Romans 5_12-21 Jack D. Terry, Jr.

Dr. Terry mentions that it is a significant time for the Jewish community as they observe the ten days of awe, leading up to the day of atonement. The speaker then discusses the concept of being born again and how it relates to the process of salvation. He mentions that all humans are born in sin and need spiritual help to be justified before God. The speaker highlights the importance of Jesus' sacrifice and the shedding of blood for the remission of sin. He questions how the Jewish people can have their sins forgiven without a temple or sacrifice. Dr. Terry suggests that the answer lies in a Christmas carol that encapsulates the message of reconciliation. Good morning. Good morning. Y'all are sure looking good today. We have some really fine seats up here close, but since I sit in the back when Brother Jimmy teaches I'm not going to get on you. Y'all doing okay? Good. Okay. If you haven't met Kelly and Dan Bly, B-L-Y, Bly, right back here in the back. Kelly is my new executive assistant at the seminary. I lost an executive assistant in late August. She went to Birmingham, Alabama, home, so she went back home. Dan, Kelly's husband, is a lieutenant commander in the Navy Reserve. Thank you. Yeah. I think that's great. Thank you, Dan. He has just transferred from Corpus Christi to the reserve base here at Carswell and about to get out of the military, I think, for a while. I'm out there working, still doing my reserve job. Good. And so they've moved here to live with us, so we're really thrilled that they're here. Kelly worked for a seminary in Indiana when she was a younger lady, before she and Dan married, and then she worked for Dallas Theological Seminary for a while, so she's had some good seminary background. And then while they were in Corpus Christi, you worked for a private school? A pre-K through 12th grade classroom. Yeah. So she's been working with a lot of Christian institutions for many, many years now. She has tremendous information, tremendous knowledge. She's a great helper, and I am thrilled to have her, by the way. So Kelly and Dan, welcome. Glad to have you here. Donna and Wayne, glad to have you here. Thanks for coming. And if you find us alive and like us, we'd love you to stay. So thank you for being here. And all the rest of you who are visiting, and those of you who are now new members, are you hearing me okay? Am I coming through okay? Because I don't want to get any louder if I don't need to. Okay. Now today, we're in chapter 5, beginning with verse 12. And there are 10 verses that we're going to look through. And I'm going to say a number of things today that you need to hear, and you need to hear them very carefully, because we are now in the process of the Apostle Paul coming almost to a conclusion of his development of what we identify as justification. How is a person justified before God? And just to recap for our visitors who haven't been here, the process of salvation has four parts. The first part is what you well know. Everybody is born in sin because of Adam's sin. So by that, all are sinners. Not some, not a few, not a bunch, but all. All have sinned, the scripture says, and have fallen short, like an arrow dropping before the target. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. So therefore, we know that all are sinners. Therefore, if we're all sinners, then there is a problem with what we are needing to do while we are here. That's what this scripture talks about today. And also, we have talked about the fact that we know that in sin, we cannot get ourselves out of sin, that we need spiritual help. And of course, that help came from the cross. And we know that we were born in sin and death because we, when Adam sinned, we sinned with him. And we are in him. We are in Adam. And so therefore, we were born into sin and death. And what Christ and God would like for us to be, they would like for us to be outside of sin and death in life and liberty in Jesus Christ. So that's what all this is about today. We're going to talk about how did we get to where we are. How did you end up in Adam? And how did we get there? And what was the process that brought us there? And secondly, we're going to look at how do we get out of it? And getting out of it is the most glorious study that you will ever study in your entire life. And we're going to do a good bit of it today. Now, let me help you understand. Today, something very important is happening in the Jewish community. Yesterday was Rosh Hashanah, New Year's. Which means that yesterday began ten days of prayer for the Jewish people. And in the Old Testament, it is called the ten days of awe, A-W-E, which means to be awestruck in the presence of God. And on these ten days, when there was a temple, and there was a temple, you understand, until 70 A.D. And when there was a temple, at the end of these ten days, there is another day which comes up on the 25th of this month. And on the 25th of this month is Yom Kippur, the day of atonement. If you look at that word atonement, it's kind of interesting, taken apart, at one meant. To be atoned means to be at one with God. You see, we're like this