Romans chapter 5. The other day I was in a store
and a young boy was acting up as young boys do and his mother
told him to stop but he just kept right on. He never seemed
to hear a word she said. The next words that came out
of her mouth was, boy you better listen to me. You know, back
when I was young, I heard those words quite often. They weren't
diagnosing children then with attention deficit disorder. There
may be such a thing, but I feel like the medical profession has
put a lot of titles on things that are simply the result of
sin. That was the case with me, just
sin. When I was in school, you'd get
your fanny paddled if you didn't pay attention. That seems foreign
to folks today, but I'm living proof that it happened. Things
sure have changed. Warning back then usually came
in the form of a question, is, are you listening? Are you listening? Are you paying attention? And
most of the time, they asked that because they knew that you
weren't. And I said all that to say this. Are you listening? Are you listening closely? to
what God is saying to us in the scriptures? Are we listening
to what God is telling us through the preaching of the gospel?
We preach the only message that matters, how a holy God can accept
hell-bound men and women and reconcile them unto himself.
Are you interested? Are you listening? It would be
profitable to your souls. Now here in Romans chapter five,
I want you to look at verse 12 with me. And I want you to listen
and pay close attention to what it's saying. Paul writing here
says, wherefore, as by one man, sin entered into the world and
death by sin. And so death passed upon all
men. You see that? Passed upon all
men for that all have sinned. That would probably be better
interpreted in whom all sinned. You see when Adam sinned in the
garden, you and I and every person in the world sinned in and with
Adam. We're guilty of Adam's transgression
because of our union with him. It's called imputation. Adam
is our federal head and our representative. His sin was imputed. That word
means charged. His sin was charged to us. We're
charged with Adam's sin. And because of that, sin has
entered into the world and death has entered in with it. Because
of it. And the proof is manifested in
several ways. But in one particular way, it
is absolutely obvious. What is it? People die. People die. By one man sin entered
into the world and physical death and spiritual death came with
that sin. That sin and death passed upon
all of us and we all died spiritually. Every one of us. And we will
die physically. And it's because of sin. Oh,
sin is a great, great enemy. Every one of us knows someone,
I dare to say, that recently died. Death is coming for everyone. This past week alone, I was told
about two different people that died suddenly. Many times we
seem to be caught off guard when someone dies suddenly. When someone's
terminally ill or in hospice care or suffered for a while,
we're able to somewhat prepare ourselves for their death, but
not so much so when people die abruptly and suddenly. But here
we see in the fifth chapter of Romans, that death is a reigning
principle in the realm of human existence. In other words, death
is very, very real in this world in which we live. Look at the
first three words of verse 14 here. It says, nevertheless,
death, what? Reigned. Death reign, that word
reigning means to rule or to prevail. And interesting enough,
the Greek word actually means champion, champion. Death reigns
as a champion that no man or woman can defeat. Now in the
boxing world, when a man is heavyweight champion, it means that he's
the reigning champion or the current. There were champions
before him and there'll be champions after him, but that's in the
boxing world. But in the matter of death, death
has always reigned as the champion over men and women. Why? Because
sin entered the world and death by sin. So death passed upon
all men, not only physical death, but spiritual eternal death. And death has continued to reign
as champion over men and women. For most, death is a fearful
thing. A fearful thing. Death is not
ruled by men, but rules over men and cannot be dethroned until
one greater than death comes and rescues those that are held
captive by sin. Sin reigns over us. Death reigns over us. And there's nothing that we can
do about it. Absolutely nothing. Because sin
reigns and death reigns and because we are spiritually dead and we're
dying physically, there's nothing that we can do to save ourselves
because we're dead. Dead in trespasses and sin. There
was once a man named Richard Baxter. He lived in the 1600s
and he said this, and I've thought about it so many times, most
every time that I stand to preach. He said, I'm a dying man. preaching
to dying men and women. And to me, there's great urgency
in that statement. So urgent is the matter of salvation
that we better make sure that we're preaching the truth and
we better make sure that we're hearing the truth. Death has
no qualifications or no stipulation. It comes for anyone at any time. It's appointed unto men once
to die. But after this, the judgment, Hebrews 9, 27. It's appointed
unto men. Death is coming for all of us.
