My one desire this evening is by the grace of God and through the enabling power
of God's Spirit to help those in this congregation who are
sincerely seeking salvation. There is salvation. God will
save. Christ came to save sinners,
Paul said, of whom I am cheap. I know this. I know that ignorance
will keep a man from Christ, will keep a man from salvation.
Scripture says, How shall they call on him in whom they have
not believed, and how shall they believe in him of whom they have
not heard? So ignorance will keep a man from salvation. It
will keep a man from Christ who is salvation. If a man doesn't
know, he can't believe. If he doesn't know, he cannot
trust. If he doesn't know the way, he cannot walk in it. Hagar
was dying of thirst while a well of water was right at her feet.
In fact, she took her little lad, Ishmael, when he was fourteen
or fifteen years old, or older, and she put him over under a
bushel so she couldn't see him die. And there was a stream of
thirst-quenching water right there by her. Hager, God said,
rise and drink. It was right there, but she didn't
know it. And salvation is not very far from any of us. In fact,
every time you use the name Jesus Christ, you pronounce salvation.
It's right on your lips. He is salvation. Salvation is
not to do, it's to trust. It's not to give, it's to receive.
And that a person. Every time you read in the Bible
the name Jesus Christ, He is salvation. So, but ignorance
will keep a man from salvation, keep a man from Christ, just
being ignorant of the way of salvation, the way God redeems.
And even reading the scriptures, I have to be real careful here,
because faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
I know that. Desire the sincere milk of the word, that you may
grow thereby. I understand that. But the Ethiopian eunuch was
reading the scriptures, and when Philip joined himself
to the chariot, he said to him, Do you understand what you read?
He said, How can I, except some man show me? So really a man
can read the scriptures. and sometime be totally blind
to the way God saved sinners. A man can preach from the scriptures
and be blind to the way God saved sinners and not know Christ. So like Moses lifted up the serpent
in the wilderness, Christ has been lifted up. He has come,
he has suffered, he has died. He has been lifted up. But like
Moses, we've got to direct the people to look to Christ. Look,
he said, and live. I have a message from the Lord,
hallelujah, this message to you, I give. It's recorded in his
word that you only look and live. But men look to the right and
look to the left and look above and look beneath. They look everywhere
but to Christ. No man has ever looked to Christ
truthfully and sincerely and perished. Nobody's ever come
to Christ truthfully and sincerely and perished. No man has ever
received Christ or believed on Christ truthfully and sincerely
and perished. So this is my purpose tonight
in dealing with this, I think, profound subject. And I'm going
to try to be true to the scriptures. I'm going to make every effort
to be theologically correct. I'm going to make every effort
to be doctrinally sound in my message. But I'm going to endeavor
to be as simple as a man can possibly be on such a profound
Lost in Adam, found in Christ. Lost in Adam, saved in Christ. Now, I have three points. The
first one is this. Very candidly and very plainly
and very simply, I appreciate what one of our dear ladies said
when she left the service this morning. She said, I'm thankful
for that very simple message on the throne of grace. I hope
this one will be as simple. It's a profound theme, I know
that. It's a battleground, I know that, but I'll try to be as simple
as I can. First of all, here's the first
point. It pleased God to begin the human
race with one man. It pleased God to begin the human
race with one man and to consider the whole human race in that
one man on the basis of what he did or what he didn't do.
That's so. This man was Adam. God created
Adam and breathed into Adam the breath of life. He became a living
soul. He made that man perfect. The
scripture says he created man holy and upright, but man has
sought out many inventions. But when God made Adam, he said
the same thing of Adam that he had said of the skies and the
seas and the earth and the trees. It's good. It's good. It's good. Now, when that man stood, as
long as he stood, how long he stood, I don't know. There's
been some controversy there. One man made the statement, Adam
didn't stand a day. I don't know, but I know he took
time to name all the animals, however long, Joe, that took.
But how long he stood, I don't know. But when he stood, the
whole human race stood in him. That's so. The whole human race,
you, me, and every... You see, God only created one
man, that was Adam. Every other man came out of his
loins. There never has lived on this earth but one man that
did not come from the loins of Adam, and that was Jesus Christ. He was conceived of the Holy
Ghost in a virgin's womb. But every other person, even
Eve, came out of Adam. Not the same way in which we
did, because God took a rib and made Eve, but she still came
from Adam, and he was her head. Just like he's the head of the
whole race. He's the federal head. Use the word you want to.
Federal head, representative of the whole human race. As long
as Adam stood, we stood in perfection, in goodness, in holiness. But
God gave him one commandment. It was by no means a hard law.
It was by no means an unreasonable law. But he gave him one commandment. He said, leave the tree of in
the midst of the garden alone. There's a tree in the midst of
the garden, you leave it alone. And that one man, representing
the whole human race, broke that commandment. And he did it willfully. Now scripture says that Eve was
deceived in the transgression. Adam was not deceived. Adam willfully
broke that commandment. And when he did, Death, judgment,
condemnation passed upon him and upon me, upon the whole human
race. Now that's so. Adam went from
riches to poverty by breaking that one commandment. Adam went
from life to death by offending in that one point. Adam went
from health eventually to sickness, from holiness to evil, from knowing
God to not knowing God. From holiness to evil, from righteousness
to ruin, and the Scripture teaches that all mankind fell in Him. All mankind died
in Him, and as a result of His transgression, we know not God. Now I know there are a lot of
people who rebel against that. They rebel against it, they fight
against it, they choose to deny it. But there are some who believe
it. And really, this may stun you,
but you think about it a little while, there are some of us who
rejoice in it. And I'm going to tell you why.
