He will find two words used throughout
the fifth chapter of Romans, and I take those two words from
my subject this morning, the title of my message. Much more. Much more. Text is Romans chapter
5, verses 1 through 21. The opening word of Romans 5,
therefore, takes us immediately back to what the apostle has
just declared. In verses 24 and 25 of chapter
4, we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead,
who was delivered for our offenses and was raised again for our
justification. We believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ, that one who bearing our sin in his own body on the
tree was delivered unto death. because of our sins made his
and was raised from the dead by the power and glory of God
because of our sins being put away by the sacrifice of himself
and justification fully accomplished for every soul for whom he died. The only way a sinner can be
saved, accepted, justified before God is by faith in Jesus Christ
the Lord who was delivered for our offenses and raised again
for our justification. If you would be saved, would
you be saved? If you would be saved, you must
believe on the Son of God. You must trust the Lord Jesus
Christ. Let me put that another way.
If you believe on the Son of God, You have everlasting life. You shall be forever saved, justified,
accepted with God, sanctified and holy and righteous in Christ
Jesus the Lord. Now Paul's doctrine throughout
the book of Romans is just this. God saves sinners by grace alone,
through faith alone, in Christ alone. Salvation is by God's
purpose and by God's grace in Jesus Christ alone. And the only
way you obtain God's salvation is by faith in His darling Son. Not only is this Paul's doctrine
throughout this book, this is the doctrine of the entire book
of God. The Word to God calls you to
save and calls every preacher I know to understand the message
of this book, not the central message. The message of this
book, the singular message of this book is salvation by Christ
the Substitute. That's the message of God's Word. The totality of the Word of God
is written to testify to us of salvation accomplished and salvation
freely bestowed upon sinners through faith in Jesus Christ,
our Redeemer. Now, to be justified is to be
forgiven of all sin. To be justified is to be made
righteous in Christ Jesus. To be justified is to be accepted
of God and rewarded by God with eternal life upon the basis of
perfect obedience. Perfect obedience. God Almighty
accepts all who trust His Son and shall reward all who trust
His Son. with everlasting life on the
basis of this fact, all who trust his son fully deserve everlasting
life. Christ makes us deserve it. You
understand that? That's called free grace. If
you go to hell, you will go to hell because you fully deserve
everlasting damnation. That's the result of unbelief. That's the result of unbelief.
But pastor, what about predestination? Yes, all things are predestinated
by God. Yes, everything moves in this
world exactly according to God's sovereign purpose in predestination. Yes, there are vessels of wrath
appointed to destruction and vessels of mercy appointed to
everlasting life. There are ungodly men who shall
perish, and there are four of old ordained to this condemnation.
But, understand this, all who perish, perish because of their
unbelief. And all who are saved, are saved
because of faith given them in Christ Jesus the Lord. Understand
that? He that believeth on the Son
of God hath everlasting life. He that believeth not the Son
of God shall not see life, but abides forever under the wrath
of God. A preacher, I don't understand
that. I don't understand it either. Join the club. Join the club. I don't understand it. I don't
pretend to understand God. I just know He's God. I don't
pretend to understand God's absolute sovereign purpose and man's complete
responsibility before, but I know they're both revealed in this
book. Plainly revealed, plainly taught, and I bow my reason to
God's Word. I bow my mind to God's Word. I bow my perception to God's
Word. What God says is so, understand
it or don't. whether we understand it or not.
What God says is so. How is it that God justifies
sinners? Only by perfect righteousness in His Son. Now let me give you
a refresher course up to this point on the book of Romans.
