Adam & Christ Part 2

I would like you to turn with me to Romans chapter 5 as we continue looking at this passage that is in some ways the very heart of the gospel of Jesus Christ. At least it's the depths of the basis of our justification before God, our right standing before God based upon the work of Jesus Christ. I'd like to begin again by reading this passage. I've been using the last couple of weeks the the English standard version so it might sound a little different. It's slightly different than the New American standard. It is a literal translation.

I really like it. I probably will end up sticking with it. So let me read Romans chapter 5 beginning in verse 12. Therefore just as sin came into the world through one man and death through sin and so death spread to all men because all sinned. For sin indeed was in the world before the law was given but sin is not counted where there is no law yet death reign from Adam to Moses even over those who sinning was not like the transgression of Adam who was a type of the one who was to come but the free gift is not like the trespass. For if many died through one man's trespass much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many and the free gift is not like the result of that one man sin.

For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation but the free gift following many trespasses brought justification. If because of one man's trespass death reign through the one man much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ. Therefore as one trespass led to condemnation for all men so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men.

First by the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners so by the one man's obedience the many will be made righteous. Now the law came in to increase the trespass but where sin increased grace abounded all the more so that as sin rained in death grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. My goal over these few weeks as we look at this passage is to try to convince you that this is one of those places in the scriptures that should be well marked and well used in your Bible. This is a kind of passage that is so helpful in understanding the basis of the gospel and your right standing before God. Paul is dealing here with the saving work of Jesus Christ at a level that pushes the limits of our human minds and there are things in here as we begin to look closely that can be shocking to us in fact. He is taking us deeply into this structure of salvation and history and humanity and deity.

He is bringing us down to the very heart of the argument of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Now this should encourage us to linger in this passage. In fact I'm going to give you a little homework assignment before we get through for this coming week. I like you to meditate and look at and think about this passage and to make up a little chart that I'll show you what I want you to do in just a little while but we should meditate on this. This is like a gold mine and then there's a main shaft here and you will never deplete it so dig all you want and think about it all you want and meditate on it all you want because it will enrich your understanding of who God is and what he has done in Christ Jesus.

Now last time last week as we looked at this passage we saw that the point of the text was that it displays the greatness of the work of Christ in a way in the way that he provides righteousness for us for sinners like you and me. That's really the point of the text to uplift Jesus Christ and his great work for us. He does this in an unusual way. He does it by laying down the work of Christ alongside the work of Adam. He compares Christ with Adam in order to elevate Christ. He shows the impact of Adam the head of the race with the impact of Christ so that we might see Christ in all of his glory.

It is true that many people come to faith in Christ and have such a shallow and small understanding of the greatness of the work of Jesus Christ because the Bible says in order to be saved I have to turn to Christ and take hold of him by faith and believe upon him and sometimes what we know about him is very small but the way that our lives are truly enriched in our walk with Christ is coming to know him better. It's just like a good marriage. In a good marriage you really get to know one another. It's a relationship that lasts a lifetime and in that relationship as we get to know each other better and more deeply our lives are enriched and in this case coming to understand the great work of Jesus Christ is a glorious experience because that's what salvation is all about. It's all about a relationship with the living God through Jesus Christ.

Now we're told in verse 14 notice that Adam is a type of Christ and that's kind of we said last week the hinge of this whole text. In other words everything swings upon this. He is a type or a foreshadowing of a pattern of Jesus Christ or something about Adam and who he is and what he has done that points us to a far greater work by comparison in the person of Jesus Christ and Paul believes that if we will understand and cherish the justifying work of the Lord Jesus Christ we're going to have to understand this comparison and so he gives it to us. We will admire Christ and love Christ more than we do now and trust him more than we do now and the God who ordained this will be honored in our lives when we come to understand these truths when they grip our hearts. This is really the goal of the Bible, the goal of God giving us the word of God it is to grip our hearts that the word of God would take possession of us that we it would come to grip our hearts so that it is becomes a determiner of how we see things in this life. It's like a pair of glasses that we put on and all of a sudden everything becomes clear.

