THE Chapter In The Bible - [Romans 5]

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Please take your Bibles and turn to Romans chapter 5 this morning. I don't know if you're aware of this or not, but salvation isn't mainly about you.
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Your salvation isn't mainly about you, it's the glory of the triune
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God. And what God does, he does with excellence, he does with precision, and everything he does gives him glory.
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That's why our salvation is so great, not just for our benefit, although that's a wonderful blessing, isn't it?
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But it's great because whatever God does, he does with greatness. A salvation that doesn't save isn't great.
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A sanctification that doesn't sanctify isn't that great. A glorification that waits upon you to do something isn't that great.
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But a salvation that extols God must be great, and you're going to see in Romans chapter 5 today the best of the best.
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I say whenever I'm preaching this is my favorite passage, I know, but I kid you not, this is my favorite chapter in all the
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Bible. My friend Pastor Steve Fernandez died last week, he was just a few years older than I am, died of a brain tumor, and lots of faithful saints went and ministered to him.
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If you could only read one thing to me, when I'm on my deathbed,
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I want you to read Romans chapter 5. I want you to read it to me because it extols
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Christ Jesus. I will glory in my Redeemer, that's exactly what this chapter does.
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Oh, read me John chapter 10, I love that chapter. Read me John 17, I love the chapter.
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Read me Ephesians chapter 2, I love the chapter. But Romans chapter 5, this is my favorite of all time.
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Martin Luther said of this chapter, in the whole Bible there is hardly another chapter which can equal this triumphant text.
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Now as you know we've been going through Romans chapter by chapter, usually we're going verse by verse, but we're doing a special series,
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Romans in 16 weeks, and out of all the weeks that you need more time, and that you need a speaker to speak faster, today's the day.
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Because really there are probably 15 sermons in here, but we're going to do Romans chapter 5, 1 to 21, so you can glory in your
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Redeemer Christ Jesus. The best thing to do when you study the Bible is ask what's already happened previously.
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And Paul has made it very clear, in chapter 1, we don't have righteousness. Gentiles, non -Jews, they don't have righteousness, they're sinful, they need righteousness.
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Chapter 2, there are religious people, they need righteousness. End of chapter 2, in verse 3,
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Jewish people, they need righteousness. And as Scott read in Galatians chapter 2, how many people are justified by works of the law?
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No one is justified by works of the law. We need a Savior. The law of God is this simply, obey me completely and you'll live.
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Do this and live. Except after one sin, we're undone. And so we need someone to do this and live for us.
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Everything turns in the book of Romans on chapter 3, verse 21, where the gospel method versus the law method is now explained.
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Justification by faith alone. Sinners justified based on the work of another, magnifying
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God's glory. I drove past on my bicycle the other day, a week ago, Oakdale Methodist Church, and the sign out front said, signs always are interesting to me, church signs, and it said,
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I'm not perfect, but Jesus thinks I'm to die for. That might be a funny pop little slogan, but it is blasphemous.
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There's nothing good in me and nothing good in you to die for. The cross is magnified because even though we're sinners,
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Christ died for us anyway. He doesn't die for good people, he doesn't die for perfect people. He dies because he's got a lot of great love for us, and that's exactly what the passage is talking about today.
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How are people saved in the Old Testament? Romans chapter 4 answered the question, by faith alone. So we move to Romans chapter 5, and we see
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God's working. Two major sections here, if you're taking notes. The first section you can even see in your own
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Bible, is verses 1 -11, talking about the benefits of justification.
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Paul described justification in chapter 3, gave an illustration of it in chapter 4, and now he gives benefits to God's justification.
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And then in verses 12 -21, he answers the question, how could somebody get benefits from another person?
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How could one person do something and then I receive benefits from that person?
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So let's go to 1 -11 first, and let me give you five blissful consequences, as one commentator calls them, of justification.
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Five blissful consequences, five blessings, five things about justification that should make you have joy and excitement in the
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Lord. Fruits of justification, we could call this. And remember, what is justification?
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You see in verse 1 of chapter 5, therefore since we have been justified by faith, we have been acquitted by God.
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On my office, in my study desk, I have lots of things.
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I have a clock, I have a lamp, but front and center, I have a gavel. A wooden gavel.
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To always remind me of this very fact, because with the wooden gavel, you can use it for lots of different reasons.
