(Romans) Our Past and God's Passion — Willie Mullan

Romans 5:6–11 and the Contrast Between Adam and Christ

Chapter 5 again this evening. This wonderful letter of Paul to the Romans, and that Chapter 5, and we're going through from verse 6 to the end of verse 11. Just six short but very wonderful verses this evening.

I feel that we must take this little paragraph on its own because of the wonderful truths that are here. And we can't venture into verse 12 and go through to 21 tonight because that's a paragraph on its own where we get by one man's disobedience, many were made sinners, and by the obedience of one.

So that next week in the Bible class we'll be looking at the two federal heads. Yes, in Adam, by the fall, we all died. We were born dead in sins at our first birth, but through the Lord Jesus, all who have been born again, my, they're alive and quite.

But we'll go into the wonders of the contrast of these federal heads next week in the Bible class, and there are great truths for us all to know. Now as we come to this portion this evening, from verse 6 right through to the end of verse 11, I want to recapture just a verse or two from Chapter 5 from the first part of the chapter.

You remember that the last verse of Chapter 4 read like this, that Christ was delivered for our offenses and was raised again for our justification. And on the basis of this substitutionary sacrifice and glorious resurrection, grace was flowing to the sinner, bringing salvation.

And the moment that a poor lost sinner embraced the Savior who died and rose again, well, he stood before God justified by grace through faith. And we know since that Chapter 5 began, therefore being justified by faith.

And, you know, you can't preach a greater message than that. You remember how Paul put it in Chapter 3, in verse 28? Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law, without any work.

You don't work to get saved. You work because you are saved. Don't put the cart before the horse. No, you don't work to get saved. The saving work was done at the place called Calvary, and we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law at all.

And so the very moment that you put the arms of your faith around the Lord Jesus, you're justified by faith. And then these attendant blessings become yours. Therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God.

My, the justified ones are the reconciled ones. My reconciliation and justification are linked together like two links in a wonderful chain, and you can't get the one without the other. And if you get justification by faith, then you have peace with God.

It's settled. And then here's another attendant blessing, verse 2, by whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand. You see, the moment that we put the arms of our faith around the Lord Jesus, and we become justified and reconciled, from that moment onward, right into eternity, we're standing in grace.

That's our standing this evening. We're standing in grace. Was grace that wrote my name? A life eternal book? Was grace that gave me to the Lamb who all my sorrows took? Saved by grace alone? That's all my plea?

It was grace that put me on the road? It is grace that keeps me on the road? By the grace of God, I am what I am this evening, and grace will take me all the road. And when there's no road in eternity, God will magnify the wonders of his grace when he presents me like Jesus before the angels.

Oh, what grace could do! Saving grace! My, no wonder, for Jim's turn, when by faith I saw the stream. No wonder. Now watch this, these attendant blessings. We have peace with God, we have access into this grace wherein we stand, and at the end of verse 2, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

You know, a man who's justified and reconciled and standing in grace, he can do nothing else but rejoice in hope of the glory of God. He knows it's going to happen. Who lost again, Bronson, in this book?

My dear friend, you can't become unjustified, because it's God that justifies. God justifies. Who is he to condemn? If God can't justify, who's going to change much? Mind, what God does is forever. Oh, yes.

So you just smile, go to heaven tonight, rejoicing in hope of the glory of God. Oh, the thrill of it! Nearer heaven now than I ever was before. There's nothing to worry about, you know. I get nearer every day.

Tribulation, Perseverance, and the Love of God

Then I anticipated last week somebody asking Paul the question, saying, now this is wonderful teaching, Paul. The Lord Jesus has finished the work, he was delivered from all offences and raised again for a justification, and the moment you put your arms of faith around him, you get justified and reconciled, you stand in grace and you smile, because you're going to heaven.

But what if tribulation should come to him? You see, tribulation is not standing at all. That's it. Suppose he's in a state of tribulation. Will he smile then? Why, that was anticipated by Paul, and here's what Paul said.