That's what the word of God is for. We also saw the global significance of the work of Jesus Christ. That's one of the things that this passage tells us that Jesus was not local deity. He wasn't just a Jew who died for Jews. He has died for without limitation in regards to the scope of his work.

Now we understand that the design of the Atonement was to save a people for himself. That's sometimes called limited atonement. I'm not talking about that now. I'm talking about the cosmic, the grandeur of the work of Jesus Christ in regards to the whole world that is an enmity with God. That Jesus Christ is not a local deity. He's not just a Jew who died for Jews.

He is the last atom. He is the second man, as Paul calls him in 1 Corinthians 15, who provides righteousness better than we lost in Adam. That's great. That what we gain in Jesus Christ is better than what we lost in Adam. Therefore Jesus isn't a tribal God. He's not limited.

He's not local. Whoever we meet in this world, we can introduce Jesus Christ to them because He meets their need. So wherever we go in this world, we can go to the Philippines, Uganda, wherever you want to go in this world, the gospel that we take fits the need of the people that we come in contact with. So today, we're going to see what happened in Adam and how Paul displays the work of Christ in remitting that problem. What was the problem? What is the problem that we have?

Well, notice what he says here in verse 12. In the very end of this verse, he says, well, let me just read the whole verse again. Therefore just as sin came into the world through one man and death through sin and so death spread to all men. And then notice these last three words, because all sinned. Because all sinned. What does that mean?

Because all sinned. What does it mean? This is a great debate among Bible interpreters. What in the world does this mean? Because all sinned. Because all sinned.

There are two words that are used in theology to try to describe this and to argue about it. And it's the word imputation and impartation. I'm taking a big chance here because I'm going to, I don't want your eyes to go, you know, to glaze over and you to zone out. I'm trying to keep in close contact with you here.

But these two words imputation and impartation is why the church split during the reformation. It's why that the reformers pulled away from Roman Catholicism. It was over this issue. What happened when Adam sinned here is going to reflect what happened when Jesus Christ took our place on the cross? Is it imputation or impartation? How, what does Paul mean here?

Now let me show you how important this is. If you look at the verse real close, look at your verse. It says, so death spread to all men because all sinned and then you have something. There's some kind of a marker probably like a little dash. And between verse 13 and verse 17 is a parenthesis. It's an explanation of those three words.

In other words, those three words Paul anticipates misunderstanding and so he's going to give explanation in verses 13, I'm sorry, verse 13, through verse 17. Let me read it this way. Just read it from verse 12, skip down to verse 18 and you'll notice the flow of thought here.

Now I know some of you aren't used to thinking this hard in church. I understand that. Some of you will think, well you go to church and you, you know, you just turn your mind off and sing a few of those good little songs and maybe you'll see something encouraging to your life. And why do I have to think about this stuff? This theology.

Well because it's at the heart of the riches of the grace of God in Christ Jesus, that's why. So I'm just going to force you to do it, okay? Now notice, if I was to read verse 12 and then skip to verse 18 where he takes up the finishes the sentence, notice what he says.

And so death spread to all men because all sin, therefore as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, we's repeating the idea. So one act of righteousness leads to justification of life for all men. Now what Paul is doing in verses 13 through 17 is he is explaining something. He is explaining what he means by because all sin, because all of you have a different idea about what that means. You may not think you do, but I'll guarantee that you if I was to take a survey this morning, send a paper on say, okay, tell me what what does Paul mean when he says because all sin, I can guarantee you, you would not all give me the same answer. Some of you think he means Adam became a sinner and therefore he passed on his sinful nature to all of his children and we're all sinners and therefore we all sin.

There's a problem with that interpretation here. Paul understands that he's just said something that's liable to be misunderstood and needs to be clarified. So he gives us this clarification. He wants us to understand it. He's going to clarify this one central thing that's crucial for us to hear about before we can understand anything else in this text. If he can make this clear, it will keep all these other things that he's going to say from being misunderstood.

So he wants us to know what this phrase means for all sin. He just said that through one man, Adam sin entered into the world of mankind and through sin death. In other words, if you remember, the penalty for Adam sin was death. If you eat of this tree, the day that you eat of it, the day that you rebel against me, you will die. In fact, he uses a Hebrew expression that makes it very emphatic. In dying, you will surely die.