I'm going to tell you why we believe it and why we rejoice
in it. But let it be understood what I'm saying. This is clearly
what I'm saying. That when God made Adam perfect
and upright in his image and put him in that perfect garden
and gave him one law, the whole human race was on probation right
there in that one man. The whole human race stood in
him, lived in him, walked with God in him. But when he ate that
forbidden fruit, it was as if every one of us took it simultaneously
at that one time. And judgment and death and condemnation
and evil came upon that man and upon every one of us. We lost
the truth, we lost the way, and we lost the fellowship with God. As a result of that transgression,
men are dead spiritually. Now here are three reasons why
we believe it and three reasons why we rejoice in it. I rejoice
in it. The first reason is this, the Scripture teaches it. Now
let's go back to Romans 5, what the Scripture Joe read just a
moment ago. Now watch this, this is what the Scripture teaches.
In Romans 5 verse 12, Now listen to it, as by one man, by one
man, who is that one man? That's Adam, no question about
it. Sin entered into the world by that one man, by his offense,
by his transgression, by his sin. And death by sin entered
this world. So death passed upon all men. For that all, now you'll get
a lot of people to tell you who know something about the translation
of the Scripture that that word have has been supplied. All sinned. All sinned. And I know it's a
distasteful, distasteful truth. I know it's representation. It's
federal headship. And I know there are more churches
that deny it than believe it. They have it in their creeds.
They have it in their confessions of faith. But they deny what
they call original sin, and that's what I'm preaching. I'm preaching
that when Adam sinned, the whole race sinned. When Adam was plunged
into darkness, the whole race was plunged into darkness. When
Adam was plunged into sin and under judgment and condemnation,
the whole race, that's what this is saying. By one man, sin entered
this world, through him and by him, because of him. And death
by sin, so death passed through that man unto all men. for all
sin. All right, let's read verse 17,
Romans 5. For by one, if by one man's offense, death reigned. All right, verse 18. I'll get
to the other part in a moment. Therefore, as by the offense
of one, judgment came. Judgment came. Upon whom? All
men. All men. To condemnation. That's what's said. Read verse
19. By one man. Who's the one man
we're talking about? We're talking about Adam. There's
no question. This is what the Scripture teaches. By one man.
Man's disobedience. Many. The many. The many. Everyone whom he represented.
Everyone who was identified with him. The many were made sinners.
Now, save that Romans 5. Hold your hand there and turn
to 1 Corinthians 15. As I said in the beginning of this message,
I'm going to be as plain and simple as I can be. There's one
thing, at the end of this message, you're not going to have to turn
to your neighbor and say, what did he say? You may turn to him and
say, I don't believe what he said, but you're going to know what
I'm saying. I'm going to spell it out just as plainly as I can. In 1 Corinthians 15 verse 22,
now listen to this. All die. Now, anybody, can you
get around that? Is it possible to get around
that? As in Adam, all, D-I-E, die. And that's not talking about
physical death alone. Physical death is the result
of sin. Physical death is the result of spiritual death. That's
what Joe read a moment ago over there. Turn back to Romans 5
a minute. It says there in verse 13, and see, 13 is in parentheses,
13 all the way through 17. It says, unto the law, unto the
law, sin was in the world. In other words, the law was given
at Sinai, what, 2,000 years after Adam fell? The Ten Commandments. But, he says, sin is not imputed
where there is no law. In other words, if there's no
law, there's no sin. But there was a law. The Ten Commandments
is only a summary of the law, but there was a law where there's
God, there's law. Where there's God, there's holiness.
Where there's God, there's statutes and righteousness and government.
There was a law. Death reigned from Adam to Moses. See this? Even over them that
had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression. Who's
he talking about there? You know who he's talking about?
Who are these people that died, that had not sinned? We have
sinned. Infants. That's exactly who he's talking
about. Infants. In other words, what Paul is
saying here is you people that deny identification with Adam,
let me tell you something. He said babies died that had
not even committed an open, overt, outward transgression. Why'd
they die? If they had no sin, how come
them to die, fam? Sure they had sin. They had not violated any
written law or unwritten law. They had not violated openly
any statute or commandment handed down by God Almighty. Not like
Adam. Adam, here Adam was a man created by God in his own image,
perfect and holy, without sin. God gave him one Not hard, not
unreasonable command. Leave that alone. That tree is
a token of my sovereignty over you. You're a king. You're a
ruler. You have dominion over the earth. Multiply. Replenish
the earth. Subdue it. It's yours. Do what
you want to. That tree says, I'm still God.
And you're still looking to me. You're not God. I'm God. And
my will shall be done. You leave it alone. And Adam
would not. Satan said, you'll be like God.