with God. Because we're like this, we are at odds with God. Therefore, something, because of our nature in Adam, and our nature with sin and death, because our nature was like this, something needed to bring our nature from at odds with God to at one with God. So the word atone simply means at one. So, we have to become at one with God, or to be atoned. Now, the interesting thing about that is, we have a lot of information about a statement that I'm going to make. Because we're going to go back today and look at several places as we look at these ten verses, because we have to go into the word of God in other places to see how these ten verses are operating, not only in scriptural text, but how they're operating in the kingdom of God, and how they operated during the time of the Apostle Paul, and how they're operating today. It's very important we see all of it together. And we have to go to a statement that you need to understand. And that statement was given by Jesus to a man named Nicodemus. Nicodemus, as you remember, was a ruler of the Jewish people. We'll talk about that later, because we're going to go into that story. And Jesus said to him, Nicodemus, you must be born again. Now, that was kind of a strange statement to a man who was probably in his 60s or later, and to a Jewish leader who had been doing Yom Kippur probably for over 60 years, probably for over six decades. And what's happening today in the Jewish community is the real concerned Orthodox Jew is trying his very best in the next ten days to get at least close to at-oneness with God. And they're going to spend, the real Orthodox Jews, the Hasidics and the others, they're going to spend these ten days praying, praying, praying, praying that God will forgive them of their sins, and God will make them one with Him. Of course, the problem with that is, we have another scripture in the book of Hebrews that says, without the shedding of blood, there is no remission for sin. Therefore, if there is no temple in Jerusalem, and it was destroyed in 70 AD, and now these Jewish people in 2023 are praying that their sins be forgiven, when we come to next Tuesday, which is Yom Kippur, on next Tuesday, they're going to say, today I get my sins forgiven. How? There's no sacrifice. There will be no sacrifice next Tuesday. There is no temple. There is no Holy of Holies. There is no Ark of the Covenant. There's nothing. So, if they pray and pray and pray and pray, and yet the scripture says, without contradiction, without the shedding of blood, there is no remission for sin, then how can they have their sins remitted next Tuesday, if there's no sacrifice? You got the picture? Now, that poses a problem. And the problem is answered in a Christmas carol. Can you believe that? The answer is in a Christmas carol. Now, the interesting thing about Christmas carols, or songs, any song, every song is a poem. And sometimes, when you have a little bit of free time, and you want to do something real thrilling, get a hymn book and just read the poems. Don't sing them, read them. Because they all say something about the kingdom of God. In fact, I have come to the conclusion, as has Brother Jimmy on many occasions, a song is more theological than some sermons I've heard. And you too. Okay. I'm going to read a song, and I want you to listen to the words carefully, because as we come back to this scripture, all of these words are going to be encapsulated in this passage. Chapter 5, verses 12 through 21. In fact, part of this song came from this passage. When the hymnist wrote this song, wrote the poem, he took this passage as a background basis for the poem. And you will understand in a few moments. Here's the song. Heart the herald angels sing, Glory to the newborn king, Peace on earth and mercy mild, God and sinners reconciled. Joyful, all you nations rise, Join the triumph of the scribes, With angelic hosts proclaim, Christ is born in Bethlehem. Verse 2. Christ by highest heaven adored, Christ the everlasting Lord. Late in time, behold Him come, Offspring of the virgin's womb. Watch this next one. Veiled in flesh, the Godhead He. Made like us, veiled in flesh, Put in flesh, the Godhead He. Hail the incarnate Deity. Pleased with man, with men to dwell, Jesus our Emmanuel. God with us. Veiled in flesh like us, Pleased to dwell with us. Last verse. Hail the heaven-born Prince of Peace. Hail the Son of Righteousness. Light and life to all He brings. Risen with healing in His wings. Watch the next one. Mild He lays His glory by. Born that men no more will die. Born to raise the sons of earth. Now watch this next one. Born to give them second birth. You got the Kedemahs to be born again. Born to give them second birth. Now, in the Scripture today, I'm going to read through it with you. I want you to follow along with me. I'm going to read the whole passage. Ten verses. Because there are words in this passage that need to become part of your biblical vocabulary. And they need to become part of your biblical understanding as they have mine. And as I've said to you on many occasions, I don't know all there is to know, but God has given me a few things that I want to share with