If you have your Bibles, be turned
to the book of Romans, the fifth chapter. Romans chapter five. And I'm gonna read two verses
from the book of Joshua. chapter seven that Gabe had read. I'm gonna make a few comments
and I hope at some point by the end of this message maybe that
you'll understand why we read that chapter. But in Joshua chapter
seven verse 24 it said, and Joshua and all Israel with him took
Achan and the wedge of gold and his sons and his daughters. and
his oxen, and his asses, and his sheep, and his tent, and
all that he had, and they brought them into the Valley of Acre.
And Joshua said, why hast thou troubled us? The Lord shall trouble
thee this day. And all Israel stoned him with
stones, and burned them with fire. after they had stoned them
with stones. The first time I heard this Bible
story, I was about 10 or 11 years old in Sunday school. And I'll never forget, I never
forgot this passage. I did not understand this passage. I could see why Akin would be
stoned and put to death. That made sense to me. But why
was his daughters stoned? While Akin no doubt was in battle
and had taken the gold and the silver and the treasures and
had brought it into his home and had put it in his tent, no
doubt those daughters were probably laboring about the house helping
their mothers. I can see him carrying the water
pots and maybe washing the clothes. And Aiken's sons, they were probably
tending to the herds and the sheep. But when judgment came,
judgment came on Aiken's house. And as a young boy, I remember
that. And I wondered, why was those
children killed with Aiken? I knew that God was just, even
as a young boy, but I did not know why that they had been stoned. And to be honest, my Sunday school
teacher didn't either. Now, I'm gonna skip forward now to
the time that I was about 25, 28 years old. And here in Romans chapter five
is the first time I believe in my life that I ever really heard
a gospel message. And for the first time in my
life, I began to understand some things about the scripture. And
my learning began here in Romans chapter five. And what would
happen after I had learned here in Romans five, I could be reading
somewhere else and I would think, That's what that says in Romans
chapter five. Or I could be reading somewhere
else, and then I would realize, Romans chapter five. And for
me, all passages in the scripture, as I began to learn the gospel,
and as I began to read this word, everything started tying back
to Romans chapter five. So even today, some of you will
hear me talk about Romans chapter five, because it was so important
to me. And that's why I want to try
to bring a message to you tonight here. So, let's read the passage
beginning in verse eight, and we won't read the whole chapter,
but let's read. Beginning in verse eight, Romans
chapter five. But God commended his love toward
us, and that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
Much more than being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved
from wrath through him. 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 by his life. And not only
so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom
we have now received the atonement. Wherefore, as by one man sin
entered into the world, and death by sin, and so death passed upon
all men, for that all had sinned. For until a law, sin was in the
world, but sin is not imputed where there's no law. Nevertheless,
death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned
after the similitude of Adam's transgression, who was a figure
of him that was to come. 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
sin, 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 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 the justification of life. For if 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 until
death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal
life by Jesus Christ our Lord. Now that's a lot there to take in. And as you look at
this passage of what I've read, I was going through here and
there's some common words that you'll see, one and many. And when we're talking about
the one, it's always in this passage, it's either talking
about Adam, or the Lord Jesus Christ, either Him, our Lord,
or Adam. And then when it's speaking of
the many, it's either speaking of all men, without exception,
or it's speaking of those that are in Christ. So you have the
one, either our Lord or Adam, and then you have the many, which
are those that are redeemed and those that are born of Adam.
And I was gonna go through here to try to prepare for this message
and highlight and use one color, and I found out this whole page
would be highlighted. And I actually printed it out.
And I thought, well, I'm going to show them. All the blues there
is the minis, and the yellows are the ones. There's 21 ones
and 19 minis. So that's what this chapter is
about. It's about the mini being either
Adam, I'm sorry, the many either being those that are in Christ
or those born of Adam, or the one being either Christ or Adam,
okay? So, verse 11. Let's look at verse 11. And we'll
begin there. And not only so, but we also
joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received
atonement. So we find here, we, the many,
also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, the one by whom
we, the many, have received the atonement. Now this is talking
about God's salvation, God's atonement. Now look at verse
12. Wherefore, Now, what's that word wherefore? Why is it there? Why is it there? Well, a lot of you probably have
heard about Henry saying this, but when there's a wherefore
in the word of God, you want to see what it's there for. So
let me give some context of the wherefore, okay? So when it says
wherefore, what it's saying is, how have we, the many, received
the atonement by one? What the therefore is for, wherefore
is for. How can one save many? Wherefore
the ground or reason something is done. Wherefore also means
on this account or by reason of. This wherefore, what is gonna
come after this is the mystery of the ages explained. Okay, that mystery. Now we just read that this is
how the atonement is received. Job said this, and that's the
mystery. How can man be just with God? Job said, or it's said
in Job, I know it is so of a truth, but how should man be just with
God? That was a mystery at one time.