I don't know what Eve said to him, but you'll be like God.
So willfully he took it. Man took that forbidden fruit.
And he died spiritually. And death, disease, passed upon
him. And then after that, the Holy
Ten Commandments were not given for 2,000 years. But during that
time, from Adam to Moses, babies were born and babies died. And
Paul is saying, why did they die if they were not under the
judgment of Adam's transgression? Why were they born with sin?
In other words, if there was an age of accountability, when
children actually become accountable to God for their sins and under
judgment and condemnation, then why don't they wait until the
age of accountability to die? I'll tell you why, because they're
born in sin. Now that's the truth. Adam's
transgression, that's what he's saying there. Nevertheless, death
reigned, and death only reigns where sin is present. Where there's
no sin, there's no death. Where there's no law, there's
no sin. But there is a law, and there is sin, and there is death.
And that's the reason we believe it. In Adam, all died. We believe
it, first of all, we believe it because the Scripture teaches
it. This is what the Scripture teaches. All right, here's the
second reason why we believe it. If we had not fallen in Adam,
now just suppose, hypothetically, suppose that Adam had not fallen. that Adam had kept God's law,
he gave birth to a son, his wife gave birth to a son, he to a
son. Right now, here's the earth we
have not seen. Do you know that that cloud would
be hanging over every one of us right now? We would still
be on probation, each of us, and being no better than our
parents, we would eventually fall. It's just so. The angel's
dead, In fact, you can go through the scripture and you'll find
that the creature has failed under every dispensation, the
creature. Now just go back and think, well,
turn to Jude 6. Let me show you something here
in Jude chapter 6. And here is the truth that makes me rejoice
that this thing was over, that Adam did fall. He fell and we fell in him as
a representative. If we had fallen individually
like the angels, there would have been no salvation because
there wasn't any salvation for the angels. Let me show you,
Jude 6, look at this. And the angels which kept not
their first estate. How many nobody knows. Somebody
said a third of the heavenly host. I'm not aware of the scripture
that teaches that. Maybe it's so. But Lucifer, son
of the morning, And the angels fell. They kept not their first
estate, but left their own habitation. God hath reserved in everlasting
chains, under darkness, under the judgment of that great day.
Now turn back, if you will, to Hebrews chapter 2. Now this goes
right along with that verse of Scripture. Hebrews chapter 2.
Hebrews the second chapter, verse 16. Now this is talking about
the Lord Jesus Christ. It says in verse 16, For verily
he took not on him. the nature of angels, but he
took on him the seed of Abraham. Wherefore, in all things it behooved
him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a
merciful, faithful high priest in things pertaining to God,
to make reconciliation for the sins of his people." Now here's
what you have, and I read this years ago and it helped me a
whole lot. God dealt with the angels individually as a field
of corn. How many thousands there were?
hundreds or whatever, but here's all the angels, Lucifer as their
leader, and all these multitude of heavenly hosts, that individual
and personally, like a field of corn, rebelled against God. Satan said, I will be like God.
I will exalt my throne above the stars of God. I will ascend
into heaven. I will. And when they sinned,
when they shook their fist in God's face, they were all cut
down. every one of them cut down and
gathered in bundles and reserved in chains under darkness under
the day of judgment. No representation, no redemption,
no salvation. When God dealt with the human
race, Adam, it was like not a field of corn, not all of us standing
individually, but a tree. Adam was the trunk, and all of
us in him, all of us from him. Adam was the trunk. And when
he fell, we were cut down. And the whole tree fell. The
whole tree fell. Now that leads me to this, the
third thing. I believe it, rejoice in it,
because it's taught in the Word of God. Secondly, because if
Adam had not fallen, that one tree, if another tree had been
born, he would have eventually fallen. Like I said a moment
ago, trace the creature under every dispensation. Go back when
there was no man on earth, only the angels. created the angels. Even with access to the very
presence of God, the angels fell. God created man, put him in a
perfect garden. A perfect man in a perfect garden,
he fell. Almighty God saved a man and his wife and three sons and
their wives from a terrible flood. saved him in an art. He wasn't
off that art any time until there was a tragic black mark on that
family. Sin. For all these days they'd
been floating on those judgmental waters and came down, planted
a vineyard, got drunk. God led a people out of Israel
mightily, an unarmed people, an unorganized people, an undisciplined
people. by the leadership and hand of
one man, led them boldly and powerfully out of Egypt, across
a red sea on dry land, and across a desert, fed them with manna
from heaven and water from a rock. And they rebelled. David raised
him up, gave him the most powerful throne on this earth, fell. Solomon gave him all the wisdom
and wealth any man could possibly want, and he fell. Our Lord Jesus
Christ came down here personally in the flesh, selected twelve
men. One of them was a devil. In the church of the Lord Jesus
Christ, the Lord had not gone back to glory ten years until
the church was already full of false teachers and false preachers. It's that way under every dispensation
and every condition. So if we had stood alone, we
would have fallen. So I thank God and praise God
for his infinite wisdom in putting me in Adam, judging me in Adam. And but here's the third thing.
