Episode Transcript
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So I invite you now to turn
in your bibles, if you would,
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to Romans Chapter Five. Now,
before I read the text for today,
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let me just refresh our memories about
what Paul has told us so far and
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this marvelous letter to the church in
Rome. In Romans Chapter One and Chapter
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Two, the Apostle tells us what
our problem is. Our problem is sin.
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Our problem is estrangement from God.
We've rebelled against God. No,
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it's doctor R C sproll once put
it. We've been very bad. God
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is very mad. In chapter three, Paul Sets Forth God's solution to our
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problem, and that is justification by
grace through faith in Jesus Christ alone.
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He sets forth the atoning work of
Christ, the importance of our trust in
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him alone as God's way of salvation. That's his resolution to our problem.
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In Chapter Four Paul defends his protector
view from scripture. He shows that it's
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just not something that he worked up
on his own, but it's actually an
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old testament idea that were justified by
grace through faith in Christ the loan.
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And so in chapter four he demonstrates
that he demonstrates justification by faith from the
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Old Testament and he uses two stories. He a story about Abraham and the
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story about David. And now in
Chapter Five, Paul begins to draw some
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implications from this glorious doctrine of justification. He tells us at the beginning of
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the chapter that because we're justified by
faith, we have peace with God,
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we've been reconciled to him and as
a result, we need to have no
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fear of final judgment. We are
secure in Christ. And then in verse
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twelve, to the very end of
the chapter, Paul completes his account of
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justification by speaking of the way centers
are put right before God in Jesus Christ,
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and he illustrates that one and only
way of salvation by comparing what Christ
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did for centers to what Adam did, or, to be more accurately,
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what Adam did to the entire race
at the very headwaters of human history.
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Paul says in that text there that
there's a likeness, there's a similarity between
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Adam and Jesus Christ and that like
this is in the way that what they
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did bears on other people. And
so this paragraph, versus twelve through twenty
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one, it's extremely important, so
of an immense importance to the biblical understanding
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of reality. So please turn there, as you would, the Romans Five,
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verses twelve through twenty one. I'm
going to read the entire paragraph and
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then we're going to concentrate on Paul
summary of the main theme of the paragraph,
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which is in Verse Twenty One.
So let's stand as I read this
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passage, Romans Five, twelve through
twenty one. This is God's word for
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us this morning, so let's pay
heed to it. Therefore, just as
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sin came into the world through one
man and death through sin, and so
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death spread to all men because all
sin, for sin indeed was in the
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world before the law was given.
But sin is not counted where there is
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no law. Yet death reigned from
Adam to Moses, even over those who
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sinning was not like the transgression of
Adam, who was a type of the
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one who was to come. But
the free gift is not like the trespass,
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for if many died through one man's
trespass, much more have the grace
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of God and the free gifts,
by the grace of that one man,
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Jesus Christ, abounded for many.
And the free gift is not like the
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result of that one man's sin,
for the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation,
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but the free gift following many trespasses
brought justification. If, because of
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one man's trespass, death reigned through
that one man, much more will those
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who receive the abundance of grace and
the Free Gift of righteousness reign in life
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through the one man, Jesus Christ. Therefore, as one trespass led the
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condemnation for all men, so one
act of righteousness leads to justification and life
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for all men. For as by
the one man's disobedience the many were made
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sinners, so by the one man's
obedience the many will be made righteous.
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Now the law came in to increase
the trespass. But where sin increased,
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grace abounded all the more. And
then our texts for the day, so
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that as sin reigned in death,
grace also might reign through righteousness leading to
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eternal life through our Lord Jesus Christ. Let me pray for us as we
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try to understand this passage. Our
Father, we thank you for this word
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this morning. We pray that you
would teach us by Your Holy Spirit what
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it means for as deep and as
profound as Paul Paul's words are here.
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He he wrote them not to impress
us with his grasp of your ultimate truth,
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but the comfort us with that truth
and especially to comfort us with the
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reality of your amazing grace. As
such, he meant to be understood.
