May it please Almighty God to
bless us together as we meditate in His Holy Word this evening.
Let's turn to the Epistle of Paul to the Romans, chapter 5,
and we'll read two verses. We'll read verses 12 and verses
19. So Romans, chapter 5, and reading
verses 12 and 19. 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. And in verse 19, whereas by one
man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience
of one shall many be made righteous. We have to remember, of course,
that this book, or this epistle, was written by the Apostle Paul,
and it was written not very long after, of course, the death of
the Lord Jesus Christ. And the wonderful fact that that
death was so important, and therefore, As we read through the New Testament
and as the Apostle Paul wrote a lot of the New Testament under
the Spirit's aid, he directs us to the underlying truths and
the underlying reason why, of course, that came to pass and
how good it is. Sometimes it's just worth pondering
if we had been born perhaps before there was any Bible. Remember
the first five chapters were written by Moses, so prior to
Moses' existence and indeed his life, because he wrote it at
the end of his life, there was no Bible. And therefore people
had to rely upon that which was spoken and passed down from one
generation to another. And then of course the Old Testament
was completed and that was completed many years before Jesus was born,
some 400 or so years before. and then after Jesus was born
and lived and died then we see the New Testament was written
mostly by the Apostles and we can be thankful for it and thankful
indeed for the wonderful truths and the wonderful message it
contains and all the illustrations and the clearness of the statements
and so we need to Be thankful to God that you and I today have
a Bible that gives us so many words of encouragement, so many
words of correction, so many words of direction, and it spells
out to us very clearly the great and wonderful plan of salvation. And we might say, well, why is
that necessary? Well, it is necessary Because
the truth is, we look through the Word of God and we find in
those very early chapters in Genesis, that very tragic occasion
when Satan came to Adam and Eve. There had been Adam and Eve in
that beautiful Garden of Eden. Perfect position, no sin, nothing
to trouble them. And Satan came along. And Satan's
great ploy was to deceive Adam and Eve. And my friends, let's
be quite clear, Satan hasn't changed his skill, he hasn't
changed his plans. He goes about today in exactly
the way deceiving the people on the earth. Right back in that Garden of
Eden, he used that ploy by raising a question and saying to Eve,
hath God said? And it's exactly the same today
for you and me. We come across temptations, we
come across things that we know in our heart we shouldn't do,
And there's that question, really, well, can we do these things
or can we not? And then, in our conscience,
we hear that word from God saying the truth of what we can do and
what we can't do. And perhaps very often, just
like Eve, she was turned, she fancied the fruit that was offered
to her, She thought it looked good and she listened to what
the devil said rather than the great words which God had spoken
to Adam and Eve. And therefore, what did she do?
She disobeyed God. And that's the great trial for
you and me today. It's so easy to disobey God. How tragic it was on that occasion
when she disobeyed God. And the hymn writer tells us
those words, O thou hideous monster sin, what a curse hast thou brought
in. All creation groans through thee. Just try and imagine the world
without any sin, without any lies, without anything evil,
without any immorality, everything pure, and honest and holy. What a perfect place it would
be. But no, what do we see? Sin all around us. And what do
we see? Sin within us. Sin within us. And when we're perhaps young,
we don't realize the situation. Maybe when we're old, we don't
realize. But you see, the devil is very
cunning. The devil puts thoughts into
our minds. The devil puts wrong thoughts
into our minds. Sinful thoughts into our minds. And because we are sinners, because
of that sin committed by Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden,
we are all under the power of sin. And we listen. Sometimes
we love to listen. Sometimes we absorb it into our
hearts. And what does it do? Do you know
what it does? It separates us from God. Because God is holy and righteous. And we, because of our sinful
nature, are unholy and unrighteous. What a sad situation we find
ourselves in. And all because of that tragic
day in the history of the world when Satan tempted Eve and then
Adam partook of that fruit, that forbidden fruit, and sin entered
into the world. Well, the Apostle really explains
that. as he writes to the Romans, the
terribleness of it and the sinfulness of it. And in this 12th verse,
which we've read tonight, tells us, wherefore, as by one man
sin entered into the world, and death by sin. And so death passed
upon all men, for they're all have sinned. If there'd been
no sin, there would be no death. But sin entered in and there
is death. And all the unhappiness which
exists in the world today is because of sin. Because people
disobey the truth of God's Word. They follow their own plans. They follow their own way. What
they're saying, really, in their heart, is very simply this. I, or we, will not have this
man to reign over us. We will not do God's will. We
will not follow his way. And therefore, we sin and wander
from God. And my friends, there we remain
unless almighty God puts forth his hand and saves us. And so tonight we are before
