1 Corinthians 15 in verse 22. And if you don't understand this,
you'll read something into it that's not there, but it simply
says, for as in Adam, all die, even so in Christ shall all be
made alive. I want to speak to us this morning
about a A principle, a principle that runs through the Bible,
something very simple, yet very profound and very important. A clear understanding
of this single principle will teach you more about God and
more about man and more about salvation and more about the
Bible than you realize. So my prayer is the Lord will
help us this morning to get this. And the principle I'm referring
to is that of representation. We're going to talk about that
and what it means, the importance of our understanding of it. It is a principle that God himself
established, runs all the way through the Bible, Old Testament
and New, all the way through history. Representation. What does it mean? Well, simply
in our system of government, when we elect a local candidate
to be our state representative from this county or this district,
we send that man or woman to Raleigh to represent us. He or she is supposed to stand
up for us. to cast a vote for us. He or
she is not supposed to go to Raleigh as a private individual,
but as a representative person, representing all the people,
to speak for the people of Western North Carolina. Of course, the
same is true on a national level. We vote and we send the representatives
and senators to Washington, supposedly to represent us, the people of
this state. And when he or she speaks, it's
supposed to be the people of our state speaking. He or she
is a representative person, spokesperson. And so that's what representation
is. And so when we read and believe
God's Word, We understand that Adam was a representative person. The first part of the verse here
said, for is in Adam all die. From the beginning, from the
creation, when God created man, when he created Adam and Eve,
or created Adam and then made Eve from Adam. The day he was created, all his
posterity was in his loins, including you
and I. We were represented in Adam.
All that he was, we are. We are, right now, Adam reproduced. Now had Adam and Eve had any
children before they sinned, before they fell, those children
would have been on the same level that Adam their father was on.
Innocent. No sin, no shame, no guilt, enjoying
fellowship with God on a daily basis. That being the case, had
they had children before they sinned, It would have been possible
for Adam to fall and his children not fall. But that wasn't the
case. There were no children born before
the fall. But all humanity was represented
in Adam in the Garden of Eden when he fell. And when he fell,
we all fell. When he said no to God, we all
said no to God. When he disobeyed, we all disobeyed. And we were all born in our time
with the same sinful nature that Adam had. We were not born with
the privilege to choose whether we would be sinners or not. We
were born sinners. And anybody that's honest would
confess that. Now, this man-made notion nowadays
that babies are innocent. Well, that's nice. This is not
so. And this man-made notion of the,
you know, so-called age of accountability, it's just that, a man-made notion. When a child reaches the age
of 6, 8, 10, 12, you know, all of a sudden they become accountable. No, we were all accountable to
God when we fell in Adam in the garden. That's when accountability
fell on the entire human race. Some say, well, now that's not
fair. Why should God punish me for what Adam did. Well, and
people say, if I'd been back there, I wouldn't have done what
Adam did. You were back there. And you did it. You are Adam. You are Adam. The rebel against
God. Reproduced. And when you have
children and grandchildren, great-grandchildren, it's Adam reproduced with a sinful,
fallen nature in rebellion against Almighty God. But religious thought today is
like somebody trying to defend a baby rattlesnake. And they'll
tell you, now I've talked to this cute little thing. I know
it's a snake, but it's just young and it's cute. And this little
snake tells me he's not going to be like his daddy that bit
that man and he died. He promised me he won't be like
that. He's going to be different. No,
he's not different. It's in his nature. It's in his
nature. He's a rattlesnake. He'll do
exactly what his daddy did. And every child born of Adam
Every person ever born into this world, with the exception of
the Lord Jesus Christ, including you and I, because of our nature,
do exactly like our father Adam did. We say no to God. We disobey God. We're born rebels
against God. That's the negative side. We cannot be anything other than
Adam. His nature is our nature. Now that's not difficult to understand,
is it? People deny it, but it's very clear. Now the positive
side, the positive side. This verse said not only that
in Adam all die, but even so in Christ shall all be made alive. Now this is not a text for universal
atonement. All here is not Adam's race. We'll explain that in a minute. A specific number of Adam's fallen
race before the creation of the world were chosen by God. and were represented in one man,
his son, Jesus Christ. Not all Adam's race, but some,
he says, of every kindred, nation, tongue, and every generation. And God calls them his elect,
his chosen. We find this throughout the Bible.