In chapters 1, 2, and 3 down to verse 20, the apostle by divine
inspiration shows us that we need justifying because we're
all guilty sinners, doomed and damned without Christ. Whether
you're religious or irreligious, if you don't trust Christ, you
don't have life. Whether you have a Bible in your hand, or
have the Bible memorized in your mind, or don't have it. Whether
you worship God in outward form, or you're a heathen infidel in
outward form. Doesn't matter. If you don't
trust Christ, you don't have life. You're a sinner condemned
before God, and you need God's mercy. The fact is you will never
ever seek God's mercy until God the Holy Spirit sends somebody
to identify to you what you are by nature. That's called sin. Sin's not just what you do, sin's
what you are. Sin's what you are. Sin's not
just Cheating on a test in school, or stealing cookies out of a
cookie jar, or robbing a bank, or murdering somebody, or committing
mass murder. You're a whole lot worse than
that. Me too. Sin's what you are. Sin's what
you are. Oh, not me, preacher. Well, there's
no mercy for you. You don't need any. There's no
grace for you. You don't need any. There's no
salvation for you. You don't need any. Sin is what
you are. And Paul shows us repeatedly
in Romans chapters 1, 2, and 3 that all men by nature are
under the wrath of God justly because of sin. And then in chapter
3, beginning at verse 21, going to the end of the chapter, the
apostle tells us how we are justified. God justifies sinners by grace
alone. Justification was accomplished
for us, finished at Calvary, when Christ said, it is finished,
and died in our stead. When he paid the price for our
ransom, the ransom price was accepted, sin was put away, justice
was satisfied, and there is forgiveness of sin for all for whom Christ
died. The Lord Jesus gives us this
righteousness through His gift of faith so that now by faith
we receive the atonement. Justification is something God
does for us, not something we do for God. We became sinners
without doing anything. How did you get measured in?
Through Adam's transgression. You didn't do anything. You became
a sinner through a representative man. You were born in this world
with that man's nature and you came forth from your mother's
womb speaking lies and you've been sinning ever since because
that's what you got from Adam, without you doing anything. That's just how you get to be
righteous, without you doing anything. Our righteousness is
that which Christ performed for us. And being born again by His
Spirit, we're born again with the nature of that representative
man, Christ Jesus, our substitute, created in righteousness and
in true holiness. Then in chapter 4, the apostle
gives us some examples, some illustrations of justification. He tells us how that we are justified
freely without doing anything. was Abraham justified? Well Abraham
was circumcised. Oh, Abraham was a good man. He
was the father of the Jews. Oh, we've got a great history
of Abraham. Abraham is our father. He's the example we follow. But
how was he justified? By being circumcised? Oh, no. He believed God and it was counted
to him for righteousness. And he did that before he was
circumcised. He did that before we ever heard of circumcision.
He did that before anything like circumcision was instituted.
He did that before God gave any commandment. He believed God. And it was counted to him for
righteousness. There was a man by the name of David. Oh, but
pastor, David lived such a good life. He did. He did for a fact. He did for a fact. He was a remarkable
man. He's called a man after God's
own heart. But how was he justified? How
was he cleansed of sin? How did he find pardon? Without
works of any kind. Nathan came to him in the classic
example of David's sin and said, thou art the man. And David said,
I've sinned. And Nathan said, the Lord's put
away your sin. And David went home and wrote a psalm. He went
home and wrote two of them. He wrote Psalm 32 and Psalm 51.
And he says, blessed, oh, blessed. Blessed is the man to whom God
will not impute sin. He was justified without doing
a thing. And you and I, who are born again
by God's Spirit, are justified without doing anything. When
a sinner trusts the Lord Jesus, God the Holy Spirit imputes righteousness
to his conscience. I spent my life, like some of
you are right now, with a conscious awareness of sin and death. I went to bed at night as a boy
terrified that I might not wake up. Terrified that I would wake
up in hell. Terrified of the wrath of God. And I knew I deserved it. I knew
I deserved it. Every time I'd hear the word
hell, or think of hell, every time it crossed my mind, my mind
said, that's exactly what you deserve, boy. If God sends you to hell, it'll
be right for God to send you to hell. And I was terrified
with it, until one day, God revealed His Son in me, and looking away
to Christ, Believing on God's side, the
Lord God imputed righteousness to me. Like Enoch of old, I received
testimony that I pleased God. Oh, what a blessed testimony.
I pleased God. And you can't give me that. A
preacher can't give me that. A church can't give me that.
