Would you turn back to Romans
chapter 11? And tonight we're going to have a
baptism. Elizabeth Vincent is going to confess Christ in believers
baptism. And if you want to confess Christ
in baptism, let me know, and you can be baptized tonight as
well. Baptism is the believer's public confession of Christ.
We don't have people come down to the front. That's not in the
Bible, but the way someone confesses Christ is by confessing Him in
believer's baptism. Confessing that when He lived,
that's my only hope. When He died, that's my only
hope. I was in Him. When He was raised, I was in
Him. Tonight I'm going to be speaking
on the subject of forgiveness from Luke chapter 17. Forgiveness. Me forgiving, God forgiving me. And also I want to remind you
that probably tomorrow or the next day we're going to go ahead
and send the church in New Jersey a check to help them for their
down payment for a building they're going to get, so if you can give
anything toward that for Clay Curtis and the church there,
do so today because probably tomorrow or the next day we're
going to send them the check. Luke chapter 11. I've entitled
this message, The Four R's of the Fall. The Four R's of the Fall. And I hope you'll pray for me
as I attempt to bring this message from the Word of God. Now, let's
read these 11th and 12th verses again of Romans chapter 11. He's talking about the fall of
national Israel. They had been God's special people
and they no longer are. Look in verse 11. I say then,
have they stumbled that they should fall? God forbid, but
rather through their fall, salvation is come unto the Gentiles, for
to provoke them to jealousy. Now, if the fall of them be the
riches of the world and the diminishing of them, the riches of the Gentiles,
how much more their fullness. Now here we read of the fall
of God's national chosen people, Israel. Now God made himself
known to Israel in a way that he did not make himself known
to the Gentiles. He gave them the scriptures,
he gave them a word from him, and he did not do this for the
Gentiles. And then we read of the Jews
falling out of his favor. Now, Paul loved these people.
He said, brethren, my heart's desire to God for Israel is that
they might be saved. He loved these people and it
grieved him greatly to see their fall. And Paul gives us the reason
for their fall. The reason for their fall is
for the salvation of the Gentiles. And he doesn't say anything less
than that, does he? The reason for the fall is for the salvation
of the Gentiles. Now, let me remind you, God said,
my thoughts are not your thoughts. Neither are your ways my ways,
saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher
than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my
thoughts higher than your thoughts. Aren't you glad it's that way? Now, let's pick up in verse 7
of Romans chapter 11. What then? Israel, national Israel,
hath not obtained that which he seeketh for, but the election
hath obtained it. Those who were elected, they're
saved, and the rest were blinded or hardened. That word means
they were dulled in their ability to hear the gospel. Who blinded
them? God did. God did. Let's go on reading. Verse 8,
according as it's written, God hath given them the spirit of
slumber, eyes that they should not see and ears that they should
not hear unto this day. This was an act of God's judgment
upon them. He blinded them. He made it to
where they could not hear the gospel. I think of what our Lord
said. He said, I thank thee, O Father,
Lord of heaven and earth, because you've hid these things from
the wise and prudent and revealed them unto babes, even so, Father,
for so it seemed good in thy sight. Who hid them? God did.
I think of what Paul said in 2 Thessalonians 2, wherefore
God shall send them strong delusion. God did it, that they should
believe a lie. Now, this is part of the judicial
hardening of God. Now, there comes a time when
the lights go out. That's a sobering thought. But
there comes a time when the lights go out and you can't hear. And
you know all God's got to do to harden my heart or your heart
is to leave us alone. Doesn't take anything else. He
leaves us alone. and our heart will become hard.
