After the service, we could be
setting up for vacation Bible school and we can use all the
help we can get on that. I've entitled this message, In
Adam, In Christ. We really couldn't think about
anything more important than that. In Adam, in Christ. The whole gospel is seen in this
simple but profound concept, in Adam, in Christ. In verse 12 of 1 Corinthians
15, Paul says, now if Christ be preached, he rose from the
dead, how say some among you, that there is no resurrection
of the dead. And he went on in verses 12 through
19 to give the devastating implications of what it would be if Christ
was not raised from the dead. But then he states this glorious
truth, but now is Christ risen from the dead? I love thinking
about that. Christ is risen from the dead. Now the whole gospel is predicated
on the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. All of our salvation. And let
me emphasize the word all, all of our salvation. is dependent
upon Christ being raised from the dead. He really died. That's
mysterious, isn't it? You know, if I died, you wouldn't
be mystified by it. You'd expect it. And the same
with you. We're flesh and blood, but this
is the God man. He died. They took a dead corpse
off the cross. and put a dead corpse in the
tomb, but he was raised from the dead. And it's his resurrection
that authenticates all of his claims. If he wasn't raised from
the dead, nothing he said would be authenticated. We couldn't
believe it, but he was raised from the dead. And all of our
salvation is dependent upon his resurrection. Somebody says,
well, I could believe I was saved if, if what? If Christ was raised from the
dead, well, I already know that. Think about what you're saying.
You're saying, well, you're looking for assurance somewhere other
than the person, the life, the death, the resurrection of Christ. Do you trust that he really is
everything God requires of you? Somebody says, don't we have
to believe? Of course you do, you gotta believe that. That's
what you believe. That He is all in salvation. Somebody says, I don't believe
that. Well, you don't have saving faith then. Saving faith believes
that my whole salvation is in His life, death, and resurrection. Listen to the way Paul put it
in Romans chapter eight, verse 34. Who is He that condemneth? I love the divine challenge he
gives. Bring it on. Who is He that condemneth? It's Christ that died, yea rather
that's risen again. Who's even at the right hand
of God, who also maketh intercession for us. Paul says in verse 20,
but now is Christ risen from the dead. Now Paul was the last
one he appeared to. He talked about that in the first part
of this chapter. And during the Lord's 40 days upon earth, he
appeared to the other disciples, and then he ascended back to
heaven, but he came back down here to earth to appear to the
apostle Paul. And when Paul speaks of those
three years he spent in Arabia, it could be that those whole
three years were spent with the Lord Jesus Christ, him teaching
Paul the gospel. Nobody had the understanding
that Paul did. Even Peter didn't. Peter was
talking about Paul and people twisting what he said. He said,
they rest what he said as they do also other scriptures. And
he admitted, he said, he speaks of some things hard to be understood.
Peter said, I believe him, I don't understand him. But we do believe. Paul understood the gospel like
nobody else did, I don't think. The Lord appeared to him in this
special way, came back to earth to teach him. Verse 20, now Christ is risen
from the dead and become the first fruits of them that slept. I love the way the death of the
believer is described as a sleep. Sleeping is pleasurable. To get
a good night's sleep, to fall asleep, so he giveth his beloved
sleep. Now he's referring to those that
died believing the gospel, who died in Christ. These all died
in faith. Now, the death of the body's
a sleep. Now, I believe that the scripture
teaches upon death, there is a separation of the soul, the
spirit, and the body. The body goes into the process
of decay. I think it's interesting to think
that everybody except one that died, their DNA is still here
with us on the planet Earth, somewhere. There's some pile
of dirt somewhere. There is the remains of every
human being to ever live. You know someone who didn't leave
any DNA here that died? The Lord Jesus Christ. He was
raised from the dead. He never went through the process
of decay. And he was raised from the dead. And he is the first
fruits of them that slept. What that means, he's the guarantee
that all of us will be raised from the dead. If he was raised
from the dead, I'm gonna be raised from the dead, too, and my soul
is going to be reunited to my body. Now, like I said, I don't
understand this, but the Lord did say to the thief on the cross,
today thou shalt be with me in paradise. And Paul said to be
absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. That sounds
awful glorious, doesn't it? And when Christ was speaking
of The resurrection, he said, God's the God of the living,
not the dead. And he said that is used to prove
the resurrection, but these people are living right now before him. And upon the resurrection, the
soul will be united to a glorified body. There will be no sin, there
will be no sickness, there will be no sorrow, a glorified body. Christ risen from the dead is
the first fruits, the guarantee of the resurrection of the believers
into life. Now in John chapter 5 verse 29,
Christ spoke of the resurrection of life and the resurrection
of damnation. Those are the Lord's words. All
