I'm pleased, as I know you are,
to have my pastor, Brother Henry Mahan, speak to us tonight. Come on and preach this. Turn back to that scripture that
your pastor read a moment ago, 1 Corinthians 15. 1 Corinthians
15. Let me read just a couple of
verses introducing my message tonight. 1 Corinthians 15 verse 21 and 22, For since by man came death, by man came death, by man came
also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall
all be made alive. And then over in verse 45, verse 45, And so it is written,
The first man, Adam, was made a living soul, the last Adam. Christ was made a quickening
spirit. Albeit, that was not first which
is spiritual. That's first revealed. Christ, Adam, was revealed first,
you know, on this earth. But that which is natural, afterward
that which is spiritual. Now, the first man, Adam, is
of the earth, earthy. The second man is the Lord from
heaven. the first man and the second
man. As is the earthy, such are they
that they also that are earthy. And as is the heavenly, such
are they also that are heavenly. And as we have borne the image
of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly. A great servant of God who lived
five hundred years ago, Martin Luther, one of the great, great
preachers of the past, a man by God's grace to whom we owe
a great deal as far as freedom of worship.
I thought a while ago while we were singing these hymns, Martin
Luther set the church to singing. Did you know that? He wrote the
first hymn book. Prior to that time, the church
didn't sing. The believers, the congregation
didn't sing. In these Catholic churches, the
choirs chanted. Martin Luther wrote, A Mighty
Fortress is Our God. That's one of the first hymns
that the church ever sung, New Testament church, after the apostles,
you know, after 300 A.D. And then he wrote five or six
more and put out a little hymnal of seven hymns, and the people
sang the praises of God, and he preached the gospel, and he
had this to say, and I want you to listen to him. He made an impact by God's grace
on this world. He said, if I profess with the
loudest voice and the clearest exposition every portion of the
truth of God, except precisely those points which the world
and the devil at that moment are attacking, I'm not confessing Christ. However
boldly I may be professing Christ. In other words, if the religious
man, preacher or otherwise, says a whole lot of things which the
Bible teaches, many truths, and you hear that all the time, well,
he said a lot of good things. And I say a whole lot of good
things the Bible teaches and leave out precisely those points
that in my generation the world hates and despises. Those points about the character
of our God, his sovereignty and power, the effectual work of
our Lord Jesus, his atonement, the regenerating, life-giving,
renewing power of God's God's elective grace, perseverance. I may say a lot of good things,
a lot of truths, and leave out those points that I know are
under attack and are hated and despised by the religious world.
I am not confessing Christ. And however loud I may be professing,
but I'm not confessing Christ. And this is the point which I
wish to make in this message tonight. I want us to go to school
together for a little while, and just let me talk to you about
something. I do not believe that preachers
today, and theologians today, I do not believe they're speaking
on the real issues. The average preacher—your pastor
is, I know he is. And I know I am, and I know several
men who are, over this country and over the world and other
nations. But the majority of preachers and theologians today
are not speaking to the real issues. People are not being
confronted with the real gospel issues. Now, let me ask you,
is the existence of God really the issue? Is it necessary for me to spend
my time proving to this world that there's a God? Most people
are willing for God to be. Most people believe that there
is a God. They say, God is alive. Of course
He is. God is life. God created all
things. Even the people who crucified
Christ acknowledged the existence of God. They said, what's the
charge against him? They replied, he blasphemed God. They believed in God. The people
who put the apostles to death believed in God. The people who
put the martyrs to death believed in God. Mary of Scots, Bloody
Mary, was a devout religionist, wasn't she? Who put the people
to death at Smithfield, hundreds of them. She did it in the name
of God. Our Lord said to his apostles,
the day will come when men will put you to death and think they're
doing God a favor. The world believes in God's stand.
I'll tell you something else. Is this the issue? Good works.
The moral law. Is that the issue today? Really
not. I believe if you were to put it to a vote, the majority
of the people would be willing for the Ten Commandments to stand.
