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[0:00] Take your Bibles and turn with me to the book of Romans. We're going to be in Romans chapter 5. Romans chapter 5 verses 12 through 21. It may seem like an odd message to preach when we're this close to Christmas, but really it is not.

[0:16] I had determined a long time ago that the Lord was leading me to go through the book of Romans and I had made the commitment to preach through it at the time and at the pace that He had asked me to.

[0:26] I believe next week as we're celebrating the Sunday before Christmas that we may step out of it and we may look at the Christmas story proper, but I'm just amazed at the passage of Scripture we find ourselves in today.

[0:39] As is often the case when the Lord leads me into a book or to a series or to some type of group of messages, I never cease to be amazed at His timing.

[0:50] That so many months ago I determined that this is where He was leading me so that He could get me to this day. And I am amazed at how the Lord being the Lord of the church and the God of all creation seems to put things together.

[1:03] Just on the side point, I love this right here being open. This is what I'm telling you. I can get up in your grill this morning because I love some steps right in front of me preaching.

[1:14] I mean, I just like that. I don't know what it is. I like the openness. Some people feel so vulnerable, but I feel like you guys are hiding behind a desk when I have a desk or a pulpit up here. But anyway, I couldn't, you know, squirrel.

[1:26] I got sidetracked. Sorry. My bad. I'm amazed at how God just allows us to be at this rich text at this fitting time of the year, even in light of the songs we've just sung or the songs we've just listened to, looking at the beautiful name it is and how He didn't want heaven without us, so He came down here to get us.

[1:50] And you'll see, really, the theology. I know that's a big word, but the great biblical truth to that this morning in Romans 5, 12-21. If you are physically able and desire to do so, I'm going to ask if you would join with me as we stand together and read the Word of God from Romans 5, starting in verse 12, reading to the end of the chapter, which gets us to the 21st verse.

[2:14] Very deep set of scriptures, but just stay with me, okay? Try to listen for recurrent themes and words. Paul writes to the church at Rome in the 5th chapter, starting in the 12th verse. Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned.

[2:35] For until the law, sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law. Nevertheless, death reigned from Adam until Moses, even over those who had not sinned in the likeness of the offense of Adam, who is a type of him who was to come.

[2:50] But the free gift is not like the transgression. For if by the transgression of the one the many died, much more did the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, abound to the many.

[3:04] The gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned. For on the one hand, judgment, the judgment, arose from one transgression, resulting in condemnation. But on the other hand, the free gift arose from many transgressions, resulting in justification.

[3:20] For if by the transgression of the one death reigned through the 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.

[3:35] So then, as through one transgression there resulted condemnation to all men, even so through one act of righteousness there resulted justification of life to all men.

[3:46] For as through the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the one the many will be made righteous. The law came in so that the transgression would increase.

[3:58] But where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, so that as sin reigned in death, even so grace would reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ, our Lord.

[4:11] Would you pray with me? Oh God, we are so thankful for this day. God, we are so thankful that you have given us a divine appointment to be in your house, to worship your name, to lift your name on high in song, and God, to see the glories of your word.

[4:25] We pray that the truth in this scripture would resonate within us. Lord, that it would draw us closer and closer to you. And Lord, that it would move us to a Christ-like life for your glory.

[4:36] And we ask it all in Jesus' name. Amen. You may be seated. As I said in opening, this is a very, very deep set of scriptures. And not being one of very scholarly mind, more really of a simple mind, I come upon these passages and I read them a number of times, and my attempt is to try to understand them first of all, and to bring a little bit of that understanding to you.

[5:00] Hopefully, by the end of it, we'll stand in awe of the amazement of God's wonders and His word. I want you to see this morning the defense of fallen man.

[5:13] We understand that the scripture is correct, and it says it is appointed unto man once to die, and after this, judgment. We know that we will all face judgment someday.

[5:24] It is not something that even the believer misses out on. There is, if you read the book of Revelations, there is the judgment of the believer, and then there is the judgment of the non-believer.