We won't be able to hear the gospel. We won't see any glory
in the gospel. It'll become boring and dead
and dry to us, and we just can't hear. Now when that happens,
God is hardening the heart. Now, God's in control. And this
is what this passage of Scripture said. Look, let's go on verse
9. And David said, Let their table be made a snare, that which
should have been for their good, let it be bad for them, and a
trap, and a stumbling block, and a recompense unto them. Let
their eyes be darkened that they may not see, and bow down their
back always. And this is a quotation from
Psalm 69. Now, this is talking about God hardening somebody's
heart. You know, Pharaoh, God hardened
his heart, didn't he? God hardened his heart. Now,
he said, who is the Lord that I should obey him? Well, he found
out, didn't he? He found out. God hardened his heart, left
him to himself. Now, Paul is struggling with
this. He loved Israel. These were his
brother, his kinsmen according to the flesh. And he's thinking
about their hardness, and he asked this question, verse 11,
I say then, Have they stumbled that they should fall? Did God
simply do this so they would be damned? Did they stumble so
they would be irretrievably lost? I say then, have they stumbled
that they should fall? And I love Paul's answer, God
forbid. But rather, through their fall,
salvation has come to the Gentiles. Through their fall, salvation. is come to the Gentiles. Let me read the last few verses
of this chapter. Look how Paul, when he's dealing
with all this, look how he ends up. He says in verse 33, Oh,
the depth of the riches, both of the wisdom and knowledge of
God, how unsearchable are his judgments and his ways past finding
out. For who hath known the mind of
the Lord? Or who hath been his counselor? Or who is first given
to him? And it shall be recompensed to
him again. For of him, and through him, and to him are all things,
to whom be glory forever. Amen. When he was dealing with
this thing of the fall, he ends up with a doxology of praise
to God for all the glorious things he has done through it. Now, I love the way Paul says,
Have they stumbled that they should fall? Is God just doing
this simply to damn them? God forbid. God forbid. And this is one of 10 times he
uses this phrase in the book of Romans. God forbid. Look back in Romans chapter 3. This is when he's expressing
strong disagreement to something. Verse three of Romans chapter
three, for what if some did not believe? Shall their unbelief
make the faith of God without effect? God forbid. Yea, let
God be true, but every man a liar. In verse five, if our righteousness
commend the righteousness of God, if our unrighteousness commend
the righteousness of God, if it shows his justice in punishing
us, what shall we say? Is God unrighteous who taketh
vengeance? I speak as a man. God forbid. For then how shall
God judge the world? Look in verse 31 of the same
chapter. Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid.
Yay, we establish the law. Look in chapter six. What should
we say then? Shall we continue in sin that
grace may abound since wherever sin abounds, grace does much
more abound? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?
God forbid. God forbid. Look in verse seven. 14 of the same chapter. For sin shall not have dominion
over you, for you're not under the law, but under grace. What
then? Shall we sin because we're not under the law, but under
grace? God forbid. Look in chapter seven, verse
seven. What should we say then? Is the
law sin? Since the law condemns us, is the law sin? God forbid.
Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law. Look in verse 13
of the same chapter. Was then that which is good made
death unto me? The law, is it the cause of my
death? God forbid, but seeing that it might appear sin, working
death in me by that which is good, that sin by the commandment
might become exceeding sinful. Look in chapter nine, verse 13. As it's written, Jacob have I
loved, but Esau have I hated. What shall we say then? Is there
unrighteousness with God? Is God unfair in loving Jacob
and hating Esau? God forbid. For he saith to Moses,
I'll have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I'll have compassion
on whom I will have compassion. Look in chapter 11, verse 1.
I say then, hath God cast away his people? God forbid. For I
also am an Israelite of the seed of Abraham of the tribe of Benjamin.
God hath not cast away his people, which he foreknew. And then in
our text, I say then, have they stumbled that they should fall?
God forbid, but rather through their fall, salvation has come
to the Gentiles. Now, we read in the scriptures
a whole lot about falls. The fall and falls in so many
different ways. We just read of the fall of the
Israelites. how they fell and they lost God's
apparent favor. We read of the fall of Adam and
Eve in the garden. Remember how they fell? And somebody
once said, if you're wrong on the fall, and I'm going to get
into this in a few minutes, if you're wrong on the fall, you're
wrong on it all. You don't understand anything spiritually if you don't
understand what took place in the Garden of Eden. Wrong on
the fall, wrong on it all. We even read of a fall from grace. Whosoever you are that are justified
by the law, you've fallen from grace. You know, people say,
well, if somebody has some kind of moral failure, they say, well,
they've fallen from grace. No, they haven't. You have. If
you say that, you have. Grace is their only hope. We
read of the fall that took place when the man built his house
on the sand. The scripture says great was
the fall of it when he didn't build his house on the rock,
but he built his house on the sand. Great was the fall of it. And we read in Proverbs 24, 12,
where the righteous, the just, falleth seven times and riseth
again. And that's talking about the
experience of the believer. He falls all the time. All the time. That's what seven
means. It's the number of perfection.
