
God Saves Only Sinners | John MacArthur

Verse 6 and following of Romans 5: “For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.” That is an incredibly amazing statement: “Christ died for the ungodly.” Verse 10: “While we were enemies we were reconciled to God.” Christ died for the ungodly. We were reconciled to God while we were enemies. And then verse 8 says it: “While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” Therein lies the uniqueness of the gospel. Uniqueness of the gospel is this: salvation is offered, and salvation is possible only for the ungodly, and only for sinners, and only for enemies. It’s a stunning statement that Christ died for the ungodly.
With that in mind I want you to see an illustration of this in Luke chapter 5. So let’s go to Luke 5, and we’ll be there for the rest of the afternoon – we wish. I want to show you an illustration of how Christ died for sinners, how God redeems the ungodly.
In Luke chapter 5 we come to verse 27, and we read, “And after that He” – being the Lord Jesus – “went out and noticed a tax collector named Levi” – or Matthew – “sitting in the tax booth, and He said to him, ‘Follow Me.’ And he left everything behind, and got up and began to follow Him.
