Thank you so much for that. I invite you to go back with
me again this evening to the book of Romans, chapter 5. Romans, chapter 5. There have been several tremendous
statements that have been put here In Romans 5 and verse 6,
the writer tells us when we were yet without strength, Romans
chapter 5 verse 6, when we were yet without strength, when we
couldn't do anything, when we had no ability, God did something. It isn't that we did something,
God did something. Salvation isn't what man does
in cooperation with God. It isn't what we do for God. It's what God does for us through
Christ Jesus. And when we were yet without
strength, when we had no ability, when we could do nothing, when
we were in an awful, awful condition, In due time, when our debt was
due, when the justice of God said now is the time for the
payment, in due time, oh my Christ, Lord of glory, that great anointed
one, he died. He died for the ungodly. That's not a very flattering
word. We're ungodly. But that's who he died for. And
God the Spirit, he comes to us in his grace. And he gives us the ability to
acknowledge that's exactly what we are. We're ungodly. You see,
in the light of God's absolute holiness, we then see, we get
a picture of what we are. Everything God is, we aren't. Christ died for the ungodly,
for the idolatrous, for those who were without God and without
hope. And then he makes this statement
in verse eight, for God commendeth, God manifested, God gave full
evidence of his love toward us in that while we were yet, we
were yet sinners. In a miserable condition, that's
when Christ died for us. Let us therefore trace this redemptive
work of our Redeemer back to the magnificent love of God. Love's behind it all. Herein
is love, John said. Not that we love God, but that
he loved us and gave his son to be the propitiation for our
sins. Verse nine, then he says, much
more than being now justified by his blood, we are justified. We talked about that this morning.
We're forgiven of all of our sins. We're reckoned to be righteous
in the Lord Jesus. God himself pronounces us to
be justified, to be forgiven, to be righteous, to be accepted
in the beloved, being now justified. Listen, you'll never be more
justified before God and by God than you are right now. When
you stand before God at the, when, That time comes when time
shall be no more, when the end of time comes. Let me put it
that way. When you stand before God, right
there, there's the throne of glory. There's the Lamb of God. And there you stand before a
holy and a righteous God. You won't be any more justified
then than you are right now. because justification is not
progressive. It is a state of being. We are justified by God. God justified us in Christ Jesus
by his blood. And being now justified, we're
gonna be saved from wrath through him. There's no judgment for
us. There's no wrath of God for us
because all of the wrath of God has already been borne by our
substitute. Love that scripture there in
Romans chapter eight verse one. There is therefore now no condemnation,
no judgment, no wrath to them who are in Christ Jesus, who
walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit. What does that
mean? Does that have to do with our
daily walk, our daily conversation? No, what he's talking about is
we, in our understanding of this matter of God's great salvation,
we don't walk, we don't approach this subject of salvation according
to the way the flesh thinks. You see, here's the way, this
is the mind of the flesh. This is the mind of the natural
man. Do good and God will bless you.
We don't walk that way. That's not the way of salvation.
We walk according to the spirit of grace who teaches us that
this salvation is all in the Lord Jesus and all according
to God's eternal purpose of grace. He says in verse number 10, For
if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the
death of His Son, once again, and I'll kind of repeat a little
bit of what I said this morning, and I made this statement in,
sometimes I say things in Sunday school, and I forget whether
I said it in Sunday school, the morning worship service, I'll
just say this, whether I said it out here or back yonder, redemption
is a work that's finished. There's nobody being redeemed
today. There's nobody being reconciled
to God today. The reconciliation, the justification,
the work of honoring God's law and God's justice, that was fulfilled
2,000 years ago. Now, God makes it real to us. He makes it known to us by the
revelation of the Spirit of grace. He brings us to believe the Lord
Jesus Christ. He brings us to repentance toward
God and faith in the Son of God. But this is an acknowledgement
and a knowledge of that which actually took place 2,000 years
ago. This is when the, and I quoted this in Sunday school, that's
when the old account was settled long ago, long ago. Oh, happy day that it fixed my
choice on thee my Savior and my God. And that happy day was
when Christ died for us upon the cross of Calvary. That's
when the issue was finished. That's when righteousness was
brought in. and being reconciled by his death,
we shall be saved in his life. He who died for us ever lives
for us. Now notice verse 11, and not
only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ
by whom we now have received the atonement or the reconciliation. And then we get to verse 12,
he begins to tell us the state that we're in and the way we
got in this mess that we're in. Wherefore, as by one man, that
man being Adam, sin entered into the world and death by sin and
so death passed upon all men for that all had sinned in Adam. There came a day, long, long
time ago when this thing called which the Bible calls it sin,
it entered into the world. It entered into God's universe.