He said, verse 3,. And not only so, but with glory in tribulations also, knowing that tribulation worketh patience, and patience experience, and experience hope, and hope maketh not ashamed. And I expounded that last week.

He says, hope maketh not ashamed because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us. Now, the love of God, dear, is God's love for you, not your love for him.

You see, when I get the grasp of this, that God so loves a thing like me, a world like me, that he gave his only begotten Son, that he spared him not, that he delivered him for my offences, my what love, what boundless love the Father hath bestowed.

When, if God loved me so much that he gave his Son for me, he gives the greater thing. Will he not give the lesser thing? Do you think this love will ever change, or end? No, when the storm howls, and the darkness deepens, and the lion roars, and the boots filled with water, and I'm passing through times of tribulation, says God, I'll still know that God loves me.

And that gives me patience, and patience gives me a good experience, and experience gives me hope. I'll always know that God loves me, no matter what happens. The old doctors might throw me out one day, but when they do, I'll still know that God loves me.

I'm not just tender then, you know. Oh, when you get a grip of that, you know, nothing will annoy you. I may waggle their tongue sometimes. Do the devil's work, don't I? I do. And when the storm howls, I still know that God loves me.

You see, this is what is binat. Yes, we just go in tribulations, because we know the love of God. It's said abroad and abroad by the Holy Ghost, and he doesn't go on with the teaching of the Holy Ghost here, he leaves it aside.

But where we start tonight, he starts to expound the love of God. He says in verse five, hope make us not ashamed because the love of God is said abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us, for when we were yet without Christ in due time, Christ died for the ungodly.

He's beginning to expound the love of God. He's beginning to let us see what we were like when God first loved us. Well, that's the pit, isn't it? In fact, some of the great scholars have said, and I say they rightly say, that the greatest exposition of the love of God in the Bible is in the few verses we're dealing with tonight.

And you know, the only way that Paul can get the glory and the wonder and the thrill and the brightness and the preciousness of the love of God for sinners over to us, he takes us back to see what we were when God loved us.

He takes us back to see our past. And these six verses deal with our past and God's passion. That's what we're looking at tonight. And the more you take in what you were in the past when God first loved you, the more you'll see God's wonderful love for you.

So that's the subject this evening, our past and God's passion. But you'll notice that Paul does this very thing in almost all his writings in the New Testament. Everywhere he pens a letter, he takes the people he's writing to back to what they were.

He wants them to remember what they were, and never to forget what they were. Always takes them back to see what they were. And the moment that he gets them back, gazing at what they were, then he begins to reveal God's love for them.

Ephesians 2: Humanity Without Christ

He did this in Ephesians, didn't he? Let's have a look at it just for the moment, just to set the stage, and we'll not just butter it too much, but I think it's worth looking at. Ephesians chapter 2. Some of the most wonderful thoughts are here.

Now, writing to these Ephesians in chapter 2, in verse 12, he said this, that at that time ye were. He's looking back at a time past. He says, at that time ye were without Christ. My, that's what we were.

You know, it's almost horrible to look back and remember you were without Christ. You know, I can remember coming home drunk night after night, and getting across the busy road, never saw the lights or the cars.

Coming home drunk without Christ. Oh, it's horrible, isn't it? I can remember fighting with a man in an alley when a broken bottle just hit the wall, just that the side of my head had hit me. And at that psychological second, I was without Christ.

Oh, the horror. You remember, you were without Christ one day. Now, you walk the busy roads without Christ. You breathe the breath of the time without Christ. Aye, and time and time again, the whole crowd of us, we were on the very verge of being Christ.

Oh, it scares you to think about it. I wouldn't be in your shoes on the same trend. For all the money in the world, you're without Christ. I wouldn't have your place for all the money in the world. You'll be damned if you die like that, you know.

You can write the word desolate over that. Ye were without Christ. Now, go to the first verse of chapter two. And he says to them, And you hath he quickened who were dead. You know, we were not only desolate, we were dead.

You know, I think that this is the teaching that needs to be really thumped hard. Because I believe that a great lot of evangelistic meetings, they seem to think that people will get saved through tricks.