Death is going to enter into the human race if Adam fails at this test. And then what Paul does, he broadens out this statement and he says that this death, this judgment, was not confined to one man, but it's spread to the entire human race. Every single human being died. Why?

Well, this expression here, because all sinned is why death is spread to all men. Have you ever wondered why everybody dies? Why did babies die and old people die and young people die? Everybody dies. Why? Because all sinned.

That's what Paul says. But in what sense did all sin? Does it mean that Adam sin was the sin of the human race so that when he sinned, we sinned in him, that his sin was imputed to our account? Is that what he's saying? Or does it mean that the penalty and judgment of death is going to the fact that every single individual ends up sinning and therefore you're going to die because you sin. Because the wages of sin is death, Paul says in chapter 6.

The answer from the text and the context. In other words, we can understand what Paul means. I may have trouble understanding it. I may have trouble getting my arms around it and even accepting it.

But this is the Christian gospel of Jesus Christ that all sinned in Adam because his sin was imputed to us. When Adam sinned, he sinned for me and for you and there are no exceptions. That his entire posterity acted in a sense in their head or he acted for them and we all got credit for it. In some mysterious way, we were united to Adam in his sinning. Amazing. That's an amazing truth.

Why does everybody die because everybody was in Adam when he sinned? Now that's not a very uplifting doctrine, is it? You came here to be encouraged and all you heard about was you're going to die no matter what.

Well, is this really important? Should we even talk about this? Some people think you shouldn't even talk about it because it just discourages people.

Well, wait a minute. You're going to get encouraged in a minute if you'll just hang on. If you would just hang on.

Now, this is really important. Although some people think it is important, it's very important. Back in chapter three, didn't Paul say that the nature of sin is our problem because we all are sinners. We have all sinned and we continually fall short of the glory of God. Yes, he did say that. The fact is, if you notice, maybe you haven't noticed, but if you will open your eyes and if you will just be attentive, you'll notice that everybody you know sins and that the wages of sin is death.

But that's not what Paul is saying when he says, because all sinned. In chapter six, verse 23, Paul teaches that the wages of sin is death because I commit sins, I'm going to die. I mean, that seems to be the implication. The wages of sin, the meager wages of rebellion against God is sin. So if our judgment and our condemnation are what the sins are based upon the sins that we do every day, if that's what the sins that I do every day deserve, then why do I need to understand this fact that all men die in Adam because Adam sinned and because in him, all men sinned?

Well, the answer is found in this parenthesis that's given to us here, in verses 13 through 17, he's clarifying this truth because all sin. What's at stake here? And there is something at stake, very important. This isn't one of those little truths that isn't central to the gospel. This isn't like one of those peripheral issues like do believers speak in tongues today or do they not? That is not a central issue.

The central issue is right here. This is at the center of the gospel. What does this mean that all men sinned in Adam? What's at stake here is this whole comparison between Christ and Adam. If we don't understand this phrase because all sin has, because all sinned in Adam, then the entire comparison between Christ and Adam falls on his face.

Let me show you what I mean. This illustrates it. If we say, this is what some people want to say when they come to this text, through one man sin and death entered the world and death spread to everyone because all sinned individually. If that's what the text is saying, which I believe it is absolutely not saying, then we would have to say so also through one man Jesus Christ, righteousness and life entered the world and life spread to all because all individually did acts of righteousness. You see, you can all see that's false doctrine, can't you? All of you that know the gospel?

That this is not what the Bible says that our salvation is not of works, unless anyone should boast. It is based upon the work of Jesus Christ. And so the comparison between Adam and Christ would fall on his face if all Paul is saying is because we're descendants of Adam, we do the same thing he did. You know, it's like father like son. You're just like your dad. You ever hear that?

You're just like your father. Well, the fact is we are, but that wasn't our problem. Our problem was our father was acting in our place, this Adam. So justification would not be God's imputing Christ righteousness to us, but rather influencing us to live like Christ. And if we could live like Christ, if we could just wear one of those little bracelets and says, what would Jesus do? And if I could follow that pattern, then I'd be fine.