[5:35] There is the judgment of the believer for the things which he has done after he has accepted Christ as his Lord and Savior. And then there is the Bema Seat, or the great white throne of judgment, for those who had never accepted Christ as their Lord and Savior.

[5:49] But the truth is that all men will face judgment someday. And on that day of judgment, we will stand before a holy judge. We will stand before one who knows no wrong, who does no wrong, and accepts no excuse for wrong.

[6:06] We will stand before the one that all of heaven cries out, holy, holy, holy. The thrice holy, which means he is absolutely holy. We will stand before the creator and the sustainer of this world, as the scriptures that were read, by him and through him and for him were all things created.

[6:24] Not only did he create it, but he created it for himself. Man hijacked it from the one who created it for himself, and it exists to himself. It doesn't exist for us. And we will stand before that man, and we will have to give a defense.

[6:39] The question remains is, what will be man's defense on that day? Because, as we read Romans 1, 2, and 3, we know the state of man is not all that good.

[6:52] We are a fallen race. We are one who has inherited a number of problems. We are a man of problem after problem after problem, shortcoming after shortcoming after shortcoming.

[7:03] We are those that if we are honest and truthful, that even though we desire to do good, yet we look up and we find ourselves doing bad. Paul goes into that later. The very things that we would hope to do, somehow or another we can't do.

[7:17] The things we hope to avoid, it seems like we cannot help but falling into them. The reality is that we have a problem, and that problem demonstrates itself in a various number of ways.

[7:29] We know that we mess up. And I told you last week, as we got into it, between verses 11 and verse 12 of Romans 5, there's a great shift. Because Paul is no longer going to talk about those things that you do.

[7:45] It is no longer sins with an S on it. Now, maybe you noticed it when I read it. It is sin, singular, with no S. He is really going to get to the heart of the matter. Because, quite honestly, my friend, listen.

[7:57] Your problem when you go into the court of heaven and stand before the judge is not that you are doing a bunch of bad things wrong. It is not that you are messing up.

[8:09] It is not that you have faults. It is that you have a nature about you that is unacceptable in the presence of a holy God. It is not that you have anger issues.

[8:20] It is not that you have addiction issues. It is not that you have all coveting issues. It is not that you have anxiety issues. It is not that you have all these things. Those are the things that Satan wants to highlight in your life.

[8:33] Satan wants to point to things. He wants to point to faults. He wants to point to sins with an S. That is how you mess up. And he wants to constantly whisper in your ear, you see that, you lied there.

[8:45] You see that, you couldn't control your temper there. You see that, you ate way too much there. That is gluttony according to the scripture. You see that, you are coveting something you do not have. Satan is always highlighting the things we do.

[8:57] When God says you can try to take care of things all day long, but it does not matter because there is something that you are. And you have to get to the root of it. Paul will no longer talk about our issues.

[9:12] He will talk about who we are as people. That is our sin. And we have to be able to give a defense because, see, one who by nature is not acceptable in the sight of God has no defense based upon their actions.

[9:28] If at the very core of their being, they are unacceptable, then it does not matter what they do. They will never be acceptable. So the question is, what will be our defense?

[9:42] I want you to see three things this morning, and I will try to make it through them just as quickly as I can because I know I am probably a little bit pressed for time. Though those watching the children all day long for play practice won't mind if I go over, right?

[9:53] Because they will be like, hey, pastor went a little longer. It doesn't mean we have a little shorter time. But I want you to see, number one, the representative of man. Now this is where it gets deep, and this is where you have to stay with me because Paul writes with a very Jewish mindset.

[10:08] Paul is a Jew of the Jews, a Pharisee of the Pharisees. He is one who had a Jewish worldview. We don't have that worldview unless there is one in the audience this morning who is a Jewish by heritage.

[10:20] We don't have that worldview. We have a very Western worldview. We have an Americanized worldview. Our worldview is so much different than the worldview of the rest of the world.