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So, by Your Spirit, help
us to understand and to respond accordingly.
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In Jesus name. Men, please
be seated. You know most of us
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of the reforms persuasion we've we've heard
this term Reef Covenant Theology. It's a
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term bandied about quite often in our
circles. It's part of our DNA.
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However, I think it's a term
that's widely misunderstood and I think for entirely,
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you know, understandable reasons. It's
used by different people to mean different
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things. You know, to some
Coven at Baptist Covenant Theology Means Infant Baptism.
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The others it means a particular view
of the relationship between the Old Testament
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and the New Testament. But fundamentally
and originally it means something else. You
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know, Bible Readers here the Term
Covenant Theology and they naturally suppose that we're
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talking about all those covenants mentioned in
the Bible. You know, the Covenant
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with Noah, the Covenant with Abraham
and with Israel at Sinai King David,
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so on. You know what else
could would the term refer to? And
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in Fact Covenant Theology eventually does make
a great deal of these covenants. But
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in fact those biblical covenants are not
really what Covenant Theology is about, at
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least in the way the term is
used by reform theologians. In fact,
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the covenants of Covenant Theology are never
called covenants anywhere in the Bible, and
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that just like a theologian to do
something like that. And what's more,
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they are very different things than the
covenant the Lord made with Abraham and with
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Israel or David. There are two
covenants in Covenant Theology, the Covenant God
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Made With Adam and the covenant he
made with his son Jesus Christ. And
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in each case the one man stands
and he acts as a representative of a
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race of people. I was never
true of Abraham. Abraham's faith didn't make
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all his descendants believers. Was True
of David. His faith fulness to his
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calling didn't make the Kings that descended
from him faithful as well. Neither of
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these men represented and acted decisively for
and in the stead of an entire community
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of people. Quite the contrary,
indeed. We know that. But Adams
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Fall meant the fall of every human
being. His disobedience made all human beings
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who would come from him to be
guilty, sinners from the very beginning of
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their lives. In other words,
we come into this life not with a
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clean slate but as sinners because of
Adam Sin. It's what this text tells
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us today. And in a similar
way, Christ righteousness, his death on
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the Cross, made Christ people righteous
before God and reconciled to God. Now
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the consequences of the actions of these
two men, the two atoms as Paul
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calls them, over in First Corinthians
fifteen, the first atom and the last
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atom, will unfold as people come
to life in this world. But there
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can be no escaping the result achieved
by each people's representative. You know the
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English Puritan Thomas Goodwin. The puritans
have a way of putting things. He
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put this in kind of a homey
way in the seventeen century. He said
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that there are but two men standing
before God, Adam and Christ, and
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these two men have all other human
beings hanging from their belts. So it's
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this view, I think you know, based supremely on this short passage and
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in some cases in First Corinthians fifteen, that all of God's dealings with mankind
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are in terms of these two representatives, the first in Adam, the second
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in Christ, in each case the
head acting on behalf and for the body.
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And I say it's this view of
the history of mankind that is properly
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designated covenant theology. And now you
know, these covenants of biblical history,
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Noah, Abraham, Israel, David
and so on. They're simply the historical
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outworking the Presu the progressive revelation of
that salvation that was accomplished by the Second
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Adam, Jesus Christ, and I
think that's what Paul lays out for us
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here in this passage. Now we
don't have time to develop this any further
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this morning, but I want to
commend a much more detailed study of this
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Covenant Theology that Paul lays out for
us here in these verses. Instead,
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let's just do this the time that
we have. Let's take a look at
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Paul's Summary of this entire paragraph in
Verse Twenty One. So that as sin
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reigned in death, grace also might
reign through righteousness, leading to eternal life
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through Jesus Christ, our Lord.