them. Okay? Verse 12. He says, therefore. Now, we all know what the therefore is there for. Because He's referring back to Abraham and faith. That's what the therefore is there for. He's referring back to Abraham. And so He says, therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men because all sinned. For until the law, sin was in the world, but sin was not imputed when there was no law. When we didn't have the law, we didn't know what sin was. We didn't know what sin was until we got the law. Law was late in coming. It was long after Abraham. It was not until the children were in Egypt that we got the law at Sinai. So, before the law came, sin could not be imputed because we didn't really know what sin was. We were in it, but we didn't know what it was. Sin was imputed. There was no law. Nevertheless, during that time, death reigned from Adam to Moses even over those who had not sinned according to the likeness of the transgression of Adam, who is the type of him, Jesus Christ, who was to come. But, and I love those conjunctions, now he's going to change everything that he said in these verses in the next verses. But, the free gift is not like the offense. You see, Adam was the offense. Adam took us into sin. Adam disobeyed God. Adam disobeyed God's statement. Adam, do not eat of the tree of life in the middle of the garden. If you do, you will die. In other words, if you do, you'll enter into sin and death. Adam, stay away from that thing. He was our father. We were in him. When Adam sinned, we sinned. And death, thanatos, hothanatos, came upon us. When he died, in sin, we died with him. Because we were in him. Go on. But the free gift is not like the offense, for by one man's offense many died. Now here's a couple of little words that you will see a lot in the Word of God. Much more. Much more. You can see it three times before we get to the end of 21. Much more. A couple of little words. Much more. The grace of God and the gift by grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, abounded to many. Now watch. In the sin of one, everybody died, but the grace of God is going to be available to many. Let me ask you a question. Has everybody accepted the redemption of Jesus Christ? It didn't say that grace would be available to everyone, although it is, but he knows that there are only going to be many who will receive it. Oh, just like the fact that today there are a number of Jewish synagogues that are not praying at all. Most of the Reformed synagogues are not praying because they don't believe there's any forgiveness of sin on the other end. Some of the conservative synagogues are praying if they are more conservative with Hebrew in their worship, but if they don't have Hebrew in their worship, some of the conservative synagogues are not praying. In other words, these 10 days to some people in the Jewish community don't mean a hoot because they know there's no temple and they know there's no sacrifice and they know that unless there is shedding of blood, there is no remission. And so he says, Christ abounded to one, but abounded to many. And the gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned, for the judgment which came from one offense resulted in condemnation. When Adam sinned, we were all condemned. But the free gift which came from many offenses resulted in justification. When God saw that all of us were offensive, then he moved in justification. For if by one man's offense death reigned through one, much more those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the one Jesus Christ. Now, at this point, the earth does not have multiple races. The earth has two races. You are either in the race of Adamic sin and death, or you are in the race of life and liberty through redemption through the blood of Jesus Christ the Lord. There is no other place to be. For you see, we do not sin because we are sinners. We sin because we have the wrong inherited father. We sin because our father chose the wrong avenue. Our father, Adam, chose to sin. Let me give you an illustration before I finish this passage. If your great-grandfather had died at three years of age, where would you be? Nowhere. Because in your great-grandfather you were there. I was in my great-grandfather. You were in your great-grandfather. And if our great-grandfathers had died before they were able to produce children to progenitor the race of my great-grandfather, if he died when he was three years of age, I would not be here. Same principle with Adam. In Adam's sin, all died. And since all of us died in Adam, we are in what is called the Adamic race. Therefore, if we are in the race of sin and death, we only have one option. And the option is shown very clearly in the book of Hebrews. For it is appointed unto man once to die. And after that, the judgment. Since we only have one time to die. And if we are still in the race of Adam and sin when we die, it is appointed unto us to die, and after that, the judgment. So he goes on and says, Therefore, through one man's offense judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation. Even so, through one man's righteousness act, the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life. Now