Don't you think so? I really believe they would.
I believe the majority of people would say, well, I'd rather have
good works than bad works, hadn't you? Well, of course. The ten commandments
are fine with most people, though they don't keep them. But they're
fine, you know. And good works are commended.
But one time our Lord Jesus had spoken to a group of people,
and they took up stones to stone him. And he said, many good works
have I done among you, for which of these do you stone me? They
said, we're not stoning you for good works. We got nothing against
good works. These men were the most moral
men of their day. We stone you because you're a
man and you claim to be God. God in human flesh. That's the
issue. I'll tell you something else.
Now listen, I don't mean to offend anyone. But the death, the death
of Jesus Christ on the cross is not the issue today. Everybody
knows he died on the cross. You remember a while ago when
I said Luther was born in 1483 A.D.? What does that A.D. stand for? In the year of our
Lord, Anno Domini, in the year of our Lord. So many years B.C. before Christ. Our calendar marks
the death of Jesus Christ. He lived and he died. The cross
is a part of our society. We wear crosses on nearly every
church. People wear crosses on their
lapel, around their neck. Even the athletes wear crosses
for earrings now. The men wear crosses. Everybody
believes there was a cross. For whatever purpose he died,
some believe he died as a martyr, some believe he died as a reformer,
some people believe he died as an example, some people believe
he died as a sacrifice, some people believe he died as an
atonement. This person does. But everybody
believes he died. I hear somebody else say, well,
the issue is, is God, can God heal people today? That's the
issue among the chariots. God can heal. He's the same yesterday. Of course He can. Who can other
than God? He who made the ear can make
it hear. He who made the eye can make
it see. He said, I kill, I make alive. I wound, I heal. I'm the
God, I'm the Lord. No question about that. If a
man lives, he lives by God's permission. If he dies, he dies
by God's direction. That's true. There's no doubt
about that. That's life after death. You
know anybody that doesn't believe in life after death? I was watching
the sports program last night, and this fellow was commemorating
Jackie Robinson, a great ballplayer, great black ballplayer. And when
he got through talking about what Jackie meant to baseball,
what he meant to the black people, what he meant to the color barrier
and all these things, he lifted his eyes, he said, wherever you
are, Jackie, I thank you. You know, everybody lives in
life after death. I don't need to go forth in this
world proving there's a God, or proving the law is commendable,
or proving Christ died on the cross. or proving God can heal,
or proving there's life after death. Here's the real issues. Listen. The real issues today, and as
these have always been the critical issues and the heart of the gospel,
the truth that men must face today and always needed to face. and reckon with has to do with
three persons, three persons, who they were, what they did,
and what they mean to me, my relationship with them. Who are
these three persons? Adam? Who was this man Adam,
this first Adam? Who was this man? What did he
do? What happened? Back here in the garden, what
happened? When God dealt with this man, who was he? What did he do? What's that got
to do with me? The second man is Jesus of Nazareth,
the second Adam. I read it to you. Who was this
man? Who was this Lord from heaven,
this second man? What did he do? What happened
back there on that cross? Back yonder when that cross was
erected outside the city of Jerusalem and rammed into the ground, the
man was nailed to it. What's that got to do with me?
Ah, that's the issue. Thirdly, Holy Spirit, this Holy
Spirit. What happens in a man's soul,
I know what happens when he walks an aisle and shakes a preacher's
hand, he's baptized, joins the church, most times nothing. I
know what happens when we talk them into turning over a new
leaf, and straightening up their lives, and paying their bills,
and walking straight, and living straight, and talking straight.
They do straight for a while, and then they get tired of it.
But what happens when God, the Holy Ghost, the Spirit of the
throne God, descends on a man, in a man, takes up his abode
in that man's soul, plants his flag, conquers him and makes
man's soul his fortress and habitation and dwelling place. That's what
you want to find out. What happened in the garden,
what happened on that cross, and what happens when God saves
a sinner, when God decides Jericho's going to be his town. when God decides Saul of Tarsus
is going to be my servant. When God Almighty, by His sovereign
will, says, You're going to be mine. I'm going to be married
to you. I'm going to be your beloved
and you're going to be my beloved. And nobody's ever going to part
the two. That's the issue. That's always been the issue.