You know, it's as Paul wraps up
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this section in Verse Twenty One,
it's like he sort of he sort of
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draws back a curtain and in a
very highly imaginative and picturesque illustration, he
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summarizes the essence of Covenant Theology by
introducing us to two rival kings, and
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they're competing kingdoms, and the way
he gets into his illustration is by personifying,
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if you will, the power of
sin on the one hand and personifying
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the power of grace on the other. He compares these powers to two people,
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to monarchs, two kings, if
you will. Established the one king
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is a bad king, he's an
autocrat, he's invaded our world and Esta
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at least, is ruthless control over
all men and women. The end of
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this king's rule is death, death
for everybody. This king's name is sin
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and he came into the world through
the man Adam. The other king is
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gracious and kind. He's come to
save us from kings sin and bring us
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into a realm of eternal happiness,
eternal joy. The end of this king's
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rule is eternal life through Jesus Christ, and this King's name is grace.
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So these two kings stand face to
face. Each recognizes the other as his
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enemy and they do battle, they
go to war, and the struggle is
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going on between and not only on
the wide field of the world, we
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see that every day, but it's
also going on in the narrow confines of
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each of our hearts. Now I
want you to see that's a pretty good
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illustration, because I think it lays
out for us a very important aspect of
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grace that perhaps we maybe we didn't
even think about before. This illustration tells
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us that grace is much, much
more and just an attitude, way much
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more than just a thought. It
tells us that grace is in fact of
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power. It's a power which reaches
out to save those who, apart from
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that power, would certainly perish.
What does that means to it's a little
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confusing, I think. Well,
to use this illustration of these two rival
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kings, grace is basically an invasion
by a good and legitimate king of territory
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that has been usurped by a bad
king. No, we can't always see
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this battle raging between these two kings, because this is spiritual, not physical,
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warfare. But you see, the
attack is every bit as massive and
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decisive as it may not be a
the best example, but it's just as
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massive as the invasion of the beaches
of Normandy by the Allied Forces. That
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was the turning point of World War
Two. You know the story. The
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allies throw everything they had into that
invasion. They won to day and from
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that point on, even though there
were many battles left to fight, we're
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going to be some setbacks, the
outcome of the war was never in doubt
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after d day. Never victory was
assured. And I think in a similar
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way Paul assures these Christians in Rome. He assures us that God has thrown
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his entire weight behind grace. The
final outcome for us is no longer in
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doubt. Now we're going to have
to fight many battles in this life,
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we're going to suffer some setbacks,
but on the authority of sacred scripture,
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in the end King Grace will triumph
over King's Sin. That's what this verse
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says. That's the main point,
the main theme of this whole paragraph.
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I think it's a good summary of
Covenant Theology. So in the time we
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have left. Let me just put
a little bit more flesh on that idea.
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You know, as you look back
through history, all earthly kingdoms have
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a beginning. You know, the
United States, for example, came into
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being in seventeen seventy six with our
declaration of independence from England. We gained
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that independence through a military victory.
Other kingdoms have come into existence through peaceful
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means. Well, what do you
suppose was the origin of the Kingdom of
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grace about which Paul is writing here
in Verse Twenty One? When did it
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begin? When was it inaugurated?
Well, the answer that the Apostle Peter
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gives in First Peter One hundred and
twenty is that this Kingdom of grace was
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inaugurated before the creation of the world. Now Peters referring in that one verse
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to the decision made in the eternal
counsels of the godhead in eternity past to
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sin God's son, the Lord Jesus
Christ, the Second Adam, to be
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our redeemer. You know theought theologians
sometimes call this divine decision and the Covenant
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of Redemption. It's a key part
of Covenant Theology and it took place before
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sin entered the world. In fact, it took place even before the world
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was created. Well, how did
it happen? Well, and that eternal
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covenant. God, the father,
said, you know, I want to
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show the host of Heaven the nature
and the power of my grace. I'm
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going to create a world of creatures
to be known as men and women,
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and I'm going to let them fall
into sin. I'm going to I'm going
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to allow sin to reign over them, enslaving them by its power and leading
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them at last to physical and spiritual
death. But when sin has done its
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worse and the condition of their race
seems hopeless, I'm going to send a
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heavenly being of infinite grace and power
to rescue them and usher in a New
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Kingdom of grace. Who will go
for me? Who will accomplish the salvation
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for these creatures? Well, the
Lord Jesus was sitting there. He raised
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his hand and he said, I'll
do it. Send Me. Here's what
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I'll do. I'll take the form
of one of these creatures. I'll go
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and die for them. I'll die
in their place, the innocent, further
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guilty, God for man. I'll
bear the punishment of their transgressions. Then,
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when I've paid the penalty for their
sin, so that they will never
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have to suffer for it. I
will rise from the dead and be for
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them and ever reigning and ever gracious, King and Lord. That's what happened.