Now God made everything perfect, good. That's what the script,
every day God made all these things, day one, day two, day
three, day four, day five, day six. God looked at everything
he made and he said, it's good, it's very good. Everything came
forth from the hand of God very good. But there was an angel
who rebelled against God. Lucifer, and he introduced vileness
into this world. He introduced evil. He brought
wickedness about. And in his rebellion, he led
one third of the angels. We gather that from the book
of Revelation, in rebellion against God. And so, this matter of sin,
it entered into God's universe. And then God made, at, I don't
know, some point, And we're not told the details of when these
things happened, except that, of course, God made man on the
sixth day. God made that man, and he was
upright, he was perfect in all his ways. But then that man,
he committed rebellion against God, and therefore, that sin
that had entered into the world, entered into God's perfect universe.
Now it has infected that very first man. But here's the thing,
he wasn't a private individual. Because when that man rebelled
against God, something awful happened to everybody who would
follow in the footsteps of Adam. We all became sinners. Now, whether
we acknowledge it or not, whether people in the world acknowledge
it or not, makes no difference upon this fact. All, according
to Romans 5, 12, all sin in Adam. Look at it again. Wherefore,
as by one man, that's Adam, by one man, sin entered into the
world, and death on account of sin. And so death passed upon
all men, upon everybody for that all have sinned. That is everybody
sinned and Adam, you were there, you were in him. He was your
legal representative. And then he says this beginning
in verse 13. Here's a parenthetical statement
for unto the law, sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed
when there is no law. Nevertheless, death reigned. And death is a mighty king. And it still reigns. It still
reigns. We've got all these nations of
the world, all these different kind of peoples in the world.
And this is what we've all got in common. People die. People die throughout the world. And the reason people die is
on account of sin. and you're not going to escape
death, and I'm not going to escape death, unless the Lord Jesus
comes back pretty soon, we won't miss death. Death came upon all
men as a result of Adam's disobedience, his transgression. You see, death
is presented here in the rest of this passage of Scripture
as the king of our race. Death reigns. He says that again,
go down in verse 17. He says, for if by one man's
offense, death reigns, death reigns. It doesn't matter who
you are, you can be a king or a pauper. You can be a high person
or a low person, educated, uneducated, doesn't make any difference,
rich or poor, everybody's gonna die. Because death is the great
leveler. Death brings all men down. Death
reigns. Death is the king. That's why
Job says it's called the king of terror. It's the most terrifying
thing there is to all of us by nature, death. Death. Now for the believer, it ought
not be terrifying because we enter into the presence of our
Lord. We go to be with him in paradise. But for those who know not the
Lord Jesus Christ, they have every reason to be absolutely
terrified. Terrified. Because they're going
out to heaven is frowning on them. You think of this. You
picture a man or a woman or a boy or a girl going out in eternity,
bearing their own burden of guilt and sin. All of heaven frowns
on them. And hell itself has opened her
jaws to swallow them up. And God himself is angry with
them. And if you're here this evening
or if you're watching this evening and you have no savior, you have
no mediator, death is the most terrifying thing you'll meet
in this life. But here's the thing of it, after
death, there's the judgment. Death doesn't end it all. It's a very terrifying thing.
If you want the reference on that, Job chapter 18, verse 14. Death is called the king of terrors. Oh, how terrifying. Can you imagine
standing before God in the filthiness of your sin?
Oh my. Standing before God in the rags
of your own self-righteousness. I'd shudder to think of that.
Oh, how could you go another moment without running, fleeing
by faith to Christ Jesus? There's refuge in Him. All the
cities of refuge that the Bible presents to us in the Old Testament,
they all picture Christ Jesus, and a person would run to the
city of refuge. There they find safety. We find
safety in Christ Jesus, but there's no safety anywhere else. Death is indeed the king of terrors. And here's the reason we die.