He falls all the time, and he rises again. We read of the fall
of Babylon, the fall of human religion. Babylon the great is
fallen, is fallen. Now, what is said of the fall
of the Jews in our text can be said of the fall of Adam and
all these other falls. And like I said, I've entitled
this message, The Four R's of the Fall. This could go with
this fall of the Jews, This could certainly be said of the fall
of any believer, the fall of Adam and Eve in the garden, but
the four R's of the falls, here they are. The reality of the
fall, the results of the fall, the reason for the fall, and
the remedy for the fall. Now, would you please, as God
enables you, ask the Lord to Help me to preach this message
as it ought to be preached, and ask him to help you to have hearing
ears so that you can hear, because I couldn't bring a more important
message than this message. The fall, the reality of the
fall. Now, I want to confine ourselves
to the fall of our parents in the garden, but we all know by
painful experience something about a fall. A fall. We use the term, well, they've
fallen into sin. They fell into sin. Now, I understand
that. I understand that, but where
were they before they fell? They were in sin then, too, weren't
they? And we see someone fall. We see somebody else fall. We
see somebody else in a bad condition, a sinful condition, something
that you know is contrary to the Word of God. And we say,
well, there go I, but for the grace of God. We've all used
that statement. There go I, but for the grace
of God. Let me ask you a question. What's the difference between
that and the statement of the Pharisee, God, I thank thee,
that I'm not as other men are? Is there really any difference?
You know, when we see someone fall, we ought to know, I'm worse. I can't look down my nose at
them. I'm worse. And I'm not talking about the
way I used to be. I'm talking about the way I am right now. Paul called himself the chief
of sinners. He said Christ Jesus came into
the world to save sinners of whom I am, not I was, I am the
chief. Now I dare say that a lot of
our understanding of sin is warped and wrong and shallow because
of our lack of understanding of what the fall actually means. I hope that this will, well, we'll see what happens.
I hope this is going to help us. Now, let's consider the fall
of our first parents. Turn to Genesis chapter 2. You know, I was thinking of the Pharisee.
God, I thank thee that I'm not as other men are. You know, he
was a Calvinist. He gave God the credit. And it was all about
how he's not like somebody else. That's where his hope was. I'm
not like this person. I give you the credit. But his
hope of salvation had something to do with his behavior. By grace. But it had something
to do with his behavior. Now, am I saying that behavior
doesn't matter? Of course I'm not saying that.
But I am saying this. The only hope I have is grace. And I hope
you'll understand that as we consider this. Now look in Genesis
chapter two, 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 if you eat,
no, he doesn't say that, does he? He says, in the day that
thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die. He didn't say if
you eat. He said in the day that it happens. You see, this fall was decreed
by God. It was ordained by God. It was purposed by God. Just
like everything else, is purposed by God. Everything that happens
was decreed by God, and that doesn't in any way remove the
responsibility of Adam to obey God. Now God said, you're going
to eat of that tree. I'm commanding you not to do
it, and you're going to do it anyway. Well, then how can God
hold Adam responsible? He does. He does. I think of that passage of scripture
from Acts chapter 2, him being delivered by the determinant
counsel and foreknowledge of God. you have taken and with
wicked hands have crucified and slain." Yes, God's absolutely
sovereign and He's completely sovereign over the uncoerced
free actions of men. He's in control of them. He didn't
cause Adam to eat that fruit. Adam did it in wicked disobedience
to God. It was wrong as it could be,
but it was all a part of God's purpose and plan. Now look in
Genesis chapter 3 verse 1. Now the serpent was more subtle
than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he
said unto the woman, yea, hath God said that you shall not eat
of every tree of the garden? Now notice, first of all, he
changes what God said. He modifies it. God said, there's
one tree you're not to eat of. And he says, has God said that
you can't eat of any of these trees? Verse 2, the woman said
unto the serpent, we may eat of the fruit of the trees of
the garden. No, he didn't say that. But of the tree, the fruit
of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said you
shall not eat of it, neither shall you touch it lest you die.