We fell in a representative and according to the grace of God
we're restored in a representative. Now let me show you that. Turn
back to the scriptures again. In Romans 5 17 it says, for by
one man's offense, one man's sin, death reigned. Death reigned. Much more They which receive
abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness shall reign
in life by one, Jesus Christ. Now let me warn you, while you're
rejecting the representation of Adam, you must be honest and
reject the representation of Christ. If you will not have
federal headship in sin, you cannot have federal headship
in salvation. If you will not have federal
headship in ruin, you cannot have it in regeneration. If you
will not receive in your heart and embrace and love the truth
of representation in Adam, how can you honestly lay hold upon
representation in Christ? I wasn't born when Adam sinned,
nor when Christ died. But I wasn't even here. How can
I be held accountable for the sin of a man when I wasn't even
here? Then how can you have laid to
your charge the righteousness of a man when you weren't even
there. You see, it works the same way. Look at verse 18. Therefore, by the offense of
one, judgment came upon all men to condemnation, all men who
were in him, all men who were represented by him, all men who
were regarded even so by the righteousness of one. The free
gift came upon all men who were in him, who identified with him
under justification of life. When that says all men, you know
good and well that can't be universal salvation because all men aren't
saved. It's universal damnation and condemnation because all
men came from Adam. That's universal condemnation
because everybody's got that which is more the flesh is flesh. When we trace our roots like
the television program concerning the black people, their roots.
Actually, if we all trace our roots, we go back to one man,
Adam. You see that one man, Adam. And we're all identified with
him and in him and came from him. And because he represented
all of us and all of us partake of his judgment. Now this one
man Christ represented not every son of Adam, but every son of
God. Adam represented his race, his
nation, his people. Christ represents his race, his
nation, his people. Those who are the elect of God,
those who are the sheep of Christ, those who believe on Christ,
those who receive the grace of Christ. Look at verse 19. As
by one man's disobedience, many, many, were made sinners. Now who's that? That's every
man, because all have sinned and come short of God's glory.
Every man's a sinner. So in the same way, by representation,
by obedience, by the obedience of one man shall many be made
righteous. My friends, here's what I'm saying.
I'm saying that we rise in the same manner in which we fell.
We're redeemed in the same manner by which we were ruined. We fell,
sin, death, judgment passed upon all men by the fall of one man. We fell, and this is so, through
no fault of our own. You say that doesn't seem right.
Well, let me say the next line. We rise through no merit of our
own. Is that right? I like that. Yeah, we like that. But that other is so too. We
fell by representation, we rise in the same way. Read our text
again, Romans 5, 19. For as by one man's disobedience,
the many were made sinners. Now that brings me to the result
of the fall. Here's the result. Go back to
Romans 5, 12. By one man, Adam, sin entered
this world. It entered this world. I weep
as I see the change in Adam. I've gone over this several times.
Here's Adam, a king. Here's Adam walking with God.
Think of the fellowship. Here's Adam, brave, courageous,
unashamed, wise, fearless, loving in the image of God. He fell. He's sinned. Now look at him.
First of all, shame. He saw he was naked. He was naked
before, but didn't bother. He was created in the image of
God. He was created to the glory of God. He was created in the
beauty of God's wisdom. And there was no shame. There
was no reproach. There was no blushing. Open,
happy, joyful, with no sense of shame or guilt. But here he
is now. clamoring for some kind of leaves
to make him an apron to cover the beauty in which God had made
him. And then not only shame, but something else happened to
him, foolishness. Adam was no fool. Adam was a
wise man. Adam was a genius. Adam was made
in the image of God, and I'm sure he was wise, but look at
this wise man cowering down among the trees, Doing what? Hiding
from God. Who ever heard of such a thing?
I can hide from you. But only a fool, Charlie, tried
to hide from God. Adam became a fool. He became
a fool. Well, he knows the eye of God
is in every place, beholding the evil and the good. He knows
that God is everywhere, omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent, and
here he is, here is this brilliant, wise, and capable man, running,
of all things, in the trees, behind some bushes, hiding from
God. A fool. That troubles me. Here, here, what about fear?
God said, Adam, where are you? I was afraid. I was afraid. Well, he had never been afraid
before. He'd never been afraid of the animals. He'd never been
afraid of the elements. He'd never been afraid even of
God. And now he is with fear. You see all these emotions that
we experience? We have shame. We have foolishness. We do the most foolish thing.
We say the most foolish thing. We have fear. Fear. And I'll
tell you, it's all down to this crowning thing. Here he is. And
God said, what have you done? Have you eaten the fruit?" You
know what he did? Instead of being honest, instead
of being forthright, instead of saying, yes, Lord, and I weep
over it, and I grieve over it, and I'm to be judged for it,
and I take my punishment. No, sir. He said, that woman
you gave me. Selfish, selfish, self-righteous
hatred. He did love her. There was a
time back before he fell, he called her, what, bone of his
bone and flesh of his flesh. She came out of man, woman, mother
of all living, so forth. He was so attached to her, so
thankful for her. Here he is, willing for her to
bear all the blame. That's us. That's us. We'll protect
our own hide at the expense of anybody else. See, so sin, when
Adam fell, sin entered. Sin, and these things are the
results of sin. This is what sin does. You see,
sin is not just an act. Sin is a principle. It's a nature. All of these things that Adam
did was a result of what Adam had become, Joe. You do what
you are. We are the results of what we
are. Sin entered this world. It entered this man. and death
by sin, and death. Look at verse 12 again, Romans
5, 12. Wherefore, by one man's sin entered this world, the principle
of sin, the nature of sin, and consequently all the results
of sin, which is finally, D-E-A-T-H, death. Can't you just imagine? This man, Adam, I try to transport
my thoughts into his body and think about these different revelations. He was put out of the garden.