It's appointed by God. And that word appointed means
reserved. Reserved. Death is reserved for
all of us. And it's reserved by God. And
we don't know when it comes. We seem surprised when death
comes for the young. We seem shocked when death takes
one who we think to be physically fit, healthy, one who eats right,
exercises, lives a healthy lifestyle. People are surprised when they
die. But death has no qualifications
for death has passed upon all men for that all have sinned. We sinned in Adam and we were
shaping in iniquity and that word in the Hebrew means twisted.
We were twisted. When someone says you're twisted,
that's not a good thing. Oh, we're shaping, we're twisted
in iniquity and in sin did our mothers conceive us. The psalmist
said, the wicked are estranged from the womb. The marginal Bible
says, from their belly, from their mama's belly. They go astray
as soon as they're born, speaking lies. And we don't become sinners
when we sin. We sin as soon as we come forth
from the womb into this world. Why? Because we're born sinners.
We're born condemned. And no one has to teach a child
how to lie. That should be great proof. A
child writes on the wall, and the parent says, did you do that?
And they're sitting there going, no. And they've got the crayons
in their hand. It just comes natural. Because sin is what
we are. Sin has entered into this world,
and death by sin. And so death has passed upon
all of us. Are you listening? Death has
passed upon all of us. Why should we be surprised if
anyone dies? But even more so, why are we
surprised that we're already spiritually dead? You know, most
people don't believe that. Oh, they believe that we've been
affected by sin, that Adam stumped his toe and that we walked with
a limp because of it. But no sir, Adam died and we
died in him. And sin has passed upon all men,
for all have sinned. And in Adam we've all sinned,
and by practice we've all sinned. And most people will give mental
assent that we're going to die, but they give no assent at all
to the fact that we're already dead, spiritually dead. You and I and everyone in the
world, young, old, rich and poor, educated, uneducated, are going
to die and go out and meet God. Death is for certain. It's appointed
and God does the appointing. But the cause of physical death
is sin and it's sin, now listen, that has slain us spiritually
and we can't do a thing. A thing. Absolutely nothing to
save ourselves. Everybody agrees that they're
gonna one day die and many believe that God has appointed that day.
But if you pay close attention to those words that follow, which
say, but after this judgment, that judgment is coming because
we're already dead to God. And if you and I knew for certain
that we were going to die tonight, And my words to you this morning
were the last words that you would ever hear. What would you
want to hear? What would you want to hear?
And what would you listen intently to? Would you want to hear a
message on how to live? If you knew you were going to
die tonight, would you want to hear a message on how to live?
Well, why in the world would anybody want to hear a message
on how to live if they're going to die? Would you want to hear
a message on being a better person? Is that the kind of message you
want to hear? Just this week, I had a man tell me that his
hope of getting into heaven, and as far as life after death
goes, that's pretty much all folks care about, getting into
heaven, living in a mansion, floating around on clouds, and
being united with all their family that's already left. It doesn't
matter to them that that's where Christ is, because everybody
wants to go to heaven. Nobody wants to die, but everybody
wants to go to heaven. And I'm amazed at how many people,
smart people, Educated people think that if they're good, and
if they treat others good, that that's a sure ticket to heaven.
And I know why that is. Because modern day religion and
preaching has made it all about being good and about doing good. You know it so, and so do I.
There's a man on television that only preaches on how to be good
and how to get better. And his sermons are heard by
over 7 million people weekly in this nation. And over 20 million
monthly tune in to watch him in over 100 countries. His sermons
are broadcast 24 hours a day, seven days a week on satellite
radio. And I can't help but to ask,
why are folks so interested? He's telling them how to be good.
