Alright, brethren, if you will,
let's turn to Romans chapter 5. About seven minutes ago, I
changed the title of this, and it would be a lot nicer to look
at, but I can't spell that well. It's imputed, imparted, and enacted. I had enabled, but enabled begins
with an E. Imputed, imparted, enacted. Tonight we're briefly going to
see the state of all natural men and women in the eyes of
God. We are, by birth and from our
birth, full of sin and corruption. We're evil to our very core.
And we will see how that happened. We'll see how that happened tonight.
before conception, in conception, and after we were born, where
that came from. Also, we will see the two federal
heads that we have, that the Lord sees. When the Lord speaks
in these scriptures, many times He speaks as if He's only talking
about two people, Adam and Christ. Adam, the federal head. Christ,
our federal head. The first man and the last man.
First Adam, second Adam. In Adam, we die. In Christ, we
live. It's night and day, light and
darkness isn't it buddy? Alright, Romans 5 verse 12. 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. For until the law, sin was in
the world, but sin was not imputed, for there was 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 the 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
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. Now this evening, as we look
over these verses, we're going to take it in two chunks, and
it's going to feel like we're bouncing around quite a bit,
but we need to see these things. It's a difficult passage to address
sometimes, and we need to see what the Scriptures say about
it. But we're going to begin there in verse 14. We're going
to look there first. It says, Nevertheless, death
reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned
after the similitude. That means the likeness. It means
the same way, a similar way, of Adam's transgression, who,
Adam, is the figure of him that was to come. Now Adam here is
a positive picture. He's a positive type of Christ,
in that he was the federal head. He was the representative of
the whole human race before everyone was born. All born of God in
the new birth, His children, His sheep, all of them, they're
born through Christ. He's our head. He's the believer's
head. Adam's everyone's head. Now every
person born on this earth is from Adam. He's our seminal head. If we trace our DNA back, we're
getting a mitochondrial DNA, the powerhouse of the cell, right?
There's mitochondrial DNA that only comes from a woman, from
the mother, and you can trace that back to one person. We can
trace all that back to Eve. And so we know that we came from
Adam. He was our father. But every child of God that is
born again in the heart They're born there, they're fathers from
Christ. He's given that life. He's the head of his church,
same as Adam's the head of the human race. But this is the only
positive picture, only positive type of Adam given in the scriptures,
of him being like Christ. The other types are all negative.
They're anti-types, or opposite types, as pictures of our Redeemer. Turn over to 1 Corinthians 15.
1 Corinthians 15. We're going to
begin in verse 45. 1 Corinthians 15, 45. And so it
is written, the first man Adam was made a living soul. The last
Adam was made a quickening spirit. Adam was made alive, but Christ
is life. Adam was made alive, but Christ
makes alive. Verse 46, Howbeit that was not
first which was spiritual, Adam, but that which was natural, and
afterwards that which was spiritual. Mankind is natural and physical,
God is a spirit. The nature from Adam is not spiritual.
Spiritual life must come from Christ. He has to give it. Verse
47, the first man is of the earth, earthy. That's Adam's name. Adam
means red earth, red dirt. The second man is the Lord from
heaven. See that first man Adam, he was
made of what he is. And his seed is made of what
he is, dirt. We're just dirt. That second
man, the second Adam Christ, he was from heaven and he became
a man, the God-man. Adam's from the earth and Christ
was not from the earth but from heaven. Verse 48, as is the earthly
Adam, such are they also that are earthy. That's me and you.
As Adam sinned, we sinned. And as is the heavenly, that's
Christ, such are they also that are heavenly, Christ's As Christ
is righteous, we are righteous. Verse 49, and as we have borne
the image of the earthy, Adam's death, we shall also bear the
image of the heavenly, life in Christ. Now Adam is the flesh's
federal head, and we are from him, we're like him, and we're
going to die like he died. You go through the Old Testament
and read Adam lived 930 years. That's a long time, isn't it?
But you read all that, and he died. Seth lives this long and
he died. Methuselah lived that long and
he died. That's the three words that come with every man, every
human, and he died. And she died. We have an end,
don't we? Just like our federal head. Now Christ is the believer's
head. He's the head of the church.