Think of Adam's reaction when he walked up on the first little
dead bird laying on the ground. He'd never seen death before,
and he reached down and picked it up, and tears streamed down
his face. Don't you imagine what I've done? Oh, what I've done. And he dug
a hole there, a little place, and he buried that little bird
and went off and wept. And then one day he was out there
in the field, and he loved the animals, I'm sure, and he'd The
doves and the books, the deers, run through the forest. And he
went out there one day and he saw the carcass of a little deer
that had been clawed by a line. What have I done? What have I
done? I've turned the animals against
each other. That's what we studied in Sunday school this morning.
The whole creation fell and suffered the results of Adam's sin. Not
only did it leave its mark on him, on his heart, on his conscience,
on his nature, on his words, on his thoughts, on his imagination,
but it brought blight on the trees and hatred among the animals. It turned the elements against
him. Everything wrong in this world
came because that man failed. Everything. And he saw that little
deer lying there on the ground clawed to pieces by a lion that
wouldn't have touched him back before the fall. And then one
day he went out there into the field and he found his boy dead,
his head bashed in with a rock. Oh my, can't you imagine that
experience? Able. And he looked up and saw
His son, Cain, standing there with his hands dripping with
the blood of his brother. He'd taken a stone and dashed
his brains out. Oh, I don't imagine Adam turned
on Cain. I don't imagine he turned on
God. I don't believe so. I imagine he turned on his heart
and said, I did it all. He didn't say the woman you gave
me. He said, I have sinned. Death. And we're going to die,
we're going to lie down and die, every one of us. This pointed
unto me and wants to die. The result of that fall, sin
entered the world. Death by sin. And death reigns. It reigns. Go out here and look
at the markers. There are more people out there
in Rose Hill than there are in this area of Ashland. More on
Ashland Cemetery. Go across the river to the beautiful
cemetery. Now the flowers furnish more
flowers for the dead than they do the living. Did you know that?
There are more people dead than are alive. A whole lot more,
because we're all going to die. And then turn to Romans 5.18,
the results of this fall, sin entered the world, death by sin,
death by sin. And look at verse 18, and judgment.
Therefore, by the offense of one, judgment. Judgment. Now you don't see any great white
throne in the Garden of Eden. It's reserved for a later day.
But I'll tell you what you do see. You see Adam standing in
a new relationship to God, an offender who must be punished.
That's right. There's no great white throne
there in the garden, but his offense made him a criminal. It made him an offender, and
it stood him before God Almighty's judgment seat to receive a condemnation
which he deserved, cast him out. cast him out. And immediately
he was cast out. Therefore by the offense of one,
judgment came upon all men. What does Romans chapter 3 verse
19 says? It says that all might be guilty. Turn back and read it. It says
what the law sayeth. We know what things soever the
law sayeth. It sayeth to them who are under the law that every
mouth may be stopped and all the world become guilty. Guilty. Now one more result. It says
when Adam fell, by one man's sin entered this world, sin.
It says that death came upon all men. It says that judgment,
man's not on probation, he's guilty, he's already been judged,
he's already been condemned. We're not on parole, but we've
been condemned. We stand before God guilty. That's what the law
says, guilty. The law can't say anything else
but guilty. Now, fourthly, it says in Romans 5, 19, that by
one man's disobedience, the many were made right then. Not when
they reached 12 or 20. They were made right then. What?
Sinners. That's right. And I can make
good on that. Let's turn to Psalm 51, right
then. I've already shown you how that death reigned even over
those that had not sinned after the same manner that Adam sinned.
But they had sin in them, and consequently death upon them,
and judgment and condemnation. Now listen to David in Psalm
51. You say, what place the infant? What place the child? All right. Psalm 51, verse 5. Behold, I
was shapen or formed in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive
me. What he's saying there is this,
that when the seed of man enters the womb of a woman, that's a
sinful seed. And when it becomes alive, that
being formed is shaped in iniquity and formed in sin. That's right. In Psalm 58, verse 3, turn over
there a minute. It's a sinful seed. It can be
nothing else. Can you get a clean thing out
of an unclean? Not one. In Psalm 58 verse 3, the wicked
are a strain from the womb. They go astray as soon as they're
born, speaking lies. Now that's what the Scripture
says. And you can illustrate that. Turn to Job 14. You can
illustrate that in so many ways by looking at our own children.
