277 – BOAST IN GOD
August 16, 1964
Pastor Henry F. Kulp
Romans 5: 6 - 11 For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. 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. And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement.
Notice the 8th vs. But God commendeth, or proves His love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
The important point that I want you to see this morning, the most outstanding thing that I have to bring to your attention is in this next statement. The whole sermon will hinge upon it. ALL GOD’S WORK FOR US WAS DONE WHEN WE WERE HIS ENEMIES. So, that means it is impossible—totally impossible for us to do anything at this present time. God’s work was done when we were enemies. This does away with all human endeavor.
1/ Now you will notice that man must have a motive for his love outside of himself. God loves because He is love. Man can possibly die for someone he loves, but for him to love this person, this person must be a good person, or in his own eyes, a righteous person. In other words, someone who is lovable, someone who is lovely. Those two words tell us very clearly this is the object of our love. We call someone lovable, or lovely—but God died for us when we were unlovely and unlovable—when we were helpless, ungodly sinners.
2/ Notice, God did this when we were enemies, for this is what the 10th verse brings out.
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.
The word, enemy, is a cold, hard word. It brings a chill to our hearts. Every soldier knows what it means—an enemy—you want to kill them if you can. An enemy is someone you despise, someone you hate. For the Latin word, enemy, means, not a friend, and from this Latin word we get the word, hostile. The common German noun for enemy has given us the word, fiend.
3/ But is man hostile to God? Does man hate God? Of course, he does, there is no room for doubt. You might say, do we wish God ill? We would like to kill God? We would like to injure God? Of course. There may be those who deny such feeling, but it is true—it is in every human heart.
This is shown to us clearly in Isaiah 53: 6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned ever one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.
When it says, all we like sheep have gone astray—we have turned everyone to his own way. So, in the simplest terms, man is hostile to God, man is an enemy to God because he wants his own way instead of God’s way.
4/ Since man wants his own way and not God’s way, man hates God and would do away with Him if he could. For instance, if you want to see this in action, why did Cain kill Abel? Here is a murderer at the very outset of the history of the human race.
Genesis 4: 5 - 8 But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell. And the Lord said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance fallen? If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him. And Cain talked with Abel his brother: and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him.
Here you will notice that Cain was very wroth and his countenance fell. Why? Because the Lord had respect unto Abel and his offering and not to him and his offering. He wanted his way, not God’s way. He knew what God expected, the death of a lamb, but he rejected it. He wanted his own way, and he had hatred in his heart for God, he could do away with God. He shows right here that he is an enemy of God, for this reason, Cain slew Abel, his brother.
5/ Here it is in the Word of God, John 15: 18. Now, notice, If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you.
Here is Jesus Christ saying the world hates Me, and He is God. This is evident. They said, Away with Him, we’ll take a murderer, we will take a thief, but we don’t want this Christ. The world hates God.
6/ In some parts of the earth human hatred towards God is publicly manifested. That is true in Russia. It is impossible to belong to the Russian Communist party without accepting atheism. God has been declared non-existent. Elsewhere the hatred of man toward the true God has been manifested by substituting another God for Jesus Christ. This is proven to us by Mahatma Gandhi—the name of Ram was on the lips of Gandhi as he died, but this is certainly not the name of God. If you substitute another god for the true God, you are showing your hatred for the true God, and this Gandhi did. Do you realize that every religion is proof of man’s hatred of God, and the proof of this hatred is how they treat the Bible-believing, Christ-receiving individuals.
7/ As time comes to an end, this hatred will break out in an open sore.
Psalms 2: 1-3 and here we read Why do the nations rage and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of earth set themselves and the rulers take council together against Jehovah and against His Anointed—that’s Jesus Christ—saying—let us break their bands asunder and cast away their cords from us.
Here is Isaiah 53: 10 in action. Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.
Here is proof that man is an enemy of the true God.
