Understanding the Gospel Chapter 1 – The Righteousness of God In 1972, my family and I had the “privilege” of being deported from Uganda by Idi Amin. I say “privilege” because the other alternative was to be put into a concentration camp and be shot. When we left, we lost everything. Idi Amin would not allow us to even touch our bank account. Each one of us was allowed one small suitcase and one hand luggage. The total weight could not be more than 44 pounds. We were allowed only $150 from our bank account for the whole family and that was all. We were sent to Uganda by the brethren and deported from Uganda to Ethiopia by the government. We arrived in 1973 and the Executive Secretary of the Union, who was an Ethiopian, said to me, “What happened to you there in Uganda can never happen to you here in Ethiopia.” I said, “Why?” He said, “For two reasons. Ethiopia is a Christian country and we respect private ownership.” One year later he had to swallow those words. We had the Marxist Revolution. He lost his own house and he died last year in poverty, far from his country. The Communist government didn’t care too much about the older people. It was the youth they wanted, so they closed down all schools from tenth grade to university for two years. There was no school, public or private. They took the young people and put them in camps of 150 and brainwashed them on this atheistic, Marxist philosophy. During those two years, we had about 8,000 youth in those camps. They could not pray openly; they could not read their Bibles; they could not go to church and they were forced to work on the Sabbath. To make matters worse, they had to raise their left arm and shout slogans. Two of them in English were, “God is an impostor” and “Christ is a devil.” Anyone who disobeyed was either shot or stoned to death. I knew of only one student out of the approximately 8,000 who was willing to die for Christ. The other students could not take that pressure. When the students came back to the college where I was head of the Bible department, it disturbed me that we had failed to prepare our young people for the crisis. The older people were no better, even though they didn’t face the same pressures as the young people. I asked myself, “Where did we go wrong?” I discovered that these young people knew Bible doctrines but they were not established on the Rock, Jesus Christ. They had no assurance of salvation; therefore, they had nothing to die for. We spent a year trying to establish them in Christ. One of the things I used was the Book of Romans. It made a tremendous difference. Some of those young people were willing to die for Christ after they knew Him. Some of those young people spent six to eight years, the best years of their lives, in prison. They were in a Communist prison, not in an American penitentiary where they have good food including dessert. I worked with the Penitentiary prisoners at one time where they have TV, a library, a gym. In Ethiopia, they were not even given food. They were living in hovels filled with fleas, bugs, over-crowded, no food. The family had to bring food. The Christians forgot their denominations, met together and said, “Let us pool our food together and feed the whole crowd.” One of those young people was a seventeen year old girl who was fifteen when I baptized her. She was an introvert who hardly ever opened her mouth. You never would have dreamed that she would stand for Christ. They took her because she would not give up her faith in Christ. They put her in stocks and for three months she was not even allowed loose to go to the bathroom, so you can imagine the mess she lived in. They starved and beat her. Finally, the huge 250 pound soldier, who was in charge of her, was so enraged that this young little girl was defying him that he undid the stocks, held her by the scruff of the neck and said, “I’m giving you five minutes to deny Christ or you’re dead.” She said in a whisper, “I don’t need five minutes. You can kill me now but you cannot rob me of my hope in Christ.” He flung her on the floor and in his anger he jumped on her and broke her spine. Then the other soldiers came to her aid. She is now paralyzed from the waist downwards but she has a hope that she will not give up. When I left Africa, the people said to me, “Please don’t forget us when you come to ‘the land of milk and money.’” I have discovered here that money does not give you peace. Two years ago, half a million teenagers, most of them coming from wealthy homes, attempted suicide in this country because money, wealth, and education cannot give you peace, only Jesus Christ can. I don’t think I have to convince you that the good old days are coming to an end. The future doesn’t look very promising even for this country. No book of scripture, Old or New Testament, has made such an impact on the Christian church throughout its history as has the Book of Romans. It is the book that turned Luther around and brought about the birth of the Reformation. It was reading the Commentary on Romans that turned John Bunyan around. He is known in England as the “Immortal Tinker of Bedford” and known in America as the author of Pilgrim’s Progress. One of the great men of God was John Wesley from England. He was a missionary in this country and went home to England very discouraged. He had no hope and no assurance of salvation. One day a young friend of his said to him, “There is a prayer meeting in a little home on one of the side streets. Why don’t you come? I think you will enjoy it.” At the beginning Wesley said, “What can these people give me? I’m trained in theology.” He went just to please his friend, heard the man behind the pulpit read from the preface of Luther’s Commentary on Romans and his heart was strangely warmed. No wonder Luther described Romans as “the clearest gospel of all.” To help us to understand, we will look at Paul’s introduction. Romans 1:1 Paul, a servant [in the Greek it says “slave”] of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God.... Paul’s parents had great dreams for this little baby. They gave him the name Saul, the royal name of the king of Israel, because Paul was from the tribe of Benjamin. But when he found Christ, he changed his name to Paul. In Latin, it means “little.” “For now,” said Paul, “I am nothing and Christ is everything.” In the introduction, he says: “I am a slave of Jesus Christ called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God.” When Christ came to this world, He came primarily to be the gospel not primarily to explain or teach it, but it was Paul that God set aside to expound it. We find proof of that in Acts 9 which is dealing with the conversion of Paul. On his way to Damascus, Jesus met him there. The flash of lightning with the thunder, the presence of Jesus, blinded him. Then God spoke to Ananias, one of God’s servants and said to him, “I want you to go to the place called Straight where there is a man praying. I want you to bless him, remove his blindness.” Ananias knew about Paul. Acts 9:13-14 “Lord,” Ananias answered, “I have heard many reports about this man and all the harm he has done to your holy people in Jerusalem. And he has come here with authority from the chief priests to arrest all who call on your name.” He is saying, “God, I think you have made a mistake. You haven’t been reading the newspapers.” Then God said: Acts 9:15 But the Lord said to Ananias, “Go! This man is my chosen instrument to proclaim my name to the Gentiles and their kings and to the people of Israel.” If anything, this verse should teach us a lesson. Never judge people outwardly. We have no idea how God will finish the work. He will choose the most insignificant people to turn this world upside down. In another passage, Paul is more specific. Ephesians 3:8 Although I am less than the least of all the Lord’s people, this grace was given me: to preach to the Gentiles the boundless riches of Christ.... Paul was the theologian of the New Testament, which is why almost half of the New Testament is Pauline Epistles. Romans is very special because all the other epistles in the New Testament, whether to churches or to people, were written to people to whom he had already verbally preached the gospel. Because they had heard the gospel from him already, in his epistles he doesn’t spell out in detail what he had preached to them. But Romans was a letter to a church that he had not yet been to or established. He was writing to a people who had not heard him preach. Unfortunately, there were no tape recorders in those days so the clearest explanation of Paul’s exposition of the gospel is found in the book of Romans. When I was preaching Romans in one of my churches, one of the elderly members said to me, “Pastor, when are you going to change the subject?” In his mind, Romans was only one topic, but Romans is the full counsel of God. It deals with the sin problem, the gospel, how that gospel is made effective in our lives, which is justification by faith, with the work of the Holy Spirit in our believers. It deals with the Jewish nation and the gospel, with Christian ethics. It’s all there. We will study the key passages which will, I hope, do something that Paul intended for the readers of this epistle. Paul says: Romans 1:11 I long to see you so that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to make you strong.... The purpose of writing this letter, the purpose of Paul’s desire to visit Rome, was to establish them and he is preparing them by writing this letter to them. If there is ever a time for God’s people to be established, it’s now. In 1982, one of my members wanted me to join a club called Wilderness Survival. I said, “I may need that in Africa but why in America?” He said, “You will need it in the time of trouble.” This club was learning all the edible weeds in the mountains of Idaho. I said to him, “Brother, you have missed the point. The issue of the time of trouble is not edible or inedible weeds. You can eat all the dandelions you want but all the devil has to do is move you from Idaho to Colorado where the weeds are different.” The issue in the time of trouble is also not sinless living, even though I believe God can give us total victory over sin. But we will not know it because our nature will remain sinful until our dying day and it will tell us that we are sinners. We will be agonizing because we will feel sinful. The real issue in the time of trouble is, “Can God produce a people whose faith in Jesus Christ is unshakable?” Jesus Himself said: Luke 18:8b “However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?” John tells us: Revelation 6:17 For the great day of their wrath has come, and who can withstand it? The only way God can produce a people whose faith is unshakable is for us to be established in Jesus Christ — in His love and His redeeming activity that took place 2,000 years ago. We will lay the foundation for this study and then, move quickly to Romans 3. Romans 1:15-17 is the theme of this whole book of Romans. Paul has preached the gospel in Asia Minor, now he says: Romans 1:15-16 That is why I am so eager to preach the gospel also to you who are in Rome. For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile. In those days, when an emphasis was needed, it was put in the negative. If Paul was living today, he would say, “I am going to glory in the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Rome was the capital of the world that counted in those days. It boasted of military power; it boasted of philosophy; it boasted of architecture; in everything it boasted. But there was one thing in which Rome had failed miserably and that was in conquering sin. Paul says, “Ashamed? Why should I be ashamed? The gospel is the power of God. Not of Rome, not of men, but the power of God unto salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.” Verse 17: Romans 1:17 For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed [made effective] — a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: [quoting from Habakkuk 2:4] “The righteous will live by faith.” [He that is just by faith shall live] The gospel is not partly your righteousness and partly Christ’s righteousness; it is the righteousness of God, period. He that is just by faith does not begin living when Christ comes. We begin living from the moment we are justified by faith. The passage in Romans 3:9-20 sums up what Paul says from Romans 1:18 right up to Romans 3:8. Romans 3:9-20 What shall we conclude then? Do we have any advantage? Not at all! For we have already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under the power of sin. As it is written: “There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one.” “Their throats are open graves; their tongues practice deceit.” “The poison of vipers is on their lips.” “Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.” “Their feet are swift to shed blood; ruin and misery mark their ways, and the way of peace they do not know.” “There is no fear of God before their eyes.” Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. Therefore no one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by the works of the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin. When Paul begins to preach the gospel to the Romans, he does not begin by preaching Christ. He begins by preaching the universal sin problem. The gospel is not for good people; it is for sinners. We can go one step further. It is not simply for sinners; it is for people who are one hundred percent sinners, who are totally helpless, incapable of saving themselves. In order to present the gospel, the first thing he has to do is to destroy all confidence in self. In Romans 1:18-32, he looks at the human race in general and says that we are sinners by nature and performance. Romans 1:18-32 The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities — his eternal power and divine nature — have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse. For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles. Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator — who is forever praised. Amen. Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed shameful acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their error. Furthermore, just as they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, so God gave them over to a depraved mind, so that they do what ought not to be done. They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy. Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them. We have a dual problem. We are ungodly; our very nature is anti-God and the result is unrighteousness. The church of Rome was made up of two groups — Jews and Gentiles, who normally sat apart. They didn’t mix so easily in those days and when the messenger read the first part of chapter one to the end of that chapter, you can imagine the Jews nodding their heads saying, “Yes, we always knew that these Gentiles are all sinners.” There are some who look at other Christians that way. They say, “You are Philistines. We are the true people.” We may be surprised when we go to heaven who will be there. But in Romans 2 Paul lashes out at the Jews. Romans 2 You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge another, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things. Now we know that God’s judgment against those who do such things is based on truth. So when you, a mere human being, pass judgment on them and yet do the same things, do you think you will escape God’s judgment? Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, forbearance and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repentance? But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God’s wrath, when his righteous judgment will be revealed. God “will repay each person according to what they have done.” To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality, he will give eternal life. But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger. There will be trouble and distress for every human being who does evil: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile; but glory, honor and peace for everyone who does good: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. For God does not show favoritism. All who sin apart from the law will also perish apart from the law, and all who sin under the law will be judged by the law. For it is not those who hear the law who are righteous in God’s sight, but it is those who obey the law who will be declared righteous. (Indeed, when Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature things required by the law, they are a law for themselves, even though they do not have the law. They show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts sometimes accusing them and at other times even defending them.) This will take place on the day when God judges people’s secrets through Jesus Christ, as my gospel declares. Now you, if you call yourself a Jew; if you rely on the law and boast in God; if you know his will and approve of what is superior because you are instructed by the law; if you are convinced that you are a guide for the blind, a light for those who are in the dark, an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of little children, because you have in the law the embodiment of knowledge and truth — you, then, who teach others, do you not teach yourself? You who preach against stealing, do you steal? You who say that people should not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? You who boast in the law, do you dishonor God by breaking the law? As it is written: “God’s name is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.” Circumcision has value if you observe the law, but if you break the law, you have become as though you had not been circumcised. So then, if those who are not circumcised keep the law’s requirements, will they not be regarded as though they were circumcised? The one who is not circumcised physically and yet obeys the law will condemn you who, even though you have the written code and circumcision, are a lawbreaker. A person is not a Jew who is one only outwardly, nor is circumcision merely outward and physical. No, a person is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code. Such a person’s praise is not from other people, but from God. “You Jews claim to be God’s people; you claim to know the law; you claim to teach babies but by breaking the law you are blaspheming the name of God. You are no better than the Gentiles. In fact, there will be Gentiles who will pass the judgment more than you even though they don’t have the law explicitly.” Then, he says, that ultimately there is no difference between Jew and Gentile. Yes, the difference is that the Gentiles have the law through their consciences and a revelation of God through nature but the Jews have the explicit knowledge of God and His law through revelation, through the Bible. Ultimately, it makes no difference because all in both groups are sinners. The conclusion is in Romans 3:9: Romans 3:9 What shall we conclude then? Do we [Jews] have any advantage [over Gentiles]? Not at all! For we have already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under the power of sin. The word “under” was a term used in Paul’s day. Paul lived in a slave society where between 40% to 60% of the population of the Roman Empire were slaves. A slave was totally under the dominion of his master. He owned nothing, not even the shirt on his back. He had no choice, no freedom; he was totally dominated, ruled by his master. Paul is saying that is exactly what we are under sin. In Romans 7:14 Paul says the law is spiritual: Romans 7:14 We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. He says both are under sin. Then, in Romans 3:10-18, he quotes texts from the Old Testament, one is from Ecclesiastes, one from Proverbs, one from Isaiah, the rest are all from Psalms, proving that this is what the Bible was teaching all along. Romans 3:10-18 As it is written: “There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one.” “Their throats are open graves; their tongues practice deceit.” “The poison of vipers is on their lips.” “Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.” “Their feet are swift to shed blood; ruin and misery mark their ways, and the way of peace they do not know.” “There is no fear of God before their eyes.” Then he concludes: Romans 3:19 Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. “Now we know.” You and I must reach this stage — “now we know” — because the formula of the gospel is made up of two parts, “Not I” and “But Christ” and the hardest part of the formula is “Not I.” The flesh is willing to admit that it is a sinner but the flesh will not admit that we are one hundred percent sinful. We want to find something good in us but Paul says: Romans 7:18 For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. In the Old Testament, we are told that, from head to foot, we have nothing good in us. Romans 3:19-20 Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law [Remember, the Jews and the Gentiles were both under the law — one explicitly, one through the conscience], so that every mouth may be silenced [stop boasting; stop telling yourself or others how good you are] and the whole world [the whole human race] held accountable to God. Therefore [in view of this] no one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by the works of the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin. It is Paul saying it and if you have anything against that you can argue with him — if you see him in heaven — because if you are trying to go to heaven by the law, you won’t see him. If you don’t believe me, read Galatians 5:4. Christ has become of no value, you who are trying to be justified by the law. Galatians 5:4 You who are trying to be justified by the law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace. Romans 3:20 Therefore no one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by the works of the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin. Whose sin? Not your brother’s, not your sister’s, your sin. Before you jump to any conclusion, I am not against the law, neither is Paul. Paul is trying to make it clear that the law was never given as a method or a means of salvation. When it comes to Christian living, especially Romans 13:8-10, he upholds the law as a standard of Christian living. Romans 13:8-10 Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law. The commandments, “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not murder,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not covet,” and whatever other command there may be, are summed up in this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no harm to a neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law. The gospel is good news for all men. The gospel is the birth, the life, the death, and the resurrection of Jesus Christ, period. Sanctification is the fruits of the gospel and if you have not produced the fruits, it is evident that you have not understood the gospel and responded to it. Matthew 7:16 By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? But Jesus did not say you would be saved by the fruits. Let us not add to scripture what it does not say. Sanctification or holy living or Christian living is the fruits of salvation and the second coming of Christ is the hope of the gospel. We must be clear that when Paul is describing the gospel, he is talking of the holy history of our Lord Jesus Christ — His birth, His life, His death, His resurrection, period. But he also makes it clear that this gospel, when it is responded to in faith, will produce a people who reflect the love of God and love is the fulfillment of the law. Having said this, let me show you how he introduces the gospel. After painting this dark, dismal, hopeless picture of mankind which is very discouraging to the proud heart, he introduces the gospel by two words — “But now.” That is typical Paul. He spent a long time on the sin problem and now he introduces the gospel. Let me give you a couple of examples where, when writing to a church and to an individual, he simply reminds them of what he gives in detail in Romans. In Ephesians 2:1-3, we have in summary what Paul wrote in detail in Romans 1:18 right up to Romans 3:20. [Note: In the King James Version, there is a phrase in Romans 2:1: “He made alive” in italics. When you come across any italics in the King James Version, it means it was not there in the original. Paul did not write it. The scribe probably did. It is there in verse 5 but not in verse 1.] One more point in this passage is that Paul uses two pronouns. In fact, he uses three pronouns in Ephesians but here in this passage he uses two — “you” and “we.” The “you” refers to Gentiles and the “we” refers to Jews. Ephesians 2:1 As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins.... This is not dealing with performance. It is dealing with their nature, their equipment. They were dead in trespasses and sins. Verse 2 is dealing with performance. Ephesians 2:1-2 As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient [that is, those who are disobedient to the gospel]. Then, in Ephesians 2:3, he adds the Jews: Ephesians 2:3 All of us also lived among them at one time [not only you Gentiles but we Jews], gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts [that is performance]. Like the rest [just as you others], we were by nature deserving of wrath. He paints this dark, dismal, hopeless picture. But if you read verses 4-6, you have the gospel in a nutshell. Ephesians 2:4-6 But because of his great love for us [the cause is not because we deserve it but because of His great love], God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions — it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus.... Then he says, Ephesians 2:8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith — and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God.... Titus was a Gentile who was a co-worker with Paul. In Titus 3:3-4, it is the same idea except it is in summary because these churches already knew the gospel through Paul. Titus 3:3 At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another. There is nothing good about that, but there is a “but.” Titus 3:4-6 But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior.... In Romans 3:21, we will look at those two words, “but now.” We cannot ignore them. Romans 3:21 But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. The gospel is presented to the human race in the context of our sinfulness. In 1 Timothy, we are told: 1 Timothy 1:15 Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners — of whom I am the worst. “But now” involves a time factor. When we read the whole of verse 21, we see what is meant by a time factor. Romans 3:21 But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. The Old Testament period, which is before the time Christ came, men such as Abraham and all those mentioned in Hebrews 11 were saved by faith in a promise. Romans was written after Christ came but the moment Christ came, the promise became a reality. Paul is saying that the righteousness of God apart from the law was promised by the Law and the Prophets, which is the book of Moses and the rest of the Old Testament, but now it is manifested, it is witnessed, it is reality. There is a third reason why we need to understand the two words, “But now.” We need to use those words as a weapon against Satan. Satan comes to you, a Christian, and knocks you down for the seventy-first time. When he says, “You are not good enough to be saved,” he is right. None of us are good enough to be saved. We will never be good enough to be saved even if we were to live as long as Methuselah. But now, how do you respond? Do you lie down defeated? Or do you get up and say, “Yes, Satan, you are absolutely right. I am not good enough to be saved. But now the righteousness of God saves me!” You have a weapon. When we understand justification by faith the shackles that Satan binds us with will be broken. Christ has set us free from the accusation and condemnation. Satan accuses us day and night because we are sinners day and night. We are sinners even when we are sleeping. Romans 3:21 But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. There you have that phrase again. Paul’s definition of the gospel is the righteousness of God. Paul means it is a righteousness planned and initiated by God Himself. We had no part in that plan. It was God who planned it from the foundation of the world. In Ephesians 1:4, Paul tells us we were chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world. Ephesians 1:4 For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight.... The book of Revelation says He is the Lamb of God slain from the foundation of the world, that is, even before Adam was created. Revelation 13:8 All inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast — all whose names have not been written in the Lamb’s book of life, the Lamb who was slain from the creation of the world. The fall of Adam did not take God by surprise. He had already planned our salvation in Jesus Christ. It was fulfilled by Jesus Christ with no contribution from us. This is a garment woven in heaven without a single thread of human devising. That’s why Paul uses the phrase “apart from the law.” Romans 3:21 But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. Let us see what he means by “apart from the law,” because there is a misunderstanding of that phrase. There are Christians, mainly those who belong to the doctrine of Dispensationalism, who say: “From Moses to Christ, man was put under the law and his salvation was based on the basis of his relationship to the law. But because that failed, God came along with the Old Covenant which meant He did away with the law and introduced grace. Therefore, grace is apart from the law. The law was done away with.” There is only one problem with that interpretation. It contradicts Romans 3:31. Romans 3:31 Do we, then, nullify the law by this faith? Not at all! [God forbid. The Greek says, “It’s unthinkable.”] Rather, we uphold the law. How could he, say on the one hand, the law was done away with; on the other hand, we establish the law. Paul does not contradict himself. So the question we must ask is, “What did he mean by that phrase, “apart from the law”? Notice Romans 3:20. Paul is writing in context. Romans 3:20 Therefore no one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by the works of the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin. In verse 20 he tells us that, by the deeds of the law, none will be justified. He is saying, in verse 21, that the righteousness of God has no human contribution. Romans 3:21 But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. Our law-keeping has made no contribution towards the righteousness of God that saves us. He brings this out in his conclusion. Romans 3:28 For we maintain that a person is justified by faith apart from the works of the law. Once again, Paul is dealing with how we are saved. He is not undermining the law. There was no word, in Paul’s day, in the Greek language in which the New Testament is written, that was equivalent to our English word “legalism.” So, wherever you read the phrase “deeds of the law” or “works of the law,” that is the word or the phrase in the New Testament which we would say is “legalism,” which is using the law as a means or a method of salvation. Can God, through His Holy Spirit, give us power to keep the law? The answer is, “Yes.” But that law-keeping does not contribute towards the righteousness of God. It is the fruits of the gospel. It does not contribute towards the gospel. I have heard preachers say, “Yes, it is the gospel because sanctification is also good news.” I have no disagreement with that. So is winning a lottery good news. Just because it is good news doesn’t mean it is the gospel. Don’t forget, the gospel is unconditional good news. Sanctification does require something from me. I have to walk in the Spirit for the Spirit to produce the character of Christ in me. But the gospel is free, a gift, unconditionally, and we shall see this in our study of Romans 5. Can this righteousness of God obtained for all men in Christ become mine? Do I have to make a pilgrimage to the Holy Lands? No. I made it because I worked there. Maybe some of you won’t but I thank God that is not necessary. Do I have to pay money to the pastor? No. That is not what the Bible says. How then can this righteousness of God become mine? And the answer is only one word: faith. Let me add another word — faith alone. Now let’s pause for an explanation of what the word faith, in the New Testament, means because there is a misunderstanding here. There are three basic elements needed to make up New Testament faith. In order to have faith, we must have a knowledge of the gospel, because faith is never in and of itself. It is always in an object and that object is Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Jesus said: John 8:32 “Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” The word truth here is not the Sabbath, not the state of the dead. He explains what he means: John 8:36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. Romans 10:17 Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ [the message of Christ preached]. That is why we need to proclaim the gospel. We have to believe the truth and I will say the truth is too good to be true. When my book was published, it was given the title Beyond Belief. I asked them why they chose that title. They said, “Because the gospel is so good that too many will think it is too good to be true.” But it is the Word of God; Christ is saying it, Paul is saying it. Belief is a mental assent to truth. Let me give you an example. In 1961, as a student at Newbold College working for my tuition, I sold literature in a town 150 miles north of the Arctic Circle in Sweden. The sun did not set at all for six solid weeks. It was in the sky 24 hours a day. It was the “Land of the Midnight Sun.” Well, the big question was, “When does the Sabbath begin?” There were three positions, but I took the position that it was when the sun was at the lowest point. The first Friday I waited until midnight. Just after midnight the sun was supposed to set at 12:15, so I photographed the sun with my watch in front. I took this slide and showed it to some Africans in Kenya, which is on the equator where the sun sets at approximately 6:30 all year round. One old man, who had not had the privilege of going to school, said, “Who are you trying to fool?” So I said to him, “Didn’t you see the picture?” He said, “Yes, but you are lying.” I said, “How do you explain it?” He said, “Very simple. You took your watch, turned it to 12:00 and photographed it at 5:00 in the evening and you’re telling us it is midnight.” Now, I showed him the truth but he didn’t believe it. If I’d had enough money I would have bought him a ticket and taken him there. In December they told me they don’t see the sun there at all for six weeks. Remember how Thomas reacted when the disciples told him for the first time, “Jesus is risen”? Remember what Jesus said after he had rebuked him? John 20:29 Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” Too many Christians stop at a mental assent to truth. There is a very important third element which I will deal with in detail later on but I will give it to you in summary now. You have to obey the truth. We have a song, “Trust and Obey.” What we need to obey is the gospel. The result of that will produce a commandment-keeping people. Obeying the gospel is not obeying the law, because the law and the gospel are not the same thing. The gospel is the birth, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. To prove this, read: Romans 1:5 Through him we received grace and apostleship to call all the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith for his name’s sake. After Paul defines the gospel as concerning Jesus Christ he says, “the obedience that comes from faith.” That word obedience is a genitive preposition which in Greek means a word that describes faith. Faith is obedience. Talking to the Roman Christians, Paul says: Romans 6:17 But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you have come to obey [the gospel] from your heart the pattern of teaching that has now claimed your allegiance. Paul tells the Jews. Romans 10:16-21 But not all the Israelites accepted the good news. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed our message?” Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ. But I ask: Did they not hear? Of course they did: “Their voice has gone out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world.” Again I ask: Did Israel not understand? First, Moses says, “I will make you envious by those who are not a nation; I will make you angry by a nation that has no understanding.” And Isaiah boldly says, “I was found by those who did not seek me; I revealed myself to those who did not ask for me.” But concerning Israel he says, “All day long I have held out my hands to a disobedient and obstinate people.” “The reason you are lost is not because God did not keep His promise but because you have not obeyed the gospel.” In Galatians, Paul says, Galatians 5:7 You were running a good race. Who cut in on you to keep you from obeying the truth [the gospel] ? Let me give you a text that you are all familiar with. 1 Peter 4:17 For it is time for judgment to begin with God’s household; and if it begins with us, what will the outcome be for those who do not obey the gospel of God [our Lord Jesus Christ] ? In this series, we will cover what it means to obey the gospel. Let’s go to Romans. Romans 3:24 ...And all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. This gospel is made effective by faith alone and this applies equally to the Jews, to the Gentiles, to the Old Testament times, and to the New Testament times. God doesn’t have one, two, three or four methods of salvation. He has only one. Dispensationalism is not correct because there is only one way to be saved. The only difference is that, in the Old Testament times, you were saved by faith in the promise of the coming of Jesus Christ. In the New Testament you are saved by faith in the historical Christ who has already come. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile and the reason is given: Romans 3:23 ...For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.... “For all have sinned.” That is in the aorist tense in Greek, which means something that took place once and for all. We will study later when we all sinned in the past in Romans 5:12-21. But besides that, besides the fact that we have sinned in the past, now in the present continuous tense, “And fall (continually) short of the glory of God,” which is another way of saying we are sinning. We sinned in the past, we are sinning in the present. By inheritance and by performance, we are all sinners. Romans 3:24 ...And all are justified freely by his grace [not by what you did] through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. “The redemption that came by Christ Jesus,” which is through His birth, life, death, and resurrection. Romans 3:25a God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood — to be received by faith. “A sacrifice of atonement” in Greek is the same word in the Old Testament for the mercy seat that was over the ark of the covenant that had the Ten Commandments that condemn us. There is a wonderful truth in 1 John: 1 John 2:2 He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world. That’s the gospel. The trouble is we know it, but the world doesn’t know it. We are the ones who will tell them. Romans 3:25 God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood — to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished.... Here is a verse that is greatly misunderstood. One day, speaking to pastors at a workers’ meeting, I said, “Nowhere in the Bible have I found even one text that says that justification is only the forgiveness of past sins. I challenge you.” One pastor stood up and said, “I want to challenge you.” I said, “Fine, but please don’t use Romans 3:25.” He said, “How did you know I was going to use that text?” I said, “They all do that.” He said, “Why don’t you want me to use that text?” and I said, “Because I do not want to embarrass you in front of the pastors of whom you are overseer.” He said, “No, I can handle it.” I said, “All right. Here it is.” I told him that Paul is not talking about the past sins of the individual believer. He is saying that, before the cross, God forgave sins, that is, He forgave Abraham; He forgave Noah; He forgave the Old Testament saints out of forbearance, out of patience, out of kindness. Legally He had no right to forgive them because the law says, “Without shedding of blood there is no remission of sins.” Hebrews 9:22 In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness. But, since the cross, God has become righteous; He has become just. This brings me to a very important point. There are people today, scholars in the churches and pastors who are saying that Christ did not have to die in order to forgive us. That is based on human rationale, not on the Word of God. May I remind you what Jesus said when He introduced the Lord’s supper? He took the cup and said, “This blood is shed for the remission of sins,” not to influence us. Matthew 26:27-28 Then he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you. This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. Now it is true the cross of Christ must influence us. The worst heresies are not heresies that teach lies but the worst are those heresies that are teaching truth but also denying truth. What I have just described to you is the heresy of the moral influence theory which is not teaching error but it denies truth; it denies forensic justification or legal justification which is based on the blood of Christ. Jesus had to die to save us. Look at Romans 3:26: Romans 3:26 ...He did it to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus. The law of God can never justify a sinner. You won’t find one text in the Bible that says the law justifies sinners. But Paul tells us, in Romans 4:5, that God does justify the ungodly. Romans 4:5 However, to the one who does not work but trusts God who justifies the ungodly, their faith is credited as righteousness. How can a holy God justify the ungodly when His own law will not justify a sinner? Isn’t God going against His own law? Now please don’t say that the reason God can justify us is because Jesus died for us. In Provansha’s book, The Remnant Crisis, he rejects the forensic atonement and he says, “This doctrine of substitution, taught by some Christians is based on a faulty Roman law because no law allows an innocent man to die for the guilty.” We will find the answer to how we solve the problem in these studies. Romans 3:26 ...He did it to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus. In Romans 3:26, God demonstrates His righteousness in the present time, that is, after the cross, that He is not only justifying sinners but He is just in doing it if you believe. Romans 3:27 Where, then, is boasting? It is excluded. Because of what law? The law that requires works? No, because of the law that requires faith. Boasting is excluded because a Christian is justified by the doing and dying of Christ. We have made no contribution. Not even our faith contributes towards our salvation. So when somebody tells you, “I was saved three months ago,” please correct him. He was not saved three months ago. We were all saved 2,000 years ago. He accepted salvation three months ago. Faith doesn’t contribute towards our salvation. We are never saved because of our faith. Nowhere in the Bible does it teach that. We are saved by faith or through faith. Faith is an instrument, a channel by which we receive the righteousness of Christ but it doesn’t contribute one iota towards the righteousness of Christ. The doing and dying of Christ is all perfect and complete in saving mankind. Romans 3:28 For we maintain that a person is justified by faith apart from the works of the law. Then Paul asks, Romans 3:29-30 Or is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles, too? Yes, of Gentiles too, since there is only one God, who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through that same faith. He says he has already shown us that both are sinners. There is only one way that God will save the Jews and only one way that God will save the Gentiles and that one way is justification by faith in the righteousness of God in Jesus Christ — nothing else! But remember, there were Jews in the Roman church. Some of them were Judaizers, who were a group of Jewish Christians who dogged the steps of Paul constantly everywhere he went. They would come to a church and say, “You know, we heard that Paul gave you the gospel.” The believers would say, “Yes. He gave us a wonderful message.” Then the Judaizers would say, “Yes, thank God he preached Christ but do you know that he did not give you the whole truth? He is not a genuine apostle. He’s a self-appointed apostle. He was not among the twelve and his gospel of grace alone is incomplete. Can you imagine that God would take you to heaven just by faith? Now you know that’s too good to be true. God expects you to do something, He expects you to be circumcised; He expects you to do some good works; He expects you to keep the law, then you can go to heaven.” This was the first big issue in the first General Conference in the Christian church. In Acts 15, we read that the issue was circumcision and the keeping of the law. Acts 15:5-21 Then some of the believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees stood up and said, “The Gentiles must be circumcised and required to keep the law of Moses.” The apostles and elders met to consider this question. After much discussion, Peter got up and addressed them: “Brothers, you know that some time ago God made a choice among you that the Gentiles might hear from my lips the message of the gospel and believe. God, who knows the heart, showed that he accepted them by giving the Holy Spirit to them, just as he did to us. He did not discriminate between us and them, for he purified their hearts by faith. Now then, why do you try to test God by putting on the necks of Gentiles a yoke that neither we nor our ancestors have been able to bear? No! We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are.” The whole assembly became silent as they listened to Barnabas and Paul telling about the signs and wonders God had done among the Gentiles through them. When they finished, James spoke up. “Brothers,” he said, “listen to me. Simon has described to us how God first intervened to choose a people for his name from the Gentiles. The words of the prophets are in agreement with this, as it is written: ‘After this I will return and rebuild David’s fallen tent. Its ruins I will rebuild, and I will restore it, that the rest of mankind may seek the Lord, even all the Gentiles who bear my name, says the Lord, who does these things’ — things known from long ago. It is my judgment, therefore, that we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God. Instead we should write to them, telling them to abstain from food polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from the meat of strangled animals and from blood. For the law of Moses has been preached in every city from the earliest times and is read in the synagogues on every Sabbath.” Romans 4 deals with this and we will come to it later. Remember, there is only one way you and I can be saved. So the Judaizers were saying, “Paul, you are doing away with the law.” Paul knew they were saying this and asked them the question: Romans 3:31 Do we, then, nullify the law by this faith? Not at all! Rather, we uphold the law. There is one word missing in your English Bible that throws off the meaning of this statement. The word faith is preceded by the definite article “the.” What Paul actually said is, “Do we then make void the law through the faith.” By that he did not mean the believer’s faith. God is not saying here, “If you accept the gospel, if you believe in the gospel, then the Holy Spirit comes into you and then He gives you the power to keep the law.” He does say that in Romans 8, but this is not what he is saying here. What he is saying here is, “Does the doctrine of justification by faith, which I have just expounded, bypass the law? Does it nullify the law or does justification by faith stand up against the scrutiny of the law of God? The answer is “Yes, the