remember, Paul is finishing up his study in justification. Because as we move over to chapter 6 and 7, he starts moving towards sanctification. Which is the third part of the plan of salvation. Sin, justification, sanctification. For as by one man's disobedience, many were made sinners, so also by one man's obedience will many be made righteous. But moreover, the law entered that the offense might abound, but where sin abounded, grace did much more abound. I'll tell you about that in a few minutes. So that, as sin reigned in death, even so, grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ the Lord. There is the race of sin and death. And you are in that race unless you have confessed your sins to eternal God, believed in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, ask Him to enter into your heart by the mysterious miracle of the moving of the Holy Spirit, and to change your vile self from the life of sin and death into the life of life and liberty in Jesus Christ. Ladies and gentlemen, we're either one or the other. I can't give you a third option. There is none. Now listen to the Apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians. If any man be in Christ. 2 Corinthians 5.17 If any man be in Christ. Now, what's that word, in? You see, we say that we were in Adam because Adam was the one who produced the soul. He was the father of the race. So all of us were in Adam. Had Adam died when he was five, guess where the race would have been? Nowhere. But Adam didn't die when he was five. And Adam gave birth to this one and gave birth to that one and the other and the other and here just kept coming and here came all the birth and we are still coming out of Adam. But he says, if any man be in Christ, in life and liberty, he is a, watch this, new creation. Not creature. Ladies and gentlemen, in the first book of Genesis and second chapter, and first and second chapter, God created. He created a creation and in that creation he created a man and from that man he created a woman. God is in the business of mysteriously spiritual creation and recreation. If God in the beginning can create us and we fell into the life of sin and death because of our relationship to Adam, is it not to stand to reason that in his superlative magnificent outstanding power of being able to create, he can recreate us? Back to the soul. Recreate us in thy love. Second Adam from above. You see, he is not talking about sin and death Adam. He is talking about the life and liberty Adam. Second Adam. Not the one that we're in, not the one that we were born into, not the one which gave us sin and death, but the one he is going to provide for us as a propitiation for our sin. He is going to be a blood covering for our sin. He is going to be the ark of the covenant. He is going to become our mercy seat. He will shed his blood in order that we might have remission of our sins for without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sin. Okay. Set all that to get your minds thinking because now we're going to take a little trip back into what happened and to let you know that the apostle Paul is putting together for us a wonderful Christian theology. You see, they had a Jewish theology and Paul knew it well. In fact, Paul probably was the most astute scholar of Old Testament theology. He probably knew more about Old Testament theology than any of us will ever know about anything. Therefore, since he knew all of this about Old Testament theology, you see, God worked in the Old Testament just like he works in the New Testament. How did Abraham come to God? By? Say it. How did you come to God? Isn't that interesting? That in the Old Testament, Abraham came to God the same way in the New Testament you came to God. Abraham believed God. Abraham was a polytheist. He was a multi-god person of Caldes. Abraham believed in a monotheist. He believed in a one God. And the scripture says in the 15th of Genesis, Abraham believed God and that belief was counted for righteousness. He was taken out of Adam and he was put into God. And then God made a covenant with him. Now, was Adam Abraham perfect? Oh, by the way, since you have come into Jesus Christ, are you perfect? I mean, don't kick Adam, don't kick Abraham until you kick yourself. No, we're not perfect either. And someone said, I'm not perfect, I'm just growing. Okay, so, now we start talking about some other passages that you need to come to understand because they all related to and come out of this passage. You see, Paul here is at the city, he's writing this book from the city of Corinth. And he's writing it, as Brother Jimmy has so eloquently said on many occasions, to a Jewish church in Rome. At this time, the entire Christian church in Rome were probably Jewish converts who came out of the day of Pentecost. And they have developed churches in the city of Rome. Paul had never been there. He didn't know these people. Therefore, he knew that he was writing to Jewish people because the Jewish people were the ones who developed these churches. So, he's writing to them using the Old Testament background to help them understand their new relationship