God and we're either amongst those who continue enemies with
God, walking contrary to his word, disobeying his word, adding
sins upon sins or we're amongst those who God in his amazing
love has called us, called us, told us where we're going, what
we're doing, how we're opposing his law and bringing condemnation
into our lives. Well, we have to answer before
God, don't we? The truth is that you and I cannot
tell what each one is thinking. We might see one another, we
might draw a conclusion as to what we think about them, but
it could be very far wrong. It's only the individual who
knows what they're thinking and what they plan and what they
are determined to do and how they are determined to ignore
the Word of God, to ignore His way, and to add sin upon sin. Well, what a blessing it would
be for every one of us if we know that God has come and stopped
us in our mad career, has caused us to consider our ways, cause
us to realise that we are a lost and rooing sinner. We're no better
than Adam and Eve. We're no better than those recorded
in the Word of God who disobeyed the Word of God and followed
their own inclinations and fell into sin, sometimes terrible
sin. And it's good when the Holy Spirit
shows you and me we're no better. Left to ourselves, we would not
be able to claim we're any better than the worst sinners. And what
a mercy it is, therefore, to realise we have a God who is
compassionate, a God who remembers that we are a dust, and has given
us so many encouragements in the Word of God to come and pray
to Him and to come and to confess our sins. There is a wonderful
word in the Epistle of John which tells us this. If, and that's
a big if, isn't it? If we confess our sins, He is
faithful and just, to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us
from all unrighteousness. We must never assume that we
don't have sin. Again, the devil is very cunning
and he will pretend it doesn't really matter. In any event,
you're young, it may be the young ones. The devil is saying, you're
young, you needn't worry. You can carry on in this world,
you can enjoy yourself, you can spend your time in the things
in this world. But what it doesn't tell you
is that we know not the day of our death. We know not when sudden
destruction may come upon us. And if it does come, how you
and I need to know that it is well with our souls. There's nothing more important
than to know it's well with our souls. You see, you and I can
gain every success in this world. We can do exceedingly well and
be out of Christ and be lost forever. Spend eternity in utter
misery in hell itself. And therefore we need to take
heed to the warnings given us in the Word of God. The Lord
Jesus said, be ye also ready for in such a day, a time that
ye know not, the Son of Man cometh. And that may be to each one of
us in our lives, when death comes, or it may be in the end of time,
when time shall be no more. Whatever it is, it is a very,
very serious thing to consider. It's not something to brush under
the carpet and think it's irrelevant. It is the most relevant consideration
for you and me. And that's why there are so many
gracious and glorious encouragements in the Word of God, to direct
us to seek unto him, call upon me in the day of trouble. That's how we are encouraged.
And we are to confess our sins. Yes, we're not to try and hide
them. We are to come to God. We don't have to tell the world.
You can come to God. He knows, He's the only one that
knows exactly what your sin and my sins are. No one else does. And therefore it's good to come
to Him and to confess our sins and His glorious promises. If we confess our sins, He is
faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from
all unrighteousness. And why is that? Because God
is faithful. what God has said he does and
therefore if we come to God like that and you might say well that's
very easy well it's not as easy as it sounds and I'll tell you
why the devil doesn't want you to ever confess your sin no he
doesn't want you to do it and he'll do all that he can to distract
you you know one of his great plans is that when you and I
try to pray he comes alongside us and puts other thoughts into
our minds so we lose our concentration and instead of praying as we
want to we find our mind very rapidly wanders across to everything
in this poor world and he never gives up he won't give up this
side of eternity His great concern is to destroy our soul. That's his great concern. To
bring us into his fold instead of being in Christ's fold. My friends, you and I should
be very aware that that's his plan. therefore be concerned
that he doesn't succeed in his plan but that we may follow the
great and glorious invitations that we have in the word of God.
The Lord says come unto me, not the devil, the Lord says come
unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden. That means we're
heavy laden with sin. And what does he say? And I will
give you rest. That's a wonderful word, isn't
it? And the devil doesn't want you to hear that word. He doesn't
want you to follow it out. He'll do all that he can to stop
you. But my friends, turn to the Word
of God. Read the Word of God. Study the
Word of God. and see what it directs us to
do and to say. And so then we've had this statement
here of one man's sin entering into the world and death by sin
and so death passed upon all men, upon you, upon me. All of us are under the condemnation
of Almighty God. So what are we to do? we're to
cry for mercy. And we have in that 19th verse
that I read to you, the great wonderful way of deliverance.