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An agreement was sealed between God,
the father, God the Son.
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A contract, a covenant, was
enacted to establish a Kingdom of grace in
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which Jesus would die for a people
whom God would give to him. Know
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the Holy Spirit, who was also
present at the inauguration of this kingdom.
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He Covenant to the lead, to
lead those whom God had first chosen for
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this Kingdom of Faith in the crucified
and risen Lord, by which alone they
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could enter it. So the this
Kingdom of grace began with the Godhead,
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before the foundation of the world,
and over the years that kingdom has grown.
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It's unfolded throughout history. It's the
story of redemption. It's a story
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that's recorded for us in the pages
of scripture. God wasted no time in
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announcing his kingdom on that on the
same day that Adam and eve send,
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God appeared in the garden to foretell
the coming of his son and his atonement
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for these creatures. It was the
first announcement of the Gospel, you know,
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thank Genesis Three fifteen. And although
Adam and Eve didn't understand all this
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fully, they were a little confused, they did understand enough to believe God
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and to look for the coming of
their redeemer. They thought it was going
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to be their first son King.
It wouldn't. They were mistaken in that,
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but they continue to look forward to
a redeemer. You know, the
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Old Testament Rep records a long period
of preparation for this new king, for
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his coming. And then again,
the God of all grace was doing it.
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Now. God established a Godly Lion
in the midst of the world's sin.
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Was the line in which his name
was remembered and faith in this coming
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redeemer was kept alive. Remember Seth. He was the third son of Adam
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and Eve. He was the first
of this new line. From him came
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others, including Enich, who walked
with God. Noah. Then there was
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job right there at the beginning of
redemptive history. He knew he would see
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his redeemer walk up on the Earth. It's nothing less than a prophecy of
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the incarnation of Christ, way back
in job later came Abraham, then Isaac
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Jacob, Jacob Sons, the twelve
patriarchs of Israel, and were priests like
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Aaron, prophets like Isaiah Jeremiah,
godly kings like David, and just before
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the birth of Jesus, there were
people like Zachariah and Elizabeth, Joseph and
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Mary, Simeon and Anna and others, all of whom look forward to Christ's
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coming. He was thirty nine.
Says that these were all commended for their
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faith, yet none of them receive
what had been promised. All these people
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were saved by grace. They were
part of the preparation for this coming of
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God's kingdom, but the true light
that gives light to every man was only
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then coming into the world. Now
the death of Jews, of the Lord
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Jesus for Sin. It's a very
basis and center of God's Kingdom of grace.
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So we shouldn't be surprised to find
Paul thinking of this specifically as he
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unfolds his illustration here in Romans Five, verse Twenty One, saying that Grace
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Reigns through righteousness, leading to eternal
life through Jesus Christ, our Lord.
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You know, I think his words
remind us that grace it doesn't mean the
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setting aside of God's law, doesn't
mean the waving of justice, as if
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God was saying, Hey, go
ahead and sin, it doesn't matter,
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I'll forgive you. Well, Sin
does matter. It's a terrible thing.
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Verse Twenty One says that it leads
to death, and this life and death
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in the age to come. God
doesn't overlook sin, he deals with it.