with Jesus Christ. So, he's talking to them about things that they would have known. You see, they would have known the fact that everybody sinned if they hadn't sinned. Why did God give them the law? Okay? If there wasn't some sin set back there in Adam, why did God spend all of his time trying to get men to repent? Why was all of the Old Testament structured around repentance? Repentance. Go to David's 51st Psalm. Against thee and thee only have I sinned, dear Lord, and done this horrible thing. Restore unto me the joy. He didn't say restore my salvation. Abraham didn't lose his... David didn't lose his salvation. David lost the joy of being with God because he messed up real bad. And he said to God in the 51st Psalm, restore God the joy of my salvation that I might teach men to trust you. You see, there was all this in the Old Testament, folks. And so Paul now is trying to get this thing where he can later on flesh it out and really make it come alive to us being fleshed out. Now, one more step back and then a step forward. You can read my stuff better than I can tell you. I hope you'll read the lesson sometime during the week. Because I'm not going to stay right in this lesson. I'm going to go around and help you understand this lesson. Jesus was the first person in the New Testament to make a statement about new birth. First person in the New Testament to make a statement about new birth. Now, ladies and gentlemen, new birth had been coming every year to the Jewish people who prayed for ten days and asked God to forgive them and were willing on the day of Yom Kippur, next Tuesday, to tell God, God, hear all my sins. I'm sorry. Please, God, forgive me of my sins. And on that day, their sins were put on the back of a little goat. Another lamb was slain. Blood was brought out without the shedding of blood. What? No remission of sin? And that little lamb was shed, his blood was brought out, put on that little goat and all of the sins of the people of Israel who had been praying for ten days. May I ask you a question? Did everybody pray? No. Did everybody get forgiven? No. Who got forgiven? Only those who prayed the ten days and laid all of their sins on that little lamb. Will everybody trust Jesus Christ? No. Will those who trust Jesus Christ be redeemed? Yes. You got the same thing in the Old Testament. We have the New Testament, folks. And that's what Jesus is getting ready to tell Nicodemus. Now, Nicodemus had been praying the ten days of awe probably for ten decades. For six decades. He was probably in his sixties. Now, I'm saying six decades because generally they came to become a man of Israel at their Bar Mitzvah. They became a man of the covenant. Mitzvah means covenant. Bar means man of. Bar, man of the covenant. And they became a man of the covenant generally around 11, 12, 13, somewhere in that era. So, Nicodemus is probably in his mid to late sixties. He's been doing this for sixty decades. For sixty years. He's been praying. Because of his praying, he hit Yom Kippur. And he prayed, Dear God, I want all of my sins that I've committed all this last year to go on this little lamb. Because when that lamb dies, guess what? My sins die with it. Ladies and gentlemen, on the day that Jesus Christ redeemed you from your sins and gave you new life in Him, your sins died. And they were separated from God as far as the east is from the west. And they were buried, this is Psalm says this, they were buried in the depths of the sea. And God put up a sign that said, no fishing. Stay out of it. East to west. When you start going north, when you cross the north pole, where do you begin? Going south. But when you start east, would you tell me when you start going west? Ladies and gentlemen, God was separating their sins on the day of Yom Kippur as far as the east is from the west. On that day, Nicodemus got born again. Now, the conversation. John 3. Here comes the conversation. John 3 and go to about verse 5. And he says, Jesus answered, Most assuredly I say to you, unless one is born of water and the spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of flesh is flesh, and that which is born of spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I say unto you, you must be born again. Now, Jesus is the first one who started talking about this born again business. Not because it was old, not because it was new, but because it had been being done. You see, this is the confusing part about the Old Testament. The people in the Old Testament had to get remission from their sin somehow. Can't you see an old boy talking with another old boy? You know what? I've been messing around with my wife pretty bad. I think I'll go down to the church and burn a bull. Did you all hear that? I want to say it again. He said, I think I'll go down to the church and burn a bull. I think I'll go down to the church and make a sacrifice, go down to the temple. I think I'll go down to the temple and burn a bull. You see, I've been doing this, and Yom Kippur isn't now for another month and a half or three months. And I got this trouble hanging on me, and you know what would happen if I died with this trouble hanging on me? I'd