Who gives you that? God the Holy Spirit speaks peace
to the heart when he declares the sinner in his soul righteous
before God by the blood and righteousness of his dear son. When a sinner
trusts Christ, God the Spirit through the doing and dying of
the Lord Jesus declares to that sinner he's not guilty, he's
righteous. And God cannot justly impute
righteousness to one who is not righteous, any more than he can
impute sin to one who is not guilty. When Christ was made
sin, God imputed sin to him. And he cried, my iniquities are
more than the hairs of my head. I cannot look up. They can't
be numbered. Oh, my guiltiness, God, is not
hidden from you. And the Lord God slew him because
he fully deserved to die. And God cannot impute righteousness
where righteousness does not exist. Law and justice won't
allow it. But God has made his people righteous
through the doing and dying of his son and giving us his son's
nature. God says you're righteous. God
says you're righteous. And then, Bobby, we read it earlier
at the beginning of the service. He said, let's plead together.
I say you're righteous. Now you say you're righteous.
I reckon you're righteous. Now reckon yourselves also to
be righteous. And then in chapter 5, verses
1 through 8, the apostle gives us the benefits of justification. Let's look at them just briefly.
The Lord Jesus was delivered for our offenses and raised again
for our justification. Well, what's all that mean? Therefore,
therefore. being justified by faith, we
have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Faith is not
the justifier. And I'm not looking for something
to say, I want you to stick that in your mind and keep it. Faith
doesn't justify you. Faith, even if it were perfect,
doesn't justify. And you don't have anything like
perfect faith. It takes perfect righteousness and perfect atonement
to justify. Faith receives justification. Faith embraces justification. By faith, we're told in verse
11, we have received the atonement. Christ is our justifier. But
being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our
Lord Jesus Christ. Being accounted by God as righteous
in His sight, by His free gift of grace in Christ, we receive
all the blessings and benefits of complete, perfect justification
in Christ Jesus, trusting Him. And now we have peace with God. God set Himself against me. in every revelation of His Word. In every revelation of His Word.
Now, the Scriptures are very clear. God doesn't change. There's never been a time when
God's elect were objects of His wrath. Never been a time. But
insofar as the revelation of His Word is concerned, you who
are here without Christ, listen to me, you've been told a lie
all your life. It's been perpetuated all your
life long. You have been told that God loves
you and God wants to do good things for you. God has a wonderful
plan for your life and everything's hunky-dory. Let me tell you something.
If God loves me and God has a wonderful plan for my life, I don't have
anything to be concerned about. The Scriptures never declare
such to unbelieving people. If you don't trust Jesus Christ,
the wrath of God is on you. You have no reason to even be
suspicious that maybe God might be gracious to you until you
believe on his side. God is angry with the wicked
every day and he shows his anger. I know something about that.
I hope you do. And then the Lord God revealed
Christ in me. Gave me faith in his son. And
now, I have peace with God. Do you? I have peace with God. I have peace with God because
I know He's my Father. I know that I have no guilt.
