Dying for a Righteous person (Romans 5:7, Matthew 9:10-13)

**jars of clay** Sat Sep 13, 2008 9:02 pm

I honestly do not now how to start this study. I don't know why I posted that title that you clicked on to see what the nut job was ranting about this time, why I decided to stay on that particular verse for one more week, why I am even writing this.
We have two passages tonight, The first in Romans, and the second from Matthew

6 For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die—(romans 5:6-7)

10 And as Jesus reclined at table in the house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and were reclining with Jesus and his disciples. 11 And when the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” 12 But when he heard it, he said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. 13 Go and learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’ For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.” (matthew 9:10-13)

Im not going to be fancy about this devo, not going to have cliches or cool illustrations. God did not come to this world to save those who think they are doing okay. God came to do something insane. Paul points out very clearly that its insane enough to die for something who is good, altho he points out that some would even dare or talk about dying. What Paul is getting at in this passage is that Christ was not here to die for a bunch of good guys, Paul is saying two things, first that what Christ did at the cross is completely insane, that it gained God nothing to go to the cross. Man is so pathetic that there is nothing in the equation that could have enticed God to die in our place.

This is not the only point Paul makes. Paul also suggests that God did not come to die for the good, or those who might think they are good. Christ makes this clear in the passage from Matthew by saying that those who are healthy do not need a doctor. Let me be brutally clear; Hell will be full of "good" people. Hell will be full of moralists, men who have tried to jump the chasm on their own righteousness. My friends THERE IS NOTHING YOU DO THAT IS GOOD! Sin is not what you do, it is not the actions that you do but your heart. It is what you worship day in and out. Your sin is a single sin, not many. It is that you have worshiped something other than God. And the price for being found guilty of that is eternity in Hell. You continue to sin every moment because every moment your heart is not on worshiping God, its on worshiping the thousands of Idols that you have places before God. And for that you are DAMNED.

Who do you depend on? What are you going to say to God. Are you saved by faith in Christ that he died for your sin? Are you willing to admit that you are sick? That you are not good? That you are insufficient? Are you willing to go against your human pride?