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One is that people are too talkative in my office, I can stop them immediately, the loquacious people.
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But it reminds me of justification by faith alone. It's like the judge looked at me and said,
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Mike, you're not guilty. Because Christ paid for my sins, my sins were credited to Christ's account.
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Put in his spiritual ledger, and he bore those completely, and then
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Christ's perfect life gets credited to my account. It's a declaration, it's a forensic term, it's a legal term.
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It's the opposite of condemnation, I'm no longer condemned, not guilty based on the work of another.
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Not by my works, but by Christ's works. When you think of justification, you should always say to yourself,
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I should think about Christ's perfect life, credited to my account. I should think about my life of sin, credited to Christ's account.
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I should think that the Father accepted this great double imputation by raising Jesus from the dead.
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And I should think that it is by or through faith. Not meritorious faith, but I just say,
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God, that was really great, I believe what you did. The first blissful consequence of justification by faith alone, and every one of these should just make you excited and thrilled in your soul.
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The first one is, you have peace with God. Believers have peace with God. It's like he starts off with the best first, this is the top of the list almost.
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We have peace with God. Paul is now including himself. In chapter 1 he said,
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I'm not ashamed of the gospel. Chapter 2, you don't have any righteousness. Chapter 3, the
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Jews, they don't have any righteousness, and then in Romans chapter 4, 16 and following, it's back to we language, and this is present tense.
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We have and we always have. Anyone says, well, you could lose your salvation.
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We have peace with God. How can I undo what God has done? God's justification gave me peace with him.
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Now what does this imply? It implies there used to be what before we were saved? War. Oh, I'm not mad at God, unbelievers might say.
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Well, the Bible would say, God's mad at you. He's at war with you because God's holy. All unbelievers are sinful, and there's war.
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And so Paul says, listen, when God looks at you in Christ, when he sees no sin in you because you're covered with Christ's righteousness, the war is over, victory, peace.
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The word peace means there's one party here, there's one party here, there's an irreconcilable difference, but because of the blood of Christ, his life, death, confirmed by the resurrection, you bring something back together.
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You bind it back together. Peace with God.
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Now some people think, oh, this means I've got a peaceful feeling, got that easy, peaceful feeling kind of thing.
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Well, you could look for peaceful feelings in Philippians 2. This is objective. This is, you can feel like you're not at war with God, but he can be at war with you.
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But then Christ steps in and he assuages the wrath of God. That's the human side, the divine side, propitiation.
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And on the human side, we receive peace with God. It's not a feeling.
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It's what we get from the Prince of Peace, Christ Jesus. It's not a state of mind. It's a fact.
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War is over. The breach that had occurred, Christ alone fixed.
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Think about our world today, even with North Korea. Everybody's talking about peace. Everybody wants peace. They want peace in the home, peace at work, peace in the church.
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It's an obsession. What you need out of all those, though, is peace with God. The king does what to the rebellious, traitorous,
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AWOL servant. And the text, look at it, peace with God.
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The word with there is a special word. It means a peace facing God. Standing before God with no shame, no condemnation,
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Jude 24 and 25, standing in his presence. You watch people who get pulled in front of a court or they're in front of a camera and they're criminals.
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What's the first thing you see them do? Hot, drop their nose is what they do.
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First service, I flung my glasses out into the front row. I've never done that before. I'm wondering if I can do that again and repeat it.
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People are hiding their face. You ever get called in to your boss's office when you knew you did the wrong thing?
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It's not kind of chest out, you know, I'm doing this great thing, or you do something wrong at home and your dad says, we need to have a talk.
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God of the universe, he created you to love him with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and your neighbor as yourself, and done everything but that.
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But then Jesus did love God with all his heart, soul, mind, and strength, did love his neighbors as himself. And when you go in, you have peace with God based on the work of another.
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No wonder Peter said in Acts 10, the word which he sent to the sons of Israel, preaching peace through Jesus Christ.
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No wonder Isaiah 53 says, he was wounded for our transgressions, the chastisement of our peace was upon him.
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You should be joyful, Christian, no matter what you're going through, because you have peace with God. Number two, the second blissful consequence of justification by faith alone, resulting in praise, is that you have access to God through Christ.
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You have access to God through Christ, up until the point where you share in his glory.