be in a heap of trouble. So I'm going to get it off somehow, so I'm going to go burn a bull, and maybe that'll get a part off of me, and then I'm going to be sure that I get into the ten days, because I want to get into the ten days so that when that little lamb carries that sin, I'll get born again. Jesus said to Nicodemus, that's why I say unto you, you must be born again. And Nicodemus answered and said, How can these things be? Jesus said, Are you a six-decade ruler of the Jews, and you've been doing Yom Kippur and ten days of awe for sixty years, and you have been waiting for that little lamb to die? And when that little second lamb died, and your sins were piled on top of that little second lamb, your sins were all remitted and done away with, and on that day that that happened, you were born again? Do you mean to tell me that you're teaching these people of Israel, and you don't understand being born again? Now watch what Jesus says. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must I, the Son of Man, be lifted up. Nicodemus, the way you got your sins remitted at Yom Kippur by faith. You see, ladies and gentlemen, in these ten days, they faithed it. They faithed it. They put all of their faith in a little lamb. And they put all of their faith in a God who said, if you'll spend these ten days of awe asking me on that day when that little lamb takes your sins, I will born you again. See, it's by faith. And so now Jesus, trying to help Nicodemus understand, said, Nicodemus, in the wilderness when the snakes came, and the people were dying, and Moses put a brazen snake up on a pole, here's what he told them. Faith it. Faith it. Here was this huge camp, probably two million people. Two million people hanging around. Right in the middle of this huge camp is this pole. And Moses said to the people, all of you who will go by faith and look at that pole, you will be healed. Did all of them go? No. Many of them died on their beds by the bite of the serpent. Isn't that interesting? That it was the serpent who got Adam to bite the apple, or whatever it was, and it is the serpent image that Moses puts on the pole that's going to get them out of their death dying by the bite of the snake. I find that extremely interesting. And so he says, as Moses lifted up that snake on a pole in the wilderness, so, Nicodemus, the son of man must be lifted up. That whosoever believes in him shall not perish. Got it? But will have eternal life. And now your favorite scripture. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, whosoever will faith it in him, whosoever will believe in him, shall never, ever, ever, ever die. You will not face judgment. It is appointed unto man once to die. You will not face judgment. Judgment is gone. You are outside the race of Adam. You are inside the race of Jesus. You are now in Christ, just like you were in Adam. You see, it just so happened, in Adam, we were in the wrong inheritance. We had the wrong inheritance in Adam. We needed to be in the right inheritance. Jesus Christ. Now, that's what Jesus said to Nicodemus. Now, I want you to go with me over to the book of 1 Corinthians. In 1 Corinthians, the apostle Paul now has had a little bit of time to get this thing that he wrote to the Romans that we are calling the theology of salvation, sin, justification, sanctification and glorification. He has had time because now he has finished his ministry at Corinth for he sent the letter to the Romans from the city of Corinth and now he is over in Ephesus and he is ministering in the city of Ephesus and from the city of Ephesus, he writes two letters to the city of Corinth. This is probably three to five years later. The apostle Paul has been thinking about all of what he has said in your chapter 5. He had been thinking about this man, Adam, in whom we had death. This man, Adam, who gave us sin and death. This man, Jesus Christ, who gave me new life. He had time to start thinking. It is like all of us preachers and Brother Jimmy does the same thing and so does Brother John. We sit around and in fact Barbara and Carol Ann always say to Jimmy and me, you guys think about something nobody ever thinks about. Why do you all think about it? Because it is what the word of God is telling us. So, in the book of 1 Corinthians the 15th chapter, the apostle Paul is now really beginning to flesh out this thing of new life in Jesus Christ. And here is what he says. He says in verse 45 of 15 Corinthians and so it is written the first man, Adam, became a living being. The first man, Adam, became flesh. The last Adam became a life giving spirit. Okay. God is kind of interestingly doing some things. He is comparing. He is doing a contrast. He is comparing things. And he is comparing things as he puts all of this in the mind of the apostle Paul to help us come to understand that the first man, Adam, led us into sin and death. That is why he calls Jesus the last Adam. Question. If you do not accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, what other choice do you have? Paul says Jesus was the last Adam. If Adam was the first and Jesus was the last, how many more are we going to get? None. So, Brother