Welcome to the Reign of Grace
radio broadcast. My name is Bill Parker. I'm the
pastor of the 13th Street Baptist Church in Ashland, Kentucky.
This program is sponsored by the members of Eager Avenue Grace
Church in Albany, Georgia, located at 1102 Eager Drive, Albany,
Georgia. I'll be bringing you a gospel
message of the sovereign grace and glory of God in the Lord
Jesus Christ from God's Holy Word. And now, the message. Welcome to our program. Now,
today I'll be preaching from the book of John, chapter 11.
And I'm going to deal with this subject. The title is One and
Many. Now that may seem like a strange
title to you, but I hope you'll understand what I'm talking about
as I go in through the message here. One and Many. Now what I'm basically going
to talk about is how Christ, who is the one, one and only,
one Savior and representative of his people, He died for the
many, that's his sheep, God's elect, his church, the redeemed
ones. And we're going to see that.
Here we are in John chapter 11, the Lord Jesus Christ had performed
one of his greatest miracles when he raised his friend Lazarus
from the dead. And we saw in that perfect illustration,
or not perfect illustration, but that great illustration of
how God saves sinners, brings spiritually dead sinners to life.
Well, we're coming to a point in the book of John where the
public ministry of the Lord of Glory, the Lord Jesus Christ,
is coming to an end, and he's going to go into Jerusalem, and
then he's going to teach his disciples privately in the upper
room discourses is what they're called. And there's some great
instruction for the church, for individual believers. in those
discourses. But here, he's still in his public
ministry, but it's coming to a close, and word began to spread. He went back into Judea to heal
Lazarus, and there were Jews there who were wanting to kill
him. And the leaders of Israel, the religious leaders, the Sadducees
and the Pharisees, they were wanting to find ways in which
they could put him down and stop that message of God's grace that
opposed their message. You remember Christ had made
them so mad so many times when he exposed them for what they
were. It says in verse 47 of John chapter 11, it says, Then
gathered the chief priests and the Pharisees a council, and
they said, What do we? For this man doeth many miracles.
What are we going to do? They were in a quandary. They
were torn between the loyalty of the people, which was going
toward Jesus of Nazareth, many of them because of the miracle,
and they were also torn between the dissatisfaction of Rome,
because they were in good standing with Rome because they would
keep peace among the nation. So what are they going to do?
Well, verse 48, it says, they said, If we let him thus alone,
all men will believe on him, and the Romans shall come and
take away both our place and nation. So they were worried
that Caesar of Rome and the Consulate would come, if they couldn't
keep control, and if everybody went with Jesus of Nazareth,
that Rome would come and take their noble positions away, their
positions of authority and judgment, and then squelch the nation.
Well, look here in verse 49. one of them named Caiaphas now
Caiaphas was the high priest there was a little confusion
here at this time politically because Caiaphas was a high priest
and then his father-in-law Annas had been the high priest so some
say well they were both high priests but really what happened
was Annas had appointed Caiaphas to be the high priest because
when he died he wanted to keep it in the family but this was
a corrupt corrupt religious system by this time And Caiaphas, being
the high priest that same year, said unto them, You know nothing
at all. Verse 50, Nor consider that it
is expedient for us, it's necessary for us, that one man should die
for the people, and that the whole nation perish not. And it goes on. Now this is really
interesting. Look here, verse 51. It says,
And this spake he not of himself, But being high priest that year,
he prophesied that Jesus should die for that nation. And not
for that nation only, but that also he should gather together
in one the children of God that were scattered abroad. And this
is so amazing because here this man is, this Caiaphas, this ungodly,
Christ-hating, self-righteous religionist, spoke the truth
of Christ the gospel truth, and he didn't even realize it. He
didn't even know it. He was prophesied and didn't
know it. What does that mean, prophesied? It means he was speaking
the word of God. And this was the providence of
God, you see, to use this man in this way against his own knowledge
and his own will. Caiaphas talking about this one
man, Jesus of Nazareth, should die for the people. in that the
whole nation perisheth not. And this he spake, not knowing
in himself." He didn't do it of himself. It wasn't of his
own knowledge. It wasn't of his own will. But it was by the sovereign
power and providence of God. I sort of liken it to like Balaam's
ass. You remember back in the Old
Testament when the false prophet Balaam and his donkey spoke,
speaking the truth. It wasn't out of the donkey's
will and knowledge. But you see, that's the way Caiaphas
was. That's the way we are by nature. We don't know God and
we don't have any will toward God. But even God in his power
can overrule the ignorance and the rebellion and disobedience