You never get any dead body saved through tricks. If these dead souls are going to be brought into real life with the capital L, it'll take God to do it. And then from death to life, only God. They don't need to work tricks.

The wee lass was saved without anybody bothering with her, only God. Nobody dragged her back in Sunday. He came back. The wee fella in dark room in Catholicism was saved when I was riled away from him.

God. It's God. Oh, that the church here would learn this and put a time stamp and come out and pray for God. You need God. Some of you are not dead, you don't know that. You think it's only a posture you need.

You're never on your face, you know. It's a great pity in your spiritual life to waste your time. Ah, yes, we were desolate. We were dead. Watch this. Do you see verse 13? But now in Christ Jesus, ye who sometimes were thought of, oh, you know, we were at a distance, weren't we?

We were born at a distance from God. No wonder Jesus said, I am the way. You need a way back to God. Christ's the way. My, we were in a flight, weren't we? We were desolate. We were dead. We were at a distance.

I can't hammer this too much. Look at the third verse. Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past, in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind. Watch this.

And where? By nature, the children of wrath, even as others. You know, we were doomed. We were doomed by nature. You know, you were born a sinner. You were born a sinner. My, the cuddliest wee baby that comes into this world is born a sinner.

There's a nature inside that child. It's an old nature. My, I won't have to teach it a fair life. There's a nature inside. I'll look after all that. And by nature, it's a child of wrath. And we all were.

We all were. You know, this is a horrible picture he's painting. He's taken us back to see we were desolate. We were at a distance. We were dead. We were doomed. And then like a flash, he comes in. Watch the next verse.

Verse four. But for God. Oh, that's wonderful. But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love, we're within our doubts. See, that's what he's doing. He paints the picture, and he puts in all the black lines and makes them as dark as he can be, so that he can flash before you the brightness and the grandeur and the glory and greatness and wonder and wealth of God's love for him.

He does that in almost every letter. And that's exactly what he's doing in the letter to the Romans. But would you see the lines he paints here? Let's get to our chapter now. That's exactly what he's doing.

Romans 5: Humanity’s Depravity and Inability

We're at verse six. He's been talking about the love of God keeping him in the storm. And he's going back to think about it. Verse six. For when we were. He's back at our past, isn't he? When we were yet without kind.

You know what he's looking at? He's looking at the depravity that was within us. Mind you, when we talk about the depravity that was within us, we were without strength. Now, let's get this. We were impotent.

We had no power. What's he mean? Well, spiritually, we were without strength. That's it's easy, isn't it? Morally, oh, you're going to question me now. Intellectually, I'm going to question me more now, wouldn't you?

All right, I'll take you on. I think the intellectual one is the one that barnies about too much. Let me say this. The poor men are saying they are intellectually without strength. Why, they have no power.

Oh, you say you need to prove it, don't I? Well, just watch me. It'll be a pleasure. You know, we talk about the intellect, don't we? And the intellectuals, and when we talk about the intellect, we're thinking about the understanding of man, and the imagination of man, and the memory of man.

All these compose the intellect. And you know, there are some folks, and they understand everything about figures. They are brilliant mathematicians. They can get figures by the millions, put them together, subdivide them, or divide them, or multiply them, or subtract them, all in a flash.

They know everything about them. You know, their understanding of figures is absolutely brilliant. They are. They're really brilliant mathematicians. And then we can get folks who are really brilliant historians.

Yes, they can just turn up any guest you like, and they know all about history right down through all the years that ever could be, or ever might be in the past. And they know the whole thing just outside in.

They've really passed this. They're one of the masters of arts, and they've passed this, and they know all about it. I was in Liverpool the week before last, and I had wonderful fellowship with a lady who came through the university, and has got several degrees, and can speak six languages.

I think I'm saying six. Right, I'm saying six. She certainly can speak Greek. She's a Greek scholar. She's a Hebrew scholar. She can talk Latin. She can speak French, German, and Russian, and English.

And her and I sat together, and believe it or not, she tried to teach me some Hebrew. We had hours of Hebrew. And I don't know what she thought when I finished. She must have thought that this head of mine was only for sleeping on, because, you know, I wasn't getting anywhere in this thing.