And so we're told, for as by one man's disobedience, that
was Adam, many were made sinners, So by the obedience of one shall
many be made righteous. So who was that one? Well, I should hope you know
that one was none other than the Lord Jesus Christ. And what did he do? He obeyed
the will of his father. Right from the very second he
was born, right to the very last moment when he cried on that
cross at Calvary, it is finished. He did his Father's will. He obeyed the Word of God. What a great and wonderful Saviour. And why was that? He obeyed God's
will so that he might pay that price that was required to free
you and me from all our sin. We cannot free ourselves. We're condemned by the power
of God because of our sins. and we need to be redeemed from
that sin. Now then, this epistle of the
Romans is a very wonderful epistle and we can read in the eighth
chapter where the apostle tells us these wonderful words. There is therefore now no condemnation
to them which are in Christ Jesus who walked not after the flesh,
but after the Spirit. And this chapter follows on from
those words which were spoken by the Apostle to the church
at Rome. And he tells us in the seventh
chapter about sin, about how easy it is really to sin. And he tells us this, for the
good that I would I do not, but the evil which I would not, that
I do. Do you understand that? Do you
realize the truth of it? You have to say, I understand,
sadly, what that means. And so he says, now, if I do
that, I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth
in me. I find in a law that when I would
do good, evil is present with me. And he says, I delight in
the law of God after the inward man, but I see another law in
my members, warring against the law of my mind and bringing me
into captivity to the law of sin, which is in my members. What does that mean? It means
you and I have a warfare. a warfare against the devil,
between good and evil. It's a great battle, my friends,
and we're easily beaten by the skill of the devil. And this
brings the Apostle Paul to make this amazing statement. O wretched
man that I am, O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver
me from the body of this sin and death? Now all true believers
come to confess that truth. It's good for you and me to look
into our hearts to see whether we've come there to confess before
God, oh wretched man that I am. Doesn't matter about other people.
Doesn't matter what they do and say. It's personal. Oh wretched man that I am. Who
shall deliver me from the body of this death? It seems almost
an impossibility. We're so bad. And then he tells
us, we see the gospel springing up. I thank God, says the apostle,
through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then, with the mind I myself
serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin. There is this constant battle
between our flesh and the Spirit. But then the Apostle comes, as
I've just read in the beginning of this eighth chapter, he tells
us the glorious words, there is therefore now no condemnation
to them which are in Christ Jesus. There's condemnation to all those
who are out of Christ. How important it is then for
you and me to have the evidence that we are in Christ, in Christ
Jesus, and to be able to say then as the Apostle does, for
the law and the spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me
free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could
not do, in that it was weak through the flesh God sending his own
son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin condemned sin
in the flesh that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled
in us who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit. That's a grand and wonderful
statement. and again you and I need to be
honest as we answer that question before God do we walk after the
spirit or do we walk after the flesh what that means is this
do we do the things which our flesh, our body wants to do and
ignore the things which are God's now let us be very clear you
and I are passing through time we're not here for long It won't
really matter whether we don't do things that perhaps we think
we should do and want to do, but it will matter if we haven't
sought the Lord, if we haven't cried for mercy, if we haven't
committed ourselves unto Him, if we haven't seen a glory in
the wonderful work of Christ, if we haven't seen a wonder in
what He's done, in order to redeem our souls, to free us from the
curse of sin. And it's a wonderful freedom
to be brought into that position. And you see, you and I won't
know about it until it occurs, until God's grace comes upon
us and we are delivered. from that situation. And what
does it do? It turns us in to this great
truth about the Saviour. This 19th verse tells us, For
as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by
the obedience of one shall many be made righteous. Now if you
and I understand and are taught that great truth by the Spirit
of God, What it will do is to show us the wonder of salvation,
the glory of the plan of salvation, the wonderful work of the Lord
Jesus Christ, the amazing love that He has toward us, the glory
in the plan that the Father and the Holy Spirit and the Son had
in eternity past to redeem our souls to redeem our souls to
set us free from that curse which says the soul that sinneth it
shall die that's the curse we're under we need to be redeemed
from it we need to be freed from it and therefore what a blessing
it is if the Holy Spirit comes and touches our hearts turns
us around gives us that grace to repent. I wonder if we know
what that is, to repent of our sin. Or don't we think about
it? Do we just carry on aimlessly
in this world, intent upon enjoying the things of time? And unless
the Lord intervenes, falling into hell itself to spend a lost
eternity with the devil and his angels. Oh, it's a terrible,
terrible thought. It's good sometimes just to ponder
these things and to have an understanding of which road we're going down.
