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The central theme before us is very simple and very profound: Christ’s love revealed in His death for the ungodly. Not for the righteous, not for the deserving, but for the helpless, the sinners, the enemies of God.
Let us look at what the Word of God says:
> “For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.”
> — Romans 5:6 (KJV)
>
> “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”
> — Romans 5:8 (KJV)
Your lyrics echo these words very closely:
These statements confront us with three great realities:
1. The condition of man: utterly helpless, sinners, without strength.
2. The initiative of God: God showed His great love; God acted first.
3. The cost of love: Christ died for us.
Every genuine work of grace, every step into spiritual maturity, every experience of deliverance must be rooted in this unshakable foundation: God’s love demonstrated in the death of Jesus for the undeserving.
The passage comes from the Epistle to the Romans, written by the apostle Paul. At this point in the letter (Romans 5), Paul has already laid out a very solemn indictment against all humanity:
He culminates his argument with these words:
> “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.”
> — Romans 3:23
Then he begins to unfold the doctrine of justification by faith—that God declares righteous the one who believes, not on the basis of works, but on the basis of what Christ has done.
By the time we reach Romans 5, Paul is explaining the results of justification:
> “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
> — Romans 5:1
But immediately, Paul anticipates an objection that often arises in the heart of man: *“Can this really be secure? Can I trust this? Does God truly love me, even after all that I have been?”*
Paul answers by pointing to one unassailable historical fact: Christ died. And he reminds us of the timing and the condition in which that death took place:
Paul is not writing from mere theory. He knew what it was to be an enemy of God, persecuting the church, full of religious zeal and spiritual blindness. Yet Christ died for him before he ever repented, before he ever believed, before he ever became “the apostle Paul.”
The Roman believers who first read this letter were living under the shadow of the Roman Empire, where power, status, and honor were everything. In that culture, to die for someone might be noble if the person was a great hero or benefactor. But to die for the ungodly, the sinful, the undeserving—that was unheard of.
Into that world, Paul declares: God’s love is not patterned after human love. It is greater, deeper, and utterly unlike what we see in human nature.
The lyrics of your song take us directly into that context:
Paul is essentially saying: *Even at its highest, human love rarely goes so far as to die for someone. And if it does, it will be for someone who is considered especially good. But God’s love surpasses this measure entirely: He gave His Son for sinners, for the ungodly, for enemies.*
This is the context: a universal guilt, a righteous God, and a love that astonishes the universe.
Let us take two key expressions from Romans 5:6 and 5:8 that deepen our understanding.
### 1. “Without strength” – ἀσθενῶν (*asthenōn*)
Romans 5:6 (KJV):
> “For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.”
The Greek word translated “without strength” is ἀσθενής (asthenēs), from the verb *astheneō*, which literally means weak, powerless, sickly, unable to help oneself.
It does not merely mean a little weak or struggling. It means utterly incapable. Spiritually paralyzed. No capacity to save oneself. No ability to climb to God. No strength to change one’s condition.
This demolishes the illusion that we contributed anything to our salvation. We were not reaching up to God, trying our best, and then He added a little grace. We were asthenēs—morally and spiritually helpless.
The lyric captures this: “When we were utterly helpless…”
Christ did not come when we had improved ourselves. He came when we had no strength.
### 2. “Commendeth” – συνίστησιν (*synistēsin*)
Romans 5:8 (KJV):
> “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”
The Greek word is συνίστησιν (synistēsin), from *synistēmi*, which means to demonstrate, to prove, to show conclusively, to place together in such a way that the evidence becomes undeniable.
So we could translate:
> “God demonstrates His love toward us…”
The cross is God’s public demonstration, His irrefutable evidence of love. It is not a vague sentiment. It is an event in history. The eternal Son of God, crucified outside the walls of Jerusalem, at a specific time, under a specific Roman governor, speaking specific words, shedding real blood.
The lyric mirrors this: “But God showed His great love…”
God has not left us to guess about His love. He has presented His case, once for all, in the death of His Son.
This means that any doubt about God’s love must be confronted with this evidence: *While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.* That is God’s final argument.