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Let's see in chapter 5, verse 2. All about God, all what he's done for us, is our great
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Savior and lover of our souls. Through him, and through no one else, we,
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Paul and the rest of us, have obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
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The promised blessing of enjoying eternity in the presence of God in his glory.
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And you get that end by the beginning, and that's access. Take a look at that word access there. Think about it.
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Access to God. I don't know what's going on with me today. Access with God. If you were
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Jewish and you knew the Old Testament, or if you're a Gentile and you know the Old Testament, you think, okay, the temple. I'm a
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Gentile and I can go no farther than the court of the Gentiles will allow me. I'm a woman,
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I can go no farther than the court of the women will allow. I'm a priest, I can go no farther. I have to stop at the
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Holy of Holies, and there's a curtain there. I have no access. I can't get in. There's a separation.
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That's what the temple was designed to teach, among other things. But you know, when
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Jesus died, what happened to that veil that was in between? Ripped from the top to the bottom.
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Ripped, and now it stays open. We have access to God. A third party has introduced us to God.
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Not for just kind of a little interview, just stay for a little while. One of my old seminary professors, he got up at 4 in the morning to write, and so at 7 p .m.,
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if you were over at his house for dinner, I was over there once, at 7 p .m. he would stand up and say, thanks for coming.
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Time to go. I tried that sometimes at our house, it didn't seem to work. Thanks for coming at 7 o 'clock.
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But here this access is, you don't have to go. This isn't like for a little interview, did
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I pass? You have access, and permanent access. This is the word entree.
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You have entree to God, to remain with Him. Christ brought you in the presence of God, and you get to stay. No wonder
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Lloyd -Jones says, This is one of the greatest and most glorious statements that's found in all of Scripture.
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Why is it staggering? Because our God is a consuming what? Fire. There's nothing to consume in us because Christ has bore our penalty.
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The sacrifice was acceptable. 1 Peter 3 says, Keep you out of hell.
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No, what's the text saying in 1 Peter 3 .18? That He might what? Bring us to God. Before heaven, we have this.
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No trespassing. All violators will be prosecuted. Or if you live in the country, all violators will be shot.
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And that's the way it is for every unbeliever. Because of their sin and because of God's holiness.
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There's a no access sign. Locked out. Like Adam and Eve, driven out of the garden.
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Like Cain, driven out of the side of Eden. And now because of what Christ has done.
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He's a welcome man. The welcome man is out. The red carpet's out.
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And what happens? You see it in verse 2. And we exult in hope of the glory of God. We have hope now that He's introduced us and then there's glory one day.
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One day we get to be glorified. We have peace with God that was taken care of in the past.
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What about our future? There's going to be a great future of glorification. All based on justification by faith alone.
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But you know what, Mike? I suffer now. I have trials now. I have heartaches now. What about that? Blissful consequence number 3.
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Believers can have joy and hope while suffering in the present. You can have hope and joy.
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Verses 3 through 5. Not only that. This is extra.
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Piled on. Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings.
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You tell me an unbeliever who does that. How can a Christian rejoice in our suffering? Comma. Knowing that suffering produces endurance.
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Boy, this is a good slap in the face to all these health, wealth, false teachers on TV. Suffering produces endurance.
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And endurance produces character. And character produces hope.
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And hope does not put us to shame. Because God's love has been poured out or dumped into our hearts through the
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Holy Spirit who has been given to us. Christian friend, are you suffering?
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The trial isn't working against you. Who but God could take a trial that seems to be working against you and make it not work against you?
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It works for you. Trials work for you. I've got problems at home. I've got problems with myself. I've got problems with my family.
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I've got problems with my health. I've got problems with my job. I've got problems with other people. I've got problems with Christians. I've got problems with people who persecute me.
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When you were an unbeliever, you thought affliction and distress and pressure. You couldn't get out of it fast enough.
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It was no good. It wasn't right. There was no purpose. Random chance.
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Why am I, you know, I drew the short end of the straw. And now, even in this fallen world, there still is trials.
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But it's because God's care for you to sanctify you and get the dross off your life.
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And reminding you though that this hope doesn't be, it's not put to shame. Verse 5. Because God's love has been poured out.
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God still loves us in the middle of it. To an end in glory.
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And it's not just a stoic endurance. It's really going to happen. So Paul says, I'm going to exalt in glory.
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You know, you can't say, can you, beloved? Paul didn't know what he was talking about. Paul never suffered. God sustains to the end.