I think that's interesting. She kind of added to what God
said. God never said don't touch it,
but she added to it. There's where we get that touch
not, taste not, handle not religion. Comes right from Eve. Verse 4,
and the serpent said unto the woman, you shall not surely die.
He denies what God said. First, he changes what God said,
and then he denies what God said. You shall not surely die, for
God doth know that in the day you eat thereof, then your eyes
shall be opened, and you shall be as gods, knowing good and
evil. Now, what he's saying is this.
Right now, all you know is good. All you know is good. You see,
Adam was created upright. He was created with a morally
innocent nature. And he didn't have sinful thoughts
and sinful desires and bad motives. He was created upright. And here's
the way Satan deals with him. There's no moral virtue to your
goodness because you don't know good and evil. Now, if you knew
good and evil, then you could make the choice of the good over
the evil, and that is what would make you like God. Right now,
you're nothing more than a robot. But if you know good and evil,
and you choose the good over the evil, that will make you
like God. Really, the temptation was free
will. That's what the temptation was, free will. You can have
a glorious free will and you'll be just like God. Now that was the temptation.
And you know, there's something that kind of makes sense, doesn't
it? That's how subtle this temptation was. Kind of makes sense. Well,
it would be better if I choose good over evil. There would be
more morality what I'm doing. I can see the raising of this.
It sounded good. So verse six, 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. You know what? Nothing happened. She didn't fall. She didn't die. She's sitting there looking at
the fruit while it's still in her hand. Nothing's happened.
I'm fine. I didn't die. Now you'll remember
that God said to Adam in the day you eat thereof, you shall
surely die. You see, Adam's the representative.
One representative. Eve ate of the fruit and absolutely
nothing happened. So she comes up to her husband
and says, look honey, nothing happened. I ate this fruit, nothing
happened to me. So the scripture says, he took
of the fruit and did eat. And as soon as he did eat and
the eyes of them both were opened and they knew they were naked. Now, the fall did not take place
until Adam ate, because Adam is the representative man. And
some people have, and I don't know what I think about this,
I know some, the scripture points out that Eve was deceived, but
Adam did what he did with his eyes wide open. He knew exactly
what was taking place, and I've heard people say, maybe there's
something to this, that he knew he was gonna go down with Eve.
He was going to go down with Eve because he thought that might
be the case, but that almost makes what he did noble. You
know, and I'm not real sure that there's anything noble about
his rebellion against God. He saw where Eve ate of the fruit
and nothing happened, and I suppose he thought, well, I don't guess
anything will happen to me. And he ate of the fruit, and the
eyes of them both were open. Now, look back in chapter 2 verse 25, and they were both
naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed. You know
why they weren't ashamed? Because they didn't have evil
natures. They didn't have sinful thoughts. They didn't have lusts
and wicked desires that a natural man has. It wasn't even an issue
for them to be naked. No issue. They were naked and
they weren't a bit ashamed. But as soon as Adam ate of that
fruit, what happened? They knew they were naked. And they went and tried to cover
it up. First thing they did, they went
and tried to cover it up. They didn't come back and ask
the Lord for mercy, oh forgive me for what I've done. No, they
tried to cover it up. And they make for themselves
fig leaf aprons for a covering. No longer did they want to be
in God's presence. They hid from the presence of
God. There was a time when they relished His presence. Now, wherever
He is, they don't want to be. They run from His presence. They
hide. And when the Lord confronts them
about this, oh, I think it's so interesting, the Lord confronts
them, Adam, where art thou? Have you ate of the fruit? And
what did He say? He didn't say, oh, forgive me,
I'm sorry. He said, the woman that you gave me, She gave me
of the fruit and I did eat. It's all your fault. He wouldn't take personal responsibility
for sin. He never did. We don't read where
he asked for mercy or anything. He was just dead in sins with
absolutely no love for God. He actually became so I guess
spiritually stupid, and I don't know what else other word to
use, that he thought he could hide from the presence of God.