I want you to listen to what a man had to say. in 1755. This is 250 years ago. 250 years ago, there was a splitting
conflict among the churches and preachers in England. This is
before our Revolutionary War, before America was a nation.
There was a division among the preachers and the churches in
England. And one of England's most respected
pastors was William Romaine. And of that conflict, of that
split, William Romaine wrote these words. Now listen to them.
He said, every minister of the gospel who has any zeal, who
has any zeal for his master's Every minister of the gospel
who has any love for the souls of men ought to exert himself
in these days of reproach and blasphemy. We have departed from
the doctrines of the Reformation. We have departed from the doctrines
of our forefathers, and yet we keep up our subscription to their
articles. and to the creeds of our forefathers,
and to the catechisms of our forefathers, which are founded
on three things." Now this is one of England's most respected,
honored pastors speaking during a conflict. He says, my day,
my generation, my fellow preachers have left the doctrines of the
Reformation, which are founded on three things. the fall of mankind in Adam. That's what I said, right? Number
two, this is 250 years ago. Same issue today. Number two,
the recovery, full recovery of the elect in Jesus Christ at
the cross. Number three, the absolute necessity
of the Holy Spirit regenerating a sinner's heart. Rick, 250 years ago, this man
says, what has split our churches in this day are those three things.
That's what they're not preaching today either. And he went on. He said, listen, all Scripture
is built around these three truths. All Scripture is built around
these three truths. You don't know the Word of God
unless you know these three things. And in my ministry, he said,
I have and will insist upon the total corruption of mankind by
the fall of our father Adam. And I will insist upon the freeness
and fullness of redemption for all God's elect in our Lord Jesus
Christ. And I will insist upon the necessity
of the Holy Spirit to renew us regenerate us and bring us to
Christ. And then he closed with these
words. In my day, he said, these great
doctrines are denied, and those who preach them are ridiculed
and held up for contempt by the religious crowd. Well, he said,
I honor the reproach. I find myself in the best of
company by believing these truths. The martyrs died and sealed belief
in these doctrines with their blood. Our primitive fathers,
with one voice, preached what happened in the garden, what
happened on the cross, what happens in a sinner's heart when God
saves him. And I must preach these three persons and our relationship
to them, I dare not risk my eternal salvation for any present honor
or comfort. I dare not risk my eternal salvation
for any present honor, approval, admiration, or comfort. All right, let's look at these
three, Adam, Christ, Holy Spirit. What happened in the garden?
What happened on the cross? What happens when God visits
a sinner's heart, takes up his abode? Well, first of all, Adam. Well, the Bible teaches two basic
things about Adam and his fall. Number one, his fall was my fall. His fall was our fall. Turn to
Romans chapter 5. Romans, the fifth chapter. And
you're familiar with this. Adam was the federal head of
the whole race. God made one man. He made Adam. He created one man. We all came
out of Adam. Even the woman came out of Adam.
God put Adam to sleep and took her out of Adam. made from man. He's the head. He's the head of the whole human
race. He's the federal head. He's the representative. Adam
is the representative of all mankind. And it says here in
Romans 5 verse 12, Wherefore, as by one man sin entered this
world, and death by sin, and so death passed upon all men,
for that all had sinned. When God made Adam, He made all
men in Adam. Adam was the federal head, Adam
was the representative, and when Adam lived, we lived. When Adam
walked before God in obedience, we, his sons and daughters, walked
in obedience. When he sinned, we sinned. When
he fell, we fell. When he died, we died spiritually. This is called imputed guilt.