It's because we're sinful. God said to Adam, in the day
ye eat thereof, you'll surely die. And he did. He died. He didn't die physically
right then when he ate of the forbidden fruit, but he died
spiritually. He died for he's dead toward
God. And then he died physically many years later. And unless
God had been gracious to him and merciful to him, he would
have died forever. He had experienced the second
death. Death reigns. Death reigns. All men are to be subject to
death. More than 55 million people died
last year. 6,316 every single hour. Death's gonna come get us. I
read this week, one Washington, D.C. undertaker, he signs his
stationery, eventually yours. Eventually yours. The Orientals have a proverb
I read, the black camel, death, kneels once at each man's door. And every mortal must mount the
camel to come back nevermore. Death. Napoleon said, quote,
he said, I die before my time. and my body will be given back
to earth and become food for worms. Such is the fate which
so soon awaits the great Napoleon, conqueror of the world. I shall be conquered by death. And that's because death reigns.
Death reigns. But death is not a terror to
the people of God. Look with me in 1 Corinthians
chapter 15. Those of us who've been bought
with the blood of the Lord Jesus, who have been brought by the
spirit of grace to rest in him for all of our salvation, for
all of our acceptance before God, death should not be terrifying
to us. Death is just a door through
which we must enter into everlasting bliss. Here in 1 Corinthians
chapter 15, verse 50. Now this I say, brethren, 1 Corinthians
15 and verse 50. Now this I say, brethren, that
flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, neither doth
corruption inherit incorruption. Behold, I show you a mystery. We shall not all sleep. but we shall all be changed. In other words, there's going
to be a generation of God's people who will be living when Christ
comes back, and they won't experience the death of the physical body.
But everybody's gonna have to be changed, because flesh and
blood, as we know it, can't enter into the kingdom of God. Why,
if we entered into the kingdom of God like we are now, we'd
ruin heaven like we've ruined earth. So we gotta be changed. And that's what he says in verse
52. We shall all be changed, verse 52, in a moment, in the
twinkling of an eye at the last trumpet. For the trumpet shall
sound and the dead shall be raised incorruptible and we shall be
changed. For this corruptible must put
on incorruption. and this mortal must put on immortality. And so, when this corruptible
shall have put on incorruption and this mortal shall have put
on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that
is written, death, the king of terror, death, swallowed up in
victory. Enabling us, therefore, as the
people of God to say, to question this, oh death, Where is your
sting? Oh, grave, where is your victory? What is the sting of death? It is sin. But wait a minute,
that's been taken care of. That's been removed from us. The stinger of death has been
removed. It's gone. It exists no more. Our sins have been buried in
the depths of the deepest sea. Our sins have been put behind
God's back. Our sins have been separated
from us as far as the east is from the west. The sting is gone.
The sting of death is gone. It is not the king of terror
to the people of God. because our savior has conquered
sin. That's what he did there on the
cross of Calvary when he said, my God, my God, why hast thou
forsaken me? He was forsaken by God so that
we never would be and he took our sins all the way away. He buried them in his own tomb,
and he came out of the grave without them. He doesn't bury
them, and neither do we in the sight of God. We don't bury them. Therefore, O grave, where is
thy victory? Our Lord arose from the dead. He conquered death. He says in
verse 56, the sting of death is sin. The strength of sin is
the law. but thanks be to God, not thanks
be to you. You read the apostle's writings.
He doesn't thank you for salvation. He doesn't thank me for giving
God the okay to go ahead and save me. He's always blessing
God. He's always thanking God. Thanks
be unto God, which giveth us the victory, but that's not the
end of the statement. He gives us the victory through
our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, he says, my beloved
brethren, be steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work
of the Lord, for as much as you know that your labor is not in
vain in the Lord. So yes, death reigns. And yes, unless the Lord comes
back, Very soon, all of us are going to experience death. We've
just got to. And you say, well, I don't know
why. Why do the people of God suffer? Some of God's people
suffer before death, and then they wind up dying. You say,
why is that? That's to fulfill God's purpose
as well. It isn't that because we've labored
in the gospel, because we preach the truth, or because we believe
the truth, the Lord will therefore exempt us from great suffering
of the body. That's just not a fact. Now,
some people don't suffer. Some people go through life,
they're virtually healthy all their life, and then just die
suddenly with a heart attack, and that's it. But that's according
to the will of God. But others of God's people, they
suffer greatly. They've loved the Lord, they've
loved Christ Jesus, but they still go through troublesome
times. Very turbulent experiences of
afflictions of the flesh, and they ache, and they have pains,
and they suffer, and they agonize. You say, where is God in all
of that? He's still on the throne. He's
still ruling and reigning just like he was ruling and reigning
when his son agonized. When his son suffered, God was
in charge. God has never forsaken his scepter. He's always the king. He's king
over death. And he's king over suffering.