Of course, what we find out real quick is even though you find out what Jesus would do, you don't do it, do you? You find out Jesus would lay down his life for his brother that Jesus, if somebody come up and said, give me your coat, you take off your shirt as well and give it to him. See, that's what a son of God does according to Jesus. So even if we said, well, all you got to do is live like Jesus and you'll go to heaven, well, I'm sorry. I don't know anybody like that. Do you?

You may, you know, there are, if you keep your distance, there are some people who look like that, but get close. Talk to their wife. You know, talk to their kids and you discover there's nobody like that. Because Paul sees here this possible misunderstanding. He wants to drive this point home.

And so do I. That's why I'm trying to pound it. As Luther said, pound it into their heads until it gets all the way down into their hearts. That's what I'm trying to do. Look at this. If we take because all sinned, as all sinned in Adam, then notice this, just as through one man sin and death, entered the world and death spread to everybody because all sinned in Adam and his sin was imputed to them.

I was given credit for what Adam did because he was the head of the race. Then we can say, so also through one man, Jesus Christ, righteousness entered the world and live through righteousness and life spread to all who are in Christ because his righteousness is imputed to them. Now, what he's going to say in this text is the way that you get out of Adam and into Christ is by faith. In a real sense, everybody in this world is either in Adam or in Christ. And that is our problem. We're in Adam or we're in Christ.

Now, this is the glory of justification by grace through faith. It's a gift. It's something that Christ has done outside of us and for us. The basis of our vindication acceptance before God is not our righteous deeds. It is the righteous work of Jesus Christ, right? We believe that.

Now, this would be distorted if we said because all sin means because everybody commits sins. Now, it's true, everybody does, but that's not why they die. They die because Adam sinned. That's why infants die. It's why old people die. That's why everybody dies.

It's because of the sin and the impact of Adam's sin on the human race. The parallel Paul wants us to see and rejoice in is that just as Adam is imputed to us, just as the sin of Adam is imputed to us because we were in him. So the righteousness of Christ is imputed to us because we are now in him through faith.

Now, notice this. Here's further proof. If we read, as I just did, verse 12, and then jump down to verse 18, what you see is, in Adam, we are all condemned. In Christ, we are all justified. That is everybody who's in Christ. You're not automatically in Christ.

You're born in Adam. That's the bad news, by the way. As everybody was in Adam, you didn't do anything to get into Adam. You just were born. And when you were born, you were born in Adam. You know, just like you didn't choose your family, your last name.

You got that because you were born to certain parents into a certain life situation. But in order to be put into Christ, it must come through faith. And then we are told, Adam's transgression was imputed to us and Christ's righteousness is imputed to us who believe. You see, that's why Christians don't feel superior to non-Christians. Because the reason we know we're going to have an isn't because we're so much better than they are. In fact, some of us have discovered that after we became Christians, we became more aware of just how rotten we were.

We used to feel pretty good about ourselves and our ability to do the right thing at all times. But then we began to see the truth about our motivations and our actions. And we began to see the greater need, a greater need, a far greater need for the work of the Spirit in our lives.

And so there are times we look around and see unbelievers acting in ways we wish we could act. We wish we could be that righteous in the way they treat people and the way they sacrificially give and so forth. But we know we're being changed. We know that he is at work changing us.

Now, the point here then is that everybody died even before the law. Paul says in verses 13 and 14, why is that important? Well, because the law brought with it penalty. Penalty. And the penalty was at times death. There are dozen different violations of the law that bring the death penalty under the Mosaic law.

The Mosaic law was an unveiling of God's standard of righteousness. Now, he gives it to the Jewish people, but it was to be made known to the whole world that we can see what the righteous standard of God is. What does God think about this? Does God think that law breaking is okay as long as it's small? No, not if you read the Mosaic law. You discover, for example, rebellious children, if they refuse to come under the authority of their parents, were to be under the law stone to death.

Now, that's pretty severe. I don't think there'd be enough stones in the United States to do all that. And that's a different way of getting stone to let me tell you. God's sense of righteousness is very high. God says lying, stealing, lusting after someone else's wife or husband. Those are offenses that offend a holy God.