It's called original sin. And that's what the Word of God
teaches. But the second thing that happened when he fell, number
one, he fell, we fell in, we died. And the second thing is
this, as a result of his fall, we have a corrupt nature, a sinful,
evil nature. When we're born from our past,
we're born without spiritual life, we're born without a spiritual
nature, we're born without spiritual understanding, but we're born
with a fleshly, natural spirit. We're born in sin, and that's
what the Scripture said. In sin my mother conceived me. I was brought forth from the
womb speaking lies. And this is strongly evident
in our children. When our children are born into
this world, you could, you can isolate a child and never let
that child come in contact with any magazines or papers or television
or people. Just that child in you. And try
to give it all of the very, teach it all of the best things. And
you'll find that child will know how to lie, covet, hate, That's
born in them. That's the nature. In fact, we
have to be taught to tell the truth. We lie by nature. We have
to be taught to think spiritual things. We think evil things.
That's natural with us. That's our nature. Turn to Romans
chapter 3, just one page over. This is a description of us in
Romans chapter 3. And as it is written, there's
none righteous, no, not one. There's none that understand
it, there's none that seek it after God. They're all gone out
of the way. They're together become unprofitable.
There's none that do us good, no, not one. Their throat is
an open sepulcher where their tongues, they have used deceit,
the poison of ash is under their lips. We'll miss people this
way. We're born this way. It's the nature we're born with. Verse 14, whose mouth is full
of cursing and bitterness, their feet are swift to shed blood,
destruction and misery in their way, the way of peace have they
not known? There's no fear of God before their eyes? Now look
at verse 19. Now we know that what things
for ever 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. Every mouth, all the world. Man at his best state is altogether
vanity. Isaiah said, from the sole of
our feet to the top of our heels, there's no soundness in us, nothing
but wounds and bruises, putrefying sores. The whole heart is faint,
the whole head is sick. Even our righteousness is a filthy
rag. Another man who wrote about the
time of William Romaine was beverage. Listen to what he said. Because of the evil root. And
that's the problem. It's the root. The fruit is the result of the
root. And our root is bad. You see,
it came from Adam. And he said, because of the evil
root in our heart, there's evil fruit in our nature. The root
poisons even our so-called righteousness. I challenge you, we cannot pray
without sin. We cannot hear or preach a sermon
without sin. We do not give alms without sin. We do not confess our sins, but
our very confession is an aggravation of sin. We start talking about sins of
which we're ashamed, and it brings up some delight in our minds,
and we remember them. That's us. Our repentance needs
to be repented of. Our very tears need to be washed
in the blood of Christ. Not only our worst behavior,
but the best duties of our lives prove us to be sons of Adam,
not sons of God. Oh, the exceeding sinfulness
of sin. We know that, don't we? Religious
well-doers know that. You know it. You're a choice
people. When he revealed himself to you, he revealed yourself
to you. When Isaiah saw the Lord, he
saw himself. When you met him, you met yourself. And the more you learn of him,
the further down you go. All exceeding sinful sin. Adam's fall left us dead in trespasses
and sin. Adam's fall left us without hope,
without help, without Christ, and without God in this world.
Strangers, alone, out shunned in the wilderness of sin, with
no way back and no desire to come back. That's what our problem
is. We don't only—not only by nature,
the men not know God, they don't want to know God. They worship
a false god. but not the living God. That's
why when Adam fell, we fell. And that nature, that polluted
nature, became ours. All right, let's look at this
second man. The first Adam is of the earth, earthy. Second
Adam is the Lord from heaven. In Adam, the first Adam, we died. In the second Adam, we're made
alive. How'd this come to pass? All right, listen. In God's eternal covenant of
grace, now you who are familiar with the Word, you know something
about the everlasting covenant. You know something about the
Lamb slain before the foundation of the world, isn't that right?
The Lamb's Book of Life, which is the Book of the Lamb, slain
before the foundation of the world. That's right. God, from
the beginning, chose you to salvation. You know words like that. God
chose us in Christ to salvation before the foundations of the
world. So, before God made the earth and the heavens, back in
the beginning when there was God, before the morning stars
sang together, before the sons of God shouted with joy, when
there was God, when God said, Let us make man. And God said, let there be light,
and there was light. Now, I'm talking about back then.