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Encourages them with hope. With this love that's just poured out. The way I would teach it to a youth group or young people.
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The idea of poured out here is when you get one of those big containers of electrolyte liquid.
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A football game. Basketball game. The team finally wins. And the two big guys come over and pick up the thing of Gatorade.
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And they do what? They just put their fingers in the top. And they kind of flick a little out. You know, you're in a hard trial.
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In this world, you will have persecutions. And you know, God loves you. He just gives you a little dabble, do you?
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Because of the spirit of God's work, yes, you're having a trial. And here it's just dumped out.
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That's the idea. Fourthly, believers should be joyful because Paul says a consequence of justification by faith is that we're reminded about God's great love for us in salvation.
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Verses 6 through 8. Picking up the love of God in verse 5. We have peace with God. We have access to God.
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We can have hope and joy and suffering. It's all because God reminds us just how great
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His love for us is. Does God love me in this trial?
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Does God care about me? Of course God loves you. Of course God loves the elect.
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Look at how many times can you see the word died in verses 6, 7, and 8. I think you'll see die or died four times.
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For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.
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For one will scarcely die for a righteous person, though perhaps for a good person one would even dare to die.
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But God keeps on demonstrating, keeps on showing, keeps on putting on display His love for us.
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And that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
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This is the proof of the love of God. What does verse 6 say? He died for the weak, people without strength, people that can't figure out how to save themselves.
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Inability, feebleness to take over such a task. It would be easier to build the Noah's Ark times 5 ,000 than to come up with a scheme to save yourself.
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Just at the right time He sent Christ. No further testing needed at the time of our greatest need.
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This is a fixed appointed time. He says by comparison here in verse 7, one will scarcely die for a righteous person.
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Not perfect, but Jesus thinks I'm to die for. Hardly, though perhaps for a good person one would even dare even to die.
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The worth is in the Savior who dies for us, not in our unworthiness.
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Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. Then don't you love the verse in verse 8?
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I hope you memorize this verse. God continues to show His love for us.
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He renders conspicuous. It's the present tense, always demonstrating.
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Prove is maybe a better word. He proves His love for us. While we are still sinners,
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Christ died for us. Does God love me?
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If you're a Christian, you think of Calvary. And number 5 found in verses 9 through 11.
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Believers have more than just hope in a trial. They have the assurance that they'll never go to hell.
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The assurance they'll never go to hell. If God had His Son die for you when you were an enemy, how will
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He treat you now you're a friend? If you love enemies and die for them, how do you treat them when you're a friend or a child of God?
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That's what He's talking about here. Will my final salvation be secure? Justification by faith guarantees it.
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Deliverance from wrath. Verses 9 through 11. Look for the much mores. More than that. It's a common
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Pauline way to teach an argument here. Lesser to the greater.
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Since therefore we have been justified by His blood. I just have to pause there for a second. Lots of times we say justified by faith, justified by faith, justified by faith.
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Yeah, that's my faith. I came up with it. I did it somehow thinking my faith caused my salvation instead of my faith is a gift, a result of salvation.
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So Paul makes sure we're clear here. You're not justified because of your faith. You're justified through your faith.
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And here he says justified by His blood. Much more. Shall we be saved from Him from the wrath of God?
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For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son. Much more.
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What does He do to a son? More than what
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He'd do for an enemy. Now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by His life?
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More than that. This ought to cause some people to praise the Lord. We also rejoice in God through our
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Lord Jesus Christ. Through whom we have now received reconciliation. Friends, I'm not asking you to be peppy, happy, come up with something out of your own.
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So you can just paint a smile on your face. But true or false, Christians should be the most joyous people in all the world.
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Food of the Spirit is love and what? Joy? Now, while I don't want to go too far back in my past and live in my past sin of unbelief before I was a
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Christian. Because even here Paul has got the focus on Christ Jesus. It only takes just a little turnaround to your life before you got saved.
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And you just take a little whiff of the mal -odor that your lifestyle was and who you were.
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To make you think, I know who I was, I know what I deserve, and then now I know who I am.
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But more importantly, I know who God is and I know where I'm going. You see, if you think of God's work as, well,
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He's a little holy but not too holy. And I'm not so bad, the difference is between these two.
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God, you know, He's okay and I'm not too bad. I'm to die for. I'll tell you what the difference is here.
