Would you turn to 1 Corinthians
chapter 15? Brother Dahlman, that was such a blessing. And
I was thinking probably every believer in this room thinks
that they are the greatest instance of a trophy of grace anywhere. 1 Corinthians chapter 15, I'd like
to read verses 20 through 22. But now is Christ risen from the dead
and become the first fruits of them that slept. For since 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. Now for some reason this week
I tried to figure out how many different times I preached and
prepared messages. And somehow I came up with the
figure of 8,000. I know some of you men here preach
more than that, but for me at any rate, 8,000. And I hope that
my subject for tonight has been the theme of every sermon I've
ever preached. And if I preached a sermon where
this was not the theme, it was not a good message. Now I've used this outline on
numerous occasions in the last however long I've been preaching.
As a matter of fact, the first time I preached from this was
1984. And I've entitled this message,
Death, the cross, and life. Death, the cross, and life. And in this message, I want to
consider what really happened in the Garden of Eden. What really took place on the
cross? Made. Made. Made alive. And what really takes
place when God saves a sinner? Life. Life from the dead. And I'm going to add a fourth
point to this, what is the one scriptural evidence of all of
this? Some 250 years ago, an English
preacher by the name of Roland Hill, you've probably heard this
statement before, but he made this statement, every sermon
preached ought to have the three R's. Ruined by the fall, redeemed
by the blood, and regenerated by the Holy Spirit. Now that's
the outline. Ruined by the fall, what really
happened in the garden, ruined by the fall, redeemed. What happened on the cross? Redeemed
by the blood. And what happens when God saves
somebody? Regenerated, given life, birthed by the Holy Spirit
of God. Some 40 years ago, Brother Henry
Mahan brought a message, and I bet some of you've heard it,
entitled, Three Things The modern day religionist does not know. You remember that message? Three
things the modern day religionist does not know. Now, a lot could
be, come under the umbrella of what a modern day religionist
is, but there are three things they're ignorant of. And here
were his three points. What happened in the garden?
What happened on the cross? And what happens in a sinner
when God saves him? Wouldn't it be something if God
would teach us that tonight? Wouldn't that be a great blessing? I pray that he will reveal himself
to us. Now, first time I preached this
message was 1984. And I don't believe I believe
anything different at all. And I hope I have a little bit
more understanding. But it's going to be nothing
different than the first time I tried to preach this message.
Now, in this passage of scripture I just read, we have the answer
to these three questions. Death, what happened in the garden,
for as in Adam, all die. That's what happened in the garden.
Oh, would to God that he would teach us what that means. As
in Adam, all die. Even so, there's the second.
Even so, in the same manner, just as everyone Adam represented
died, even so, in the same manner, in Christ shall all be made. I was made something by what
he did. In Christ shall all be made alive. That's what happens when God
saves someone. There is life, spiritual life
that was not there before. Now, before we get into this,
let me say this. You can't be right on one of
these points and be wrong on the other two. If you're right
on one, you're right on all three. It's impossible for it to be
any other way. These all go together. What really took place in the
Garden of Eden? It's what is called the Fall. Go ahead and be turning to Genesis
Chapter 3 if you would. Genesis Chapter 3, Adam and Eve
were placed in the Garden of Eden, in paradise. with all that they could possibly
wish for. What a place. Paradise. No sin, nothing but that which
is good. Paradise. They were created upright. They didn't have sinful natures
the way you and I have. They were created upright. Now,
I wouldn't say they were created holy. Because if they were created
holy, they would have never fallen. You see, holiness, true holiness,
doesn't even have the capability of sin. That's why that which
is born of God cannot sin. It lacks the ability to sin. That's true holiness. So he wasn't
created with a holy nature. He would have never fell in the
first place. He would have never sinned in
the first place if he had a holy nature. But he had an innocent
nature. Not sinful, but innocent. They were given one law to let
them know that God was over them. Just one law. They could eat
of any tree of the Garden of Eden, had plenty to eat, could
have anything they wanted. All their hearts could desire.
One little law. Don't eat of the tree of the
knowledge of good and evil. Just that one law. Now somebody thinks, with all
they had, seems like they could have kept from eating that. Well,
they did what you would have done. Without question. They did what I would have done.
