flesh But not sin in that flesh Nor any done by him of course And so As Christ appears in this world And appears on the sacred page In carnal Praise you have As a final proof Of the freedom Of the love of God Asking and wanting No qualification of the sinner [11:54] Here he is He's come To put things right Not to ask Man In the least measure To put them right So He sacrificed Himself Hereby perceive We the love of God In that Christ Died for us Now this love Is experience It's not Really true What I have said But it's true That there are people Who feel We read Immediately Before our text Hope Maybe not ashamed To cause The love of God He shed a brawl In our hearts That's where we are What I have said [12:54] And more Perhaps I might have said At times One of it Is good And it's the foundation Oh I want to feel it And if anybody laughs At me for that They're entitled to laugh He that laughs The last Laughs The longest You know Oh Just feel The love of God Not because I want to feel it And then think that God loves Is God like him His love No He loves me without My beating In your heart I shall never be Declosed What's this thought Of the Holy Ghost Shed abroad And there's the idea Of abundance God doesn't love you And me Hello Sinner Meagery Stingily As if he was afraid Lest he should love us Too much No fear No All his very soul [13:54] If I may speak Of God And having a soul Which you know What I mean The very being Of God Is in it God Is love What a wonderful word As though the Holy Ghost Through his servant John In saying that word They should say There's nothing But loving God It's loving power Loving wisdom Loving justice Loving holiness Loving all his attributes Are love Even his rule Is loving rule His penal infliction Of punishment Of sin And the sinner Is love Love to his own honour Love to his own justice God is love When this is Shed abroad In the heart A second thing Will follow Ah There's a sensation A sensation on it [14:56] I remember a remark Many years ago When I read it And I used to think of it Later on in life When I used to walk From the monument Round to Whitechapel For services there In Shorechapel You should go near The spot Where Charles Wesley Brother of John But what is it Between the two men Charles Went to a meeting there A little meeting Just a few people Met there And he said When he came out Of it That he felt His heart Strangely moved Strangely moved I believe I am right When I say That the first time Charles Wesley Has felt The love of God In his heart Strangely moved [15:56] So strangely moved That nothing else Will move Your heart Like you There's no Sensational Luck The love of God Produces In a man's heart When God Shades abroad Then you can say As John In the epistle Has said further on Hereby Receive We need the love Of God We can see it Feeling it Caused me To see it And One of his First fruits Will be A sacred emotion Of penance Ah That love In your heart Will break you You can't live In a wrong spirit Against a man Or a woman If the love Of God In your heart You can't do it It will break it down Well You'll have to go With God Many times About him And say Lord Put this thing Right I know it's [16:57] Not right Put it right He can put it Right To giving you And me A sense Of his love Similarly Is there any Difficulty In the life Or the pathway While this love Of God Felt in your heart Makes you say That's nothing Nothing It pieces Ah It may Pinch The old flesh It may Curl you And be up With many Abitance But The love Of God In itself He'll put it Right He'll straighten It out He'll level That mountain And put that Cook right And bless And bless His name We know So Because we've Had it So I'm not the Only one I say We Why shouldn't We speak What we know And I'm sure But then He comes To a Mark That he Should thus Bless myself Ah Because he Would That's all Not because we're Better than another But because [17:58] He would So The love Of God Becomes An experimental Fact Paul was Full of it When he wrote That epistle To the Galatians And he said He loved Me In the fifth Chapter Of the Ephesians He speaks of God's love To the church And that's Nice But he Can't He loved Me Gave Himself To me Now Let me quote The whole of that verse And you'll see The connection The life That I now live In the flesh Meaning his body I live in the faith Of the son of God It didn't mean It doesn't mean Merely And simply That he lived in the Experience Of the working of faith In the sense of Believing Now of course [18:59] He did believe It's something Much more important Than that He lived in the faith Of the son of God That means In that system Of divine truth Of which Christ Is the author And finisher The author And finisher Of our faith Don't mean The author And finisher Of your belief Though that Can be in life It's not For a finisher Far more than that He is the author And the finisher Of that faith That is That system Of divine truth Which has been given And taken Urlessly for the fact Once to give birth To the same And Paul says I now live in that faith In that system Of divine truth Wherein All emanates From God's love Free kindness Free mercy Terminates [19:59] To eternal glory And bless God I can live there too I don't want to live anywhere I can't live in the law That's gang Through and through No hope there I can live here I can draw breath Easy here The love of God In Christ And What's the outcome Of this According to the context Is That we are Saved now From all Christ died for us Much more then Being now Justified by his Blood We shall be saved From Raw Through him The raw Of God Don't men Apologize For that Read What's the law There to say About it They Tribute of all The justice Of God That's wrapped up in it They make out [21:00] That God Can't be raw Well God is Angry With the wicked Every day And his Perspective of the love Man Has become The criminal And you and I Through the grace of God We admit that We know those Are not born again Woke They are fine Woke But we readily Admit that we're The criminals And that we have Offended against His law In every point Well God is the God of love To his own law As the law Giver Maintaining his own Honor and claim He Must Punish the Grinch The law Of God Is not Personal vengeance It's not a passion In the heart Of the eternal Certainly not Like this With you and I Very good You must not That It is Just the expression [22:01] Of his Righteous Indignation Against the Offender Of his Most holy Lord We're saved From that Through this Wonderful Love of God In Christ Jesus We may fear it And I