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The difference is a yawn. But if you say God is so holy and if He were to mark iniquities, who could stand?
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And I'm so sinful. And yet because this gap has been bridged by the
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Pontifus Maximus, the great bridge builder alone. A word only for Christ Jesus, the mediator.
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If He's bridged that gap, then I should be happy and thankful and joyful. Have confidence,
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I get to go to heaven. It's one thing to say, you know what,
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I'm happy that I don't go to hell. But look at verse 11. We exalt in God. It's another thing to delight in God.
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It's one thing to go, I'm so glad I don't have to go to hell. But I get to delight in God. Salvation was done to me.
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I deserve nothing. Back in the days of selling food in London, one pastor said, remember those sandwich boards?
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Remember, they've even kind of got a sandwich board. Remember when Dagwood's Deli used to be open? You'd drive by every
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Sunday after church and there'd be a guy in a chicken outfit or something. You know, eat more chicken or whatever. Eat more beef here, whatever he said.
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How do you advertise things? Well, back in those days, you'd hire people to walk around with plywood here and plywood here.
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And a couple of pieces of rope. And you'd advertise that way. And so they'd pick these guys who were bums on the street.
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But their sandwich board would read, best dinners in London. And so,
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Pastor Jowett said, famished wretches advertising the best dinners?
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Cheerless men and women advertising the joy of the Lord. This is designed to make you praise the
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Lord. This is designed to make you say, focus off of self. Focus off all these people that are around me that I think they should meet all my needs.
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And my husband doesn't meet my needs. My wife doesn't meet my needs. My employer doesn't meet my needs. Friends, they're not supposed to.
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They can't. Something is broken. And what's broken is the thinking that says, they're to meet all your needs.
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And so then you come on a Sunday and you say, you know what? Christ Jesus is everything. That's why it's such a travesty to tell churches, you're good.
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You're going to have an all right work week this week. Top of the morning to you. How about, you know what?
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Come one and come all. Let me remind you who the Savior is. Joyless Christians, I know something about them.
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They need to look at the Savior. Yeah, but you know what, Mike? How can one person die for a bunch of other people?
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When the Jehovah's Witnesses came to my house a couple weeks ago, I asked the lady the question. How can one person,
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Jesus, die for my sins? She didn't have an answer. So I said, I have an answer. And then the other one said,
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Jesus never said he was God. I said, he never said he was God? I said, that's a lie.
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And here you are on my property lying to me about Jesus, the God who created you? That's a bald -faced lie.
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Before Abraham was, I am. You mean he didn't call himself God? Back to the texture, because we have a lot of verses to cover.
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Later, she said, I didn't mean to upset you. And I said, you're upsetting me. You're trying to damn my family. And you're going straight to hell, too, unless you believe in the
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Bible, Jesus, the eternal Son of God, the God -man who can die for other people.
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How does that happen? Take a look at verse 1. Through our
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Lord Jesus. How can one person die? How can you be saved through the work of another?
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That's the theme here. Look at verse 21 of the same chapter. It's the last five English words.
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Through Jesus Christ, our Lord. How can you die through someone?
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How can someone die for you? And so now we take a look at Romans chapter 5, verses 12 through 21, with its main theme this.
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Just as one person, Adam, affected lots of other people as a representative, so too
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Jesus and his work will affect lots of other people as a representative.
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This is called federal headship. Romans chapter 5, verses 12 through 21.
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People are saved in the precise manner in which they were lost. Through the work of another.
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So here's what Paul's going to do. How can people be saved through Jesus? And early on he's going to argue, well, the same way people were lost through Adam.
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That's the answer to the question. How can people be saved through one man? Well, we'd all admit that people were lost through one man and there's going to be a comparison.
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In other words, federal representation isn't anything new. And it shouldn't be new to anybody here in the
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Congress. I expect more out of you if you're in the
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Congress. When our Congress, our senators, our presidents say we are at war with North Korea, if that ever were to happen, do you know what
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I know about you? If you're an American citizen, you are at war with North Korea.
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Because you have representatives. This is just the way the world works in God's eyes. We have representatives. Chapter 5, verse 12.
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It says, therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man,
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Adam, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because of sin.
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Paul is beginning to paint the picture of solidarity, of federal headship. One person acting in the place of others.