Our new nature is born from Him. It's like Him. And we're going
to live as He lives. Eternally. Now this is why people
die. I don't know anybody that's lived
forever. The Lord said He limited man's days to 120 years. So why
do we die? Why do we do that? It's because
we have sin in us. Sin kills us. Adam would have
lived forever being morally innocent before sin entered in. If he
had never sinned, he would still be alive today. That's what sin
does to us. Romans 5.12 says, Wherefore,
as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin,
so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned. Physical
death is our proof that we're the seed of Adam. Just as right,
our spiritual death is proof that we died in the garden. That's
our proof, outside and inside, physically and spiritually. We're
dead in Him. Now we're going to look at the imputed and imparted
portions. Our sin against God is counted,
it's imputed before we were conceived in Adam. It's imputed in Adam,
counted in Adam. He's the flesh's representative. This flesh, this person I live
in, He's my representative whenever I was naturally born on this
earth. But as equally so, Christ's righteousness is counted to His
elect. It's imputed to His elect. Adam's
sin was accounted to us before we were made. Christ's righteousness
was accounted to us before I was made. Psalm 51 5 says, Behold,
I was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive
me. How can it be fair that I'm counted guilty before I was ever
even made? I want you to think, I've used
this illustration before, if you're an American, you go to
a war-torn portion of the Middle East, you go up in them Cush
Mountain ranges, and it doesn't matter what you think, it doesn't
matter how you act, it doesn't matter what you say, none of
that matters, you're an American, and you're going to pay for it.
You can be the biggest fan that they have, and you're going to
be in an orange jumpsuit by the evening. I was even born whenever the
United States helped establish that physical Israel 70-some
years ago. Why are they mad at me? It doesn't
matter. That's who we are. It's imputed to us as Americans
that we're born here. It's our birthright. You don't
have to like it, but it's so. Now in Adam, all of mankind fell,
and we're accountable. Adam was responsible. I'm accountable
for it. Responsibility and accountability.
If that were not enough, If the seminal head sinning against
God, my representative sinned against God, if that wasn't enough
to condemn me, we also have sin imparted to us. Our nature in
us at birth given by our parents is the nature given by their
parents and so on all the way back to Adam and Eve. It's the
same nature. We're born, we're driven by that
nature we're born with. It's our instinct to sin. David wrote, the wicked are estranged
from the womb, they go astray as soon as they are born, speaking
lies. I didn't have to teach any of
you four children to lie, did I? You did it from birth. You know how to, it's your nature,
it's your instinct. But we're counted guilty in Adam and we're
given a nature that is guilty in and of itself. It's imputed
to us in Adam and it's imparted to us by Adam. And back at our
text there in Romans 5 verse 12. 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 you see, we fell on Adam,
and we fell on ourselves too. I can blame it on him, but I
came from the womb this way. It's my fault. And the proof
of that is our death. If we had no sin, we wouldn't
die, but we're spiritually dead. And so physically, our death
is evidence of that. Now we're going to skip over
verse 13 through 17. That's in parentheses. We can
take that out without doing harm to the text. We're going to look
at verse 18 down at the end of the chapter. But at the end of this,
we're going to come back to verse 13 through 17. So Romans 5, 18. 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." Now when Adam listened to his
wife instead of God, he fell. He hearkened unto his wife. He
didn't listen to the Lord. He offended the thrice holy God.
We were not there physically when this happened, but we were
in His loins. And just like that Hebrew writer
tells us, Levi paid tithes when Abraham, his great-grandfather,
paid tithes, because he was in Abraham's loins. And so Adam
spiritually came into condemnation, so we came into condemnation.
Now in the same way, in the similitude, in the like manner, As we are
in Adam, Christ became a man. He lived perfectly under that
holy law of God. He satisfied God's perfect justice
on the cross. He rose from the grave victorious
and He ascended on high, seated at the right hand of the Father.
Now equally so, His spiritual children, those that are His,
given to Him by the Father before the world was made, we live perfectly. I died on that cross. I rose
again, satisfied in justice, and I'm seated at the right hand.