He actually thought, well, he can't see me in the woods. With
God being omniscient and omnipotent, and all of a sudden he thinks
he can hide from his very presence? Oh, he became dead in trespasses
and sins. And that's what the scripture
says in Ephesians chapter 2 verse 1, and you hath he quickened
who were dead in trespasses and sins. Now that leads us to the
second point. The first point is the reality
of the fall, and the second point is the results of the fall. Now Adam really fell. And the
reason you and I fall the way we do is because Adam fell. That
gives you some understanding of why you are the way you are,
with why I am the way I am. I inherited Adam's nature. Wherefore, as by one man sin
entered the world, and death by sin, so death passed upon
all men, in that all have sinned. Now, what happened? Spiritual
death. Now, what's that mean? Spiritual
death. 1 Corinthians 15, 22 says, for
as in Adam, all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. Now, I've already touched on
this, but Adam did not die physically, and his soul did not die, but
his spirit died. And he lost all spiritual ability. That is what is meant by him
dying. He lost all spiritual ability. He had no ability to love God. He had no ability to obey God. He had no ability to call upon
His name. He lost all spiritual ability,
just like a dead man cannot perform the functions of spiritual life.
Tell a dead man to breathe. What's he going to do? He's not
going to breathe, is he? Tell him to listen. He can't
hear. Show him a beautiful picture
and say, look at the beauty of this. He can't see. He's dead. And a spiritually dead person
has lost all spiritual ability. It's summarized by the Lord Jesus
with these words, no man can come to me except the Father
which has sent me draw him. The carnal mind is enmity against
God, it's not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can
be. So then they that are in the
flesh cannot please God. Spiritual death is spiritual
inability. Now what that means is, if God
doesn't do something for me, I'm going to hell. That's what
it means. If God doesn't cause me to come
to Christ, I'm not coming. God's got to do something for
me. If he just leaves me to myself, there is no hope at all for me. And that's what spiritual deadness
means, and that is the result of the fall of Adam. You and
I are born into this world with his spiritually dead nature. Now, listen real carefully. I
do not become a sinner when I sin. I sin because I'm already a sinner. Let me repeat that. I don't become a sinner when I
sin. I sin because I'm already a sinner. Now that is the result
of the fall. Dead-end trespasses and sins. And somebody once made this statement,
and I think it's so good. If you're wrong on the fall,
you're wrong on it all. Now if I don't understand, if
I don't understand what took place in the Garden of Eden,
I'm going to have such a shallow view of sin. It's going to be
all behavioral and not in nature. But if I understand what happened
in the fall, I'm going to understand my sinful nature and how I need
God to do something for me. I tell you what, if you ever
understand that you are spiritually dead, you say, how can you understand
that? Well, you know it takes spiritual
life to understand it. If you're given life, you'll see this.
If you don't have any life, it doesn't make any sense to you.
But if you have spiritual life, you'll see that in your flesh
dwells no good thing. You're gonna see that about yourself.
And when you see that about yourself, you need God to elect you. Election, God's choice of his
people before the time began, is not just a doctrine you argue
over. No, you desperately need for God to choose you. You don't
argue with election. You say, oh Lord, choose me.