[10:32] My wife's maiden name is Loki. She is from a family of Lokis and Mooneyhams, and then the Mooneyhams go back from there and from there and from there, and it would string together.

[10:46] But she calls herself Carrie Calvert. So I remember we had an exchange student who stayed with us, who lived with us for about a year. His name, well, we called him Beto.

[10:58] That's not his name. His name was Adoberto Perez Zertucci. And I asked him one day, I said, now what is your last name? He says, Perez. And I said, well, where does the Zertucci come from?

[11:10] He said, well, that's my mother's last name. I said, well, why are you walking around with your mother's last name hooked on to the end of your name? That's one thing for a lady to take her maiden name with her so that people can identify her.

[11:20] It's a whole other thing for a male child of a family from the Perez family to throw Zertucci. He says, that way I know where I came from. And I got to realizing that most of the people from his neck of the woods had names that were this long.

[11:33] And they would just string all the heritage of their life. And everywhere else, really, besides in the United States, people's heritage stays with them because their identity is not wrapped up in who they are.

[11:45] Their identity is wrapped up in who they come from. It is a very clan-minded identity. And in the Jewish people, it was the same way.

[11:56] You were not who you are. In most places, if you go today and around the world, when they introduce themselves, they will introduce themselves by their clan or by their people or by their people group rather than by their name.

[12:07] This is why it is so important that it is a lion from the tribe of Judah. Why? Because Judah is identified throughout Scripture as being in a place of prominence. And we see that. But we understand this mentality.

[12:19] And Paul is riding with that. And Paul is speaking to that. And we have to kind of wrestle with it and try to see how that fits into our worldview. And he starts it here in verse 12. Therefore, just as through one man, sin entered into the world.

[12:33] Just stop right there. Just as through one man, sin entered into the world. Now, we know that the one man he is talking about is Adam. The wonderful thing about it, if you translate Adam's name, Adam's name literally means man.

[12:46] Now, you can think I'm crazy. You can think I'm a little bit off the tilt. But I literally believe that when God created Adam and Eve, he created a single Adam and a single Eve. And from those two individuals, from Adam and Eve, and the two became one, that the world was populated.

[13:01] I just believe that. I believe it because I believe in a literal translation of Scripture. And I also believe it because recently I discovered that even science agrees with that. That they've taken DNA samples.

[13:12] I kind of told you this, right? They've taken DNA samples from every corner of the globe, from every people group of the world. And they have found out that you can trace all people from all over the world back to a single man and a single lady who happened to have lived at the same time.

[13:32] And it's pretty interesting that science is just now catching up with Scripture. But anyhow, I have always found that even if science disagrees with me, I would rather err on the side of God's Word and let the scientists try to catch up with me rather than me try to catch up with them.

[13:45] But just a little bit of a side note. Anyhow, so I believe that God created one, Adam, and from Adam he fashioned Lady, who is called Eve. And because of that, even Paul writes that.

[13:56] He says, from one man sin entered into the world. Now I want you to notice in these Scriptures, I'm not going to go back and read all of them, but I want you to notice this repetition of the phrase one man, from the one, from the one, from the one, from the one.

[14:10] And this is what I'm trying to get you to see, is Paul is referencing the representative of man. He is referencing the representative type of Christ, who is Adam.

[14:22] And he has actually two representatives here. He has Adam, and he has Jesus Christ. And these are the only two representatives that you have to choose from. These are the only two that you have the opportunity to be connected to.

[14:38] Paul says, from the one, sin entered into the world. From the other one, grace abounded as a result of the sin that was in the world. And just kind of quick, you've got to understand this, Paul says, you and I are going to be represented by one of the two.

[14:56] Now, in our court system, if you want to go into court, and you want to stand before a judge, you can so choose to represent yourself if you want to. But when you enter into the court of heaven, that's not an option.

[15:11] Because you've already been represented. God has already appointed a representative for you, and that representative is Adam. And that's who you have. And you can't say, well, I don't want Adam to be my representative, because Adam messed up.