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Christ died for Sin and God counts
Christ divine and utterly perfect righteousness as
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ours. Well, you know,
a kingdom, as it moves along and
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grows, needs citizens. God is
in the business of providing subjects for his
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Kingdom of grace. Well, how
does he do that? Well, theologians
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speak of something called the Ordo salutists, or the order of salvation. It's
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fascinating. It refers to the steps
that God takes to bring citizens into his
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Kingdom of grace. Most of you
know the order salutist. Let me just
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review it. First, there's foreknowledge. It means that God takes saving notice
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of these would be citizens of his
kingdom. He sets his favor on them,
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he gives them grace. The second
there's predestination or election. This means
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in the eternal counsels of his will, God has determined to save them by
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bringing him to Christ. Third There's
effectual calling. This is the call of
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the Gospel. It actually produces a
proper, believing response in God's elect it's
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like the calling of Lazareth, which
brought him forth from the tomb, from
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death, back to life. The
fourth step is regenerated, and it's a
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spiritual quickening, making alive. Everything
that comes becomes good in US flows from
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that. The fifth step is repentance
and faith. We turn from sin,
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will eat, we believe. We
believe on Christ because we've been made alive,
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we've been regenerated. Sex is sanctification. The new life of Christ within
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the believer works itself out in an
increasing growth of holiness, good works.
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And, of course, the final
step is glorification, in which were made
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into the very image of Jesus Christ, without sin forever. And that happens
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when Christians die. They go to
heaven. Think of that. I can't
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imagine any more glorious unfolding of the
Kingdom of grace toward you and me.
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Then that process, dear ones,
this is the power of God on display,
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providing for and then actually saving us
who, apart from it, would
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certainly be lost again. It's a
power. You know, if grace were
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only a handout or an offer to
help, we would perish. The only
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reason we're saved is that grace first
provides the way of salvation and then actually
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reaches out to turn us from sin
and to quickenness, to draw us a
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salvation. There win's that's a great
power and that power is all of God.
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And what a marvelous unfolding of the
Kingdom of grace throughout history. You
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know there were times, you know
read the Bible, that when it looked
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like it would end, but God
always intervened in history. Always when it
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look like it when't going to happen, he intervened to keep it moving forward.
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But what about the nature of the
realm of God's grace? What can
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we say about it now? What
is it? What does it look like
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now? Let me just say a
couple of things about that. I think
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the first thing that we can say
about this reign of grace is that it's
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bountiful. Look back at Verse Twenty
and look, this is what verse twenty
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says. It says where sin increased, grace abounded all the more. See
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God's grace never ends. It's overflowing
with benefits. It's not odious, you
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know, I think Dean Martin Lloyd
Jones says it best. What he says
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is so on target that maybe we
ought to memorize it. He says grace
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always gives, whereas sin always takes
away. Grace always gives, whereas sin
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always takes away. In a sin, this tyrannical king, he tells us
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just the opposite. He tells us
that he'll give us all we've ever wanted.
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Grace will deprive us all of that. Sin Says, yeah, look
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at these Christians and never have any
fun. Look at all the things they
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cannot do and all too often,
just like the prodigal son, we buy
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into that Siren Song. We listen
to this bad king, we take our
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inheritance and we journey into a far
country where we don't have to listen to
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the good king's advice, we don't
have to respond to his will. And
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what do we do there? Well, we blow our SS on the wild
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living, we waste our inheritance and
when we come to the end of our
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days it's all gone. Sin Is
taken it all and we find, as
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the Prodigal did, that no one
will give us anything in the end.
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When we look to kings sin,
whom we followed and asked for his help,
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what does he do? He laughs
at us as he reaches out to
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snatch away even life itself. Dear
ones, follow King Sin and he will
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rob you of your innocence. It'll
rob you of your character. Follow King
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Sin and he will wither away your
health. Follow King Sin and he will
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turn to ashes even the even the
common, precious things in life, things
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like friendship, love, laughter,
the innocence of children, Hope, contentment.