How to be good. Here's some of his book titles.
Become a Better You. Think Better, Live Better. Ninety
Devotions to Become a Winner. Thoughts for a Successful and
Abundant Life. Your Best Life Now. thinking
right thoughts. These are the things that a large
majority of professing Christians are interested in and are trusting
in. But if I knew that I was going
to die tonight and I was going out to meet God in judgment,
how would those things help me? You see what I'm saying? How
would that help me? I want to know what God says, not what
some man thinks. And you and I must hear something
from God as to how we can prepare for this death and judgment that
is reserved, appointed for us. What would I want to hear if
this was the last message that I ever heard? Do I have your
attention? Are you listening? I'll be brief. Let me just give you three things. The first thing that I would
want to hear is the truth about God. Because that's who I'm going
out to meet and give an account to. God. Tell me who God is. Tell me what
to expect from God. Who is the God that I'll face
in judgment? Do you know? Have you been listening? Well, I know this for a fact.
He's a holy God. It says that throughout this
book. Matter of fact, the book is called
the Holy Bible. He's a holy God. His angels are
holy. His prophets are called holy.
His law is called holy. His justice is called holy. He's
a holy God. What does that mean? What does
it mean to be holy? Well, in the Old Testament, the
word holy means separate. In the New Testament, it means
to be blameless. In other words, He's nothing
like us. He's nothing like us. His thoughts are not our thoughts.
You figured that out yet? God's thoughts are not our thoughts.
His ways are not our ways. For as the heavens are higher
than the earth, God's ways and God's thoughts are higher than
ours. Job asked this question. He said,
canst thou by searching find out God? Can thou find out the
Almighty unto perfection? Paul wrote in Romans 11, oh,
the depth of the riches, both of the wisdom and knowledge of
God, how unsearchable are his judgments and his ways past finding
out. I heard a man once rightly say
that we could sooner empty the ocean with a teaspoon than we
could find out God. His judgments, unsearchable. His ways, pathfinding. Now, God
is holy and God is just. Why? He's too holy not to punish
sin. Are you listening? God will by
no means clear the guilty. And that's our great dilemma.
That's your dilemma, my dilemma, that's everyone's dilemma. Because
sin and death reigns over us. and the wages of sin and death.
The scriptures say the sun, the moon, and the stars are not pure
in his sight. How much less man, a worm that
is born of a woman. And if I'm going out to meet
God, if I'm going out to meet him tonight, and I could, I would
wanna know the truth about God, wouldn't you? Are you listening? How surprised many are gonna
be who believe that God can do nothing unless they let him.
Are they gonna find out? That's not so. Won't that be
a rude awakening, but it'll be too late. And how surprised will
men and women be when they see that God has never been subject
to their will? Let me tell you something about
your will. It's the same as mine. You will not come to Christ that
you might have life. Your will is in bondage to your
nature, and you're spiritually dead, so you have no will. If
God doesn't make you willing in the day of his power, you
will never, ever come to Christ that you might have life. The
true God is a sovereign God and preachers say God wants to do
this for you and God wants to do that for you. Baloney. The
sovereign one has always done what he pleased in heaven and
in earth and in the seas and all deep places and he's never
ever wanted to do anything and he has never ever tried to do
anything. He's in the heavens. He's done
whatsoever. He's pleased. Are you listening? This is the God whom this book
portrays. This is the God with whom we
have to do when we go out and meet Him in eternity. I want
you to know now. I want you to know God. If a
man or a woman is saved, it's because God was pleased to save
them. It's not of him that willeth,
nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. Therefore
God hath mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will
he hardeneth. Is that your God? We better get
in this book, and we better get on our knees, and we better learn
who God is. This goes for me too. I don't
want to preach these things to others and myself be a castaway.