I don't know anything about it. But from reading the Word, this
comes to my mind. The sovereign majesty of God
speaks. God says, I will create. I will
create. Let us make man. I will create
angels. I will create meaning. And there
will be a kingdom of angels in me, and a kingdom of glory, a
kingdom of righteousness, and eternal, everlasting happiness
forever and ever. I'll make man. In God's—that's God's majesty
and sovereignty speaking, God's will and purpose. And God's righteousness
speaks. And God's the attributes of God—holiness
and righteousness. And righteousness speaks. And
righteousness says, My God, angels and men, even created, are still
creatures. They're not God. And angels and
men were thought because they are angels and men. And no creature
can keep you alive. And justice speaks, the justice
of God. And justice says, my God, when
these angels in me are made, and for whatever time they in
obedience, they will eventually fall, and then they belong to
me. For justice says the transgression
of the law is sin, and the soul that sinneth must surely die. The judge of all the earth must
do And when even his creatures, made by his hands, violate his
holiness, he must punish them. And death speaks. And death says,
then, dear man, the soul that sinneth shall surely die, and
sin, when it's finished, bringeth forth death. And all these creatures
that you've made, these angels and these men, who failed your
holiness and your righteousness and disobeyed your law, and justice
laid hand upon them and delivered them to me, I'll keep them in
death forever." And there's silence. And then
love speaks. God is love. God is holy, but
God is love. God is righteous, but God is
love. And love speaks, and love says,
is there not a way? Is there not a way that the matchless,
infinite, everlasting, unchangeable love of God can be manifested,
can be magnified in all of this tragedy involved? And mercy speaks. God is merciful. God said, I
will be merciful, I will be gracious. God delights to show mercy. Is
there not a way in all of this that God's mercy can be exalted
and magnified above this fall? And there's silence again. And then wisdom. Wisdom speaks. And wisdom says there is a way. There is a way whereby all of
you—righteousness, majesty, holiness, justice, love, grace, mercy—there's
a way in which all the attributes of God can be magnified and satisfied,
and God can be both just and justified. And God can be both
holy and forgive sin, and there is a way that mercy and truth
can meet together, and righteousness and peace can kiss one another. But that way is a traumatic way. I'm listening, are you? What
is the way? Wisdom says this is the way. must become a man. Like Adam, your first man, who
will follow, there must be a second Adam, the God-man. No human father, he cannot be
born of Adam's race. He cannot partake of Adam's power. He's got to be the son of God. a new race, a new kingdom, a
new people. But he must be born of a woman
because he's got to be made under the law. He's got to be subject
to every trial, every temptation, every duty, every responsibility. And God, you can't cut him any
slack. He's got to meet every requirement
and obey it perfectly. He's got to do all that you require
of this new kingdom. these people. He's got to love
you perfectly, live perfectly, walk perfectly, and love others
as himself. He's got to work out a perfect
righteousness, and then he's got to fall into the hands of
justice. And he's got to be obedient unto
death, even the death of the curse of the cross for those
people whom he represents. In Adam, there died. In Christ,
they live. In that first man, they'll perish. In that second man, they'll be
restored. In that first Adam, they have
a nature that can see, and in that second Adam, they have a
nature that can't see, because it's his nature. And when they're taken to his
presence and glory, There'll be no further possibility of
them ever falling because they'll be one with Christ and he can't
fall. And then the son speaks and said,
My father, I'll be surety for those people. All that you give
me, all that you give me, all that you put in my hands, All
for whom you make me the federal head and the representative and
the surety, I'll bring them all home. I'll go to earth and I'll
take their nature. I'll take their sin, I'll take
their guilt, I'll take their death, and I'll redeem them and
bring them home." He, the Father, then made him the Son, who knew
no sin. to descend for us, that we might
be made the righteousness of God in him. And my brethren,