### Verse 1: “When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners.”
#### 1. The reality of our helplessness
The phrase “utterly helpless” agrees perfectly with Romans 5:6 – “without strength.” The Bible describes our natural condition before Christ in several ways:
Not merely sick, not just morally weak—dead to God, unresponsive spiritually.
“The god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not.”
“Whosoever committeth sin is the servant (slave) of sin.”
Spiritually, we were not neutral. We were bound, blind, and dead. That is our helplessness.
For those seeking deliverance, this is a critical revelation. Deliverance does not begin with your effort. It begins with the recognition: I am utterly helpless apart from Christ. Every attempt to free oneself without the cross ends in frustration.
#### 2. “At just the right time” – God’s perfect timing
Romans 5:6 adds: “in due time” (KJV) or “at the right time” (other versions). The idea is God’s appointed, strategic, sovereign time.
Galatians 4:4 states:
> “But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son…”
God did not react. He planned. Before the foundation of the world, the Lamb was “slain” in the purpose of God (Revelation 13:8). The cross is not an accident of history; it is the center of God’s eternal plan.
For your life personally, this also means: God’s intervention in your helplessness is never late. In the moment of your greatest inability, God’s appointed time for grace and deliverance can be made manifest.
#### 3. “Died for us sinners” – Substitution and identification
The key phrase is “for us.” The Greek preposition ὑπέρ (hyper), often used in sacrificial context, means on behalf of, for the benefit of, in place of. The death of Christ was substitutionary:
Isaiah saw this seven hundred years earlier:
> “But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.”
> — Isaiah 53:5
Every genuine experience of God’s love must at some point pass through this revelation: He died in my place. Not just in a general sense. Not merely for humanity as a whole. He died for me—a sinner, helpless, unable to save myself.
### Chorus: “Now, most people would not be willing to die for an upright person, though someone might perhaps be willing to die for a person who is especially good.”
This is taken almost verbatim from Romans 5:7. Paul brings in a very practical example from human experience.
#### 1. The limitation of human love
Human love, at its best, is selective and conditional. Most people will not risk their life even for a decent, upright man. They may respect him, but not enough to die for him.
Perhaps, in some rare cases, someone might die for a “good” person—a benefactor, a hero, a beloved friend. But that is the absolute upper limit of natural love.
Jesus Himself said:
> “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.”
> — John 15:13
That is human love at its peak: to die for one’s friends. But the love of God goes beyond this.
#### 2. The contrast: God’s love for enemies
Paul’s point is to set up a sharp contrast:
Just two verses later, Paul adds:
> “For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son…”
> — Romans 5:10
Notice the progression of terms in Romans 5:
This is the ladder of our depravity. Yet for such people, Christ died.
So the chorus—in repeating the limitation of human love—actually amplifies the greatness of divine love. Whenever you measure God’s love by your feelings or by human relationships, you will always underestimate it. But when you measure it by the cross, you see something in a completely different dimension.
### Verse 2: “But God showed His great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.”
Here we come to the heart of the matter: But God…
Whenever Scripture says, “But God,” we are standing before a divine intervention that changes everything.
#### 1. Initiative: “God showed”
The initiative is all on God’s side. We did not move toward Him; He moved toward us.
1 John 4:10:
> “Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.”
We often attempt to assess our spiritual condition by looking at our own love for God. That is unreliable. The true measure is His love for us, demonstrated in the cross.
#### 2. “His great love”
Ephesians 2:4 uses a similar phrase:
> “But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us…”
The greatness of this love is not merely in intensity, but in its object and its cost:
The Father did not spare His Son (Romans 8:32). That is the ultimate expression of love. You measure love by what it is willing to give. God gave His best, His only begotten Son.
#### 3. “While we were still sinners”
The timing again is critical. Not after we repented. Not once we became better. Not once we had improved ourselves. While we were still sinners.
This destroys the religious lie that says: “If I clean myself up, perhaps God will love me more.” No. He loved you at your worst, and gave His best then.
For spiritual warfare, this is vital. Satan’s main weapon is accusation (Revelation 12:10). He continually says: “You are unworthy. You have failed. You do not deserve God’s love.” The answer is not to argue about our worthiness. The answer is to point to the timing of the cross: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
God’s love is not based on our performance. It is grounded in His eternal nature and fully expressed in the once-for-all sacrifice of Jesus.