8/ Now notice when we were enemies we were reconciled to God. The word, reconcile, is never used of God, the word, reconcile is only used of men. The whole thought here is that God takes the initiative. God did not have to be reconciled to man, because God is love, but man had to be reconciled to God, because man was a helpless, ungodly sinner, hating God.
9/ Now we have a great portion of Scripture that gives us the doctrine of reconciliation.
II Corinthians. 5: 17 - 19 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.
Notice, all things are of God, Who hath reconciled us to Himself. Notice, it does not say that He reconciled Himself to us. Notice, what it says here…we were reconciled by God to God. Never in the Bible is it said to reconcile God, but it twice states in this passage, God reconciled us. The agent is always God; the objects are always men. Notice the ministry that has been committed to us—the word of reconciliation, and we are to call to the world, be ye reconciled to God—not God to man, but man to God.
10/ Now this message of reconciliation which we are supposed to preach has almost disappeared from Christian pulpits. You would be surprised how many expressions are used in so-called Christian pulpits that are not true. Take, first of all, the common invitation for sinners to give their hearts to God. As James McHendrick, the great Scotch evangelist said, “What would God do with the dirty thing, anyway?”
Here in II Corinthians. 5: 17 He says, If any man be in Christ he is a new creation. God makes him a new creation. He doesn’t take the old, dirty heart, not at all. Notice, what we have.
Jeremiah 17: 9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?
The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked, that means incurable. Do you want to give this to God? No, this is not a correct statement. Then secondly, you often hear people say, if you do not receive Christ as your Saviour, you will be lost, and at first glance, this seems to be pretty good—but it is not true at all. The statement should be, if you do not receive the Lord Jesus Christ as your Saviour, you will remain lost. You have always been lost, you were born lost, you are living in a lost condition. You must be saved before you can pass out of this lost condition. But if you don’t receive the Lord, you just remain in your lost condition.
11/ There is still another error that many evangelists and preachers make when they do not understand the doctrine of reconciliation, and that is the doctrine of repentance.
There is a Bible repentance, there is also another un-Bible repentance. The false doctrine is something of a penitence—if you tell God you are sorry…man to be sorry for his sins, it is like asking a corpse to give itself a blood transfusion. Repentance which is in the Bible is called godly sorrow can only be experienced by a godly person.
II Corinthians 7: 10 For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death.
How can an ungodly man experience godly sorrow? He can’t do it.
12/ Now as to the ministry of reconciliation. How are we reconciled? We come to God just as we are. If you want to be saved this morning, you are not to wash your face, you are not to brush your clothes. He will cleanse you and give you new garments. But, He will not do so until you step inside the door with all your filth and ungodliness. Then, after He has bathed you, you can keep yourself washed, after He gives you new garments, you may keep them brushed, leave all your baggage outside and come with empty hands. He will give you new luggage. God will not tolerate you bringing anything with you.
13/ Notice, Romans 5: 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.
When we were yet enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son.
Mr. Moody tells a story that is about the best I have ever heard, I think it illustrates this point very splendidly. Mr. Moody always gave this story to illustrate our reconciliation.
A boy quarreled with his father, but it was all the boy’s fault. It wasn’t the father’s fault the father didn’t want conditions to be as they were with the son, but the son got angry with the father, he wouldn’t speak to him, he wouldn’t have anything to do with him. The father had nothing against the son, but the boy was the one who was angry—would not talk to the father, would have no fellowship with the father. So, he left home in anger. While he was away from home, he corresponded with his mother. He loved his mother, but not his father. And his mother used to write to the boy and say, come home and be reconciled to your father, but the boy would not do it.
Then one day he got a letter which said his mother was sick, and then another letter came and said his mother was very sick. And then finally a telegram said to come at once for his mother was dying. The boy took the fastest means of travel. He got on an airplane from the city, flew into the airport, and there got a taxi, came back into his home town, back into his home street. And there was his home, and he knew his mother was inside the house. He hurried in off the street into the house and up the stairs into the room where he knew his mother was, and she was near death. There on the opposite side of the bed stood his father, the boy just wouldn’t look at the father, he hated his father. He despised his father. His mother pled with him to be reconciled, and he still wouldn’t look at his father. Finally, the mother took the right hand of the boy in her right hand, and the right hand of the father in her left hand, she put the two hands together over herself, pled with them to be reconciled, and fell back on the pillow, dead. Then the boy looked up and said, “Father, I’m sorry”. Now they were reconciled by the death of the mother.