These are predestinated, the word pre meaning beforehand,
destination meaning the end, predetermined, predestinated,
though to be ruined by Adam's fall, yet predestinated by God
before he made the world, to receive the nature of another
representative. Jesus Christ. Begotten of Adam, fallen in his sin, conceived
by our natural parents, we have the nature of Adam. But begotten of God, conceived
by the Holy Ghost, We have the nature of Christ. And therein is the warfare that
goes on in here all the time. The flesh warring against the
spirit. Now, we don't appear to be much
like Christ. Because in this flesh, we're
still Adam. But we are predestinated someday. to be rid of Adam entirely and to be conformed to the very
image of Christ, our representative person. That's Romans 8.29. So
with those two pictures, we understand Paul's words here in 1 Corinthians
15.22. He refers to these two representative
persons. For as in Adam, all die. How many die? All that are in
Adam. Even so, in Christ shall all
be made alive. How many are made alive? All
that are in Christ. Who are they? According to Ephesians
1-4, It's those chosen in Christ before the foundation of the
world. God is not limited by time as
we are. He is not confined to time. God
is eternal. He is the one who declared the
end from the beginning. And it's going to run just like
he determined it from the beginning. So here in Christ, not all Adam's
race Those chosen in Christ before the world are represented in
him. Paul refers to these in 1 Thessalonians
5, 9 as those whom God hath not appointed to wrath, but to obtain
salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ. You say, well now is God right
to appoint anyone to wrath? God's right to appoint everyone
to wrath. but he's chosen a definite number
of Adam's race before creation to be represented in his son,
Jesus Christ. And these chosen ones, his elect
children represented in Christ, are the only ones not appointed
to damnation by his wrath because of sin. But rather, appointed to obtain
salvation. Not in our goodness, not by our
goodness, not by our doing, not by our religion, not by our profession,
but we're appointed to obtain salvation in our representative. Appointed to obtain salvation
by our Lord Jesus Christ, you see. Paul said it another way. 2 Thessalonians 2.13. But we are bound to give thanks
all the way to God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord. He's not
talking to Adam's race. He's talking to the saints at
Thessalonica. We're bound to give thanks all the way to God
for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord. Beloved when? From
eternity. Because God hath from the beginning
chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit. The Holy Spirit has sealed God's
elect, has marked God's elect off from the rest of humanity.
So boy, which ones are those? We don't know. We don't know. Somebody asked Spurgeon one time
in the late 18s. He preached this very truth.
Charles Adams Spurgeon. And somebody asked him, he said,
if you believe that, he said, why don't you just preach to
the elect? He said, if I knew who they were, that's exactly
what I'd do. But we're instructed to preach
the gospel to every creature. But Christ was not a failure.
in his death on the cross. He's not trying to save every
creature. He's saving those given him from the foundation of the
world. And that's who he came and died
for. God has from the beginning chosen
you to salvation through sanctification of the spirit and belief of the
truth. It's through sanctification and
belief of the truth. You see the order? Apart from
the sanctifying work of the Spirit, the setting apart of the Spirit,
you'll never believe the truth. That's the order. This is God's work. This is God's
work. And of course, what people hoot
about so much nowadays, free will, free will, free will. Can
I tell you, the free will of man, so-called free will, has
landed many a soul in hell, but never one in heaven. Never. Because salvation is of the Lord. And it is of these, God's elect,
that Christ refers to in John 17, 6. when he prays to the Father. Here's what he said, Father.
He said, I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou
gavest me out of the world. He didn't manifest his name.
He didn't reveal himself. He didn't make himself known
to all humanity. No. But he said, Father, he said,
thou gavest them to me, thine they were. Father, they belong
to you. and thou gavest them Me." When
did the Father give them to the Son? Before the world was. And
He said in verse 2, I'm in this world, Father, this is John 17,
to give eternal life to as many as thou hast given Me. Christ
came and died to save the very ones given Him by the Father
from eternity. And he was 100% successful. Not one single soul for whom
Christ died can perish. He said, they shall never perish.