And the reason we experience those things is because we're fallen and sinful. So now, notice what he is saying here, in verse 13, for sin indeed was in the world. In other words, people were sinful. They did evil things, even though, he says, before the law was given, but sin is not counted. It isn't imputed. And that's the same word imputation.

It wasn't imputed where there's no law. In other words, if they took the speed limit signs down and said, drive it a safe speed, you would discover that there are people who are crazy enough to drive at unsafe speeds. In fact, they're crazy enough to do it now with the speed signs up there. I'm one of those at times I can tell.

But the point is, even though there were no signs there, they have sinful hearts and they don't care about anybody. And so they're doing sinful things, even when there's no law. But notice what he says, in verse 14, yet, even during this time, before the giving of the law, death rained from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one to come. Sin was in the world before the mosaic law. He concedes that personal sin was prevalent, but it wasn't imputed because there was no law against it given and revealed to people. Sin isn't imputed when there's no law.

Nevertheless, he says death rained. Now, the implication that he wants us to see is this, that universal human death was not because of individual sins against the mosaic law, but our sinning in Adam. We sinned in Adam. Verse 12 says, notice verse 12, death spread to all because all sined. Verse 13 argues notice that people died even though their own individual sins against the mosaic law were not the reason for their death. They were dying not because they had committed a capital crime.

Now, there would be an objection at this point. Paul understands that. You can tell by the way he responds to it. The objection would be this. And the reason there's objection, the reason there would be an objection to the teaching of Paul is this. Paul knew that as he preached this message, he wrote this message to the Romans.

There were those in that fellowship of believers who understood the law very well, much better than we understand the Bible today. There were people who had the entire Old Testament memorized in Hebrew. Of course, that was their language, but a memorize it in English. Memorize.

And so he knew there would be objections. And the objections are something like this. Even before the mosaic law, there were commands that God gave. He gave commands to Noah. He gave commands to Abraham and others so that maybe death came because people disobeyed the commands of God even before the law of Moses. The other objection is, back in chapter 1 verse 32, Paul says that God writes his law up on the heart of men, that all men have a sense of right and wrong.

And so maybe all men die because they violate this law that's written on their heart. They know it's wrong to murder and steal and lie. And so because they violate that law, maybe that's why they die. And Paul's response to all of this is when there was no mosaic law to sin against before Moses, there were personal revelations. That is true. And the law that was written on their hearts did produce guilt in the hearts of people.

But notice what his response is the last part of verse 14, look at verse 14, the last part. He says, death reigned even over those who sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one to come. What is he saying? Death reigned even those who sinning was not like Adam's.

Well, what was Adam's sin like? Well, it was a, notice the word transgression. It was a transgression. What's a transgression? A transgression is a violation of a law with a specific penalty.

Now let me show you, turn me back to Genesis chapter 2. Notice this, Genesis chapter 2. Here is the kind of transgression that Adam made in the garden, Genesis chapter 2 verse 16. Genesis 2 verse 16, and the Lord God commanded the man saying, you may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat for in the day that you eat of it, you shall surely die. That's the transgression. What is it?

He broke a law that had a capital penalty attached to it. Do you know there's not a capital penalty attached to a lot of law breaking, right? There's only about a dozen or so under the mosaic law. There are fewer than that under our laws. So even though people sinned, they didn't commit a transgression that had a death penalty attached to it. So why are these people dying?

That's Paul's point. He says they're dying because they're all guilty of Adam's sin that had a death penalty attached to it. That's the problem and that's the reason that even those who never violate a law upon which God says, if you do this, you will surely die. They die. It's because we have already in Adam committed this sin. This is why death reigns.

Death reigns. The sin of Adam and the imputation of his sin to the whole human race results in death reigning. If you don't think death reigns, please come to a few funerals with me. If you don't think death reigns, let me introduce you to some people who are facing death. Apart from Jesus Christ, death reigns. Have you noticed that people can be pursuing all kinds of things in life, but when death looms over them, all those things fall by the wayside, don't they?

Because death reigns apart from Christ. The Bible says that without Christ, we live in the shadow of death. We live under the fear of death. We live in this valley of death. We're facing death. It's amazing when you're young.

You don't think of death. You don't have any wrinkles. You don't have any aches and pains. You look like a perfect specimen, but then life goes on. And pretty soon, you begin to see the signs of death.