Oh no, I didn't know the first thing about it, but I was enjoying myself. I believed all she said, but I didn't know a thing about it. But I can tell you this, that she's a master in languages. Actually, she holds that.

But, you know, we begin to think about people who understand figures, and history, and languages, and grammar, and all the other of the arts. Put them all together. And they're really brilliant in understanding.

So we say. So we say. Just hold on a minute. And of course we come to our imagination. And we've got architects with us tonight, and draftsmen, and all the rest of it. And they can see these wonderful structures in their mind's eye, and they can imagine.

And they've got enough of the noble art to put it onto paper, and it looks really wonderful. And then we've got men with wonderful memories. Probably that's the best part of me. I don't know how many are here tonight.

Nearly 500, maybe more. And I think that I can name three quarters of you by your first name, without any problem at all. That gives me a better power. And I can cut whole passages of God's Word. And I can tell you everything that's in the first chapter of Revelation, and the second, and the third, and the fourth, and the fifth, and the sixth, and on right through to the end without opening the book.

And I can tell you from the Daniel tonight without opening the book all the twelve chapters. And I can do every praise of all the minor prophets. And I have done three quarters of the Psalms. And I've been through John's Gospel and all the rest of it.

And there's very little that I forget. I go into the hospital sometime, and you know that I'm nearly blind. I'm having these odd-looking characters with me. I'm really stuck. And I was in the hospital the other day, and a little woman up in the corner, and it was a dark wee corner, she said to me, you'll make me look slowly and very remarkable.

Boy, when I looked for the lashes, they weren't there. So all I had to do was was get the diary out. She didn't know whether it was a New Testament or not, did she? And I began with the story of the Indian mother.

And it came to pass that Jesus went and made her into a fetus, and he said, if you let the woman be involved with the fetus into a house, she'd also assist in all things, such as she could speak and handle words.

When Martha was troubled about Martha, he came to her and said, Lord, thou shalt not care that my sister hath left me to care for her own, but do therefore to care for me. Jesus answered and said, Martha, Martha, thou art troubled and troubled about many things, but one thing is needful, and seeing how children have been taught, which I've also taken away from where I was at the diary sheet, you know what I'm saying?

Oh, and you say, that's wonderful, don't you? Well, I had that before I was saved, you know. And when we put all these things together, when we get a man who's got a brilliant memory, and brilliant imagination, and brilliant in understanding why we're thinking the whole thing, don't we?

Let me tell you, if he's not saved, just watch me prove it. Come to 1 Corinthians, 1 Corinthians, and we're at the second chapter. 1 Corinthians, and we're at the second chapter, and we'll have to read this to get the connection.

Verse 1,. And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know anything among you save Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.

And I was with you in meekness, and in fear, and in much trembling. And my speech and my preaching was not with the enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the spirit and of power. For this reason, that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.

Howbeit we speak wisdom among them that are perfect, yet not the wisdom of this world, nor of the princes of this world. Watch this, me brethren, that come to naught. The wisdom of this world come out to naught.

He's a historian, he's a drumer, he's a linguist, he can work in nuclear science, he's a medical student, he's got all the degrees. I'll tell you what it is, not all your degrees will take you to hell if you don't get saved.

They're always talking about the academic standards. I can go to Queens tonight, and get the Chinese. He's got a memory that's never full, and he leaves Queens and goes back to China, and he falls down the platform.

Now there's something wrong with me. What's wrong with me? Britain, I'll tell you. Before we get gloriously saved, the Bible says our understanding is darkened. I don't care what you know, nor what you think you know.

I'm just telling you that the Bible says, when you're without Christ, your understanding is darkened. That's why the Chinese, in heavy degrees, won't fall down at the stone. You know, he's without power here.

This mind that he's got that's darkened, it can't get him to fall. It's what we were told, just back a little bit. None of us understand it. You know, we learned in the first chapter of this letter, that their imagination was vain.