Never perish. 2 Timothy 1.9, God hath saved us. Paul writing to Timothy. He hadn't
saved Adam's race. It's obvious they don't have
a heart for God, but He saved us. You who have had a heart change,
you in whom the Lord's Spirit dwells, He saved us and called
us, His people, with unholy calling. Not according to our works, not
because of anything you did. This is 2 Timothy 1.9. God never
smiled on you because you did anything right. You never have
done enough right for Him to make Him smile. Not according to our works. He's not chosen us in us, but
in Christ. Not according to our works, but
according to His own purpose and grace, which was given us,
how? In Christ Jesus. When? Before the world began. That's 2 Timothy 1.9. Representation. Adam, Christ. I've told you this little story
before, and I want to tell it again. It well illustrates this
principle of representation. A high school teacher one time,
it was near to exam time, final exam, and the teacher said to
the class, said, we're going to do something a little different.
And instead of everybody taking the exam, I'm going to let you
choose one person to take the exam for the whole class. And whatever grade that one person
gets, the whole class gets that grade. Well, they liked that. And so they got ready to select
a person to take the exam. And, of course, they selected
a young man, the most popular, the most handsome, captain of
the football team, Mr. Macho. Everybody liked him. We'll support him. We'll rally
behind him. And we'll just trust him to get
us all a good grade. Well, he failed. And it was a
sad day when the teacher announced it to the class because they
knew with him failing, they all failed. They were represented
by him and in him. And the teacher said, There is
one alternative. The day I let y'all make a choice, I had already made a choice. And another person took the exam
that you didn't know about. And since you all failed in your
choice, Would anyone wish to be represented
in my choice? And they all said yes. And the teacher announced that
his choice was the unpopular, unliked, made fun of, almost
genius in the class who always got straight A's. And the teacher announced that
in the exam he had made an A. And so you all get an A. That's
representation. That's representation. And if you want to contend for
this freewill business, nobody's going to decide for me. I'll
represent myself. Nobody's going to cram religion
down my throat. I'll decide for myself. Well,
you're siding with Adam. You've sided with Adam. That's
Adam in the garden doing his own thing. Made him some fig leaf aprons
after he sinned and thought, well, this will cover it up.
It's good enough for me. It ought to be good enough for
God. He knew it wasn't or he wouldn't have ran an id. I don't want that. I don't want
to just be represented. Adam, oh no. Adam's just like you. You're
just like Adam. If you were on trial for bank
robbery, would you want your defense attorney to be named
your representative? Would you want him to be named
Jesse James? I don't think so. If you were on trial for murder,
Would you want your defense attorney, your representation, to be named
Charles Manson? I don't think so. No. Why would you want to be represented
by someone just like you? Would you want to face God represented
by someone just like you? No. You want to face God represented
by someone just like Him. And that's His Son, Jesus Christ. We sang that song last week.
He took my sins and my sorrows. He made them His very own. You see, when they became His,
they ceased to be mine. That's what's so blessed about
it. That's representation. 2 Corinthians 5.21, Paul said,
For He, that's God the Father, hath made Him, Jesus Christ,
to be sin for us, His elect people. And Christ, who knew no sin,
He did it that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. That's representation. He was
made like us so we could be made like Him. And it's because of
this that God can look at His people, His children, not in
ourselves but hidden in His Son. He can look at His people in
Christ this morning and say, there is no spot. Indeed. Let somebody walk up to you in
this world and say, you're perfect. You're absolutely perfect. You're going to say, well, he
or she has done lost it. I'm not perfect. I'm not even
close. I get mad. I get bitter. I'm selfish. I might lie a little,
cuss a little, I might do you wrong. I'm not perfect. Adam is noted for all these things.