righteousness that God gives us in Christ perfectly meets the demands of the law.” The demands of the law on us are twofold. The law demands perfect obedience. Christ perfectly obeyed the law. Because we are sinners, the law also demands perfect justice. The soul that sins must die. Jesus died. In the doing and the dying of Jesus Christ, the law was perfectly met. How does faith make it yours? This is not legal fiction, nor is it a make-believe salvation. The righteousness of God fully satisfies the law on your behalf, on my behalf, on everybody’s behalf who believes in the gospel so that when we stand before the law of God in the Investigative Judgment and the law says, “Did you obey me?” you don’t tell the law, “I did my best.” The law will say, “I didn’t ask you that.” Or don’t tell the law, “I kept most of your commandments; occasionally I failed.” The law will say, “You failed once, you’ve had it.” It took one sin for Adam to die. Eve brought the fruit and Adam knew it was the forbidden fruit. The moment he ate it, he came under condemnation. We will not stand before the law because we are believers. We have an Advocate who will do that. But if I had to stand before the law and the law said to me, “Have you obeyed me perfectly?” I will say, “Yes.” “When did you obey me perfectly?” “In Christ.” “But you’re a sinner; you must die.” And I will quote: Galatians 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. “I was crucified with Christ.” And the law will say, “I have nothing against you. Heaven is yours.” I will take my crown and lay it at the feet of Jesus Christ. That’s the gospel. May God bless you that you shall know this truth and the truth will set you free. Chapter 2 – Justification by Faith We have discovered, basically, three major facts: We are all under sin. That means we are ruled and dominated by sin. We are slaves to sin, which means that it is impossible, and I repeat that, it is impossible for us to save ourselves through our own good works. The gospel is the righteousness of God, which is God’s solution to our sin problem. The righteousness of God is what God obtained for all men in the holy history of our Lord, Jesus Christ — in His birth, life, death, and resurrection. This righteousness of God is made effective in our lives not by going on a pilgrimage, not by paying some money, not by joining a church, but by faith alone. Wherever Paul traveled and proclaimed this wonderful message of salvation, his steps were dogged by a group of Jewish believers. They did believe in Christ, but they believed that Paul was preaching an incomplete gospel. They believed that salvation is not by grace alone but that salvation is by grace plus being circumcised, plus keeping the law, plus doing good. Since more than half of the church in Rome was made up of Jews, Paul knew that this would be a problem, so he spends all of Romans 4 defending the doctrine of justification by faith or defending the gospel of grace alone against the threefold arguments of the Judaizers — circumcision, good works, and keeping of the law. Later we will cover two chapters, Romans 4 and 6, because they have a common unity. One is dealing with legalism and one is dealing with antinomianism, which are two counterfeits of the devil. Let us turn to Romans 5:1-11, where Paul discusses the effects, the fruits, the outcome, of justification by faith. The doctrine of justification by faith is not just a theory. It does something for us. It does three things for us: one is immediate, one is ongoing, and the last one is the ultimate fruit of justification by faith. We find, in Romans 5, the three blessings of justification by faith: Romans 5:1-2 Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. That is the immediate fruit of justification by faith. “Having been justified by faith” is in what we call an aorist tense. The gospel involves three things: knowing the truth, believing the truth, and obeying the truth, which we will discuss in more detail later on. The moment we believe, the moment we step in by faith under the umbrella of justification by faith — which is an act which takes place once — immediately, we have peace with God. “We have peace with God” is in the present continuous tense. When I first joined the church I was told that justification by faith is only the forgiveness of past sins. I don’t know where we got that from. Definitely not from the Bible. There isn’t a single text that teaches that. So when I was baptized in Nairobi, Kenya, I made three promises: no more cinema, no more smoking, and no more alcohol. Three days after I was baptized, I was coming home from my work as an architect. I had lots of money, lots of friends before, but I had lost all my friends. I was very lonely and there on the bulletin of the Capital Theater, which is one of the big cinemas of Nairobi, was displayed one of the great actors of Hollywood, Rock Hudson. Of course, in those days, we had not heard about AIDS. I wanted to go in, but I remembered my promise three days earlier at my baptism so I said to myself, “No, I promised God not to go in.” I puffed up my willpower and I said, “No,” but my flesh said, “You don’t have to go in; at least enjoy the photographs at the bottom of the bulletin.” So I enjoyed them and my hands went automatically into my pocket; out came the money; I bought the ticket and three days after my baptism I was in the theater. Well, I enjoyed the film, but, after I enjoyed it, then I felt guilty and my first job was to get out of that theater without any of my new friends seeing me. So I lowered my height as the crowd came out. But now I had added a new sin which was not covered under the umbrella of justification by faith, because I had been told that justification was only the forgiveness of past sins. This was a brand new sin and the Bible says, “One sin and you’re finished.” So now my knees were trembling and I went to my room. On my knees I said, “God, please forgive me. I did not mean what I did,” even though the flesh all the time knew what it did. And I said, “I will not do it again.” Well, I kept struggling and struggling. I was young and foolish in those days; my wife says now I’m old and foolish but I thank God He uses the foolish things of this world to proclaim the truth. Six months later, I fulfilled a dream I’d had and that was to ride my motorcycle from Nairobi to London. It took me two months. Just before I left, the MV Leader for the Union gave me a magazine called The Youth Instructor. In it was an article about Newbold College and he said to me, “If you ever make it to England (he thought I would never make it), please go to Newbold College. I think God wants you in the ministry.” I fought against it and finally decided that maybe joining the Ministry would give me victory over sin. So I went to Newbold College for four solid years. Every year we had three weeks of prayer. I made promises; I made resolutions, and sometimes the promises lasted one week and sometimes two weeks and, if I was lucky, three weeks. But all my promises were like ropes of sand and the moment I fell, the peace went with it. Was that only my experience or are you facing the same thing? I had no success over sin at Newbold College. I graduated with a B.A. in Theology and I decided to come to America to Andrews University. But I forgot coming to Andrews was also coming to “the land of milk and money,” and I discovered the temptations here magnified all the more. It got worse. I discovered root beer floats, which I never heard of before, and all kinds of material things. Then I decided maybe the mission field would solve the problem. I went to Uganda as a missionary. Five years in Uganda and I was absolutely drained. I felt like a hypocrite telling my members to be good while I was struggling within myself. I nearly gave up the ministry but God stepped in. God is faithful and His faithfulness is not based on our performance. It is based on His unconditional love. Romans 8:35a Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? In God’s own way, He opened my eyes to the gospel through two books. One is Romans, the other one is Galatians, and it is my prayer that you will study both books. They are difficult books but study them; wrestle with them. Paul is not saying that justification is the forgiveness of past sins. When we step under the umbrella of justification by faith, God no longer looks at us as we are but as we are in His Son Jesus Christ. There we stand perfect; we stand complete; we stand whole in spite of the fact that our Christian life is an up and down struggle. So the first blessing that we receive through justification by faith is peace with God. Now notice Paul is not saying that justification by faith brings you peace with your neighbor or your pastor or your spouse. There may still be fighting. It is not a horizontal peace that justification by faith brings. It brings peace with God, which is a vertical peace. If we have peace with God, it doesn’t matter how others treat us. Let me put it in the context of the book of Romans. Paul tells us: Romans 1:18 The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness.... That applies to all of us. We are born under the wrath of God. Ephesians 2:3 All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. Then Paul says Romans 2:8-9 But for those who are self-seeking [which is the human trend] and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger. There will be trouble and distress [no peace] for every human being who does evil: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile.... There is no exemption. The human race is living under the wrath of God. But Christ came to bring peace for us. Jesus said: 1 John 5:12 Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life. John 3:36 Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on them. What does it mean to have peace with God? We’re not condemned. Romans 8:1 Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.... There is no condemnation, not because we are good but because in Christ Jesus the law was fully established. Jesus said, in John 5:24, that the moment you believe the gospel you have already passed from death to life, which means from condemnation to justification. John 5:24 Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life. Having peace with God means you can now come boldly to the throne of God with full confidence. Hebrews 10:19-22 Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place [which simply means the very presence of God] by the blood of Jesus [not by your performance but by the blood of Jesus], by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. This is part of the wonderful privilege. I was raised a very strong Roman Catholic. My uncle is a Jesuit priest; my aunt is a mother superior in a convent. I was an altar boy. When I joined the church at 25, I saw little difference between us and Roman Catholics. Let me give you an example. It is a mortal sin for a Roman Catholic not to attend mass on Sunday. A mortal sin means, if you die without confession, you go to hell. One Sunday, I was going to church; it was a very hot day and I met my friend and he said, “Do you feel like going to church?” I said, “No.” So we both went swimming. I had a very strict mother, so, before going home, I went to another friend who had been to the mass. I asked him who offered the mass, who sang, what hymns were sung. I got all the details. I had committed a mortal sin so what was one more lie? I went home and my Mother said, “Have you been to church?” I said, “Yes.” “I didn’t see you,” she said. I said, “Well, it was a hot day and so I stayed at the back.” “Who offered the mass?” she asked. “Father O’Neil,” I answered. “What songs were sung?” I gave her the details; she was satisfied. Now, I had two sins. The only difference between the Catholics and our church is that the we can go straightway on our knees for confession. So I had to wait for Friday. This was Sunday and every day of that week I made sure there were no cars coming at high speed. I was coming home on Wednesday with my brother. Wednesday was a market day and there was an Arab with all his trinkets on the floor, selling them in the market. He had a chrome-plated key ring and a chain that hooked onto his belt. I coveted it; it was nice and glossy and I said to my brother, “I’m going to confession on Friday. One more sin. You keep him busy.” Then I put out my hand, pulled the chain and put it in my pocket. Well, Friday came and there were two priests taking confession. Priests give you penance and the penance has to do with the heart of the priest — nothing to do with theology. If he is a kind priest, he gives you a short penance; if he is a strict priest, he gives you a long penance. It was very interesting that the old people always went to the strict priest because they enjoyed long penance. The more you did the more you had grace. The young fellows had a long line waiting for the kind priest so I was on the young side because I had some terrible sins. I confessed my sins to the priest and he said, “You surely were a bad boy this week.” “Yes, father.” “Are you sorry?” he asked. “Sure I’m sorry. I want to go to heaven.” So he gave me the penance: three rosaries (which is the beads). I went there and rattled my rosary at 90 miles per hour and I came back. He said, “You’ve finished already?” I said, “Yes, I pray fast.” It doesn’t matter how fast you pray as long as you say your prayers. Then he lifted up his hand and he said the blessing and I left there with peace in my heart and a key ring in my pocket. That is not salvation. That is not the gospel. That is a subtle form of legalism. There are too many church members who are legalists at heart. We tell ourselves that we have come out of that and we haven’t if we are still believing that kind of theology. It isn’t Pauline theology. So we have peace with God. If we do not have peace with God, we will not be able to stand the crisis that is coming. We had lightning at our college in Uganda one day. It hit the transformer of our college and burned the fuse. We had no lights and all the fridges were out of power. The trouble was that we had no telephone. We had to go personally to the power station to get a new fuse. Between the power station — fifteen miles away — and our college was Idi Amin’s camp where his worst soldiers were camped. Nobody wanted to go; they were all afraid to die. So I volunteered and I said I would take the dean of boys who spoke the language of Uganda. You see, a Christian is free from the fear of death. The gospel frees us from that. I drove; it was a hot day and the windows were down and as we were approaching the camp, I heard the click of a rifle. Those soldiers had automatic guns. If they pulled the trigger, I don’t know how many bullets would come out per second. There was no way I could escape so I braked and stopped. Three drunken soldiers came up to me. They were ready to shoot us. Of course, the dean of boys was scared as anything and he began to plead with these soldiers in the mother tongue of Uganda. But none of the soldiers spoke the language. They came from an area of Idi Amin’s camp which spoke Swahili and not the language of Uganda. One of the soldiers got so mad he pulled out his rifle and was about to shoot the dean of boys. I said, “God, you’d better take over.” Immediately, God took over. I grabbed the rifle and I acted as a commander. I said, “Stand at attention!” and he stood at attention. Now I didn’t plan this. This is not situation ethics. This is God taking over. I said, “Don’t you know who I am?” He said, “Sorry,” and all three stood up and I said, “Salute me,” and they saluted me. I said, “Why weren’t you on duty here?” and they apologized. I said, “Look, I am going to the power station and when I come back, if you are not here, you’re finished!” They promised me they would be there. So I went to the power station and got the fuse. The poor dean of boys didn’t know what to say. His mouth was dropped open. When God is in control He takes over. When I passed them coming back they were there. They had a hard time standing at attention because they were half drunk. They saluted me and I saluted back and I took off. Nobody can touch you if God says, “No.” If a Christian has to die, all that happens to him is that he goes to sleep. I don’t know about you but I enjoy sleeping, especially after a hard day’s work. Yes, we have peace with God. I spent some time on the first one because too many members have no peace with God. May I make it very clear: it is impossible — and I repeat, it is impossible — to experience genuine sanctification if you have no peace with God because sanctification is not only doing right things. Sanctification is doing right things with the right motive. If there is any self or if you are living the Christian life either out of fear of punishment or desire for reward, such religion is worth nothing. It is not Christianity. God does not begin with giving us victory over sin. The first thing He does is give us peace with God. As long as we have no peace with God, we are fooling ourselves that we are God’s commandment-keeping people. Commandment-keeping people in the New Testament are not people who are mechanically obeying some rules. Every text in the New Testament that talks about commandment-keeping people is set in the context of love. Love is the fulfillment of the law and it is the kind of love that has no fear. Perfect love must cast out fear. We have access to God’s grace. Romans 5:2 [Our Lord Jesus Christ] through whom we have gained access [available to us] by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. That is the second blessing of justification by faith. Paul is saying that, when you come under the umbrella of justification by faith, not only do you have peace with God through Jesus Christ but through Him you also have access to God’s grace. The word grace is used in two ways in the New Testament. The primary meaning is God’s loving disposition for sinners through which He redeemed us in Jesus Christ. Ephesians 1:7 is a good example of the primary meaning of grace. Ephesians 1:7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace.... Ephesians 2:8-9 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith [grace is made effective through faith] — and this is not from yourselves, it [“it” in the Greek grammar refers to grace] is the gift of God — not by works, so that no one can boast. Remember the primary meaning of grace is God’s loving disposition towards us in which He redeemed us in Christ. But there is a second meaning of grace and it is in the second meaning that Paul uses the word grace here. We are standing under the umbrella of the grace of God in the sense that the grace of God is available to us. The second meaning of grace is the power, the strength of God available to the Christian so that we may live the life that God wants Christians to live. I want to give you some examples of this because, remember, when God calls you to do something, He does not expect you to depend on your natural resources. He gives you the grace to do what He has called you to do. I am talking from experience. I am by nature an introvert. When I first stood up behind the pulpit my knees shook; I lost everything I was going to say. It is by the grace of God I can stand here and look at the whites of your eyes and not be frightened. Paul makes a statement: 1 Corinthians 15:9-10 For I am the least of the apostles and do not even deserve to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But [there’s a but] by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me [that is, His grace made available to me] was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them [“All of them” here in context refers to the other apostles. Paul corrects any misunderstanding that he sounds like a braggart.] — yet [he says not to give him the credit] not I, but the grace of God that was with me. So here the word grace is used in the sense of God’s power, God’s strength, God’s ability to make us do what we are called to do. There are many examples in the New Testament especially from Paul. You will find them in Ephesians and other passages but there is a very clear one in 2 Corinthians 12:7. In this verse, Paul reveals a problem in his life. He does not spell out the problem. Some feel it was his eyes; some feel that he had defective speech. Whatever the problem was, it was his opinion that it was hindering his ministry. 2 Corinthians 12:7 Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Notice the thorn did not come from God; it came from Satan, but it was allowed by God to keep him humble. God said that, because He was revealing so much He needed to keep him humble. Every time pride poked up its ugly head, he would be buffeted. We read: 2 Corinthians 12:8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. He said to God, “Please God, remove this thorn. I will be a better worker for You. I will be able to accomplish more for You.” Listen to God’s reply. 2 Corinthians 12:9a But he [that is, God] said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power [the phrase “my power” is synonymous with the word grace] is made perfect in weakness.” God doesn’t depend on your natural resources. In fact, “the weaker you are the more I will shine through you.” That is God! “My power is made perfect in weakness.” Now Paul responds to that answer to prayer. 2 Corinthians 12:9b-10 Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong. The power of Christ, My strength, My grace, are all synonymous terms. So Christians not only have peace with God but are standing under the grace of God. We are standing in the position where the grace of God is available to us. So don’t say, “I don’t have the ability to give Bible Studies or to witness.” Nobody is asking you for your ability. When God calls you to do something, He does not call you to do something in your strength but in His strength. Keep that in mind. When we all realize that, the work will be finished. The world will be lightened with His glory. After three years with Christ, the disciples were still not fit to fulfill the commission He gave them. Yet fifty days later, they were beginning to turn the world upside down. So we are standing in grace. Ephesians 3:7 and 1 Timothy 1:14 say the same thing. Ephesians 3:7 I became a servant of this gospel by the gift of God’s grace given me through the working of his power. 1 Timothy 1:14 The grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. There are many texts that bring out clearly that grace is also the power of God. There is a third fruit of justification by faith and that is found in Romans 5:2 (last part). Romans 5:2b And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. Because we are under the umbrella of grace and because the grace of God is accessible to us, we “rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.” Sin is a terrible thing. Sin has not only deprived us of heaven and of life but sin has robbed us of the glory of God. We know that from Romans: Romans 3:23 ...For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.... The wonderful thing about the gospel is that it not only redeems us from death, gives us a ticket to heaven, gives us peace with God but it restores the glory of God in us. Colossians 1:27 To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. Another text: 2 Corinthians 3:17-18 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom [freedom from the flesh]. And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory [not our glory, but the glory of the Lord], are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit. Remember that we have a hope. When Paul talks about the glory of God in Romans 5:2 [just above], he is talking not only about the glorification when this corruption puts on incorruption. He’s talking of the glory of God in the sense that we will be able to reflect the love of God. If we look at the context, that is what he is discussing. Let’s go step by step. Verses 3 and 4, Romans 5:3-4 Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. These “sufferings” are all the pressures and things of life that God will use to refine us. In Hebrews 12, Paul says that whom God loves He chastises. Then he goes on to explain that our human fathers will chastise us to correct us, to discipline us. They do it out of anger or to vent out their anger but God does it for our good. If we yield to that, we will experience the righteousness of Christ in us, not as a requirement for salvation but so that the world may see the love of God in us. Hebrews 12:5-11 And have you completely forgotten this word of encouragement that addresses you as a father addresses his son? It says, “My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you, because the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and he chastens everyone he accepts as his son.” Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as his children. For what children are not disciplined by their father? If you are not disciplined — and everyone undergoes discipline — then you are not legitimate, not true sons and daughters at all. Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of spirits and live! They disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share in his holiness. No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it. When we accept Christ, the only change that takes place in us is in our minds. The Greek word is metanoieo, which in English is called “repentance.” The mind which was anti-God now turns towards God in conversion, but our nature, which the Bible calls the flesh, does not change at all. Our flesh, our nature, is no different than it was before our conversion. That nature will not change until the second coming of Christ. So, when you become a Christian, you have a mind that may delight in the law of God, that may want to do good, that may want to serve God but you have a flesh that says, “No, I want sin.” This is the struggle of the Christian life. This is why, when we come to Romans 7:24, Paul will say with groaning: Romans 7:24 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? He says: Romans 8:23 Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies. “We groan waiting for the redemption of the body,” which will take place at the second coming of Christ. Now here is the problem. When God gives you victory over sin, He does it in contradiction to the desires of the flesh, so your flesh will always suffer when God gives you victory. Listen to what Peter, that great apostle of Christ, says: 1 Peter 4:1a Therefore, since Christ suffered in his body, arm yourselves also with the same attitude, because whoever suffers in the body is done with sin. In Hebrews 2:18, we are told, that He suffered being tempted: Hebrews 2:18 Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted. And, in Hebrews 5:8-9, we are told that He was made perfect through suffering. Hebrews 5:8-9 Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered and, once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him.... Peter tells us where He suffered. “Since Christ suffered for us in his body, arm yourselves with the same attitude.” So remember victory over the flesh always includes suffering, which is part of the suffering (thlipsis is the Greek word) that saves. But we know that this is only for a season so we patiently endure it until the coming of Christ. The suffering produces patience and the patience produces the character. Romans 5:4 [...We know that suffering produces perseverance;] perseverance, character; and character, hope. The hope is defined in verse 5. Romans 5:5 And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us. Now I will come back to this. We need to understand what Paul means when he says the love of God is poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit. He spends Romans 5:6-10 explaining and defining this love of God. This is where most Christians have gone wrong. We have only one word in our English language for love. So when we read in our Bible about the love of God and about the love being poured into our hearts, we project human ideas of love onto God. The moment we do that, we pervert God’s character, because not only is God’s love and our love different, but the love of God contradicts human love. Paul will bring that out in the context of the gospel because, remember that the ground of our salvation is God’s love. Let me show it to you as we read Romans 5:6-10. Keep note of four words that Paul will use in terms of our redemption and notice that Paul explains the love of God not by comparing it but by contrasting it with human love. Romans 5:6, 8, 9, and 10 is God’s love. Romans 5:7 is human love and you will discover that they are opposites. Romans 5:6 You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless [when we were helpless or incapable of saving ourselves], Christ died for the ungodly. He did not die for good people; He did not die for people who were trying to be good; He died for the ungodly, which is another word for wicked people. Now in contrast, he describes human love. Romans 5:7 Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. Now there was a story that was quite common in Paul’s day. It was part of Greek mythology known by most of the people and it is believed that Paul had this in mind. The story is about a man by the name of Admitis. He had been falsely accused and sentenced to death and, once a sentence was passed in Paul’s day, it could not be revoked, but an appeal could be made. His girlfriend Alcestis knew that he was not guilty and that he was a good man. So she went to the judge and said, “I know you can’t change the sentence. The law will not allow it, but I want to die in his place.” Roman law allowed that. The Greeks took this story and said, “This is the epitome of love. Alcestis is willing to die for a good person.” Paul takes this story and says, “That may be true. There are human beings who have laid down their lives for their loved ones or for their country but even this is very rare.” In Romans 5:8 he shows complete contrast, because the word “but” means “in complete contrast.” Romans 5:8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. He did not wait for us to be good or try to be good. He didn’t say, “Since you are trying to be good, I will save you.” While we were still sinners; when we were helpless, ungodly, wicked sinners, He saved us. In Romans 5:10, he adds one more. Romans 5:10 For if, while we were God’s enemies... In the context, he means enemies of God. We were actually God’s enemies; we rebelled against Him; we crucified Him. Romans 5:10 For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled [notice, it doesn’t say He just made a provision; we were actually reconciled] to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! Romans 5:9 Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! Because we are no longer under the wrath of God, we have peace with God under the umbrella of justification by faith. Human love projected onto God will pervert the gospel. There are three differences between God’s love and human love. Human love is conditional. That means it depends on beauty; it depends on goodness. We do not know how to love somebody who hates us. Human beings are not capable of that. When I used to teach, I faced a problem and discovered that all teachers face this problem. When you step into a classroom, there are some children you take an automatic liking to and there are some children you take an automatic dislike to. They have done nothing wrong; it is something about their looks or their mannerisms that rubs you the wrong way. That’s why when I corrected the papers I would always put a ruler over the name because I didn’t trust myself. There were times when I gave a good grade to a student and then I removed the ruler to see who it was. If it was one of the students that I had a natural dislike for, I would say to myself, “This fellow doesn’t deserve it.” But I would not change the grade; he had earned it. Human love depends on outward beauty, on goodness. God’s love is the very opposite: it is unconditional, which means it is spontaneous, it is uncaused. God can love our enemies; God can love those that hate Him because His love is unconditional. We read Ephesians 2 before but we read it in the context of our sinful problem. Now we will look at the same passage in the context of God’s love and our redemption. In Ephesians 2:1-3, Paul paints a dark, dismal, hopeless picture of mankind: Ephesians 2:1-3 As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. But verses 4 and 5 say: Ephesians 2:4-5 But [in spite of the fact that we are sinners] because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions — it is by grace you have been saved. In Titus 3:3, Paul explains our sinfulness: Titus 3:3 At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another. Then, in verses 4 and 5, he says, Titus 3:4-5 But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit.... John 3:16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. We all know John 3:16: “God so loved the world.” He loved the world that rebelled against Him. We have only one word in English for love. The Greeks had four words. The word the disciples chose is an obscure word, at least in the noun form, and that word is agape. There is no English word equivalent to the Greek word agape. That’s our problem. And because there is no equivalent word in our English language, we use the word “love” in the New Testament and we project human love onto God. If you project human love onto God, which the Jews did, you will pervert the gospel. Let me give you two examples. In Matthew 19:16 onwards, a young man came to Jesus and he said, “What good thing must I do to have eternal life?” Matthew 19:16 Just then a man came up to Jesus and asked, “Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?” In other words, salvation is conditional. I must do something good before I can have salvation. If you project human love onto God, the gospel becomes conditional. Another example is in John 9:13 onwards. John 9:13 They brought to the Pharisees the man who had been blind. A man was brought to Jesus who was blind from birth. All that Jesus had to do was say to him, “See,” and he would have seen. But Jesus was a radical. He bends down, takes mud, spits on that mud, makes a paste and rubs some onto the eyes of the blind man. He went through all this rigmarole because it was a very important day. It was the Sabbath. The Pharisees began to argue with themselves saying, “This man cannot be from God because he is breaking the Sabbath.” They were judging God by conditional performance. If he kept the Sabbath, God would answer his prayer. I have a little brochure for young people and children, produced by the Church Ministry Department. I am thankful that they are at last willing to produce such a brochure. I have it in my briefcase — a brochure produced by Church Ministries. Two writers listed a whole set of quotations from our previous books that had devastated our young people such as: “Johnny, if you are not good, Jesus will not take you to heaven.” “Billy, if you want to go to heaven, you must love your neighbor, your brothers and sisters, just as you love yourself. When God sees this love, then He will come and take you to heaven.” No wonder our young people are leaving the church with no hope and no peace. We must be honest with ourselves. We have led our young people to believe in the idea that salvation is conditional. Value Genesis proved it. Eighty-two percent of the approximately 2,000 youth who were questioned said, “Our ultimate salvation is based on our conduct.” They learn that from three areas — school, home, and church. Somehow we must turn our young people around and say, “God’s love is unconditional. While we were helpless; while we were enemies; while we were ungodly and sinners, He reconciled us to Him by the death of His Son.” Human love is changeable. When a young man comes to a young girl and says, “I love you from the bottom of my heart and I will love you to my dying day,” young girls shouldn’t believe him. He means it, yes; he’s honest; he’s sincere, just like Peter was, but he doesn’t know himself. Human love is unreliable. In this country, people get married because they fall in love. If that is true, why is the divorce rate in the nation fifty-two percent and in the church forty-nine percent? It is because human love is changeable and it is unreliable. That is why the only marriage that can be guaranteed to work — I’m not saying that it won’t work but there is always some problem — is when the love of God constrains you. Then you will love your spouse unconditionally because God’s love is changeless. In Jeremiah 31:3, talking to the rebellious Jews, God said, “I have loved you with an everlasting love.” Jeremiah 31:3 The Lord appeared to us in the past, saying: “I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness.” In 1 Corinthians 13:8, it says, “Love (agape) never fails.” 1 Corinthians 13:8a Love never fails. Romans 8:35-39 says that nobody can ever separate you from the love of God which was revealed in Christ. Romans 8:35-39: Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: “For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. But there is a third distinction. Human love at its very best is self-centered; it is egocentric. Everything you and I do in and of ourselves — I’m not talking of grace now — everything, all the good things in and of ourselves is always polluted with self. It is only what God does in me through the grace of God that manifests the love of God because our nature is egocentric. We always want to ascend up and up and up whether it is politically, socially, economically, religiously, or in sports. When I first came to this country, my church members said to me, “You must be educated about the American way of life.” I said, “All right, what are you going to do to me?” There were two things. They were going to teach me how to ski. I tried downhill skiing once — never again! You must learn about baseball, basketball and football. I don’t know why they call it football because they hardly use their legs. To me, “soccer” is “football.” They took me to watch a game and I did not know that there are supporters on each side. I was with my church members who all belonged to the same group of supporters. I was sorry because they were only encouraging one side so when the other side scored a basket, I praised them and everybody gave me a dirty look. I said to my members, “What’s wrong? That was a good score.” “You’re in the wrong camp,” they said. Even religiously I have yet to see a young pastor who wants to step down to a small church but, when you get old, you want a small church because you’re tired. In every circumstance, we want to climb up and up and up. God’s love is self-emptying. In Philippians 2:6-8, we have what we call the kinosis. Philippians 2:6-8 Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death — even death on a cross! Christ was equal with God but He did not cling to that equality. Nobody who reaches the top ever wants to step down. I thank the Lord in this country we have a law that no President can serve for more than two terms. Can you imagine what would happen? Reagan passed retirement age when he reached his second term but the law would not allow him a third term. Go to countries where they don’t have this law. One leader died at the age of 94. He was senile. Another was deposed at the age of 93. He was also senile. They should have stepped down long before. All the British people are waiting for the queen to step down but the son is now already getting to be an old man. We don’t want to step down but Jesus who was equal with God and did not count it robbery to be equal with God, emptied Himself. He became a slave. He went down and down and was obedient to the cross which means nothing to us today. But in Christ’s day, it was the most shameful, disgraceful, and painful death that man had ever invented. 2 Corinthians 8:9 For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich. Paul says that He was rich but He became poor that we who are poor may become rich. This is God’s agape. This love is the ground of our salvation and the devil knew that. He knew that, as long as Christians understood the love of God, fear would be cast out and they would rejoice in the gospel. The very first thing he attacked in the Christian church was the concept of God’s unconditional, changeless, self-emptying love. It was later in the Christian church that he attacked the Sabbath and the state of the dead. The first time he attacked agape was after the disciples died. The leadership of the church fell into the hands of the Greeks. Remember, the New Testament was written in Greek and the Greek fathers said, “These New Testament writers were Jews except for Luke. They do not know our language.” The highest form of love the Greeks knew was what Plato called eros and that word does not appear even once in the New Testament. Marcian, who died about 160 A.D., actually tried to substitute the word agape with the word eros, but the other fathers said, “No, you are tinkering with the book of God,” and the battle began. But Origen, 100 years later, actually changed the sublime words of John in 1 John 4:8 where John says, “God is agape” to “God is eros” and the battle intensified. 1 John 4:8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. It went on and on until we come to the fourth century and Augustine, the great brilliant scholar of the Roman Catholic church. Augustine realized that he could not substitute agape with eros and so he took the concept of the word eros which means “man seeking after God” which is the foundation of every pagan religion. It meant you have to seek after God. Agape is the opposite — God comes down and saves us where we are, so they are two opposite concepts of love. Augustine took these two opposite concepts of love and, by using Greek logic, synthesized them, and produced a third kind of love which he called caritas, from which we have our English word “charity,” which is found in the King James Version. Caritas was a mixture of God’s love and human love. The Roman Catholic church accepted this and it became the dominant understanding of God’s love and Christian love in the Dark Ages. Luther tried to break the synthesis but failed. I believe that God has raised up a people to break that synthesis. But we are still in the trap, because the caritas gospel is a mixture of God’s love and human love which produces a gospel of “I plus Christ.” A very commonly used phrase is, “I must do my best and Christ will make up the difference.” Show me where this is taught in the Bible. This is the Augustinian gospel which we have borrowed and we must throw away. The gospel of Jesus Christ is that while we were helpless, while we were still sinners, ungodly, and enemies of God, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son. The unconditional, self-emptying, changeless love of God made this possible. It is my prayer that you will be rooted and grounded in this love. When you accept the gospel, the Holy Spirit comes and dwells in you. With Him He brings this unconditional love and it is shed abroad horizontally to your neighbors. As Jesus said: John 13:34-35 “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” “By this love shall all men know that you are My disciples,” when you reflect the agape love of Jesus Christ. But first we must realize that it was that agape love that saved us unconditionally and then, out of gratitude and heart appreciation, we will say, “God, please let the world see that love through me.” Chapter 3 – The Two Adams John tells us that, when we understand the love of God, His perfect love will cast out fear and there will be no more fear of the judgment. It is not because we are good but because, as He is, so are we in this world. But the fact that God loves us unconditionally is not enough to save us, because our God is also a righteous God, a holy God. He says, “Yes, I know you are all sinners. You have repented and I will forgive you.” God cannot forgive us by excusing our sin. Let me give you an example of what I mean. One day I was asked to speak at a Commercial College in Nairobi, the capital of Kenya. Anyone who has been there knows that Nairobi has a problem when it comes to finding parking places. Almost all the cars in Kenya are in that one city. I left half an hour early to find a parking place but I couldn’t find one. My time to speak was coming up when I saw a section of the road that said, “No parking.” But there was a car parked there. It was an embassy car and I thought, “I’m an ambassador too.” So I parked my car next to his and went to my meeting. When I came back, there was a policemen sitting on the hood of my car. I saw him from a distance and I thought, “I am going to wait until he leaves.” I didn’t want a ticket. But, unfortunately, that policeman had the patience of the saints. So I thought, “I’d better face the music.” I went up to the car and he stood up and said, “This is your car?” And I said, “Yes.” He said, “You have broken the law.” I pointed to the embassy car and said, “So has he.” He said, “No, that car has diplomatic immunity.” I said, “Why?” He said, “Can’t you see it’s an embassy car?” I said, “I’m an ambassador too.” He looked at my beat up car and he said, “Why don’t you have embassy number plates?” I said, “It’s very simple officer. You see, the embassy I belong to doesn’t belong to this world.” He saw the Bible in my hand and he said, “Ah, you’re a Reverend aren’t you?” And I said, “Well, I’m not a Reverend. I’m a sinner but I’m a pastor.” He said, “I’d like to talk to you. Can we get into your car? I want to make a deal with you.” I thought, “I wonder what this fellow is up to?” I got into the car and he confessed that he was a Roman Catholic who had committed a terrible mortal sin. A Catholic who has committed a mortal sin cannot make it to heaven unless he confesses it and receives absolution. But he was afraid to go to his priest who had a high regard for him as an honest, law-abiding officer. He said to me, “If you can give me forgiveness since you are a pastor, I will forgive you for parking here.” I was very tempted but I knew better. I said to him, “There is one problem. If I forgive you, it won’t work because the Bible says there is only one Person who has the right to forgive you.” I sat down and gave him a Bible study on the gospel for two hours of his working time and mine too, because I am a pastor. I showed him how there is only one Mediator between a holy God and sinful man, Jesus Christ. He was so pleased, so grateful that he said, “Pastor, I not only have forgiven you for parking here but as long as I am in charge of this area you can park your car any time.” What he did was very good but what would happen if he went back to the police station and told his boss, “By the way, I gave a man the privilege to park in a ‘No Parking’ place.”