And having no guilt, I have no reason to fear any kind of wrath. Having no guilt, I have no reason
to fear the Almighty. He put away my transgressions. I have peace with God. Everybody talks a good game when
things are going smooth. You're right about that. You're
right about that. You're right about that. I can tell you from testimony,
I know what it is to anticipate drawing my last breath and still
have peace with God. I don't have any reason to be
afraid of God. None at all. Oh, you're that
good? Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, yeah. I really am. In Christ, as holy
as God himself. In Christ, as good as God himself. God won't accept any less. He
won't accept any less. By whom also we now have access
by him into this grace. In Christ we have access into
this grace, into a state of relentless grace and favor and sonship and
acceptance with God. Access to all the benefits and
blessings of the Father's house. access to everything God has. Imagine that. In Christ, we who believe have
access to all that God is and all that God has. Read on, read
on. By Him into this grace. Martin Luther made this statement,
I love it. Although I am a sinner, yet I
despair not. For Christ, who is my righteousness,
and my Redeemer ever liveth, in Him I have no sin, no fear,
no sting of conscience, no fear of judgment, for in Him there
is no condemnation. Look at the next slide. Wherein
we stand. We stand in Christ. We stand
in Christ. We stand in Christ. We stand
in Christ. Wherein we rejoice in hope of
the glory of God. Believe in Christ. I have a good
hope through grace. Do you? A good hope. A hope that will stand you in
good stead when darkness comes. A hope that's good and can't
be rattled. A hope that's good and can't
be shaken. A hope that's good because you
stand in Christ. Sam Wall, if you stand somewhere
else, if you've got one foot on the rock and one foot in the
quicksand, you don't have a good home. If you got one foot on
Christ and one foot in the church, you don't have a good hope. If
you got one foot on Christ's righteousness and one foot on
your righteousness, you're on shaky ground. Oh no, not shaky
ground, sinking ground. But in Christ, we have a good
hope through grace. We not only rejoice in his righteousness
and rejoice in the glory of God with this good hope of grace,
but with glory in tribulations also. Glory in tribulations also. That is, we live confidently
and we trust God in the midst of tribulation and we rejoice
in Christ Jesus when it's dark and when the sun's shining. We
rejoice in Christ when we take that newborn baby and hold it
in our arms for the first time. And we still rejoice in Christ
when we lay that baby down the day it was born, or 50 years
after it was born, or 80 years after it was born. We rejoice in Christ. Not that
we joy in tribulation. Not that we glory in the trouble
itself. Oh, no, no, no. Nobody expects
that. But in the midst of heartache,
in the midst of trouble, when our hearts are broken and our
souls are heavy, we stand in Christ and we rejoice in the
Lord all the way because He is at hand and He never leaves nor
forsakes His own. We rejoice in tribulation also
knowing that, knowing that tribulation worketh patience. Tribulation teaches us to walk
before God with willing submission to His will, content with His
providence waiting on Him. Tribulation worketh patience. You won't learn it any other
way. We often say the best school
is the school of experience. Let me tell you something. In
the things of God, that's the only school. You don't learn anything about
God or from God. You don't learn anything about
this word or what's written in this word except by experience. Don't wait to learn it. Don't
wait to learn it. Somebody asked Rothbard years ago, said, do
you believe everything written in the Bible? And Barnard had
a way of shocking the folks. He said, I don't know. What? You're preaching, you don't know?
He said, I ain't experienced it all yet. He just being honest. You don't
learn anything from God but by experience. Only by experience. Tribulation worketh patience,
teaches us to wait on God. And just about time, Lindsey,
you think you've learned it, you find out you haven't learned
anything. You stump your toe, and you just... Because we constantly must experience
His grace, sustaining and strengthening us. Wait on the Lord, be of good
courage, and He shall strengthen thine heart. Patience works experience,
produces experience. maturity, spiritual growth, wisdom. Trials don't produce faith, they
reveal it. Trials reveal what we are. And
true faith gets stronger because of the trials. It doesn't always appear so to
you or to me. in ourselves or in reference
to others. But true faith gets stronger
through trials. I have a very dear friend who,
waiting for his darling to die, knew she was dying, and quit
going to church, quit preaching. Didn't want to see anybody. And
I had folks contact me from folks, members of the congregation,
we have pastors, folks from all over the world. What's happening? I said, do you remember what
David did when God told him his son would die? He fasted and
prayed and stayed alone with God, and he wouldn't eat bread
in his house, and he wouldn't go to God's house and feed his
soul. He fasted and prayed. And when
his boy was dead, he washed his face, got something to eat, and
went and worshiped God. Everything would be all right.