You remember Satan's temptation. Look in chapter three. Genesis
chapter three, verse one. was more subtle, deceitful than
any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he
said unto the woman, yea, hath God said you shall not eat of
every tree of the garden? Did God say that? No. He gave them one tree to not
eat of. But Satan's mentions every tree. The woman's reply, verse two,
and the woman said to the serpent, we may eat of the fruit of the
trees of the garden. No, God didn't say that. We got
a lot to eat. But, verse three, of the fruit
of the tree, which is in the midst of the garden, God hath
said, ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest
you die. Now, I don't remember God saying
don't touch it. As a matter of fact, we don't
have that recorded. I believe this is where touch not, taste
not, handle not religion began. When she added this. Verse four, and the serpent said
unto the woman, you shall not surely die. God's holding out
on you. You shall not surely die, for
God doth know that in the day you eat thereof, then your eyes
will be opened, and you shall be as gods, knowing good and
evil. Now, right now, you're just obeying
your nature. There's no moral virtue in you
obeying God. You're just like a robot. But
if you eat of this fruit, you'll know the difference between good
and evil. And you'll choose the good over
the evil. And that'll make you like God.
You'll be equal to God. What's the temptation? Free will. Free will. Now I want you to
understand this. I wanna understand this. All
free will declares is independence from God. That's all it is. We will not have this man to
reign over us. The temptation to free will is
the essence of sin, but that's what he's tempting them with. And when the woman saw that the
tree was good for food, the lust of the flesh, and that it was
pleasant to the eyes, the lust of the eyes, and a tree to be
desired to make one wise, the pride of life, she took of the
fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also to her husband, And
he did eat, and the eyes of them both were opened. And they knew
they were naked, and they sewed fig leaves together and made
unto themselves aprons." Now, what happened in this transaction?
What happened in the Garden of Eden? Here's the first thing
I'd like to say. God's will was done. God's will was done. Look in Genesis chapter 2 verse
15. And the Lord God took the man
and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep
it. And the Lord God commanded the
man saying, of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely
eat, but of the tree, of the knowledge of good and evil, thou
shalt not eat of it, for in the day that thou eatest thereof,
not if you eat, in the day you do, you shall
surely die. The fall of Adam was God's will
being done. You can't look at it any other
way. Now never forget this. The cross
of the Lord Jesus Christ was not God's response to the fall
and to human sin and his way of cleaning that mess up. The
fall was for the cross. The fall was for the cross. You see, no cross or no fall, no cross, no grace,
no forgiveness, no mercy, no revelation of the character of
God that we have in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. So
the first reason for the fall was the purpose of God Now, in
the garden, Adam really did die that very day. He didn't die
physically, we know that, but he died that very day. I heard
someone say recently, well, because God is gracious, he suspended
the death. No, he didn't. No, he didn't.
He died that very day. What's that mean? When you're physically dead,
you have a complete inability to perform the functions of life. Your lungs can't heal air. Your
heart can't pump blood. You're dead. You can't see. You can't hear. You can't smell. You can't feel. You can't touch. You can't taste. You can't do
these things. You're dead. And when one is
spiritually dead, he can't believe. It's impossible. He can't repent. He can't see the glory of Christ
and the glory of the gospel. He can't hear the gospel is gospel. He can't smell the sweet savor
of Christ. He can't feel the warmth of the
love of God for Christ's sake. He can't taste of his grace.
Now, I wish it wasn't this way, but it was. Most, when they speak
of the garden, what took place in Adam, they think he became
no longer what he was. He fell. He was innocent. I mean,
he was no longer innocent. He became bad. This is not a
good thing. But he still retained the power
of free will. He still can overcome this. Not so. Not so. Total depravity. What does that mean? Does it
mean everybody is a potential murderer and rapist? Well, yes.
Yes, it does mean that among other things, but that's really
not what it means. Total depravity means the entire man is under
the total dominion of sin. My intellect is controlled by
sin. My will is under the dominion
of sin. My affections are controlled
by sin. Hence, a complete and total inability. That means if God leaves me to
myself, I will most assuredly go to hell. All God's got to
do is leave me alone. You know what God's got to do to harden
your heart? Nothing. Nothing. That's all it takes. Now this evil nature, this sinful
nature, is manifested by a hatred of God. Now here's the deal. Men don't know they hate God
until they hear the gospel. Isn't that so? They think they
love God. Well, I love God. I heard somebody say that just
in the last week or so. I love God. You find out whether you love
him when you hear the gospel. I don't love that God. That's not fair. I can't love
a God who would elect some and pass by others. I can't love
a God who would send his son only to die for a son. I can't
love a God like that. I know you don't. I know you
don't. But that's the God of the Bible.