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Follow King Sin and he will ussure
you to damn nation and he'll he'll
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laugh at you as you stagger through
the door. But follow the king whose
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name is grace, and things will
beat all together different. Now grace sees
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you staggering, he comes alongside to
help you, bear you up. Grace
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sees US destitute, and what does
he do? He pours, out the
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end, the inexhaustible riches of Christ
and the father into our laps. Grace
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sees US dying, he imparts eternal
life. The wages of sin is death,
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but the gift of God is eternal
life. In Christ Jesus, Our
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Lord Gray says what do you need? Tell me, tell me anything at
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all. What do you need?
And then grace provides for that in accord
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with God's perfect wisdom, invincible power, an unlimited supply. Grace is bountiful,
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but it's not only bountiful. Grace
is also invisible or, I'm sorry,
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invincible. You know, some of
you may be saying. Can you
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really say that to is grace really
invincible? It often doesn't seem that way
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to me. In this life.
It's not always true that good triumphs over
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evil. Can Anything as good as
grace really triumph in the end? How
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can we know that in the end, Sin will not somehow still be there
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to assert its rule snatch God's bountiful
gifts out of her hands? Well,
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that would certainly be possible if we're
if it were only my grace or if
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it were only your grace that we're
talking about, sin would indeed snatch our
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good gifts away. We couldn't stand
against King Sin. But praise God,
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it's not my grace, it's not
your grace, it's reigning. It's the
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grace of God, and God is
the Almighty one. Who or what can
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stand against God or his purpose?
I want you to just consider again this
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morning now what Paul says a little
bit later in this wonderful letter, Romans
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Eight, thirty one through thirty nine. If God is for us, who
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can be against us? He who
did not spare his own son, but
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gave him up for us all,
how will he not also, with him,
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graciously give us all things? Who
shall bring any charge against God's elect
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it is God who justifies. Who
is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the
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one who died, more than that, who was raised, who is at
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the right hand of God, who
is indeed interceding for us? WHO shall
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separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation or distress or persecution or
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famine or nakedness or danger or sword, as it is written? For Your
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Sake, we are being killed all
day long. We are regarded as sheep
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to be slaughtered. No, and
all these things. We are more than
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conquerors to him who loved us.
For I'm sure that neither death, nor
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life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present or thanks to come,
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nor power, nor height, nor
depth, nor anything else in all
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creation, will be able to separate
us from the love of God in Christ
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Jesus, Our Lord. Never doubt
it. In the end, King Grace
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will prevail, He will triumph over
King Sin. God's grace is indeed invincible.
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Charles Wesley and a great hymn has
it exactly right. He said,
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Oh for a thousand tongues to saying
my great redeemers, praise the glories of
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my God and King. What the
triumphs of His grace? The triumphs of
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His grace? There are no triumphs
anywhere like those triumphs. There are none
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so happy, there's none so certain. You need to buy into it to
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believe it. So let grace triumph
in you. Yield to it, yield
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to the grace of God in Christ. Open your arms to grace and let
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grace draw you in. Well,
I need to sum this up. Let
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me just give you two principles which
I think are exemplified in this concluding verse
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of Chapter Five. In fact it's
it's kind of the summary of the entire
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paragraph and which I think are important
for us to take away this morning.
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Two principles, I think. The
first principle is that God takes sin seriously.
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You know throughout the Bible in the
world about this. I think typically
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men and women are constantly trying to
minimize sin and its consequences. But the
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Bible constantly emphasizes the seriousness of sin, and I think this text dramatically illustrates
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us done it now. Just just
look at the devastation one sin brought to
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the human race. Adam sin brought
about his own death, but it also
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condemned all mankind to death. I
Adam sin brought us all down. So
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who can say that sin is not
serious? You know, you think about
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it, most people are. They
wouldn't even call what Adam did a sin.
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Look, what he did was it
was just a little piccadillo is a
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misdemeanor, something like spitting on the
sidewalk, like jaywalking. Adam simply ate
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the fruit of a tree. What's
a big deal? Well, it's.
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The big deal was God had told
him not to do that and act which
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men would hardly even think of.
