All right, turn with me back
to Romans chapter five. I have something that I'm excited
to bring to you. I believe this will be wonderful
to you, meaning full of wonder, because it has been to me. This
has just been wonderful to me. I pray the Lord
will make this a blessing. We are going to see the truth
of what's being said here, and then I pray we might enter into
it. All right, our text will begin
in verse 12. It says, wherefore, as by one man, sin entered into
the world. That one man was Adam, the first
man. Wherefore, as by one man, sin
entered into the world, and death by sin, and so death passed upon
all men, for that all have sinned. There's not a human being that
has ever stood on the face of this earth that has not sinned.
The last three words are all have sinned. Verse 13, for until
the law, sin was in the world. God gave the law to Moses on
Mount Sinai after he delivered the children of Israel from Egypt,
which was 2,500 years after Adam sinned. All right now from Adam
to Christ was 4,000 years. We are 2,000 years from Christ
now. From Adam to when God gave the
law to Moses on Mount Sinai was 2,500 years later. That only
leaves 1,500 years left in the Old Testament that they had the
law. We're already 2,000 years away
from Christ now. All right, so 2,500 years after
Adam's sin, God gave that law. Verse 13 says, for until the
law, sin was in the world. Cain killed Abel. Adam didn't
do that for Cain. Adam sinned and he was a sinner,
but Cain did that. He did that himself. Wickedness
spread to every human being. It was so bad. The scripture
says that the imagination of man's heart was only evil continually. And it grieved the Lord that
he had made man and he destroyed a whole earth full of people.
with the exception of eight souls, in a flood. Cities came along
like Sodom and Gomorrah, and the Lord rained down fire and
brimstone on them. Men like Jacob came along who
lied to his father and stole his own brother's birthright. He was a sorry guy. He was a
sorry guy. And his sorriness was passed
along to his boys. He had 12 boys, 12 children,
male children given to Israel. 10 of them, because one was either
not yet born or too young, 10 of them sold one of those boys
into slavery just because they hated him, just because they
were jealous of him. That ended up leading the whole
nation of Israel into the bondage of Egypt. What they did led the
whole nation into the bondage of Egypt and the Egyptians beat
and tortured the Israelites with hard bondage until God delivered
them. From the moment God delivered
them, they spent the next 40 years of their freedom. That's
what they were in. They were being beaten, they
were being tortured, hard bonded, and God brought them into freedom. And they spent the next 40 years
of that freedom murmuring and complaining against God. So yes,
no doubt about it. Verse 13 says until the law sin
was in the world, it was in the world, but sin is not imputed. When there is no law, he brings
up the argument that some will have saying, well, how can it
be sin? If there's no law, how can it be sin? If there's
no law, that's a good question. If you do 150 miles an hour on
John B. Dennis, you are going to go to
jail for that. But if you do 150 miles an hour
on the Autobahn in Germany, they won't say a word to you. What's
the difference? One of those roads has a speed
limit law posted and the other one doesn't. In certain portions
of that road in Germany, there's no posted speed limit. On one road, it's a sin against
the law. On the other road, there's no
law to sin against. So the argument could be stated,
if there was no law given, could it really be called sin? Paul
very clearly points out, there was a law given. It was written
on the heart. God wrote it on the heart and
there was sin against that law. And the reason we know that is
because verse 14 says death reigned. Sin is not imputed when there
is no law. Verse 14 says, nevertheless,
death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned
after the similitude of Adam's transgression. Death came even
to those who did not commit the same physical act as Adam, the
same physical sin that Adam did. So sin was in the world and it
was passed to every single man. And he's going to get to the
heart of his message right here at the end of verse 14, who is
the figure of him that was to come. Speaking of Christ, who
is called the second Adam, the first Adam pictures Christ for
us in a way that I believe we will be amazed by. I have been
amazed by this. I'm so thankful to have seen
this. I've been so thankful to have seen this Adam, who is the
figure of him that was to come. All right. Verse 15 says, but
not as the offense, meaning Adam does not picture Christ in the
fact that he sinned. We're going to say Adam is a
picture of Christ, but not in the offense. He's not a picture
of Christ in the offense. Adam is a figure or a picture
of Christ in the fact that what he did was passed down to every
man and woman that was born in him, came from him, of him. His nature produced the nature
of every soul born from him. The same is true for Christ in
what he did. Not in the offense, but in the
free gift. That's what verse 15 says, not
as the offense. So also is the free gift. What
Adam did was passed down to all those in him. And what Christ
did was passed down to all those in him, which is not necessarily
the same people. Which, you know, a lot of people
wonder, well, if Adam sinned and then that caused everybody
else to sin, and if Christ put away sin, what Adam did, he did
it for every soul that was in him, which is all of us. And