He's waiting on God. He's waiting on God. And faith
gets stronger. Faith gets stronger by the trial. You've all raised children. And
your children, if you're wise, if you're wise, most of us eventually
get a little wise. A little bit, not much, but a
little bit. Rex would look back now and say, man, I wish I could
have started that over again. I recall Lindsey saying one time, this
is one of those things we only get one shot at it. This first
time's the only time. But gradually, we learn a few
things. At first, you try to protect
them from everything. Protect them from everything because
you don't want them to hurt. You don't want them to feel any
pain. You don't ever sense rejection. You don't ever want them to feel
hurt by other people. You don't want any of those things
But you learn. You learn until that child learns
that when he falls, it hurts his butt, not yours. Until he
learns that, he's not gonna walk. He's not gonna learn to stand
up and walk. He's not gonna stretch those legs and try to learn how
to walk because nothing hurts. And it goes on that way throughout
the days of your life. You learn by pain. You learn by difficulty. I once said to Lindsey, you may
remember Brother Lindsey, his daughter and mine both married
well and we're very thankful, very thankful. Faith and Doug
stopped by for just a few minutes last night, Will, but we're so
very thankful, doing so well, doing so well. And you know,
they'll never have to be worried about anything financially. They're
in pretty good shape. Don't have to worry about what
they're going where they're going to get clothes, have them educate
children. And that's good. I'm thankful. I'm thankful. Shelby
and I got married when I was 18 years old, and I didn't have
enough sense to know that you needed money to buy groceries.
But we managed it. But I'll tell you something,
and I said this to Lindsay, they'll never know. They'll never know
some of those struggles that just melted us together as husband
and wife. They'll never know. You can't
teach them out of a book. You've got to experience them.
You've got to experience them. Our Heavenly Father, wise in
infinite goodness, makes certain that His children grow in grace. He makes certain that His children
grow in faith, that they grow in the knowledge of Christ. that we learn from tribulation
teaches us maturity, experience. And experience, maturity, only
increases hope. Experience works hope. Hope that maketh not ashamed. If I have a good hope through
grace in Christ Jesus, I will not be ashamed of Christ and
in my relationship with him, I'll confess him to men. I'll
confess him to men. I don't try to buttonhole people. I don't try to twist their arms
and make them religious, get a profession of faith out of
them. But if I'm around and a fellow blasphemes God, he's going to
hear about it. He's going to hear about it. I don't care where
I'm working. I don't care what I'm doing. He's going to hear
about it. Well, that's just not the way we do things in our day.
It's the way I do things. You're going to hear. You mock
the Son of God. You're going to hear about it
from me. This is my redeemer. This is my redeemer. I'm not
a violent fellow. I try not to be. On a few occasions,
I've been in situations where Shelby and Faith and I, I remember
once years ago, playing a little round of putt-putt. And the fellow
in front of us, oh, he was cussing and blew straight. I mean, everything
he'd do is just cussing, just taking God's name in vain. And
finally, I walked up and tapped him on the shoulder. I said,
young man, I don't know about you and what you think about
the ladies with you, but I've got my wife and my daughter here. I
don't want to hear another foul word out of your mouth. Why would you do that? Because
my wife and daughter are with me. And I'm not going to tolerate
it. I'm not going to tolerate it.
What if he hits you? Well, he hit me. I'm not going to tolerate
it. And I'd probably hit back. And
those days I would have debted him. I know what I'd do. But
I'm not going to tolerate it. Why? Because I'm not ashamed
of her. I'm not ashamed of her. And I'm not ashamed of my Redeemer.
Christ is my Lord. I have good hope. I'm not ashamed.
But there's something far more important than that. I'm not
ever going to be put to shame. Not even before God. Not put to shame. I hear, which
I don't hear many more, I used to listen to that stuff. Sometimes
I'll read some of it. They talk about judgment day,
oh you're gonna hang your head in shame. What kind of grace is that? What
kind of salvation is that? Oh no! Oh no, God took away my
sin. And I have no shame before God. I blush before you, Mary Lou.
If you found out what was going on in me, I'd blush. Oh, I'd
blush. I'd blush before that woman there.
