This day being set aside to honor our military forces is an important day. The Bible gives the command to honor those to whom honor is due, and is it not due to these ones who have put their lives on the line for us? We would say so.

This reminds me of The Lord Jesus Christ, our savior, who made the ultimate sacrifice. Consider with me if you will what the Apostle says to us in Romans 5:6-7:

"For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will hardly die for a righteous man; though perhaps for a good man someone would dare to even die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us."

Consider first, man is indeed helpless. That truth does not sit very well with proud and sinful man. He likes to think of himself as being able to help himself, and make himself something. Yet God sees him as helpless, and the reason for this is that he is lost in sin, unable to come to God, unable to see God, and is paralyzed by the sin that has infected him from head to toe. Man is unable to save himself and has an inability to perceive the things of God unless God first opens his understanding.

Note with me 1 Corinthians 2:14: "But a natural man (man in his sinful unsaved condition) does not accept the things of God; for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them because they are spiritually discerned."

Now consider also that he is hopeless. Note with me Ephesians 2:12: "and remember ... that you were excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world." Because of this condition, man could not come to God, nor would he even want to come, and as we can see in our present age, men are leaping into hell in droves, and avoiding the message that leads unto life. If this be the case what hope is there?

Yet consider in our text, Christ did what we could not do. He died for the ungodly. The penalty of death was passed upon all men, for all had sinned. (Romans 5:12) So the eternal Son of God came into the world to die the death of deaths, so that we would not have to face an eternal death. Note the preposition, "for" in this verse. The Greek word means "on behalf of, or in the stead of."

Thus Christ died in our place, in our stead. He is the substitute for sinners. He paid the penalty of death for sinners so that they could be accepted by God. In paying that penalty, he took upon himself all of the wrath of God and was forsaken by God on the cross so that we might be accepted. God could not accept us as sinners into his presence, so he made us acceptable in the beloved, and transferred Christ’s righteousness unto our account. This is called justification. God was totally satisfied with Christ’s work on the cross, and as a result raised him from the dead so that we might also live with him, and live eternally. Those who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ are saved, and regenerated. The Bible also explains it as being "born again."

Finally, look at the last part of the verse. The principle is illustrated by seeing a military or rescue operation. It is with great difficulty that men will lay down their lives for a man who is worthy of it, and in some situations there have been men who would dare to die. This was true in the Civil War. Stonewall Jackson was a God-fearing man who loved the Lord. The men who followed him would have died for him with no hesitation. There have been other men in history we can identify as such. But who do you think would lay their life on the line for Ted Bundy, or that college student who went on a shooting rampage?

Note then this last verse. It shows that Christ died for us while we were yet sinners. That is, he died for us when we were garbage, filthy and of no value to him. In fact, he really did not have anything to gain by saving sinners such as myself, but he did. It is not wonder that he is called the captain of our salvation?!

So when Christ died for sinners, it was like this Monday, a memorial day. The next time you think of those brave souls who gave their lives for us, and who put their lives on the line even today, make sure you thank them, and thank the Lord for them, but mostly and most importantly, thank the Lord for his ultimate sacrifice. "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that who ever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life." (John 3:16)

Note: all Scripture references are from the New American Standard Bible.

The Rev. Chris Ellis is pastor of the Bible Baptist Church in Mount Vision.