“Now ‘If the righteous one is scarcely saved,
Where will the ungodly and the sinner appear?'”
Where will the ungodly and the sinner appear?’
The words “ungodly” and “sinner” refer to those without eternal salvation. “Ungodly” means those without God. They are the non-God crowd. There is no God to them. Yet Christ died for no-God, secular people.
Ro 5:6-7, “For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die.”
The second word for those without Christ is “sinner.” A sinner is one who falls short of the mark of standards of God (Ro 3:23). Jesus came into this world to save sinners as well.
Ro 5:8, “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
1 Ti 1:15, “This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief.”
“Appear” in the phrase “where shall the sinner appear” signifies brought to light, become visible. The lost are in a dire situation. There will come a day where it will become patently obvious that they were in negative volition to God. The judgment of the righteous is an ominous harbinger or herald of the determination of the lost. They exist in a state of damnation. Where shall they appear? They will make an appearance at the Great White Throne Judgment, where God will pronounce them lost forever (Re 20:12-15).
2 Th 1:7-10, “And to give you who are troubled rest with us when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. These shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power, when He comes, in that Day, to be glorified in His saints and to be admired among all those who believe, because our testimony among you was believed.”
If the judicially righteous need disciplinary judgments, how much more will the judicially unrighteous need eternal judgment? There will be no question about the merit of the judgment because they rejected God’s message (Ro 3:10).
PRINCIPLE:
Those without Christ will appear before God to make an account for rejecting Christ as their Savior.
APPLICATION:
God has a plan whereby the unrighteous can become judicially righteous.
Ro 3:21-22, “But now the righteousness of God [not our righteousness] apart from the law [apart from our works or merit] is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God [note the emphasis on God’s righteousness], through faith [faith is the only means whereby we can become Christians] in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference.”
Ro 4:5-6, “But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies [declares as right as God is right] the ungodly, his faith is accounted [calculated] for righteousness [God’s righteousness], just as David also describes the blessedness of the man to whom God imputes [puts in] righteousness [God’s righteousness] apart from works.”
Ro 5:1, “Therefore, having been justified [declared as right as God is right] by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
We become judicially or positionally righteous the moment we receive the righteous Son of God by faith, that is, by trusting the sacrificial death of Christ for our sin (2 Co 5:21).
The die is cast. If you die without Christ, there is no hope for you. There is nothing in your future except eternal judgment. It is not material whether you believe that or not because the Bible clearly teaches this. Make your decision for Christ today.