If she found out what was going on in me, oh, I'd blush. I'd
bow my head in shame. I'd blush. But here I stand before God with
no blush and no reason to blush. He's
made me holy in His sight. You understand what I'm talking
about? I'm talking about free grace. Free grace justification. Now, here's the basis of this
peace, of our rejoicing, of our patience, of our hope. Because
the love of God, the love of Christ, is shed abroad in our
hearts by the Holy Ghost, which is given unto us. In the new birth, God Almighty
comes to a sinner and speaks peace to his soul. And the sinner
who's now convinced, God's angry with me. God's going to send
me to hell. Hell shall be my everlasting
portion. God the Spirit sprinkles the
conscience with the blood of Christ and says, God loves you. God, behold what manner of love
the Father hath bestowed on us that we should be called the
sons of God. The love of God shed abroad in our hearts. For
when we were yet without strength in due time, Christ died. Here is the love of God. Christ died. Christ died for
who? Christ died for the ungodly. I've never qualified for much
in my life, but this is one thing for which
I qualify. Christ died for the ungodly.
Come here, listen to me. Listen to me now. Is there a
sinner in this place? Anybody here? Anybody here, sinner? I'm talking about really a sinner.
Corrupt at the very foundation of your heart. So corrupt you dare not lift
your eyes toward God. So vile you dare not think about
God. So hideously evil you're terrified
to take another breath lest it be your last. Is there a sinner
here? A sinner here? Find me one. I've got good news
for him. Christ died for you. Christ died for the ungodly.
Christ died for the ungodly. Christ died for the, there's
never been, there's never been a sinner. Never been a sinner. Now listen to me. There's never
been a sinner for whom Christ didn't die. Now I thought you
believed in limited atonement. That's real limited atonement.
That's more limited than you can imagine. Well preacher, everybody's
sinners. I'll tell you what you do. I'll
tell you what you do. You go downtown, stand on the
street corner and find me one. Find me one. You know, I did
some wrong. I did some wrong. I know I'm
not perfect. But, yeah, no, I wouldn't say I'm that. No, no, no, no. No, I'm not like that. No, no,
no, no, no. That pedophile, that sodomite,
that murderer, that thief, that rogue. Oh, no, I'm not like that. That's what I said. Find me one. Christ died for sinners, for
the ungodly. Look at this. For scarcely for
a righteous man will one die. A good man who's not so lovable,
folks, might die for him. Yet perventure for a good man,
a righteous man who really is lovable, some would even dare
to die. But God commendeth his love toward
us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. God lays the magnificent diamond of his
love on the black background of my hideous heart. It says now here's the commendation
of my love. Christ died for the ungodly,
for the ungodly. When did he do it? At exactly
the time ordained of God from eternity. And Paul emphasizes
when We were yet sinners. When we were yet sinners. God loves sinners. God gave his
son to die for sinners. Christ didn't die so that God
would begin to love us. Christ died because God loved
us with an everlasting love before the world began. Look at verses
9 through 21. And learn this wonderful, wonderful
word of grace. These assurances of grace given
to us because we're justified. Watch these two words. I'll come
back to this another time, Lord willing. Much more then. Much more then. Being now justified by His blood. We shall be saved from wrath
through Him. If Christ died for me when I
was ungodly, now that I'm justified by His
blood, I don't have any reason to be afraid of anything. I shall
be saved through Him. For if when we were enemies we
were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, watch this,
much more being reconciled, now that God and I are friends, now
that I'm on God's side, now that I have taken sides with God,
we shall be saved by his life. He who died arose, he sits on
the throne of God, never to die again, and we live with him,
and we're saved by his life. Verse 11, not only so, but we
also join God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have
now received the atonement. We are saved by His life and
we have received the atonement and we joy in Him by whom we
have received the atonement. Wherefore, as by one man sin
entered into the world, and death by sin, and so death passed upon
all men, for that all have sinned. For until the law all sin was
in the world, but sin is not imputed where there is no law.