? Very likely he would lose his job. The ground of our salvation is God’s love, but now we are going to deal with a passage where Paul explains how God saved us so that He is just in justifying all of us sinners. It is a difficult text. Most scholars look at Romans 5:12-21 as the high point of Romans. It was this passage that opened my eyes to the gospel. Romans 5:12-21 Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned — To be sure, sin was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not charged against anyone’s account where there is no law. Nevertheless, death reigned from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, even over those who did not sin by breaking a command, as did Adam, who is a pattern of the one to come. But the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God’s grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many! Nor can the gift of God be compared with the result of one man’s sin: The judgment followed one sin and brought condemnation, but the gift followed many trespasses and brought justification. For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ! Consequently, just as one trespass resulted in condemnation for all people, so also one righteous act resulted in justification and life for all people. For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous. The law was brought in so that the trespass might increase. But where sin increased, grace increased all the more, so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. The reason it is difficult is twofold. What Paul is telling us here is really contradicting what we were raised up with so we need to put our preconceived ideas to one side. Even after three years with Jesus Christ, the disciples did not understand His mission and His gospel. It was not because they were dummies, but they were wrestling with preconceived ideas. What He told them disagreed with what they were taught in Judaism. It was only after His resurrection that the Holy Spirit came and opened their eyes and brought to their remembrance what He had taught them and gave them understanding. In farming country, the cows eat quite a bit all day long and then they sit down and regurgitate what they have eaten and they chew on it. Paul told young Timothy: 2 Timothy 2:7 Reflect on what I am saying, for the Lord will give you insight into all this. The second reason this passage is difficult is because it is based on what is called Biblical solidarity, which is a foreign concept to the Western mind. The other day I was listening to an economist on the radio discussing the trade war between America and Japan. He was an American who had spent many years in Japan so he understood the Japanese mind. He made a very interesting statement. He said, “The real problem of the trade war is that both countries are greedy. [He was absolutely right there.] But the difference is this. The Americans are greedy individually. The Japanese are greedy corporately.” That’s the distinction between a corporate mentality and an individualistic mentality. It may be very difficult, but we must put aside our Western minds and put on Jewish caps, because Paul was writing to an Eastern mind. First let me explain what Biblical solidarity is all about. In Romans, Paul, quoting from the Old Testament, tells us what God said to Rebekah, the wife of Isaac. The statement is: Romans 9:12 ...Not by works but by him who calls — she was told, “The older will serve the younger.” The older here is Esau, the younger is Jacob, but we won’t find a single statement in scripture or in ancient history where Esau ever served Jacob. Did God make a mistake? This was not conditional prophecy. God was making a statement of a fact to Rebecca. But God was not speaking in terms of individuals. He was speaking in solidarity language because that’s how God often dealt with the Jews. We go to the original statement in Genesis 25 and, just to get the context, we will begin with verse 21. Genesis 25:21a Isaac prayed to the Lord on behalf of his wife, because she was childless. In those days, a wife who was barren was a disgrace. You could divorce your wife for that reason. Medical science has discovered that men can also be blamed but in those days it was always the woman’s fault. So Isaac pleads with the Lord. Genesis 25:21b The Lord answered his prayer, and his wife Rebekah became pregnant. Remember, the conception was based on the blessing of God. Genesis 25:22a The babies jostled each other within her, and she said, “Why is this happening to me?” Even before they were born, they were already fighting and Rebecca was concerned. “This is a blessing from God? God’s people don’t fight.” It disturbed her and she said, “If all is well (if this is a blessing from God), why am I this way?” Genesis 25:22b So she went to inquire of the Lord. “What is the meaning of these two babies struggling in my womb?” Genesis 25:23 The Lord said to her, “Two nations [not babies, not fetuses, not individuals, but two nations; He is talking in solidarity language] are in your womb, and two peoples from within you will be separated; one people will be stronger than the other, and the older will serve the younger.” God never said to Rebekah that Esau would serve Jacob. What He said was that the descendants of Esau, the Edomites, would serve the descendants of Jacob, the Israelites. That’s a solidarity statement and the Bible has many examples of it. Paul shows that this is basically how God saved mankind in Romans 5:12-21. Romans 5:12-21 Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned — To be sure, sin was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not charged against anyone’s account where there is no law. Nevertheless, death reigned from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, even over those who did not sin by breaking a command, as did Adam, who is a pattern of the one to come. But the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God’s grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many! Nor can the gift of God be compared with the result of one man’s sin: The judgment followed one sin and brought condemnation, but the gift followed many trespasses and brought justification. For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ! Consequently, just as one trespass resulted in condemnation for all people, so also one righteous act resulted in justification and life for all people. For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous. The law was brought in so that the trespass might increase. But where sin increased, grace increased all the more, so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. With this concept of solidarity, let me make three statements that are all Biblical. According to scripture, God created all men, the whole human race, in one man. In the Bible, names were very important; they had significance. Today we give names to remember our loved ones or maybe because it is impressive or we like a certain name but, in the Bible days, names were very important. They meant something. When I first came to this country, there was a tavern next to our church. What impressed me about this tavern was its name. It was a Hebrew name. I don’t know where the owner got it. Many times I was tempted to go and congratulate him but I was afraid somebody would see me and jump to the wrong conclusion. The name of the tavern suited it. The name was “Ichabod,” which in Hebrew means “The glory of God has departed.” That’s an excellent name for a tavern. The word “Adam” means “mankind.” It’s a corporate name. If you read Genesis, you will find that, in the original Hebrew text, it says: Genesis 2:7 Then the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being. “God breathed into Adam the breath of lives.” The word “life” is in the plural in the original text. That is why Acts 17:26 says that out of one, God created the whole human race. Acts 17:26 From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. Remember, God did not create you when your mother conceived you; otherwise, you would have to blame God for creating you with a sinful nature. God created us in one person and that person is Adam. The Bible tells us that Satan ruined the whole world when he got that one man. Therefore, we will discover that you and I are lost not because of our personal sins but because of the fall. Yes, our personal sins add to the problem, but Paul tells us the good news is that God redeemed all men in one man, Jesus Christ. That’s why Jesus is called “the last Adam.” The word “Adam” means “mankind.” Jesus was not just one man among many men. In Him, the whole human race was gathered up. With this in mind, we will go step by step to see what Paul is saying here. In Romans Romans 5:6-10, Paul is expounding for us the unconditional love of God which is the ground of our salvation. Romans 5:6-10 You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! We saw that, while we were still helpless, ungodly, still sinners, and even the enemies of God, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son. All this took place because God is love and His love is unconditional. But in Romans 5:11, Paul adds: Romans 5:11 Not only is this so [not only are we basking in the love of God which redeemed us], but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received [we have already received] reconciliation [or atonement]. Now there are many who have difficulty with the word atonement. Let’s make it very clear so that we don’t confuse the atonement with the Day of Atonement. They are two different things. The Day of Atonement has to do with the consummation of the plan of salvation. The atonement has to do with the cross. A text from the Old Testament, where the atonement is mentioned, is Leviticus 17:11. Leviticus 17:11 For the life of a creature is in the blood, and I have given it to you to make atonement for yourselves on the altar; it is the blood that makes atonement for one’s life. The Day of Atonement is dealing with another issue. When we deal with sin in a legal sense, there are three things involved. There is: (1) the act which brings guilt, and (2) guilt brings punishment, but there is a third fact that we need to keep in mind which is (3) responsibility. On the cross, Jesus took the guilt and punishment of our sins. The issue of responsibility was not dealt with on the cross; therefore, since the fall, God has assumed responsibility for sin in this world. This is why there are texts that are very difficult to understand. I read: Exodus 10:20 But the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he would not let the Israelites go. I read: Isaiah 45:7 I form the light and create darkness, I bring prosperity and create disaster; I, the Lord, do all these things. “I created evil.” I read: 1 Samuel 16:14 Now the Spirit of the Lord had departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the Lord tormented him. We take this at face value. God is saying there, “I allowed it.” Because God is sovereign — the word sovereign means nothing can happen without His permission — He assumes the blame until the Day of Atonement when the real culprit will take the blame. The sins of the people will be placed on Azazel who is to blame for the sins of this universe and of this world. The Day of Atonement deals with who is to blame for sin. But on the cross, the guilt and punishment of our sins was dealt with. The barrier between a holy God and sinful man was removed, once and for all. This is the atonement. Romans 5:11 Not only is this so, but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation. Paul is speaking in Romans 5:11 to Christians who have believed the blood of Jesus Christ, who accept Jesus Christ as their Savior, “We don’t only rejoice in the love of God, but we rejoice in the fact that we have already received the atonement or the reconciliation.” There is no barrier between a holy God and the believer who is still a sinner. We can come to God with boldness, with assurance, through the blood of the Lamb. John brings this out in 1 John 2:5-29, where he talks about two groups of people. 1 John 2:5-29 But if anyone obeys his word, love for God is truly made complete in them. This is how we know we are in him: Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did. Dear friends, I am not writing you a new command but an old one, which you have had since the beginning. This old command is the message you have heard. Yet I am writing you a new command; its truth is seen in him and in you, because the darkness is passing and the true light is already shining. Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates a brother or sister is still in the darkness. Anyone who loves their brother and sister lives in the light, and there is nothing in them to make them stumble. But anyone who hates a brother or sister is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness. They do not know where they are going, because the darkness has blinded them. I am writing to you, dear children, because your sins have been forgiven on account of his name. I am writing to you, fathers, because you know him who is from the beginning. I am writing to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one. I write to you, dear children, because you know the Father. I write to you, fathers, because you know him who is from the beginning. I write to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God lives in you, and you have overcome the evil one. Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. For everything in the world — the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life — comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever. Dear children, this is the last hour; and as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come. This is how we know it is the last hour. They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us; but their going showed that none of them belonged to us. But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you know the truth. I do not write to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it and because no lie comes from the truth. Who is the liar? It is whoever denies that Jesus is the Christ. Such a person is the antichrist — denying the Father and the Son. No one who denies the Son has the Father; whoever acknowledges the Son has the Father also. As for you, see that what you have heard from the beginning remains in you. If it does, you also will remain in the Son and in the Father. And this is what he promised us — eternal life. I am writing these things to you about those who are trying to lead you astray. As for you, the anointing you received from him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about all things and as that anointing is real, not counterfeit — just as it has taught you, remain in him. And now, dear children, continue in him, so that when he appears we may be confident and unashamed before him at his coming. If you know that he is righteous, you know that everyone who does what is right has been born of him. It is very interesting about those two groups. One group, he says, is walking in darkness and the other group is walking in the light. Those who are walking in darkness say they have no sin and the other group who are walking in the light say they are sinners. God says to the ones who are walking in darkness, who say they have no sin, that they are liars and the truth does not abide in them. But He says to the ones who are walking in the light that the blood of Christ cleanses them from all sin. I was talking at a Campmeeting once and a young man said to me, “I have not sinned for the last two years.” I looked at his wife and I said, “It must be wonderful to live with a man who has stopped sinning. My wife is having a hard time with me.” She just smiled. She was wise not to open her mouth lest her husband does sin. In 1 John, John goes on talking to those walking in the light — to the believers: 1 John 2:1-2 My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. [He’s using sin in the present continuous tense] But if anybody does sin [aorist tense; not because you want to but because of your weakness and because you have not yet learned to walk fully in the Spirit], we have an advocate with the Father — Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world. We Christians have experienced that atonement but the unbelievers are still afraid of God. They do not know that Jesus has paid the price for them. Because they don’t know, we have to tell them, “Stop running away from God; you have already been reconciled to Him through the death of His son.” We Christians are rejoicing in the atonement because now there is no barrier between us and God and we have peace with Him. We can even call Him “Dear Father.” Having made that statement in Romans 5:11, Paul expounds it in the rest of Romans 5. Romans 5:11 Not only is this so, but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation. The question we must ask is why he suddenly, after making that wonderful statement in verse 11, spends the next three verses, 12-14, talking about Adam and our situation in Adam. What does Adam have to do with our atonement in Christ? He tells us at the end of verse 14. The reason is because Adam is a type of Him who was to come. Romans 5:12-14 Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned — To be sure, sin was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not charged against anyone’s account where there is no law. Nevertheless, death reigned from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, even over those who did not sin by breaking a command, as did Adam, who is a pattern of the one to come. So he is using Adam as a model, as a pattern of Christ. The question we must ask is, “In what sense are Adam and Christ similar?” As you read the passage, you will discover they are similar only in one sense and that is — what Adam did affected the whole human race. Likewise, what Christ did affected the whole human race. This is the similarity; this is the parallelism between the two and we need to keep this in mind. In Romans 5:12, Paul says three things. Romans 5:12 Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned.... (1) “Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man. The word “world” which in Greek is kosmos, can have at least six different meanings which come from the context. So you can’t just take the word by itself. The context here is absolutely clear. The word world has the same meaning as in John 3:16, “God so loved the world,” which is the human race to which each of us belong. John 3:16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. Through one man sin entered us, entered the whole world even before we were born. Sin entered the human race through one man. (2) The second thing he says is “death through sin.” Remember that God said to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, “If you eat of the forbidden fruit, you shall surely die.” Did He mean that or was He joking? If He did not mean that, God becomes untrustworthy. I know what God says about me and Christ because when God says something, He means it. God said to Adam, “The day you eat of this forbidden fruit, you shall surely die.” Genesis 2:16-17 And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.” In view of (1) sin entered the whole human race, and (2) this sin brought death to Adam, (3) death spread to all men. We die because of Adam’s sin. You say, “Unfair!” All right, let’s be fair. How many days after he sinned should Adam have died? If we read the Hebrew text, God said to Adam, “The very day you sin you shall die.” Adam had no children when he sinned. If he had died the very moment he sinned, we would have died in him. That would have been fair though. The reason we did not die, the reason Adam did not die, is because there was a Lamb slain from the foundation of the world or because God chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world. Adam’s sin did not take God by surprise. He knew Adam would fall but when we discover what God planned for us in Christ we say, “Thank you, God, that You allowed Adam to fall.” Paul realizes that there are many who will object to that last statement. Why should we die because of somebody else’s sin? So he gives the reason why all men die because of Adam’s sin — because all sinned. That is an incomplete phrase and I can imagine when we all go to heaven, all those theologians all through the history of the Christian church will come to Paul and say to him, “Why didn’t you finish the sentence?” There is probably no other passage that has produced such tremendous controversy. More paper and ink has been spent on this passage than probably any other passage in the New Testament. I can imagine Paul saying, “Why didn’t you read verses 13 and 14 which explains what I have said in verse 12?” Romans 5:12-14 Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned — To be sure, sin was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not charged against anyone’s account where there is no law. Nevertheless, death reigned from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, even over those who did not sin by breaking a command, as did Adam, who is a pattern of the one to come. I want to pause here before we look at the explanation. The word “men” is generic which includes ladies. He is not talking of the male only. If he was living today, he would say “all persons.” Paul says the reason all men die is because all sinned. There are two ways we can complete the sentence. One is to say that the reason all die is because we all sinned like Adam. The other way is by saying all died because all sinned in Adam. Both views are taught but which one is correct? We cannot take a position because it feels right. We have to ask Paul, “What are you saying?” But before we answer that question, I want to explain the distinction. If we say, believe and teach that we all die because we all sinned like Adam, then we are making Adam an example of our sin problem. Since Adam is a type of Christ, to be honest with this analogy we would also have to say that we all live, are all justified and are all saved because we have obeyed like Jesus. If we say we have obeyed like Jesus, we would deserve an honor plus a badge saying, “The Greatest Liar in the World” because none of us have obeyed like Jesus. We have a problem if we use the word like. If we use in Adam and say that we all sinned in Adam, then we can teach that we all live because we obeyed in Christ. That’s good news. To understand what Paul is saying, first look at the phrase all sinned. That phrase all sinned is what we call aorist tense. It is something that took place once and for all. Paul uses the same statement in Romans 3:23 except there he adds something else. Romans 3:23 ...For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.... One is in the aorist tense, one in the present, continuous tense. One is referring to an historical event that took place in the past and the other is one that is taking place continuously in our lives. If Paul meant we all die because of our personal sin, that is, like Adam, he would not use the aorist tense; he would use the present continuous tense. He would say all died because all are sinning but he doesn’t do that. He uses an aorist tense so the grammar points to in Christ. The second reason is his explanation in verses 14 and 15. Romans 5:14-15 Nevertheless, death reigned from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, even over those who did not sin by breaking a command, as did Adam, who is a pattern of the one to come. But the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God’s grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many! He takes a segment of the human race, Adam to Moses. What is special about Moses? God gave the law through Moses. Were the people from Adam to Moses sinning? The answer is, “Yes.” Paul says: Romans 5:13 To be sure, sin was in the world before the law was given [or until Moses], but sin is not charged against anyone’s account where there is no law. Paul is not saying the law did not exist before Moses. If it did not exist then sin could not exist. He is saying that God could not legally, lawfully condemn the human race from Adam to Moses before He spelled out the law. We need to be clear on this so we will look at some illustrations. In one of my churches, I had a member who belonged to the police force. He was a traffic officer. One day while I was listening to the news I heard some very good news and I am sure all the pastors in America rejoiced. The Federal Government had changed the speed limit from 55 to 65 and now the state where I lived had accepted, confirmed, and implemented this law. So on Sabbath I said to this police officer, “Tomorrow I am going to do 65 and you can’t touch me.” He said, “Yes, I can touch you.” I said, “Did you hear the news?” He said, “It doesn’t matter how many times the news media announces this good news. As long as the sign on the road says 55, that is what you will be judged by.” We had a law that said 65 and we had a sign that said 55. It took them a long time to change that sign. In fact, some states still have not changed the signs. Paul is saying, “Yes, these people were sinning.” Notice the word he uses. They were sinning; they were missing the mark; they were coming short of the glory of God. But God could not legally condemn them for their personal sin because God had not spelled out the law. You ask me, “What about the flood?” 1 Peter 3:18-22 For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive in the Spirit. After being made alive, he went and made proclamation to the imprisoned spirits — to those who were disobedient long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built. In it only a few people, eight in all, were saved through water, and this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also — not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a clear conscience toward God. It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at God’s right hand — with angels, authorities and powers in submission to him. Peter says that the reason they were destroyed was not because they were breaking the Ten Commandments but because they were disobedient to the call of God who said, “Come into the ark and be safe.” They refused to come. They refused to believe there would be a flood. The reason they were destroyed was because of ungodliness. They had turned their backs to God. We are told: Romans 5:13-14a To be sure, sin was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not charged against anyone’s account where there is no law. Nevertheless [in spite of this fact], death reigned from the time of Adam to the time of Moses... These people from Adam to Moses were dying. But there is more. Romans 5:14b ...even over those who did not sin by breaking a command, as did Adam, who is a pattern of the one to come. Notice the play of words here. Paul is a very careful theologian. The people from Adam to Moses were sinning. Adam did not sin; he transgressed. There is a distinction. For example, when an Arab in Saudi Arabia works on the Sabbath, he is sinning. He has never seen the Bible; he has never been told about the Ten Commandments. But a Sabbath keeper who knows the law and breaks the Sabbath is not sinning; he is transgressing. Sin is missing the mark which happens to all of us but transgression is a willful, deliberate violation of a known law. When Eve brought that fruit to Adam, he knew that it was the forbidden fruit. There was no ignorance there. He actually knew where that fruit came from. Have you ever wondered why he ate it? He could not save Eve by eating it. I don’t think he believed Eve when she said, “If you eat this fruit you won’t die.” I believe the reason he ate the fruit was because his nature was agape and love “is not self-seeking.” [see 1 Corinthians 13]. He said to Eve, “You’re going to die; I’m going to die with you.” He loved her more than himself. It was only after he ate that his nature made a U-turn and self took the place of love. Now, he began to blame God. “God, you gave me a defective wife. Don’t blame me.” The problem is human, not divine. When Adam sinned, he actually broke a law that he knew, a commandment that God gave him and so, Adam transgressed. People were not dying for their personal sins. They were dying because they were implicated in Adam’s transgression. Romans 5:15-18 But the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God’s grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many! Nor can the gift of God be compared with the result of one man’s sin: The judgment followed one sin and brought condemnation, but the gift followed many trespasses and brought justification. For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ! Consequently, just as one trespass resulted in condemnation for all people, so also one righteous act resulted in justification and life for all people. Paul says four times in Romans 5:15-18 that we do not die, we are not condemned, and we are not judged because of personal sins. There is no mention of our personal sins. It is because of Adam’s offense. Once Paul has proven our predicament that in Adam all die, then he says that Adam is a type of Christ. 1 Corinthians 15:22 For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. The question we must ask is, “Why do we all die in Adam?” As I mentioned earlier, it is because we were “in him.” As an illustration, suppose a group of us decides to go on a trip to visit Washington, D.C. We rent the Amtrak and all get on board. The driver comes to a curve on the rail and instead of taking the curve at the speed he should, he takes it at a high speed and all the cars roll over and everybody gets hurt. The fact that we are in the cars and that the cars are one, linked together, brings suffering to everyone because of the mistake of someone else. You were implicated and involved in that accident even though you are not to blame for that accident. The life that you and I received at our conception came from our parents, which came from their parents, until we come to Adam. The human race today is simply the multiplication of one life — Adam’s life. The life that God gave Adam was conditionally immortal, but Adam did not pass that life on to his children. He passed on to his posterity a life that has already sinned, that is already condemned and, therefore, a life that must die. This is our inheritance. This is why Paul can say: Ephesians 2:3b Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. If this is true, then the same must be true with Christ. The reason Christ’s obedience can justify me is that all were implicated in His obedience. In Romans 5:15-21, Paul deals with the parallelism. In verse 15, he brings out how Adam is a type of Christ. Romans 5:15 But the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God’s grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many! There is one word in this text that is missing in the King James Version and some other versions. That word is the definite article “the.” What Paul actually wrote is, “For by one man’s offense the many died.” “The many” is spelled out in verse 18 as “all men.” So he is not saying simply “many” but “the many,” applying the phrase to the whole human race. The second half of verse 18 tells us: Romans 5:18b ...So also one righteous act resulted in justification and life for all people. What Adam did affected “the many” or “all people” and what Christ did affected “the many.“ But through all this passage there are two statements about Christ that Paul will use that he does not apply to Adam. The first statement is that what God did to the human race in Christ is a gift. We cannot enjoy a gift if we refuse it. We have a lot of homeless people in our area so church pastors from all denominations got together and decided to try to do something for them. We discovered that some of the homeless men are veterans who are entitled to a pension plus Social Security. They are living on pennies so, instead of giving them financial or material help, we discovered that we could give them another kind of help. We found lawyers in our churches who knew all the red tape and the ropes of the law of this country and tried to help these men to get the Social Security and the pensions that they deserve. Some of them said, “No, we are quite happy.” We don’t know why, but they actually chose to be homeless. Once a month, when we take soup to them, they ask what kind of soup we have. We tell them “vegetable,” and they say they don’t want it. They want clam chowder. They choose to live that lifestyle. If we willfully, deliberately refuse the gift of God, we can’t blame Adam or God; we can blame only ourselves. God will say to us in the judgment, “How often I came to you and gave you the good news. I gave it to you through the radio, through books, through individuals, and you would not accept it; therefore, you will receive what you have chosen.” Jesus says: Matthew 25:41 Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared [not for you] for the devil and his angels.’ To the believers He will say: Matthew 25:34 Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world.’ “Your performance had nothing to do with it. I redeemed you; I planned your redemption even before you were born.” Before we go on, let us look at some texts from the words of Jesus Christ. We are very familiar with John 3:16, but verses 17 and 18 say: John 3:17-18 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already [he was condemned already but now he is condemned by his own choice, not because he has failed to keep the Ten Commandments] because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. That is why man is lost. John 3:36 Whoever believes in the Son has [it does not say will have but already has] eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on them. Man is not lost because he is a sinner. If God blamed me for being a sinner, I would say, “I was born that way. You have to be blamed for allowing me to be born a sinner.” God will not condemn me because I am a sinner. He will condemn me because I have rejected the life that He has given me. Let’s go back to the second statement. First, we saw that what God did for us in Adam is natural; it is not a gift; it is our natural inheritance but what God did for us in Christ is a gift. Like any gift we have to receive it. But there is another phrase in verse 15 occurring through this passage that we need to keep in our minds. The phrase is “much more.” What does it mean? Let me give you an experience. When I first went to a very large city, I had to learn a hard lesson, because the city I came from previously had only 29,000 people and the traffic was very simple with only about eight or nine traffic lights. But when you try traveling in the outer area of a very large city where three lanes soon merge into one lane and because of no garages, all the cars are parked on the road, it is survival of the fittest. I did not realize that, because of the heavy traffic, the road had a film of oil, and when the first rain came I was trying to get ahead of the other cars onto that one lane. The light turned red and the taxi in front of me stopped. I braked and skidded into him and smashed my car. Nobody was hurt. The front fender was pushed in; I lost a light and one of the fenders was badly bent. I had full insurance so I didn’t worry. I took it to the insurance company and they did some calculations and said, “The cost of repairing this car is more than the value of the car, therefore, it is totaled.” I felt insulted, so I asked them, “How much will you give me in exchange for my car?” After deducting my deductible they said, “$2,500.” I couldn’t buy a car for that so I said to them, “What are you going to do with my car?” They said, “Sell it to the junk yard.” “How much?” “$150.” I thought that was an insult to my Suburu so I said, “Can I buy it?” They said, “Yes.” So out of the $2,500, I paid $150 and I now had $2,350 and a smashed up car. Then I searched all over the city and found a man who would fix it for $500 less than what I had in my pocket from the insurance. He did an excellent job so I had an almost brand new car plus $500 in my pocket. I thank God for the accident. I had much more than what I lost. Paul is saying here that in Christ we have much more than what we lost in Adam. The first “much more” is in Romans 5:15 (again). Romans 5:15 But the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God’s grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many! Now look at verse 16: Romans 5:16 Nor can the gift of God be compared with the result of one man’s sin: The judgment followed one sin and brought condemnation, but the gift followed many trespasses and brought justification. Here is the parallelism. One obeyed, which is a gift — Christ. One sinned, which is Adam. All these verbs are in the aorist tense, so it has nothing to do with our subjective experience. It is dealing with an historical truth. [We are told what happened in the latter part of verse 17, below.] Look at the phrase “much more” in Romans 5:15. Paul says here that Adam’s one sin brought condemnation to all men. Christ did die for Adam’s sin which condemns us but, if He only did that, which is the very opposite of Adam, we would still have a problem because we have added our own personal sins to Adam’s sin. So Christ did much more than die for Adam’s sin. He died for Adam’s sin plus your sins, my sins, the sins of the world, past, present and future. Every sin that you committed, every sin that you will commit to your dying day has already been paid for on the cross of Christ. When He died on the cross, all your sins were future because you were born long after He died. Here is the first “much more.” This is wonderful. We see the second “much more” in verse 17: Romans 5:17 For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man [Adam’s one sin brought condemnation to all men], how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness [righteousness is a gift] reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ! When Adam sinned, death did not become an option; death came to the human race as a conqueror. Nobody, no matter how strong they are or how wonderfully they practice healthful living, nobody can escape death. We can put off our death by healthful living, but we cannot escape it. Die we must, because death came as a conqueror. When we were in Uganda and Idi Amin took over, he built a throne which was carried on the shoulders of the slaves. Then he used four Englishmen to carry him on that throne. Uganda was a Protectorate under the British Government and he put a big sign on the throne. He also made T-shirts with the same sign. I had one of them, but my wife wanted me to get rid of it so I did. Above the throne were these words, “Idi Amin, the conqueror of the British Empire.” He had a sense of humor but he also was the only one who believed these words. None of the Ugandans believed them. A few months later, he heard the firing of shells coming from the Tanzanian army. They were too close for his comfort. Even though his own people called him “Idiot” Amin, not “Idi” Amin, he was not such a fool to think that he could defy or conquer death. He may have conquered the British Empire in his mind, but he could not conquer death. So he killed all of his twenty-two wives except one and took off in his helicopter for Libya. There was only one problem in Libya. He had not trusted his own people so his bodyguards were Libyan soldiers and almost all of them were killed in the war. The families of those Libyan soldiers were out to kill him in Libya, so he fled to Saudi Arabia where he was protected by the Americans in the Gulf War. Death came as a conqueror. It came to rule over mankind. Every human being, according to scripture, is born afraid to die. We are slaves to the fear of death. When human beings come into a hospital, this fear increases, because hospitals are only for sick people and sickness is one step to death. If all we do in our Christian hospitals is heal them physically, we have missed the mark. We need to tell them that what we are doing to them physically is temporary but we have good news that is permanent. We should read them: John 5:24 Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life. No longer will death become the grim reaper. For Paul says: Philippians 1:21 For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. We have a mission to the world. Paul is dealing, in Romans 5:17, second part, with those who receive. The gift is for all men, but he is not dealing with what God did to all men but with those who receive that gift which, I hope, is all of us. Notice the contrast. When Adam sinned, death came to rule over the human race. When we accept the gospel, not only do we escape the death that rules over us but much more we will reign in life. The meaning of this is found in: Romans 8:16-17 The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs — heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory. By “joint heirs,” the Bible means we will share the privileges that Christ has. Remember that He is the King of kings. In Revelation 20:6, we are told that those who have part in the first resurrection, which is the believers, on such the second death has no power because that is what they have been redeemed from. They shall reign with Christ for one thousand years. Revelation 20:6 Blessed and holy are those who share in the first resurrection. The second death has no power over them, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with him for a thousand years. Then we are told: Revelation 22:3-5 No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign for ever and ever. Here we are told that God will move His throne in heaven to this earth, made new, and we will reign with Him forever and ever. In Adam, at his very best, we were created a little lower than the angels. That is the very best we were before the fall. Christ, by His redemption, did not take us back to our lost position. Christ by His redemption, not only took us back to Adam’s condition before the fall, He took us where He is above the angels at the right hand of God. We are sitting in heavenly places in Christ Jesus today, in Him, and when He comes, we shall be like Him. We can never blame God for letting sin come in. He allowed sin that He may make us better than what we were. We are “much more” privileged. We shall reign with Him; we shall rule over angels and they won’t complain because there is no self in heaven. The conclusion is in Romans 5:18: Romans 5:18 Consequently, just as one trespass resulted in [aorist tense] condemnation for all people, so also one righteous act resulted in justification and life for all people. Paul, who is inspired, is saying this. If anyone has any argument against this, they will have to argue with him. “As related to the first Adam, man received from him nothing but guilt and the sentence of death.” 6 Bible Commentary, p. 1074, Ellen G. White. Blessed is the one who can say, “I am lost in Adam but restored in Christ.” We read in the second half of verse 18: Romans 5:18 Consequently, just as one trespass resulted in condemnation for all people, so also one righteous act resulted in justification and life for all people. This means we are already qualified for heaven the moment we believe in Christ. It is not that now we have a clean slate and that now God expects us to do our best before He takes us to heaven. We already have a ticket to heaven on the basis of the doing and dying of Christ. We are justified to life. But now look at another problem in Romans 5:19. Romans 5:19 For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous. Notice the verb is the aorist tense. When Adam sinned, he made all of us sinners, and sinners produce sins. The question is what comes first? Am I born innocent and my sins make me a sinner, or am I born a sinner and my sins are only the fruits of what I am? The Bible says I am born a sinner and what I do is simply revealing what I am. When we first moved to one town, we bought a house with a tree in the backyard. It was in December so there were no leaves and there was a discussion between my wife and me as to whether it was an apple tree or a pear tree. My wife said it was a pear tree because it was growing upward. Apple trees tend to go sidewise. I’m not an expert on apple trees but I said it was an apple tree. We had to wait until the Spring when the flowers and fruit came and then we realized it was an apple tree. The apple did not make the tree an apple tree. The apples only proved it was an apple tree. Likewise, we are righteous in Christ. Sanctification does not make us righteous. Sanctification proves, reveals that we are already righteous in Christ. Therefore, sanctification is the fruits of justification by faith. Romans 5:19 For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man [that one Man is Christ] the many will be made righteous. The verb there is future tense. If it is future, it no longer applies to the whole world. It applies to those who received the gift. When will we be made righteous? To answer that question, we must ask the question, “In what sense were we made sinners?” We were made sinners because, when Adam sinned, he injected the human race with the law of sin and death which Paul discusses in Romans 7. So we were made sinners in the sense that we were born with a nature that is in harmony with sin. When will this nature be made righteous? At the Second Coming of Christ, when this corruption puts on incorruption, we will be made righteous. Therefore, we are righteous today only in Christ. We must study this very carefully because this is the truth of the Pauline epistle. The righteousness that qualifies us for heaven now and in the judgment is always in Christ; it is never in us. Today Christ is in heaven where no thief can go and rob us of that righteousness. We don’t need Neighborwatch or alarms there. No thief can enter there and rob us of that righteousness but the faith that makes that righteousness ours is not in heaven. The faith is not tangible. Nobody can see it but it is in our hearts. Therefore, the most valuable thing that we possess in this world is not our bank account; it is not our houses; it is not our possessions; it is not our assets; it is faith that brings us the gift of righteousness. Therefore, don’t allow the devil to rob you of that faith. His greatest mission in the Christian church is to destroy your faith. He will either do it through persecution, by dangling the trinkets of the world before you, or he will do it by perverting the gospel, or all three. Hebrews 10:38 And, “But my righteous one will live by faith. And I take no pleasure in the one who shrinks back.” Paul tells us in Hebrews 10:38 that the just shall live by faith but, if any man draws back, He will have no pleasure in him. Then he ends in verse 39: Hebrews 10:39 But we do not belong to those who shrink back and are destroyed, but to those who have faith and are saved. In Matthew 10:18-22, Jesus told the disciples that, because they had accepted Him, the devil would use the world to persecute them and to make their lives miserable. Matthew 10:18-22 “On my account you will be brought before governors and kings as witnesses to them and to the Gentiles. But when they arrest you, do not worry about what to say or how to say it. At that time you will be given what to say, for it will not be you speaking, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you. “Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child; children will rebel against their parents and have them put to death. You will be hated by everyone because of me, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved.” “The one who stands firm to the end will be saved.” While you are a believer, you have full assurance of salvation and that assurance does not go every time you fall because you do not fall through unbelief. You fall because you have little faith. Never did Jesus accuse his disciples of falling because of unbelief. He accused them of little faith and He said even a little faith is enough to move mountains. The day you say good-bye to your faith; the day you say, “I do not want Christ”; the day you say, “Get away, I don’t want You”; the day you turn your back to Jesus Christ and Him crucified, then you are turning your back on the righteousness that saves you. Hebrews 6:4-6 It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit, who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age and who have fallen away, to be brought back to repentance. To their loss they are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace. Paul says in Hebrews 6:5, you are crucifying Christ afresh and to bring you to repentance is impossible. He is not talking of backsliders. He’s talking of people who deliberately, after knowing the gospel, clearly say good-bye to it even though they accepted it in the first place. Romans 5:19 For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous. We have seen in Romans 5:19, that Adam’s sin made us sinners and Christ’s obedience will one day make us righteous. But now look at verse 20: Romans 5:20 The law was brought in so that the trespass might increase. But where sin increased, grace increased all the more... “The law was brought in.” The law entered the plan of salvation. God came to Abraham and said, “I am promising you salvation as a gift and not only you but in your seed [singular, which is Christ] I will bless all the nations.” God came to Moses, 430 years later, but He did not say, “Moses, when I gave that promise to Abraham I forgot to give him the law so I’m now giving it to you.” The law was not given as an added requirement to the promise. Then the question is, “Why did God give the law through Moses 430 years after He promised Abraham salvation as a gift?” In Romans 5:20 Paul gives the reason. “The law was brought in so that the trespass might increase.” The word “trespass” is singular, therefore, it applies to Adam’s sin according to the context. Paul tells us in Romans 5:19 that Adam’s sin made us sinners. Now he is saying that Adam’s sin has produced a whole human race of sinners who are producing sins and that the law was given simply to expose that fact. The law did not deal with the sin problem. The law made it worse. The law opened our eyes to the fact that we are all sinners. The law proved to the human race that they are sinners. It did not make me a sinner; it simply proved what I already am in Adam. Adam’s one sin abounded but the good news is that, where “sin abounded, grace abounded much more.” Grace did not only take care of two negatives, Adam’s sin and our sins, but grace also gives us positive righteousness and that is “much more.” So grace can take the worst of sinners and tell him heaven is his because of the obedience of one Man, Jesus Christ. So where sin abounded grace did much more abound. Romans 5:21 ...so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. When we were born in this world, we were born under sin. Remember: Romans 3:9 What shall we conclude then? Do we have any advantage? Not at all! For we have already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under the power of sin. Both Jews and Gentiles are all under sin. We were born under the umbrella of sin; we were slaves to it; it dominated us. If we lived under that umbrella, it would end in death, which is good-bye to life. But before we died, we accepted grace and Paul now says, “Even so, let grace reign over us through righteousness — the righteousness of Christ — until eternity or eternal life is ushered in through the Second Coming of Christ.” All of this is through Jesus Christ our Lord. We can see why this passage is crucial. In Adam all die; in Christ all shall live. The only difference is that in Christ it is a gift. There will be some people lost, not because Christ did not redeem them but because they have willfully, persistently rejected the good news. This is why the end of the world cannot come until this gospel of the kingdom has been proclaimed to all the world as a witness. The witness is there because God will say to them in the judgment, not, “Have you kept My law?” The one question He will ask in the judgment, “What did you do with My Son which I gave to you at infinite cost to Me but as a gift to you?” If you say, “I deliberately rejected Him,” which is what the unbelievers will have to say, then God will say, “You have chosen death and I will give you what you have chosen.” But to those who believe, He will say, “Come inherit the kingdom which was prepared for you.” As the unbelievers go into the everlasting fire, I believe there will be tears in the eyes of God and He will say, “I did so much; I did everything for you. I not only redeemed you through Christ but I pled with you through the Holy Spirit and you refused. Since I am a God of love and I do not use compulsion, I am giving you what you have chosen, which was against My own will. For My will is that none should perish but that all should come to repentance.” It is my prayer that you will know today that in Christ you already stand righteous; that you are already sitting in heavenly places in Christ; that it is by His obedience you qualify for heaven now and in the judgment. Don’t let anyone tell you anything else. We are not saved by faith plus works but we are saved by faith that works. The works do not contribute towards our salvation. You will not even know when God works in you because it is God living in you and your sinful nature will always make you feel a sinner. A Christian must say what Luther said, “We are one hundred percent sinners but at the same time we are one hundred percent righteous. In Christ I am righteous. In myself I am a sinner.” We can know now our position in Christ. Chapter 4 – The Two Counterfeits A counterfeit is something that looks like the real but it isn’t. When I was in Ethiopia my father wrote to me and said, “There is a coin, a very special coin in Ethiopia which was produced by the Italians during the five years they were there called the Maria Theresa coin.” My father is a coin collector and he said, “Please look for one for me.” One day I was walking in the streets of Addis Ababa and a young fellow came up with coins and there it was, a Maria Theresa coin! He had three of them and they all looked alike. They looked ancient because it’s an old coin. I said to the young fellow, “Is this genuine?” And he said, “Of course it’s genuine. We don’t produce counterfeits in Ethiopia.” I said, “How much are they?” I bargained with him, bought them for a fairly reasonable price and sent all three of them to my father. Later he told me one of them was genuine; the other two were counterfeits. I had no idea two of them were counterfeits. I looked very carefully and they all looked the same. The devil has produced two counterfeits, not for the world but for Christians to trap us into one of the counterfeits. These counterfeits to a large degree resemble the gospel but they are not the gospel. The first counterfeit, which I call the enemy of the gospel, is found in Romans 4, and the second counterfeit is the danger of the gospel which is found in Romans 6. All pagan religions are legalistic but Romans 4 is dealing with legalism within Christianity. Once the devil gets you in the ditch of legalism, his purpose is to rob you of the peace and joy of salvation and how he has succeeded! A good example in the New Testament is the Christians from Galatia. This has been our greatest problem in the past, so I would recommend that you not only read but study carefully the book of Galatians. Today we also face the danger of Romans 6, which is antinomianism. Deitrich Bonhoefer, the German martyr, called it cheap grace. Let me explain in a nutshell what it is. I was Ingathering in Uganda with another missionary. We were in a government restaurant which was the cheapest place we could find to stay. We paid $2.50 for a bed. They supplied no food but there was a dining area where we could eat. The typical missionary food is granola which your wife has cooked. Then she mixes the granola with milk powder and all you add is boiled water and you have your breakfast, your lunch, and your supper, with a few bananas thrown in. Uganda has 200 varieties of bananas while there are only one or two here. We were eating our wonderful supper of granola, which was manna for the missionary field, when an African walked up to me. He ignored my fellow missionary but he walked up to me. He didn’t know who we were. He thought I was a Hindu because my background is from India and he said to me, “Are you saved?” Of course, I recognized immediately the typical approach of a Pentecostal. So I said to him, “Saved from what?” He said, “Are you saved from sin?” I said, “Can you be a little bit more specific? Are you talking of the guilt and punishment of sin, of the power and slavery to sin, or are you talking of the nature and presence of sin? Which one are you referring to when you ask me the question, ‘Are you saved?’