and seeing in them the nature of rebellion, the nature of selfishness,
the nature of hate. In Job 14, he says, Man that
is born of a woman is a few days and full of trouble. He cometh
forth like a flower and is cut down. He fleeth also as a shatter
and continueth not. Dost thou open thine eyes upon
such a one and bringest me into judgment with thee? Who can bring
a clean thing out of an unclean. That's what we're talking about,
not one. So that's the result, that's the sad news, that's the
sad condition, and that's what Scripture teaches, that when
this one man Adam was created, the whole human race, every human
being, black and white, red and yellow, every human being was
born, was created, and came forth from that one man. While he stood,
when he fell, when he transgressed God's law, we fell by representation. And when death came upon him,
it came upon us. When judgment came upon him,
it came upon us. When sin entered him, it entered
us. And we're born into this world rebels without God, without
hope, without Christ, without help, without strength. That
which is born of the flesh is flesh. In the flesh dwelleth
no good thing. In the flesh, no man can please
God. Flesh and blood shall not inherit the kingdom of God. All right, here's the good news.
Now turn back to Romans 5, verse 18 and 19. We don't stop there. We're talking about representation,
lost in Adam. I hope that's clear. And I'm
saying it just like I believe the Scripture teaches, lost in
Adam. But watch this, verse 18. Therefore,
by the offense of one, judgment came upon all men to condemnation. Even so, by the righteousness
of one. One what? One man. One man. The free gift came upon all men
to justification of life. Now turn to 1 Corinthians 15.
1 Corinthians 15 again. The scripture talks about two
atoms. I believe the word atom. There
may be several different meanings. I looked it up one time in the
Hebrew. But atom is really M-A-N, man. That's what atom is, isn't it,
George? That's what happened. One man, Adam. God made a man. God made another man. A body
thou hast prepared me. God Almighty sent his son into
this world and his son is called in the scripture, Brian, the
second Adam. The second Adam, the second man. Actually, now
I know this may be offensive, but God sees all men in one of
those two men. He sees all men in Adam And he
sees those who believe in Christ. And we are judged in Adam or
in Christ. We are received by Christ. Now let me show you that in 1
Corinthians 15. Look at verse 45. Alright, as so it is written,
the first man Adam was made a living soul. The last Adam, the quickening
spirit. The first and the last. There's
none in between. There's just two Adams. There's two men. Two
representatives, two federal heads. I'm teaching federal headship
unashamedly. I'm teaching covenant theology.
But not covenant theology in a church or in a human father. Covenant theology in Christ.
In Christ. All right, read on. The last
Adam was made a quickening spirit, how be it that was not first
which was spiritual, that is first by revelation or manifestation,
but that which is natural. In other words, the old Adam,
the first Adam, the human Adam, was manifested on this earth
first. He didn't live first. Christ the Lamb slain Charlotte
in the foundation of the world. Christ was before Adam. But Christ
was not revealed before Adam. The saving Adam, the redeeming
Adam, the representative Adam of God's people was not revealed
before the first Adam. We fell in the first Adam. And
then Christ was revealed. All right? Howbeit that was not
first which is spiritual, but that which is natural, afterwards
that which is spiritual. The first man is of the earth,
earthy. Who's that second man? And notice there's just two men,
the first man and the second man. But wait a minute, preacher,
there are millions of men. No, just two. In redemption, just
two. In fall, just one. In redemption,
just one. In the divine purpose, in redeeming
sinners, just two men, two represented. The first man is of the earth,
earthy. The second man is the Lord from heaven. As is the earthy,
such are they that are earthy. What is he? Dead, judged, condemned,
wicked, separated from God. That's they that are earthy.
As he is, so you are, so I am. All right, read on. And as is
the heavenly, such also are they that are heavenly, spiritual,
redeemed by faith in him. As we have borne the image of
the earthy, we bore his image in condemnation and sin. I do
what Adam did. I rebel. I do what Adam did.
I run. I do what Adam did. I fear. I
do what Adam did. But thank God We shall also bear
the image of the heavenly if we're in Christ. Now here's what
I'm saying. I'm saying that God Almighty
sent His Son down here in the world in the likeness of sinful
flesh. Not in sinful flesh, but in the
likeness. He became a man. Adam was a man. In that man we
fell, we sinned, we died, judgment, death, condemnation was imputed
and imparted. Imputed as reckoning, imparted
as past to us. Judgment death and see God made
another man Christ he sent him born into this world through
the virgin's womb without a human father He did not he didn't know
it's not identified with Adam in any way. He's the seed of
woman He was promised Genesis 3 15 is the seed of woman Moses
called him that prophet which God shall raise up among you
he's called the seed of David of the family of Jesse of the
tribe of Judah and He is called in Matthew 1, Emmanuel, God with
us. But there walked on this earth
a second Adam, a man who was born the poorest of all in order
that he might be identified with the poorest of all. There's no
man born any poorer than Christ was born. There's no man lived
any poorer. He said even the foxes have holes
and the birds of the air have nests and the Son of Man has
no place to lay his head. Our Lord Jesus Christ was forsaken
as no man's ever been forsaken. Even God turned his back on him.