Save me. It's not something you, you know
you deserve. If you understand what happened
in the fall, you understand you deserve to be sent to hell. You
deserve God to cut you off. And the only hope you have is
for him to do something for you. You really understand that. You
don't have these shallow, wrong views of sin. You see your only
hope is for God to do something for you. You know, I can tell
what somebody believes about the fall by what they believe
about the atonement of Christ. You see, if you really believe
in the fall, and you really believe that you're dead in sins by virtue
of the fall, you'll really believe that the death of Christ is the
only hope you have. You really believe that. The
atonement of Christ, His effectual atonement for His people, it's
got to be successful, because if it's not successful, you won't
be saved. You're right, this is true. You
can tell what somebody believes about sin by what they believe
about the atonement. Because if you really believe
the truth about your own sinfulness, you'll really believe that the
only hope that you have is that Jesus Christ put away, successfully
put away your sin. Who is he that condemneth? It's
Christ that died. That's the only answer that's
needed. And if somebody can think that Christ can die for everybody
and make salvation available for everybody, but it's up to
you as to whether or not what he did will work for you, you
don't believe in sin. You don't believe in death and
sin. You've got too high an opinion of yourself. That's where the
problem is. If I understand what sin is,
I'm going to understand my need of the atoning death of the Lord
Jesus Christ on the cross and the success of it. I'm going
to understand my need of regeneration, of God to give me life from the
dead. And this thing of the fall, it has to do with what we believe
about human nature. I said this before, I'm going
to say it again. It's been several years, I think,
since I said this. You can only have four views of human nature.
You can have the evolutionary view. And if you have the evolutionary
view, you know what that means? That means you believe you're
getting better. Who needs a savior? You know, if evolution is true,
men are just going to keep getting better and better and better
through natural selection. The survival of the fittest would
just get better. The other view men have of human
nature is that men are born morally neutral, and we need to put them
in the right environment, give them the right kind of education
so they can make the right choices, and then everything will be fine.
Now, if that's true, and that's what's known as the platonic
view of things, give everybody the right education and they'll
make the right decisions and everything will be better. If
that's true, we don't so much need a savior, we need a good
teacher. And then there's the view that probably most people
have. Men fell, Adam fell, and became sinful, but he still has
the power of free will. And he can, of his free will,
accept what God did for him, and he can be saved because of
the power of his will. Now, if that's true, we don't
need a Savior. All we need is a man to put the
right pressure on our will to cause us to will the right thing.
But if you believe you're dead in sins, what you need is a Savior. I need to be saved. I need the
Lord to save me. Now, the reality of the fall,
he really fell. The results of the fall, he became
dead in sins. I want to speak just a few minutes
about the reason for the fall. Could God have prevented the
fall? Of course He could. It was all a part of His plan.
It was all a part of His decree. It was all a part of His purpose.
Now, the reason for the fall is God's will and God's decree. You know, Christ is called the
Lamb slain from the foundation of the world, isn't He? The reason
he's the lamb slain from the foundation of the world, there's
only one reason for him being slain. Sin. Sin was decreed by God. It was allowed by God. It was
all part of God's purpose and plan. Are you saying God is the
author of evil? I'm saying there wouldn't be
any evil unless God allowed it. I'm sure saying that. You can
take that however you want it, but the fall is according to
God's purpose and the fall is for the glory of God. You see,
God does everything for His glory. And whatever He does is right,
it's just, it's good, it's holy. God allowed the fall? Absolutely. For His own glory. You see, what
would we have ever known of the character of the living God without
the fall? How would you know of the mercy
of God? How would you know of the grace
of God? How would you know of the forgiveness
of sins? What would we know of salvation
without the fall? What would we know? You know,
everything God does, He does to manifest Himself. He makes
Himself known. The cross. The cross is the greatest manifestation
of who God is. Every attribute of God is displayed
when Christ is nailed to that cross. Oh, how we see His holiness
and His hatred for sin and His justice and His wisdom in making
a way that He can be just and yet justify somebody like me
or you. How we see His grace and His love and His compassion. All that God is, is manifest
in the cross. And if we didn't have the fall,
we wouldn't have the cross. And the cross of the Lord Jesus
Christ is the most God-like thing God ever did. Oh, how God manifests
himself through the fall. Why is there a fall? Well, we're
taught something about union through the fall, union with
Christ. As in Adam all die, everybody that he represented died, so
in Christ everybody he represented lives. Why was there a fall? Because of sin, because of God's
judgment. He fell because of his sin, because
of his disobedience to God. God said, in the day you eat
thereof, you shall surely die. There's glorious reasons for
the fall. Now, the last thing I'd like
to speak of is the remedy for the fall. The fall is very real. The fall brought devastating
results. God has a glorious reason for
the fall. Now, what is the remedy for the
fall? Listen to this scripture. 2 Corinthians
chapter 8, verse 9. As a matter of fact, turn now.