[15:26] And God says, sorry, that's him. As I see him, I see you. You will be represented by someone. And Paul says, you only have two options.

[15:40] You can be represented by Adam, or you can be represented by Christ. And this is a glorious truth. And we'll kind of flesh it out in just a minute for the other two points, but I just wanted you to see the representative of man.

[15:52] The reason this is accurate is because when you go before God, you will give an account for what you are, not what you did. And you will be identified with who represents you.

[16:07] You will be identified. Recently, my wife and I, many of you know this, we've had our days in court, not against one another, but we've had our days in court going through a wonderful process.

[16:18] And our representative happens to be in the audience, and that's fine, she's here. But I was so excited. The first day I had to go to court, I don't know anything about court. I don't know anything about the judge. I don't know anything. I was so excited when we showed up to court, and our representative had a packet this thick, and the people representing the other person had a packet this thick.

[16:36] I told Karen, I said, we got the right person, because we got a lot more on them than they have on us. And that was okay, right? I said, that's fine. And I love the preparation. I love all these things that go on here.

[16:48] But God says, when you come into my courts, and you stand before my bench, I will either see you as I see Adam, or I will see you as I see Christ.

[17:00] But I will not see you by yourself. All men are represented. And you have to decide who represents you before the day of judgment.

[17:12] Number two, not only do I want you to see the representative of man, man, now we start fleshing that out, because that's kind of groundwork for this whole passage, is that Paul is contrasting the one man Adam and the one man Christ.

[17:24] This is important, because if God can see you through one, that is Adam, then it is so good that he can also see you through one, that is Christ. And if Adam can bring condemnation to all men, then Christ can bring salvation for all men.

[17:42] Because if we are not all judged in one, that is Adam, one representative, then we cannot all be saved by one, that is Christ. You see this?

[17:52] God is a consistent God. God is a very fair God. God is a very accurate God. So since he can condemn you because of one, Adam, he also can restore you and forgive you because of one, Jesus Christ.

[18:05] You say, well, no, that's not how I want it. I would rather him look at me as an individual, and I'd rather him judge me based on what I do, and I'd rather him give me the opportunity to do what I want to do and to show myself faithful.

[18:17] Do you really? Or do we really need to go back and read Romans 1, 2, and 3 again? Because Paul says, There is no man who does right, no, not one. All men suppress the truth.

[18:28] All fall short of the glory of God. All have sinned. All have behaved wickedly. Every tongue is messed up and speaks evil. Every heart is desperately wicked. Do you really want God to look at you individually?

[18:40] Some of us really don't even want our best friends to see us as we really are. Some of us, most of us, if we're to be completely honest, do not want the community to know us as we really are.

[18:53] So if God can judge you because of Adam, then he can redeem you because of Christ. He is a faithful God. So we see the representative of man.

[19:04] Number two, I want you to see the ruin of man. Let's look at Adam first. You get to choose who represents you. This is the beauty. You're not in court yet, so you still get to choose who represents you.

[19:16] And the beautiful thing is, is you don't have to pay either one of them. Adam will represent you for free, and Christ will represent you for free. Adam has already been appointed to represent you, but I want you to see what you get when you get Adam.

[19:28] The ruin of man. Now, I'm not picking on Adam. I'm not saying Adam wasn't forgiven. I'm not saying Adam wasn't redeemed, okay? I know the story. I know God came in, offered a sacrifice, skinned an animal, clothed him, and put him out of the garden, okay?

[19:40] I know the story. But I want you to see what you get when Adam represents you. Because if we come in here, if any of you came in here today without the representation of Christ on your life, you came in here with Adam representing you in heaven.

[19:52] And I want you to see what you get. The ruin of man. Therefore, just as through one man, sin, singular, all right, not his actions, sin entered into the world. And death, through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned.