believe Some of God's People do fear it And I believe It's a good thing To fear it Perhaps you won't Understand me It might sound Contradictory To be free From the bondage Of it And yet to fear it It's not It's not a paradox Quite friend It's as clear To me as can be If I have The love of God In my heart I shall be looking At what I deserve Ah Can never get Far from that And I shall also Be looking at What his son Has done Delivered me From what I deserve But all that Philly old fear Of God Comes up If I say [23:03] It's awful I don't mean A-W-F-U-L I mean A-W-E S-U-L How awful Honey Full of awe Holy awe The soul Of the child Of God Will stand On occasion Awe struck With the Magity And splendor Of God And yet It's not afraid In the sense Of bondage In fear It's not afraid It's the Physical fear Of his heart New covenant Grace That the Holy Ghost Says I will put My fear God's fear Into their heart Blessed thing So the world We may fear it In the right sense Of that word Fear Yet We thank God We shall not Come into it Perhaps some of you Haven't gone as far [24:04] As that Well but my friend How does the subject Appeal to you This morning Can you find a foothold In what I've been Trying to put before you Can you say Do you say I believe those things To be true And I want no other Because nothing else Can do me any good Than you So far God brought you On the right road And he's teaching you And in his time He'll bring you In the possession Of what I have For ever said In the meantime You Will not rest On your laws As the same No No that you won't You won't Hold your arms And say Oh then I can leave it alone You can't leave it alone So be keeping More or less The Lord you've shown me Do give it to me Do put it in my heart And he will Now he's [25:04] Commended this Life Set it out Set it forth I don't know If I know For you To explain this word Commended Perhaps if I use The word Exhibit It would be It would be The nearest To the meaning Of the word Here and then He set it forth For When he speaks In the Galatian Epistle He said Oh who is Galatian Who is bewitched You that had Jesus Christ Evidently set forth Crucified The ministry Of the apostle And was so vigorous So strong So profound That he wanted To be victorially Presented Christ Crucified In front of them So yes The love of God Is pictured out Set all His highest [26:04] Love In what way In that Christ Died for Sin Died For us There are Five For us Let me read These times Dear God Let me read These times Let me put them Before you Who are the us Christ Died For us Well now Here in verse 6 You read When we were Yet Without Strength Christ Died for us He died The ungodly That's the first Thing about the Us For whom Christ died They are Without Strength Inability Unaven Ability How does that Fit I know I Fit The one that Falling down Fit you down With the teeth Un Fit Weak Unaven Let me add [27:05] It's a Sinful Inability Don't you Never forget That Some preachers Among ourselves They make a Great mistake And I hope They'll see it Before they die They make out That excuses The people It doesn't We lost The ability In the fall God's not to be Blamed for that We are to be Blamed For losing The ability To please God It's a Sinful Inability Remember that I pray Always and Ever And it also Means that I can't Do a Thing To please God Under the Lord Without Strength To keep The Lord Don't We prove That truth Right after The death They Die To such If he Didn't Wept What would [28:06] They do Well if he Lost The Lord Then you Take A second Feature In verse 16 Do die In Christ Die For The Un-God They're Unable And they're Ungot Which Would Really Be Their Irreverence And their Irreverence Of God Is the Secret Cause Of all Their There's No fear Of God Before Their Eyes So they Blaspheme Him And his Ways And his Day His Word And his People And everything That belongs To God Stuck And put Under Here We've got it This Ungodliness Here And he Died To the Unable You know Some people Are afraid Of letting The gospel Be known [29:06] They Brick A brick Wall Around It's about 100 feet High With Condition And Provido Until The real Child of God Can't Get a Look Into Their Gospel Now Christ Died The Unable But They Don't Remain Unable The holy Ghost Catches Them Out Eventually And they Become Godly But Prior to That And that's The point He Died To You Know It's Music If You Know Your Own Up And then There's a third thing in the eighth verse in our text While we were yet Sinners Sinners That really is a military term It means Aiming at the bullseye And knocking Missing the mark Well [30:08] We were made For the glory of God That's the mark Receive And come Sure There you have the meaning of the word Sinner We are sin And come Sure Of the glory of God And that hangs on the soul sometimes Very heavy I've never done a thing Freeing to God Never Here Over 70 years Never done a thing right God Some of them may be over eight Yet you've never done a thing right It's a solemn thing Yet But Christ Died While We were yet Missed the mark All the time It didn't stop him From dying For us Then there's the fourth thing We are saved From rule [31:08] Through him We were once Under that Liability Of the rule of God Now We live in our body And brought away From it Then get the fifth When we were enemies Verse 10 For if when we were enemies We were reconciled With God By the death of his son Now An enemy Is one that is The possessor of hate In the biblical sense of the word So he's so literated He hates He hates God He hates Christ He hates The spirit He hates The gospel He hates The word And you say Did he die for Sake He did What is it To that Now That is When We were Hated And Hateful And Hating One another Says the Holy Ghost [32:09] In other scriptures What a blessed gospel He did say Christ Died For us Succeed Unable to do a thing Ungodly Sinners Under the wrath of God End And now What more can he do He couldn't do more Paul is writing this letter To all That have been in Rome Not the Roman Emperor Not the Roman Senate Not the population of Rome To all That have been in Rome Beloved of God Called to be sent To be done For us And as sure As that is true And you and I Are brought [33:10] To the Holy Ghost To love it Reverence it Eat it Drink it Oh man Don't you Tie your heart up To God Father Son And Holy Ghost During this Blessed love To Each of them Loving The sinner For whom Christ May he have his blessing He has promised you If I be lifted up From the earth I will draw all men Unto me May he do it Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen