Turn back with me now to 1 Corinthians
15. And let me read again these two
verses, beginning with verse 21. 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. These two verses are declared
the fates of every man. Every man. Every living human
being. is declared in these two verses. In these two very brief sentences,
the Apostle of God gives us the very destinies of all men. Right here. And in these two
brief verses, the whole of our theology is stated. And in these two declarations,
the Gospel of Christ is summed up in Adam, All die. In Christ shall all be made alive. To preach the gospel is not to
preach a plan. I turn my TV on or my radio on
or I pick up a track at a hospital and they're always talking about
a plan. God has a wonderful plan for
your life. The gospel is not a plan. Did
you know the word plan doesn't even appear in Scripture? It's
not even in Scripture at all. The gospel is not a plan, it's
a person. It's a person, and preachers
everywhere in my generation are telling men and women about the
plan of salvation. Now, the problem with this, having
a wonderful plan for your life, is that we forfeited our life
in Adam. We don't have a life. We don't
have a life. We are dead in trespasses and
sins. We forfeited our life in Adam.
And actually, the word plan doesn't even appear in the Scriptures.
The standing or falling, the death or life, the condemnation
justification, the blessing or cursing of this whole race rests
in these two men, Adam and Christ. I just have two points to my
message today, in Adam and in Christ. First of all, let's just
take things in the order it is given here by divine inspiration
and look at this thing of in Adam. In Adam, all die. All that. Well, what does it
mean to be in Adam? What's he talking about in Adam?
It simply means he's our federal head. He's our federal head. He's our beginning. He's our
beginning. He's our representative. Adam
is the first man in the order of creation. He's the beginning,
the father, the progenitor of all men. And all of his children
were born, as was all the animals and fowls and fish after their
kind, after their kind, after their kind. That is, they bore
the nature and image of the first of their kind. To be an Adam
is to acknowledge him as the first of our kind and to acknowledge
that we bear his nature. We have an Adamic nature. Being Adam means that we're all
of Adam. So what is Adam's story? What's
the story of Adam? Well, God made from Adam a bride,
a helpmate, and Adam loved her. One day Eve was beguiled by Satan. She was overcome by his subtlety,
deceived by his cunning, and convinced through his pretense
of goodness to disobey God. And Adam, knowing that his bride
would be cast out of the garden forever, forever separated from
him, knowing that his beloved bride would be taken from him
forever by his own volition, by his own free will, if you
will, he did purposely act and ate of the forbidden fruit and
cast himself with his bride and all his children under the condemnation
of God. Adam was now dead spiritually,
he was dead judicially, and he was dying physically. And even
though God redeemed both Adam and his bride, he did not prevent
him from generating a race of fallen children. Nor did he purpose
to redeem all of his children, which he demonstrated in his
first two sons, Cain and Abel. Were it God's purpose to redeem
every man, He would have redeemed Cain. But He didn't. He didn't. And when God says,
in Adam all die, it's not talking about the fate of all His children,
only those represented by Him alone. Alone. In Adam all die. If there is no intervention of
God, that's the fate. of every man born in this earth. All die. There is no possibility
that one of Adam's race will evolve back into a perfect standing
in which Adam stood at the beginning. And even if he could, he would
yet be subject to a fall. Whatever he might decide to do
with his life, whatever he might achieve by his determination,
whatever he might profess with his mouth, his end, if God does
not intervene, is death. The Scripture says, by one man,
Adam, sin entered into the world, and death by sin, and so death
passed upon all men, for that all have sinned. That is Romans
5 verse 12. Well, what is this death? Well,
this death is a lack of knowledge, number one. It is a lack of knowledge,
desire, and affection for the true and living God. To know
God is eternal life. But this knowledge includes the
heart as well as the mind, and those who know Him love Him.
Because the heart is included. We are talking here about the
whole man, not a piece of Him. And those who know Him love Him,
and those who love Him know Him. And he that loveth not knoweth
not God. That is what the Scripture says.
For God is love. God is merciful. Those who know
Him become merciful. And the same thing applies to
Him as He is gracious, as He is long-suffering, as He is kind. To know those things, to know
God. is to know those things, and
to know those things is to become a part of it. You can't help
but be affected by those things. A natural man is said to be dead
because his nature is void of these attributes. He's void of
knowledge. That's my first point. He's void
of knowledge, and this knowledge is an experiential knowledge,
and he's totally... it's foreign to him. It's foreign
to him. I've never heard that before,
you see. Listen to the Scriptures. To
be carnally minded is death. Death. You see how that affects
this knowledge? You see how this death is tied
together with this knowledge of God? To be carnally minded
is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because
the carnal mind is enmity against God, it's not subject to the
law of God, neither indeed can be, so that they are in the flesh. Cannot please God. And then think about this. What
is this death? It's a lack of knowledge. And
death is a state of being. It's a state of being. You hath
equipped who were dead. It's a state of being. Romans
chapter 3 verses 10 through 18 describe a nature, not a set
of circumstances. You read through there and see
if he is not describing a nature. No fear of God before their eyes. The way of peace they have not
known. None righteous. None that doeth good. None that
understandeth. None that seeketh after God. It describes a nature, not a
set of circumstances. And to be dead in nature is to
be void of the life of God. You can be dead and still lead
a religious life. You can be dead and still be
honored member of society. You can be dead and be a good
father, a good mother. You can be dead and know spiritual
truth. You can be dead and sincerely
believe that you're saved. Death is a state of being. It's
a nature. And as such, it renders us incapable
of walking with God without faith. Paul said in Hebrews chapter
11, without faith it is impossible to please God. Such were some of you. That's
how the apostle describes his state of being. who were by nature,
he tells us in Ephesians 2, the children of wrath, even as others.
But this death is more than just a lack of knowledge. It's more
than just a state of being. This death is also the judgment
of God. It's judicial. As by the offense
of one, judgment came upon all men, under condemnation. By Adam's
disobedience, by his one offense, death came upon all. Upon all. The condemnation of God came
upon all men. Death is not something we do
in time that can be corrected in time. Death is the very sentence
of God from our father Adam. Death passed upon all men. It passed How did it pass? Well,
it passed in its nature, but it passed judicially. Death is
the result of condemnation. He that believeth on him is not
condemned, our Lord said. But he that believeth not is
condemned already. He is already condemned. because
he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
And this is the condemnation. If you want to know what it is,
here it is. Light came into the world, and men loved darkness
rather than light. Well, boy, I can't believe a
man, but I'll tell you, if Jesus Christ came, I'd believe him.
No, you wouldn't. No, you wouldn't. Jesus Christ
came, and they didn't believe him. He came unto His own. He came to those who had practically
memorized the Scriptures, who knew when a comma was out of
place. They knew, but they didn't know Him. They searched the Scriptures,
He told them, because in them you think you have eternal life.
And they are they that testify of Me, but you won't come to
Me that you might have life. Here's the condemnation. Light,
perfect light came into the world, and men loved darkness rather
than light. It's the result of condemnation.
The wages of sin is death. And this death is a judicial
death. It's a just and righteous condemnation
of Adam and all his sons. Listen to David over here in
Psalm 51. He said, I acknowledge my transgressions
and my sin is ever before me. Against thee and thee only have
I sinned and done this evil in thy sight. Now listen. that thou
mightest be justified when thou speakest. Speakest about what? Speakest about sin, my sin in
particular, but all of Adam's race, all their sin, his judgment
of sin, that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest
and clear, that is clear of all argument, clear of all blame,
when thou judgest. And all those who know God acknowledge
that God is just and righteous and clear of all blame and is
condemnation of the sinner. So death is a nature, it's a
state of being, it's judicial. And listen to me, death is a
disease. It's a disease. We're all, the
prophet Isaiah said, as an unclean thing, like a leper. rotting
from the inside out, dead while they live. You remember Moses
and Aaron prayed for their sister that God would lift that leprosy
and not let her be as one that is alive and yet dead. We are all as an unclean thing
and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags. And then Mary
and Martha sent word to the Lord concerning their brother. They
said, He whom thou lovest is sick. He is sick. And Jesus said,
this sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God. And
so it is with all the elect of God, for Christ their Lord shall
intervene. But not so in the unbeliever.
Not so in him. His sickness is unto death. It
is unto death. And I am not talking about physical
sickness. I am talking about sin. Sin as
a disease. His sickness is death. And it
is unto death. And it brings death. And He will
one day experience the second death. Sin is a disease. Leprosy in
the Scriptures is always associated with sin because of what it pictures. It pictures death in you. It pictures that which is inside
which corrupts the whole man. So here's what he's saying first
of all, and I'll tell you this, if you ever believe this, you'll
get on God's side in this matter in your own condemnation. God ought to send me to hell.
That's exactly what you're going to say. He ought to. I can't
find any worth in me. I can't find any value in me.
I'm a sinner. And you're going to take sides
with God. And when God says that You're not going to be running
back to God saying, well, that's not fair. That's just not fair.