unbelievers will be resurrected to eternal damnation, body and
soul in hell. While I don't even like to think
about it, I know this. Punishment fits the crime. And
it's the goodness of God that made hell. Yes, it's the justice
of God. It's the wrath of God. I wouldn't
discount that. It's the just payment for sins. But it's the goodness of God
to put people there and get them away from everybody else. It's
an act of the goodness of God. I heard one, somebody say this
once, that everybody that's sent into hell, the last thing they're
going to hear is the universe applauding for their destruction. God's goodness in putting them
away so that they don't infect the rest of creation. There is
such a thing as hell and a resurrection unto hell, but the believer,
Christ is the first fruit of the guarantee of them being resurrected
unto life. And who knows what that's gonna
be like to have a conscious existence without sin. Even John said,
it does not yet appear what we shall be. He's speaking under
the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. And he says, it does not yet
appear what we shall be, but we know that when he shall appear,
We shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. One sight of him will conform
every believer to his image. That's how glorious this sight
of him is. He said, I am the resurrection
and the life, and he's the first fruits, the guarantee of the
resurrection. Now look in verse 21, four, since by man, Came
death by man. Came also the resurrection of
the dead. Now, death is a mysterious thing. Buried Tom Fitzpatrick just a
couple of weeks ago and interesting man, living man. And now all
of a sudden I see a dead corpse. He's not there. There's that
dead body with no life in it. Well, where does that come from?
By man came death. Now you'll remember in Genesis
chapter 2 verse 17 that God said to Adam, in the day you eat thereof,
that very day you shall surely die. By man came death. The Lord didn't say, if you eat,
you'll die. He said, in the day you do, you
shall surely die. Could God have prevented this?
Of course he could have, but he didn't. For his own glorious,
wise purposes, and he brings good out of evil. Whatever he
does is good. The fall was ordained by God
in control God's in control of it for wise and holy purposes,
and we'd never know anything about His grace. We'd never know
anything about His mercy. Christ could have never come
to die on the cross without the fall. This is all part of God's
holy and glorious purpose. God's God. He controls everything,
including the fall of Adam. In the day you eat thereof, you
shall Surely die. Romans chapter five, verse 12
says, by one man, sin entered the world. Speaking of Adam,
by one man, sin entered the world and death passed upon all men
in that all have sinned. Now don't miss this. It doesn't
say Adam's sin was imputed to us. It says when he sinned, I sinned. All have sinned. When he sinned, I sinned. And just as there are three resurrections,
the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, the spiritual
resurrection of the believer in the new birth, and the final
resurrection, there are three deaths. There's spiritual death,
what happened to Adam and the day you eat thereof, you shall
surely die. He became spiritually dead. That is demonstrated by
what took place afterwards. He lost all spiritual life. He
no longer wanted to be in God's presence. He wanted to be away
from it. He didn't want to be where God
was. He thought he could covering for a sin that would hide it
from God. He thought he could hide from
God. He became spiritually stupid, and I don't know what else to
call it. It's a wickedness. He blamed God for the fall. The
woman that you gave me, she gave me of the fruit, and I did eat.
If you wouldn't have given me this woman, this would have never
taken place. He was blaming God. He showed
such evidence of his spiritual death. And the day you eat thereof,
you shall surely die. He demonstrated that, didn't
he? And then there's physical death. That's the second death,
the physical death, when the body and the soul are separated.
And then eternal death. That's speaking of hell. Now, the reason for death is
sin. Romans 5.12, I've already quoted. By one man sin entered into the
world, death by sin, so death passed upon all men and they
all have sin. Now somebody's thinking, if I
am dead in sins and I'm spiritually unable to do anything, I'm unable
to believe, I'm unable to love, I'm unable to repent. I'm dead
in sins. I'm spiritually dead. How can
God hold me responsible to do that which I cannot do? How could
that be right? I guarantee at some point all
of us have thought that in some way or the other. How can God
hold me responsible? Well, let's say you can't pay your mortgage
this month. Would you go to the bank and
say, I can't pay it. I shouldn't be held responsible.
That's not going to go with the bank, is it? While we are unable,
that does not in any way take away from our responsibility.
Let's say someone becomes so intoxicated they can't drive
and they run into another car and kill somebody through that.
Are they going to be able to say to the judge, I shouldn't
be held responsible. I was unable to drive. I was
intoxicated. No, they're going to be charged
with murder. Inability does not take away
from responsibility. So Adam was responsible for his
actions. He sinned willfully. He couldn't
say, well, God determined for me to do it. He did what he wanted
to do. And every time you and I sin,
that's what it is. We're doing what we want to do.