And when God leaves God, and they fall in imagination, then God is looking for another visionary. You know what a fellow with a good memory can do, when he's not saved? He can come to this book, and he can look at Ephesians chapter 2, and he can see his own picture.

I'm without Christ, I'm dead, I'm domineered by Satan, I'm doomed by nature, and I'm at a distance from God. And he can look into the perfect law of liberty and see his own picture, and here's what the Bible says, and straightway he forgets what manner of man he is.

That's just how good a memory he has. I tell you friends, get a hold of this quickly. My, you're a miserable creature when God picks you up. My, I tell you, it's good to remember who you were, you know.

Romans 5:8–10 — Sinners and Enemies Reconciled to God

Now, watch this wee bit, we're back at Romans chapter 5, verse 8, verse 8. But God commendeth his love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners. You know, he's not looking up the depravity that's within us, he's looking up the iniquity that was upon us now.

You know, can't you see us standing before God? What miserable little worms of the dust we are, with no power to get back to God. We're like the sheep out of the ninety and nine. Maybe we've got to the place that we know we're lost, but we cannot find the way back with all our brilliant understanding.

We don't know the way back. But you know, not only are we standing there poor little midges, but we're, we're bespattered by sin. There are, my, some people walk along the sunny side of the road as they say, self-righteous pharisaical religious hypocrites, and the thoughts that pass through their mind are rotten.

Ah, but God sees them. You don't hide them from God, you know. All, and every other sin as well, we were sinners. All the iniquity that was upon us, and the depravity that was within us. But watch this, he goes just a step further here, doesn't he?

He says, verse 10, for if when we were in, you know, he's looking up the anamorphosis that came from us. Oh, you know, I look back and I can get this best in my own life. My, I was only a drunken sock, that's all I was.

There hadn't got anything to get back to God with, I was totally depraved. And my soul was stained with filthy scarlet crimson stains of sin, and yet I would shake my fist in the face of God. I would dare to ask God questions.

I would dare to disbelieve God. No wonder I get annoyed with some people. Big bunch of men the other night, all intellectual. Says, you know, I can't believe God. I said, well, get out through the door, it's a pity of you.

Man that says he can't believe God, just put on my apodosity, isn't it? He can believe everybody else's God. But he can't believe God, it's a great pity of him. And he needs to be taught something. My dear friends, this is the way we got on in our unsaved days.

My, we were enemies, and we were sinners, and we were without strength. There was a deep poverty within us. My, there was iniquity upon us, and there was an anamorphosis that came from us. But even in that state, that we stood there in that state.

Oh, the wonder of it. You see, it's a wonder how God could love us. But he did, you know. God loved the world of sinners lost. God loved us. Now, let's get down to this passion that God, because these verses are really the exposition of the passion of God.

Christ’s Death as the Demonstration of God’s Love

Now, we're at verse 6 again. For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. You know, friend, this death is a tremendous thing. But let's get verse 8 put together, which says,.

But God commended his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Put verse 10 with it. For if when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son. Now, I think that's the best phrase to use, because the death of his Son demonstrates the love of God for sinners.

I think I need to expound this just a little bit further. Someday, if you get the New Testament and go right to it, and mark the word death as it applies to the Lord Jesus. Christ's death. Just mark Christ's death.

You'll find you'll get some wonderful phrases. And here are four to start you off. Here's one. It's called the death of his Son. John's place called Calvary, where Jesus died, it's called the death of his Son.

Now, when you come to think about the Lord's table, we remember the Lord here every Sunday morning, and as we break the bread and drink the wine, it says, Adoption, if you take this cup and drink, take this bread and drink this cup, it says, Ye do so, Lord.

It's different, isn't it? It's the same spot. I know, I know. We're coming up the hill from different angles. It's the death of his Son when you look at it one way, and it's the Lord's death when you look at it another way.

When you come into Philippians chapter 2, it says that he who was in the form of God, took upon the form of a servant, and so on, became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross, so that when you look at it one way, it's the death of his Son.

When you look at it another way, it's the Lord's death, and when you look at it another way, it's the death of the cross. And when you come into Hebrews, you find that it's called the death of the test taker, the one who made the will.