[20:06] Here we go. This is where it gets really deep. Stay with me. We're going to tread through it as quick as we can. I know I've got time, but I want to tread through it as quick as we can. Adam sinned. What did Adam do? He ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

[20:16] God told him not to eat from it. I'm doing it really quick, okay? Cliff Notes for you. He sinned. And when he sinned, sin entered the world. God created the world perfect. There was no sin. Now sin, the sin nature, entered the world, and death through sin.

[20:29] Because the Bible says, Paul will say later, for the wages of sin is death. Sin has a price tag on it, and that is if you sin, you die. God said to Adam, if you eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you will surely die.

[20:43] That was a promise. He said you will die. Now remember, God did not say you'll die the moment you eat it. God said you will surely die. Now it took Adam a lot of years to die. I mean hundreds of years before he died.

[20:54] But guess what? Adam died. And when you read the Bible, you read the genealogy of the descendants of Adam. And one thing you notice about all the descendants of Adam, they all died.

[21:05] These are the descendants of Adam. Every one of them died. There was such and such living. He lived 900 years, and he died. And such and such living. He lived 600 years, and he died. Yeah, but 900 years is a long time. But that's not how God created us. God created us to be eternal.

[21:17] But Adam sinned, and when Adam sinned, sin entered into the world. And because sin entered into the world, judgment entered into the world. And that judgment is death, so all sinned.

[21:29] Now here's where it gets really good, okay? Because you say, well, I didn't eat from any tree that God told me not to eat from. God didn't whisper in my ear, don't be eaten from a pear tree, or don't be eaten from an apple tree.

[21:41] We always paint this picture as an apple tree. I don't know why. Because I love apples, and I don't like the fact that it's painted as an apple tree. And I actually asked a pastor, I've been a pastor for a long time, why do people think it was an apple?

[21:53] He didn't have an answer, and I don't have an answer either. So it's good to know, okay? It's not an apple. Apples are good. God created apples for nourishment, okay? They're great things. I love apples. But anyway, we know that God's not whispering to any of us, don't eat from the tree, and then you go eat from the tree.

[22:10] But that doesn't matter, because you sinned when Adam sinned. When Adam took of that, all mankind sinned. You say, well, how do I know? Because it says that sin reigned in the descendants of Adam, from Adam until Moses.

[22:24] It says, for where there is no law, there is no condemnation or judgment, right? This is Paul's argument. Then how can you say men died for their sins if they didn't know what was right and wrong?

[22:36] This, by the way, is the judgment we have for the world. Many of you have the same question that I have had, and this passage answers it. That's why I want us to take time. How can God judge people who've never heard the law?

[22:51] How can He judge someone on the other side of the world who's never seen the Bible, who's never heard about Jesus Christ? How can a fair God judge? Because their representative gave them a nature that God cannot accept.

[23:05] And their representative is Adam. And Adam, all men sinned. When Adam took of the fruit, every one of us took it with him. He's our representative.

[23:15] That's how God sees us. How do we know that? Because the law did not come until the days of Moses, right? In the days of Moses, God gave Moses the law, the 10 commandments.

[23:26] We get it. God said, you shouldn't do this, you shouldn't do this, you shouldn't do this, but you should do this, and you should do that. God made it very clear. And God made the standards so clear, man couldn't live up to it. But now, all of a sudden, if we get to Exodus chapter 20, and we get the law, now we have a reason why people should die.

[23:44] Because God told them, don't do this, don't do that. If you do this, you'll die. Now it makes sense. Well, what about all the people who died from Genesis 3 to Exodus 20? They didn't know.

[23:58] And this is exactly what Paul says. Paul says, from Adam until Moses, people died. And the reason they died is because Adam gave them sin.

[24:11] He is their representative. And Adam introduced something to the human race that they were never supposed to have. Every disease, you know, we try to guard our borders from new diseases, new strains, and new things that aren't here in America, but they're prevalent everywhere else in the world.