Our Lord Jesus Christ met the law in the law of the home, civil
law, ceremonial law, moral law, every law, and knew no sin. He was tested in all points as
a man, yet without sin. In other words, this second Adam,
this second man, was tried under works and law. and he obeyed
it perfectly. Everything that God Almighty
required, everything that God Almighty commanded, everything
that God Almighty expected, Christ fulfilled. And he did it, my
friend, representing somebody. That's right. Read that Romans
5, 19 again. By one man's disobedience, by
one man, Adam, the first man of the earth, earthy, human,
flesh and blood, representing all flesh and blood, all humans,
all men, by one man's disobedience, rebellion against God, we became,
were made sinners. Sin entered us, came upon us,
devastated us, separated us from God, slew us, brought ruin to
the whole world. And God charged every one of
us with His sin. We had imparted to us His nature. And then one day, according to
his prophecy and his promise, and according to every type and
ceremony and picture, he sent the second man into this world.
And that second man was the Lord from heaven who represented a
spiritual people. Not a race of flesh, but a race
born of the Spirit. A holy nation, a peculiar people,
a royal priesthood. Christ stood here in their place. And because I was in Adam by
birth, by natural generation, I'm in Christ by grace. God put
me in Christ. God put you in Christ. God put
every believer in Christ. God put Saul of Tarsus in Christ.
He put Moses in Christ. That's the reason I say there's
no old way of saving men and new way of saving men. There's
no salvation by law and judges and conscience and all that stuff
and salvation in by grace. It's all by Christ. Just two
men. That's all. Two men. And they
both represented their people. And you can't deny your identification
with Adam. Now, you're just in Adam. We're
in Adam by birth. If you're walking in the flesh,
you came from Adam. If you're a human being, you
came from Adam. You're just like him. I'm just like him. But I'll
tell you, there's another man, and he stood on this earth. He
was identified, and nobody needs to say, well, I can't be identified
with him. Why? Well, he's too high. Noah, wait
a minute now. He took upon himself the form
of a servant and became obedient unto death, even the death of
the cross. There's nobody beneath him as a man. Anybody can be
identified with Christ if he wants to, if he wants to. And then not only did he meet
this law in the flesh, God required everything. He finally said,
this is my son in whom I'm well pleased. He said, I always do
those things that please my father. This second man did. This human
being, the man Christ, he called himself the son of man. He called
himself the son of David. Jesus, our son of David. He was
identified with us in every way. And not only that, but he took
our sins in his body and went down to that garden and wept
before God. As it were, great drops of blood
fell from the pores of his skin. And then he was mocked of the
religious crowd, and scourged, and tormented, and persecuted
by the soldiers, and then he went to that awful criminal cross. And there, under the judgment
and wrath of his father, that man, Jesus Christ, died for our
sin. But he didn't stay dead, he arose.
And now, there's no condemnation to them who are in Christ. That's
what it says. Turn to Romans 8. That's what
we're saying. There is therefore, now in Adam, if you're in Adam,
if God sees you in Adam, if Adam's your only father, your only representative,
if he's your only head, you're damned, you're doomed, you're
condemned, you're under judgment, you're guilty, you don't have
a prayer of a snowball in a blast furnace. Not a prayer. God looks
on you now. But I'll tell you, if by faith
you have laid hold upon God's representative, upon God's federal
head, upon that second Adam, the Lord from heaven, if you
have received him and believed on him and rested in him, by
the grace of God been brought to understand in your head and
believe in your heart that salvation is all in him, vested in him,
put in him, placed in him, and given through him. And you've
said, Christ is my Lord and my hope and my refuge and my trust.
There's no condemnation for you. It's not because you've been
a good boy. It's not because you haven't sinned, because you
have. It's not because you're holding out faithful. It's because
Christ died. Let me show you that in Romans
chapter 8. Let's read on. Romans chapter
8. It says in verse 29, For whom
God did foreknow, He did predestinate to be conformed to the image
of His Son. that Christ might be the firstborn among many brethren.
Moreover, whom He did predestinate, He called, called by His gospel,
called by His Spirit. Whom He called, He justified.
Justified. You know what justified means?
It means to be free of all guilt, all charges, and all sins. And
whom He justified in Christ, He glorified. Now what shall
we say to these things? What's your opinion? Paul says, if God
be for us, who can be against us? If God be for me, in elective
grace, if God be for me in predestinating purposes, if God be for me in
divine call, if God be for me in substitution, then who can
be against me? Read on. He that spared not his
own son, but delivered him up for us all. Us all who? Every
son of Adam? No, everyone identified with
him. I'm talking about identification. I'm talking about representation.
If you won't have Christ, he won't have you. That's it. If you won't rest in Him, you
won't rest. He delivered Him up for us all,
all of His people. Adam fell for us all, Christ
was delivered up for us all. How shall He not with Christ
freely give us all things? You mean Christ purchased something
that I'm not going to get? He bought something for me I
won't have? Who's going to stay His hand? Can I not do with my
own what I will? Who can lay anything to the charge
of God's elect? Anybody want to speak up? It
doesn't say they're not chargeable. It says nobody can lay any charge
to their God's elect. Who is he that condemneth? He
doesn't say they're not condemnable. He said who can condemn them?
Satan can't. He's been judged and cast out.