I'm telling you I don't. That's the God with whom we have
to do. God doesn't give an account to anyone on how or why he does
anything either. Men think that he should and
they say, Paul said they would. They say, well, if God is sovereign,
if none can resist his will, why does he yet find fault with
me? I'm only doing what he willed for me to do. You know what the
scriptures say? Shut up. Nay, O man, who art
thou to replyest against God? Hush up, hush up, be quiet. You don't have the right to even
ask. Why? Because the thing formed does
not have the right to question the one who formed it. We don't
have the right to ask, why have you made me this way? The sovereign
potter has power over the clay. That's the problem today. The
clay thinks it's got power over the potter, but it doesn't. The concept of such a thing is
impossible. The clay has no life, no will,
no work to do. The clay cannot fashion itself,
make itself what it wants to be. Only the potter can do that. The potter has power over the
clay of the same lump to make one vessel unto honor and another
vessel unto dishonor. And the clay can say, well, what
are you doing? What are you doing? Why'd you
make me like this? Because he wanted to. Truly it's
God who makes one to differ from another. Did you know that? Have
you been listening? We're under the condemnation
of the law of sin and death and are dead in trespasses and sin.
Have you ever seen, seriously, have you ever seen a dead man
do anything? If I was going out in eternity
to meet God, I'd want to know if there was any hope for a totally
dead and depraved sinner like me. Wouldn't you? Is there any
hope? Can you give me, preacher, any
hope of going out to meet God? Only if He shows mercy now. God
won't clear the guilty. He won't. He will by no means
clear the guilty. He's too holy and He's too just.
And we are guilty because in Adam all sinned and all died
and through Adam's discretion sin entered into the world and
death by sin. For in Adam all sinned. So we're
all guilty. And we can't blame it all on
Adam either because we ourselves are guilty of the law. We can't
keep one commandment. So is there any hope? Is there
any comfort that I can give you knowing that you're going out
to meet such a God as this? Yep, there is. God is merciful
to some. For as in Adam all die, even
so in Christ shall all God's elect be made alive. 1 Corinthians
15, 22. We died in Adam. We're judged
in Adam. were judged in the last Adam,
the Lord Jesus Christ. In Jesus Christ, there's found
great mercy, great, great mercy. God is just and he must remain
just to justify the ungodly. You see, God does everything
right and just, everything. He demands and he gets death
for sin. Nobody's going to get by or escape
His justice. He's too sovereign. He's too
holy. Not apart from mercy, they're not. And knowing that, then the
second thing that I would want to know if I was going out to
meet God in judgment is the truth about me. Do I deserve mercy? It's not mercy if we do. Grace
and mercy are undeserved, unmerited. Let's face it, we hold ourselves
in very high esteem, don't we? We think way too highly of ourselves. We all do. Some more than others,
I know, but we all do. You know, it takes grace not
to do that. Paul said, for I say, through the grace given unto
me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself
more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly,
and that word means soundly and correctly, about ourselves. He
said in Galatians 6.3, For if a man thinketh himself to be
something when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself. Let's don't
deceive ourselves and think that we're something. We're nothing.
We need to think soberly, soundly, correctly about ourselves. The
truth about you and me is crucial. And I want to be accepted by
God. I really do. I want to be welcomed into His
presence. Don't you? What is the truth
about me? What's the truth about you? What's
the truth about all of us? We're guilty. Guilty, and He
will by no means clear the guilty. What's the truth about me and
you? Well, I'm vain. I am vain. Matter of fact, even in my best
state, I'm altogether vanity. I'm nothing, like Paul, less
than the least. How can something be less than
nothing? I don't know, but that's what
I am. I'm proof of it. That's what I am, less than nothing,
less than the least. Well, the scriptures say that
I'm impotent. I'm powerless, without any strength, unable
to do anything for myself. while all the inhabitants of
the earth are reputed, are regarded as what? Nothing. We have nothing,
we are nothing, we can do nothing. Are you listening? Have you not
known? Have you not heard? Have you
been listening? Hath it not been told you from
the beginning? Have you not understood from
the foundations of the earth? It is he that sitteth upon the
circle of the earth and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers. He brings the princes to nothing.