That is exactly what happened on the cross of Calvary. Look at this—reconciled to God by the death of His Son. Calvary is the place of reconciliation. There is God the Father, there is the Son, and when the sinner comes, Jesus Christ brings them together. It is all done beneath the cross. What is needed today is the preaching of the cross. A lot of people mention the cross, but they don’t preach it. A lot of preachers mention the blood, but they don’t preach it. What is needed today is the preaching of the cross, for there is the place of reconciliation for all men. For the verse says, reconciled to God by the death of His Son.
14/ Now look at the rest of this verse. Romans 5: 10 …being reconciled we shall be saved by His life.
Now, you will say, see—it is not just the death of Christ, it is the life of Christ that saves the sinner, and I admit that is true. But there is something we must recognize, the life of Christ is made known to us in different phases, and we must be careful to see what phase of the life of Christ is mentioned here. Christ eternally existed with the Father, in eternity past—then, in the fullness of Time, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under law, and for some 33 years, He lived the second phase of His life, here on earth.
Then, third, He went to the cross during six hours of light and darkness, He poured out His life for us, thus satisfying God.
Then the forth phase of Christ’s life, followed His resurrection and for six weeks He manifested Himself upon earth, establishing that He was raised from the dead in a physical body. He invited Thomas to touch His hands and His side, He appeared in the upper room, ate boiled fish with His disciples.
Then in the fifth phase, He ascended into Heaven, into the clouds of Glory, and He sat down on the right hand of God the Father.
Now in the sixth phase, He will come forth to judge, to put down all sin and unrighteousness, and He will sit upon the throne of His father, David, upon this earth for a thousand years, and then the seventh is eternity future.
As I set forth these seven phases of the Life of Christ—which one is the one that is mentioned here that will save us? It is the fifth phase—but He ascended into Heaven in resurrected glory and is now seated on the right hand of God the Father, so that means His life after death—That’s resurrection life. So, when we come to the Lord Jesus Christ, know that He has paid the price of our sin, we get this resurrection life. God the Son actually gives us His life. That is what Christianity actually is. God doesn’t make the old life any better—He gives us His resurrection life.
15/ Colossians. 3: 1 If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Now notice, if ye be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, not the things around you, where Christ sitteth upon the right hand of God.
Set you affections on things above, not on things on the earth—for ye are dead—there it is—your own life died with Jesus Christ at the cross. Now we are to live unto God, for you are dead and your life is hid with Christ in God.
What a wonderful place to be in—your life is hid in Christ with God. I don’t know why folks who believe in Jesus Christ, or say they do, can ever think a saved person could be lost when they read a verse like that. I just can’t understand it. Our life is hid with Christ in God. How can Satan, the world, and the flesh get at our life when it is in God.
I heard of some bandits who had set up a plan to rob a man, and somehow or other he received word that they were coming. He had some very valuable things, and of course, they knew about this. But before they came, he put his valuables in the bank in a vault. When they came and asked for them, he said, I don’t have them. They tortured him, but they could not get his wealth. There is no use for the devil to try to destroy our life for it is not here. My life is there, in God, in the Heavenlies, for this verse says your life is hid with Christ in God. It is perfectly safe in God’s eternal vault. This is God’s plan of salvation.
16/ Of course, it is necessary for us to recognize that all of this is doctrinal, this is salvation. But now God, in a short while in the Book of Romans will get to the practical side. We are saved by grace, but we are saved to live for the Lord Jesus Christ, and we have here in Colossians 3: 1 - 4
If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.
Boast in God…He is Our Blessed Hope!
AMEN
Ref: 08/16/1964 / 277 - BOAST IN GOD / May 6, 2020
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