And when we say things like that, what we say is it's not fair
for him to save me. What we mean by that is he owes
me something. He's obligated to me. That's exactly what we
mean. Now, in Adam, all die. For by one man, Romans 5.12,
listen to this scripture, and this is very important. For by
one man, sin entered the world. And death by sin, So the death
passed upon all men, and that all sinned." Now listen real
carefully. You were not, I was not condemned
because of somebody else's sin. When Adam sinned, I sinned. When
Adam sinned, you sinned. How can God charge me with somebody
else's sin? He doesn't. He charges you for your own sin. When Adam sinned, you and I sinned
just as much. Now if you're wrong on the fall,
what? You're wrong on all. That's right.
You can't believe any truth. of the gospel of God's grace
if you are wrong on the fall. Total depravity. Total inability. Helplessness. Now, if God ever
teaches me or you what that means, you know what we're gonna do?
We're gonna cry for grace. Just like you were preaching,
we're gonna cry for mercy. You know, people call total depravity,
unconditional election, limited atonement, irresistible grace,
perseverance of the saints, they call that the doctrines of grace.
You know, I call them the doctrines of need. I need him to choose
me. I need Christ to put away my
sin. I need the grace of God to be irresistible and invincible
toward me. I need to be preserved by the
grace of God. The cross. What really happened
on the cross? Is there anything more important
to consider? Is there any subject like this
subject? What really took place upon the
cross? Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of
Mary, the Son of God, lived a perfect life for 33 years. He knew no
sin. He never put anything before
God. He was never guilty of creating
some kind of idol, some false image of God. He never took the
name of the Lord his God in vain. What reverence he always had. He's the only one to truly keep
the Sabbath. Oh, how he honored his mother
and his father. He never killed anybody. He never
killed anybody's character by gossip or innuendo. He never
committed sexual sin of any kind. No, not in his mind. He never
stole anything. And I got to thinking about this.
It'd be hard for him to steal something if everything belonged
to him anyway. He never, ever told a lie. He never coveted. He was completely
content in his Father, the only holy man to ever live. And you know what I love thinking
about? I love thinking about this. He's the only holy man
to ever live and nobody got it. They didn't get it. They didn't
see any beauty or glory or power. It's because men don't know what
holiness is, do they? But he's the only holy man to
ever live, yet He was despised, nailed to a cross, forsaken by
God and man, and he died. That's what happened on the cross.
The God-man died. That's one of the greatest mysteries.
How can the God-man die? I don't know, but he did. Now
what really took place? Now my first point is the same
as the first point and the last point. It was God's will being
done. That's what was taking place.
It was the will of God Almighty taking place. Him being delivered
by the determinant counsel and foreknowledge of God, you have
taken and with wicked hands have crucified and slain. God's eternal purpose being done. Both Herod and Pontius Pilate
with the Gentiles and the people of Israel were gathered together
for to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before
to be done." What was being done? God's will, God's purpose. It pleased the Lord to bruise
him. What was being done? The scriptures. were being fulfilled. Remember
what Paul said in Acts chapter 13, when they'd fulfilled all
that was written of him. Everything that took place, took
place that the scriptures might be fulfilled. Now listen to this.
What was taking place on the cross? The execution of the justice
of God. Now what do I mean by that? The
execution of the justice of God. God's just. God's going to punish
sin. What would you think of a judge
if somebody murdered your child, and they were apprehended and
brought before the judge, and the judge said, well, I'm a loving
judge. I'm going to forgive that crime. How would you feel? You'd be
outraged, wouldn't you? God is just. God must punish
sin. Now, I've heard preachers say,
even recently, on the cross, the innocent was punished, that
the guilty may go free. What's just about that? God punishing the innocent, that
the guilty may go free. Turn with me for a moment to
Proverbs 17. Verse 15. that justifieth the wicked. Proverbs 17, 15. He that justifieth the wicked
and he that condemneth the just, even they both are abomination
to the Lord. That's strong language, isn't
it? Someone who justifies somebody,
the wicked, Abomination to the Lord. Somebody that condemns,
somebody that is just, an abomination to the Lord. Now, Christ Jesus
the Lord never sinned personally, even when He was made sin. Amen? He never sinned personally, even
when He was made sin. But God removed my sin from me
and gave it and placed it in his son. How did he do that? I don't know. But he's God. And with God, nothing should
be impossible. My sin was removed in me and placed in his son. Do you remember when he was in
Gethsemane's garden? And he said, Father, if it'd
be possible, let this cup pass for me. What was in that cup?