Join heirs with Christ, and we live there forever. There is
no death. And we're not responsible for
satisfying the Father, but we're accountable for it, aren't we?
It's imputed to us and it's imparted to us. That's the new nature
we give in the new birth. If a man or woman has an issue
with our guilt on Adam's behalf, they will have an issue with
our holiness on Christ's behalf. 1 Corinthians 15.22 says, for
as in Adam all die, so even so in Christ shall all be made alive.
We died in Him and the only place we will be made alive is in Him,
in Christ. We died in Adam, made alive in
Christ. Alright, verse 19. Romans 5, 19. For as by one man's
disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall
many be made righteous. My pastor growing up, Brother
Henry, used to say, Adam's sin did not make us only susceptible
to our sin nor lead us into sin, but we were actually made sinners.
Christ's obedience unto death did not make it possible for
me to be righteous. His birth, His life, and His
death made us righteous. Made that way. 2 Corinthians
5.21 says, For he hath made him to be sin for us who knew no
sin, that we might be offered, suggested, no, that we might
be made the righteousness of God in him. Now the fatalist
will take a stand at this. They'll say, see, I have no part
in any of this. Everything's already predetermined. I don't
have a dog in this fight. It has nothing to do with me.
It's imparted and imputed to me. Not so. Remember, we had that guilt imputed
to us, and it was imparted to us, but we acted on it. Look
here in verse 20. Moreover, the law entered that
the offense might abound, but where sin abounded, grace did
much more abound. Now this law was given to show
us what we are. Not what Adam was, to show us
what we are. We ourselves. It was given to
shut us up to the Holy God. point us only to Christ, show
sinners what we are by our nature, and how desperately we need to
substitute. It's the purpose of the law.
But where that sin abounds in the light of God's law, and His
law casts that light on everything we've done in our lives, and
how imperfect we are, the grace through Christ Jesus did much
more abound. The offense abounded in death
through the law. Turn left a few pages to Romans
3. We looked at this several weeks ago. Romans 3 verse 19. Now we know that what thing soever
the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law, that every
mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before
God. Therefore, by the deeds of the
law shall there no flesh be justified in his sight, for by the law
is the knowledge of sin." We know our sin because of the law,
but grace did much more bound. and the Savior, we are reconciled
to God. Christ reconciled us, made us
that one. Colossians 1, 21 says, and you
that were sometimes alienated and were enemies in your mind
by wicked works, yet now hath He reconciled. Christ also gave
us satisfaction for all of our condemnation. Condemnation from
the Father is satisfied. Romans 8-1 says, "...therefore
now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk
not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." He reconciled us,
He satisfied that condemnation, and we're set apart, sanctified,
and made new by Him. 2 Corinthians 5-17 says, "...therefore,
if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature, Old things are
passed away. Behold, all things are become
new. He provides all three of those
for us. Look back in our text there, verse 21. Romans 5, 21. That as sin hath reigned unto
death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal
life by Jesus Christ our Lord. Sin had a complete power over
us, It was what we were, totally, inside and out. And we die from
it, physically on this earth, and our eternal souls die from
it. It kills us. But God regenerated His people
through Christ's righteousness. Now we are ruled by His graciousness,
ruled by His holiness, by His law. His power rules us and makes
us alive forever. 1 John 5 verse 3 says, For this
is the love of God that we keep His commandments, and His commandments
are not grievous. For whatsoever is born of God
overcometh the world, and this is the victory that overcometh
the world, our faith. Who is He that overcometh the
world? That He that believeth that Jesus
is the Son of God. Now turn over to the right a
couple of pages to Romans chapter 6, look in verse 12. Romans 6, 12. Let not sin therefore
reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lust
thereof. Neither yield ye your members
as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin, but yield yourselves
unto God as those that are alive from the dead, and your members
as instruments of righteousness unto God. For sin shall not have
dominion over you, for ye are not under the law, but under
grace." And what John wrote there in 1 John 5, this is not grievous. It's a pleasure. When we're made
to know the grace that was bestowed on us, it's now natural in us,
that new nature, that's it's instinct, that's it's nature,
is to honor the Lord. Praise Christ for what He's done,
for what He's accomplished. He gets all the glory. We see
our freedom from the law by His effectual substitution. Now it's natural in this new
man to want Christ to receive all the praise and glory. He
gets it all. Now back to our text and we'll
look at verses 13 through 17. Romans 5, 13. For unto the law, sin was in
the world, but sin was not imputed when there was no law. Some people
may say, well there was no law, so there can be no guilt. And
I ask you, well why do people die? If they weren't guilty,
they sure suffered death, didn't they? It's because they were
still sinners through Adam and his body. Now guilt is not counted
to a person when there's no charge from the law, but sin can still
be present. How's that? How's that possible?