Job 14 forward says this. Who can bring a clean thing out
of an unclean? And the answer was not one, no
one. So you see the mystery. And right
here, we're gonna have the answer. Paul, the apostle Paul, Ephesians
chapter 6, 19 says this, and for me, and speaking of his ministry,
that utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth
boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel. What's that mystery? How is the atonement received?
How can man be just with God? And that's what Romans chapter
five is gonna tell us. In Romans 16 verse 25, Paul says
this, now to him, that have power to establish you according to
my gospel and to the preaching of Jesus Christ according to
the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the
world began. This redemption, this atonement
was a mystery. And right here in Romans chapter
five, we're being told what this mystery is. And the answer, how
can man be just with God? How can we receive the atonement? How are we saved? It's the explanation
of the mystery. Let's read now verse 12. Wherefore, as by one man, as,
excuse me, 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. So now, we're beginning, we know
that death and sin came by Adam. Adam was the first, and Adam
brought sin into the world. So, and we know, according to
this verse, for that all have sinned, Adam sinned, And we in
practice have also sinned. So we are guilty of sin by practice. Paul said, oh wretched man that
I am, who shall deliver me from this body of death of things
that I would not, that I do. So sin is in us and sin manifests
itself in us. But we are also guilty by association. Let's read verses 13 and 14.
For until the law, sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed
where there is no law. Nevertheless, death reigned from
Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the
similitude of Adam's transgression, who was a figure of him to come. So what is this saying? Well, sin was in the world from
Adam to Moses, okay? But there was no law. So how
can there be sin when there's not law? So Adam sinned, and
then of course he had his children, they had their children, and
that Life happened all the way to the time of Moses. But there
was no law to condemn them. It says they didn't sin after
the similitude of Adam's transgression. In other words, they didn't do
what Adam did. The Lord told Adam in the day
ye eat thereof ye shall surely die. Don't eat of the fruit.
What did Adam do? He took of the fruit and ate
it. He disobeyed God and he died. Well, what did they do? They
didn't take the fruit. They didn't eat of it. Yet, they
died. And that's what this passage
here is telling us. They didn't sin after the similitude
of Adam's transgression. Yet, death reigned from Adam
to Moses. It's kind of like this. How can
I receive a speeding ticket, or you receive a speeding ticket,
if there's no speed limit? There's no speed limit on that
road. How can you be stopped and charged with speeding if
there's not a speed limit? Well, that's what this is saying
here. There was no law, yet these other men died. You see, they
were guilty by association. That's what verse 14 is saying. And there wasn't a law from the
time of Adam until the time of Moses, but everybody died, even
though they themselves didn't disobey God in the garden. So, let's give an analogy. How did they die? That's why
the wherefore is there. to explain these things. So let's
start with this analogy. A month or so ago, I was at Obie
and William's house. And Obie was taking me through
the house. And I think it was in Abram's
room. Well, there on Abram's desk was what's called a Russian
nesting doll. I don't know if you know what
that is. But maybe if I explain it, you will. So imagine a figurine
about this big. They're kind of shaped like an
egg, and they're made kind of like these Easter eggs that you
take apart. So here's our, and they're, you
know, they're got faces painted on them, and their clothes are
painted on them. Well, you can take that nesting doll, and if
you twist it, you can take the top off of it. And right inside
that one is another one. So you can take it out and sit
it down. Now you got two. Well, you can take the one that
you just took out and open it up. There's another one. You
take it out, put it back together. Now you got three. We take that
third one and the same thing. And some of these nesting dolls
can have 30, 40, 50 dolls inside that one. Okay, so that's the
analogy or the illustration I wanna use. When Adam was in the garden,
you was in Adam. And all these men that died from
Adam until Moses, they died because they was guilty inside of Adam. Our nesting dolls here, if I
knock that doll off on the floor, what happens to it? it hits the
floor. What happens to all those dolls
inside of it? They hit the floor with it. Whatever
happens to that outward doll happens to the ones that's inside
that doll. And so that's what happened to
us in the garden. When Adam was condemned, we was
condemned in Adam. Now you're a sinner by practice.