The sins of the elect. That's why he became so overcome,
sweating great drops of blood, the thought of drinking the sins
and bearing our sins in his own body on the tree. And he owned those sins as his
own. There's so many scriptures, but
the one that I think of most is Psalm 40, because that's quoted
in Hebrews 10 as being the very words of Christ, and all the
Psalms are the very words of Christ. Remember that. I've always
thought it's amusing when I've heard people say, there's 22
Messianic Psalms, oh, there's 150, and all are Christ first. And on the cross, he cried, mine
iniquities, not Todd's iniquities, mine iniquities have taken hold
upon me so that I'm not able to look up. He didn't say Todd's
iniquities that were imputed to me. He said, mine, and there's
comfort in this. This is the very heart and soul
of the gospel. This is the great mystery of Godliness, what I'm
talking about. If Christ was punished for my
sins, would that be just? When my sins became his sins,
he was punished for his own sins. Now let me repeat that. When
my sin became his sin, and it did. He said, my iniquities have
taken hold upon me so that I'm not able to look up as a heavy
burden. They're too heavy for me. That's
Christ speaking. When my sin became his sin, he
was not punished for my sin. He was punished for his own sin.
Because God will never punish somebody who's not guilty of
the crime. He's getting what justice demanded.
The wages of sin is death. There's only one reason for death.
What is it? Sin. Don't you love that hymn
we sing? He took my sins and my sorrows
and he made them his very own. He bore the burden to Calvary
and suffered and died alone. And just as truly as my sin literally
became his sin without him personally committing them, his righteousness
literally becomes my personal righteousness without me committing
any of it. It's called the gospel. Turn
with me to Revelation chapter 19. Verse eight. And to her, the
lamb's wife, the bride, and to her was granted that she should
be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white, for the fine linen
is the righteousness of the saints. The righteousness of Jesus Christ
is the righteousness of the saints. That's my personal righteousness. On the cross, complete satisfaction
was made. Turn with me to Hebrews chapter
10. What happened on the cross? Complete satisfaction was made.
I love to think about this. You know, when he was on the
cross, Satan's head was crushed. When He was on the cross, the
gates of hell were broken down and the prisoners of hell were
redeemed. He made complete satisfaction for sin. Now let's start reading
in verse five. Wherefore, when he cometh into
the world, he saith, Sacrifice an offering thou wouldst not,
but a body hast thou prepared be. In burnt offerings and sacrifices
for sin thou hast had no pleasure. Then said I, Lo, I come. In the
volume of the book it is written of me to do thy will, O God.
Above, when he said, Sacrifice an offering and burnt offerings,
and offering for sin thou wouldest not neither to have pleasure
therein which are offered by the law. Then said he, lo, I
come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that
first covenant of works that he may establish the second by
the which will, whose will? God's will. By the which will
we are sanctified, declared by God to be holy through the offering
of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. And every priest stands daily,
ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can
never take away sins. But this man, after he had offered
one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of
God from henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his
footstool for by one offering. Here's what he did. For by one
offering, he hath perfected forever. Them that are sanctified. He made complete satisfaction
and the reason that every believer is presented holy and unblameable
and unreprovable in God's sight is because they are in fact holy,
unblameable and unreprovable. in the very sight of God. I love
the fact that our Lord's body never saw decay. Why? Because he rendered complete
satisfaction to God the very second he died. God could ask for no more and
he could accept no less. is finished. What happened on
the cross? Well, all the elect were saved.
Every one of them. All of the elect were saved. But I believe I like this just
as well. Every sinner was saved. Christ
Jesus came into the world to save sinners. If you can fit
yourself into that demographic, he came to save you. That's the
truth. What do you mean by sinner? Well,
sinner, he's the one who does the sinning. That's easy enough,
isn't it? You know, God doesn't put sins
in hell, he puts the ones who committed them in hell. A sinner
is the one who does the sinning. A sinner is somebody who all
they do is sin. A sinner is somebody who cannot
not sin. A sinner is somebody who has
No ability to look down their nose in moral superiority over
anybody in the world. They really believe that about
themselves. A sinner has no claims on God. Now, if you're a sinner,
Christ died for you and you're saved. Not you will be saved. You are saved. That's what I
need. Lord, save me. Save me from yourself. Save me from myself. Save me
from my sins. What did Christ accomplish on
the cross? He saved his people from their
sins. Now, we thought about what took
place in the garden, death. We thought about what took place
on the cross. He made somebody to be something.
What happens in a sinner's heart when God saves him? And this is just as important
as the other two. Well, let me first tell you what
is not meant by somebody being made alive. Let me tell you something
first that does not happen. A changed heart. Amen. My heart's changed. Mine's not. I'd be a liar if I said it had.