The law can't. It's been satisfied. Justice
can't. It's been honored. Now, what's
the reason? Who is he that condemned him?
It's Christ that died. Now, that's the whole reason.
Paul doesn't say, who can condemn me? I preached my heart out.
No, sir. Who can condemn me? I've established churches and
ordained elders and done the work of the Lord. No, sir. Who
can condemn me? I've held out faithful. No, sir.
Who can condemn me? Christ died. Yea, rather, even
more than that, he's risen again. who also, even more than that,
is at the right hand of God. My representative is at the right
hand of God. This is representation. Yea,
more than that, he prays for me and for you. That's representation. That's salvation, Joe. That's
it. Turn to Hebrews 10, and that's the only hope that a sinner has.
And that's what Scripture teaches, and the preachers can rant and
rave, and they can pound on the pulpit, and they can deny this,
they can do what they want to. It's what God says in His Word.
It's representation and identification. In Adam we died, in Christ we're
made alive. As we're born in the image of
the earth, we bear the image of the heaven. By one man's disobedience
we were made sinners, by the obedience of one we were made
righteous. All right, read this, now Hebrews 10, 11. Every priest
Talking about the Old Testament priesthood, which was tight,
picture, stand it daily, always standing. They never sat down.
Daily, daily, every day, sacrifices. The same sacrifice, which you
never take away sin, representing Christ. But this man, M-A-N,
this man, the God-man, after he had offered one sacrifice
for sin, he didn't stand, he sat down. Where did he sit down? On the right hand of God, Herman.
That's the hand of love and acceptance, honor and glory. Sat down. Read on. From henceforth expecting,
waiting till his enemies be made his footstool, for by one offering
he hath perfected, perfected forever them that are sanctified,
that are set apart, that are chosen. Well, the Holy Ghost
also is a witness to us, for after that he had said before,
this is a covenant I'll make with them, after those days,
saith the Lord, I'll put my law in their hearts and their minds,
will I write them, their sins and iniquities, I'll remember
no more, no more. Now where remission of these
is, no more offering for sin, no more mass, no more sacrifice,
no more sin offering. boldness to enter into the holiest
by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which he hath
consecrated for us through the veil, that is to say, his flesh,
and having a high priest over the house of God, let's draw
near to God, lay hold upon God, representatively in Christ. That's it. There's no denying
it. That's God's Word. That's what
it teaches. And that's as clear as I can make the gospel. as
clear as I can make it. It's representation, it's identification. As I have borne the image of
the earthy, I'm a man, a human being, born from a woman that
was born from a woman that was born from a woman that went back
to Adam. And I bear his image, I'm just like him. But one day
God sent a man into this world, a perfect man, the second man,
the second Adam, the Lord from heaven. And he came down here
in the same way that that bird back there in the Garden of Eden
represented me and fell, Christ represented me and stood. That's
right. And he kept every law and in
him, in Adam I died, in Christ I kept the law. In Christ I went
to the cross. In Christ I was crucified. In
Christ I was buried. In Christ I'm risen. In Christ
I'm seated in the heavenly jail right now. Now that's the gospel. And you say, what can I do? You
can lay hold on Christ. You can sue for mercy in Christ.
If you confess with your mouth Jesus to be Lord, and believe
in your heart God has raised Him from the dead, thou shalt
be saved. But you can't bypass Christ. You can't bypass Christ
and run to the water, and bypass Christ and run to the table,
and bypass Christ and run to the Lord, bypass Christ and run
to your denomination, and bypass Christ and run to your good works,
and bypass Christ. You've got to get to Him. and
lay hold upon him, and by faith embrace him, and cast yourself
upon him, and commit your soul to him, and rest in him, whatever
takes place. Rest in him. Well, I would if
I could. You could if you would. You could if you would, but you
want to Our old human nature and pride just gnaws against
this. Oh, but now there's something
for us to do. See what I mean? I've just got to have a little
credit. I've got to have a little praise. I just don't seem like
enough to do. Let me tell you, he did what
had to be done, and it cost him everything. He did it. It wasn't easy. It was a horrible
experience. In fact, his human nature so
rebelled that he cried, if it be possible, take this cup from
me. He did it. Why can't I rest in
him? I don't know. Our Father, if
it be pleasing to Thee, glorifying to Thy matchless name, impress
these words, this message, this truth upon my heart. Give me
a rest in Christ. May I be able to say with the
Apostle Paul, I know whom I have believed. I am persuaded he's
able to keep that which I've committed to him against that
day. There's no judgment to them who
are in Christ. Being justified by faith, we have peace with
thee through our Lord Jesus Christ. We know he is the Savior and
he is salvation. He is the priest and he's the
offering. He's the altar. He's all things. He's the mercy
seat. He's our representative, our federal head. Covenant mercies
are all in Christ, and no man will ever be condemned who's
found in Christ, just as all men who are found in Adam are
condemned. Impress this upon every heart. Lead men to seek
Christ, seeking Christ to find him, and finding him to love
him, and loving him to embrace him with a full heart. Open the
eyes of those that are blind and the ears of those that are
deaf, and deliver the captives in the name of and for the glory
of and because of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.