There's two roads, you know. there's a broad road which leads
to destruction many there be that go in there at the word
of God tells us it's an easy path not much to upset us things
appear to be going well we're not concerned about our soul
or we're concerned about the things of time and that's the
one road the other road is a narrow road It's a rough path. There's many obstacles in it.
But it has a good end. And the end is glory at last. And glory for eternity. And if you and I ponder the difference,
we'll understand. The difference is vast. It's vast. And you and I are
in time. It won't be long for all of us
when we're out of time and we're in eternity. And then to think
where shall we spend eternity? Well we should spend eternity
with the devil and his angels unless we are under this great
wonderful blessing of being saved by the work of our great and
glorious Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, we know how man
fell. And we should know how men are
redeemed. And it's all through what the
Lord Jesus Christ did. And as I've said, right from
the beginning of his life to the end of his life, what did
he do? He did the will of His Father. His concern was to honour and
glorify His Father. And we have that gracious and
wonderful example in the Garden of Gethsemane. And that of course
was just a very short time before Jesus was to be crucified. He knew what was before Him.
He was indeed God. He knew what was before Him.
And we see there in the Garden of Gethsemane, sweating, as it
were, raindrops of blood, being in agony. What did he do? He prayed to his father. And
what did he say? If it be possible, let this cup
pass from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but
thine be done. What was that? That was submission
to his father. and it will be a wonderful blessing
for you and me if we come to that position where we say nevertheless
not my will but thine be done what a blessing that is if God
comes to us God gave his only begotten son that strength to
endure. All incarnate God could endure
with strength enough and none to spare. My friends, today God
gives his children also that strength to endure. My friends, we need to come to
our God. We need to pray to our God and he will help us to turn
away from all the temptations that Satan puts before you. And
you just need to be and understand that one temptation might not
be that same temptation to somebody else. But the devil knows what
your and my weakness is. And he homes in on those weaknesses. So don't say, well, when you
see someone tempted, well, I wouldn't do that. You might not. but you
might do other equally bad and serious things. So never judge
other people. You and I have to stand before
God. You and I have to be judged by God. And we don't want to
be found doing those things which are enmity. Doing those things
which tell us and show us we are disobeying. the Word of God. Willful disobeying. Well, the
great blessing is when the Holy Spirit comes and leads us to
see the great and glorious plan of salvation. To think that this
plan was ordained before the world was created. The world
wasn't created by chance. No, it was created in accordance
with God's wonderful plan, wonderful plan for mankind whom he would
save. There are an elect number that
God determined to save in eternity past and the glory is to know
that you and I are in that number and we need the Holy Spirit to
show to us that we are amongst those for whom Jesus Christ suffered
and died upon that cross at Calvary to take away our sins. No doubt the devil at that time
was so pleased to think that Jesus had died. He had to die
to take away sin but the great glory of the gospel is he rose
again, a conqueror He rose again conqueror over sin, death, hell
and the grave. And the Hebrew tells us, we are
more than conquerors through Him. There's your hope. There's my hope for eternal life,
not in what we've done, but what Christ has done. in order to
redeem our souls and the blessing is when the Holy Spirit comes
and reveals this great truth to our soul so that we can rejoice
and praise God for the great plan of salvation and to enjoy
the comfort that it brings to our needy souls to realise that
we have such a saviour who went to the extreme of dying in our
place. It's hard to understand, isn't
it? To think that very God himself loved unworthy sinners so much
that he gave his life, he shed his most precious blood upon
that cross at Calvary, in order to redeem ourselves, to cleanse
us from all sin so that you and I are complete in Him. Now, when the Holy Spirit comes
and shines into our heart and reveals these great truths to
us in a personal way, you can't go to heaven on someone else's
religion. We need that personal application
of the truth of God to our souls. So then we can rejoice in that
great work and rejoice that almighty God has looked upon such an unworthy
sinner and had mercy. You will go on your way rejoicing.
You know the wonderful privilege of that revelation is this. to
take up our cross daily and to follow the Lord Jesus Christ,
to follow a despised and crucified man. You and I owe such a debt we
can never repay, but we can do that which the Lord commands
us to do, which is to declare our hope in Him, Declare our
hope of eternity based upon that great and glorious sinatonian
death of the Lord Jesus Christ. And then to be amongst those
who do follow the Jesus and indeed look forward to that great and
glorious day when we shall be in heaven, indeed forever with
the Lord. And understand, therefore, what
these truths mean. For as by one man's disobedience
many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many
be made righteous. And may you and I be amongst
those who are indeed made righteous. Amen.