Now, they don't call it that. You go to the doctor and you say, what is this here? What is this? I got this dark spot. I can't remember what's that, but on my face, what is that little dark spot? And they say, they don't say that's a death spot.

They say, that's an aging spot. That means I want to die. I mean, every time I look in the mirror, I see that. I'm going to die. I'm dying. And you're dying.

Death reigns. Death reigns. Death spread to all men because all sin means that death spread to all because all sinned in Adam. Death comes to us. And it comes to us not first and primarily because of our individual sins, but because of our connection with Adam. At this place, in verse 14, I want you to notice something.

This is where it's really unique. I mean, this is where he says, Adam was a type of the one to come. What does he do that? Why here?

Well, it's crucial because this is your life. This is your life. Right here, he says that Adam is a pattern for Christ because of this all-important parallel between Christ and Adam. What is the parallel?

Well, the judicial consequences of Adam's sin are experienced by all people, not on the basis of their individual sins, that they do, but on the basis of their being in Adam and his sin being imputed to them. That's why death hovers over the race. And as soon as that becomes clear in Paul's argument, he brings Christ into the parallel. As soon as he brings this bad news, he turns and starts telling us the good news. The judicial consequences of Christ's righteousness are experienced by all his people, all who believe on Christ, get credit for what Christ did on the cross just as all of those who are in Adam get credit for what Adam did in the garden.

Now, the Bible elsewhere says this was an act of grace on the part of God to cause all of us to be in Adam when he stood as our representative. Who would you have elected? Bush, Kerry, Reagan, Billy Graham? Who would you have chosen to stand in the place of all of us? I would have chosen a man created by the hand of God. I would have chosen a man who had a perfect wife.

I would have chosen a man in a perfect environment. I would have chosen a man who had the smallest test possible of his faith and obedience to God. You can eat of every tree in the garden, but you must not eat of this one. Why was that so important? Because what Adam did was rebel against the authority of Almighty God to be keen. And he plunged this race into ruin and death reigns over this human race.

That's the evidence. I want to tell you that the death rate in this human race is 100 percent. No one escapes it. Everyone faces it. You faced it in other people. You're going to face it in your own life.

Death is coming. Now the good news is that justice, Adam, represented a people so Christ represents a people. Just as all who are in Adam were condemned because of his sin, all who are in Christ are declared righteous because of his act of righteousness. Here is why eternal life reigns. On the one hand, the deepest reason why death reigns over all is not because of our individual sins, but because of Adam's sin imputed to us. So the deepest reason eternal life reigns is not because our individual deeds are righteous, but because of Christ's righteousness imputed to us by grace through faith.

Now let me tell you why. This is so vitally important. It's so easy for believers very early on to get totally off track and think and begin to think somehow that the reason they're going to heaven and the guy next door is not going to heaven is because they live for Christ, because they do righteous things. The only way you're ever going to live a life of righteousness that glorifies God is if you get this truth down. If you come to understand this truth, you'll be freed up to live righteously and you'll begin to see that the reason that you're going to heaven is because of what Christ has done and therefore you're free to live a life of righteousness in the power of the Holy Spirit.

Now we know that we know why Paul makes this comparison that between Adam and Christ, he did it for the sake of our faith. He wants us to know that the reason I am certain that all of you have rested your faith in Jesus Christ, I am certain you are going to be in heaven is because it's not because of you and your acts of righteousness, it's because of Christ and what he did for us. The reason that you are going to be eternally separated from God is only because you will not turn to him in faith, take hold of Christ by faith, and come to be in him instead of in Adam. The amazing thing the Bible says is that the very last event in the purpose and plan of God in all of history is when Jesus Christ sits upon what's called the great white throne. Jesus Christ, the one who died on the cross for sinners, who's been raised in the dead, is going to sit on a throne, a great white throne. Revelation calls it and you're going to see the marks in his hands and his feet.