It's a family trait. But God does not look at His
children in Adam. He looks at His children in His
Son, in Christ. And He calls your name, Scott,
Mike, Tommy, Alvin, Rick, calls your name and says, I don't see
a thing wrong with you. There is no spot in thee. Now there's plenty wrong with
you in this flesh. You know that well as I do. But God sees you
in Christ, in his Son. And there is no spot in thee,
excepted in the beloved. He's not looking at Adam, he's
looking at Christ. 1 Peter 3, 18, For Christ also
hath once suffered for sins, the just, capital J, the just
one, for the unjust, that's us, that he might bring us to God. How and when? When you made that
decision, know, read the scripture, that He might bring us to God
being put to death in His flesh. Was He put to death in His flesh?
Yes. But quickened by the Spirit. Was He quickened by the Spirit?
Yes. Did He die? and then get up and
ascend to the Father? Yes. Did he bring us to God? Yes. That's representation. It's all through the Bible. Back in the book of 2 Samuel
chapter 9, King David loved and nourished and cared for a crippled man named Mephibosheth.
who was the grandson of his greatest enemy, Saul. Why did he do that? He did it because Mephibosheth's
father, named Jonathan, was his dear friend. He did it all for
Jonathan's sake. And Mephibosheth said, I don't
understand why you'd show kindness, why you'd be good to such a dead
dog as I am. And David said, it's not you I'm
looking at. You are represented in my friend,
Jonathan, and I'll do anything for him. See the difference? That's representation. In the
Old Testament, The high priest, those of you that have studied
the tabernacle and the high priest garments, when he went behind
that veil on the day of atonement with the blood offering, he went there to approach God
once a year behind that veil, not as a private individual,
but as a representative person. He was representing all of Israel. And that representation is seen
in that on the high priest breastplate, that was an article of his clothing
prescribed by the Lord. And on that breastplate were
four rows of stones, three per row. And in those stones, the names
of the 12 tribes of Israel. on that high priest's breastplate.
So in representation, the entire nation went behind that veil. But they were all represented
in this one man. There wasn't one of those twelve
stones that said Egypt, Moab, Babylon. Oh no, oh no. He wasn't
representing Adam's race. He was representing His people,
the twelve tribes. And when Christ our Lord went
to the cross, paid the sin debt, by His own precious blood approached
the Father, He was representing all His own. He was representing
those given Him before the foundation of the world. He is our representative
person. He's our king. He's our high
priest. The American dream, so-called,
success, prosperity, liberty, the pursuit of happiness and
all that. You can do it! That's Adam's
religion. That's Cain's religion. That's free will religion. And
you may do it in this life. You may get wealthy and you may
live healthy for a hundred years, but honey, you can't do it when
it comes time to meet God. You must be represented in another. And I'm so thankful this morning.
Christ is our representative person. Oh, the blessedness,
the life and the liberty of representation in Christ. You say, well, how do I know?
This representation is evidenced by the Holy Spirit living in
us and giving us a heart for the Lord, a hunger for him, a
reverence for him, obedience to him, a thirst for him and
rest in him. John 7, 37, don't say whosoever will. It says, if any man thirst, that's
the key. That's the key. Matthew 11, 28, don't say, come
unto me, whosoever will. It says, come unto me all ye
that labor. laboring under the heavy load
and the burden and the guilt of your sin, heavy laden, come
unto me. And Revelation 22, 17, don't
say whosoever will, because you're your own boss. It says, let him
that is a thirst come. That's the secret. That's the
secret. You say, well, can't anybody
come to Christ? Anybody wants to. But if you ever want to, it's
his doing. It's his doing. Are you thirsty? I trust you
are. And if you are, you're blessed of God and represented in Christ. You say, I fear I'm not thirsty
enough. None of us are. But are you thirsty at all? Are
you thirsty at all? Proverbs 14, 27, the fear of
the Lord, reverence for the Lord, honoring the Lord, thirst for
the Lord is a fountain of life. Oh, the fountain is abundant
if there's anybody thirsty. if there's anybody thirsty. Bless
His holy name. Representation. This is the base,
basic truth of the glorious gospel of our Redeemer. We were represented
in Adam. And God's elect were represented
in Christ before He ever created Adam. That's the blessed thing
about it. Amen. Let's stand together.