Yes, the will is involved. Now, while there's no such thing
as free will, the will's controlled by the nature. It doesn't mean
there's no such thing as a will. We have a will and we all do
what we want to do. And sin is so evil, and I don't,
I realize that I don't understand the depths of what I'm saying,
but sin is so evil that the God who is only good made a hell
to put the ones who committed those sins eternally. That's
how evil sin is. God's good. God's good all the
time. And we don't understand this
right now. I realize that. I can't think of rejoicing when
somebody is sent to hell. I cannot possibly think of that. But when I see things totally
from the Lord's perspective, According to the book of Revelation,
we'll be saying hallelujah to the Lord's destruction of the
wicked. And we're going to be looking
at things totally from his point, point of view is not the right
word, but by man came death. God didn't cause Adam to eat.
Adam ate in defiance of God, but by man, the man Christ Jesus,
also came the resurrection of the dead." That's what he says
in verse 21. For since by man, death, by man,
the God-man, came also the resurrection of the dead. Now, I love the
way Paul said this. I don't know if you've ever thought,
I quote Philippians 3.9 a lot. O that I may win Christ and be
found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is of the
law, but that which is the faithfulness of Christ, the righteousness
which is of God by faith. You know what he said next? That I might know Him and the
power of His resurrection. I wanna know Him and I wanna
know the power of His resurrection. power, the dunamis, where we
get the word dynamite from, the omnipotence of His resurrection,
the power, the ability of His resurrection. You know, this
resurrection is the same power that's used to give spiritual
life. Same power that's used in Christ raising from the dead
is the power that created the earth. It's the power that gives
spiritual life. Now, the power of His resurrection
is seen in the complete putting away of the annihilation of sin. My sins, when Christ was raised
from the dead, my sins were annihilated. They were made not to be. I now
stand before God because of his resurrection without sin. The
justifying power of his resurrection. He was delivered for our offenses.
He was raised again for our justification. His resurrection tells us God
made the way to be just and justify the ungodly. Now listen to this.
The resurrection of Christ is the reason for the new birth. Why are you born again? Because
Christ lived, died, and was raised again. That's the only reason.
Listen to scripture from 1 Peter 1, verse 3. He hath begotten
us again unto a living hope by or because of the resurrection
of Jesus Christ from the dead. This is the only thing that really
satisfies the conscience. The only thing that gives me
peace and satisfies my conscience, that it's all well between me
and God, is the resurrection of Christ from the dead. That's
enough. I need no other argument. I need
no other plea. That's the answer of a good conscience
toward God by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. You see, the resurrection of
Christ is the stuff of faith. If thou shalt confess with thy
mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in thine heart, that God raised
him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. This is the stuff of
faith. Believing in your heart. Now
your heart is your understanding, it's your affections, it's your
will. Now I understand in my heart
that the only reason that I'm saved is because Christ was raised
from the dead. I understand that God's justice
was completely satisfied. Sin was put away. It's not just
believing that it took place. It's having some understanding
of what was accomplished by His death, burial, and resurrection.
I understand that that's my sin payment. That's
why I stand before God, justified. But not only do I understand
it, I love it this way. Not only do I love it this way,
God knows whether I'm telling the truth, I love being saved
by His resurrection. I love it, I love it, I love
it. But not only do I love it, it's what I want. My will, would
you rather be saved by your works or by Christ being raised from
the dead? Christ being raised from the dead. That's not even
an issue with me. With the heart man believeth
unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made
unto salvation. This is the stuff of faith. His
death would be meaningless without his resurrection. Now, verse
21, since by man came death, by man also came the resurrection
of the dead. Now there's not a more important
verse in the scripture than this verse of scripture I'm getting
ready to read. There's really no understanding of the gospel
without this verse of scripture. For, as in Adam, all die. All die in Adam. The reason you're gonna die,
if the Lord doesn't come back first, is because you inherited Adam's
sinful nature. In Adam, all die. Nobody's exempt
from this. Babies die. Babies that have
not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression, they
die. How many people brokenhearted put a baby in the grave? Babies die. Why do they die? Why do they die? They were innocent.
No, they weren't. No, they weren't. They died because
they're sinful. Now, somebody's saying, are you
implying that babies are in hell? Did I say that? No, I didn't
say that. I hope there's some scriptures
that would imply that babies, I hope, are converted. But I
know this, if they are converted and brought into heaven, it's
not because they're innocent. It's because they were elected.