of men to accomplish his will. And this is what he did right
here. It says in verse 53, then from that day forth they took
counsel together for to put him to death. In other words, since
Titus spoke this word, that it's necessary for us that one person
should die for the nation, that all of this insurrection and
rebellion against Rome be put down, well, they took counsel
to put him to death. And it says in verse 54, Jesus
therefore walked no more openly among the Jews, but went thence
into a country near to the wilderness, into a city called Ephraim, and
there continued with his disciples. So in other words, his public
ministry is beginning to wane. But think about this now. What
was it that Caiaphas spoke? And that's where I got the title
from, One and Many. What he's speaking of, without
him knowing it, but it's the gospel truth. You see, the gospel,
the good news of salvation for sinners, is a gospel of sovereign
grace, where God sovereignly chose a people and conditioned
all of their salvation upon the Lord Jesus Christ, His Son, the
second person of the Trinity. And Christ agreed in that covenant
of grace, that covenant of redemption, to come to this earth for his
people, for the ones whom the Father had given him, and to
obey the law for them perfectly. You see, the law of God must
be satisfied, and those for whom Christ died are sinners. We cannot
obey the law. God is a holy God. He's a just
God. He can by no means clear the
guilty. The law must be satisfied. And Christ came into the world
as the representative, one representative, for the many. He obeyed the law. This one, Christ, obeyed the
law for the many, his nation. And not his nation alone, that
is not God's people out of the Jewish nation, but for his children
that were scattered abroad. That speaks of not only Jews
scattered abroad, but Gentiles. You see, God chose a people out
of every tribe, kindred, tongue, and nation. Christ has sheep
all over the world. He said that back in John chapter
10. When He said, other sheep I have
that are not of this fold, this Jewish fold, and He said, them
I must bring. He must bring them into the fold. Why? Because they're His. They're
His by election. They're his by redemption, they're
his by justification, and they will be his by regeneration and
conversion. The Spirit will call them in,
bring them in. He said it, my sheep hear my
voice, and they follow me. So he obeyed the law perfectly,
the one for the many. When he went to the cross, he
did not go to the cross for his own sins, for he had none. But he went to the cross for
the sins of the many, the many his sheep, laid and charged to
his account. God the Father, by a legal act
of imputation, which is accounting and charging, reckoning, laid
those sins upon his son so that he became the sin bearer. He
became an offering for sin. He was made a curse. not for
his own sins, but for the sins of his sheep. He said, I lay
down my life for the sheep, the one for the many. That's what
Caiaphas is saying without even knowing it. Do you know it? Don't
just repeat the words like Caiaphas did and not know the Lord of
glory. You say, seek him whom to know
his life eternal. Rest upon his finished work as
your whole salvation. And when he died for those sins,
He brought forth an everlasting righteousness of infinite value
whereby God could be just to justify the many. God justified
the many based upon the obedience and death of the one. One and
many, you see. That's the gospel of substitution. Christ died for his chief. It's the gospel of representation.
He is the representative of the many. It's the gospel of imputation. Their sins, the sins of the many,
were charged to Him and the righteousness of the one was charged to the
many. It's the gospel of satisfaction. Christ satisfied law and justice
and enabled God to be just and justifier. So that when He died,
He didn't die for Himself, He died for the many. When he was
buried, he was buried for the many. He put their sins away.
When he arose again the third day, he arose again because of
the justification of the many. They were declared not guilty,
righteous in the sight of God, accepted in the Beloved, the
one for the many. Now, that's the gospel truth.
I want to show you that over in Romans chapter 5. There's
a passage here that just lays this out so clearly. And it begins
in verse 12, in Romans chapter 5 and verse 12, and it goes all
the way back to the fall, the fall of man and Adam. Now the
Bible, from Genesis to Revelation, brings forth the truth of representation. And somebody says, well, that's
a hard truth to understand. Well, it shouldn't be, especially
for us living in this country. We operate in our government
as a government of representation. We elect officials to represent
certain people in government so that when we have an election,
you represent one person to go to Washington, or you have two
senators, for example, in the state of Kentucky, two, to go
to Washington to represent not the whole nation. They don't
represent people out in California. They don't represent people in
North Carolina. They represent people in Kentucky. or those
of you in West Virginia. You have your senators who represent
you in West Virginia and those of you in Ohio and those of you
in Virginia. Each state, you see, has their
representatives. Now we can argue and talk a million
years about how well they should or could or would represent us.