Nevertheless, death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them
that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression,
who is the figure of him that was to come. But not as the offense,
so also is the free gift. For if through the offense of
one many be dead, much more, much more, the grace of God and
the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded
to many." What did we lose in Adam? What did we lose in Adam? Everything. Everything. And in Christ we gained much
more than we lost in Adam. In Adam we lost a righteousness
of a sort. People argue was Adam righteous
or Was he holy or was he just innocent? I don't know, but he
was all right. He was in good shape until he
fell. And if he hadn't fallen, he and
his seed would have remained in righteousness, innocence,
holiness, that created creature righteousness, creature holiness,
creature innocence, with always the possibility of a fall. That same righteousness the angels
had, but with always the possibility of a fall. But since he fell,
we have a righteousness that's the righteousness of God. With no possibility of a fall. Adam lost life. In Christ, we
gained life. Adam lost acceptance and favor
with God in Christ. God smiles on us. Adam was created
as God's representative in the world to be ruler of the world. And he walked in the garden and
everything in the garden bowed down to Adam. Everything in the
garden obeyed Adam. And when Adam sinned, everything
was in chaos and in rebellion and against Adam, even as it
is in this world to this day. But in Christ, we've gained ascendancy
again, princes with God, to rule over all God's creation, and
soon we shall. Verse 16, and not as it was by
one that sinned, so is the gift. For judgment was by one to condemnation,
but the free gift is of many offenses unto justification.
For if by one man's offense death reign by one, watch this now,
much more, much more, they which receive abundance of grace and
of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus
Christ. Reign now as princes with God. Reigning even over the world
around us as princes with God. Well, what do you reign, preacher?
Everything around me. Everything around me. It just
doesn't much influence me. It doesn't have much control
over me. No. Boy, things are so bad, yeah,
but I'm alright. Man, we have such horrible evil
in this world. Yes, but I've got the righteousness
of God. Christ is mine. We reign. And soon, when our
God makes all things new, We will reign over God's creation,
all of it. Over death, hell, and the grave. Yes, even over the prince of
darkness, Satan himself. For if by one man's offense death
reign by one, much more they that receive righteous abundance
of grace and the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus
Christ. Therefore, verse 18, As by the
offense of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation.
Even so, by the righteousness of one, the free gift came upon
all men under justification of life. In Adam, the whole human
race lost everything. In Christ, all the host of God's
elect gained everything. For as by one man's disobedience,
many, the many who were in Adam, were made sinners. So by the
obedience of one, many, the many who are in Christ Jesus shall
be made righteous. Moreover, the law entered that the offense
might abound. God came and gave his law. And
God said, cursed is everyone that continueth not in all things
written in the book of the law to do them. Folks want to have
the Ten Commandments on the plaques outside the buildings. Church
buildings have Ten Commandments up here. Folks want to, we live
by the Ten Commandments. Phooey you do. God, you don't. You don't come close. If you
had any idea what the Ten Commandments said, you'd be scared to death
to look at them. You'd be scared to death to look
at them. You just pretend to be righteous and good. Oh, no,
no, no, no, no. The law was given to show you
what you are. Nothing but sin. To show you
your hopeless, helpless condemnation righteously by God. Nothing but
sin in you. That the fence might abound.
The law, when understood, does nothing but stir up the mess.
Some of you have been around farms a little
bit. When I was a boy, I used to go visit my uncle up in Spruce
Pie, North Carolina. They sold eggs. They had chicken
houses. Guess what I got to do on vacation? We got to clean out the chicken
houses. You ever cleaned out a chicken house? Believe me,
you don't want to. It's not worth the pay. I don't
care what the pay is. You don't want to do it. But
I'll tell you what I learned. Tell you what I learned. I learned
that if you open everything up and let it crust over for a while,
it's not so bad. And that's kind of the way we
are. Everything crusted over and the stink ain't too bad.
until God sticks his law in your heart. And it stirs up the stink. It stirs up the stink. That's
the reason it was given, that the offense might abound. But, where sin abounded, Grace did
much more abound. Look here. Where sin abounded,
grace did much more abound and continues to abound. That as
sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through
righteousness unto eternal life. by Jesus Christ our Lord. Oh,
may God make His grace abounding to you in Christ Jesus. More about that tonight than
Lord would have. All right, let him be dismissed.