Romans 5:6

God's time to help and save is when those that are to be saved are without strength, that his own power and grace may be the more magnified, Deut. xxxii.

For when we were yet without strength,.... The apostle having mentioned the love of God proceeds to give an instance, and which is a full proof and demonstration of it, which is, that in due time Christ died for the ungodly.

For when we were yet without strength - The apostle, having pointed out the glorious state of the believing Gentiles, takes occasion to contrast this with their former state; and the means by which they were redeemed from it. Their former state he points out in four particulars; which may be applied to men in general. I. They were ασθενεις, without strength; in a weak, dying state: neither able to resist sin, nor do any good: utterly devoid of power to extricate themselves from the misery of their situation. II.

In this verse the human race is described as a sick man, whose disease is so far advanced that he is altogether without strength: no power remains in his system to throw off his mortal malady, nor does he desire to do so; he could not save himself from his disease if he would, and would not if he could.

There is a doctor of divinity here to-night who listened to me some years ago. He has been back to his own dwelling-place in America, and he has come here again. I could not help fancying, as I saw his face just now, that he would think I was doting on the old subject, and harping on the old strain; that I had not advanced a single inch upon any new domain of thought, but was preaching the same old gospel in the same old terms as ever. If he should think so he will be quite right. I suppose I am something like Mr. Cecil when he was a boy. His father once told him to wait in a gateway till he came back, and the father, being very busy, went about the city; and amidst his numerous cares and engagements, he forgot the boy. Night came on, and at last when the father reached home, there was great enquiry as to where Richard was. The father said, "Dear me, I left him early in the morning standing under such-and-such a gateway, and I told him to stay there until I came for him; I should not wonder but what he is there now." So they went, and there they found him. Such an example of childish simple faithfulness it is no disgrace to emulate. I received some years ago orders from my Master to stand at the foot of the cross until he came. He has not come yet, but I mean to stand there till he does. If I should disobey his orders and leave those simple truths which have been the means of the conversion of souls, I know not how I could expect his blessing. Here, then, I stand at the foot of the cross and tell out the old, old story, stale though it sound to itching ears, and worn threadbare as critics may deem it. It is of Christ I love to speak—of Christ who loved, and lived, and died, the substitute for sinners, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God.

As I was sitting, the other day, with an aged Believer who is a local preacher among our Wesleyan friends, he said to me, "I cannot hope, in the course of nature, to stand up in the pulpit many more times. Therefore, every time I preach now, I preach of nothing but Jesus Christ. And I said to the people the other day, 'You will say when I am dead and gone, Poor old Mr. So-and-So will come and preach to us no more.

As I was sitting, the other day, with an aged Believer who is a local preacher among our Wesleyan friends, he said to me, "I cannot hope, in the course of nature, to stand up in the pulpit many more times. Therefore, every time I preach now, I preach of nothing but Jesus Christ. And I said to the people the other day, 'You will say when I am dead and gone, Poor old Mr. So-and-So will come and preach to us no more. But as he got older and older the more he preached about Jesus Christ, till for the last few months of his life the old man never spoke about anything but his Master.'" Then, as if confidentially addressing himself to me, he said, "I should like to leave just that impression upon the people's minds when I am taken from them." The resolution seems to me so good that I think that it might be taken up by us who are younger and adopted as our own. Paul, before he was, "Paul the aged," said, "I determined not to know anything among you save Jesus Christ, and Him crucified." There is nothing like striking at the center and keeping to vital points. And if we are keeping to Christ crucified, we are keeping to that which will save souls, which will build up Believers and which will glorify God. But, dear Friends, if we might be allowed to go astray from this subject sometimes, yet certainly not on an evening like this, when we are about to gather around the Lord's Table which is loaded with the memorials of our Redeemer's passion. Tonight, you who are Believers in Jesus ought to have no eyes for any object but Him, no ear for any sound but that which tells of Him—indeed, no hearts with which to relish any theme save your crucified Lord. Blind, deaf, dead to every worldly consideration, let us be just now, all alive, all awake and all aglow with love to Him and the desire to have fellowship with Him.

In this verse the human race is described as a sick man, whose disease is so far advanced that he is altogether without strength: no power remains in his system to throw off his mortal malady, nor does he desire to do so; he could not save himself from his disease if he would, and would not if he could. I have no doubt that the apostle had in his eye the description of the helpless infant given by the prophet Ezekiel; it was an infant’an infant newly born’an infant deserted by its mother before the necessary offices of tenderness had been performed; left unwashed, unclothed, unfed, a prey to certain death under the most painful circumstances, forlorn, abandoned, hopeless. Our race is like the nation of Israel, its whole head is sick, and its whole heart faint. Such, unconverted men, are you! Only there is this darker shade in your picture, that your condition is not only your calamity, but your fault. In other diseases men are grieved at their sickness, but this is the worst feature in your case, that you love the evil which is destroying you. In addition to the pity which your case demands, no little blame must be measured out to you: you are without will for that which is good, your ‘cannot’ means ‘will not,’ your inability is not physical but moral, not that of the blind who cannot see for want of eyes, but of the willingly ignorant who refuse to look. While man is in this condition Jesus interposes for his salvation.

BELOVED Friends, whatever the condition of a child of God is, 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.

BELOVED Friends, whatever the condition of a child of God is, 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 ofjoy and safety! That is the drift of the text and of the sermon tonight.

There is a doctor of divinity here to-night who listened to me some years ago. He has been back to his own dwelling-place in America, and he has come here again. I could not help fancying, as I saw his face just now, that he would think I was doting on the old subject, and harping on the old strain; that I had not advanced a single inch upon any new domain of thought, but was preaching the same old gospel in the same old terms as ever. If he should think so he will be quite right.

For when ... - This opens a new view of the subject, or it is a new argument to show that our hope will not make ashamed, or will not disappoint us. The first argument he had stated in the previous verse, that the Holy Spirit was given to us. The next, which he now states, is, that God had given the most ample proof that he would save us by giving his Son when we were sinners; and that he who had done so much for us when we were enemies, would not now fail us when we are his friends; Rom 5:6-10. He has performed the more difficult part of the work by reconciling us when we were enemies; and he will not now forsake us, but will carry forward and complete what he has begun. We were yet without strength - The word used here ἀσθενῶν asthenōn is usually applied to those who are sick and feeble, deprived of strength by disease; Mat 25:38; Luk 10:9; Act 4:9; Act 5:15. But it is also used in a moral sense, to denote inability or feebleness with regard to any undertaking or duty. Here it means that we were without strength “in regard to the case which the apostle was considering;” that is, we had no power to devise a scheme of justification, to make an atonement, or to put away the wrath of God, etc. While all hope of man’s being saved by any plan of his own was thus taken away; while he was thus lying exposed to divine justice, and dependent on the mere mercy of God; God provided a plan which met the case, and secured his salvation. The remark of the apostle here has reference only to the condition of the race before an atonement is made. It does not pertain to the question whether man has strength to repent and to believe after an atonement is made, which is a very different inquiry. In due time - Margin “According to the time” κατὰ καιρὸν kata kairon. In a timely manner; at the proper time; Gal 4:4, “But when the fulness of time was come,” etc. […]