what Christ did, he did it for every soul that was in him, which
I pray is all of us. Adam is a figure, he's a type
of Christ in a contrasting way, in a polar opposite way. Let me show you that in 1 Corinthians
15. First Corinthians 15 verse 45. And so it is written, the first
man, Adam was made a living soul. The last Adam was made a quickening
spirit. Who exactly is he speaking of
there? The first man, Adam, the last Adam. Verse 47, the first
man is of the earth, earthy. The second man is the Lord from
heaven. As is the earthy, such are they
also that are earthy. And as is the heavenly, such
are they also that are heavenly. And as we have borne the image
of the earthy, We shall also bear the image of the heavenly. That's how Adam is a type of
Christ. Everything that we see in our
relationship to Adam, we can see in our relationship to Christ
in an opposite way. All right, so go with me back
to Romans 5. Verse 15 says, but not as the
offense. So also is the free gift for
if through the offense of one, many be dead, much more, the
grace of God and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus
Christ hath abounded unto many and not as it was by one that
sinned. So is the gift. For the judgment
was by one to condemnation, but the free gift is of many offenses
unto justification. For if by one man's offense death
reigned by one, much more they which receive abundance of grace
and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one Jesus
Christ. Therefore, as by the offense
of one, judgment came upon all men to condemnation, even so
by the righteousness of one, the free gift came upon all men
unto justification of life. For as by one man's disobedience,
many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many
be made righteous. Moreover, the law entered that
the offense might abound, but where sin abounded, grace did
much more abound. That as sin hath reigned unto
death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal
life by Jesus Christ our Lord. In order to reveal something
to us of the reality of our condition in Christ, He shows us this great
contrasting difference between Adam and Christ. He's gonna reveal
something to us that we will not be able to understand except
in this way. And this is so, this is what
has amazed me. We could never understand this
or enter into this if it were not given to us in this way.
All of God's Word reveals to us this great contrasting difference
between Adam and Christ. And here it is, in Adam, sin
entered the world. All right, by one man, sin entered
the world. In Christ, righteousness entered
the world by one man. Righteousness entered the world.
In Adam, we fail, every one of us. In Christ, we're raised up. Every one of us in Christ. Every
single one. In Adam, we disobeyed. In Christ, we kept perfect obedience. In Adam, we died. In Christ,
we live. In Adam, judgment. In Christ,
justification. In Adam, we're children of wrath.
In Christ, we're children of God. In Adam, we're far off. In Christ, we're made nigh. In
Adam, we're enemies. In Christ, we're friends. Reconcile. In Adam, it's bondage. In Christ,
it's liberty. In Adam, there's no hope. In
Christ, it's a living hope. So in seeing our relationship
to Adam, all right, if we look at that relationship and get
a hold of our relationship to Adam, in a polar opposite way,
we can see our relationship to Christ. All right, now let's
see if we can see it. Okay, that's the facts. Let's
see if we can see it. Let's begin with our relationship
to Adam. Adam had sin for a nature. When he fell, sin became his
nature. It determined what he was like.
It determined what he did. He was a sinner because he was
a sinner. He ended up looking like a sinner.
acting like a sinner, walking like a sinner, talking like a
sinner. He was a sinner. All right, now
this is our relationship to him. We, the scripture says, are his
offspring. We are his offspring. The definition
of the word offspring is offshoot. That's what it means. When a
tree begins to grow, it will form offshoots. They're called
branches. Are those branches, all right,
a tree starts to grow up, here they come, are those branches
a different tree or the same tree? The same tree. Eventually, those branches, if
it's an oak tree, will grow acorns. Are those acorns a different
tree, a part of a different tree, or the same tree? It's the same
tree. At the right time of year, those
acorns will fall off of the tree and they will lay on the ground.
They'll just, you can see them, they're just laying on the ground.
While they are laying there on the ground, are they the acorns
of a different tree or the same tree? Same tree. If that acorn takes root, it
will sprout a trunk. Is that trunk a different tree
or the same tree? The same tree. It grows. It produces branches. It produces
acorns. They fall and produce new shoots. Are those shoots new trees or
the same tree? The same tree. You can go into the forest, you
can look at an oak tree and see oak tree after oak tree after
oak tree after oak tree after oak tree. And in reality, it
could be the same tree. The same tree. We are Adam. We are the same man. We are just his offspring. In the same way that we could
say that that oak tree withstood a hurricane years ago, you can
look at a tree and say, yep, it's still standing. That oak
tree withstood a hurricane years ago. Now, it did that years ago. Right now it has brand new leaves
on it, this year's leaves on it. It could have brand new branches
on it, but the reality is that tree withstood the hurricane. With its brand new leaves and
its brand new branches, that tree withstood the hurricane.