That's not the issue here. The issue here is representation.
And the gospel is a gospel representation. And it begins back in the fall
of man. Now look at Romans 5 and verse
12 and listen to this. It says here, Wherefore, as by
one man sin entered into the world. Now who is the one there?
That's Adam. Who brought sin into the world?
Adam. When he took sides with Satan
against God. Adam disobeyed God. And Adam
was the representative of the whole human race. It says here,
wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death
by sin, remember when God told Adam, in the day that you eat
thereof, you shall surely die, dying thou shalt die. Now somebody
said, well, Adam didn't die immediately. Well, the process of physical
death began there. So dying thou shalt die. But
when Adam fell, He came under condemnation, which we might
call legal death, the sentence of death. It's like being on
death row. But he also brought spiritual death. That's where
man fell in Adam and lost the will and the ability to desire
and come to God and serve God. You see, this issue of free will
that people talk about, Somebody said, well, you're free to do
anything you want to do. Well, to a point that's true.
The problem is, is due to our fall on Adam, we will not want
to come to God. We will not want to serve God. We will not love God. We love
ourselves. We love our idols. We love the
world. You see, that's man by nature
because of the fall of Adam, the one representative of the
human race. And he goes on, he says, wherefore
as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin,
now listen to this, and so death passed upon all men, for that
all have sinned, or literally, for that all sinned. In other
words, when Adam sinned, I sinned. Now you say, well how is that
possible? Because I wasn't there personally. Well, it's the doctrine
of representation, the one and the many. Adam was my representative
in the garden. Adam was your representative
in the garden. Adam was the representative of
the whole human race in the garden. Now somebody said, well, is that
all men without exception? The answer is yes. How do you
know that? Because all men without exception,
all women without exception, are born in sin. Are you a sinner? I'm going to
tell you where you got it from. It wasn't based on a free will
choice that you made when you come to some kind of age of accountability. You got it in Adam. The psalmist
speaks of that, and he says that. He said, I come forth from the
womb, speaking lies. In sin did my mother conceive
me. You see, human nature fell in
Adam. And when we're born into this
world, we're born with a sinful human nature. We're born dead
in trespasses and sins. That's why we need to be born
again. That's why we need spiritual
life imparted and implanted within us. You see, by nature we're
dead in Adam. That's why the Bible says, and
you hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins.
You say, well, I don't like the fact that Adam was my representative.
It doesn't matter what you like. It doesn't matter what you choose.
This is the way God set it up. And God is the master. God is
the sovereign in all things. But now let me tell you something.
And I want you to listen to this very well. Our fall in Adam shows
us the glory of salvation in Christ. Now listen to this. Now
he says in verse 13 of Romans 5, he says, 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, that's the
giving of the law 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. What he's proving there is that
the reason the law came in by Moses was not to be a way of
salvation. The law cannot save you. The
law cannot make you holy. The law cannot make you righteous.
God did not give the law through Moses in order to remedy our
fall in Adam. That's what he's saying. The
law was given to show us how we fell in Adam and our sinfulness
in him. That is what the scripture says.
Moreover, the law entered that sin might abound. The law is
like a mirror or an x-ray machine that shows me that I fell an
atom, that I'm a sinner, that I have no hope of salvation based
on my best works of obedience, that salvation cannot come to
me by any way but grace and mercy. So he says in verse 15, he says,
but not as the offense, so also is the free gift. Now he's going
to be talking about salvation. Salvation is a free gift. You
don't earn it. It's a free gift. He says, if
through the offense of one, many be dead, if through the sin of
one, that's Adam, many be dead, that is all whom Adam represented.
Somebody said how many? We don't know. However many Adam
represented. So if by 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." One
and many. When Adam fell as one man, he
fell as a representative of the many. How many? All whom he represented. All who are born in sin. But
the free gift of God's grace and salvation is much greater
much greater and more powerful and more effectual than sin. Sin cannot hinder it. The fact
that I'm falling in Adam does not keep the grace of God from
reaching me. That's what he's saying. And
this free gift came by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto
many. one and many. Christ is the one
representative in his obedience unto death, and he gives the
free gift of salvation to the many. How many? However many
he represented on the cross. Now, who are they? Well, now
you remember. One way that we know our connection
with Adam is that when we're born physically into this world,
we're born in fallen, sinful human nature. for all have sinned
and come short of the glory of God. Now, how do I know that
I'm one of the many for whom Christ died? Well, they are born
again by the Spirit. Just like our physical birth
evidences our connection with Adam in the fall, the new spiritual
birth by the Spirit of God evidences a connection with Christ on the
cross in His obedience. you must be born again." And
go on, it says, verse 16, "...and not as it was by one that sinned,
so is the gift. For the judgment was by one the
condemnation. When Adam fell, all whom he represented
were condemned, legally under the sentence of death. But the
free gift is of many offenses under justification." In other
words, the free gift takes care of all those offenses for his
people unto justification. Now what is justification? It
means to be not guilty. It means to be not condemned.