It's because Christ died for them. It's because God the Holy
Spirit gave them life. Even in the womb, if they are
saved, John the Baptist rejoiced in the womb. He had some kind
of spiritual light and understanding in the womb. And somebody says,
well, they never heard the gospel. I believe John the Baptist, even
when he was in the womb, heard the gospel. He heard something,
he rejoiced at hearing that. Somebody says, explain that to
me. Well, I can't do that, but I also think it's wrong for someone
to say, I know all babies are going to heaven. The Bible does
not give a clear statement with regard to that. It gives us some
hope of implications, but I've said this before. If the Bible
said all infants dying in infancy will go to heaven, best thing
you can do for an infant is kill it. Really? Really? They'll be in heaven.
And some people would do that. And if the Bible said infants
are in hell. Look at the despair that would
create if you had a baby die and you say, oh, it's so merciful. The Lord hadn't given us a clear
cut answer on this. Both ways, it's the wisdom of
the Lord. It's the grace of the Lord. But
the fact of the matter is though, babies do die. And the reason
they die is because they're sinners. Someone said, how could the Lord
let that happen? I remember reading, I don't suggest reading the Puritans. I used to read them. I don't
read them anymore because they're too depressing for me. As soon as
I start reading the Puritans, I start thinking I'm not saved,
you know, with all the different things they have. But one fellow,
he was talking about the death of infants. And he was saying
that they were killed because they were sinners. And then he
said, if there's a baby copperhead or rattlesnake, you say, oh,
let it live. It's a baby. No, they're sinful. And that's what this is talking
about. Even then, they did not sin after
the similitude of Adam's transgressions. The point is, we're born into
this world spiritually dead. That's the way we're born, spiritually
dead. You don't have to teach your
kids to lie, it comes natural. You don't have to teach your
kids to be selfish, it comes natural. You don't need to teach
your kids to lose their temper and be all out of sorts because
it's not fair and all that kind of, it comes natural. We're born
with Adam's sinful nature. In Adam, all die. Even so in Christ, shall all
be made alive. Now in Adam, all die. Everybody's
in Adam. All those who are in Adam were
not in Christ, because in the same manner that all in Adam
die, all in Christ. With that exception, all in Christ
shall be made alive. Dead. As I can see it, you can have
three views of human nature the way we're born. You can think,
well, we're born innocent, and we learn to do evil by following
bad examples. If we're given the proper information,
we'll be okay. Well, if that's the case, we
don't need a savior. We need a proper educator, and we need
a proper example. That's all we need. Most people
believe that man is fallen, but he still has some ability. He's still got a free will. Although
he's fallen and sinful, there's no doubt about that. You can't
look at the news and say, man's not sinful, but he has a free
will. Now, if that's the case, man doesn't need a savior, he
needs somebody to persuade him. He needs somebody to put pressure
on his will to get him to make the right choice. But if man
is dead in sins, he needs a savior. He needs someone
to save him. He needs someone that can give
life to a dead sinner because if I'm dead in sins, I lack the
ability to perform the functions of spiritual life. I can't love,
I can't believe, I can't repent. I need somebody to save me. Do you need somebody to save
you? Lord, save me. Well, God's only dealt with two
men, Adam and Christ. In Adam or in Christ. Now, let me say this as well. Don't anybody in here say, well,
I'm afraid I'm not in Christ. Do you want to be? Do you want to be? Do you want
to be found in Him? Like Paul said, oh that I may
win Christ and be found in Him. Do you want to be found in Christ
so that all God sees is Jesus Christ? You're in Him. I guarantee
you. You're in Him. You're trusting
Him only. In Adam, all die. In Christ shall all be made alive. Now in this verse. And like I
said, there's not a more important verse in all the Word of God
than this verse. And here's why. In this verse,
see four things. Number one, what took place in
eternity? Number two, what took place in
the Garden of Eden? Number three, what took place
on the cross? And number four, what really
takes place in a sinner's heart when God saves them? Those four questions are answered
in 1 Corinthians chapter 15, verse 22. In Christ. We read of the eternal purpose,
which he purposed in Christ Jesus, our Lord. We learn from here
what took place in eternity in Christ. According as Paul said
in Ephesians chapter one, verse four, according as he has chosen
us in him before the foundation of the world. all of salvation
was accomplished in eternity. Hebrews chapter 4 verse 3 says
all the works were finished from the foundation of the world. Christ is called the Lamb having
been slain from the foundation of the world before there was
Time, before there was matter, before there was creation, when
all there was was God, all the works were finished. God is the
eternal God and whatever takes place in time is what He decreed
in eternity. And when He decreed it, it becomes
past tense before it even takes place. Such is the supremacy
of God's decree. in Christ. He hath made us accepted
in the beloved. What took place in eternity?