[24:30] We don't want that introduced into our society because if it ever gets into our land, it spreads like wildfire. We want to contain it. Well, what happened is Adam introduced sin, and it spread from person to person to person to person to person.

[24:45] And the reason we know it did is because they all died. God didn't create man to die, but guess what? Every one of them died. You all might go, no, what about Enoch? He walked with God and he was not. Okay, God can be a gracious God whenever he wants to be.

[24:57] But other than that, the only reason he didn't is because God took him. He spared him. Everybody else died because Adam's their representative. Adam ruined us because he gave us a poisonous strain that we can't avoid, and that is sin.

[25:17] And the wages of sin is death. That is our penalty. That is our due, and that is how God sees us. But God is a gracious God.

[25:28] We see the ruin of man. Death was prevalent. Death goes on, and we see the law. While the law, I'll go ahead and put it here instead of putting it at the end.

[25:39] Why the law? Then why did God give the law? To show man that he was fair in giving them death. It says here that law was given so that sin would abound, which means man thought they were okay until God set the standard, and then they read the standard and go, never mind.

[25:54] None of us are okay. You know, I know I spoke back to my mama and daddy, and according to the law, I should have died. I know I disobeyed in some points, and according to that, I should have died. I know I've done more work on a Sabbath than God wants me to, so I should have died.

[26:06] I know I've coveted when I shouldn't, so I should have died. God says, you think you're okay? All these years people have been dying, and you think you're okay? Then let me give you the law and show you what the standard is just so you know that the judgment I'm giving you is righteous.

[26:20] Just for your information, for those people around the world that you say that God is not fair in giving them eternal condemnation because they've never heard, but if they heard the standard, they would fall short. You're not going to find somebody around the world that's never heard the gospel, but their life is perfect.

[26:36] You know why? Because they all are following in the footsteps of Adam. Is it fair? Yes. But guess what? Their blood is on us, not on God, because we know there's another representative.

[26:53] But they don't know! That's not fair! But if they heard the standard, they would still fall short. God is fair. That's our fault for not giving them an opportunity.

[27:04] Not God's. See, we love to blame God because it puts the fault on God. When God says, wait a minute, I'm telling you right here, I don't care where you take the standard, wherever you throw that line out there, everybody's going to fall short.

[27:17] And He did that in law. So we see the ruin of man in the representative of Adam. Really quick, I want you to see the restoration of man. Look at the restoration of man. Verse 14, Nevertheless, death reigned from Adam until Moses, even over those who had not sinned.

[27:33] That means they didn't eat from the tree. They were still dying, okay, in the likeness of the offense of Adam, who is a type of him who was to come. The good news is Adam's just a type, okay? Adam's a prototype. Many people, you've seen the prototype of cars.

[27:46] They're going to build a new car, so they always put a type out there and they usually try to tape it up so you can't really see what it's like. The prototype, you see this prototype, but the type is not really refined yet. They take it on the road, they do some road tests, and then they go back to the drawing board and they get it to where it's perfect.

[28:00] There's always a type. God wasn't testing things out. God was just providing a reason to come down and join us, right? So Adam's just a type. He's not the end result. He's just a type. But it says in verse 15, The free gift is not like the transgression.

[28:13] Listen to these words. The free, what? Gift? The free gift is not like the transgression. For if by the transgression of the one, the many died, much more did the grace of God and the gift by the grace, there's that word gift again, gift by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, abound to the many.

[28:30] Verse 16, The gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned. Okay? So you have sinned, but it came through Adam. Okay? Came to you naturally. Now here it is.

[28:40] Much more, those who receive. Those who receive, what? Receive what? The gift. A gift is offered, but it must be received.

[28:52] Okay? Those who receive the abundance of grace of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the one, Jesus Christ. For so then, as through one transgression there resulted condemnation to all men, even so through one act of righteousness there resulted justification of life to all men.