And if you're called upon to suffer, if I'm called upon to
suffer unto death, then so be it. That's the way God's willed
it. You see, God in his infinite
wisdom, he has devised his eternal purpose, and he is directing
all things to the end that he himself has ordained, so that
everything will redound to his glory and work out for the good
of his dear people. And some of you, or maybe me, Maybe we'll have to suffer awful,
debilitating illnesses and diseases. That's the will of God. Years ago, I preached the funeral
of a dear, dear friend. And a disease had got a hold
of him and took him down to nothing. And his family was talking about
his funeral that was going to happen. And he knew he was dying. And we talked about it. And his family said, dad, you
look so bad. We're just not going to have
an open casket. Because we don't want people
to remember you like this. And he said, no. Leave my casket
open. I want people to see what sin
does to the body. I want them to see. Sin, oh, sin brings us down. It brings us down, down, down
to finally we die. Why do people die, preacher?
Because of sin. That's what it says in verse
12. We die on account of sin. Now, when I say man is sinful,
I'm not saying that he doesn't do some noble things. I'm not saying that he doesn't
do some very charitable works. As we view charity and as we
view noble deeds, but we're all alienated from
God. And though we're converted, we
still gonna have to die. Well, how did we get to be sinners? We had a representative who got
us into this mess. Let me tell you, I love to preach
on the types and pictures emblems and figures of our Lord Jesus
Christ. And you know that, and your previous
pastors did as well. They preached Brother Mahan,
Brother Parker, preached on the typologies of the Old Testament
pictures of our Lord Jesus. There are a lot of things that
picture him, that set him forth. Noah's Ark, Passover Lamb. Boy, you just go on and on and
on. The Tabernacle. So many, so many figures and
pictures of our Lord Jesus, so many people. Noah was a type
of Christ, and Abraham, and Melchizedek, and Isaac, and Joseph, Judah,
Moses, Aaron, Joshua, Samson, David, Solomon. But of all the
types and figures of our Lord Jesus in the Old Testament, There
is actually only one that is specifically, specifically said
to be a type of our Savior. Only one is definitely labeled
as a figure of our Lord Jesus. And that may be puzzling to you
and shock you, but that's a fact, just one. And the interesting
thing about this figure of our Lord Jesus Christ, most of the
time preachers avoid mentioning this figure of our Lord Jesus
Christ because they're embarrassed to do so, I think. And if they
do mention it, they do it somewhat apologetically. As if there might be some evil
comparison. I know other men pictured our
Lord Jesus, but you look at verse 14. Nevertheless, death reigned from
Adam to Moses, We could say from not only Adam to Moses, but from
Moses to Christ, and from Christ to this day. Death reigned even
over them who had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's
transgression. Who's that? Babies. A lot of
babies die in infancy. after the similitude of Adam's
transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come? That's
what the Bible says. You talking about, you want a
figure of Christ Jesus? Adam. Very first man. He's a type, he's a picture,
he's a figure of our Lord Jesus. And of course I have several
books that I, look into and inquire as to what
they have to say. And it's amazing to me how many
commentaries and how many men leave off Adam. But he's the
only one that the Bible says specifically, he's a figure of
him who was to come. He's a type of our Lord Jesus. You see, the Bible speaks of
only two Adams. It only speaks of two men, really. There's two men who are representatives. Hold your place here and go back
to 1 Corinthians chapter 15, and let me show you this. Look
at 1 Corinthians chapter 15 again, verses 45, 46, and 47. And so
it is written, You got it? 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. How many Adams are there? There's
just two. The first man Adam And the scripture
is very specific. The first man, Adam, who was
made, made a living soul because God breathed into him the breath
of life and he became a living soul. The last Adam, he's a quickening
spirit. I look at verse 47. The first
man is of the earth, earthy. And then there's the second man
is the Lord from heaven. And both of these men were representatives. They represented their offspring. We would say they represent their
seed. Adam is a type of our Lord Jesus
in several ways. Number one, God was a father
of both of them. God was the father of both of
them. Adam had no father but God. Both were in a very special manner
called the sons of God. One by creation, one by, for
lack of better terminology, eternal generation. That's what the theologians
say, whatever that means. In other words, he's always been
the son of God. There's an everlasting father,
there's an everlasting son. And both of them, both of them
are named Adam. You know what Adam means? Red
dirt, red dirt. Now I can understand that of
that first man who is earthy. God made him out of the dust
of the ground. And God said he's Adam. He's
from red dirt. But for the Lord of glory to
assume the same name and associate with us who are also from the
dirt, that's condescension there. No wonder the Bible says great
is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh. He who is the eternal God was
made flesh and dwelt among us. That's what John said. Both of them were representative
men. If you understand Adam and his
relationship to all mankind, Then you can understand Christ
Jesus and his relationship to those that the Father gave him
in covenant grace. Go back here to Romans chapter
five. Look at Romans chapter five.