It means to be made righteous in the sight of God. And he goes
on, verse 17, for if by one man's offense death reigned by one,
now that's Adam's sin, his one offense, death reigned, ruled
over us, much more They which receive abundance of grace and
of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus
Christ." You see how this truth of the scripture comes so clear,
one in many? Think about it. Here's one man,
Adam, and by his one sin, death reigned over the whole human
race. But in Christ, much more. They which receive abundance
of grace, more than they need, and the gift of righteousness."
You see, Adam brought sin into the world. Christ brought righteousness. Now, my friend, there's no way
you're going to be saved or I'm going to be saved or anybody's
going to be saved apart from righteousness. What is that righteousness? It's perfect satisfaction to
God's law and justice. It's perfection in every way
according to God's holy law and justice. And how do we attain
righteousness? It's not by your works. It's
not by your religion. It's not by your profession.
It's not by ceremony. It's not by anything that we
do or anything God even does through us. It is what Christ
did by himself as the representative, the one for the many. You see,
my righteousness is the righteousness of God. It's one that God sent
and wrought and worked out in his Son. So it says, the gift
of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ. So just like Caiaphas said, it's
necessary that one die for the nation. It's necessary that the
one die for the many. It's necessary that the one be
buried for the many. It's necessary that the one be
raised again for the many. It's necessary that the one rule
in heaven and stay there as our intercessor, our mediator, and
come again to receive us unto himself. He says in verse 18,
here's the conclusion of it. He says, therefore, as by the
offense of one judgment came upon all men the condemnation,
That's by the offense of Adam, judgment, that is God's judgment
of condemnation, came to all whom Adam represented. Even so,
by the righteousness of one, the free gift came upon all men
unto justification of life. That's Christ, the one. Who are
the all men here? It's not all without exception,
as some preachers would tell you. That's impossible. For the
all men here are all who come to justification of life. They won't be in hell. They will
not die condemned, they're justified, they have life. It says the free
gift came upon them. And then verse 19, for as by
one man's disobedience many, literally the many, were made
sinners in the obedience of Adam, the one, all whom he represented,
the many, were legally constituted sinners. Even so, by the obedience
of one, Christ shall be many, all whom he represented, be made
righteous, be legally constituted righteous. They'll receive the
gift of righteousness. They'll be given life from the
Spirit of God in the new birth. They'll come to Christ and believe
on him." And he says it here in verse 20, "...moreover the
law entered, that the offense might abound, but where sin abounded,
grace did much more abound." where sin overflowed me like
a flood." That's what that literally means. Drowning me in a sea of
sin, grace in Christ did much more abound to save me and to
give me righteousness. That is, sin hath reigned unto
death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal
life by Jesus Christ our Lord. Christ the one saving the many. Christ the One dying for the
sins of the many. Christ the One putting away those
sins for the many. Christ the One justifying the
many by His righteousness. So when Caiaphas made that statement,
think about it, he said it's expedient for us that one man
should die for the people and that the whole nation perish
not. You know what? The only reason that God's elect,
Christ's sheep, His church, the many, do not perish in their
sins eternally damned and condemned. It is because of the obedience
and death of the one. There is no hope of salvation
outside of Christ who is the one. He is the way, the one way. He is the truth, the one truth.
He is the life, the one life. His righteousness, His blood
is the only one we need for all the salvation. I hope that's
been helpful to your understanding of this great gospel truth of
representation. If you'd like to get a copy of
this message, listen to the announcer. He'll give you the details. The
title of this message is One and Many. And I hope you'll join
us next week for another message from God's Word. We're glad you could join us
for today's message. If you would like to receive
a copy of this message, or if you would like more information
about Eager Avenue Grace Church, remember we are located at 1102
Eager Drive in Albany, Georgia. You can call us at 229-422-4222.
432-6969 or visit our Reign of Grace website at www.rofgrace.com. Thank you, and may the Lord be
with you.