I'd like you to look at it with me. 2 Corinthians chapter 8. Verse nine, here's the remedy
for the fall. For you know the grace. Oh, I love that word. You know
the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Here's the remedy for the fall.
Two words, grace and the Lord Jesus Christ. There's the remedy
for the fall. You know the grace of our Lord
Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, And you think of the riches of
Christ. He's the second person of the blessed Trinity. The earth
is the Lord's and the fullness thereof. Everything there is
belongs to Him. Now that's rich. He's got creative
power. If He wants more, He can make
more. That's rich. But I think the riches of Christ
is more seen in His relationship with His Father. Perfect communion. perfect likeness to His Father.
I and my Father are one. Oh, how rich in righteousness! How rich in praise! Oh, the angels
falling at His feet! How rich in communion! Oh, you
know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich,
yet, for your sakes, He became poor. In every respect, he became poor. You know, he, during the days
of his flesh, is what we would call a street person. You know,
me and you were going home to our homes. He didn't have a home
to go to. He was poor. He became poor in
righteousness when He was made sin. And I don't understand that. It's so mysterious to me. But
He who was the darling of His Father was made sin so that He
bare our sins in His own body on the tree. He became guilty
before God. He became poor in communion.
He was cut off. He was no longer allowed communion
with His Father. He said, My God, My God, why
hast Thou forsaken Me? He was forsaken by God. He really
was. He became poor. How come that
you, through his poverty, might be rich? Now here's the
remedy for the fall. You know the grace of our Lord
Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes,
he became poor. that you through his poverty
might be rich. You know what? The richness that
the believer has, here's the difference. Adam, think about
Adam. Before the fall, he could fall. After the Lord saved him, he couldn't fall. Now he could
sin, Oh, you know one of the things,
don't you look forward to the time, if you're a believer you
do, when you don't sin anymore. That you're completely delivered
from the flesh. Oh, hasten, Lord, the day. Hasten, Lord, the day. But as a believer, Yeah, I fall,
you fall. The righteous fall seven times
in a day. That means all the time and he rises up. But that
being said, if I'm a believer, I can't fall away. Now unto him
that is able to keep you from falling and to present you faultless
before his presence with exceeding joy. Now, here's the point. I'm
a lot better off, infinitely better off now than I was before
Adam fell. Who had it best, Adam in the
garden with an innocent nature or a believer saved by the grace
of God? Oh, I'm infinitely more secure,
more saved. I don't even have the potential
to fall away. I'm kept by the power of God
through faith and through salvation. So, in this thing of the fall,
understanding the fall, the four R's of the fall, understanding.
If I don't understand the fall, I don't really understand what
sin is. I can talk about it, but I don't really understand
it. And if I don't understand the fall, I don't understand
my need of grace. But if I have some hard understanding
of the fall, I understand why I can't look
at somebody and say, there go I, but for the grace of God.
I see I'm just as bad right now. And I'm in utter need of His
grace. And when I see somebody and I
hear them say, well, they fell into sin, I think, huh, I'm in
a continual fall in that sense, in a continual fall. That's my
experience. That's the experience of every
believer. You see, if you've got a, New nature, you see that. If you don't have a new nature,
you can't understand that. You see, wrong on the fall, wrong
on it all. But thank God for the fall. When I stand before thy throne,
dressed in beauty, not my own, when I see thee as thou art,
love thee with unsinning heart. Then, Lord, shall I fully know,
not till then, how much I owe. Can you say from your heart,
thank God for the fall? Let's pray.