Look at verse 18 and then verse 19. Romans 5, 18 and 19. Therefore, as by the offense
of one, judgment came upon all men to condemnation. Who is that
one man? That's Adam. Even so, by the
righteousness of one, that's Christ Jesus, the free gift came
upon all men, that is all men that he represented unto, watch
this, justification of life. That's what we talked about this
morning. Now verse 19, for as by one man's
disobedience, many were made sinners. We were legally constituted
to be sinners. We're guilty in Adam. Now I know
we also have personal guilt. There's no question about that
because we sin ourselves. But the reason we sin ourselves
is because of our association to Adam. There is a connection,
a connection ordained by God between Adam and all of his seed,
everybody he represented. So that when he stood, we stood,
when he fell, we fell. By one man's disobedience, many
were made sinners, that is, everybody he represented. How did you become
a sinner? Well, when I reached the age
of accountability, I sinned and I became a sinner. No, that's
not right. First of all, there's nothing
stated in the Bible about an age of accountability. We're
always accountable to God. Unless we're in Christ Jesus,
then he was accountable to God for us. How did you become a sinner?
By the action of somebody else. If you understand that, then
you'll really appreciate the way you become righteous. By
the action of another man, the last Adam, Christ Jesus. For by one man's disobedience,
the many that he represented were made legally considered
to be sinners. So by the obedience of one, Christ
Jesus, shall the many be legally considered to be, legally constituted
to be righteous. We stand in him. His obedience. That's how you
become righteous. By Christ's act of obedience.
Obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. You see,
Adam, he represented all of his seed in a covenant with God.
We call it the covenant of works. And he failed. And when he failed,
we failed. Our Lord Jesus, he represented
his seed in another covenant, which is the older covenant,
but the newest one revealed, that is the covenant of grace.
But he didn't fail, he succeeded. I'll tell you something else,
Adam was made in the image of God. Genesis 127 says, so God created
man in his own image, and the image of God created he him.
Male and female created he them. What does it mean that the Bible,
when the Bible says God created man in the image of God? God
made man in the image, in his own image. What does that mean? You hear people talk about, well,
it means that God made man an upright person. Not a monkey
crawling around on four legs, but God made him upright. What does it mean? Really, what
does it mean, God made man in his own image? Could I give you
three references and it won't be a mystery to you anymore?
If it's a mystery now, 2 Corinthians 4 verse 4, I can tell you exactly
what that means. No question about it. 2 Corinthians
chapter four and verse four. God made man in his own image. What is the image of God? Or
maybe I should say, who is the image of God? Who is the image
of the invisible God? Because whoever that is, Adam
was made in that image. 2 Corinthians chapter four, verse
four. in whom the God of this world
hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light
of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God. Who's
the image of God? Christ is. In whose image was
Adam created and made? He was made in Christ's image. You say, well, I thought Christ
was made in Adam's image. Well, see, you just got corrected. You know better now. You see,
our Lord Jesus already existed in the mind and purpose of God
as the perfect man who represented his people. The surety, the surety
of the everlasting covenant. He is the image of God. And Adam
was made in his image, in the image of that body that God had
ordained for Christ Jesus from old eternity. And you remember
in Hebrews chapter 10, our Savior says, a body thou hast prepared
me. When did God prepare it? When
did God ordain it? In the covenant of grace. I'll
give you another reference, Colossians chapter one, verse 15. Let me
just make good on this. Colossians chapter one in verse
15. In verse 14, it says, in whom
in Christ we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness
of sins, who is the image of the invisible God, the Son of
God, as Christ is. And then one other reference,
Hebrews chapter one and verse three. Hebrews chapter one and
verse three. Speaking of our Lord Jesus, that
one through whom God speaks in these last days, Verse three,
Hebrews one, who being the brightness of his glory and the express
image of his person. Who is the express image of God? The man Christ Jesus. And Adam
was made in his image, in the image of Christ Jesus. In other
words, Adam had a body patterned after the body that God ordained
for his son to have. An ordination that took place
before God made the world. I'll tell you something else
about Adam. He entered into this world with no sin. He had no sin. Remarkable. And he was full of wisdom. He
named everything. Can you imagine? He named all
the animals. He gave them names. Oh, the wisdom
and the knowledge of Adam. A type of our Lord Jesus Christ,
who is the wisdom of God and the power of God. And who himself had no sin. But
wait, Adam failed. Adam rebelled. Adam sinned against
God. but not our savior. He bore our sin, but he was not
defiled by our sin. He was not contaminated with
our guilt, though all of the iniquities of all of God's elect
were borne by him upon the cross of Calvary. Yet he himself remained
the pure, innocent, spotless Lamb of God, the worthy sacrifice
to put away sin. I'll tell you something else,
Adam was a man who had authority. We read in Genesis 1, 26, God said to the first man, Adam,
let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the fowl
of the air, over the cattle, over the earth, over every creeping
thing that creepeth on the earth. Dominion, God said, I give you
dominion. Adam sinned, he sinned. God sent a second man, the last
Adam. He obeyed. First one disobeyed,
he obeyed. He did the will of God perfect.