?” He looked at me and said, “You must be a pastor.” When I asked him, “Are you saved?” he said, “Praise the Lord, I was saved three months ago.” I corrected him saying, “No, you were saved 2,000 years ago. You accepted salvation three months ago. But, if you are saved, how come I smell pombay (which is a Swahili word for beer) on your breath?” He said, “Pastor, you know we are saved by grace, not by what we do.” He was absolutely right, but he had fallen into the ditch of cheap grace so I had to correct him. I said, “Do you mean that Jesus lived a perfect life for us?” He said, “Yes.” I said, “And He died instead of you?” He said to me, “Now you’ve got it, Pastor.” I said, “No, I’m going to take your theology to its final conclusion.” He said, “What’s that?” I said, “He also went to heaven instead of you, because if you say He died instead of you, He also went to heaven instead of you.” He said, “No, no. I’m going to heaven.” I said, “If you want to go to heaven, then you have to die with Him, too.” I gave him this verse: 2 Timothy 2:11 Here is a trustworthy saying: If we died with him, we will also live with him.... Christianity is not simply a mental assent to truth. Christianity is participating in Jesus Christ and we will see this as we study. Wherever Paul preached the gospel of Jesus Christ, established churches, and left, a group of Jewish Christians would come to a church. They were not Jews in the sense that they did not accept Christ as the Messiah; they were Jewish believers. For example, they would come to the Galatian church and say, “By the way, we heard Paul was here.” The people would say, “Yes, he gave us a wonderful message of hope.” They would say, “We thank God that he preached Christ, but did you know that he was not a truly appointed apostle; that he was a self-appointed apostle?” And the people said, “Really?” They said, “Did you know that what he preached was not the full gospel; that there was something missing?” And their ears perked up, “What did he leave out? We thought he gave us the full counsel of God.” They said, “Oh, no, no, no. You see, you can’t be saved just as a gift. God expects you to do something. You need to be doing good works. You need to be circumcised and you need to keep the law. Then God will see that you are fit for heaven.” The Galatians fell for this. The first General Conference was based on this issue. It was held in Jerusalem. Acts 15:1 Certain people came down from Judea to Antioch and were teaching the believers: “Unless you are circumcised, according to the custom taught by Moses, you cannot be saved.” These Jewish Christians came from Judea to the Antioch church, which was made up of mainly Gentile believers. Paul and Barnabas were preaching in Antioch at that time. Acts 15:2 This brought Paul and Barnabas into sharp dispute and debate with them. [This was the first theological controversy in the Christian church.] So Paul and Barnabas were appointed, along with some other believers, to go up to Jerusalem to see the apostles and elders about this question. Acts 15:5 Then some of the believers [in Jesus Christ] who belonged to the party of the Pharisees stood up and said, “The Gentiles must be circumcised and required to keep the law of Moses.” The Jews did not make the distinction we make between the Ten Commandments and the law of Moses. When they used the phrase, “the law of Moses,” they meant the Torah, the first five books of the Old Testament, which includes the Ten Commandments. We cannot project our views on the scriptures. They had a discussion where Peter stood up and said: Acts 15:10-11 Now then, why do you [Judaizers] try to test God by putting on the necks of Gentiles [the believers] a yoke that neither we nor our ancestors have been able to bear? No! We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are.” There is only one way God will save us — whether we are Jew or Gentile — and that is through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. These Judaizers did not agree with the General Conference decision. They said, “No. Peter has been brainwashed by Paul.” Paul was a theologian. They went to every church where Paul had preached and Paul knew that Rome would not be exempted. He spends all of Romans 4 defending justification by faith against the threefold demands of the Judaizers, which were good works, circumcision, and keeping of the law. Let us be clear that Paul is not against good works. He is not even against circumcision. We can read Philippians 3:3 or Colossians 2:11 onwards to see that. Philippians 3:3 For it is we who are the circumcision, we who serve God by his Spirit, who boast in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh.... Colossians 2:11 In him you were also circumcised with a circumcision not performed by human hands. Your whole self ruled by the flesh was put off when you were circumcised by Christ.... He definitely is not against the law. The issue here is not good works, circumcision, and the law; the issue is when this is used as a requirement for salvation. What God does in me does not have a single iota of merit. It is the fruits of salvation. It is the evidence of salvation but it doesn’t contribute one iota towards my salvation, nor does it contribute towards my retaining the ticket to heaven. We are saved by grace alone. We should heed the warning that was given to the Galatians. If anyone perverts this gospel that Paul preached, even if it is an angel from heaven that preaches any other gospel than the one the apostles have preached, let him be anathema; let him be cursed by God. That is how strongly God feels with anyone who perverts the gospel. How does Paul deal with this? Remember, the Judaizers were Jews. The father of the Jews was Abraham. To Americans, “father” means somebody who was the source of a nation — Abraham was the father of the Jews — but to the Jews, the word “father” had more than that meaning. It also meant “a prototype.” Now, this is true of our people in the olden days. If the father was a blacksmith, the child became a blacksmith. If the father was a baker, the children became bakers. It was passed on. Today we are living in a different world. If a father is a baker, the child wants to be anything else but a baker. We have completely changed society and that is because of the concept of individual rights. We are individuals. That is the problem. To the Jews, Abraham was not only their father but he was their prototype, their model, their pattern of salvation. So the question that Paul will raise: Romans 4:1 What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh, discovered in this matter? That is how it is in the original. The modern translations change it a bit but that is absolutely correct according to the Greek text. “According to the flesh.” By the flesh, Paul did not mean the soft part of the body. Philippians gives an example of what Paul means by the “flesh.” Paul mentions circumcision in a very positive way. Philippians 3:3 For it is we [talking to the believers] who are the circumcision, we who serve God by his Spirit, who boast in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh.... He explains what he means by the flesh: Philippians 3:4 ...Though I myself have reasons for such confidence. If someone else thinks they have reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more... Paul says, if there is anyone of you in Philippi who can boast about the flesh, I have reason to boast more than any of you. He is writing here primarily to Gentiles. Verse 5 tells us what he can boast about. Philippians 3:5 ...circumcised on the eighth day [The law of Moses did not only require circumcision of the Jews, but it required circumcision on a specific day, eight days after your birth.], of the people of Israel [I am a pure blooded Jew, my pedigree has no mixture.], of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee.... We have given the word Pharisee a negative meaning but, in the days of Paul, the word “Pharisee” itself meant somebody who was very zealous, very meticulous about keeping the law. A definition of a Pharisee is somebody who is very meticulous about every little detail that his church requires, who takes great pains doing it and gives great pains to everybody else while he is doing it. The Jews took the law of Moses and made human rules that they could keep. If they kept all the rules of Judaism, it would take twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, all their lives. Every Jew didn’t have time for that but the Pharisees specialized in those rules. The interesting thing about Pharisees is that they never compare themselves with somebody better than they are but with somebody inferior, less successful in the Christian life. A Pharisee is always elevating himself, “O God, I thank you I am not a sinner like that publican at the back.” Archeology has discovered some of the prayers of the Pharisee. He would get up in the morning and pray to the Lord saying, “God, I thank you I was not born an animal; I thank you I was not born a Gentile or a dog; I thank you I was not born a woman,” and then he would end up, “I thank you God, I am a Pharisee, praise the Lord.” Then he would go about his business. Some of these prayers were actually recorded in the Dead Sea Scrolls and other manuscripts. Philippians 3:6 ...as for zeal [zeal for God], persecuting the church [When Paul was persecuting the church, he thought he was serving God; that’s why God met him on the Damascus road. His actions were wrong but his heart was right and God knew that; God reads the heart.]; as for righteousness based on the law, faultless. So the word “flesh” to Paul means anything that is true of you. It can be your birth, your inheritance, your performance, anything that is true of you on which you are depending wholly or partly for your ticket to heaven. If someone is a fourth generation Christian, it means nothing. You are either a child of God or you are not. Our father’s faith doesn’t make us Christians and there is nothing that gives us any special privilege before God. It doesn’t matter what our background, our education, or our culture is, when it comes to our vertical standing before God we are all one hundred percent sinners saved by grace. We are one hundred percent sinners not in performance but in equipment, so when I see somebody in the ditch because of drugs or alcohol I do not say to him, “Why are you there? Look at me.” No, I say, “There go I but for the grace of God.” When we all recognize that we are one hundred percent sinners saved by grace, all the disagreements and imperfections in the church will go because we are all on the same level. There is no male, no female, no Jew, no Gentile, no slave, no master. We are all one in Christ. When Paul says: Romans 4:1 What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh, discovered in this matter? The question is, Did Abraham do anything that qualified him for heaven? The answer is: Romans 4:2 If, in fact, Abraham was justified by works, he had something to boast about [to glory in] — but not before God. Verse 2 is saying that, if he was justified by works, he would not give God the credit but he would take credit to himself. Romans 4:3-4 What does Scripture say? [What are the facts from the Word of God?] “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.” [Here is the conclusion.] Now to the one who works, wages are not credited as a gift but as an obligation. If you go to your boss at the end of the month to collect your check and he says, “By the way, this is my gift to you,” I can imagine what you will say, “Look, I worked for this. Don’t give me that nonsense; there is no gift in this. I earned it.” I have a little card in my office taken from a very famous advertisement. This cartoon shows Pharisees talking to Jesus saying, “We don’t like what You are saying. We prefer to get our salvation the good old fashioned way. We earn it.” Romans says: Romans 4:4 Now to the one who works, wages are not credited as a gift but as an obligation. In other words, if you have earned your salvation, then God owes you a ticket to heaven. This is our sin problem. We do not like to admit to God that we are sinners. We want to meet Him eyeball to eyeball and say to Him, “You give us the rules and we will keep them.” The rules of God not only demand a perfect performance but perfect motives and even a perfect nature and none of us can do that. So we pervert the rules, turning them into rules that we can keep and then we say, “God we earned it and You owe it to us.” Paul says: Romans 4:5 However, to the one who does not work but trusts God who justifies the ungodly [another word for “ungodly” here is the wicked, the sinner], their faith is credited as righteousness. You may ask, “How can God justify the ungodly, the sinner?” We will cover that in the “In Christ” motif. Yes, He can justify the ungodly and still be just by His own rules. Now there is a problem that we need to be aware of: James 2:21 Was not our father Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? James is saying Abraham was justified by works. Then, in verse 23, he quotes the very same text that Paul quotes. Both are quoting from Genesis. Genesis 15:6 Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness. James 2:23 And the scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,” and he was called God’s friend. Now look at James’ interpretation of the text in the next verse in James: James 2:24 You see that a person is considered righteous by what they do and not by faith alone. James is not contradicting Paul. They are talking about two different things. James is condemning cheap grace. He is condemning people who say they have faith in Jesus Christ but their lives are a contradiction to what they say. Abraham was justified by works when he offered up Isaac. He was approximately 117-120 years old when he offered up Isaac. When God declared him righteous in Genesis 15:6 [above], which is quoted by James and Paul, He was approximately 83 years old. That was not the first time he was justified by faith. He was justified by faith in Genesis 12:1-4 when he was 75 years old, so the offering up of Isaac did not justify him. Genesis 12:1-4 The Lord had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you. “I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” So Abram went, as the Lord had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he set out from Harran. Notice I omitted one verse purposely because we don’t want to use the proof text method. We should read every verse, otherwise we could come to the wrong conclusion. Verse 22, which I ignored, explains where James is coming from. James 2:22 You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. It was not his righteousness that was proven to be perfect or complete, but his faith. If you read verse 14 to the end of the chapter of James 2, the context of this passage is that faith without works is dead. James 2:14-26 What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.” Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds. You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that — and shudder. You foolish person, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless? Was not our father Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. And the scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,” and he was called God’s friend. You see that a person is considered righteous by what they do and not by faith alone. In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction? As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead. Genuine justification by faith will always produce works. The works don’t save us. The works are simply the evidence of our justification by faith. You may not know all those works in your life because when Christ meets you and says to you, “I was hungry and you fed Me; I was naked and you clothed Me; I was in prison and you visited Me” you will not say, “Yes, I reported this in church.” You will say, “When did we do these things?” We will not be conscious of these good works so stop looking at yourself for assurance. Always keep your eyes on Jesus for your assurance of salvation. The purpose of legalism is to turn your eyes from Christ to self and how the devil has succeeded! I was handed a question that was asked to the students of an academy. One of the questions was, “What do you look forward to in the new earth? The answers are typical. “I expect heaven to be a beautiful place for those who get in.” “I can’t say that if I die today I will go to heaven.” Here are youth who have no assurance of salvation. “But if I do make it I could have a chance to meet the Creator Himself. What a glorious sight it will be with streets paved of gold and nobody getting old.” The greatest purpose now is to get there. When he gets out of academy his eyes will be opened, he will discover that his parents are struggling; he’ll discover his pastor is struggling; he’ll discover his Sabbath School teachers are struggling and he’ll say to himself, “If these old people are still struggling and haven’t made it as yet, what hope is there for me? I might as well give up my struggle” and so he leaves the church. Then we old people look at these young people and say, “When I was young I never did those things. I don’t know what’s wrong with them today. Who has driven them out of our church?” One survey says it is the home, the church, and the school. Before we point our fingers at our young people, we must ask ourselves, “What is causing our young people to leave the church?” Between 55% to 75% of our young people are leaving the church either physically or psychologically. Some of them still come to church to please their Mom and Dad hoping that they will inherit their wealth after they die or for whatever reason. But let’s stop fooling ourselves. We are responsible for those young people leaving our church because we ourselves have fallen into a ditch that has robbed us of peace and which robs our young people. I took a week of prayer in 1981. The situation in that country was terrible. The Christians and the Muslims were fighting and we could see the shells and tracer bullets going over our building, especially at night. There was a missionary lady there who came to me crying and I asked her what was the matter. She said, “Both my children have left the church. One is deep into drugs and all the time I blamed the teacher; I blamed the church; I blamed everybody else and this week my eyes were suddenly opened that during their growing up years I was saying, “If you don’t do this or that you will not go to heaven.” “Now I realize that it wasn’t the school; it wasn’t the church; it was me.” I said to her, “When you go home on furlough, tell them that. It isn’t too late.” Six years later I was at Andrews University and somebody called out to me. I turned around and there she was home on furlough. She said, “My daughter is back in the church.” Let’s be honest with our children and tell them what we have done wrong even though we did not do it deliberately because we were victims ourselves. Let’s give them the good news. James is talking about genuine faith that always produces works. Paul is dealing with, “Do those good works contribute towards my salvation?” Even James says that the works did not prove his righteousness. It proved his faith. Faith does not save you. It is only an instrument, a channel by which you receive the righteousness of Christ. We are saved by faith or through faith never because of faith. You won’t find that in the New Testament except maybe in the Living Bible which is a paraphrase, not a translation. Paul adds another name in Romans 4:6: Romans 4:6-8 David says the same thing when he speaks of the blessedness of the one to whom God credits righteousness apart from works: “Blessed are those whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the one whose sin the Lord will never count against them.” He quotes from Psalm 32:1-2; the word blessed means happy. Psalm 32:1-2 Blessed [happy] is the one whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the one whose sin the Lord does not count against them and in whose spirit is no deceit. Looking at that statement in the original, David uses three words — iniquity, sin, and transgression. Primarily, “iniquity” in the Bible does not refer to our acts but to our condition. The word “iniquity” in the Hebrew means “bent.” So when David says, “I was shapen in iniquity from my mother’s womb” he is not referring to his mother’s sin but to his condition since birth. “Sin” is missing the mark and “transgression” is willful disobedience. David was guilty of all three but he found mercy and for that he is praising the Lord. In Romans 4:9-10 Paul deals with circumcision: Romans 4:9-10 Is this blessedness only for the circumcised, or also for the uncircumcised? We have been saying that Abraham’s faith was credited to him as righteousness. 10 Under what circumstances was it credited? Was it after he was circumcised, or before? It was not after, but before! Remember, the Judaizers insisted that the Gentiles be circumcised before they could be saved. Abraham was 99 years old when he was circumcised. When the statement we read from Genesis 15:6 about Abraham... Genesis 15:6 Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness. ...was made, Abraham was 83, so he was justified by faith in terms of writing by the Word of God, declared by the Word of God before he was circumcised. Not while circumcised, but while uncircumcised. But Paul knew that this would raise up a major question. If circumcision did not contribute towards the salvation of Abraham, why did God give it to him? Many of the Judaizers said: “Yes, he was justified by faith when he was 83 and then at 99 God said, “Abraham when I justified you I forgot circumcision so I’m going to add it to your salvation.” But that is not the reason God gave circumcision. In Romans 4:11, we are told why God gave circumcision. Keep in mind that, one day, the Sabbath will have the same significance. Romans 4:11 And he received circumcision as a sign [notice that circumcision is a sign], a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised So then, he is the father of all who believe but have not been circumcised, in order that righteousness might be credited to them. To explain this, we need to get the context. Remember, in those days, the only Bible was the Old Testament. The Christians knew the Old Testament fairly well. Most Christians today are not familiar with all the details, so let me give you the background. God comes to Abraham at the age of 75 and says: Genesis 12:1-3 The Lord had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you. I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” Abraham is packing his camels, which were the moving vans in those days. His neighbors come to him and say, “Where are you going, Abraham? He says, “I don’t know.” The people must have said to themselves, “This man has gone crazy.” They say, “You don’t know?” He says, “No. God has told me to go and I’m going.” We read in Hebrews 11 that he had no idea where he was going. By faith he packed his camels and took off. He had no children but he believed that God was going to give him a son because God had promised him a son. Eight years later, no child had come. He had told all his new neighbors, “I’m going to have a son.” Every year, “I’m going to have a son.” Eight years later the people said, “Poor fellow, he’s getting senile.” He becomes discouraged and his faith begins to dwindle. God comes to him (Genesis 15) and says, “Abraham, why are you discouraged, why are you doubtful, why is your faith dwindling?” Abraham says, “God, I think You know. Human beings take nine months to produce a child. How long does it take You? I’m questioning whether You created the world in six days. It’s eight years; how long, God? Am I to take the son of Eliezer my slave and make him the promised son?” And God said, “No. The son that I promised you will come out from your own loins. Let’s go for a walk and count the stars.” Abraham said, “Impossible.” God said, “That is how many children you will have.” And there you have that famous statement, “Abraham believed God and it was counted for righteousness.” Two years later (Genesis 16) Sarah comes to Abraham. “God said your loins but he mentioned nothing about me. I have a feeling that God is incapable of producing a child through me.” Remember, it’s ten years since the promise of a child. “I have a suggestion. You go to my slave woman Hagar, produce a child and help God.” And Abraham like a good husband said, “That’s an excellent idea.” So he went to Hagar, produced a child and he said, “God, here it is at last. You promised a child; I helped You to produce it.” That is Galatianism. Read Galatians 4:21 and on where Paul uses the two sons of Abraham to show the distinction between justification by faith alone and justification by keeping the law or by works. Galatians 4:21-31 Tell me, you who want to be under the law, are you not aware of what the law says? For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by the slave woman and the other by the free woman. His son by the slave woman was born according to the flesh, but his son by the free woman was born as the result of a divine promise. These things are being taken figuratively: The women represent two covenants. One covenant is from Mount Sinai and bears children who are to be slaves: This is Hagar. Now Hagar stands for Mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to the present city of Jerusalem, because she is in slavery with her children. But the Jerusalem that is above is free, and she is our mother. For it is written: “Be glad, barren woman, you who never bore a child; shout for joy and cry aloud, you who were never in labor; because more are the children of the desolate woman than of her who has a husband.” Now you, brothers and sisters, like Isaac, are children of promise. At that time the son born according to the flesh persecuted the son born by the power of the Spirit. It is the same now. But what does Scripture say? “Get rid of the slave woman and her son, for the slave woman’s son will never share in the inheritance with the free woman’s son.” Therefore, brothers and sisters, we are not children of the slave woman, but of the free woman. Then God waited thirteen or fourteen more years. He waited until it was medically, scientifically, humanly impossible for Sarah to have a child. She had passed the age of child-bearing. Abraham is the prototype of all who believe and God wanted to make sure that there would be no doubt in the human race, who believed as Abraham did, that Abraham had in any way contributed towards that promised son. So God waited until it was impossible. He waited until Abraham and Sarah were exhausted. Then He came to Abraham and said, “Abraham, do you believe I can give you a son?” And against hope Abraham said, “Yes. You can do the impossible.” God said to Abraham, “I want you to remove that unbelief you have been carrying on your shoulder.” The sign of that removal was circumcision. Circumcision had no value in itself. It was the removal of every ounce of unbelief. That is why Moses would say to the Jews, “You stiff-necked, uncircumcised.” They were only circumcised in the flesh. That is why Paul says in Philippians 3:3 that the genuine person has lost all confidence in the flesh and is rejoicing in Christ. Philippians 3:3 For it is we who are the circumcision, we who serve God by his Spirit, who boast in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh.... Paul says in Colossians 2:11-12 that circumcision is synonymous with baptism, putting off the old man and putting on the new man. Colossians 2:11-12 In him you were also circumcised with a circumcision not performed by human hands. Your whole self ruled by the flesh was put off when you were circumcised by Christ, having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through your faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead. For the Sabbath to be known as the seal of righteousness by faith, we must preach the Sabbath in the light of the gospel; otherwise, we have missed the point. Romans 4:12 And he is then also the father of the circumcised who not only are circumcised but who also follow in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised. So works did not contribute towards Abraham’s justification; circumcision did not contribute to his justification. But what about the law? Romans 4:13-14 It was not through the law that Abraham and his offspring received the promise that he would be heir of the world, but through the righteousness that comes by faith. For if those who depend on the law are heirs, faith means nothing and the promise is worthless.... Paul is saying here that salvation through keeping the law and salvation through grace are mutually exclusive. They can’t be mixed. It is either one or the other. If you turn to the law as a means of your salvation, even a little bit of the law, you have fallen from grace and Christ has become of no effect to you. Galatians 5:4 You who are trying to be justified by the law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace. Remember and I repeat what I said in the beginning, Paul is not against the law. He is against human beings using the law as a requirement of salvation. God never gave the law as a requirement of salvation. Never! He gave the law to expose our sin problem. He brings it out again here: Romans 4:15a ...Because the law brings wrath. It doesn’t bring peace; it doesn’t bring hope; it brings about wrath. A text to prove that the law brings wrath is Galatians: Galatians 3:10 For all who rely on the works of the law [anyone who is trying to go to heaven by keeping the law] are under a curse [which is another word for wrath], as it is written [this is a quotation from the book of the law]: “Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law.” The Jew would stand up and say, “I believe in all the law of God,” just as many would stand up and say, “I believe in all the Ten Commandments.” The law doesn’t save you by faith. The law will say to you, “I don’t care whether you believe in ten or nine. The question is, “Are you keeping it?” “Oh, yes, I’m keeping part of it.” The law will say, “I don’t care if you are keeping part of it. If you break on one point, you’re finished.” That is what Paul is saying in Romans 4:15, because the law brings wrath. Galatians 3:13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a pole.” That’s the gospel, the good news. Paul has argued from all conceivable angles about the threefold requirements of the Judaizers and Romans 4:16 is the conclusion. Romans 4:16 Therefore, the promise comes by faith, so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham’s offspring — not only to those who are of the law [Jews] but also to those who have the faith of Abraham. He is the father of us all [Jews and Gentile believers]. Paul means that your salvation is guaranteed because it is based not on man’s promise but on God’s promise which He fulfilled in the birth, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ and this promise is sure. Galatians 3:27 ...For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. Paul, in Romans 4:17-25, quotes from the Old Testament where God says to Abraham: Romans 4:17-25 As it is written: “I have made you a father of many nations.” He is our father in the sight of God, in whom he believed — the God who gives life to the dead and calls into being things that were not [He calls sinners righteous]. Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead — since he was about a hundred years old — and that Sarah’s womb was also dead. Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised. This is why “it was credited to him as righteousness.” The words “it was credited to him” were written not for him alone, but also for us, to whom God will credit righteousness — for us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification. God made Abraham a father not of the Jews, but “of many nations.” God made Abraham our father in this sense. The question is whether we have the faith of Abraham which is taking God at His word. It has nothing to do with our feelings; it has nothing to do with the human experience; it has nothing to do with the scientific method which denies any supernatural thing. It is taking God at His Word. God’s Word may contradict science, human experience, and human rationale. When God says, “Put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh,” don’t say, “Show me somebody else who’s doing it.” The question is “Do you believe God’s Word?” God says: Galatians 5:16 So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. The question is whether you believe it and whether you are a child of Abraham. Would you believe God if you were in Abraham’s shoes when your wife was past the age of child-bearing and God said, “Next year your wife will have a child.”? Would you believe God if you were in Noah’s shoes when it had never rained in your experience or in the experience of the world and God says, “There’s going to be a flood.”? Faith is taking God at His word irrespective of your feelings, your reasoning, your rationale, the scientific method. That is what it means to be a child of Abraham. Paul continues to expound on that: Romans 4:19-24 Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead — since he was about a hundred years old — and that Sarah’s womb was also dead. Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised. This is why “it was credited to him as righteousness.” The words “it was credited to him” were written not for him alone, but also for us, to whom God will credit righteousness — for us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. The purpose of legalism is to destroy the peace and assurance of salvation of believers but the danger of antinomianism or cheap grace is to bring disrepute to the gospel. People are not interested in the fact that you are saved. You can raise your arms a thousand times and say, “Praise the Lord, I’m saved.” They couldn’t care less. They care even less when you tell them Jesus saves or when you put a bumper sticker on your car. What they are looking for is your life style. They will judge you by your performance. One reason the devil will bring cheap grace into the church is because he wants to bring disrepute to the gospel which is the power of God to save us, not only from the guilt and punishment of sin but from sin itself. A legalist wants to live the Christian life in order to be saved. A Christian wants to live the Christian life to bring the glory to Christ. Listen to Joseph when he was tempted. He didn’t say, “I cannot do this thing and be lost.” He said, “How can I do this thing and sin against my God?” A legalist is not against sinning. He is against being punished for sin so every time he sins he goes down on his knees and says, “God, please forgive me because I want to go to heaven.” He doesn’t say those actual words but he means that. A Christian says, “God, forgive me for hurting You or disgracing You.” It is not because you might be lost. The following experience illustrates what we are facing in the church today. A young girl, a third-generation church member, about 22 years old, went to listen to a minister preaching about grace. All her life she was doing the right thing for the wrong reason. For the first time she discovered that salvation is a free gift made effective by faith alone. She said, “I’ve been doing all these things for nothing.” So to celebrate her new-found joy she went to a restaurant where she had eaten steak before and bought the juiciest, bloodiest steak and ate it for the first time in her life without feeling guilty. That is cheap grace. She is using the gift of salvation and making it a license to sin. The gospel gives us no such license. An example of how the gospel is dangerous is in Romans 5:20, last part. Romans 5:20 The law was brought in so that the trespass might increase. But where sin increased, grace increased all the more, Paul meant that it doesn’t matter how sin or the principle of sin in you has dragged you down to the bottom of the pit, as low as Hitler or Idi Amin or the greatest murderers and criminals of the world, grace can save the worst of criminals. But I can take the same statement and say, “Paul is saying that every time I sin, grace covers my sin. Praise the Lord, let us keep on sinning that grace may abound.” In fact, the Judaizers accused Paul of that very thing. It is impossible for us to preach the message of grace alone without somebody accusing us of cheap grace. If we are accused of either legalism or cheap grace or both, we’ll know we are on the right track. Now look at what Paul says in Romans 6:1: Romans 6:1 What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? “Is this what I am teaching?” His answer is, “God forbid.” “Certainly not!” The Greek actually means, “This is unthinkable. Any Christian who thinks this way hasn’t understood my message.” He gives the reason in Romans 6:2. Romans 6:2 By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? Paul does not say, “How shall we who promised God to be good keep on sinning?” He does say, “How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?” That phrase “dead to sin” appears three times in Romans 6. The first time is in verse 2 [above] where Paul applies it to the believer who has been baptized into Christ. Verse 3 onwards explains the baptism. Verse 10 is the second time and it is applied, not to the believer, but to Jesus Christ. Romans 6:3-10 Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his. For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin — because anyone who has died has been set free from sin. Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. Paul is saying that, when Jesus died to sin, He brought sin to an end once and for all. Sin separated the Father from Christ. Jesus cried on the cross, “Father, Father, why have You forsaken Me?” But since He has destroyed sin, left sin in the grave, there will never, ever be a separation of the Father and the Son. Now that He lives, He lives unto God. No barrier will take place. Romans 6:11 In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. A Christian should consider himself dead to sin and alive unto God because a Christian has participated by faith in the holy history of Christ. That is what baptism is all about which is described in Romans 6:3-8 [above]. Now let me explain something here. When Paul is talking here about baptism, he is not talking about the act of baptism but about the truth of baptism. How can we tell the difference? When the Bible talks about the act of baptism, it is always in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. When it talks about the truth of baptism, it is always into Christ. Look at verse 3: Romans 6:3 Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? So baptism as an experience is into Christ. There are many who have misunderstood Mark 16:15-16 where Jesus said, Mark 16:15-16 He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.” Jesus was not referring to the act. There are many who have gone through the act who are unconverted. When I first came to this country, I pastored a church where a lady came to me who was not a member of the church but had been attending for the last four years. She was not baptized. She said to me, “Pastor, I attended an evangelistic effort four years ago, but they will not baptize me because I have not been able to break my cigarette habit. She was a business woman and, at that time, the State was going through an economic depression so she was struggling to keep her business above water. She found relief in smoking. She said, “I have tried the “Five Day Stop Smoking” program; I’ve tried “Banfrom”; I’ve tried everything and I failed. Please will you ask Jesus to help me overcome smoking? I’ve prayed to Him and He hasn’t answered my prayer.” I asked her, “Why do you want to overcome smoking?” She said, “Because I want to be saved.” She had the idea that unless she went through the act of baptism she could not be saved. I said, “You don’t need my prayers. You need the gospel.” So I spent three months teaching her about the gospel. She was asking God to answer a prayer that would bypass the gospel and God doesn’t do that. God doesn’t give us victory in order to give us assurance. He gives us victory because we want to glorify Christ. So she needed to be re-educated and I spent three months studying with her, going step-by-step with her, showing her that we are saved by grace alone. Suddenly it dawned on her that she had salvation as a gift. Once she had the peace of assurance I said to her, “I would love to baptize you but, if I do, my church will turn against me because we have a policy in our church that you can’t be baptized until you have given up smoking. But please remember if you die today heaven is yours because in your heart you have already given up smoking. You’re struggling with a habit that has a grip on you. It’s a compulsion that you can’t overcome yourself.” After she had the peace of assurance of salvation I said, “Now, let us work on your smoking. Forget “Banfrom”; forget the “Five Day Smoking” program. Let’s spend a whole weekend in fasting and prayer and we did. Monday she called me. She said, “The desire is gone.” I said, “One moment, it is may be too soon.” Three months later she had not smoked even one cigarette. I baptized her and she became a very active person in the church. Paul is not discussing the act of baptism. The thief on the cross was baptized by the Spirit. He was not baptized by the act. There are too many who are buried alive. They have gone through the act but they haven’t died with Christ; therefore, they have not risen to newness of life in Christ. So let’s look at the meaning of baptism. Romans 6:3 Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? Baptism as an experience is always into Christ. But that into Christ is not in any vague manner. Baptism into Christ means that His death is accepted by you as your death. Romans 6:4 We were therefore buried with him... Remember, it is illegal in this country to bury somebody who has not died so in the same way we should be sure that the person who has asked for baptism has surrendered to the cross. We can’t read their hearts but if they say, “Yes” and they are lying, God will take care of them. I’m talking from experience. Romans 6:4 We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death [but Christ did not remain in the grave] in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. What is Paul saying here? First, what is death? In the Bible, death is not the separation of the soul and the body. That is the Greek concept, not the Biblical concept. Death is good-bye to life. Faith is more than a mental assent to truth; faith is obeying the gospel. The gospel and the law are not the same thing. The gospel is the truth as it is in Christ. The gospel comes to you and God says, “When Christ died, you died; when He lived, you lived; when He was buried, you were buried, when He rose from the dead, you were raised. I did this without your permission but since I created you with a free will I am asking you to accept your history in My Son.” And you say, “Yes, I accept His death as my death.” When a person dies, you bury him. That’s what they did with Christ. Christ rose up from the dead not with the same life. He gave the human race another life and you will find this in 1 John 5:11. 