It's because the Lord's law is written on our hearts. No piece
of paper has to tell me that murder is wrong. I hope the Lord
will, and if he allows me, I'll address this Sunday evening in
our first Sunday evening message. But our founding fathers gave
us a Bill of Rights, didn't they? Inside the Constitution, 10 unalienable
rights for all men. not to knock the Constitution.
I fought for it, so I have the right to say something about
it. But our only right in this world, what rights do I have?
My rights are important. Our rights to death. Our right
is to live through this earth and face judgment. That's the
only right we have. We don't even have a right to
taxes. We may be born in a country where there is no taxes. We have
a right to death. That's it. But when Adam had his first two
sons, there was no law. Thou shalt not kill had not yet
been wrote on those stone tablets. But Cain killed his brother,
didn't he? Now get this, those of you that's never believed
on Christ, those of you that haven't had a work done in, grab
hold of this. Cain did not become, he did not
become a murderer when he killed Abel. You understand that? Cain did not become a murderer
when he killed Abel. Cain was a murderer in his heart
and it manifested in Abel getting killed. That might be a play
on words and I'm just a simple man from Kentucky without a theological
background. Get your head wrapped around
that. But even without the law present, transgression was still
there. I thought of an illustration
I can describe this. It's kind of heavy with the cane and able,
I'm going to lighten it up a little bit. So you young people do not
do as I do, you do as I say, you understand? On Interstate
5 from San Diego to LA, I can get in a BMW 7 Series and do
165 miles an hour. If there wasn't a car on the
road, I could get on I-5 and head north doing 165 miles an
hour. Now that's illegal, isn't it?
That's against the law. There's a law enacted in place
that makes that illegal. I broke the law. Now, it's also
dangerous, and it's also deadly, isn't it? If I had a tire blow
out, I would die. Now, about 16 years ago, I picked
my mom up from the Frankfurt, Germany airport. and a BMW, and
I rented, and I got on A3 from Frankfurt to Wurzburg, and I
did 165 miles an hour. She didn't know it. She looked
over, and Grandma about passed out. Now, what I was doing, was
it illegal? No. There is no law against going
that fast on that section of Autobahn 3. It's not illegal. Now listen to me. Was it still
dangerous? What happened if I was going
that fast with Grandma in a car, Johanna, and a tire popped? I've seen
it happen. I saw some smart cars do some
flips. It's dangerous. But more importantly, what is
it? It's deadly. There's no posted law. There's
no law enacted. What I did was legal. There's
no law there to condemn me. But it's deadly. The sin we have,
and all those saints had, everybody that lived before Moses, came
out of that wilderness, went up to Mount Sinai and got those
Ten Commandments, before that ever happened, before the Levitical
law ever came, sin's deadly. If it's imputed, imparted, or
enacted, it doesn't matter. Alright, verse 14. Nevertheless,
law or no law, sin was still present. Nevertheless, death
reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned
after the similitude of Adam's transgression, who is the figure
of Him that was to come." Now, sin was imputed to us in Adam.