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Now, I want to just give you a teaser, spoiler rather, first. You read a movie review, it's a spoiler, but I need to do it so you'll get it.
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God, we're going to learn quickly that God gave you credit for Adam's sin in the garden.
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Not all of his sins, not his second sin, not his third sin, not his tenth sin, but his first sin. He didn't give you credit for Eve's sin.
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Adam was the federal representative. And God gave you credit for Adam's sin in the garden.
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You weren't there. You didn't earn it. God gave you credit for it.
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You were the federal representative. That's what we're going to learn. But here's the spoiler part.
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You're going to be really glad for that because your initial wrong thinking is going to go, that's not what?
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Fair. Well, you don't want fair, believe me. God works by representation.
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And so at Calvary, were you there? Were you there when they crucified my
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Lord? You weren't there. You didn't earn that salvation, did you?
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And you didn't merit that salvation. So before you say, federal representation, covenant representation,
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I don't like. You've got to remember Calvary too. This is amazing.
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People are sinners because God legally made them sinners before they even sinned one time.
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Federal representation. Adam was what we call, the Puritans call, a public person.
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Because what he did wasn't just for his own self privately. He was your representative.
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And you're going to say, well, I think I might have done better. Really? I think if we would all get together and say, who should we vote for to stand in the garden on probation and not sin?
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I think I'd pick Adam. What are we going to do if Adam wasn't the person picked?
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Every time we have a new baby, we say to the little baby who's at eight days old, we say, okay baby, now it's time for you to live on probation and you make sure you don't sin.
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That wouldn't work. One acting on the behalf of another. That's just the way
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God does it. A legal agent standing in the stead of others.
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Now take a look at verse 12. Because all sinned. What does that mean? Now, Pelagians would say, everybody sins by example.
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How does everybody sin? Well, Adam sinned, we look at our bad example, we sin. That can't work because think about Jesus and think about the analogy and think about symmetry.
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That means we look at Jesus as a good example on the cross and we then do the good example and therefore we save. Does that make sense?
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All sin? How do infants die? Why do infants die?
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Infants haven't been able to process sin and rebellion and who's that against? You can be assured of the fact that when an infant who's one day old dies, you know for sure that infant was credited with Adam's sin.
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We're going to see that in just a minute. Some people say, well you know what, Adam just, when he reproduced, he just reproduces sinners.
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Is that what that means here? Hereditary depravity? I think we do reproduce sinners. But that's not the point here.
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It's one sin, one sin, one sin, one sin through federal representation. Take a look at verse 15.
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Tucked in the middle. For if by the transgression of the one. Verse 16.
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Tucked in the middle. Arose from one transgression. Verse 17.
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For if by the transgression. Verse 18. So then as through one transgression.
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Verse 19. As through the one man's disobedience. Single. That one sin was credited to our account.
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The Westminster Larger Catechism says the covenant being made with Adam as a public person.
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Not for him only, but for his posterity. All mankind descending from him by ordinary generation sinned in him and fell with him in that first transgression.
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Of course we produce sinful people. And inherit the corruption of our parents.
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But that's not what's talked about here in Romans chapter 5 at all. We're not responsible for Adam's later sins.
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We have a representative. A representative by imputation. A federal representation.
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Adam's one act. The first sin of Adam credited to our account.
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Adam represented us. And what Paul's trying to do is what Adam did in your place should make you think about another one who did something in your place.
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That's the whole point. All sinned. I have a question for you.
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What if Adam as our representative never sinned? Who would we be praising?
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It was the plan of God for Adam to fall because that would give him more glory.
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And that would lead us to our federal representative Jesus Christ.
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Take a look at verse 13. There's a little bit more bad news before there's a glimmer of hope.
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You know the Jews were having their focus on Father Abraham. They weren't really thinking a lot about the doctrine of universal sinfulness and the wrath of God.
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So Paul takes them right back to their father Adam. Before I read verse 13 and 14.
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Is there any reason why you think that people are attacking the credibility of Adam today?
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A literal Adam? No, we don't need a literal Adam. That's just poetry. Evangelicals are saying this too.
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Genesis 1 is just poetry. The American Atheist Journal said, Destroy Adam and Eve and original sin and in the rubble you will find the sorry remains of the
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Son of God. They're right.
