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I. GOD'S LOVE TO US. Note —

1. The condition in which it found us. We were —

(1) Without strength. Let this be viewed as —

(a) Moral impotence; and is it not true that we were unable to do that which is good? When we wished to do it, we could not will it. We felt ourselves captives of the devil, sold and bound under sin.

(b) Helplessness in the time of danger; and is it not true that we were without strength to defend ourselves against the condemnation of the law, and the righteous anger of Jehovah?

(2) Ungodly, that is, destitute of true righteousness. We were not only weak, but unwilling to do good.

(3) Sinners; transgressors of God's law in act and deed. Being corrupt trees, we brought forth evil fruit.

(4) Enemies to God. We did not love Him, or care for Him. Nay, we insulted Him, fought against Him, silently or violently, and so lived as to counteract and oppose all His purposes, so far as we had the power.

2. What that love has done for us. When we were in this state of helplessness and rebellion against God, He gave His Son to die for us. By that death believers are justified and reconciled to God.

3. The comparison of this love with the behaviour of men to each other (vers. 7, 8). The righteous man is a man of correct and irreproachable behaviour; but the good man is a man of generosity and kindness, who wins the hearts of his friends, and for whom friends have been willing to die. But for a merely just man, you would scarcely find any willing to lay down his life; while certainly for the base and mean of mankind, or for his personal enemies, no man has been found willing to die. "But God commendeth His love toward us in that, while we were wickedly His enemies, He gave His Son to die for us."

4. That this love was manifested in due time (Mark 1:15; Galatians 4:4; and Ephesians 1:10). This time seems to have been determined by the stage arrived at in history when man's utter helplessness was fully demonstrated. Many centuries were allowed for the world to exhaust every device, to accomplish its own moral renovation. War and peace had been tried, together with every possible form of civil government. Philosophy and science, civilisation and religion, literature and art, had been carried sufficiently far to prove how utterly powerless they all were to accomplish the end designed. It was impossible for anyone to say, If He had waited a little longer, we should have found out some other plan, and been able to do without Him. How this enhances our conception of God's love! He patiently tarried to see what mankind could achieve for themselves; and He beheld them at length entirely helpless, hopeless of self-restoration, and callously indifferent to the interposition of Heaven, Then it was that God sent His Son to die for the ungodly.

II. OUR HOPE IN GOD. Look at —

1. The salvation of which we are so sure. It is a salvation from wrath; and it is a salvation to heaven (ver. 9).

2. The grounds of this confidence. The apostle argues from the greater difficulty to the less. For —

(1) We were reconciled when enemies; how much more, being now the friends of God, shall we enjoy the full blessings of His grace?

(2) We were saved from guilt by His death; how much more shall we be sanctified and prepared for heaven by Him living for us.

III. OUR GLORYING IN GOD. If such be our apprehension of God's love to us, and such the confidence of our hope and trust in Him for the future, it is not hard to see how we must "joy," or rather make our boast in Him through Jesus Christ, by whom this blessedness of reconciliation with God has been secured. Think of —

1. The greatness of our heavenly Friend. In nature how noble! In attributes how august!

2. His goodness. Many rejoice in the friendship of the great and powerful, while they cannot boast of the goodness and integrity of their patrons. But here it is permitted us to glory in the perfect rectitude and moral loveliness of Him in whose name we make our boast.

3. His riches. We might have a kind and good friend, whose ability to help us might fall far short of his disposition. But it is not so with God.

4. His love. The great ones of the earth bestow their friendship on inferiors in a cold and meagre manner. But God gives us and shows us all His heart.

5. His purposes concerning us. It is impossible to exaggerate the value of the good things which He hath prepared for them that love Him.Conclusion:

1. How happy should believers be, rejoicing, as they are privileged to do, "with a joy unspeakable and full of glory."

2. How humble, when they remember their unworthiness, and their inability to render back any sufficient return to God.

3. How holy and diligent in their endeavour to walk worthily of so high a calling, and so great a Friend.

4. How thankful, when they consider what they owe unto God.

5. How ready to praise Him for all His goodness toward them.

6. How willing to trust Him with all the issues of their salvation in the time to come.

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KJV: For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.

WEB: For while we were yet weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.