It was imparted to us from Adam. And it's enacted and initiated
by us in our actions. It's initiated... That makes
just three words with the I, if I did initiate it. I still
ain't got that in my head right, enabled with me. I labor this
point because the age of accountability is a heavy, heavily argued point. A lot of people like to fight
over the age of accountability. Paul sorts this out right here. I'm gonna see if I can sum this
up as plain as I can. Outside of Christ, if we're on
our own, We were sinners before we were conceived, we were sinners
during our conception, and we're sinners by commission and omission
after we're born. Now with that said, a man, woman,
or child's only hope for life, only hope you have to escape
eternal death is in Christ. Not in works, but in grace alone,
in Christ alone. That's our only hope. The Lord
has to make us aware that we're in darkness before. He has to
shed His light on us before we can see what light is. We've
never seen it before. Verse 15. But not as the offense,
so as also the free gift. For though 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's condemnation, but the free gift is of many offenses
unto justification." That can be kind of hard to read. That
sounds a little complicated. The fall we had in Adam is not
worthy to be compared to the grace that's given by our Lord.
In Christ, we've gained so much more than we've lost
in that garden. Our Lord did not extinguish the
wrath for a sin, for one sin, but for all of our sins. Adam committed one. He transgressed
one time. Christ covered all of my sins,
all the ones I know about, all the ones I don't know about.
All of them for all of His people. Everyone that was given to His
hand. The fall of Adam is only undone, imputed and parted and
enacted by us. It's only undone by the blood
of Christ. But once that blood's been applied,
there's no undoing it. It's forever. He's the cure of death, but once
He's given life, it can't be taken away. He said, My sheep
hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. And I give
unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall
any man pluck them out of My hand, no matter what. We're in
His grip. That one man used to write Don
from prison. He would sign his letters in
his grip. I like that. It's a good place
to be. I don't think He'll let us go
or drop us, will He? Verse 17. For if by one man's
offense death reigned by one, much more they which received
abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign
in the life by one Jesus Christ." When we are shown our true sin
nature, when we see how powerful that sin is, how it reigned through
us, throughout our thoughts, throughout our actions, the fiber
of our being, when we see that, even the actions we didn't know
we took, Even the thoughts we didn't even know we had. Sins
intertwined in our dreams. Things we can't control. As much
as that sin reigned over us unto death, much more so shall those
who are made righteous by Christ reign with Him in eternity. Reign with Him in eternity. Being
made like Him. Turn over here to Romans 8 a few pages and we'll
close. Romans 8 verse 16. The Spirit itself beareth witness
with our spirit that we are the children of God. And if children,
then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ. If so
be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together. Now when that judgment day comes,
death will come. When that judgment day comes,
either that final day when the Lord appears or my final day.
Your final day. Whenever you want to face the
Lord, when that time comes, who do you want to be your federal
head? Here's the verdict. Do you want to be found in the
nature of Adam? Looking to your knowledge, your wisdom, your
ability? Do you want your sin imputed
to you that Adam had? Do you want it imparted to you
in Adam's seed? Do you want to be initiated by
you, by your actions? Or do you want to be found in
Christ, looking only to Him, given His nature? Do you want
Christ's righteousness imputed to you, counted in your stead? Do you want it imparted to you,
given to you in the new birth that you walk and live in? That's
your new nature. And you want it initiated and
enacted by Him. He enables it. Whichever one
of those three words. All three of them. He does it.
Come to Christ begging for mercy that only God Almighty can grant.
He's the only one that can grant it. Come to Him. And you will
not be disappointed. You'll have eternal life. Amen. Let's pray together. Heavenly Father, we can't enter
into the riches and the depths of your blessings, of your glory,
your majesty. Lord, what a beautiful picture
you've given us of our inability, our wretchedness, and your loving
hand, choosing a people. Lord, thank you for choosing
me. Thank you for providing my righteousness
that's Christ's righteousness. Thank you for saving a people,
Lord. Let us live in this world to
honor Christ our Savior. Let us walk through this world
like people that trust Him, Lord. People that know Him. If we're
His children, Lord, let us give us a wisdom to know and act like
our Lord's on the throne. Let us praise Him. Lord, until
that day comes when our faith is made sight,
when we're made like He is, what a blessed day, Lord. Let that
be in our thoughts, not this world, not the worries here,
not the concerns. Your holy kingdom, Your holy
high command, let us meditate on those things. We'll be with
Your servants as they prepare for this weekend. Give them a
message. Give them boldness. Let Him proclaim your Son. It's
in His name that we ask. Amen.