And I'm a sinner by practice. I know that because the law has
come. But before the law come, we were
sinners in Adam. The judgment that came down on
Adam came down on everybody in here. Death. Curse. Death. Now, let's look back at our verse,
at verse 14. And it says this, nevertheless,
death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned
after the similitude of Adam's transgression. Now listen to
this, who is a figure of him that was to come. Adam was a
figure of him that was to come. What does that mean? Just like Adam was the head of
his people, our Lord Jesus Christ, just like Adam, is gonna be the
head of his people. Here in our own fall lies the
answer to the mystery of how we are redeemed. Vile ruined
sinners are put into Christ. The sinful was put in the sinless. And the imperfect was put inside
the perfect. Really, They were always there. Turn with me to Ephesians chapter
one. And let's read verses three and
four. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ. who have blessed us with all
spiritual blessings and heavenly places in Christ. According as he hath chosen us
in him before the foundation of the world, that we should
be holy and without blame before him in love. You see, we were
put in Christ before we were ever in Adam. Really, there never
was a time that his people was not in him. They've always been
in him. Now, how is it that Christ can
redeem us? On what principle can Christ
redeem us? Christ was not an atom. Remember our illustration in
our doll? You take that doll apart, Christ isn't in there. Isaiah 7, 14, behold, a virgin
shall conceive and bear a son and shall call his name Emmanuel.
You see, our Lord, did not come from Adam. His father was God. We're condemned in Adam, but
he was not. The last Adam was a perfect man. And I see him in the scriptures
as perfect. When I read the word, I really
do, I see, I can see that he is the son of God. But you know,
there's something else. I can also see the evidence of
his perfection. I want you to turn with me to
Psalm chapter 91. I want to look at something that
Gabe read this past week. Psalm 91, let's read verses 11
and 12. For he shall give his angels
charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways, that they shall
bear thee up with their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against
the stone. I'm going somewhere with this.
And what I'm saying is our Lord in his life was absolutely perfect. And now I'm showing you the evidence
of that perfection. You remember when our Lord was
tempted of Satan, of our adversary? He told our Lord, if thou be
the son of God, cast thyself down. The angels have charge over thee. And when you are cast down, you
won't be hurt. If you stump your foot on a rock,
nothing could happen to you. His life, our Lord's life, was
perfect without sin. And not only in that he was sinless,
but he was never harmed. When it's stressed, he was a
lamb without spot or blemish. Not only was he without spot
or blemish spiritually, but he was without spot or blemish physically. In his life, the angels had charge
over him because he was without sin and he could not be harmed. And it wasn't until he went to
the cross that he was harmed. His whole life without harm,
God would have been unjust if he would have tripped and fell
and hurt himself. And when he went to the cross,
God would have been unjust He had not been made sin. And so
that's how I know when I look at the cross, He was made sin
and God was just in smiting Him. Now, you'll turn back to Romans
chapter 5. We know the wherefore, and let
me summarize. We know the wherefore. How is
the atonement received? The atonement is received by
our Lord Jesus Christ. We were put into him, our federal
head, and he was smitten. Now look at verse 18. Therefore, because of the wherefore,
therefore, as by the offense of one, which was Adam, judgment
came upon all men to condemnation. Even so, by the righteousness
of one, our Lord Jesus Christ, the free gift, came upon all
men under justification of life. For as by one man's disobedience,
Adam, Many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall
many be made righteousness. Moreover, the law entered that
the events might abound, but where sin abounded, grace did
much more abound. That as sin hath reigned unto
death, even so might grace reign through the righteousness unto
eternal life by Jesus Christ. Now, what about Achan? Achan, from this chapter, I learned
Achan is a picture of Adam. When Adam sinned against God,
he took that which was God and stole it. That's what Achan done. He took that which belonged to
God and stole it. And when Adam sinned against
God, he and all his posterity, all that descended from him,
died with him and received the curse with him. And so it was
with Achan. When Achan sinned, the judgment fell upon his posterity.
And they bore the wrath of their father. Like Adam, death came
to all his posterity. And so, like Adam, our Lord Jesus Christ
has represented us. And because of his righteousness,
we can be made righteous. Amen.