[29:12] For as through one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the one, many will be made righteous. The law came in so that transgression would increase. But where sin increased and every individual brings in more and more and more sin, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more so that as sin reigned in death, even so grace would reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

[29:38] I went ahead and read all of it so that you could get it all at one time. This is the beauty. Jesus Christ came to fulfill the type of Adam and just as Adam introduced something into mankind, Jesus Christ introduces a gift to mankind.

[29:51] Through Adam you don't have a choice because through Adam you are of his bloodlines. I already told you the science in that. You are related to him and you have his gene pools within you. It is amazing that the gene pools of the original parents can be found with every male and with every female.

[30:07] It is there and you have the inherent trait and the most inherent trait of all humanity is that we fall short of the standard that is sin. But Jesus Christ came in to fulfill the type not born of a man not the seed of a man but the birth of a woman.

[30:23] He came as the seed of heaven through the womb of a woman not to take the sin of Adam. Remember, it is not the sin of Eve. He did not come to take the sin of Adam. He came to take the seed of God through Mary to live upon the face of the earth to offer a gift.

[30:38] Now he is not your bloodlines so you don't inherit it. But he has a gift that you can receive. And if Adam can be your representative to make God's judgment upon you fair then Jesus Christ is offered to be your representative to make God's justification and his grace and his righteousness reign upon your life.

[31:00] And the word picture is that it would abound even more where sin reigned grace reigned more. It means no matter the nature the sin nature inside of you there is more and more and more grace than what you already have in Adam.

[31:15] No matter how far the ruin has led you there is more restoration in Christ than you've ever went. No matter how much that sin nature has been played out there abounds over and above enough grace in the gift that God wants to give you.

[31:32] The question is will we receive it? He says to whoever receives it to him he shall reign in life. Friend listen to me in Adam we've been ruined in Adam we fall short in Adam we don't reign anything but in Christ we reign in this life and in the life to come.

[31:59] I don't know who your representative is but I know that each one of us have a day in court and each one of us have to have our representative chosen before we get there.

[32:12] Now God saw the ruin of man and said you know what there's someone who can justify them there's someone who can restore them there's someone who can take what Adam messed up and make it perfect and that someone is Jesus Christ and he came to offer the gift of restoration.

[32:35] Did he offer the gift of eternal life? Sure because eternal life is what you were supposed to have to begin with. Did he come to offer the gift of forgiveness? Absolutely because forgiveness is necessary but he came to offer a gift of making you be what you were really supposed to be that is to be in a right relationship with God to live out your days for his glory and to reign in life.

[33:02] You say what do you mean by reigning in life? Well the things that used to control you they don't control you anymore. The things that used to overwhelm you they don't overwhelm you anymore. The things that used to hold you down they don't hold you down anymore because in Christ your representation is complete.

[33:20] Now I know I went over and I know our time is passing but my friend this Christmas season I hope you know who your representative is and I hope you stand in the wonder and the awe of the fact that before the world was created God knew we were going to inherit a nature we couldn't overcome on our own and he determined I'll send another representative so he made a type in Adam so that the fulfillment the final product in Jesus Christ could come and so that we could come to him by faith and accept that gift not based on who we are or what we've done friends listen you will only do what you are that's all you'll ever do and we are sinners by nature so we will sin I have a phrase don't be surprised when sinners act like sinners it doesn't surprise me when sinners sin because that's what we are by nature and that's what we will do by nature but Jesus Christ came in to give us a new nature he came with a gift that can only be received through faith in him and my prayer is that each one of us would leave here with the right representative before our holy God let's pray

[34:42] Lord thank you so much for this day I thank you oh Lord that we can read these passages and we can be reminded of who we are in ourselves Lord we can also be reminded of who we can be in you Lord Jesus we thank you for coming we thank you for the grace that abounds above and beyond our sin nature and I pray that we would not only accept it by faith Lord we would live out our days rejoicing and celebrating in it and we ask it all in Jesus name Amen Amen Amen

[36:21] Amen Amen Amen

[37:51] Amen Amen Amen

[39:21]  Amen Amen