No. That's what people say who don't
understand. If you ever understand, if the
Holy Spirit of God ever convinces you of sin, you'll take sides
with God. And from that moment, you'll
begin to seek mercy. Mercy. In Adam. Listen to what
he's saying here. In Adam. Do you believe that? Do I believe
that? In Adam, there is no need to
look to men or to any other man. There is no need to look for
it. It is not there. They are all dead. They are all
dead. But oh, thank God that is not the end of the story.
Even so, I love them words, even so, in Christ, shall all be made
alive." As Adam was the source and cause of all that he represented,
that sin in them and so on, even so Jesus Christ is the source
and cause of all those gracious gifts of God, all those blessings
of God in those whom He represented. The only reason why God did not
totally destroy man after the fall of Adam is because there
was another head chosen before Adam. Another representative, one appointed
by the Father and given a people to save for the glory of God's
name. Listen to these words. God has
saved us, Paul said. That's what he wrote to Timothy.
God has saved us. saved us, and then called us
with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to
His own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus
before the world began." How was it given us? It was given
us in that first head. He is the head of the body, the
church. We were redeemed with the precious
blood of Christ. Listen to Peter. All of the apostles
argue from this very point. Redeemed with the precious blood
of Christ as of a lamb without blemish and without spot, who
verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world,
but was manifested in these last times for you. Ephesians 1, 3,
blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who
hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places
in Christ. according as He has chosen us
in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should
be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestinated
us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself according
to the good pleasure of His will." You see what he is saying? In
Adam all die. In Christ shall all be made alive. They are not alive. Most of them
are not alive yet. But they will be. They will be. And they were quickened with
Him in the covenant of grace. They were quickened together
with Christ, put in a divine union with Him before the foundation
of the world. And nothing is going to prevent
God from putting them in a spiritual union with Him by faith. And
Christ shall all be made alive. The Bible knows nothing of a
salvation accomplished by man or a group of men or all men
put together. Salvation is of the Lord. It's
of the Lord. And when God saves a sinner,
it's to the praise of the glory of His grace. Now listen, who
first trusted in Christ. And then secondly, Jesus Christ
as our federal head and representative came into this world and accomplished
what no man could ever do. He accomplished it. Boy, I tell
you, we struggle and struggle and struggle with works, don't
we? Condemn ourselves over our Brethren, salvation is accomplished.
Our righteousness is accomplished. Oh, he said, you that toll. Do
you know where he was at when he said that? He was at the feast,
and he was looking at them. And there they are in all their
dress and their pomp. You know how people do it around
Christmastime. Everybody gets all holy around Christmastime.
And then around Easter they get pumped up again and they get
all holy. And that's pretty much it until next year. And then
around Christmas they come again, you know. Or death. Our Lord stood there and looked
at this great feast. This feast that was put there
to picture Him and what He would accomplish. And they're just
working and laboring and doing all of these things and trying
to accomplish something they could never accomplish. And he
cried out to them. And he said, all you that labor
and are heavy laden, come unto me and find rest. Rest. He accomplished these things. Our righteousness is already
accomplished. What he tells us to do is enter
into his rest. Rest in that righteousness. Christ
is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believes. Rest
in that. Walk that way. Live that way. Oh, Jesus Christ our federal
head and representative came into this world and accomplished
what no other could. He kept the law in perfect obedience
from the cradle to the cross. He kept it in spite of temptations. He kept it in spite of being
contradicted. He kept it in His heart and He
kept it continually, completely, and perfectly. And He did so
for all those represented in Him. He did no sin. He thought no sin. He had no
sin. He is the end of the law for
righteousness. And believers do not look to
the law for an evidence of faith or a rule of life or a hope of
glory. They look to Christ. They find
in Him a full sufficiency. Christ is all and in all. And Christ alone is the propitiation
for their sins. If you won't trust Christ as
the sin bearer, then let me tell you something. There remaineth
no more sacrifice for sin. There is no more sacrifice for
sin. Where will you go? Where will
you go? Those who say, well, I just don't
believe what you say about his death. Where else are you going to go? You going to
go to a priest for absolution? Huh? You going to get in a booth
with a man dressed up in a funny robe and confess your sins and
he's going to tell you to leave in absolution? You believe that?
You take that over the absolute righteousness and shed blood
of Christ, you're a fool if you do. You're a fool. Will you barter with God and
make empty promises? Will you look to your own resolve?
Where will you go? Where do people go who reject
the blood of Christ? Where else will you go? If you
leave him of whom God the Holy Spirit testifies of, there remaineth
for you no more sacrifice for sins. But oh, listen to what Paul said,
in Christ shall all be made alive because he bore our sins in his
own body on the tree. And then thirdly, in Christ shall
we all be made alive because he was raised from the dead.