It's the death of the test taker. You know, these words are not just flung on the page of scripture the way a farmer throws his oats in the field. They're very definitely placed. You know, when we think about the death of the cross, we're bound to think about the excruciating pain, and the agony, and the shame, and the bruising, and the scourging, and the wounding, when it pleased Jehovah to bruise him.

We're thinking about the sufferings of the Saviour. When we think about the Lord's death, we're thinking of the intrinsic value that was paid in drops of ruby blood for my redemption. It was the Lord who died for me.

That's astounding, isn't it? It wasn't just a martyr. It wasn't just a Jew that got excited. We read that he on the cross was the Lord. If the princes of this world had known, they would not have crucified the Lord of Lords.

You know, that always tells me, it was the Lord who died for me. It's an amazing thing. But when you come to the death of his Son, you know, you are seeing the sacrifice that God made. God that he gave, that there might be an atonement whereby his grace could bring salvation to everyone that would believe in the risen Savior.

Ah yes, that's it. Is that it? That's the gospel. They don't know a thing about it. They've forgotten. They've forgotten how to preach it. And it's the most thrilling, wonderful thing in the whole world that God loved so much that he even gave his Son in sacrifice, who gave himself as the atoning, substitutionary, satisfying portion for God's throne, that God had to bring him back from the dead the third day, and whosoever believeth in him shall never perish but have everlasting life.

It's wonderful, truly. You see, we're beginning to see the exposition of God's love. For when we were without strength, totally depraved, when we were sinners, when iniquity was upon us, when we were enemies, when we took our faith even in the face of God, God so loved miserable reptiles such as we, that he gave his only begotten Son.

What a wonderful story. It's thrilling, isn't it? But look, I want you to see this. It says, verse 8,. But God commendeth his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners. My Paul didn't forget what it was about, mind you.

He says, God commendeth. The word commendeth is a Greek word, and it could be rendered by the English word prove, but God proves his love to us. In that while we were yet sinners, he allowed Christ to die for us.

You see, our brother Mr. Russell, over on my right, he's a commercial traveler, selling oil, the best oil in the world, of course. I hope this is not giving free advertisements or anything like that. But the BBC doesn't run this platform.

My dear friend, he goes out, and he commends. He commends what he's selling, the most holy Christ we've ever known. Why wouldn't he? Isn't that a job? They'd check him if he didn't. Friends, listen to this.

God will die for us. If you don't know that God loves you, have a look at the cross. My, it's written in shining letters. God is love. So that you get the exposition of God's love here, and you get the demonstration of God's love here, and you get the commendation of God's love here, so that it is really a wonderful little portion.

Justification by Christ’s Blood and Salvation from Wrath

But I think you only get the thrill of it when you begin to mark the consolation of God's love here. You know, there is wonderful consolation. It says, and that's it, that God commends his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us, much more than being now justified by his blood.

Oh, you know, this justification is a powerful thing. In one place it says we are justified really by his flesh. In another place it says we're justified by faith. Now it says we're justified by his blood.

And a three-fold cord is not easily broken, isn't it? Friends, I want you to get this. You know, when he shed his precious blood, he met every requirement of a holy God on the behalf of every woman, and on the foundation of that sacrifice, graces flowing like a river, millions that have been supplied.

At the moment that I take that grace and give it by faith, by his blood, by grace, by faith, we're justified. Say it again, that's it. Heart, she belongs to the brethren. Now don't let them hear you. Praise the Lord.

Praise the Lord. It's really shocking that an old brother of mine has to come to say praise the Lord among the dead boxes, isn't it? My dear friend, let's get the whole of this. My, this is consolation this evening.

By his blood, justified by his blood. Oh, my dear friend, God really loves me so much that he let Christ go and shed his precious blood as the sacrifice whereupon grace could flow and bring me that justification that I took by faith.

Great, isn't it? That doesn't end there. Watch this. Verse 9. Much more than being now justified by his blood, we believers, remember, we shall be saved from wrath through him. A chain of wrath, all kinds of wrath.