There won't be any confusion about who this is. This is the resurrected glorified Christ and every single person in this human race is going to stand before this righteous judge unless you have already put your faith in him. You're going to stand before this righteous judge and receive a righteous judgment for your life of unbelief and rebellion against the only king of this world. That's a sobering thought, isn't it? The other side of that is that every person, big, small, smart, dumb, happy, unhappy, depressed, elated, whatever your condition, if you turn to faith, turn to Christ by faith and take hold of him by faith. The Spirit of God produces within you this ability to take hold of him and trust him only.

You will be transferred into Christ. You will come to be in Christ and you will stand in his righteousness. Now it will completely change your life. The reason Christians do live differently than they did before they became Christians is this isn't all he does. Not only does he declare your righteous but he even imparts righteousness into your heart and you get completely changed. You know what the main distinctive of a believer is?

They can't stand to live in sin. He that has been born of God cannot live in sin. That's what first John 3.9 says. Can't do it.

Now I know some of you think you can. Try it. Try it. And you'll discover you can't. You can't live in continual rebellion against the living Christ who died for you and rose again on your behalf. This is the foundation of the great biblical truth of justification by grace alone through faith alone.

It has rescued thousands of saints, millions of saints from a despair or from legalism and paralyzing fear. It sets us free on right before God. I'll always be right before God because of Christ. Christ became obedient even into death so that in him we might become the righteousness of God or as Paul puts it, God made him who knew no sin to become sin on our behalf that we might become the righteousness of God in him. Isn't that glorious? That we're righteous because we're in him.

This is rest for the soul. You want rest for your soul? This is rest for the soul when you come to rely on this. This is a message that everyone that you ever meet needs to hear. Doesn't matter where you're going. We've got people moving to Idaho, people moving to Arizona.

We've got somebody going to Uganda. Those are all kind of similar. Those three places. Kidding Joe. This is kidding.

But wherever you go, you have a message to take with you. And the message is that this Christ can make the vialest sinner clean. And it's glorious. What a savior. Oh, what a savior. This is a beautiful song.

Modern. No, that's not. This isn't a modern. This is actually not modern, but listen to these words. On the mount of crucifixion, fountains open deep and wide through the floodgates of God's mercy, flowed afast and gracious tide. That's what the cross is.

Grace and love like mighty rivers poured incessant from above and heaven's peace and perfect justice kissed a guilty world in love. Isn't it great to be honest about your own guilt and yet come to rest your faith in a Christ who can remove your guilt and your alienation from a holy God. Praise the Lord for his great work in Jesus Christ.

Now homework. I want you to do this, this homework. This week, I'd like you to take a sheet of paper, draw a line down the middle, put Adam on one side in Christ on the other and go through this text and find out every way in which he contrast and compares Adam and Christ. This will bring you great joy when you get a handle on this, this mighty savior. What a glorious savior that we have. Let's stand together as we pray.

Have time for fellowship and to rejoice in his glorious truth. That's what we're supposed to do when we meet at saints is that we're supposed to come prepared to incite one another to love and good deeds. So talk to people. Don't just leave your talk to people, encourage people, talk to them about what you heard today and about the reality and truth of who Christ is and what he's done for you. Let's pray. Our Father, how grateful we are for your glorious work in Jesus Christ.

We continue to get a glimpse of the fact that our sin problem was so much more serious than we thought. Many of us here today, Father, we thought that the way it worked was you were just going to weigh up our sins and our good deeds and as long as we had more good deeds and we had sins, we'd be okay and we were foolish enough to think that we could actually have more good deeds than sins and rebellion. Though, God, we thank you that you have a better plan. That plan is, even though our sin problem is so much worse than we thought, what Christ has accomplished on the cross was more than just horrible physical suffering. It was the accomplishment that you say was the high point of all the ages that Jesus put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. We thank you that we can stand here believing in Christ and know that we are righteous in your eyes and how we thank you for that.

We thank you that you love us. You love every believer in this room with an unusual, redemptive love and you love every person in this room who is not trusted in Christ. Father, even those who have acted like your enemies, you say to them, come unto me. All you that labor in a heavy laden and I will give you rest. I pray that they would come today. Rest in you.

Rest in this work of your son to know you. We pray. Father, as we leave this place, I pray we would spend some time talking with one another, encouraging one another, challenging one another to believe the truth and live the truth. As you've called us to, we pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen.

God bless you.