### Outro: “God showed His great love, His great love.”
The repetition here serves a spiritual purpose. Truth is established and driven into our hearts by confession and repetition.
The more you confess: “God showed His great love for me in Christ’s death,” the more that truth penetrates your inner being, displacing lies, fear, rejection, and condemnation.
Many believers intellectually accept that God loves them, but emotionally live under a cloud of rejection and insecurity. The remedy is not mere information; it is proclamation of the Word, applied by the Holy Spirit.
Psalm 107:2:
> “Let the redeemed of the Lord say so…”
We overcome by the blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony (Revelation 12:11). Your lyric, “God showed His great love,” when believed and spoken, becomes a spiritual weapon against every voice of accusation and rejection.
We must not only admire this truth. We must act upon it. Let me give four practical steps.
### 1. Acknowledge your helplessness and sin
The first step is to agree with God’s diagnosis:
1 John 1:8–9:
> “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves…
> If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins…”
Pride is the enemy of grace. Grace begins where self-confidence ends. You do not qualify for God’s love by proving your goodness. You qualify by laying down your claim to goodness and casting yourself on His mercy.
Proclamation step:
“Lord, I acknowledge I am helpless and a sinner by nature. I cannot save myself. I agree with Your Word about my condition.”
### 2. Believe the demonstration of God’s love in the cross
The second step is to believe what God has already demonstrated:
This is not feeling; it is faith in a historical, finished work.
Galatians 2:20:
> “…the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.”
Take that personally. Place your name there:
“The Son of God loved [your name], and gave Himself for [your name].”
Faith is not vague. It makes the general truth specific and personal.
Proclamation step:
“Jesus, I believe You loved me and gave Yourself for me. On the cross, You died in my place.”
### 3. Reject condemnation and accusation
Once you are in Christ, God’s verdict over you changes.
Romans 8:1:
> “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus…”
Satan will still attempt to accuse you, to bring back shame, to suggest God is against you. You must answer him with the Word:
You do not answer accusation by introspection, but by appealing to the blood and the cross.
Proclamation step:
“I reject every voice of condemnation and accusation. God has demonstrated His love for me in Christ’s death. I am justified by His blood.”
### 4. Live as one loved, and love others accordingly
Once you are established in the love of God, that love must flow through you to others.
1 John 4:11:
> “Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.”
If God loved you when you were helpless, ungodly, and an enemy, you have no right to withhold love and forgiveness from others who are still in that condition.
To the measure that you know the cross for yourself, you will be able to extend God’s love to the undeserving around you: the difficult family member, the hostile colleague, the wounded believer.
Proclamation step:
“Because God loved me when I was undeserving, I choose to love others with the same grace. I forgive, I release, I bless, in the name of Jesus.”
### Proclamation (Say this aloud, thoughtfully, and in faith)
**“Through the blood of Jesus, I am redeemed out of the hand of Satan.
When I was utterly helpless, Christ died for me—the ungodly, the sinner, the enemy of God.
God has demonstrated His great love for me in that, while I was still a sinner, Christ died in my place.
I do not rely on my goodness, my strength, or my works.
I trust entirely in the finished work of the cross.
Therefore, there is now no condemnation over my life.
I am loved, accepted, and justified by the blood of Jesus.
God showed His great love for me, and that love will never fail.
In this love I stand, and in this love I live,
in the name of Jesus. Amen.”**
### Prayer
“Father, I come to You in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. I confess that in myself I was utterly helpless, a sinner, without strength, and an enemy of Your holiness. Yet You loved me. You did not wait for me to change. You sent Your Son, at the appointed time, to die in my place.
Lord Jesus, I thank You that You loved me and gave Yourself for me. I receive Your sacrifice as the full, final payment for my sin. Let the reality of Your demonstrated love penetrate every area of my life—my mind, my emotions, my memories, my relationships.
By Your Holy Spirit, drive out every lie of rejection, every fear, every accusation. Establish me in the unshakable truth that I am loved with a great love, proven once for all at the cross.
And now, Lord, let this same love flow through me to others. Make me an instrument of Your grace to the helpless, the sinners, the broken, as You have been to me.
I ask this in the name of Jesus Christ, my Savior and Lord. Amen.”
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