Those new leaves and those new branches were just in the fiber
and the nature of the tree. Newly formed offshoots, that's
all they are. In that same way, the newly formed
offshoots, in that same way, we sinned against God in our
tree. We were there in Him. Everything that comes out of
that tree is in the nature and the fiber and the life of that
tree. in the nature and the fiber of
Adam, everything that he did, we did. We did it. Everything Adam did, the reality
of me doing it in him is so actual, it's as though I was standing
there myself doing it. That's how actual it is, me doing
it in him. This is the very flesh that sinned
against God. This is not different flesh.
It's the very same flesh that sinned against the living God. Our actual flesh, all right,
this is our actual relationship to Adam. Adam's sin is my sin. Okay, this is the flesh, this
is the nature that did it. There's only one human nature
and one human flesh and this is it. We know that so because
we could easily see ourselves doing what Adam and Eve did. Can't you put yourself in that
position? Can't you see yourself doing
that? Can't you see yourself wanting what you couldn't have?
Desiring some of the glory and some of the power? Every one of us could see ourselves
doing that. We can relate to that. We can enter into that.
We see our union with Adam. And that is what we did. We actually
did that in our union with Adam, all right? This is the flesh
that did it. Now, the Apostle Paul said, Adam was the figure
of him that was to come. Adam points us to Christ. Christ
has righteousness for a nature. It determined before the foundation
of the world what he is like. It determined what he would do.
He is righteous because he is righteousness. He looks like
righteousness. He acts like righteousness. He
walks like righteousness. He talks like righteousness.
He is righteousness. Now, if God the Father chose
to put us in Christ, this is our relationship to him. The
scripture says we are his offspring. That's what it says. That was
made to be through him making himself to be an offspring. In
Revelation 22, he said, I am the root and the offspring of
David. He made himself to be in the
very likeness of sinful flesh. He took upon him the very nature,
Hebrews 2 says, of the seed of Abraham. He made himself to be
what his people were. Not a sinner himself, but that
very sin. He became the offshoot and killed
it. He became the offshoot and killed
it. The tree stops here. He cut it
down. The tree of sin and death, it
stops here. And then he planted a new seed
of the tree of life. Now from that tree of life, Acts
17 says, in Christ we are his offspring. Now, when a tree begins
to grow, it will form offshoots. They are called branches. Are
those branches a different tree or the same tree? The same tree. If we are his offspring, we possess
the very nature and the very spirit of Christ himself. That
is too, that's just too amazing to think about. The scripture
says, as he is, so are we. What is he? That's what we are
in him. In Christ, we've been made to
be one with him. The scripture says, us in him,
him in God, God in him, him in us. In Christ, our new nature is
Christ in us. And that's our actual relationship
to Christ. No glory goes to us. He's the
root, he's the trunk, he's the source. We're just recipients
of him. It is so impossible for the flesh
to enter into this. That's why the Lord gave us Adam. to be a figure, we can fully
understand our union with Adam. And in understanding that union
with Adam, we can believe our union with Christ. The reality
is, and this is a fearful thing to say, but this is the reality
in Christ. Everything Christ did, we did
it in Him. It's so actual, it is so actual. And it's just amazing. I fear,
you know, our glory, all glory be to Him. We cry with everything
we say, not unto us, oh Lord, not unto us. But here's the reality
of what He did. Everything Christ did before
God for us was as though we were standing there doing it ourselves. It was counted unto us for righteousness. That's what that means. It means
it's as though we did it ourselves. And in Him, we did. His righteousness
is our righteousness. There's only one righteous nature.
And in Christ, we have it. He gave it to us. We cannot see
ourselves doing righteousness before God. Just can't enter
into that. Cannot enter into that. But thank
God he gave us Adam. And we can so enter into our
oneness with Adam. Through that, by His Spirit,
we get a glimpse into our oneness with Christ. Verse 18, Romans
5 says, therefore, as by the offense of one, judgment came
upon all men to condemnation, even so by the righteousness
of one, the free gift came upon all men unto justification of
life. For as by one man's disobedience,
many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many
be made righteous. Moreover, the law entered that
the offense might abound, but where sin abounded, grace did
much more abound. That as sin hath reigned unto
death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal
life by Jesus Christ our Lord. All right, let's all stand together.