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Men are saved precisely in the same manner in which they were lost. And here it says in verse 13,
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For sin indeed was in the world before the law was given. So think for a minute. There was sin in the world when
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Adam was there. Moses hasn't come along yet. No Mosaic law. No Bible. But sin is not counted where there's no law.
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God is not unjust to say, You know what? I don't have any law for you. But you broke a law that I really have but I didn't give to you.
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And now I'm going to give you credit for the law you broke that you didn't know you broke. But sin is not counted where there's no law.
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Yet, did anybody die between Adam and Moses? Verse 14,
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Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam.
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Other people weren't told by God, Don't eat of the fruit of this tree. They weren't told that.
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They weren't told anything. Why are any of them dead? Why are they all dead?
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Because Paul is wanting you to think something. What's he wanting you to think? He wants you to think that they died because of God's imputation.
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Where he imputes Adam's first sin to their account and they die.
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Adam was the federal head. Of course, if we had been present, we would have done the same thing but faster.
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The proof of verse 12 is found in verses 13 and 14. Death reigned from those who lived from Adam to Moses, including infants.
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They were counted guilty of a law but the law hadn't been given so it had to be they were counted guilty of Adam's sin.
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That's the conclusion. An earlier law was broken by Adam. There's a glimmer of hope though at the end of verse 14.
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And everything turns upward now. Let's take our eyes off that first Adam and put on the last Adam who was a federal representative as well.
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Who was a type of the one who was to come. Adam sinned.
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Everybody was lost. Christ Jesus obeys. People are going to be saved.
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Thomas Goodwin said every person hangs on Adam's girdle. Until a second representative comes along,
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Christ Jesus. Federal headship isn't new. And in verses 15 to 19.
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Our federal head Jesus is greater than Adam. He's better. How are you saved?
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Through the work of another. Verse 15. But the free gift.
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Look at the comparison between gift and trespass. It's not like the singular trespass.
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Gift and trespass. They're not the same. Why? One's way better. For if many died through the one man's trespass.
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Much more have the grace of God. And the free gift by the grace of God. By the grace of that one man.
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Jesus Christ abounded for many. Much more. Contrast is great.
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Abounding. Verse 16. This is just pile on with praise and wonder.
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And the free gift is not like the result of that one man's sin. The judgment following one trespass.
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Brought condemnation. Which is the opposite word of justification. But the free gift of the following.
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The free gift following many trespasses. Jesus the last Adam died for lots of sins.
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Brought justification. Adam's act was one act of disobedience.
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Our Lord's act involved taking care of lots of sins. Verse 17. For if because of one man's trespass.
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Death reigned through. Remember 5 .1? Through Christ. Remember 5 .21?
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Through Christ. How can you be saved through one person? Well, you can be condemned through one person.
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Through that one man. Much more will those who receive the abundance of grace. And the free gift of righteousness.
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Reign in life. Here it is again. Through the one man. Jesus Christ. Therefore. As one trespass led to condemnation for all men.
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All who were in Adam died. So one act of righteousness. Paul takes all of Christ's perfect life.
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And just like he bounds it up into one big unity. So there's nice parallelism here.
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Between Adam's one act and Christ's act. Even though he lived a perfect life. And even though he merited
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God's favor by honoring his parents. And by worshiping him. Culminating in that great death on the cross.
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That final act. So one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men.
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He's not talking about universalism. He's saying everybody in Adam got what Adam did. And everybody in Christ got what
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Christ did. Here's some good news friends.
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What Adam did in the garden is not the final determination for your salvation. Because it would have been damnation.
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I love what S. Lewis Johnson says. This is federal representation. When a father strikes oil, the children get rich.
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And we have hit a gusher in the last Adam. Men are justified on the ground of imputed righteousness of Christ.
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Just like they were condemned on the ground of imputed sin of Adam. The acts differ in a degree.
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But they still are the acts of another. How are you saved through one man? Well, you're lost through a man.
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You're saved through a man. Yeah, but you know, there are other issues.
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Before we get to those issues, take a look at verse 19. Which confirms verse 18. For as by the one man's disobedience, the many were placed in the category of sinners.
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This is still in a legal context, a forensic context. They were put in the class of sinners.
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That's what the Greek word means. Placed in the category of sinners. So by the one man's obedience, the many will be placed in the category of righteous.
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That's what we've been talking about. The works of the law, we can't be declared righteous. So Jesus Christ does those works in our place and in our stead.