that's what happened at that cross. He said, Father, I finished
the work you gave me to do. Now glorify me with the glory
which thou gavest me before the world. It's finished. 1 Corinthians 15. Listen to this. And see, it's
just not exactly what I've been saying. 1 Corinthians 15, verse 24. 1 Corinthians 15, 24,
Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom
to God, even the Father, when he, Christ, shall have put down
all rule, all authority, and all power. For he must reign
till he hath put all enemies under his feet. And the last
enemy shall be destroyed is death, for he hath put all things under
his feet. The Father put all things under
the Son's feet. But when you say of all things
are put under him, it is manifest that he's exempted who put it
there. There's only one that's not under
the feet of the Son, that's the Father. Everything, everybody,
every creature, every principality, power is under his feet except
one. Verse 28, And when all things
shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be
subject unto him that put all things unto him, that God may
be all in all." That's that covenant. Before the foundation of this
world, before God ever laid the first stone or created the first
creature, He determined to save a people. He determined that
Christ would be their lamb slain, that he'd be their second Adam,
representative, that he'd restore it. All that my Father giveth
me will come to me, and him that cometh to me I'll in no wise
cast out. I came down from heaven not to do my will, but the will
of him that sent me. I came that he may be just and
justifier of them that believe on me." What about this Holy
Spirit, the third person? I told you what happened in the
garden, and you smiled and said, that's right. I know about that. I live with that old man, old
Adam. I know him well. I know him well. And I know that man, Christ Jesus,
you talked about. He's my Lord. He's my Savior. He's my hope. I know him. But
I tell someone else I know. I know the Holy Spirit that came
one day and took this Word. and gave me life. That's right. Gave me life. God was pleased
to reveal his Son in me. What happens when the Spirit
of God comes upon the heart of a sinner? Number one, he lives.
You have to acquit them who were dead in trespasses and sins.
Number two, he's born again. He's born not of the will of
the flesh, not of the will of man. He's born of God. Number
three, he's The Holy Spirit, Christ said to His disciples,
He'll be your teacher. He'll take the things of mine
and show them to you. He'll not speak of Himself. He'll
not glorify Himself. He'll take the things of mine
and show them to you. And He gives us faith. For by
grace are you saved through faith. And that knowledge of yourselves,
it's the gift of God. We're His workmanship, created
in Christ Jesus, and then we're sealed by the Holy Spirit. Sealed
by the Spirit of God. in whom you trusted after you
believed, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of
your salvation, and you were sealed by God's Spirit. We didn't
just get religion. We had that. I was born religious. Everybody I know was born religious. We didn't just reform. We didn't
just learn theology. We didn't make our peace with
God. We didn't accept Jesus as our
personal Savior. We didn't join the church. We
were conquered by the Spirit of God. We were created anew
in Christ Jesus. We were born from above. We became
children of God. That's right. A new person, a new creature,
a son of God, an heir of God, a joint heir with Jesus Christ,
a new life that'll never die, a pilgrim that'll never turn
back, a sojourner that'll never quit the journey till he sees
the Lord. David said, I'll be satisfied
when I awaken in likeness. That's where I'm headed, by his
grace. Turn back, he said, I'll never
forsake them, they'll never forsake me. You ever learn to breathe,
you'll never quit. Not voluntarily. That's right. All right. God bless you. Thank
you, Pastor. Let's sing 168. This one goes
very well with the first three verses in particular. The
first verse says, Lord, I hear of showers of blessing. Thou
art scattering, full and free. Showers of thirsty land refreshing. Let some drops now fall on me. Now the second and third verses
go so well with this message. Let's stand and sing these. Closing
hymn. Pass me not, O tender Savior,
let me love and cling to Thee. Even me, even me, let thy blessings
fall on me. Third as the last, pay attention
to the words. As we model my spirit, thou canst make the blind
to see. With the stir of even care, The
Word of God to me. He was me. He was me. As I left Him, all
of me.