He makes the judges of earth as vanity. Is there any hope
then of you and I being saved? not apart from mercy and grace
in Christ. And that brings me to the third
thing. And I want you to know that when I go out to meet God
in judgment, how can this holy God in me, the sinful, wretched,
depraved son of Adam that I am, be reconciled back together? How can God and I have fellowship
again? Only one way. Only one way. In the Lord Jesus Christ. That's
the only place that God is merciful and gracious to a sinner. You're
still in Romans 5, look at verse 6. For when we were yet without
strength, in due time, Christ died for the ungodly. And friends, it's called substitution.
Christ died for the ungodly. I have no strength, no ability.
I'm ungodly. That's a mold that I certainly
fit. But in mercy and grace, Christ died for the ungodly. He died for those that have a
great need. All those that are well have
no need of a physician, the Lord said, but those that are sick,
dead in sin, certainly have great need. Are you sick? Do you see
that you're dead? Do you see that you're ungodly?
While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. When Adam sinned,
God imputed his sin to us. But by faith in Christ, God imputed
unto me his righteousness. And now I'm called the friend
of God. And when I go out to meet God,
standing in my Lord and Savior, He looks at me and He says, Friend! Enter in, thou good and faithful
servant. Everybody loves the God that's
being preached today. He sits in a rocking chair on
a cloud, loving everyone, hoping somebody loves him back. He wants
the best for everybody. Oh, I just want the best for
you. That God is not the God that you're going out to meet
in judgment. It's not. Why you always harping on these
other preachers? I'm warning you, that is not
the God with whom you have to do. He's nothing like that. And we're rebels against God.
The carnal mind is enmity against God. We, by nature, are hostile. That's what the word enmity means.
We're hostile towards God. What do you do to an enemy? Well,
you desire to destroy him. You desire to kill him. What
is sin? Sin is murder in your heart for
Almighty God. We will not have Christ to reign
over us. Let's put him out of business.
Let's judge him off his throne. Let's set him in his place and
we'll sit down on the throne and we'll be our own God. That's
what an enemy of God is by nature. That's what we desire to do to
God. Look at verse seven. For scarcely
for a righteous man will one die, yet peradventure for a good
man some would even dare to die. But God commended his love toward
us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Did you hear that? Are you listening? Christ died for us. We were without
strength. We had no ability. We were ungodly,
without God, without Christ, without hope in this world. Now
we've got a great hope. Oh, friends, when you go out
to meet God, if you're in Christ, you've got a great hope. Christ
in you is the hope of glory. That's our hope. Look at verse
10, for if when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by
the death of his son, much more being reconciled, we shall be
saved, saved, saved by his life. Christ is the one mediator between
God and men. He died the death that we owe
God. Christ put himself between us
and God's wrath. He put himself between us and
God's justice and God is satisfied. Imputation. Just as Adam's sin
was imputed to us, our sin was imputed to Christ and we were
made the righteousness of God in Him. Substitution. He was
made to be sin for us and God punished Him for our sin. And
everything, as Brother Montgomery used to say, is going to be alright.
for the child of God. Everything's going to be alright
between us and God. Are you listening? Did you hear
what I said? God satisfied justice and He
justified me. If you're listening, have you
ever heard such a glorious thing? There's now hope for sinners
like us. May God enable you to put all
your trust in the God-man, the Lord Jesus Christ. And when you
go out to meet God in judgment, God's gonna say to you, friend,
friend, enter in, enter in, thou good and faithful servant. Those
who meet God without Christ will hear something totally different.
Depart from me, ye that do iniquity. Have you listened? Have you heard? Do you believe? If so, then thank
God. Because He's the one who revealed
it to you. May God be pleased to add His blessings to His preached
word.