1 John 5:11 And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. In the Greek there are two words for life, bios, from which we have biography, and zoe, which is the life that Christ gives us. Bios primarily refers to what you do. You get up at six in the morning; you have your shower; then you listen to the news; you have your breakfast; you go to work; you stop at 11 o’clock and have a coffee break; then you keep on working till 12 o’clock; you have your lunch break; you have your hamburger then you go to 4 o’clock; then you finish your work and you come home, and you let the wife, who has also been working, wash the dishes and you look at the newspaper because you are the head of the house and you need to keep in touch with the world and the TV. Then 11 o’clock comes and you go to sleep. Then you become a Christian and you change your bios. Instead of getting up at 6 o’clock in the morning and listening to the TV you get up at 5:30 and spend one half hour studying your Bible. You have changed your bios but it is the same old life now modifying itself. Then when you go to the coffee break, you now have Postum or juice. When you come home, instead of having a hamburger, you have a vegeburger. What have you done? You have only changed the outside. The life is the same and you are fooling yourself. Christianity is not a modification of the old life. We got that from Judaism, not from the Bible. Christianity is accepting the life of Christ in exchange for my life. Let me put it in a nutshell: Galatians 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever and the life He lived 2,000 years ago He will reproduce in you — not to give you assurance of salvation; not to save you, but to show to the world that this is the gospel, the power of salvation. When the world sees Christ in you, the hope of glory, they won’t give you or your denomination the glory. They will give God the glory, for I read in Matthew 5:14 that we Christians are “the light of the world.” The word “light” is in the singular in the Greek and the word “you” is in the plural. When we hold candles and sing This Little Light of Mine, it is a contradiction of this text. We are not many lights; we are only one light, the Light that lights every man. We are many people but one Light. Jesus said, “Let your light shine and men see your good works and glorify God.” That is Christianity in practice. Romans 6:5-7 For if we have been united [the Greek word is “grafted”] with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his. For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with [a true translation is “that the body of sin might be deprived of its power”], that we should no longer be slaves to sin — because anyone who has died has been set free from sin. Let’s say you are going in a bus on a long trip too far for one driver so you need two drivers. The first driver is very reckless and he takes corners on two wheels. Your heart is beating fast; you can’t sing; you can’t relax because he’s reckless. Halfway through the trip he gets off and the new driver takes over; it’s the same bus, the same people in it but a new driver and he’s very careful. You sit back and sing. The difference is not the bus. The difference is the driver. Christianity is exchanging the old driver for the new driver. “Not I, but Christ.” The new driver will use the same body, the same hands, the same legs that went about doing everything for itself but now doing everything to glorify the Father in heaven. That is Christianity; that is what Paul is saying. But now look: Romans 6:7 ...Because anyone who has died has been set free from sin. “Freed” is not the word Paul used. The word “freed” here in all the translations I have come across in the Greek is dikaios, which means “justified.” Acts 13:39 uses the same word in the KJV but is translated “justified.” Acts 13:39 Through him everyone who believes is set free from every sin, a justification you were not able to obtain under the law of Moses. Suppose I rob a bank of $10,000 and I am caught. I am brought before the judge and sentenced to five years imprisonment. I am now a condemned criminal for robbing a bank. I go to the penitentiary and spend five years. After spending five years in the penitentiary, I come out. Can the policeman arrest me for that crime? Do I still come out a condemned criminal as far as the law is concerned? No. I come out justified. The word “justified” can apply two ways. If you are innocent, if you are guiltless, the law will justify you. But none of us are innocent or guiltless. But, if you have paid the price for sin, the law will also justify you. If you died to sin and the law says, “The soul that sins, it will die,” remember that you have already died in Christ 2,000 years ago. In your baptism you are confessing publicly that you are accepting that death as your death. No longer will the law condemn you. Romans 6:8-9 tells us what happens: Romans 6:8-9 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. If you have obeyed the gospel, death — the second death — no longer has dominion over you. Do you believe that? We have already covered verses 11 and 12. Verse 12: Romans 6:12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. Stop condoning sin. You have said good-bye to it through the cross of Christ. Yes, you still have a sinful nature; you will struggle; you will fall many times. But if you have actually obeyed the gospel, you can say with Paul, “It is no longer I (the converted mind) but it is sin that dwells in my body.” And you will have to cry out, “O wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from this body of sin?” The answer is, “I thank God through Jesus Christ.” God does not give us too much victory not because He can’t give it to us but because we are not safe for victory as long as we are depending on victory for assurance. We cannot produce a people who are safe for victory by pushing legalism, by pushing people and saying, “Unless you overcome sin you will not be able to meet the Lord.” That is the devil’s way. The way to produce a people who will reflect Christ is to anchor them on the doctrine of genuine justification by faith. The fruits will take care of themselves. In the second half of Romans 6, Paul is dealing with the same issue. In the first half, Paul is not talking about falling into sin. He says that we can’t condone sinning because we have died to it. We will spend a whole study in Romans 7 because it is expounding on the second half of Romans 6. We should analyze the text Romans 6:14: Romans 6:14 For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace. Paul is saying many things in this text but one of them is that sin cannot destroy you; sin cannot kill you because you are not under law but under grace. Let me explain. If you read 1 Corinthians 15:56, Paul tells us some very important facts. 1 Corinthians 15:56-57 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Sin gets its authority to destroy you from the law but if you are not under the law then the law cannot give sin the authority to destroy you because you are under grace. That is good news. Here is an example. The speed limit had changed in America to 55 m.p.h. In the good old days it was 75 m.p.h. In those days, when we came to America, the cheapest cars were the big cars with V-8 engines so I got a V-8 Chevy. In Africa, the roads are terrible but, in America, there are beautiful freeways but there is a 55 m.p.h. speed limit. You can imagine the struggle I had. But I had a back seat driver, our three-year old daughter, and every time that needle went above 55 she told me in no uncertain terms, “Slow down. You’re breaking the law.” We went to visit my wife’s sister in Toronto, Canada, and we crossed the border. To my joy, I discovered that the sign on the road said 65 m.p.h. My daughter did not see it but I did. I stepped on the pedal; she was horrified because I moved from 55 to 60 to 65 and she yelled at me and yelled at me and finally she turned around and a police car was coming with red flashing lights. She pleaded with me and I said to her, “Jenny, don’t worry; all they can do is put me in prison.” She said, “If you are in prison, who will drive?” I was the only driver in the family so she panicked. Then the police car passed us and she said, “Oh, you’re lucky he didn’t catch you.” She was judging me by the law of America. The law of America could not accuse me for breaking the law of America when I was driving in Canada. I was no longer under the law of America. Then I showed her the speed limit as we passed one of the signs and she boxed my ears for teasing her. When you are under grace, the devil, after knocking you down, says, “You are condemned” and you tell the devil, “Go find somebody else. I am under grace.” That is good news. It is also dangerous news. Romans 6:15 What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace? By no means! The answer is, “God forbid” or “That is unthinkable.” Now he gives another reason. Romans 6:16 Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey — whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness? A Christian is a person who from the heart has obeyed the gospel and by obeying the gospel has become obedient to righteousness. Adam and Christ represent two different systems. Adam represents sin; Christ represents righteousness. The moment you accept Christ, you are choosing righteousness, not only as your ticket to heaven but as your lifestyle. Paul says in Romans: Romans 6:17-18 But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you have come to obey from your heart [faith is a heart obedience] the pattern of teaching that has now claimed your allegiance. You have been set free from sin [through the cross of Christ] and have become slaves to righteousness. A Christian is dead to sin and alive to God and a Christian by his own choice has chosen to be a slave of righteousness of whom Christ is the Author. Romans 6:22 But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. A Christian, on the one hand, must not use the law, good works, or Christian living as a method of salvation. On the other hand, we must not condone sin. For me to live is Christ and I will live the Christian life. I will take all the old rules but they are no longer rules to me. They have become an inward desire. I took a Week of Prayer at a college where they “followed the blueprint.” At the end of the Week of Prayer, the doctor who was in charge of a Newstart program came up to me and asked, “How do we practice righteousness by faith in an institution like this?” I said, “You must make a distinction between the rules of this college and Christianity because students look at the rules as Christianity. Tell them, ‘These are the rules of the college. Every college has rules.’ Then give them Christ.” I gave him an example. I said, “I have been sitting in the dining room at lunch and supper time with the students. There are two groups of students in this college. Ninety percent of the students who come here come because they want to grow spiritually. Your rules are unnecessary. You don’t have to make a rule such as, “Please don’t go out and eat at McDonald’s.” They won’t go in any case. You don’t have to make a rule about lights out. These young people are obeying the rules from the heart. They are not rules to them. It is the lifestyle that they have chosen. But there are some of the students here, about ten percent, who have been sent by their parents to be reformed.” I gave him one example. A girl came up to me who was sent to this college by her parents who came from the same area I was pastoring, so she knew that I knew her mother. She said, “Pastor please, don’t you ever tell my mother that this is a good college.” I asked, “Why?” She said, “Because I do not want three more years of hell.” That was her evaluation of this college. To the other ninety percent it was heaven on earth. They didn’t need the rules. The rules were already written on their hearts. We have made too many rules for our children — dos and don’ts — and we have equated those rules with Christianity. No. Christianity is Christ coming in you, changing your desires, your ambitions, and suddenly there is a transformation. That is Christianity. When I first took a class at Walla Walla, two of the young boys in front of me had earrings. One of them had shaved his hair all down one side and the other one’s hair was long to his shoulders. I said to myself, “What do I do? The rule of the college says no earrings for girls, but these are boys. Maybe they are not Christians.” I discovered both of them were third-generation Christians. I had two choices of bringing the rules before them or giving them the gospel. I gave them the gospel and the hair styles changed; the earrings came off in three months. A year later, I performed the marriage of one of those boys and at the wedding the mother came up to me and said, “I don’t know what you did with my son. He has completely changed. He even pays tithe.” To her it was a miracle that he even paid tithe. “What did you do?” I said, “I gave him Jesus Christ and that changed him.” We thank God for the gospel that has moved us from condemnation to justification, from death to life. We thank Him for the gospel which guarantees our salvation, not because of anything we have done; it is by grace alone. I pray sincerely that none will be trapped into legalism after they have heard this message and that all will be protected from the evil one who will come as an angel of light. On the other hand, I pray that we will not disgrace Him by turning the gospel of salvation from sin into a license to sin. I go to church and I ask the first elder, “How has it been this week?” “Oh, fine.” Yet he has been struggling, but doesn’t want to reveal it. So we come to church and everybody says, “I’m fine.” We have a lot of people who are suffering, struggling, all telling each other that life is wonderful. Grace liberates us from all this. Once I was asked to be involved in an alcoholic program in a hospital. One thing that impressed me with this group was that they were honestly explaining their weakness. These people are more Christian than church members who are only saints outwardly. The church is not for sinless people. It is where sinners who are struggling with the flesh get help. Let us stop fooling ourselves and let us be honest. Remember we are all one hundred percent sinners saved by grace; therefore, we need to help each other, because the church is one body. When my stomach is hungry it tells the head, “I’m hungry,” and the head tells the legs, “Take this man to the fridge.” Then the legs do not say, “I’m not hungry. If the stomach is hungry it can go himself.” No, the legs take me to the fridge because the legs are in total submission to the head. Now I reach the fridge and the head says to the hands, “Open that door and pull out that lemon meringue pie.” The hands don’t say, “Let the stomach do what it wants,” because the hands are in total obedience to the head. If all of us were living in subjection to the head, which is Christ, we would have perfect unity in the church and we would help each other. Paul brings this out in Corinthians that if one suffers, all suffer. If one is praised, the others do not get jealous; they rejoice with that person! That is Christianity. But the gospel must set us free. One way the gospel sets us free is through the law. It shows us our exceeding sinfulness, which then drives us to Jesus Christ. This is the solution to our sin problem. In the mid-nineteenth century, the Christian church was being introduced to a doctrine that was new to them. It was not brand new because it first rose up in the third century but was rejected. But now it was accepted and popularized — the doctrine of Dispensationalism. That doctrine taught: That God deals with the human race in different ways in different periods. That from Moses to Christ God placed man under the law which was the system of salvation under the law. But then that failed. Then Christ came and He did away with that system. That means He did away with the law and He introduced grace. So they began teaching that the law was done away with through grace. But the truth is that not the law, but we were done away with; we died, not the law. As a church, we tried to counteract that. So we began to preach the law, the law, and the law, and we forgot grace. A Bible Institute, training ministers to evangelize the world was held. In that Institute, which was recorded, there was not one study on Justification by Faith. We have faced a problem that is similar to the Jews. We have, therefore, produced a people who are insecure about their salvation, who are always wondering, “Will I make it?” There is no joy, no peace, no hope. In the old days, we used the law as a tool to get works out of our people but today we are dealing with baby boomers who have had enough. Now all our promotional programs and all our incentives are not working, so the church in America is dying. We cannot revive it by rules or by promotional programs. Let us lift up Christ and all men, old and young, will be drawn to Him. Because of our preaching the law, the law and the law we had a problem. The Dispensationalists came up with texts. One of them was Romans 7:6: Romans 7:6 But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code. We are released from the law. Another one was Galatians 3:23-24: Galatians 3:23-24 Before the coming of this faith, we were held in custody under the law, locked up until the faith that was to come would be revealed. So the law was our guardian until Christ came that we might be justified by faith. We solved those problems by saying, “Those texts refer to the ceremonial law.” We produced a very neat theology that contradicted the context. Then a series of articles was published which said that the law of Galatians is the moral law. The problem was that the evangelists were teaching that it was the ceremonial law and others were teaching it was the moral law so it produced a conflict. It came to a head and we were told that we had preached the law, the law until we are as dry as the hills of Gilboa and that we should not condemn these men who were preaching righteousness by faith unless we could prove from the Word of God that they were wrong. The reason God gave the law is to drive us to Jesus Christ because sin is a deceiver. Sin does not tell us that we are a one hundred percent sinner. Sin tells us that we are bad but we still have something good in us and all we have to do is use that goodness to counteract the badness. That is the basis of a new movement that says we have something good in us. But the law of God says that from head to foot there is nothing good in us. Our only hope is Jesus Christ. When the law drives us one hundred percent to Christ it has done its function. Christ will say, “Now let Me take over. Let Me live in you and the life I live in you will be in harmony with what you couldn’t do by yourself. You will bear the fruits of the Spirit; against such there is no law, because it is in harmony with the law. Galatians 5:22-23 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. So righteousness by faith is not cheap grace. Righteousness by faith does not produce a people who are given license to sin. That is false doctrine. Righteousness by faith produces a people who are falling in love with Christ and who have understood the gospel and who say, “For me to live is Christ and if I have to die it is profit.” Philippians 1:21 For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. Romans 7:14-25 is the punch line because Paul is showing here that, even after conversion, even after you have been born again, the sinful nature, which is the flesh, and the law are still incompatible. The devil comes and tells us, “No, no, Paul is not talking about Christians. He is talking about his preconverted experience.” Romans 7:14-25 We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do — this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it. So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in my sinful nature a slave to the law of sin. The proof that the devil is lying is: From Romans 7:14 onwards, Paul moved from the past tense to the present continuous tense so, grammatically, he would be wrong if he was talking about his preconverted experience. Paul describes his preconverted experience in Philippians 3:6 and there he doesn’t describe a struggle. He says, “Regarding the law or the righteousness of the law, I was blameless,” which is a contradiction of Romans 7. Philippians 3:6 ...As for zeal, persecuting the church; as for righteousness based on the law, faultless. Chapter 5 – From Under Law to Under Grace In Paul’s introduction to his letter to the Romans, he referred to the gospel as the power of God unto salvation, salvation not only from the condemnation and the death sentence that the law brings to us, but also from sin itself. Joseph was told that, when Jesus was born, he should give Him the name Jesus or Immanuel, for He shall save us from our sins. Matthew 1:21 She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins. The power of the gospel manifested in the lives of the believers is explained in Romans 8, but Romans 7 gives us the prerequisite to experience that power. Because Romans 7 is a difficult passage, we must put aside our preconceived ideas to understand what Paul is saying. Basically, Romans 7 can be divided into three parts: In verses 1-6, Paul explains how we were delivered from “under the law.” In verses 7-13, he explains the problem “under the law” and the function of the law. In verses 14-25, he makes it very clear that a holy law and sinful man are incompatible and that it is only through God’s grace, through Jesus Christ and His Spirit, that we can live the Christian life. The purpose of the last section of Romans 7 is to destroy any idea that we can improve our standing before God by our performance. To understand Paul’s explanation, we will review two statements he has already made. In Romans 3:19-20, he said the whole world — Jews and Gentiles — are guilty or accountable under the law. Romans 3:19-20 Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. Therefore no one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by the works of the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin. In Romans 6:14, he tells us that as Christians we are no longer under law but under grace. Romans 6:14 For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace. Therefore, one of the privileges we have as Christians is that we have been delivered from under law. Now look at Romans 7:1: Romans 7:1 Do you not know, brothers and sisters — for I am speaking to those who know the law — that the law has authority over someone only as long as that person lives? So, in a special way, he is addressing this chapter to the Jewish Christians [“those who know the law”] who emphasize that the law is the truth, whereas, in reality, the gospel is the truth. The law has a function in the truth. When Paul says, “I am speaking to those who know the law,” remember, to the Jews, the law was not just the Ten Commandments; it was the Torah; it was the first five books of the Old Testament known as the Pentateuch. He says about this law: “That law has authority over someone as long as that person lives.” In Romans 3:19, Paul says the law condemns us because we are born under the law. Romans 3:19 Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. The law has dominion over us as long as we are living. Then, in Romans 7:2-3 (below), he uses an illustration taken out of the Book of the Law. That illustration is very confusing because the Western mind tends to think in logical sequence. This is written to the Jewish mind, so an explanation of what he is saying here is needed. Paul is writing especially to the Jews in Romans 7, saying that the law has authority over us as long as we are living. In Galatians 4:4, Paul tells us one of the reasons Jesus came to this world: Galatians 4:4 But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law... The answer to why Christ was born under the law is in the next verse: Galatians 4:5 ...to redeem those under the law [He came to liberate us from under the law], that we might receive adoption to sonship. Let’s go back to Romans 7 and look at the illustration. Romans 7:2-3 For example, by law a married woman is bound to her husband as long as he is alive, but if her husband dies, she is released from the law that binds her to him. So then, if she has sexual relations with another man while her husband is still alive, she is called an adulteress. But if her husband dies, she is released from that law and is not an adulteress if she marries another man. The Torah, the Book of the Law, had all kinds of rules and regulations and there was the law on marriage. The law of marriage said that, when a couple get married, they are married not until they get tired of each other (which may be allowed in America but not in the Book of the Law) but until “death do us part.” He is using this illustration because this is similar to what he said in Romans 7:1. We are born under the law and the law has dominion over us until “death do us part.” We need to understand what Paul means by the statements “the law has authority over us” and “under the law.” The word “under” was a term used in slave society. It was used for slaves who were “under” their master. It meant simply that you were “totally ruled by.” In this case, the law rules over us. We were born under the jurisdiction of the law and the law says, “Obey and you will live; if you disobey, you must die.” Under the law, you must give an account of yourself before God on the basis of your performance. The law will not allow anyone else to live for you or help you. It is you who must meet the requirements of the law in order to live under the law. In view of this, we will go back to Galatians 5 to see something very important which actually is expounded in Romans 8. Galatians 5:16 So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. The only way we can conquer the flesh is in the Spirit. Galatians 5:18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. The Spirit will not help you under law. He will only help those under grace. Under law, you have to give an account on the basis of your performance; you have to conquer the flesh; you have to live a righteous life to meet the demands of the law. In the illustration that Paul uses in Romans 7:2-3, there are two men and one woman. Here is a man who is married to a woman who finds another man she wants to marry. But, according to the law of marriage, she can’t marry him until her first husband dies. So every day she says, “I wish he would pass away.” She even tries to help him die. Does he die? To answer that question, we must ask ourselves, “Who is the first husband, who is the second husband, and who is the woman?” Remember, this is an illustration and these are models. This illustration is based on the statement Paul made in Romans 7:1 which says that the law has authority over a man as long as he is living. The law becomes the first husband and we become the wife. The second man is Jesus Christ. We want to marry Christ but we can’t until we have been liberated from the first marriage. Now according to the woman, she wants the first husband to die so that she can marry the second. Because the first husband happens to be very good, she can’t get the first husband to commit adultery, which is another reason she could get rid of the marriage. The first husband is holy, righteous, and spiritual. Now we may ask the question, “If the husband is a good man, why does she want to be liberated from the first marriage?” There are some problems in the first marriage and we need to know what they are. The first husband, even though he is holy and good, does not know how to sympathize with her. The law doesn’t know how to sympathize; all it knows is how to command. It can’t sympathize, but the second man can sympathize and that’s why she wants to marry him. The first husband cannot help her to be good. The first husband is asking her to do good, but the trouble is, she can’t do it. He says to her, “Please cook me a bowl of spaghetti,” and she burns it. He says to her, “Wash the dishes,” and she breaks the dishes. She says, “Husband, can you please help me? I would like to please you,” and he says, “I cannot help you; I can only command you.” The law cannot sympathize and the law cannot help. What the law could not do is brought out by Paul in Romans 8:3. Romans 8:3 For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in the flesh.... The predicament is that the law cannot produce righteousness in sinful human beings. The wife who does not obey is living in constant fear because the law can only command and execute. She wants to please the first husband but she cannot. But there is another real problem that we need to know, which is that the husband who cannot sympathize and who cannot help cannot die. She wants him to die but he can’t die. Till heaven and earth pass away, not even a single hair on his head will die. This woman, who represents us, has no solution to her predicament, but the second man does have a solution. He doesn’t say to us, “Let’s elope and get married,” because he is also good; he won’t do anything that is wrong. But if he is to marry this woman, he has to annul the first marriage. There are too many Christians who teach that the way he annulled the first marriage was by doing away with the law on the cross, but that is not what Paul teaches. That is the teaching of Dispensationalism, not Pauline epistle. Paul tells us how He annulled the marriage. Now remember, the law of marriage is that, when two people are married, they are united together until death do them part. We have seen that the law cannot die. Now we see who dies: Romans 7:4 So, my brothers and sisters, you [not the law] also died to the law [that has authority over you; you died] through the body of Christ, that you might belong to another, to him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit for God. For you to die in Christ, the humanity of Christ had to be the corporate humanity of the human race He came to redeem. God put us into Christ so that when He died, all died. This is where we have a problem in the Christian church. In Jack Provonsha’s book, he says that the doctrine of forensic justification — that is, Jesus died for all men — is based on a faulty Roman law. He is absolutely correct. The doctrine of substitution as it has been taught since the Reformation teaches that one man died in place of all men. No law will allow an innocent man to die in place of guilty men. The Bible teaches that all men died in one man. That is genuine, Biblical substitution. Paul says: 2 Corinthians 5:14 For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. The death of Christ was a corporate death. Because: We are under the law. We are also under sin. Therefore, all of us are under the death sentence. Jesus did not come to change the death sentence or to bypass the death sentence. Die we must. If we did not die, the law was not fulfilled. So Paul says the law has authority or dominion over us until we die. The moment we die, the law no longer has authority over us. That, by the way, applies to every law. The moment we die, the law is through with us. That is a fundamental principle of any law. The law has authority over us as long as we are living. The moment we die, the law says, “I am finished with you,” just as the marriage is bound together “until death do us part.” In Romans 7:4, Jesus says to the woman, “You have no solution to your problem, but I have.” She says, “What’s the solution?” He says, “Woman, you must die.” She says, “But if I die, how can I marry you? I want to marry you.” “Oh, no,” he says, “I’m not asking you to die by yourself. It is true if you die by yourself you can’t marry Me. Let Me take you unto Myself, put you to death, and I will raise you up with a new life and then you can be My wife.” And she says, “Wonderful.” This second man has an advantage over the first man. They are both good men. But the advantage is that Christ, the second Man, can sympathize with our weakness. Hebrews 4:15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are — yet he did not sin. The law, the first husband, cannot sympathize, but the second Man can. No wonder we need to get married to Him. He can sympathize with us because He knows our weakness and our struggles and He can even give us victory. Not only does this Man sympathize with our weakness, He can also give us power to overcome the sinful desires of the flesh which is our weakness. Hebrews 2:18 Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted. There is a third advantage of this second man that we can really appreciate. Every time we sin under the first husband, every time we fall, he condemns us. But there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ. Every time we fall under grace, Christ says to us, “The reason you fell is because you took your eyes away from Me.” He picks you up and says, “Come, let’s keep going.” That’s the privilege of the second marriage. Therefore, anyone who teaches that every time a Christian falls he becomes unjustified is teaching that such a person is still under law. It is only under law we are condemned every time we fall. But now let me make it clear. Even though we don’t come under condemnation every time we fall, please remember that every mistake we made cost Jesus the cross. The difference between a legalist and a true Christian is that a legalist doesn’t hate sin, he hates the punishment of sin. Every time I see a police car, my legs go automatically to the brakes and when the police car stops me for speeding, I apologize to him and confess and say to him, “I’m sorry I was speeding but I had a wedding appointment. I’m a pastor.” Pastors have all kinds of excuses. I am not confessing because I love the officer or because I love the law. I’m confessing because I love my pocketbook. My confession is egocentric and there are too many Christians who confess because they think that, if they don’t confess, they will not go to heaven. That is a confession motivated by fear. But under grace we hate sin, not because it condemns us but because it crucified Jesus Christ. When we fall, we say to Jesus, “Please forgive me for hurting You.” The more you learn to love the Lord Jesus Christ, the more you will hate sin. God hates sin because He loves you. He can’t love you and love sin at the same time. He hates sin because it kills you, the one He loves. Likewise, we hate sin because it killed the One we love, Jesus Christ. So genuine Christianity creates in us a hatred for sin itself because we are now no longer married to the law that condemns us every time we fall, but we are married to a Man who loves us and gave Himself for us. In the first marriage I served my husband out of fear. In the second marriage, I served my husband out of a heart appreciation for Him. There is a world of difference! Therefore, in my second marriage, there are no more rules such as, “Do this or I’ll punish you.” I eat the best food, I live the best life, only to glorify Him. Whatever I eat, whatever I drink, whatever I do, I do it for His glory. 1 Corinthians 10:31 So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. Let’s go back to the first marriage. Romans 7:5 For when we were in the realm of the flesh [that means, before we died, before we surrendered the flesh to the cross], the sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in us, so that we bore fruit for death. Paul is saying here that, in the first marriage, the wife actually is rebellious against her husband. This is true of all of us. Thanks to the overflow offering, when I was principal of our college in Africa, we bought a brand new tractor. Our previous tractor was ruined partly because the students who worked on the farm would sit on the fender of the tractor or anywhere to get a ride to the farm where they worked. When we got this new tractor, I made a rule that anyone sitting on the fender of this new tractor would be fined ten shillings, which was about $1.50 in those days. The very second day after the rule was made and announced, a student was caught sitting on the fender. To make it worse, he wasn’t even a farm student. He was brought to my office and I said to him, “Why did you do it?” He said, “Because you made the rule.” Human beings are rebellious. If we put up a sign, “Keep off the grass,” we can be sure somebody will walk there just because the sign is there. That is our sinful nature. So I said, “All right. If you want to defy the rule, make a chit which says, ‘Please charge this student ten shillings’ and give it to the treasurer to deduct.” Then he began to weep and said, “Pastor, I’m struggling with school and now you’re adding to my debt.” And I said, “I’m not adding to it. You added to it because you broke the rule.” He pleaded with me and I said, “Now, do you want me to break the rule by not charging you ten shillings?” He pleaded with me so I took out my wallet and gave him ten shillings and said, “Give it to your treasurer. I can’t break the rule. You broke it, but I’ll pay it for you.” We became very close friends and today he is a minister in Uganda. When we were under the law, the only fruit we could bear was sin. The fruits of sin is death because, under the law, the soul that sins, it must die. But Romans 7:6 is talking to Christians: Romans 7:6 But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code. Now please don’t tell me this is only the ceremonial law. When I was giving a seminar in Ethiopia, a pastor said to me, “This is the ceremonial law.” I said, “Give me the evidence.” He said, “This is what we were taught in the classroom in college by a Ph.D.” I said, “Because he is a Ph.D. is not proof that he is correct. Give me proof from the context.” He said, “That is what we were told.” That was his proof. I said, “Read Romans 7:7 for me.” Romans 7:7 What shall we say, then? Is the law sinful? Certainly not! Nevertheless, I would not have known what sin was had it not been for the law. For I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.” Ceremonial or moral law? Moral law — that’s the law he’s talking about. The law that condemns you to death is not the ceremonial law. In fact, the ceremonial law points you to Christ as your Savior. It’s the moral law that condemns you. But now you are delivered from the law. Romans 7:6 (again): But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code. The “written code” means rules — Dos and Don’ts. The word “Spirit” means coming from the heart. The Spirit of the law is love; the letter of the law, or written code, is “don’t kill, don’t commit adultery, don’t do this or that.” But when love controls you, you won’t do these things because love is the fulfillment of the law. Love does not do anything out of compulsion. Love does everything out of an inward drive and it becomes a joy. Too many look at the rules of the church as Dos and Don’ts. That is not Christianity; that is paganism. The Latin word for religion means “returning to bondage” and when religion says, “If you do this, then God will take you to heaven,” that is bondage for a person who is dominated by sin. Christianity is not really a religion; it is participating in Jesus Christ. We have been delivered or “released from the law” in the sense that the law can no longer say to us, “If you don’t obey me, I will condemn you.” I will say to the law, “You are no longer my husband.” The law has no more dominion over you in the sense that it cannot demand from you righteousness to be saved and it cannot condemn you every time you fall. But remember, Christ did not deliver you from under the law and leave you alone. He delivered you from under law that you may be married to Him. Now you are living under grace. The rules under grace are not: “Be home by 10 o’clock or you will be punished.” The rules under grace are very wonderful rules. Christ says to us, “I know that you cannot do anything without Me, so all I ask you to do is abide in Me and I in you, for without Me you can do nothing. But if you abide in Me and I in you, I will bear much fruit in you and my Father will be pleased.” What you were not able to do under the law you are now producing under grace and actually enjoying it. That is Christianity. Having explained to us how we were delivered from under law, Paul has created a problem because, in Romans 6, Christ delivered us from under sin. The two problems that we face are: We are under sin. We are under law. Christ delivered us from under sin, as we saw in Romans 6, and He delivered us from under law. The question Paul raises in Romans 7:7 is whether the law and sin are synonymous or partners. Being delivered or released from the law and from sin are not synonymous. They are two different things. I am delivered from under sin because sin kills me. The reason I am delivered from under law is because I am incompatible with the law. The reason is found in Romans 7:7: Romans 7:7 (again): What shall we say, then? Is the law sinful? Certainly not! [That is, the law is not sin.] Nevertheless, I would not have known what sin was had it not been for the law. For I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.” Paul could have chosen any of the Ten Commandments but he chooses one that is unique. It is extremely important that you understand this. He chooses a commandment that has nothing to do with an act but with a cherished desire. Many of us have made the same mistakes as the Jews. The Jews, especially the Pharisees, would stand up and say, “I have never murdered anybody.” Christ said, “One moment! If you hate somebody in your heart, even though you haven’t murdered in the act, you have already committed murder.” Then He said, “If you have looked at a woman with lust, even if you don’t commit the act of adultery, in God’s eyes, in the eyes of the law, you have already committed adultery because sin under God’s law — unlike man’s law — does not begin with an act but with a cherished desire.” You are sitting in the church on Sabbath morning listening to your pastor — at least that is what it looks like — and tomorrow somebody is coming to buy your house. You are trying to figure out what is the best way you can sell this house. You are planning all kinds of strategy. You are not breaking the Sabbath according to the pastor. According to him, you are a good church member coming to listen to him, but, according to the law of God, you have broken the Sabbath. When we realize that sin is more than an act, we will realize that it is impossible for us to keep the law at least in and of ourselves. Then Paul explains. Romans 7:8 But sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, produced in me every kind of coveting. For apart from the law, sin was dead. We have such a rebellious nature that the law actually creates in us desires to break it. That’s how sinful we are. Verses 9 and 10 are very important. Romans 7:9-10 Once I was alive apart from the law; but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life and I died. I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life actually brought death. When Paul said, “Once I was alive apart from the law,” he does not mean that there was a time that he did not know the law. Paul was a Pharisee and a Pharisee was introduced to the law for the first time at the age of two. They would smear honey on the law scroll and make the two-year old boy lick the honey so that the law would become sweet as honey. That is fooling the child. It is the honey that is sweet. By the age of twelve they had already memorized the Torah. So Paul is not saying that there was a time that he did not have a knowledge of the law. He is saying that there was a time that he did not understand the function of the law because Judaism had taught him that the law is the way of life. They said, “If you want to go to heaven, you must keep the law.” Turn to Romans 9. Romans 9:30-32 What then shall we say? That the Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained it, a righteousness that is by faith; but the people of Israel, who pursued the law as the way of righteousness, have not attained their goal. Why not? Because they pursued it not by faith but as if it were by works. They stumbled over the stumbling stone. The Jew was raised to believe that, if you wanted to go to heaven, the measuring stick of righteousness is the law. Keep it and heaven is yours. Paul was raised up with this idea and, to Paul, the law meant all the rules that his church, Judaism, had made up. In Philippians 3 he said: Philippians 3:6 ...As for zeal, persecuting the church; as for righteousness based on the law, faultless. He kept all the rules. He thought he was alive because he was keeping the law. But he says that, when the commandment came, he realized that the commandment doesn’t only require perfect obedience to rules but also perfect motives. Then sin revived and he died. Back to Romans 7: Romans 7:10-11 I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life [that is what he was taught] actually brought death. For sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, deceived me, and through the commandment put me to death. Be clear that the law doesn’t kill; sin kills, but the law gives sin the authority to kill. 1 Corinthians 15:56-57 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. In Romans 7, Paul says that it was sin that deceived him, not the law. When God gave the law to the Jews at Mount Sinai, He knew that they couldn’t keep it. The Jews didn’t know that, because sin had deceived them. They responded: “God, everything you say to us, we will do.” When we first come to Christ as Christians, our main concern is to be delivered from the condemnation of our many sins. After we have come to Christ and our sins are forgiven and we have a clean slate, we make promises because we have not discovered that we are incapable of keeping God’s law. We make all kinds of promises depending on the pastor that gave you the Bible studies and the rules of the church. Then you discover that you can’t keep those promises unless, of course, you have a very strong will and can discipline yourself. Then you’ll become very hard to live with in the church and in the home because you’re always looking down on somebody else. You say, “I don’t know why you have difficulty with this problem. I gave it up easily.” One of the hardest people to convert is the self-righteous Pharisee, especially when they are in the church. Paul is saying in conclusion in verse 12: Romans 7:12 So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous and good. We cannot blame the law for our predicament because that is not the function of the law. If God knew that the Jews could not keep the law, why did He give it? Here are four reasons in terms of God’s purpose in giving the law. God gave the law because the law defines sin. Romans 7:7b For I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.” To the