Jimmy and John and I can say beyond a shadow of doubt as the minister of the gospel of Christ, today as you sit here, we are either in Adam, sin and death, or we are in Christ, life and liberty. Choose your poison. Choose your poison. Which one would you rather be in? Now, here is where, you see, he is going back, over back in 5, he talked about the first man and the second man. He is now beginning to put, he is putting flesh on the bones. Watch what he says. However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural. Jesus was not born first, ladies and gentlemen. Adam was born first. And so he says, the spiritual is not first, but the natural. And after that became the spiritual. Now, watch these next few verses. They are astounding. The first man was of the earth made of dust. The second man is the Lord from heaven. Now, this is kind of interesting. Two verses ahead of that, he talked about the first and the last. In this verse, he talks about the first and the second. Because in the second is life. In the first is death. The first man was of the earth made of dust. The second man was the Lord from heaven. As was the man of dust, so also are those who are made of dust. And as is the heavenly man, so are those who are heavenly. As we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly man. Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does corruption or incorruption. But behold, I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall be changed. In a moment of twinkling of an eye at the last trumpet, the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying written, Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your sting? O grave, where is your victory? Okay. So what Paul... Back to chapter 5. Back to Romans chapter 5. And I've got to close because I'm running out of time. Back to chapter 5. In chapter 5, we have been introduced to the first man, the first Adam. We've been reintroduced to the last Adam. We know that Jesus Christ is the first Adam, and that Adam is the first Adam, and Jesus Christ is the second Adam. But at the same time, Adam was the first man, Christ is the last man. So you get the two different changes from first was the Adam, and second, now comes the last. And so since that is true, we come to verse 18, and here's where the heart of chapter 5 lies in chapter 5. Therefore, because of the first man, the first Adam, and the second Adam, and the last man, the first man, and the last man, because of that, here's what happened. Through one man's offense, judgment resulted in condemnation, even so through one man's righteous act, the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life. Now, Jesus said something to Nicodemus that we have to hear. Nicodemus, there are two miracles that have to happen to a person. Physical birth, as you ladies who have had children will hopefully and cheerfully agree, is a miracle of God. And the actual fact of that child coming forth is a miracle that that child can get out of you. You had nothing to do getting those kids out of you. You had little to do with what was developed in you. In fact, the psalmist says, in my mother's womb, I was fearfully, wonderfully, miraculously made. God created you in your mother. And in order to get His creation out of your mother, she had to deliver you. And I understand from my nurse wife and from others I've spoken, every birth is accompanied with water. And that water gushes forth, am I right Miss Lulu? And water gushes forth, it is that water that pushes that child into life. It is the miracle of the water birth. Now, watch what Jesus said to Nicodemus. Nicodemus, you must be born of water and you must be born of the Spirit. You can't just be born of water. If you stay born of water, you are going to stay in the law of sin and death. Because that's the law of Adam. And that's the law that is under condemnation to God. That's the law in the Garden of Eden when God said, do not touch that tree. Adam said to you, I'll eat what I want. That is total, absolute, ungodly, hateful rebellion to an almighty God. And we were cast into sin. And because Adam is our forefather and he sinned, then therefore all of us, when we were born, pushed out by that water, we were in Adam. And therefore, have you ever taught a seven month old to say, mine! No! Mine! Shame on you women teaching those kids to do that. How many of you seen a one year old say, mine! Go away! Did you teach him that? No! It's inherent. You see, it just so happened, we were in the wrong stock. We were in the stock of Adam. That means we were in the stock of sin and death. And there was no other way for us to operate. We only operated in the relationship to our inheritance. So Nicodemus said, Jesus said to Nicodemus, you've got to be born of water. Well, he said, you've done that now, Nicodemus, you've also got to be born of the Spirit. Now, ladies and gentlemen, if water birth is a miracle over which we have no control, then spiritual birth is a miracle over which we have no control. See, we get born into both of these races without any control. So Jesus said to Nicodemus, he said, Nicodemus, the wind blows where it chooses to