You know, there's a lot of liars out there, aren't they? Change
lives. People talk about living a Christian life. You know, that
phrase is not in the Bible. Did you know that? That phrase
is not in the Bible. Now I want to honor the Lord
with my life. How do I go about doing it? Look
to Christ. Look to Christ. Don't worry about anything. You
look to Christ. You'll honor the Lord in your life. But the
fact of the matter is, people talk about changed lives. Nothing's
changed. I'm still just as evil. and depraved,
and wicked, and I still have the same cravings for sin and
ungodliness, I still have every problem I had before I was ever
saved. As a matter of fact, it's a lot worse, a whole lot worse.
I didn't even know it before the Lord converted me. You don't
really find out what sin is until you're given a new nature. So
when I'm talking about what takes place in a sinner's heart, well,
nothing. Brothers and sisters, it's not
getting any better. You know, I'm afraid we sing
that song sometimes now on a higher plane I dwell. No, no, nothing has changed. But let me tell you what. does
take place. But before I tell you that, let
me tell you this. You say, well, what's wrong with you then? I understand that. I got the
same problem the Apostle Paul had when he said, this is a faithful
saying worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the
world to save sinners. You touched on this, Don, of
whom not I used to be the chief. I am the chief. Oh, wretched man that I used
to be. No. Oh, wretched man that I am. You know, I think of that passage
of scripture when we were yet without strength in due time,
Christ died for the ungodly. You know, I don't think, well,
that's the way I used to be. No. Right now, without strength. ungodly. So what does take place
when God saves someone like that? Life. A new heart. Life that was not
there before. Before God saved me, I could
no more repent or believe than I could create the universe.
Now I stay in a state of repentance, a change of mind. I believe the
gospel. I really am relying on the Lord
Jesus Christ is all. I can now. See the beauty of
Christ. Where's there's a time I didn't. I can now hear the gospel is
gospel. I can now smell the sweet savor of Christ. And I can feel,
I feel my sin, I feel my need for him. Somebody says, well,
faith's not a feeling. You're right, it's not, but I
sure hate to have faith without feeling, didn't you? I don't
want any faith like that. When you're overcome with an
awe at his greatness and his sovereignty and his power, you
love him for who he is. You adore his person, you adore
his character, you adore his attributes, you love everything
about him. You wouldn't change him if you could. You taste his
grace. There is a new man, a new creation,
the new creature, the inner man, he that is spiritual, and sin
once had dominion over him. I was his willing slave, and
I could no more deliver myself of it than I could create a universe.
Let me tell you when you're under the dominion of sin, when you
think you're not. I'm not under the dominion of
sin, you're under its complete dominion. You can write that
down. What happens? I've been birthed
from above. To as many as received him, to
them gave he the power to become the sons of God, even to them
which believe on his name, which were born. which were born, not
of blood, not because your mom and dad were Christians, not
of the will of the flesh, not because a bunch of guys got together
and prayed to make sure this guy's safe, not of the will of
man, not as an act of your free will, but of God. Of God. Finally, what is the evidence
that you've been born of God? What is the evidence that you
have spiritual life? What is the evidence that Christ died
for you? What is the evidence that you're justified? What is
the evidence that your name's written in the book of life?
What is the evidence? Well, I'm gaining more and more
victory over sin. I'm growing in grace. You see
where I'm going? There's one evidence. Faith is the evidence of things
not seen. I cannot see my name written
in the Lamb's book of life. Well, how do you know it's there?
I believe the gospel. I'm relying on Jesus Christ only
as everything in my salvation. Really, he's all I got. I don't
have anything else. And that's what faith is. You
have faith when he's all you have. If you have anything else,
you don't have him. What is the evidence that you
stand just before God? I can't see my justification.
I can't look at myself and say, boy, you're really just. I'm
sinful. Well, what's the evidence you're
justified? Faith in Christ. What's the evidence you've been
born above, from above? What's the evidence you've been
born again? You know, there's not, I wish it wasn't like this,
but there's not a day that goes by, not one day that goes by
when at some point I think you could not possibly be saved.
You look at yourself, you look at your thoughts, you look at
the, I wish it wasn't like that, but it is. Well, what is the
evidence that you are saved? There's only one evidence. You
look to Christ alone. Yes. That is the only evidence. You know what? Somebody that
looks to Christ alone, what else is there? What else is there? Well, it's
teaching them to live. You look to Christ alone, you'll
know how to live. Got no doubt about that. What happened in the garden? Death. What happened on the cross? Christ made us to be what we
were not. An accomplished salvation. What
happens when God saves a sinner? Life from the dead. He put something
there that was not there before. Well, what's the evidence he's
done that for me? Faith. Faith is the evidence of things
not seen.