All of salvation. That is why you and I cannot
possibly mess it up. It was accomplished in eternity
in Christ. Now, second question that's answered. What really happened in the garden when Adam ate of the fruit? Well, he died. Spiritually, he
was still alive physically. His soul still had consciousness,
and he had a will, and he had affection, and he had understanding.
But he died spiritually. And what does that mean? That
means he was unable and he passed his nature on to us. That's why we're born sinners.
He was unable to believe God. He had no love for God. None.
He had no desire even to know him. He wanted away from him.
Wherever God was, he didn't want to be. You know, if you took
somebody out of hell and brought them into heaven, they'd want
to go back to hell because they wouldn't want to be around God. They'd
hate him so much. spiritually dead. Now there's
two things that are understood in spiritual death. Number one,
the term total depravity. Number two, the word total inability.
Total depravity doesn't mean everybody's an axe murderer,
robbing banks, killing people. It doesn't mean that at all.
It means every part of you is under the dominion of sin. Totally. your understanding,
your affections, your will, under the dominion of sin, totally
depraved. Total inability is the result
of total depravity. You're unable to come to Christ. You're unable to do anything
but sin. And the Lord said, no man can
come to me. except the Father which has sent
me, draw him, and I'll raise him up at the last day." What
really happened in the garden? Adam didn't stump his toe. Adam
didn't break his arm. He became dead. And how dependent
is a dead man on God to give him life? Thirdly, in this Statement, in
Adam all die, even so in Christ shall be all made alive. What
happens in a sinner's heart? Or no, what happened on the cross?
What happened on the cross? As in Adam all die, even so in
Christ shall all be made. I'm made to stand before God
without guilt because of what Christ did on the cross. For
he hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin that we might
be made the righteousness of God in him. What happened on
the cross? In Christ shall all be made. I'm made to be what I was not. Holy, unblameable, unreprovable
in God's sight. I'm made by what Christ did on
the cross. I love Luke 9 31, where Moses
and Elijah appeared to him on the man of transfiguration. And
I love what they were talking about. What were they talking
about? They spake of the deceased, which
he should accomplish. The death of Jesus Christ was
an accomplishment. Now, my death and your death,
it's not an accomplishment. Oh, what an accomplishment his
death was when he said, it is finished, all of the elect were
saved. Fourth. What happens in a sinner's
heart when God saves him? Life from the dead. In Christ shall all be made alive. Life from the dead. You're resurrected
spiritually. You're given a nature. A holy
nature, fit for communion with God, fit for heaven right now. The nature you're gonna have
in heaven, you have right now if you've been born in the Spirit.
Now that shows how the old man can make us drag
down because we can't see how we're meant to be partakers of
the inheritance of the saints and light. But you have the nature
you're going to have in heaven because you have spiritual life. Life, the life of God in your
soul, partakers of the divine nature. Somebody says, how could
you say that? Do you believe the gospel? Do
you rely on Jesus Christ? That's all I'm asking you. If
you whoso believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born, birthed
of God. fathered by God. You know, when we talk about
inanimate in Christ, I think this is interesting. I've heard
Christ described as the federal head of the elect. Have you ever
heard that term, the federal head of the elect? And I've never
really got anything out of that because, you know, the president
is the federal head of the United States. He is. He doesn't know
me. You never heard of Todd Malveridge. I don't have any connection with
him. I mean, I'm thankful for the president, but there's not
this personal connection. Christ, as Adam was the federal
head of our race, no, Adam was the seminal head of our race. We were in Him. He's the seminal
head of our race. Christ is the seminal head of
the elect. His seed is in His people. That's this new nature. He that's
born of God cannot sin, for His seed remaineth in Him. In Adam, in Christ. I know this, if I'm in Christ,
all I want is to be found in Christ. If that's not enough,
if I'm wanting something else, I'm not in it. I'm in Adam. But if I'm in Christ, my desire
is, oh, that I may win Christ and be found in him. In Adam, in Christ. In Adam, all die. Even so, in the precise same
manner, in Christ shall all be made alive. I wanna be in Christ. Let's pray. Lord, we ask that you would take
your word and bless it to our hearts. And Lord, truly our desire is
to be found in your son. Lord, give us grace to look nowhere
but to him, to rest in him, to walk with him. Oh, give us the
grace to love him more than we ever had before. Lord, we pray
for your blessing on the Vacation Bible School coming up. We pray
that you would be pleased to speak to the young people according
to your will. We give thanks for who you are.
Bless us for the Lord's sake. In his name we pray, amen.