blow. You don't see it. You feel the effects of it. But you don't know from where it is coming, or you don't know to where it is going. Nicodemus, have you figured out the wind? He said, Nicodemus, that is exactly how the Spirit is. When a person says, Lord Jesus, I'm a sinner. I recognize that it's not mine. It's not go away, quit. I recognize, God, I'm a sinner. And Lord God, I can't get out of this. This is just the way I appear to be. It's the way I am. You see, ladies and gentlemen, the blood of Jesus Christ deals with our sin. The cross deals with our inheritance. The cross deals with what we were doing. The blood deals with what we were. The cross deals with who we are. And the cross is where Jesus wants us to come. So that the Apostle Paul could say the following, I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live, yet not I, but Christ lives in me. And the life that I live by the flesh, I used to be living it in the stock of Adam, I used to be living it in the life, the life that I live by the flesh now, I live by the power of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. That, ladies and gentlemen, is newborn. Here's a great old gospel song that we used to sing. I used to do a lot of the solos. I want you to hear it. And I close with this. Do you know that you've been born again? Do you know that you've been born again? Does the Spirit dwell within, bearing witness that you've been cleansed from every spot and stain? Are you ready if the Lord should come and today your soul could claim? Can you face eternal years free from doubt and free from fear? Do you know? Do you know? Do you know that you've been born again? That which is born of flesh shall not die. And it is unappointed that man wants to die. That which is born of the Spirit shall live eternally. You see, folks, God intends for us to be born here twice. He also intends for us to die here twice. He doesn't intend for us to do either side. He intends for us to do it on this side in order that we can get to the other side. You see, we must be, we are born in Adam. We must be born again in Christ. We will someday, unless the Lord Jesus Christ and His magnificent return comes in His snatching away, we will die. But before we die physically, we must die here spiritually. So we must be, we are born in the flesh, we must be born in the Spirit, we must die to the flesh and come alive to the Spirit. Therefore, Jesus said, don't be amazed, Nicodemus, that I say to you, even though you've been doing this Yom Kippur thing for six decades, even though you've been dropping your sins on that little lamb all of these years, Nicodemus, don't be amazed that I'm saying unto you, you must be born eternally. The book of Hebrews talks about an annual new birth. The book of Hebrews also talks about an eternal new birth. You must be born again. So we close. So that as sin reigned in death, last verse, chapter 21, verse 21, so as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ the Lord. We're either in Adam or in Christ. If He's the last Adam, there are no more. Amen? That's right. Sovereign God, it is a mystery of being born again. It's the mystery, Father, of one day being here, ugly, vicious, vile, not caring about anything, not caring about your kingdom, even though we might be moral and even though we might keep the laws, we're still very sinful. And into that ugliness that was given to us by Adam because he blatantly disobeyed you in the garden and gave us that because we're in him. In that in him-ness, Father, one day, all of a sudden, there came on us a wonderful breath of freshness. And all of a sudden there was a feeling in that where we were and in whom we were was the wrong place to be. And all of a sudden your spirit started talking to our hearts because it was into our corrupt heart that you had to go and destroy it so that you might place in us a new heart. And into that new heart you sent the freshness of the Holy Spirit as he blew on us like a wind, not knowing where he came from, not knowing where he would go. But all of a sudden, Father, we were of the opinion that I'm dying in my sin and I need to be redeemed. And I said, Lord Jesus, I'm a sinner. Save me from my sin, Lord Jesus. And right there you did it. And that day I was born again. Lord Jesus, thank you for being our propitiation of sin. Thank you for being our blood covering. But more than that, as much as that, thank you for bringing us into a new race. A race of life and liberty in yourself. For your blood took care of our sin and your cross took care of our character. And the blood of Christ that cleanses all unrighteousness gave us a character that can live now in the light of Jesus Christ and have the character of Almighty God through Jesus Christ our Lord. And for that, we can only say to you, dear Lord, Hallelujah! Praise God! Thank you for saving us from our sin. We know that we have been born again. And for that, thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Lord, for saving my soul. Join me. Thank you, Lord, for making me whole. Thank you, Lord, for giving to me thy great salvation so good and free. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.