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And we're put in the class now of righteous. Legal standing. Justify the same way people are condemned by the work of another.
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Spurgeon said, man must have a righteousness. Or God cannot accept him. Man must have a perfect obedience or else
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God cannot reward him. Well, some
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Jews might say, friends, what about the law? I thought Adam sinned so God gave the law.
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So they'd stop sinning and they could earn their own salvation. No, let's find out what 520 and 521 says.
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You want to know what the law does? If you see don't touch wet paint, what do you do? Well, I know what
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I do. Now, the law came into what?
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For anybody who thinks you can get saved by keeping the law, it came into increase the trespass. Where sin increased, grace abounded all the more so that as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our
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Lord. See, what those Jehovah's Witnesses didn't know at the door was that one man can affect a lot of other people.
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And the good news is since Jesus is God and he's divine, he has enough righteousness to give to all those who would ever believe.
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Lived a perfect life, kept God's law. Friends, as you look at this, could you ever hear people say, you know what, you better do all these things because if you don't, you're going to lose your salvation.
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People say, well, you know, I don't like this once lost, once saved, always saved. Well, I don't like really what they believe.
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If you think you can lose your salvation, once lost, always lost, see Hebrews 6. This is all about what God did through the work of another.
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And I end the way I began. If you think you can lose your salvation, then the greatest thing about salvation is damaged.
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And the greatest thing about salvation isn't your salvation, it's God's glory. And what
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God does, he finishes. And he finishes perfectly through Christ Jesus.
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Do you like this hymn? When he shall come with trumpet sound, oh may I then in him be found, dressed in his righteousness alone, faultless to stand before his throne.
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Who else but God could figure out a way to keep his holiness, but then wisely figure out how to not condemn his people.
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Now many times we have the Lord's Supper here. And we have a special message for the Lord's Supper to make us think properly about the
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Lord before we come to the table. We don't need that today, do we? We don't need that today.
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Here's what we do today. We're going to hand out this bread and hand out this cup soon. And here's what
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I want you to do. This is my pastoral request. Sometimes we look at 1
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Corinthians and we automatically default to examine yourselves to see. Examine yourself.
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Check yourself out. Well, you know what, that's not a bad thing to do and I think you should do it for a few seconds. If you're carnal like Corinth, then you should do it for longer.
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But you're supposed to look to Christ to remember him. And you're supposed to have joy.
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Well, it's time to have the Lord's Supper. Everybody head down.
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You're rotten. You're filthy. You deserve nothing. How could you measure up? Well, you know what, all that's true.
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But you know what, when you hold that bread, here's what I want you to think. I didn't pray this week like I should have, but Jesus did.
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Now and in his life. I didn't love my neighbor like I should have yesterday, but Jesus on this earth did.
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I never really studied the Bible this week like I should, but Jesus did.
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I used to be an enemy of God, but now I'm a friend. I used to have no access, now I have access.
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I used to have trials and they did me nothing except give me pain. Now they give me endurance and character.
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I have the hope of heaven. I'm going to heaven. And I have a representative who died for me. And then you say, do this in remembrance of me.
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That's what the Lord's Supper is because I know something about you because I'm one of you. By the last day of the week,
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Saturday, I think like the world thinks too often. Work, merit, sola bootstrapsa, take care of these things, earn
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God's favor. Favor of God has been earned.
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God's favor has been earned. Time for the funeral procession. Of course
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I'm not saying don't examine yourself. You should examine yourself. And then quickly after you've got that whiff of examining yourself, then
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I want you to examine through Christ Jesus. Let's pray.
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Father, thank you for our time today and your word. We wouldn't want anything else except to learn more about Jesus and his salvation.
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Parsing salvation, a representative salvation federally. Thank you that that's the way you work.
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We admit that we praise you knowing that you picked the right man, Christ Jesus.
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You picked the right man, Adam, as well. We couldn't have done it. We know in your wisdom, you knew that Adam couldn't do it either.
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So Father, give us joy now. Give us hearts of gladness. Help us to be good testimonies.
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Father, I pray for the parents here who are Christians. I pray that their children, maybe lots of their unsaved children, would look to the parents and say,
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I would like to be filled with joy like that. Help us to be a good, I don't know how else to say it,
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Lord, but a good promotion for knowing you. What's it like to be blessed by the
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God of the universe? Father, we want to show other people that the joy of the