His sin today becomes the cause of Man's
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downfall. No, God does indeed
take sin very seriously, and so much
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you and I. So that's one
principle I think we need to take home
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with us from this text today.
I think a second principle is that our
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identity today is found either in Adam
or it's found in Christ. You know,
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as I said, both Adam and
Christ were appointed by God to be
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representatives for other men and women.
God appointed them to stand for others.
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Both became what we call federal heads
of particular bodies of people. Each is
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the source of what can be called
either the old or the new humanity.
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You see, the old humanity is
the race as it stands apart from Jesus,
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Christ, following sin, headed for
destruction. That's what we see today
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in the world around us, all
around us. The new the new humanity
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is all redeemed people who have been
saved by Jesus. And you see,
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the entire human race is divided into
these two humanities by virtue of their relationship
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to these two representatives. You know, just it's kind of shift gears here.
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Let's just look at this principle of
our identity in either Adam or Christ
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another way. You know this.
This passage in Romans five explains the words
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of our Lord spoken to Nicodemus better
than, I think, any other new
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testament texts. You remember Dicodemus,
remember what Jesus said the Nicodemus. Truly,
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truly, I say to you.
Unless one is born again, you
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cannot see the Kingdom of God.
Now Remember the apostle, Paul over their
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John Three. He introduces Nicodemus as
a Pharisee and as a ruler of the
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Jews. He also says he's a
teacher of Israel. Those are pretty good
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credentials and I think with those kind
of credentials, Nicodemus, this renowned teacher.
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He had to have taught about Adam. He had to have taught about
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Adams Fall and the downfall of the
human race. But if he was like
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the rests of the Pharisees, and
he was, he trusted, in his
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physical descent from Abraham and in his
pre possession of the law to save you.
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That's what he thought was going to
save you. Now, what a
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shock it must have been for Nicodemus, this Pharisee, this teacher of the
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law, when Jesus told him that
entrance into God's Kingdom of grace required a
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second birth. You know that expression, born again. It should not have
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been foreign, should not have been
a foreign thought to Nicodemus. I think
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it should have caused him, as
it does us, to think in these
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terms in which Paul speaks of us
here in Romans Five. How was it
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that the human race fell into sin? Paul tells us here that it was
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on account of Adam. Nicodemus should
have seen that. He should have known
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that. But how did each individual
fall under the curse? It was by
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being born, simply by being born, birth made one a son of Adam
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and thus a sinner. We inherited
Adam sin when we were born, and
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the solution to the guilt of sin
encountered at birth was another birth, a
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second birth by God's grace. To
be saved, men must exchange their identity
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with Adam, by which they're condemned, to an identity with Christ, by
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which they're justified, by which they're
saved. As physical birth was the source
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of Man's sins, so another birth
is the solution to man's sin. See,
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this is what the Gospel is all
about. This is the guts of
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Covenant Theology. Jesus Christ came to
Earth to offer men a cure for the
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curse which adam sin brought upon all
mankind. So you see, I think
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the Gospel confronts each of us with
a choice. Will you remain in AB
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and Adam, subject to the penalty
of death, or will you accept God's
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gracious provision for a new identity in
Christ? See, being born again is
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our Lord's way of speaking of that
point in a person's life when they acknowledge
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their own sin, their own guilt
and the just sentence upon them of death.
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It's ceasing to trust and what we
are and clinging to WHO Jesus Christ
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is. It's finding our identity in
Christ rather than in Adam. It's turning
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from condemnation to justification. It's turning
from death to life, from Adam to
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Jesus Christ. And so the question
which I press on each of you this
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morning is, have you been born
again? It was necessary for Nicodemus,
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this famous religious leader, famous teacher. was necessary for the Romans. It's
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also necessary for you. It's necessary
for me. Will you choose death or
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life? Will you choose sin or
grace, Adam or Christ? You know,
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there's no more important decision you will
ever make than that. The salvation
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which God has offered in Christ.
It's not automatic, has to be received.
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I pray that if you haven't already
done that, you will receive it
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today.