I don't have to wonder about my resurrection. My Lord in whom
I stand or fall has already been resurrected. Listen to these two sad sisters.
They'd lost a brother that they loved. They loved him. And they
knew that the Lord loved him. And now he was gone. He was dead.
He was in a tomb. And he was corrupting behind
that rock. And they knew it. They knew it. And their heart was broken and
they were sobbing and all the people looked on them and they
were sobbing and entered in and sympathized for them and all
those things. And our Lord came late on purpose. On purpose. And He stood there
and they said, Lord, if you'd been here, if you'd been here,
our brother had not died. The only place in the Scripture
where it said Jesus went. He wept. And they said, don't you believe
that he'll be raised? Oh yeah, in that day, in that
day, yeah. He said, I am the resurrection. Enter into that and you'll find
peace. I am the resurrection. That resurrection, I've already
seen that resurrection. He was raised from the dead. That's how Paul started this
chapter. And oh, how he emphasizes that. This is the funeral chapter of
the Bible. This is what we read at funerals.
And to believers, it brings comfort. But Paul begins to argue this
thing of the resurrection. He said he was seen of over 500
of the brethren at one time. He stuck around here for over
a month after his resurrection. He appeared to all kinds of...
You can't deny his resurrection is undeniable. It's a fact of
history. And he revealed himself to all
of his apostles, every one of them that wrote in this book
inspired of God. Every last one of them testified
of that resurrection. Our Lord's not in the tomb. He's seated at the right hand
of God. And if I be in Him, that's my guarantor for life. You see
what I'm saying? In Christ shall all be made alive. All whom He represented, just
as all those Adam represented died by His actions and by His
sins. Even so, by His labors, by His
accomplishments, by the glory of His person, all that are represented
in Him are going to live. They're going to live. Being
justified, Paul said, freely by His grace through the redemption
that is in Christ Jesus, whom God has set forth to be the propitiation
through faith in His blood, to declare His righteousness for
the remission of sins, that He might be just and justifier of
all those that believe. And Christ shall all be made
alive because God has accepted, approved, and declared their
justification by raising our Lord from the dead. Raised us
up together with Him, Paul said, and made us to sit together in
heavenly places in Christ Jesus. And then, fourthly, in Christ
shall all be made alive because from His throne in glory He sent
the Sovereign Spirit of God to regenerate, call, and give the
gift of repentance and faith to all those for whom Christ
died. This thing of preaching the gospel is just not a group
of sympathizers, a group of men who got together and said, well,
here's what I think we ought to do. I think we ought to all
get together, and we'll call this organization a church. And
then I think we ought to have some leaders in here, so we'll
have some preachers and evangelists and apostles, and we'll have
some officers. That's not what this thing's about. This thing
is about the commandments of the risen Christ. Before He went
into glory, He said, all power is given unto me in heaven and
earth. Go ye and preach the gospel. Huh? Go ye and preach the gospel. Who's going to oppose it? Who's
going to stop it? Who's going to overthrow it?
Nobody. Because He who sent us sits on
the right hand of God. And all those represented in
Him will live. Men are not saved by chance and
circumstance, but by God's eternal purpose of glory. Listen to this,
Acts 13, verse 48. I quote this to you all the time.
This is over in Antioch where He preached and the Jews wouldn't
have it. And they walked away and the Gentiles just rejoiced. They rejoiced. And it says, And
as many as were ordained to eternal life believed. Ephesians 2.8,
for by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves,
it is the gift of God. Acts 2.39, for the promise is
unto you and to your children and to all who are far off, listen,
even as many as the Lord our God shall call. And then, fifthly, in Christ
shall all be made alive because He ever liveth to make intercession
for us. Boy, you think about that. John
said, if any man sin, Henry said that ought to read win. Win,
because we're going to sin. But if any man sin, we have an
advocate with the Father. Ever live it to make intercession
for us. To plead His blood and righteousness
before the Father. So here it is. As in Adam, all
die. All die. Even so, in Christ shall
all be made alive. But every man in his own order,
Christ the firstfruits, afterward they that are Christ's at His
coming. May the Lord be pleased this morning to turn your heart
and eyes to see Him in all His glory and find in Him the answer
for all your troubles. It's all in Him. All in Him. In Christ. In Christ shall all
be made alive. You know what that tells me?
Trust Him. Trust Him. Hope in Him. Hope
in Him. Not any hope in Adam. And if
there's no hope in Him, then there's no hope in mankind, period.
But there's hope in Christ.