I always do those things that please Him, Christ said. Then
he died upon the cross of Calvary, redeeming his people. And God
said, I give you all dominion over all things. And our Lord
Jesus said to his disciples when he gave to them the great commission,
all authority, all power is given unto me, where heaven and earth,
you go preach the gospel. And I'll give you one more. If
you would go with me to Genesis, the second chapter. Let me give
you another picture of how Adam sets forth as a figure of our
Lord Jesus Christ. God gave Adam a bride, and he gave his son a bride too. Genesis chapter two, verse 21,
and the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and
he slept. And God took one of his ribs
and he closed up the flesh instead thereof. And the rib, which the
Lord God had taken from man, made he a woman and brought her
unto the man. And Adam said, this is now bone
of my bones and flesh of my flesh. She shall be called woman because
she was taken out of man. If you go to, and we don't take
the time to go there now, but if you go to Ephesians chapter
five, the Spirit of God tells us specifically that in speaking
of marriage, the marriage of a man and a woman, there in Ephesians
chapter five, the union of a man and a woman, the Spirit of God
tells us he's specifically speaking about the union of Christ and
his church. One. One. What did God do here to Adam? He put him in a deep sleep. What
did our God do to Christ Jesus? He put him in the sleep of death and wounded him. God wounded
him. The scripture says he was wounded
by transgression. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace
was upon him and with his stripes we're healed. God wounded him. And there comes out of Christ
Jesus a bride in union with him forever. And you know what God
did to Adam? Woke him up. And look at verse 22 again. In
the rib which the Lord God had taken from man made he a woman
and brought her unto the man. God said, come here. Adam, this is your bride. You
know what God does? He brings us to Christ Jesus. You know what that's called?
Effectual grace. That's the effectual call of
God. He brings us to Christ. We're his bride, you see, God
appointed us. God chose us to be the bride
of Christ Jesus and he brings us to the Son of God. That's
the factual call of grace. All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me. And him that cometh to me I'll
no wise cast out. Let me give you something else
here. Not quite through. Verse 24. Therefore shall a man
leave his father and his mother and shall cleave unto his wife
and they shall be one flesh. But now watch this. And they
were both naked. The man and his wife. And they
had no shame. They had no shame. The Bible says that all things
are open and naked before the eyes of him with whom we have
to do. And I'm telling you, in Christ Jesus, we stand before
God as it were naked, and he sees no fault in us. We've got
nothing to be ashamed of. See, that's the beauty of grace.
That's the wonder of this great salvation. We stand, as it were,
naked before God in our substitute, in our surety, in our Savior,
one with Him. And there we stand before God
who sees all things as they really are. He sees nothing that dissatisfies
Him. He sees nothing that disappoints
Him. He sees nothing that he's disagreeable to. He sees us perfect
before him in Christ Jesus. And therefore, when we come before
God in our devotions, in our worship, in our times of praise
and thanksgiving, don't be ashamed. Don't be ashamed. Because in
Christ Jesus, you don't have any sin. There's nothing to fear
in coming before God because he sees things as they really
are. And he sees you in his son. And he says of you and he says
of me what he says of his son. This is my beloved son. in whom
I'm well pleased. Isn't that wonderful? This is
a figure of him who is true. Adam is the figure of him who
is true. In Adam, we were ruined. In Christ, we were restored.
In Adam, we broke the law. In Christ, we kept the law. In
Adam, we failed. But in Christ Jesus, there's
no failure. Isaiah said he shall not fail.
He can't fail. He's the son of God. Well, let's
sing.