human mind, sin is only an act. If I am out on the streets of the city and I pass by a wonderful Porsche car and I stand there and say, “I wish I had this car,” no policeman can touch me because I haven’t stolen that car. But the law of God can condemn me. So it is the law of God that defines sin not only as an act but a cherished desire. Without the law, sin would always be an act to me so that, as long as I don’t do the act, I can allow all kinds of things to go through my mind. But the law defines sin. The law exposes man’s sinfulness. Romans 7:8 But sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, produced in me every kind of coveting. For apart from the law, sin was dead. The law does not only define sin, the law tells me, shows me, that I am a sinner. Romans 3:20 also says that. Romans 3:20 Therefore no one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by the works of the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin. Through the law we have the knowledge of sin. An illustration of this happened one day in Nairobi. A pastor came up to me and said, “Pastor, you used to race motorcycles.” I said, “Yes.” He said, “I’ve been saving to buy a bike. Can you come and help me choose one?” I said, “Yes.” So we went to a large motorcycle shop in Nairobi and I checked a 350 Honda that was very appealing to me. It had everything that I felt was good for this pastor. We bargained with the man; he paid the price and he bought it. I tried it out and everything was all right. When everything was settled, I said to the pastor, “Do you want me to ride you home on your bike?” He said, “No, I can do it.” I said, “Fine.” I should have asked him, but I took it for granted that he knew. He didn’t tell me he had never ridden a motorcycle in his life. But he thought to himself, “A motorcycle is a little bigger than a bicycle. Since I can ride a bicycle, and it seemed so easy when Pastor Sequeira rode it, I can ride it. It’s my bike.” Then he said to me, “But Pastor, I will give you the privilege to start it.” He didn’t tell me he didn’t know how to start it. So I started the bike for him. He had kept his eyes on me as to how I took off so he sat on his bike; he had the clutch in and the throttle wide open. The machine was screaming; he nipped into first gear and gradually he let it go. You know what happened. It did a Pop-o-Willie, which is fine if you’re a teenager, but I saw fear in his eyes. The next thing he went straight forward. There was a pole ahead of him and he hit it. The bike went on one side of the pole and he went on the other side of it. I ran to him first and I said, “Why did you lie to me?” He said, “Pastor, I did not lie; I thought I could ride the bike.” When we first come to the law, we think we can keep it. So the law exposes my sinfulness. The law points to sin as the killer. Romans 7:9-11 tells us it is not the law that kills; it is sin that kills. Romans 7:9-11 Once I was alive apart from the law; but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life and I died. I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life actually brought death. For sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, deceived me, and through the commandment put me to death. The law also shows us how exceedingly sinful we really are. When God gave the law it did not improve matters, it made matters worse. We are facing a crisis in this country. There was a time when the theologians said, “Enough rules. We must give Americans moral freedom.” Adultery, premarital sex, and everything immoral has increased. This country, to a large degree, has gone on a rampage that is worse than any country in the world. There are theologians in America who are coming up with a new idea called moral reconstruction or reconstruction theology. Now they are saying, “We need to get hold of the government; we need to take power in this country and then solve our problems by legislating laws.” I believe the Sunday law may come through that. They are saying, “We will make our people do this and that.” We do not solve problems by making rules. All we do is drive it underground. When they passed a law banning drinking publicly in this country, people did not stop drinking. The solution to the sin problem is the gospel, not the law. Romans 7:13 Did that which is good, then, become death to me? By no means! Nevertheless, in order that sin might be recognized as sin, it used what is good to bring about my death, so that through the commandment sin might become utterly sinful. The law opens the lid of our self-respectability and shows us how rotten we are inside. Outside we are nice and clean. One thing I like about children is that they are honest. When we first went to Ethiopia, our girl was three years old. For the first time in our lives we tasted Ethiopian food and it takes getting used to. They have a pancake that looks like the stomach of a cow, all pucky and quite sour. They have a sauce that is burning fire. We were sitting around the table of this Ethiopian family. We had just arrived and they had invited us for a meal. Our girl took this crepe that looked like crepe bandages, dipped it in the sauce, and she ate it. Immediately she said, “Yuck! This is terrible.” Her mother said, “Shh.” Now it was terrible to all of us the first time we ate it, but you get used to it and there comes a time when you actually like it. I have known missionaries who have come back to America and when they hear I am coming back from Ethiopia they say, “Please, can you bring some endera wat.” Our girl was being honest and, although we all felt that way, older people have learned to hide their feelings. We do not discover unbelievers who delight in the law of God. Romans 7:22 For in my inner being I delight in God’s law.... Unbelievers may want to keep the law to escape the judgment, but this person delights, he actually wants to keep the law; he wants to do good; he desires to do good. This cannot be an unconverted Paul. Further, in verse 22 Paul uses a phrase that he only uses for born again Christians and that phrase is the “inner being” or the “inward man.” That phrase is only applied to Christians. I will explain what that phrase means but there is another reason. The whole section of Romans 5 to 8 is addressing Christians. Now I believe that Paul is not describing his experience. The word “I” appears 25 times in this passage from verses 14-25. Not once is there mention of the Holy Spirit. I believe that the word “I” here is a genetic “I.” Remember who Paul is addressing in chapter 2. Romans 7:1 Do you not know, brothers and sisters — for I am speaking to those who know the law — that the law has authority over someone only as long as that person lives? He is speaking to Jews who still, after accepting Christ, wanted to be under the law — the Judaizers. He is saying that, “Your experience under the law even after conversion is nothing but frustration. You may delight in the law of God; you may want to keep the law of God but how to do it, you cannot.” There are facts that we need to keep in mind. A change takes place in me when I accept Christ but that change is only in the mind. The Greek word metanoia, from which we have the English word “repentance,” means a change of mind. In Ephesians 2:3 Paul tells us that, before conversion, the mind and the flesh, which is our sinful nature, are in harmony with sin, but, at conversion, the mind has done a U-turn back to God. It delights in the law of God, it wants to do good. Ephesians 2:3 All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. But the flesh, the sinful nature, is the same as it was before our conversion. No change has taken place; no change will take place to our flesh, to our sinful nature, until the second Coming of Christ when this corruption takes on incorruption. When we come to Romans 8, Paul will say that, because of this, we are groaning and waiting patiently for the redemption of the body. In this section, Paul is saying that a converted mind and an unconvertible flesh are just as incompatible as they were before our conversion. So the issue of whether he is talking about pre-conversion or post-conversion is meaningless when you realize that the issue he is discussing here is between “I,” my mind and my nature, my will and my nature. He will explain to us where the problem is. With that in mind, let’s read Romans 7:14. This is a statement that is true of us even after conversion. Romans 7:14 We [“we” is referring to believers] know that the law is spiritual; but I [generic “I,” all of us] am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. Sin is an act; sin is a force; sin is a master that has me in its bondage. I believe that every one in this church, including myself, are wrestling with compulsion. In the church, we have made some compulsions bad. It is a sin to smoke. You cannot be baptized but it is not a sin if you have a compulsion for chocolate. We have categorized what is good and what is bad. All compulsions are sins in God’s eyes and only through the grace of God can I have victory. But because we have categorized, the person who has a compulsion for chocolate can look down on a person who has a compulsion for cigarettes because, according to his church, that is bad. According to his church, the compulsion for chocolate is not very good but it is acceptable. Who are we deceiving? We are all sinners saved by grace. Having made the statement in Romans 7:14 that the law is spiritual, I am carnal, he is simply saying what he has proven. The law is the first husband, I am the wife. and the two of us are incompatible. The law is good; it is holy, it is just; it is spiritual. I am a slave to sin and sin and law are incompatible. They cannot live together; there is no harmony. From Romans 7:15 onwards he proves his point. Romans 7:15 I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. A converted person chooses to live the good life, but your choice is not the problem; the problem is how to do it. Romans 7:16 And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. A Christian is not anti-law. A Christian recognizes two things: The law is good. I am incapable of doing that good. Romans 7:17 As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. We have a problem even after conversion and that is sin dwelling in us and he keeps repeating this. Look at verse 22 and 23 because Paul brings out an important truth here. Romans 7:22-23 For in my inner being [that is, in my converted mind] I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in me [that is, in my flesh], waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. Now notice here, he is not discussing sin as an act but as a force, as a principle that dwells in our nature. He calls it a law and the word “law” means a constant, unending force just as we use the term “law of gravity,” which is a constant force pulling everything to the center of the earth. When I hold the Bible up in my hand, the law of gravity is not pulling the Bible down to the ground. It is not falling because my hand is holding it up. Muscle power gives the hand power to hold the Bible up. Muscle power is not a law, a constant force. It is strong sometimes and it is weak sometimes. If I hold it too much longer, it will go down. Your will is a force but it is not a law. It is strong sometimes and it is weak other times. During a week of prayer, or during camp meetings, your will becomes strong and you will make all kinds of promises. Then when you go back to the normal life and live the rat-race, you get tired. Your will becomes weaker and weaker and the law of sin will take over and knock you down. We can defy the law of sin by using our willpower but we can never conquer it. Sooner or later, the law of sin will get you, which is very frustrating. Then, after you have fallen seventy times seven, you begin to question, “Am I really converted? If I am converted, if I’ve repented, if I’ve made all these promises, why am I still falling?” Then you begin to doubt, “I don’t think God loves me. I might as well leave the church and enjoy life because tomorrow I will die.” It is our theology that has driven some of our people out of this church. The church has not become a haven of rest for sinners but for Pharisees who are better than the sinners. So they leave the church and we wonder why. Now we see the ending. Paul cried out: Romans 7:24-25a What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? [The body that is pulling me to death because it is dominated by sin.] Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord! He explains that fully in Romans 8 but he concludes in Romans 7:25 with his predicament without the Holy Spirit. Romans 7:25b So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in my sinful nature a slave to the law of sin. Paul uses two words. He used the word ego, which in Greek can be translated “I myself” but he uses two words, ego awtos, which means “left on my own without God’s power.” All that I am capable of as a Christian is to serve the Lord God with my mind but with my nature it is impossible! That is what Jesus meant when he said to Nicodemus: John 3:6 Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. “Flesh will always remain flesh. You need to be born from above.” He was talking to a Pharisee when He made that statement. There is one word in Romans 7:24 that we need to take note of, which is the word “wretched.” That word appears only twice in all of the New Testament (that is, in the original). This is the first time it appears when Paul cries out, “What a wretched man I am!” Remember, this is the generic “I.” Here is the position that every Christian must reach — “What a wretched man I am” — before you can say, “Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!” This word appears the second time in Revelation 3:17, where the true Witness is telling the last generation of Christians called the Laodiceans, Revelation 3:17 You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize [and that’s the distinction] that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. We desperately need Romans 7 in our church. The day we as a people say, “What wretched people we are,” we can honestly say, “Thank God — through Jesus Christ our Lord who gives us the victory.” This is a painful lesson. The gospel formula, whether we talk of justification or sanctification, is the same. It is “Not I, but Christ.” The hardest part of this formula is the first one: “Not I.” Once we come to grips with our sinfulness and our sinful state; once we recognize that sin is too great a power for us and we are slaves to it; once we can cry with Paul, “What a wretched man I am,” then we can say, “I am crucified with Christ, but I am still living. From now onwards it is no longer I, but it is Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me.” Galatians 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. When that happens, we will be lightened not with our glory but with His glory. Everybody will come and say, “How did you do it?” and we will point to Jesus Christ. Of all professing Christians, we must be foremost in lifting up Jesus Christ to a perishing world. We have dealt with a difficult passage but an extremely important passage, a passage that we as a people need to come to grips with if we are to experience the power of the gospel outlined in chapter 8 of Romans. It is my prayer that everyone will recognize that sin is not simply an act or a choice. Sin is a force that has us in its grip, that we are slaves to, sold by the fall of Adam, and that the only way we can be liberated from this force is through our Lord Jesus Christ. May we all be willing to stand on the platform of “Not I” that Christ may take over and show the world the power of the gospel against the power of sin is my prayer in Jesus’ name. Chapter 6 – Life in the Spirit In our study of the Book of Romans, we have discovered two main facts and have had the opportunity of being totally convinced of them and of accepting them. The first is the fact of our total depravity, that we are sinners, not eighty percent but one hundred percent. From head to foot, there is nothing good in us. This can be discouraging, because it can cause a very low self-esteem, but I thank God for the other truth that in Christ we are sons and daughters of God. The second is the fact that, even after conversion in and of ourselves — and I repeat, in and of ourselves — the law is still out of our reach. We can desire it; we can delight in it; we can promise to keep it; we may want to keep it, but we cannot because there is a force in us which Paul calls the law of sin and death. It takes our mind into captivity and makes us do what we do not want to do. But Paul ends Romans 7 with the words, “I thank God — through Jesus Christ our Lord!” Romans 7:24-25a What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord! Now in Romans 8, for the first time, Paul turns to the Holy Spirit. He has waited this long to speak of Him because the gospel is Jesus Christ. Having finished His work on earth, Jesus went to heaven and He promised the Christian church, through the disciples, to send the Holy Spirit, who was to represent Him. He gave the Holy Spirit a special name. He called it parakletos, which means not only Comforter but also somebody who is by your side to direct you, to guide you, to teach you. He is to fulfill in our lives what God has already prepared for us in Jesus Christ. Paul ends Romans 7 by summing up his predicament. Romans 7:25b So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in my sinful nature a slave to the law of sin. The very first thing he tells us is that, even though as Christians we still have the law of sin and death in our members and we are still struggling, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ. Romans 8:1 Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.... Period. Notice, he is not saying this in the context of our sins. He has done that already in Romans 3:21-31. Romans 3:21-31 But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood — to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished — he did it to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus. Where, then, is boasting? It is excluded. Because of what law? The law that requires works? No, because of the law that requires faith. For we maintain that a person is justified by faith apart from the works of the law. Or is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles too? Yes, of Gentiles too, since there is only one God, who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through that same faith. Do we, then, nullify the law by this faith? Not at all! Rather, we uphold the law. He is talking in the context of the law of sin in our bodies. Sin is a dual problem and, normally, when we first come to Christ, we are familiar with only one aspect of sin and that is our many failures, our acts of sin. Our primary concern is that we want forgiveness and thank God the blood of Christ cleanses us from all sin. But after we become Christians, we discover that sin is more than an act. It is a force; it is a principle that makes Christian living very difficult and frustrating. In fact, it is that principle, the law of sin and death, that makes us sinners. Our sins don’t make us sinners. Our sins only prove what we are, which is sinners. The gospel has solutions, not to the sins only, but to the sin problem. We must keep in mind that, even though we have not sinned in the last two hours, we are still sinners. Even when God gives us total victory over sin, which I believe He is able to give us, we are still sinners saved by grace. Remember, Paul says in Romans 5:19 that we will be made righteous by the obedience of Christ, but it is future because it is only at the Second Coming of Christ when this corruption puts on incorruption. Romans 5:19 For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous. Let me give you another term from Philippians 3:21: Philippians 3:21 [The Lord Jesus Christ], who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body. The reason the law of sin and death doesn’t condemn us, even though we still have the law of sin in us, is found in Romans 8:2. Verse 2 is not discussing what God did in us but what God did in Christ, because it is in the aorist tense, past historical tense. Romans 8:2 ...Because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death. Notice there are two laws here in verse 2: The law of the Spirit or the law of life. The law of sin and death. Remember, they are both laws and, therefore, they are both constant forces and these two forces met in the person of Jesus Christ. Since they are constant forces, when one wins, it wins all the time and in Christ Jesus we have been set free. That’s part of the good news of the gospel. Jesus did not only save us from the acts of sin and from the guilt and punishment of sin, He saved us from the power and slavery of sin. In Romans 8:3 he explains how it took place. We saw in Romans 7 that the law of God cannot give us victory over the law of sin. The law of God cannot produce righteousness in sinful flesh. Romans 8:3 For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh [the flesh made it impossible to keep the law], God did [what the law could not do, God did] by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in the flesh.... Notice that “God condemned sin in the flesh.” The word “sin” is in the singular. Paul is not talking here about the acts of sin; he is talking of the law of sin and death. “Sin in the flesh” in verse 3, “the law of sin and death” in verse 2 and “sin in my members” or “indwelling sin” in Romans 7:17, 20, 23 are all synonymous terms. God took care of only half our problem if He only took care of our sins. When we first went to our college in Ethiopia, there was an orange tree in the backyard and we all looked forward to eating oranges from it. When the first orange ripened, since we were four in the family, we cut the orange into four pieces. Each of us had a slice but all of us took only one bite because it was so sour. So I said to the children, “Now, we need to solve this problem.” My little girl, three years old, came up with a solution. “Feed the tree with sugar.” It made sense to her. I bought two kilos of sugar, about four pounds, plus some fertilizer. We dug around the tree and fed it with sugar and, of course, fertilizer. It was the duty of my children to water it. The tree grew better; the leaves were shinier and it bloomed. When the next crop of oranges came, they were bigger and sweeter looking. In fact, when the oranges were half the size I put two more kilos of sugar to make sure the oranges would be sweet! When the first orange ripened, it was really big and juicy. The big argument was who would have the first taste. My girl said, “It was my idea.” My son said, “No, I am the one who did most of the watering.” So we had to toss the coin and she won. Well, we cut it into four and my girl took that first piece and bit into it. It wasn’t sweet but she was clever. She didn’t want her brother to miss the fun so she said, “This is excellent,” and he fell for it. I had to stop the fight after that. She asked, “What went wrong?” The problem was in the nature of the tree. This is one of the greatest mistakes that Karl Marx made. He admitted that man is selfish but he blamed capitalism. He was living in the 19th century during the industrial revolution and he said that capitalism had taught man to be selfish so we needed to change the political and economic environment and we needed to force the people to share until it became natural. He claimed that this was a scientific method and, therefore, it was guaranteed to succeed. Well, nobody believed him. He died a poor man in exile in his London home. Russia tried it for 75 years until they had nothing to share. Selfishness is not something we acquire. We are born with it. I remember our first child thought that breakfast was at three o’clock in the morning. He sounded the breakfast bell and it was worse than any breakfast bell that you normally hear. His mother woke up, gave him his breakfast and put him back in his cot and he thought this was the time to play. So she turned to me and said, “Now it’s your turn.” I would rock him and play with him hoping he would go to sleep and finally, at 6:00 o’clock, when it was time for me to wake up, he would doze off to sleep. I would gradually, slowly put him in the cot and when he touched that cold bedsheet his mouth opened. It wasn’t the environment that taught him to live for himself. So Russia had to learn the hard way. At Whitman College, I had the privilege of listening to the second man in command to Gorbachov, who openly confessed that Marxism has failed. We cannot change our nature by promises or by resolutions. Jeremiah 13:23 Can an Ethiopian change his skin or a leopard its spots? Neither can you do good who are accustomed to doing evil. We can camouflage it; we can paint it white, but we are only fooling ourselves. It is impossible for us to change ourselves. I said to the children, “What do we do with this orange tree?” Well, my son came up with a better idea, “Cut it down and plant a new one.” That’s exactly what we did and that’s exactly what the cross does. It cuts down the old life. It strikes the ax at the root of our sin problem. When Paul says God condemned sin in the flesh, he meant that the law of sin and death was executed at the cross. Jesus did not bear just our sins, He bore us on the cross. The Adamic life, which was infected with the principle of self, was brought to an end at the cross of Christ and, in exchange, God gave us the life of His Son, the life that is dominated by love. And when that life dominates us, the world will see “Christ in you the hope of glory.” Colossians 1:27 To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. Jesus said: John 13:35 “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another [just as I loved you].” So what the law could not do because of our sinful flesh, God did in Christ. He condemned sin in the flesh. The result of that is: Romans 8:4 ...In order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. When you accept Christ, you surrender the flesh to the cross, but you do it only by faith and faith is not by reality. The flesh is still there and you have to remind it daily it belongs to the cross. Galatians 5:24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. Then you must allow the Spirit to control you. Notice the words “that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us.” The “us” is the believers who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. The word “flesh” is that whatever is true of us is the flesh. The Spirit is the life of Christ. The Bible has two words for life. Bios is our natural life and zoe is the life of Christ. Remember that Christ said: John 10:10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. That is zoe; that is the life of Christ. Before the cross, Jesus is called the only begotten of the Father. The word “begotten” in English can mean something that has been produced. But the Greek word means somebody unique, somebody special. Jesus is never called “the only begotten” after the cross. He is called “the first begotten” because, before the cross, God had just one special Son. But because He shared that life with us, now God has many sons and daughters of whom Jesus is the first. John says: 1 John 3:1a See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! In Romans 8:5 onwards, Paul discusses the two walks. He has made the two statements in verse 4 “walking in the flesh” and “walking in the Spirit.” Romans 8:4 ...In order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. Now he tells us what the walking produces. Romans 8:5a Those who live according to the flesh [those who live according to their natural strength; those who live in their own power] have their minds set on what the flesh desires... People who are walking in the flesh have a mind that is controlled by the flesh. Our thoughts, our desires originate from the flesh. Then he goes on to say: Romans 8:5b ...but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. So the question we must ask is, what preoccupies our minds, especially during our leisure hours. What are we thinking about when we are having our shower? What goes on in our minds? Who is controlling our minds, the flesh or the Spirit? Romans 8:6 tells us what happens if the mind is controlled by the flesh. Romans 8:6 The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace. If the mind is controlled by the flesh, the end will be death, because the flesh is dominated by sin. Remember, Nicodemus came to Jesus one night saying, “No man can do the miracles You are doing unless You come from God.” Jesus ignored all that flattery and all his talk and said, “Nicodemus, you need to be born again.” Then in John 3:6 He made this statement: John 3:6 Flesh gives birth to flesh [always], but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. Let me make it very clear that, according to the New Testament, the flesh cannot be salvaged. The only verdict that God has for the flesh is the cross of Jesus Christ, so we have to stop trying to improve the flesh. Paul is saying that, if you allow your mind to be controlled by the flesh, you will end up out of Christ, because the flesh is still the tool of Satan. He uses your flesh to get you. That is the greatest mistake the monks made. In the monastic system, the monks said, “We must not be of the world.” So they left the world and built their monasteries on difficult, inaccessible mountains, but they took the world with them in their flesh. If you read what was discovered in some of those monasteries, you will be absolutely shocked that these monks were practicing such atrocities. The fact that we go and live in the country doesn’t mean that we are leaving the world. The world is in us; it is part of us; it’s in our flesh. John describes the world in 1 John 2:15-16 — the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life (boasting of what we have and do). 1 John 2:15-16 Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. For everything in the world — the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life — comes not from the Father but from the world. This belongs to the world so for us to conquer the flesh we must be spiritually minded. That means that we must have our mind controlled by the Spirit. Romans 8:7 The mind governed by the flesh is [1] hostile to God; it [2] does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. The flesh is unconvertible so please don’t get the idea that God will change your flesh. There will never come a time when your sinful human nature will be in harmony with God. That is why, when God gives you the victory over the flesh, the flesh will always suffer. It will be deprived of what it wants. Now this is only in this world. When Christ comes and “this corruption puts on incorruption,” the struggle will be over. I thank God the struggle is not for eternity. Romans 8:8 Those who are in the realm of the flesh [that is, those who are controlled by the flesh] cannot please God. No matter how much you use your willpower, no matter how much you make promises and resolutions, you cannot please God through your natural ability. Then Paul tells us: Romans 8:9 You [Christians], however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ. The question is not if you are a member of the church and have your names on the books, but whether you are a born-again Christian. Your name in the books has nothing to do with it. I remember at our college in Ethiopia, we had two school fees: one was for students who came from homes of church members and one was for outsiders. One bright student who came from a very poor family said to himself, “If I join the church, I will save myself $50 a month.” So he went to the pastor and said, “I’ve been noticing you people and I’m very impressed with you.” Every pastor likes such statements. “Can I have some Bible Studies?” The pastor gave him studies and he said, “Yes” to everything. “When can I be baptized?” He was anxious and three weeks later he was baptized. As he was coming out of the water, while he was still wet, he said to his friend in Amharic — the pastor was not a missionary; he did not understand the language — “I just saved myself $50 a month.” Four years later, after he graduated from the college, he said good-bye to the church. He got what he wanted for a lesser price. Paul is talking to those who are born-again Christians. “If anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ.” One day I had a couple come to visit my home. They didn’t know I was a pastor and they said, “Can we study with you?” I said, “Sure. Can we begin with prayer?” “Oh, no, no. You’re a Philistine. How can two pray unless they agree?” So we had to go to the Bible study and the first thing they said to me was that Jesus was not divine, that He was “a god.” I let them talk. This lady went on and on how the scholars had perverted the English Bible. That’s why they had to have their own Bible and that what the Bible says is that Jesus was “a god.” After she had finished, I went to my bookshelf and pulled out my Greek Bible and I said, “Show it to me.” She said to me, “Do you know Greek?” I said, “Well, this is a Greek Bible. You have been talking about the Greek. Here it is.” She said, “No, no, I do not know the language.” I said, “Please, then, don’t use it if you don’t know it. Let me tell you something. The indefinite article does not exist in the Greek language so what you just told me is a lie.” Then she explained to me about her church. They have two groups — 144,000 and the rest. The 144,000 will go to heaven; they can take the Lord’s supper and have the Spirit. The rest will have heaven on earth, but they do not have the Spirit. I said, “Then are you a Christian if you do not have the Spirit?” “Oh, yes.” So I read them this text: Romans 8:9b And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ. I said, “Now someone is lying. Either Paul is lying or you are lying. I know who is lying.” By this time, they were ready to leave. “If anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ.” In other words, he is not a true Christian even though he may be a member of the church, a deacon, even an elder. God does not give us the Spirit on the basis that we promise to be good but on the basis that we accept our death in Christ in exchange for the life of Christ. The confession of that is baptism, which is a public confession that “I surrender to my death in Christ. I am crucified with Christ and, in exchange, I accept the gift of God, the life of Christ, which comes to me through the Holy Spirit.” In Romans 8:10, to Paul, “the Spirit in you” and “Christ in you” are synonymous. Romans 8:10 But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death [because you have surrendered it to the cross] because of sin, the Spirit gives life because of righteousness. The life of the Spirit is the life of righteousness and that life, that Spirit, can produce righteousness in sinful flesh. That is a mystery. Here it is in Romans: Romans 8:11 And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies [in other words, bodies dead in sins] because of his Spirit who lives in you. It is very significant what the resurrection of Christ has to do with all this. We saw that the ultimate power of sin is the grave. If you can conquer the grave, you can conquer sin. When I was in Ethiopia, I was having a discussion with a Russian Communist who called himself “A Missionary for Communism.” He said to me that Christianity has not solved the problem of exploitation. I asked him if Communism had solved the problem of death. If you give people all the wonderful things of this world but have not solved the major problem of the grim reaper, you have not given them peace and joy. He said, “Not yet, but give us time. Science will find a solution for that.” I said, “While you are waiting, I already have it because my Savior has already conquered death.” If science could conquer death, it could conquer sin, because the ultimate power of sin is to take you to the grave. Jesus really died and our sins killed Him but our sins could not keep him there; therefore, the resurrection of Christ is the greatest proof of the power of the gospel against sin. When John introduced Jesus he did not say, “Here is the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world.” John 1:29 The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” The word sin is in the singular. Paul is talking of sin as a power and Jesus conquered sin as a power. He did it through the Spirit and that same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead is now dwelling in you. The Holy Spirit does not add to the gospel. The purpose, the function, of the Holy Spirit is to make real in your life and in my life what is already true of us in Jesus Christ. Paul says: Romans 1:17 For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed — a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.” A justified person begins to live, not at the Second Coming of Christ, but the moment he is converted and has experienced the new birth. The reflection of Christ is gradual because, when you become a Christian, you have to learn to walk in a new way. All your life you were walking in the flesh. Now, as a baby in Christ, you have to learn to walk in the Spirit. Like any baby, you will fall many times. Mothers, do you count how many times your baby falls? After seventy times seven you say, “Next time you fall, baby, out of the house?” If we sinful beings are patient and long-suffering with our children, don’t you think the Father is patient with His children? Paul is concluding this section: Romans 8:12-13 Therefore, brothers and sisters [talking to believers], we have an obligation [that obligation is based on the fact that we have obeyed the gospel]— but it is not to the flesh, to live according to it. For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live. Remember one thing: that after you have become a Christian, Satan has lost a subject, because becoming a Christian also involves a change of citizenship. You belonged to the world, you were a part of the world before becoming a Christian, but now you have moved to the kingdom of heaven. You are still living in the world but you are not of the world. God has called you out of the world. You are now a citizen of heaven still living in enemy territory and Satan does not take that lightly. He will do everything to make your life miserable or he will do everything to get you back. So the battle between the flesh and the Spirit begins when you become a Christian. If you allow the flesh to control you, then the flesh has a hold on you. One day a little girl, who was the daughter of the head elder of our local church in Kenya, went to the mission houses selling eggs. The father had told her, “You will not come home and will have no breakfast, no food, until the eggs have been sold.” She went to every missionary house and had no success. She came to our house, the last house in the circle, and my wife asked her a question, “Are these chicken eggs?” She said, “Yes.” My wife said, “I’ve never seen such big eggs in my life, not even in England. Are you sure they are chicken eggs?” She said, “Yes.” “Why are they so big?” She said, “Because my father has special chickens.” She was right. I was in my study and my wife called me and asked, “Are these chicken eggs?” I took one in my hand and immediately realized they were duck eggs, which are very transparent. I did not want to embarrass the child so I spoke in Swahili, which my wife didn’t understand. “Why did you lie?” She answered in Swahili, “Because my father said that if I don’t sell these eggs, I will have no more food and this is the last house. Africans won’t buy eggs from us. Only you missionaries buy eggs and I have to sell them.” I turned to my wife and said, “Why don’t we buy them?” She said, “What will we do with them?” I said, “Eat them.” She said, “They are unclean.” We went to Scripture and we couldn’t find any evidence. She said, “I think I remember something about webbed feet.” I said, “You’re dreaming it because you looked at all the books. Anyway, this girl will have a problem not only this time but when she comes again.” So I said to the girl, “Why don’t you call your father here? I’ll explain the problem to him so that he can feed you.” She brought her father and he was mad! The pioneer missionaries to East Africa were from Europe and they ate everything. He said to me, “I don’t like you new missionaries coming from America. The old missionaries allowed us to eat everything but you new missionaries say we can’t do this and we can’t do that. We prefer the old ones. Why don’t you go home and bring the old ones back?” That head elder was defining Christianity in terms of dos and don’ts. My wife is English and her mother came to visit us when we were at Andrews University. In England, a married woman without a wedding ring is a no-no. My wife removed her ring when she came to America because “when in Rome, do as the Romans do,” but, when she went to meet her mother at the airport, she put the ring on. Then she brought her home and she had to go to work. She forgot to remove the ring and she had fireworks from her boss. I said, “Jean, it’s very simple. Take the ring off, pin it on your collar, it’s all right. It’s only wrong on the finger because I see these ladies with all kinds of golden brooches.” You can see how inconsistent we are. Our young people see this and they look at the church as being hypocritical. We can’t wear jewelry, we can’t do this, but we can ride in Cadillacs which cost much more than the jewelry. This is the kind of thing that our young people cannot stand. Don’t blame them. Don’t be surprised that the Bible says nothing about not wearing jewelry. Now please don’t say Pastor Sequeira says it’s all right to wear jewelry. I am not saying that. The Bible says that our inward beauty should be our first priority, not the outward. 1 Peter 3:3-4 Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as elaborate hairstyles and the wearing of gold jewelry or fine clothes. Rather, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight. Look at Timothy, Peter, the Old Testament. If the inward beauty is clean, the outward will take care of itself and we will do it not because the church says so. When the Pacific Press moved to Idaho, I was a pastor there and one of the big arguments among the business men was, “Should we allow this church group to come to Idaho? We already have one group and do we want another one coming here?” So they had an argument among themselves. I had given one of the richest men in the area the gospel because he accused me of being a legalist. He came to my church, heard me preach, and was convinced that we believed in grace. So he tried to convince them and they said, “No, impossible, we know them.” So finally he made a deal. He would have a supper and he would invite them and my wife and I. He told them, “You can bombard him with all kinds of questions.” So we went and I will not forget one of the ladies who was there who said to me, “My neighbor next door is a member of one of your churches. When she goes to church on Sabbath all this jewelry comes off, but when she goes to work on Monday, it comes back on.” Because this woman’s church has the same problem, one day she asked this girl, “Why are you afraid to wear jewelry to go to church?” The reason she gave was, “Because my church won’t allow me.” That is not Christianity. When the love of God constrains us, we will do two things: We will do nothing to affect our relationship with God. We will do nothing that will be a stumbling block to our fellow believers. One day I was 9,000 feet up in the highlands of Ethiopia. It was a cold day. The church was made of poles with a thatch roof. The wind was blowing and howling; it was Friday night and I was beginning a weekend series. I said to the pastor, “Why can’t we have a hot drink before we start the meeting? These people are shivering.” And he said, “Pastor you know it’s the Sabbath; we don’t kindle the fire.” I thought, “Oh, I’ll have to be careful.” Now I had a little gas heater in my car. All I had to do was turn a little knob and make a hot drink for myself. I really wanted a hot drink but I knew that, if I made one, they would immediately turn their hearing aids off because they would say, “This man has broken the Sabbath.” For their sake, I did not make a hot drink. One day Paul went into the synagogue with Timothy. “Aha, you are there with an uncircumcised Jew.” Paul said, “No problem; give me the knife. Does that make you happy? Now listen to the gospel.” We do nothing that will cause somebody to stumble because the love of God constrains us. The love of God will do nothing in us that will hurt my fellow believer. Read through all of Paul’s writings in terms of Christian relationship. The fundamental principle in Romans 12, 13, 14, and 15 is that we live for others, not for ourselves. Remember, I did not say that we can wear jewelry. I am simply saying that whatever you are doing, do it for the right reason. Let the love of God control you. It is the same with Sabbathkeeping. It is wonderful when people agree on how to keep the Sabbath but when you travel you will find that in Scandinavia they swim on the Sabbath, in Italy they play football. In America, you can go for long drives and the excuse is to see nature. Then we send missionaries from each of these countries to Africa and we have confusion. As one Ethiopian said to me, “I never swam on the Sabbath until I learned it from a missionary.” I knew exactly the country that missionary came from. I said, “Make sure he is your advocate in the judgment.” We don’t live for ourselves; we live for Jesus Christ and He lived for others. We find two very interesting words in Romans: Romans 8:14 For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” Paul uses two words here, one in Aramaic. “Abba” is an Aramaic word for “father,” and the other word which is translated father in English is the word “pater,” which is a Greek word for “father.” Paul used both Aramaic and Greek because both Jews and Gentiles call God, “Dear Father.” Their relationship with God has been made possible because the cross of Christ has removed the barrier, the curtain, between a holy God and sinful man. Christianity is not rules. Whether government or Christian, every school has rules that we must keep because they are the rules of the school. The Christian school is also a place where the young people should have the opportunity to discover Jesus Christ, who will change them from inside. We must never give the impression to our young people that God is a God of rules who will punish them for every rule they break. God is a God of love who loves us and gave His Son to save us. The love of God will constrain us but young people do not know that. If discipline doesn’t come from within it has to come from without. The Duke of Windsor visited America and made a very interesting statement about America. It’s a typical English joke. He said, “Everything in America is controlled by switches except their children.” How true it is. Paul says: Romans 8:16-17 The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. [One part of the work of the Spirit is to convince us that we are children of God.] Now if we are children [this is the wonderful privilege of being a Christian], then we are heirs — heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory. The life He has, He has shared with us, which means that the wealth He has, He has shared with us. In Hebrews, we read: Hebrews 2:11 Both the one who makes people holy [that is, Christ] and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters. Paul is saying here that He has become one of us. He was rich; He became poor that by His poverty we would become rich but he adds in Romans: Romans 8:17 Now if we are children, then we are heirs — heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory. The life of Christ becomes our life and when Christ was on this earth He was rejected, He was hated, He was mistreated, and He had to deprive the flesh of its desires. Therefore, the sufferings of Christ become our sufferings. But suffering is relative: Romans 8:18 I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. Notice it is only for a season. My wife and I went through many crises in Africa under Idi Amin, under the Communist regime in Ethiopia, in Beirut with all the fighting going on. Every time we went through a crisis, my wife had a favorite text, “It came to pass.” She gave it her own meaning: “Nothing is here permanently. Everything comes to pass.” So the sufferings of this world, which can be physical or economical, can simply be depriving the flesh of what it wants. In 1 Peter 4:1, Peter tells us that he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin. Hebrews 2:18 says that Christ did that for us, too. 1 Peter 4:1 Therefore, since Christ suffered in his body, arm yourselves also with the same attitude, because whoever suffers in the body is done with sin. Hebrews 2:18 Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted. The joy and the hope of Christianity is not only on this earth. Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians, speaking to the Corinthians who did not believe in the resurrection: 1 Corinthians 15:19 If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied. The actual hope of the Christian is at the Second Coming of Christ. But the problem is, if we are depending on our goodness to go to heaven, then we will never want Jesus to come soon. Someone who is depending on his goodness to go to heaven will say subconsciously to God, “Please don’t come as yet; I am not ready.” Even if we lived as long as Methuselah, we will never be ready in ourselves. But if we know our position in Christ we will say, “Come, Lord, quickly.” The only reason we may say, “God, delay Your coming” is because we want others to hear the gospel. We are no longer worried about ourselves and we are no longer worried to die because we know in whom we believe. So there is an expectation we have as Romans tells us: Romans 8:19-21 For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God. God allowed sin to come into this world and, when He allowed it, the whole world came under the curse. But He sent us a Redeemer. Romans 8:22-23 We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves [Christians], who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies. Notice: you are redeemed; your body has not been redeemed. It will be redeemed at the Second Coming of Christ. Until then you have to drag this body along with you. We had a missionary with us in Uganda who brought a very nice dog with him but that dog got into a bad habit of killing chickens. When he went for a walk the neighbors would bring him a dead chicken and say to this missionary, “Your dog killed it.” So he would take out five shillings and pay for the chicken and the people would go home with the chicken and the five shillings. One day he told me this problem and I said to him, “How easily missionaries are deceived. You need to be born in this country. Let me help you. Your dog didn’t kill all those chickens. He may have killed the first one but now they have found a good thing. They now have chicken for a Sunday meal plus five shillings which can buy three more chickens in the market. So the next time they come here, give them the five shillings and take the chicken from them.” He did that and the problem was solved. But now he had a dog problem and he said, “What do I do with the dog?” I said, “Tie the chicken around the neck of the dog.” For three days the dog tried to get it off and he never chased a chicken again. The problem was solved. Jude 23 tells us the time will come that we Christians will hate even the garment spotted by the flesh because it is the sinful nature — not the Jews — that killed Jesus Christ on the cross. Jude 23 ...Save others by snatching them from the fire; to others show mercy, mixed with fear — hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh. It is the flesh which is enmity with God that cried out, “Crucify Him.” We cannot blame the Jews. If we were there and were controlled by the flesh, we would have done the same thing. That is why Jesus said to the Jews: John 8:44 You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies. We have a nature that is anti-God. Given the chance, it will crucify Christ afresh. There must come a time that we will hate sin for what it did to our beloved Savior. And when we hate the flesh, we won’t worry about wearing jewelry because that is what the flesh desires, not the Spirit. Romans 8:24-25 For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? But if we hope for what we do not yet have [the reality of the full salvation], we wait for it patiently. When the Bible talks of salvation as a subjective experience, it talks of it in three words. When somebody asks me, “Are you saved?” my answer normally is, “I am saved; I am being saved; I will be saved.” I am already saved from the guilt and punishment of sin; I am being saved from the power of sin; I will be saved from the nature of sin at the Second Coming of Christ. That is the full salvation God has obtained for me in Jesus Christ. If somebody says to me, “I am saved,” I say to them, “Then what are you doing here on this sinful earth?” We must not condone the “holy flesh idea” or the idea of “once saved, always saved.” Remember that the righteousness that saves us is always in Christ. The faith that makes that righteousness ours is in us. The devil can touch that. We do not become unjustified every time we fall, but it is possible for us to say good-bye to faith. When we say good-bye to faith, we say good-bye to Christ, because our faith is always in an object and the object is Jesus Christ. When we say good-bye to Christ, we are saying good-bye to His righteousness and, therefore, we are rejecting the robe of righteousness that once covered us. The holy flesh movement says, “Now I can never sin again,” but we will struggle with the flesh and the principle of self till our dying day. But thank God we have victory in Christ. Romans 8:26 In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. Yes, this life is full of struggles because of the flesh in us, but remember, we have a hope. We cannot let anyone let anyone rob us of that hope. Romans 8:27 And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God. Remember this one thing: we have no idea how our fellow Christians are struggling. We cannot judge our fellow brother or sister by outward appearance. There are some people who are experts at camouflaging their sinful behavior by their outward appearance and there are some people who are struggling who look like sinners but in their hearts they want to please Christ. God looks at the heart; we look at the outward appearance. One time in England I was coming home on a Friday night from a youth program and a lady from a second floor window called out to me and said, “Excuse me, sir, can you come up and help me turn the light on?” I thought she was a cripple so I climbed up the steps and she opened the door. I thought, “Something strange is going on.” I said, “Is a switch that hard?” She said, “No.” She explained, “I’m a Jew and it’s a sin for us to turn the light on; it’s kindling the fire, so can you please turn it on for me?” She had asked the wrong person. So I said to her, “If I remember right, the law says that even the stranger within your gates should not work on the Sabbath.” She was shocked that this Gentile knew the fourth commandment. “Oh, yes, but you’re a Gentile.” In other words, “You’re lost in any case, so it doesn’t matter if you break the Sabbath.” I said, “Do you have your Bible?” She said, “Yes.” I said, “Please read for me.” She brought the Old Testament which is all they have. She had the Hebrew Bible and I said, “Please read to me 1 Samuel 16:7, which says that God looks at the heart; man looks at the outward appearance.” 1 Samuel 16:7 But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” She said, “What has this to do with my request?” So I turned the light on and I said, “Sister, here’s the problem. I have turned the light on, as far as you are concerned. As far as God is concerned, you turned the light on. You used me as a tool. I wasn’t doing my will; I was doing your will. Therefore, sister, you have just broken the Sabbath and, therefore, you are lost.” She said, “You are making it hard for me.” I said, “No, I will go one step further. It is impossible, for by the works of the law shall no man be justified and I learned that from a Jew.” She said, “I’ll never become a Gentile.” “No, no, I’m not asking you to become a Gentile. I am asking you for your own sake because the only hope you have is accepting that Jew by the name of Jesus Christ as your Messiah.” Then I turned the light off and I said, “Sabbat, Shalom.” I was naughty but, you know, sometimes you have to be hard to get the truth into some people. Remember Romans 8:28 because God is in control, He is sovereign, because the devil is a defeated foe, even though we are living in enemy territory and He allows us to go through many crises: Romans 8:28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. He is not saying that all things are good, but he says God takes whatever circumstances you are in and He works it for the good. He is in control. Now we have a very difficult statement that we need to look at. Romans 8:29 For those God foreknew he also predestined [not predestined to be saved; this is not Calvinism] to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. Do not interpret the word “foreknew” with the same word as “predestined.” “Foreknowledge” and “foreordained” do not have the same meaning. “Foreknew” means He knew beforehand. He did not choose beforehand but He knew beforehand who will accept His Son and who will reject His Son. The fact that He does know doesn’t cause Him to say, “Why should I waste My time?” He does everything in His power to pull people towards Him and salvation. But He knows who will accept and who does not accept. For those He knew would accept His Son He goes beyond a ticket to heaven. “He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son.” Sanctification is not prepared for the unbeliever. Salvation or “the ticket to heaven” is prepared for all men but, the moment you accept Christ, He has something else for you which is to reflect the character of His Son. It is very simple. In the New Testament, the church is the body of Christ and the head of the church is Jesus Christ. The Head, who lives in heaven wants the body to reflect Him. The world can no longer see Jesus because He is in heaven but the world can see His body, the church, which is on earth. His greatest goal for the world is that they accept Christ as their Savior, but His greatest purpose for us is that we reflect the character of His Son. We cannot do it; God does it through the Holy Spirit dwelling in us. So here are the steps. Romans 8:30 And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified. Glorified not only as an end result but also in our lives. 2 Corinthians 3:17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. This is freedom from the flesh because the life of the Spirit in Christ Jesus has set me free from the law of sin and death. Now Paul tells us what that liberty produces. 2 Corinthians 3:18 And we all, who with unveiled faces [no longer are we afraid to come to God because there is no barrier] contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit. This is the goal God has for us on this earth. It is my prayer that we, individually and corporately, will reflect the character of Christ. Remember that, since we are the body of Christ, no single believer is the body of Christ. Each of us is part of the body of Christ so it is impossible for an individual to fully reflect Christ. You can reflect what you are. If you are the finger, you can reflect the finger. It is the body united that reflects Christ. For that to happen, self must be crucified and Christ must control each one of us. Then there will be unity in the body. We will live for each other. We will live as one body and together the world will see Christ in us. When that happens, we have proven scientifically to the world that the gospel is the power of God unto salvation. My prayer is that from this series of studies on Romans you will know the truth and the truth will set you free. Chapter 7 – The Love of God There is no book in the whole of the Bible that so clearly and so masterfully explains the wonderful gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ than Paul’s epistle to the Romans. In this letter Paul expounds the full counsel of God pertaining to our salvation. He has told us that we are desperately sinful. He paints a very dark, dismal picture of mankind beginning with Romans 1:18 right up to Romans 3:20. He concludes that by the works of the law no flesh, Jew or Gentile, will be able to save themselves because we are all under sin. There is none good; there is none righteous. But, after painting this dark, dismal picture, he introduces us to the wonderful plan of salvation called the gospel. He defines the gospel by the phrase, “the righteousness of God.” It is a righteousness planned by God, promised by God, fulfilled by God; it is all of God and we are the recipients. We have made no contribution; we are justified by faith without or apart from the works of the law. Romans 3:28 For we maintain that a person is justified by faith apart from the works of the law. Then he defends this gospel against the threefold arguments of the Judaizers who insisted that we are not saved by grace alone but that we had to add our circumcision or good works and keeping of the law. This is a problem that still exists today. Paul says none of our performance contributes towards our salvation. It is the evidence of salvation but it carries no merit. We are saved by grace alone. But, he says, we are to be careful that we don’t allow this grace to be turned into cheap grace so that we take the good news of the gospel and use it as a license to sin. In Romans 6 he says, “No, this is unthinkable.” Then he explains to us, in Romans 7, that one of the greatest privileges of a Christian is that we are no longer under the law which tells us, “Obey, if you want to live or if you disobey you will die.” We are no longer under this system. We are under grace where Jesus says, “I know you can’t live the life that you want to. Abide in Me, I in you. Without Me you can do nothing.” Under grace we have joy, peace, and assurance so that we can come boldly to God and call Him “Dear Father” with no fear and with a clear conscience. We can do this not because of our performance but, because in Jesus Christ, we do stand righteous. Then Paul tells us, in Romans 8, that God does not leave us alone to live the Christian life. He knows that we still possess sinful natures, natures that are anti-God, against His law, not subject to the law of God. So He sent the Holy Spirit to dwell in us, the parakletos, the One that is by us to help, teach, comfort and guide us and to reflect in us the love of Jesus Christ. Paul has expounded the gospel from every conceivable angle from Romans 3:21 to Romans 8:30 and now, in Romans 8:31, he is asking a question. Romans 8:31 What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? What is the conclusion of the matter? The conclusion is that God is on our side not because we are good but because His love is unconditional. God is on our side and “If God is for us, if God is on our side, who can be against us?” Paul is not saying that there won’t be somebody against us. We might have a neighbor or even somebody in the church who is against us. Paul is saying that, if God is for us, it doesn’t matter who is against us because God is the Creator of the universe. He is the King of kings; He is the One who is in control; He is sovereign and He is on our side. There are too many who think that Christ is on our side but not the Father. They think that every day He pleads, “Father, look at My blood that I shed for them,” and the Father says, “Well, I’ll think about it.” No, the Bible doesn’t teach that. I don’t know where we got that idea. The Bible tells us that God was in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses. That word trespasses means deliberate, willful violation of God’s will. The greatest proof Paul gives that God is on our side is “He who did not spare.” Romans 8:32 He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all — how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? The words not spare are the same words used in Genesis 22:16, where God said to Abraham, “You did not withhold your own son.” Genesis 22:16 ...And said, “I swear by myself, declares the Lord, that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son,....” In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus prayed three times, with drops of blood coming down His brow, saying, “Father, if it is possible, remove the cup.” The cup wasn’t the cross. It wasn’t the cross that Christ was recoiling from. The cup was the full wages of sin against us that Christ was willing to take upon Himself. The cup represented the juice of the grape. Jesus said at the Lord’s supper, “This cup is My blood shed for the remission of sins.” Matthew 26:28 “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.” What is the cup? In our day we use mechanical instruments to produce grape juice. In the days of Christ, they put the grapes in a winepress and they squashed the grapes with their feet and legs. They crushed those grapes until every drop of juice came out and was taken into the wine jars. In Revelation 14, the Three Angels’ Message, we are told what happens to those who deliberately, persistently, and ultimately reject the gift of salvation in Jesus Christ. Revelation 14:9-10 A third angel followed them and said in a loud voice: “If anyone worships the beast and its image [remember, the beast received his authority from Satan] and receives its mark on their forehead or on their hand, they, too, will drink the wine of God’s fury, which has been poured full strength into the cup of his wrath. They will be tormented with burning sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and of the Lamb. The cup is the wrath of God against sin which He poured out on His Son Jesus Christ in order that we wretched, miserable sinners may live in heaven. That is the cup. In Matthew 25, when Jesus talks to the unbelievers, those who have rejected the gift, He will say: Matthew 25:41 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire [not prepared for you, but] prepared for the devil and his angels.” God never intended any human being to experience the wrath of God because “He spared not His own Son.” Three times the Son cried to the Father, “Father, is there no other way that this human race can be saved?” and the Father said, “No, You have to go through.” The Father was agonizing with the Son because they were together in this. Romans 8:32 He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all — how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? If Jesus was not spared, but God delivered Him up for us all, how will He not graciously give us all things — not because we deserve it, but because He is love. Why then are we doubtful about our salvation? I joined the church at the age of 25 not because of the gospel, not because Jesus loved me, but because I was afraid of the Investigative Judgment. I was told that my name would come up any time now and so, with trembling knees, I joined God’s commandment-keeping people. I’m still looking for them. Let’s stop fooling ourselves. As long as there is jealousy and envy in the church, we are not God’s commandment-keeping people. because commandment-keeping people are not people who are mechanically obeying some rules. God already has that in the Pharisees and He called them hypocrites. Commandment-keeping people love each other unconditionally as Christ loved us. Then God will have a commandment-keeping people. God will not produce that by rules and regulations. He will produce such a people when the love of God constrains us and we allow Christ to live in us. We cannot produce that unconditional agape love of God. It is a gift of the Holy Spirit. There are too many who are living in fear because they are afraid of a judgment. The purpose of the Investigative Judgment is not to find out who deserves heaven, because nobody deserves heaven. The purpose is to vindicate the saints against the accusation of Satan who accuses them day and night before God. In Romans 8:33-34 the question is asked: Romans 8:33 Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who will accuse you? There is one Person who will never accuse you and it is God the Father, because He has justified you and God doesn’t speak from both sides of His mouth. He doesn’t justify you on one hand and condemn you on the other hand. God is on our side. Romans 8:34 Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died — more than that, who was raised to life — is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. “Who is the one who condemns?” It can never be Jesus Christ, because He died to remove our condemnation and, more than that, He is now at the right hand of God interceding for us because there is an accuser who accuses us day and night. But, one day, the accuser is going to shut his mouth forever. This is the purpose of the Investigative Judgment because I read in Daniel 7:22 that judgment was given in favor of the saints. Daniel 7:22 ...Until the Ancient of Days came and pronounced judgment in favor of the holy people of the Most High, and the time came when they possessed the kingdom. The “holy people” [or the word “saints” in some translations] are not those who were good, because Paul calls the worst church in the New Testament, the Corinthians, saints. We are saints because God looks at us as we are in His Son Jesus Christ and in Him we have never sinned. Ephesians 1:3-4 tells us we are holy and without blame in Jesus Christ. Ephesians 1:3-4 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In view of all this, the question in Romans 8:35 is: Romans 8:35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? This love is not our love for Him but His love for us. Then Paul gives us a list of experiences: “Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?” Why does he bring all this out? Let me explain to you what happens when you face a crisis. I am talking from experience. My family and I had the “privilege” of being deported from Uganda under Idi Amin. That meant that three times his soldiers tried to shoot me. Then we had the “privilege” of working in Ethiopia during the Marxist revolution. We were losing our young people — not by the practice of Communism, but by their ideology, which is extremely appealing — so I wrote a book against Marxism. The President of the Union opposed me. He said, “Don’t do it. You are risking your life and the life of the church,” so I did not mention any names. Five years later, when we were leaving Ethiopia, transferring to Kenya, we had to get an exit visa. We went to the immigration office and the man made us sit on a wooden bench. He had our American passports and a thick black book like a ledger book. He kept looking at the pages and looking at our passports and our names. After half an hour, I became impatient and I went up to him and I said, “What are you looking for? Maybe I can help you.” He said, “In this book is the name of every person who has opposed the Marxist system.” Here I had published a book and I had spoken openly at the University and the public halls against Marxism. I defied the Russian Communists there. My wife said to me in Swahili, which they don’t speak in Ethiopia, “You should have listened to the President. Now I go away as a widow.” I said to this immigration officer, “What will you do to me if my name is there?” He said, “Oh, don’t worry. We have ways of dealing with such people.” I knew exactly what he meant. We had just lost two Peace Corps personnel from America. They disappeared. They kill them and feed them to the hyenas. A hyena has five hundred pounds jaw pressure. Their bones are crushed; nothing is left of them. The U.S. government said to the Ethiopian government, “Can you find these two men for us? They are missing.” The government said, “Yes.” Three months later, they came back and said, “Sorry, we can’t find them.” The U.S. government can do nothing about it. So I knew exactly what he meant. We were sweating, although it wasn’t drops of blood. When you face a crisis your faith and your feelings part company. My feelings told me, “You did not listen to the President of the Union; now you’ve had it. God has forsaken you. He doesn’t love you. You’d better say good-bye to life.” That’s how I felt — forsaken of God. There was no evidence of His presence at that time. But your faith remembers the promise, “I love you with an everlasting love.” Your faith tells you, “I have written you on the palms of my hands. I will never forsake you.” One of those two — faith or feeling — had to win and I held onto my faith. At the end of two hours of sitting on that bench, he closed that ledger book and he stamped our passports with an exit visa. I turned to my wife and I said to her in Swahili, “Oh, you of little faith.” But I was struggling, too. That is what Paul is saying. In the time of trouble, the issue is not sinless living; the issue is not food. I remember when I first came to this country, one of my members said to me, “Why don’t you join the Wilderness Survival Club?” I said, “What for?” He said, “You learn all the edible weeds for the time of trouble.” All that the devil has to do is move you from the West to the East. You won’t know the edible weeds there. Remember, our bread and water will be sure. In Luke 18:8, Jesus said what the issue will be in the time of trouble. Luke 18:8b However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth? Can God produce a people whose faith in Him is unshakable? An example is in Paul’s letter to the Ephesians written from prison. He was the pastor of Ephesus approximately three years. Now he was in prison, not for doing something wrong, but for proclaiming Christ. Notice he talks about himself: Ephesians 3:1 For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus [not of Rome] for the sake of you Gentiles.... He said he was there because God wanted him there, not because Rome had him. But the members began to think like this: “If God is not able to protect our pastor, the great apostle Paul, who is now languishing in a Roman prison, what hope is there for us lay people?” Then their faith began to tremble. In Ephesians 3:13, Paul writes to them: Ephesians 3:13 I ask you, therefore, not to be discouraged because of my sufferings for you, which are your glory. In other words, “I am here because God wants me here. Don’t be discouraged. Don’t give up your faith.” Ephesians 3:14-15 For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. The believers in Paul’s day did not pray kneeling down. They often stood up, raised their hands, opened their eyes and looked at heaven when they prayed. But, when they were facing a crisis, they would kneel down. Paul is saying, “I am in deep, earnest prayer for you people.” His prayer is also meaningful to us today. Ephesians 3:16-17a I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being [that is, your converted mind], so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. That statement is puzzling because he’s praying to God saying, “Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith (or through faith).” Is he implying that they were unbelievers? Isn’t Christ already dwelling in the hearts of the believers? The answer is, “Yes.” I looked at the passage in the original and I discovered there are two words for “dwelling” — one is katoikeo, one is paracheo. One is to dwell permanently; the other one is to dwell temporarily. I am dwelling in a place that is my temporary dwelling. That is paracheo, and Christ dwells in your heart temporarily when you first become a Christian. But what he is praying for is that Christ may dwell in your hearts permanently. Since He dwells in our hearts by faith, then, for that to happen, your faith must be unshakable. Verse 17 tells us how that happens: Ephesians 3:17-19 ...so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love [two metaphors — one from botany, the other from architecture: deep roots, firm foundation based on God’s love], may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge — that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. “The love of Christ which surpasses knowledge” is beyond human rationale, beyond human knowledge, because human love is reciprocal: we love only those who are good to us. But to understand the love of God — who loves us while we are still sinners — that is beyond knowledge. John tells us in 1 John 4:8 that God is love. 1 John 4:8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. Love is not one of God’s attributes; God is love, period. Everything He does is in the context of His love. Even His wrath and His judgment is in the context of His love, because God is love. Now going to our passage in Romans. Romans 8:35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? Who can separate me from this love? Yes, I may have to face persecution, distress, peril, sword. Romans 8:37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. We are not just conquerors, we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us, because we are rooted and grounded in the love of God. Perfect love will cast out fear. Romans 8:38-39 For I am convinced [convinced beyond any shadow of doubt] that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is [revealed] in Christ Jesus our Lord. Paul is describing the love of God in the context of our salvation in Romans 5. The interesting thing is that he defines the love of God not by comparing it but by contrasting it to human love because the two are opposites. Romans 5:6 You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless [the word he used is “helpless” or, in other words, when we were still incapable of saving ourselves], Christ died for the ungodly [not for people who are trying to be good but for the wicked]. Then in verse 7 he describes human love. Romans 5:7-8 Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die [there are some human beings who have laid down their lives for a loved one]. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. We were helpless, we were ungodly, we were still sinners, and He died for us. Romans 5:9 Since we have now been justified by his blood [by His death], how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! God is on our side from beginning to end. Romans 5:10 For if, while we were God’s enemies [not only ungodly, not only sinners, but we were God’s enemies], we were [notice the verb is in the aorist tense — something that has already happened, unconditionally] reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! The gospel is not good news only. It is unconditional good news. God is on your side not because you deserve it or you are trying to be good but because He loves you with unconditional agape love. When you are rooted and grounded in this love, you will be able to stand. Yes, your knees will shake, you may sweat, but you will stand because you know in whom you believe and that He will not let you go. It is my prayer that when the soon-coming crisis arrives, you will be rooted and grounded in the love of God and you will say with Paul, “I am persuaded that nothing will ever separate me from His love for me.” [See Romans 8:38-39 above.] God did not spare His own Son. He delivered Him up for us all — not only while we were sinners and ungodly but while we were still His enemies. Our human minds cannot comprehend such love, but His Word says so, declares so. We know that, when Jesus hung on the cross, He was willing to say good-bye to life, not for three days, but forever, that we wretched sinners may live in His place. May that love constrain us. May we be rooted and grounded in this love and that, in the time when our faith will be tested, our understanding of His love will set us free from being the victims of fear and insecurity. May we allow God to use us now to lighten the world with His glory is my prayer. Chapter 8 – The ‘In Christ’ Motif When Christ came to this world 2,000 years ago, He came primarily to be the gospel, not just to explain the gospel. It is Paul who God set aside to explain the gospel. Paul tells us about himself and his ministry: Ephesians 3:8 Although I am less than the least of all the Lord’s people, this grace was given me: to preach to the Gentiles the boundless riches of Christ.... That word “boundless” (“unsearchable” in some texts) means “something beyond the reach of man” or “something that we could not discover through the scientific method but only through the revelation of God.” I want to introduce you to the central theme of Paul’s theology. There is a key phrase that runs through all Paul’s writing. If you were to take this phrase out, you would have very little left of Paul’s exposition of the gospel. This recurring phrase which is the central theme of Paul’s theology is “In Christ.” Sometimes he calls it “In Christ Jesus.” This phrase is sometimes expressed by other similar phrases like “In Him,” “in the Beloved,” “through Him,” “by Him,” “because of Him” — these are all synonymous terms. The truth behind this phrase was first introduced by Christ Himself when He told His disciples [in John 15:4], “Remain in Me” (“Abide in Me” in some translations). These are the undergirding words of the gospel and if we don’t understand what that phrase means, we have actually missed the very heart of the gospel message. There is nothing that we Christians experience, or what we Christians have, apart from what we have in Christ. Everything we hope for and enjoy as believers — whether we talk of the peace that we have through justification or the victory in holy living through sanctification and the hope of glorification — all of that is ours only in Christ. Outside of Him we have nothing but sin, condemnation, and death. The expression “in Christ” is a rather difficult phrase to understand, just as “You must be born again” was very difficult for Nicodemus. He could not grasp it. Likewise, the idea that I am “in Christ” is very difficult, especially for the Western mind which thinks in terms of individuals. The question is, “How can I be in somebody else?” Worse still, “How can I, born in the twentieth century, be in somebody who was born 2,000 years ago?” It makes no sense to us and so we tend to skim over those phrases and we miss the point. Take an old Bible, go through the epistles of Paul, and mark the phrases “in Christ” or “in Him” or “in the Beloved” and so on. You will be amazed to find it all through his writings. In fact, the only two books in the New Testament that specialize in righteousness by faith are Romans and Galatians, but the “in Christ” motif is in all Paul’s epistles. It is the central theme of his theology. This phrase — “in Christ” — is based on what is known as “Biblical solidarity” and that, of course, needs to be explained if you are to understand what it is all about. Therefore, we will start with an explanation of what the phrase implies. The book of Hebrews was written to Jewish Christians who were in danger of giving up Christ and going back to Judaism. There is a big argument about who the author of Hebrews is. I believe myself it is Paul who wrote it in Aramaic and someone translated it into Greek. The Greek is not Pauline but the theology is and so I think the original manuscript was lost. But we have the Greek translation and we know it is an inspired book, which is all that counts. The writer of Hebrews takes the Jews who are very familiar with the Old Testament, also all the types and shadows of the Old Testament, and shows his readers that Christ is the reality of the shadows. Therefore, as the reality, He is a better Prophet; He is a better Priest; He is a better Sacrifice; He is a better everything, and all of that passage in Hebrews 5, 6, 7, and 8:1 is dealing with Christ as our Priest. Because Jesus was born of the tribe of Judah, He was disqualified to be a priest (according to the order of Levi) so He could not belong to the Levitical priesthood. In Hebrews 6:20 we are told that Christ is our High Priest and He is a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek. Hebrews 6:20b [Jesus] has become a high priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek. To prove Christ is superior as a priest to Levi, Paul first has to prove that Melchizedek is superior to Levi. He makes a statement: Hebrews 7:7 And without doubt the lesser is blessed by the greater. This may make no sense to us, so let me explain the Eastern or Jewish way of doing things. In the Jewish culture, when the child went to bed, he would go to the father and the father would put his hand on the child’s head and bless him. Or, if a younger man would go to an older person, the older person would bless him. Here we put our old people in nursing homes, but, in most Eastern cultures, the older people are highly respected. In fact, in many cultures in the East, they have a different greeting for someone older than the greeter. One day just after Idi Amin was deposed from Uganda, I went back to that country. I was leaving the airport in the mission car which was tied by wire and string and in very bad shape. There were two English geologists who were invited by the government to help find some water in Uganda and they were met by a government official in a Mercedes Benz. They were driving in front of us and, in Uganda at that time, there were a lot of check points because of the trouble. A young boy, probably 14 or 15 years old, was stationed at one of the checkpoints. He had an automatic rifle with a bazooka on top of it and he stopped this Mercedes Benz. One of the British officers pulled out his card and said, “We are official visitors of the country. We don’t have to go through screening.” This young boy said to him, “I am the king of this country. You open your trunk.” He cocked his rifle so these two Britishers got out and he examined everything. Then he said, “Now you may go.” Then it was my turn. He should have given me a special greeting because I was older than he. He was not a Ugandan; he was a Tanzanian, so his language was Swahili. Normally, when you greet a friend, you use the word “Njambo,” but when you meet somebody with respect, you say “Sheikamo,” which he should have said to me. I used his culture, but I reversed it because of the way he treated the two men in front of me. Immediately he realized I knew his culture and he didn’t even ask me to open the trunk. He said, “Go on.” Paul is saying that it is generally understood, or it is beyond all contradiction, that the lesser is always blessed by the superior. Hebrews 7:8 In the one case, the tenth is collected by people who die; but in the other case, by him who is declared to be living. Let me explain to you. The Jews paid tithes to their priests, the Levites. But the Levites were mortal men who died. Melchizedek received tithes from Abraham. We need to know the history; otherwise, we will miss the point of this statement. Abraham paid tithes to Melchizedek and Melchizedek blessed him. So by paying tithes to Melchizedek, Abraham was admitting that Melchizedek was superior to him and, in turn, Melchizedek blessed him. That is found in the Old Testament. With this in mind look at this: Hebrews 7:9 One might even say that Levi, who collects [that is from the Jews] the tenth [or tithe], paid the tenth through [the Greek word is “in”] Abraham.... Now let’s get the picture. Abraham came to Melchizedek and paid tithes to him. Now Abraham had a son whose name was Isaac, who had a son whose name was Jacob, and Jacob had a son whose name was Levi. Abraham paid tithe to Melchizedek before Isaac was born; therefore, Isaac was not born when Abraham paid tithe to Melchizedek and, therefore, Jacob wasn’t born. Levi was not even heard of. But what the writer of Hebrews is saying is, that Levi actually paid tithe to Melchizedek but not as an individual. He paid tithes to Melchizedek “in Abraham.” Verse 10 explains that: Hebrews 7:10 ...Because when Melchizedek met Abraham, Levi was still in the body of his ancestor. This makes no sense to the Western mind, but this is based on solidarity. This is typical even of the Middle East today. The Arab mind, the Jewish mind, is based on solidarity. That is why, when America bombed an Arab country, it touched not just an individual but the Arab nation and they are going to get revenge. During the Gulf War, the war was between Saddam and the Allies, which were the American forces and Saudi Arabia. But during the Gulf War, Saddam was bombarding the Israelis. The Israelis had nothing to do with the Gulf War. The problem is that the Gulf War did something terrible to the Middle East. It split up the Arab nation — Saddam on one side and Saudi Arabia and Kuwait on the other side. America was on the side of Saudi Arabia, but Saddam bombed Israel, the common enemy of the Arab nation, so that, if Israel attacked Saddam back, the Arab nation had to be united again and America would have been defeated by Saddam using a psychological method. But Israel also believes in solidarity. They were wise; they didn’t retaliate. They let America do the fighting because Israel realized what Saddam was up to. They think alike. If Israel was America, they would have bombed back. If any Arab touches Israel, even one little incident, they attack back but this time they refused to attack back because they knew what Saddam was up to. So Saddam’s scheme was defeated for the simple reason that Israel understood the concept of solidarity. Having said this, we will defend three statements from scripture: God created all men in one man. When God created Adam, he was not creating an individual. He was creating the whole human race. So all men, the whole human race to which we belong, was created in one man — Adam. God did not create you when your mother conceived you. Our lives are simply an extension of Adam’s life. Let me start with the word “Adam.” In the Bible, Old Testament names were very important. The word “Adam” means “mankind.” It is a solidarity name. It is used 510 times in the Old Testament. In the majority of cases, it has a collective significance. Genesis 2 tells us about the creation of Adam. There is something that is not in our Bibles but it is in the original. Genesis 2:7 Then the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life [the Hebrew original is “lives” — not singular but plural], and the man became a living being. So when God put life into Adam, He put the corporate life of the whole human race into one man. Even Eve was not a brand new person; she was out of Adam, but Adam was the total human race which Acts 17:26 brings out. This is what Luke wrote. Acts 17:26 From one man he [that is, God] made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. It is crucial that we understand that the human race today is the multiplication of Adam’s one life, which was the corporate life of the human race. So you can use the phrase “in Adam.” You and I were in the body of Adam at creation, just as Levi was in the body of his father Abraham. Satan ruined the whole human race through one man. The very first statement you see in Romans 5:12 is: Romans 5:12a Therefore, just as sin entered the world [the human race] through one man.... Also the first part of verse 18: Romans 5:18a Consequently, just as one trespass resulted in condemnation for all people.... We say, “Unfair” because we think in terms of individuals, but the Bible talks in terms of solidarity. Turn to 1 Corinthians 15 and there you will find not only the second truth I just mentioned but also the third truth that the Bible brings out. God redeemed all men in one Man. This is found: 1 Corinthians 15:21 For since death came through a man [singular], the resurrection of the dead comes also through a Man [also singular, except this time it is capitalized and you know who it represents]. Who are these two men, one bringing death and One bringing life? Look at verse 22: 1 Corinthians 15:22 For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. The first truth is that God created all men in one man. The second truth is that Satan ruined the whole human race in one man. The third truth is that God redeemed all men in one Man. Let me explain to you something that is very important. We have seen already that our human lives are an extension of Adam’s life and God said to Adam after He placed Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden, “The day you sin you shall die.” Adam had no children when he sinned; therefore, his whole family was in his body. Had Adam died the same day he sinned, which legally he deserved, his whole family would have died in him. That would have been fair, but the reason he did not die is because there was a plan of salvation prepared for all of us “in Christ” from the foundation of the world. Paul tells us: Ephesians 1:4 For he chose us in him [the “in Christ” motif — we in Him, not by ourselves] before the creation of the world [God chose you before you were born because He knew you before you were born] to be holy and blameless in his sight. In ourselves we are not holy or without blame but “in Christ” we are. Having laid this foundation, let us now look at why this truth is important. The “in Christ” motif that we have just been introduced to is the means by which God saved us. We have covered the love of God, but the fact that God loves you unconditionally does not mean that He can take you to heaven, because He is also a holy God. He cannot forgive us by excusing our sins. One day Jesus was preaching to the people by the Sea of Galilee. In those days, the preacher sat down and the listeners stood up. Jesus was sitting on a rock; the people were standing around Him. They normally kept a distance of six to eight feet between Him and them. He was speaking and suddenly they heard a commotion at the back. They looked around and saw a group of men pushing the people aside and dragging a woman. They all knew who these men were because of their robes and because they had this huge box on their foreheads which was full of Bible texts. They looked like unicorns pushing through. These were the Pharisees. They were dragging a woman and they dropped her in front of Jesus saying, “We caught her in the very act of adultery.” We wonder what happened to the man. Well, it was all planned. He was one of them. They did all of this to trap Jesus Christ. They said to Him, “This woman was caught in the act of adultery. According to Moses’ law, she should be stoned.” If Jesus said, “Go ahead and stone her,” He would have been breaking the law of Rome. If He said, “Don’t stone her,” He would be breaking the law of Moses. So He sat down and He wrote. The Bible doesn’t tell us what He wrote, but they thought He was biding His time so they said, “Tell us, what shall we do with this woman?” Jesus said, “He that is without sin.” There is one word that is missing in your Bible. In the original text, the words that Jesus said was, “He that is without the sin.” He was not talking of any sin. He was talking of a specific sin. John 8:7 When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let any one of you who is without [the] sin [the sin that they were accusing her of] be the first to throw a stone at her.” These men suddenly realized that this Man knew their lives inside out and so, one by one, they left. Jesus said to her after they all left, “Where are your accusers?” and she said, “They are gone.” Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you.” Jesus had a right to condemn her; He had a right to stone her. In fact, according to Moses’ law, He should have stoned her, but He said, “Neither do I condemn you.” Was He breaking the law of Moses? The answer is “No,” because He was going to pay the price for her sins. She discovered that sometime later. No wonder she bought that expensive ointment to anoint Him. “I’m not going to anoint You after You’re dead. I want You to know before You die how much I appreciate the price You have paid to forgive me.” That is Christianity, living a life full of appreciation for Jesus Christ. It is not a life of dos and don’ts. God chose each one of us; God chose the whole human race “in Christ” so that we would be holy and without blame in Him. When I was baptized, some dear soul gave me a wonderful book that I recommend all of you read called Steps to Christ. When I came to page 62, I read something that baffled me. It said that, when you accept Christ, God looks at you as if you had never sinned. I said to myself, “Who are you fooling?” until I discovered the “in Christ” motif. Then I knew what it was saying. The “in Christ” motif is the means by which you and I were saved so that God can legally, righteously, justly take us sinners to heaven and still be a holy and righteous God. But there is another problem that we need to be aware of. We have a mission which is called Global Mission at the moment. Every five years we give it another term. I want to give you some facts. The total Christian population of the whole Christian world constitutes only approximately thirty percent of the whole world population. In fact, the total Christian population plus the Jewish nation together will equal approximately the Islamic religion. They are winning more souls than all the Christian denominations put together. Islam is the fastest growing religion in the United States today. We are facing a crisis, but let me give you one more fact. Approximately 90 to 95 percent of the people who are baptized into the churches are already Christians and the Bible doesn’t call that soul winning. We are moving them from one denomination to another. They already believe in Christ, so let us not fool ourselves that we are winning souls. We have a big job to do and the only way that work can be finished is when God steps in. He will step in when we stop relying on ourselves and let Him take over. Keep in mind that every non-Christian religion is legalistic. It is salvation by works. They take different forms — Hinduism, Islam, any of them — it’s salvation by works and one of the greatest difficulties the non-Christian world has regarding the Christian religion is what is known as the ethical issue of the gospel. Let me explain what that means. In 1980, an American merchant ship touched the main port in Kenya. When the sailors hit land, about a dozen of them went to a nightclub. They got drunk, got into a fight, and one of the sailors by the name of Sandstrom from New York stabbed a Kenya woman to death. The police came and arrested him. His ship could not wait for the trial and so he was left behind and his ship returned to New York. But his mother was concerned about her son because of two facts. One, Kenya practices capital punishment. Two, they do not wait years and years after the sentence to execute the prisoner. Once he is judged for execution, why waste tax money to keep him alive? Very soon after his judgment, they put a condemned man to death, mostly by hanging. His mother realized this, so she asked her church to pray for her son. Then she went to the Senator of New York and asked him to plead for the life of her son. At that time, Kenya was getting U.S. aid and this Senator took advantage of that, used it as a leverage, and actually got this man freed. Of course, his mother rejoiced, but the Kenyans were furious. Not long after this incident, when I was both the Ministerial Secretary of the Union and also chaplain of Nairobi University, where we had 250 to 300 students, the head of the Department of Law, who was a Muslim of Islam, stood up and made a statement in front of 15,000 students. Later it was published in the newspaper. This is what he said, “Kenya has lost all sense of justice but I don’t blame the Kenyan government, nor do I blame the British government where Kenya got its legal system. The blame must go to the Christian church, because Christianity has taught us that we can commit a crime and, by confession, place it upon an innocent man called Jesus Christ who died on a cross and we can go scott free. No law will allow that. Therefore, Christianity is the most unethical religion of the world.” In fact, this issue is not new. The Catholic scholars in the counter reformation accused the Reformers of legal fiction. But this problem has now crept into our church. In Provonsha’s book The Remnant in Crisis, he brings this out. He says the doctrine of substitution taught by the Reformers was based on a faulty Roman law and he is absolutely right. The Roman law allowed an innocent man to die for a guilty man, but no judicial law will allow that, not even in America. There was a lady who was willing to die for her son. That was [serial killer Ted] Bundy’s mother and the judge said, “No. The law in America won’t allow it. He has to die for his murders.” So the question is, how can God justify us sinners which His law condemns and yet maintain His integrity to His law? Is God going against His law when He justifies sinners? The answer is, “No.” The answer is in the “in Christ” motif. Here it is. Turn to 1 Corinthians 1:30-31 and here we will see the mystery of our salvation. It is very simple if we forget our Western minds and simply accept what the Bible teaches: 1 Corinthians 1:30a: It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God.... Notice three persons are involved in the statement. There is a “Him” and there is a “you,” which in the Greek is in the plural form, and there is Christ Jesus. The “Him” refers to God the Father. The “you” is us. The other is “Christ Jesus,” the Son of God, the third Person of the Godhead. Paul is saying here that God took us. Don’t say, “How could He take me before I was born?” He could take the life of the human race because we share a common life that began in Adam. He took the corporate life of the human race and He put it into Christ at the incarnation. Before Jesus could save us, before He could be our substitute, He had to qualify to be our substitute. God qualified Him by taking the corporate life of the human race and putting it into Christ. By doing that, Christ became our wisdom from God. The word “wisdom” in English has more than one meaning but the word wisdom here in the Greek is a word that some ladies have for a name. The word is “sophia” and it means “special knowledge.” Remember, Jesus said: John 8:32 Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. I had a very close friend who experimented. He said, “Our evangelistic efforts are leaning too heavily on our doctrines. We need to start with the gospel.” I said, “Amen.” So he decided to try it in his church. He held an evangelistic effort and the first two weeks he preached nothing but the gospel. His head elder came to him at the end of the second week and said to him, “When are you going to preach the truth?” He said, “I’ve been preaching the truth for the last two weeks.” “No, no, I don’t mean that stuff. I mean the real truth, the present truth.” He asked, “What do you mean by present truth?” He said, “The Sabbath, the state of the dead, the 2,300 days.” The present truth is still Jesus Christ and every other doctrine must be based on that truth. One truth will prevail, one subject will swallow up every other — Christ, our righteousness. The text says: 1 Corinthians 1:30-31 It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God — that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. Therefore, as it is written: “Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.” That word “boast” (“glory” in some translations) is much stronger than the English word, so let me explain by an illustration. When we first came to this country in 1982, we came via California and we stayed for about three days with a family who were missionaries with us in Ethiopia and Kenya. He was teaching in the school there and they had three boys. They were little when we were there but now they were grown up. The youngest was studying at Loma Linda University taking medicine and he said to me, “Do you want to see my car?” I said, “Sure.” He had bought a totaled Alfa Romeo sports car and he had fixed it wonderfully with an excellent paint job. It was shining and I said, “You did this?” And he said, “Yes.” I put my hand to see how smooth the paint was and he yelled at me, “Don’t!” I thought the paint was wet but it wasn’t; he was afraid that my fingerprints would mar his beautiful car. I had touched the paint so he pulled out his handkerchief and he blew on it and polished it. He was boasting of/glorying in his Alfa Romeo. That is the word “boast” or “glory.” Paul says: Galatians 6:14 May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. When I first went to Africa, the brethren said to me, “Don’t give them this heavy theological stuff. These people are not educated.” But the truth of the Bible has nothing to do with education. I have known Africans who could not read and write who understood this truth far more than some Ph.D.s in this country. Spiritual things are spiritually discerned. I am not undermining education — it’s important — but when we come to God, we put our degrees aside. We come to God in humility and ask the Holy Spirit to guide us into truth. I have a piece of paper and this paper represents you. I’m going to use it as a model which symbolizes you. This Bible John describes as the Word of God is Christ. He is the Word of God made flesh. I am taking you, which is the piece of paper, and I’m putting you in the Bible, which is Christ, just as God put us into Christ at the incarnation. Now the two have become one. That is exactly what happened at the incarnation. Jesus Christ and we corporately became one. Jesus was not one Man among many men. In Him, the whole human race was gathered up. That is why He is called the second Adam and the word “Adam” means mankind. He is the second mankind. Just as all men were in the first Adam by creation, now God put all men into one Man, His Son Jesus Christ, not to make us reproduce but so that the one Man, Jesus Christ, may redeem the human race that the first Adam ruined. My son writes, “Dad, I forgot my Bible; please send me one.” Now I wrap this Bible with the piece of paper inside in brown paper and I mail it to Mainland China where my son is teaching. The paper actually goes to China. It is not make-believe. It can claim, “I went to China.” What it cannot claim is, “I went to China on my own.” “I went to China in the Bible.” Unfortunately, China is still a Marxist country, so everything is examined at the Post Office. The Post Office clerk opens the parcel and he discovers it is a Bible. He doesn’t even open it; he has seen the cover and he says, “This cannot be imported.” So he takes it out and he burns it. What happens to the paper? In other words, what happens to you? He didn’t burn the paper; he burned the Bible. Why should the paper get burned? Because it has become one with the Bible. This is how God saved you. He put us into Christ. This did not save us. This qualified Christ to be our substitute. It qualified Him to be the second Adam; in fact, it made Him the second Adam. Now Christ had a job to do, a job that we cannot fulfill, a job that is demanded by His law in order to qualify us for heaven. What does the law require of us in order to go to heaven? Two things — perfect obedience plus perfect justice. But since we are sinners, the law says two things. “Obey and you will live.” But the same law says, “If you disobey, you will die.” How many have not disobeyed? If you have not disobeyed, you deserve an honor badge, but I will give you a text which says you are a liar and the truth is not in you if you say you have not disobeyed. 1 John 1:8 If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. A young man said to me at a Campmeeting, “I haven’t sinned for the last two years.” I said to his wife, “It must be wonderful to live with your husband who has stopped sinning. My wife is having a hard time with me.” She just smiled at me. She wouldn’t answer; she knew better. [I have the husband this text.] For 33 years Jesus obeyed the law perfectly without even one flaw. Where were you when He obeyed that law in that humanity of His? In Him. Who put you there? Don’t give the credit to yourself. God put you there; God gets the credit for doing that. God gets the credit for putting you into Christ and Christ gets the credit for living a perfect life and the Holy Spirit gets the credit because Christ did it through the power of the Holy Spirit. All three Persons of the Godhead were involved in your salvation. But that itself did not make Christ our righteousness, even though that obedience was perfect. After doing that, He took that humanity to the cross and He surrendered that humanity to the wages of sin. On the cross He said, “It is finished.” When He died, it wasn’t one Man dying instead of all men; it was all men dying in one Man. This is Paul saying this because he is basing it on the “in Christ” motif. 2 Corinthians 5:14 For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. So God gave you, He gave me, He gave the whole human race a new history and, in that history, we have kept the law perfectly and we have met the justice of the law in Jesus Christ. Therefore, He took the whole human race from condemnation to justification unto life. Romans 5:18 Consequently, just as one trespass resulted in condemnation for all people, so also one righteous act resulted in justification and life for all people. Notice the verb came is in the aorist tense, past historical tense — it has happened. But the problem is that what He did “in Christ” He did without your permission. You weren’t even born and He has created us with a free will. So He says to us, “Even before you were born, even before I created you, I had already planned this and I have fulfilled it in Christ. I put you in Christ; I rewrote your history so that “in Christ” you have a perfect right to heaven, but, because I created you with a free will, I cannot force this upon you. The choice is yours.” You can say “Yes” or you can say “No” to this history because what God did to you and me “in Christ” is a gift. What is ours in Adam is not a gift; it is ours by native right. When I first came to Andrews University in 1964, I had to earn my way through college. All the American students were sponsored by their Conferences. I had to work. I had two jobs. I worked in a motor garage fixing cars and in the evening I cleaned toilets, which was a horrible thing for my parents. In India there is a different caste system and I come from a Brahmin, which never touches toilets. That’s the work for the lower caste and here I was cleaning toilets. Of course, my father didn’t know that American toilets are quite clean. I was on a student visa at that time. I was not an American citizen; I had a British passport and what bothered me was that every month they deducted Social Security. One day I went to the Social Security office and I said, “I’m here on a student visa (at that time I did not know that I would be forced to come back and I was planning to study and leave this country), why are you deducting my Social Security? I will never receive any benefit from this.” He said, “I am sorry, you were born in the wrong country.” This is the law in America. Anyone who works in America pays Social Security whether you enjoy it or not. Whether we like it or not, and it doesn’t matter what part of the world we were born in, we are children of Adam by nature; that is our natural inheritance. Now God created in Adam a life that was conditionally immortal but Adam did not pass on to you a life that is conditionally immortal. He passed on a life that has already sinned and that already stands condemned to death. Therefore, all of us were born in death row. We had no choice there. Jesus came and redeemed us from this predicament and He set us free. Galatians 4:4-5 But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship. That is what God did for us in Christ. The only reason you and I would be lost is if we deliberately, willfully reject that gift because God did this unconditionally out of love for us. When God comes to us with the gospel, He doesn’t say, “If you believe, I will put you into Christ.” There is no condition there. What He says is, “I already put you into Christ; I gave you a new history; you stand perfect in My Son; you stand justified in My Son but I can’t force this upon you. Please don’t say, ‘No.’” If you say “No,” He will say, with tears in His eyes, “Why, why do you say, ‘No’?” Remember what Jesus said to the Jews? “How often I brought you under My wing but you would not.” God is not a Communist who does things by compulsion; God is a God of love. He will not force the gift of salvation on you and the moment you say, “Yes” to God, listen to what happens. Let’s read it from the words of Jesus Christ. Here is the good news. I am not saying it; Jesus is saying it. John 5:24 “Very truly [this is a statement of a fact] I tell you [this is Jesus talking], whoever hears my word and believes him [the Father] who sent me [remember what He sent Me for] has eternal life and will not be judged [the Greek word is condemned] but has [already] crossed over from death to life [or from condemnation to justification].” This is the good news of the gospel that He gave us in Jesus Christ. He gave us a new history and in that history we stand complete. If you don’t believe me, let me give you one more text. Paul says: Romans 10:4 Christ is the culmination [the Greek word for end, tellos, means completion, fulfillment] of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes. Now you have two histories. One is your personal history — and, if it is anything like mine, it is a failure — and one is a history in Christ. Which of those two histories do you want to stand before the judgment seat of God? I know which one I have chosen. It is my history in Christ. In the judgment, Christ will vindicate all the believers who are resting in Him for salvation. I no longer look at sin as a rule under the law. I look at sin very differently. Sin to me is what the Old Testament tells me. Sin is putting a knife into the Lamb. When a believer in the Old Testament sinned he had to put a knife into the Lamb. A legalist breaks the law; as Christians, we hurt Christ when we sin. We must develop a hatred for sin because we love Jesus Christ, not because if we sin we will not go to heaven. It is my prayer that the love of God will constrain you. In the next study we will discover how much it cost God to say, “I forgive you.” Once you know it, you will never treat sin lightly. In 1976, we were facing a famine in East Africa and, thanks to America, we received a lot of foreign aid. We received bags and bags of corn and wheat and tins and tins of oil. The country was starving so the government told the U.S. that they must first give this to the students — the young people — because they are the future of the nation. The older ones can die but the young ones must not be suffering from this. So all the schools got this free aid from America. There was only one problem. Africans do not like yellow corn; they like white corn and Americans grow yellow corn. One day in the dining-room some of the students took this food which was like cooked dough and were playing with it. One of the faculty who was a missionary said to them, “Don’t you appreciate what my country is doing for you? People are starving and you are throwing this food around.” One student who had the gall said, “Brother, when your country sacrifices their second cars and the TV sets to help us, we will know that they are really helping us. What you sent here is from your surplus. You couldn’t eat it yourself.” There was no appreciation from that student. But when God gave Me His only begotten Son, He gave Me something He could not replace. For Him to give me millions of dollars would be nothing because He can turn stones into gold just by a word. But when He gave me His only begotten Son, He was giving me Himself on the cross. You and I can never be the same. It was at infinite cost that Jesus forgave us and we can never treat sin lightly. But one thing must be clear to you: no matter how much the devil tells you that you are not good enough to be saved — and he’s right, by the way, on that one point he’s not lying, none of us are good enough to be saved — but we are saved because we have a new history in Christ. You tell the devil, “I am not saved because I’m good enough; I am saved because my Savior loved me and gave Himself for me. Can you point to one sin in my Lord Jesus Christ?” The devil will take off. But if he can get you to look at yourself instead of Christ, he has you. It is my prayer that you will keep your eyes on Jesus. He is your Savior; He is your righteousness; He is your surety, now and in the judgment. We are thankful for God’s wonderful gift of salvation, for Jesus who was willing to become one with us and whose one desire in His earthly mission was to live a life that fully satisfied Your law so that He may change our history from condemnation to justification. This is Paul saying this because he is basing it on the “in Christ” motif. It is my prayer that we may be rooted and grounded in this truth so that we may say with Paul, “I know in whom I believe and that He is able to save me to the uttermost.” Chapter 9 – The Supreme Sacrifice In the back of my Bible, I have two quotations that I read very often to remind me of the direction of my preaching. The first one is: Gospel Workers, [Ellen G. White], p. 315: “The sacrifice of Christ as an atonement for sin is the great truth around which all other truths cluster. In order to be rightly understood and appreciated, every truth in the word of God, from Genesis to Revelation, must be studied in the light that streams from the cross of Calvary.” The sacrifice was the atonement for sin. We must not confuse the atonement with the Day of Atonement; they are two different things. One, the atonement, is what saves us; one, the Day of Atonement, is the culmination of the plan of salvation. The second quotation is: Manuscript 31, [Ellen G. White], 1890: “There is one great central truth to be kept ever before the mind in searching of the scriptures, Christ and Him crucified. Every other truth is invested with influence and power corresponding to its relation to this theme. When Christ in His work of redemption is seen to be the great central truth of the system of truth, a new light is shed upon all the events of the past and the future. They are seen in a new relation and possess a new and deeper significance.” It is impossible to cover the cross in one study. I will take one major aspect of the cross, which is that part of the cross that turned my ministry and the disciples around. The disciples were greedy, selfish men in the upper room. They were bickering among themselves who would be the greatest, but not after the cross. We are going to look at the cross as the supreme sacrifice because there was something that took place at the cross that made Christ’s death different from the death of any other person who died in this world. There are human beings both in the Christian church and in the world who have suffered, who have been tortured far worse than Christ. In fact, the thieves on the two sides of Christ suffered more than Christ, because they had the added problem of their legs being broken while they were still alive. What is it that makes the death of Christ on the cross the supreme sacrifice? This is one truth the devil doesn’t want you to know and so he has enshrouded this truth in darkness keeping it away from the Christian church. He has done it in two ways. By convincing the Christian church as early as the third century that man possesses an immortal soul. The moment you believe in an immortal soul, you have to change the Biblical definition of death. Death no longer becomes good-bye to life; it becomes a separation of the body from the soul. But there is another way he has enshrouded the cross in darkness. The immortal soul is no problem to some, but the other one is. He has the Christian church looking at the cross with Roman spectacles. In other words, since Jesus died on a Roman cross, we look at the cross from a Roman point of view and we miss the point. The cross was invented about 600 years before Christ by the Phoenicians which is present-day Lebanon. They worshipped many gods and one of the gods they worshipped was the earth. They did not want to desecrate the earth by executing a criminal while he was on the earth, so they lifted him up on a cross. The Egyptians borrowed the cross from the Phoenicians and then the Romans borrowed it from the Egyptians, refined it, and used it mainly for runaway slaves and for their worst criminals. The cross, besides being the most painful, was also the most shameful kind of death, so, normally, they didn’t crucify Roman citizens. But it was not the Roman cross that killed Jesus Christ. The cross death is a very slow, lingering death. It takes between three to seven days to die on a cross and it is suffocation that kills you. It is very difficult to breathe out when you are hung on a cross, and so you have to lift your body with your legs to breathe out. So when a man is being crucified he is heaving all the time because it is inbuilt in every man to survive. He will keep going up and down two, three, four, five, six days, until he cannot lift himself up and he dies of suffocation. In the meantime, gangrene has formed in his hands; he has migraine headaches; he is exposed to the heat in the daytime and to the cold at night. People pass by and mock and spit at him. It was the worst kind of death man has ever invented. But now we are going to look at the cross from the Jewish perspective, because the cross meant something entirely different to the Jews. Keep in mind that it was not Rome that demanded Christ’s crucifixion; it was the Jews who demanded Christ crucified. Crucifixion was not a method of Jewish execution. So we must ask ourselves, “Why did the Jews cry out, ‘Crucify Him’? What was the significance? What did they have in mind and why did God allow it?” Remember, Christ was not a runaway slave nor was He a criminal, but, to appease the Jews, Pilate had Jesus flogged. Then, out of mockery, they placed a crown of thorns on His head. Remember what happened when Adam sinned. God said to Adam, “Cursed is the ground because of your fall. Thorns and thistles he will bear.” Jesus did not only bear your sins and mine; He bore the curse that was upon this earth. That is why He has the right to restore this whole earth when He is finished with sin. John 19:5 When Jesus came out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe, Pilate said to them, “Here is the man!” “Here is the man” simply meant, “Is this not enough? Look at Him. What more does He need?” But listen to the response. John 19:6 As soon as the chief priests and their officials saw him, they shouted, “Crucify! Crucify!” [The “Him” is supplied. In the Aramaic and the Greek, you don’t have to add the word “Him”; it is included in the word.] But Pilate answered, [Remember, Pilate is representing Rome.] “You take him and crucify him. As for me [the representative of Rome], I find no basis for a charge against him.” In other words, according to Roman law, this man does not deserve crucifixion. He is not a runaway slave; He is not a criminal. So the Jews had to give a reason. Here is the reason. John 19:7 The Jewish leaders insisted, “We have a law [not the Roman law, but we have a law], and according to that law he must die, because he claimed to be the Son of God.” In other words, He made Himself equal with God. Where did they get this law from? Believe it or not, they got it from God. These Jews were actually saying, “We are God’s commandment-keeping people and, according to the commandment, He should die.” The law they were referring to is the law of blasphemy. Anyone who equates himself with God is committing the sin of blasphemy. It would pay us to look at that law. We find it in Leviticus 24, the Book of the Law, and we will discover something interesting. The law is found in verse 16. Leviticus 24:16a ...Anyone who blasphemes the name of the Lord is to be put to death. The entire assembly must stone them. It doesn’t say “crucify him.” The law actually stipulates that the person is to be executed by stoning. Maybe the Jews forgot that part — or did they? Leviticus 24:16b Whether foreigner or native-born, when they blaspheme the Name they are to be put to death. In other words it doesn’t matter who you are; when he blasphemes the name of the Lord, he must be put to death and the death is by stoning. We have proof that the Jews knew that. Turn to John 10:30-31. In verse 30 we have a statement that Jesus made. John 10:30 “I and the Father are one.” To the Jews, that was blasphemy if ever there was a statement that was blasphemous because they had rejected Him as the Messiah. John 10:31 Again his Jewish opponents [remember they are not rebels; they are commandment-keeping people] picked up stones to stone him.... Why did they take up stones? Because they were obeying a commandment. I am saying this because there are people in the church who claim to be commandment-keepers who will do the same thing. Look at the word “again.” It means that this was not the first time. So the Jews knew exactly what the law required. But the question we must ask is, “Why did they cry out ‘Crucify Him!’ before Pilate?“ It was not because Pilate would not agree to stoning. There are parts of the world that still execute people by stoning. We will find the reason but we will stop here for a moment and touch on the verses we just read. In John 10:31 they did not succeed in stoning Jesus. We need to know why. They tried to stone Him many times, so we will look at a few examples. John 7:30 At this they tried to seize him [that is, to stone Him], but no one laid a hand on him, because his hour had not yet come. John 8:20 He spoke these words while teaching in the temple courts near the place where the offerings were put. Yet no one seized him, because his hour had not yet come. That means that nobody could touch Jesus if God said, “No.” God has a job for you and nobody can touch you if God says, “No.” Do you believe that? When I was in Ethiopia, one of the Marxist men said to me, “You will leave this country in four days without your children.” That was hard to take but I said to him, “You find somebody else to scare.” I left the country five years later with my children. Nobody can touch you if God says, “No.” If God says, “Yes,” then it’s time for you to go to sleep and you can say with Paul, “I am ready to go to sleep for now there is waiting for me a crown of righteousness and not only for me but for all those who wait for His appearing.” Now turn to the Gospel of Luke. Jesus is in Gethsemane. He is now taken captive by his captors who were sent by the chief priests. In Luke 22, we see who the chief priests were and what Jesus said. Luke 22:52-53 Then Jesus said to the chief priests, the officers of the temple guard, and the elders, who had come for him, “Am I leading a rebellion, that you have come with swords and clubs? Every day I was with you in the temple courts, and you did not lay a hand on me [because His hour had not yet come]. But this is your hour — when darkness reigns.” And when that hour came, the Jews cried out, “Crucify Him!” Why? Why not stone Him? There was a very good reason which is found in Deuteronomy 21. We go back to the Book of the Law. Deuteronomy 21:22-23 If someone guilty of a capital offense is put to death and their body is exposed on a pole, you must not leave the body hanging on the pole overnight. Be sure to bury it that same day [now look at this statement], because anyone who is hung on a pole is under God’s curse. You must not desecrate the land the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance. The Jews did not believe in an immortal soul; that is a Greek concept. To the Jews, death was good-bye to life — period. But the believing Jew, except for the Sadducees, had a hope and that hope was resurrection. The Jews believed that the hope of the believer was resurrection, just as it is for us, but when a Jew committed a crime and was sentenced to death, maybe by stoning, he could go on his knees and ask Yahweh to forgive him before he died and there would be the hope of resurrection for him. But if the judge said he had to be hung on a pole or tree, that meant to the Jew the irrevocable curse of God. It meant what we would call in the New Testament “the unpardonable sin.” There was no hope of resurrection for that person. He had to face what we call the second death. So when the Jews cried out to crucify Him, they were not simply demanding that He should die; they were asking God to curse this Man. The very fact that God did not protect Jesus from the cross meant to the Jews that God cursed Him. In fact, when the disciples preached Jesus crucified to the Jews, their own people, very often a Jew would shout back to the speaker, “You expect us to believe in the Crucified One (meaning the One who is cursed by God)?” I want to give you an example of this. I hope that this will answer a question that is in the minds of many today. In Genesis 15:13 God is talking to Abraham and He tells him something that is very significant. Genesis 15:13-16 Then the Lord said to him, “Know for certain that for four hundred years your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own and that they will be enslaved and mistreated there. But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they will come out with great possessions. You, however, will go to your ancestors in peace and be buried at a good old age. In the fourth generation your descendants will come back here, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure.” God brought Abraham out of his country to what we call Israel or Palestine today. Palestine was occupied when God gave the promise to Abraham. Archeology has proven to us that it was occupied. God was not just driving the people out and saying, “I’m giving it to Abraham.” He said to Abraham, “When I bring you to this country, I want you to be My witness.” The people of that land were called Canaanites — the actual term was Amorites, an ancient term for the Canaanites. God said to Abraham, “I want you to witness Me to the Amorites. Then I’ll take your children out of Canaan and take them to Egypt where they will witness the true God to the Egyptians through Joseph and the children. I’ll give the Amorites four generations to make up their minds either to accept Me or to reject Me.” When the Jews came back, if anyone attacked Israel, that was the outward sign that they had rejected the God of Israel. They had reached the point of no return. Probation had closed. When Pharaoh rejected Moses and the Israelites request for the freedom to worship the true God, they were deliberately rejecting the God of Israel. So God did give them a chance to accept the true God. It was Joshua who brought the Jews into Canaan, back to the Promised Land. One of the tribes of the Amorites called the Gibeonites accepted the God of Israel and joined Joshua but there were five kings with their people who rejected the God of Israel. They came together and said, “The five of us with our armies are much greater and much stronger than Joshua and the Gibeonites. Therefore, why don’t we join together and destroy these people?” They agreed, but what they forgot was that God was behind Joshua. They were defeated and the five kings were brought to Joshua. Remember, probation had now closed. This was a willful, ultimate rejection of the God of heaven. Read what Joshua did. Joshua 10:25 Joshua said to them, “Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged. Be strong and courageous. This is what the Lord will do to all the enemies you are going to fight.” Remember, in those days, they fought in the name of their god. These are God’s enemies, too. Joshua 10:26 Then Joshua put the kings to death and exposed their bodies on five poles, and they were left hanging on the poles until evening. That symbolized the curse of God. This is one example of many to show that the curse of God in the Old Testament symbolized hanging on a tree. Now, in the days of Christ, the Jews equated crucifixion with hanging on a tree. That is why, whenever the disciples preached the gospel to their own people, the Jews, they would often use the word “tree” instead of “cross.” Unfortunately, some have taken that and said, “No, that means it was a stake and not a cross.” They have missed the point. The reason the disciples used the word tree was because they were saying to the Jews, “Jesus bore the curse, not for blasphemy but for their sins.” One example of this is in Acts. Here is an incident where the disciples were preaching, were flogged by the Sanhedrin, and told not to preach in the name of Christ. Acts 5:29-30 Peter and the other apostles replied: “We must obey God rather than human beings! The God of our ancestors raised Jesus from the dead — whom you killed by hanging him on a cross. Some translations have the word “cross,” because the translators realized that modern English people do not understand what the word “tree” is. For their sake, they put the word cross, but the original has the word tree. The King James Version and many direct translations have the word tree. We find the same thing in Acts 13:29, 1 Peter 2:24, and other passages. Acts 13:29 When they had carried out all that was written about him, they took him down from the cross and laid him in a tomb. 1 Peter 2:24 “He himself bore our sins” in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; “by his wounds you have been healed.” Because of the very fact that Jesus was not protected by God in terms of crucifixion, the Jews felt that God had cursed this Man. In fact, if they had understood the book on the cross of the Old Testament, Isaiah 53, they may have seen the gospel there, too. Isaiah 53:4-5 Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed. Isaiah 53:8 By oppression and judgment he was taken away. Yet who of his generation protested? For he was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgression of my people he was punished. The two Hebrew words which mean “cut off from the land of the living” is a Jewish expression for eternal death. Isaiah 53:9-11 He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death, though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth. Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the Lord makes his life an offering for sin, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand. After he has suffered, he will see the light of life and be satisfied; by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities. Here is the picture. The Jews cry out to Pilate, “Crucify this man. He has broken the law of God and God doesn’t protect Him.” This was the issue over which Jesus prayed in Gethsemane: “If possible, remove the cup.” The cup is the irrevocable curse of God against sin and God said, “No.” There in Gethsemane Jesus said, “Father, not My will but Thine be done.” To this end He came to bear the curse of sin upon Himself. So He goes to the cross and the Jews mock Him. The answer to why God allowed Him to be hung on the cross is in Galatians 3:10. This is a good text for those who are still trying to go to heaven through the law. Galatians 3:10 For all who rely on the works of the law [remember the phrase ‘works of the law’ means using the law as a method of salvation] are under a curse, as it is written: “Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law.” That’s bad news, but here’s the good news in verse 13: Galatians 3:13a Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us... Remember, the whole human race stands condemned under the law: Romans 3:19 Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. Christ comes and He redeems us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us. It is God the Father who made Him a curse for us. Then here is the quote from Deuteronomy. Galatians 3:13b ...for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a pole.” There we have the supreme sacrifice from the Bible. According to the Jews, the curse of God, which was symbolized by crucifixion in Christ’s day, meant good-bye to life forever. When Christ rose from the dead, that was the greatest proof that God gave to the Jews that He was the Messiah because, according to their theology, He should not be risen from the dead. Only God could raise Him up and if God raised Him up then something is wrong with their theology or their conclusion. That is why God did not condemn the Jews for crucifying His Son. He still gave them a chance, but, when they rejected Jesus after He rose from the dead, they were now doing it deliberately, willfully. When the soldiers came to Caiphas and said, “That Man is risen,” Caiphas said, “You’re imagining it.” They said, “No, we saw Him rise. We were struck blind.” Caiphas said, “We dare not confess this.” They had two choices. One was to admit they had made a terrible mistake and repent of it. The other one was to cover up and they chose the second. God said, “I leave your house desolate because now it is no longer ignorance. You have deliberately rejected Jesus as the Messiah. That is why if you read the New Testament preaching, especially the Book of Acts, you will notice that there is much emphasis on the resurrection. We as a church have put very little emphasis on the resurrection. We need to emphasize the resurrection because it not only proves that Jesus was the Messiah but also that He conquered sin. Some will say, “Christ rose from the dead, He predicted the resurrection, He claimed He could lay down His life and take it back, how was it possible for Jesus to die the second death?” To understand that, we need to understand a doctrine which we normally do not preach from our pulpits. Theologically, it is called the doctrine of the kinosis. The word kinosis is a Greek word which simply means self-emptying. It is found in Philippians. Philippians 2:5-6 In your relationships with one another [believers], have the same mindset [attitude] as Christ Jesus [Christ is now being presented as our example — not to the world but to the Christian. Then Paul defines the mind of Christ]: Who, being in very nature [Greek morphe, the very substance] God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage... So it was not blasphemy for Jesus to call Himself the Son of God; it was not a sin. There’s a “but” in verse 7. Philippians 2:7 ...rather, he made himself nothing [in Greek, kinosis, which actually means “emptied Himself”] by taking the very nature of a servant [not servant, but slave], being made in human likeness. Let me explain the doctrine of kinosis. In heaven, Jesus handed Himself over to the Father. He said, “Father, I am totally submitting Myself to You.” He did not stop being God, but He gave up the independent use of His divinity. That’s kinosis. He became totally God-dependent, just as human beings have to be God-dependent. All the time, remember, He was God, but, of His own choice, in heaven He handed over His life as it were to God. Then God took Christ who had now totally submitted Himself to the Father and, through the Holy Spirit, took the divine life of Christ, put it in the womb of Mary and joined Christ to the human race in the womb of Mary. All His earthly life He had to depend totally on His Father. Many times Jesus confessed this. John 5:19a Jesus gave them this answer: “Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself...” John 5:30a By myself I can do nothing.... John 6:57 Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me. “The works which I do, it is not I, but the Father.” He was totally God-dependent — that’s the kinosis. He was also dependent on His Father for the resurrection. The New Testament is clear that it was the Father, the Director of the plan of salvation, who raised Christ up. He may have used the Holy Spirit but it was the Father who raised up Christ from the dead. Let me give you some texts. A good one is: Romans 6:4 We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. Acts 2:24, 32 and Ephesians 1:20 say the same thing. Acts 2:24, 32 But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him. ...God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of it. Ephesians 1:20 ...He exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms... If we say that Christ raised Himself up with the life that was within Him, we are reading only part of the truth. In the book Desire of Ages, p. 780, it says that God sent an angel and he moved the stone as if it were a pebble and then cried out, “Thy Father calls Thee.” At that point, Christ received consciousness. For Christ to raise Himself up by Himself, we would have to change our definition of death that the thoughts perish when we die. Was Christ conscious when He was in the grave? If He was conscious, He was not dead. God gave Him the consciousness and then, with the power within Him, He could raise Himself up, but He had to get permission from the Father. Ultimately, it was the Father who raised Him up from the dead and Jesus knew this because He was totally dependent on His Father all His life. But now as He hung on the cross something terrible happened. The Father disconnected Himself from Him. The Father treated Him as if He was a sinner under the curse of the law. In agony, He cried out, “Father, Father, why have You forsaken Me?” The Greek word “forsaken” means “to abandon forever” and, at that point of time, He could not see through the portals of the tomb. Hope did not present a resurrection to Him. He felt that sin was so offensive to the Father that the separation was eternal. (See Desire of Ages). We see Jesus hanging on the tree — on the cross. The Father has forsaken Him, which meant that, as far as His feelings were concerned, there was no more hope of a resurrection. He was treading the winepress alone. His life was being crushed by the curse of the law. Then, in Luke 23, we read that the devil came, not once, not twice, but three times. Luke 23:35-39 The people stood watching, and the rulers even sneered at him. They said, “He saved others; let him save himself if he is God’s Messiah, the Chosen One.” The soldiers also came up and mocked him. They offered him wine vinegar and said, “If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself.” There was a written notice above him, which read: This is the King of the Jews. One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: “Aren’t you the Messiah? Save yourself and us!” The devil always uses human agents — first the chief priests, then the soldiers, then the thief on the left-hand side. The temptation was the same, “Come down from the cross and save yourself.” Could Jesus do that? I have discovered something. The devil may be described as having horns and a tail but he is not a fool. He has never tempted me to turn those pebbles in Africa into doughnuts because he knows I can’t do it, but He did tempt Jesus to turn stones into bread. The Jews may have rejected Him as the Messiah, but the devil knew who He was. On more than one occasion he said, “I know who You are, the Son of the living God.” So the devil was not deceived; he knew, and even though the devil had put Him there, now he’s tempting Jesus to come down and save Himself. The issue that Christ was facing was not dying for three days. That is no sacrifice for a God who lives in eternity. The issue was saying good-bye to life forever. He was tasting the wrath of God against sin and He had to make a choice. Imagine how great the temptation was to come down and save Himself. From the human point of view, there was every reason to come down and save Himself. The people He came to save, including the Jews, had crucified Him, mocked Him, spat at Him. The disciples had forsaken Him. He was alone. The Father had forsaken Him. But the problem was that He could not come down from the cross and save Himself and save the world — that is, you and me — at the same time. He had to make a choice between us and Himself. He made the choice and the choice He made was, “I love this human race more than I love Myself. That is the agape of God. Satan says to God, “You expect your creatures to put You first. How about You? Would You put your creatures first?” On the cross Jesus said, “Yes, I will lay down my life, not for just three days; I am willing to say good-bye to life forever that these wretched, miserable sinners who are crucifying Me may take My place.” How can we sin again after we realize that? How can we treat sin lightly? That is the Supreme Sacrifice. When we were planning to go to Africa as missionaries, my wife and visited Blantyre, Scotland, the birthplace of the greatest missionary that ever served in Africa, David Livingstone. The people of the town had built an African hut in the form of a church in memory of Livingstone. It had plain white walls with a thatched roof, no windows, a door at one end and the altar at the other end. When you walked in you saw two inscriptions, one taken from 2 Corinthians 5:14 [see below]. It was not the whole text that was quoted, just one portion of it: “For the love of God constrains us.” That was written on one side and on the other side was an inscription taken from Livingstone’s diary which said, “The love of Christ compelled me.” It compelled him to give up his lucrative profession as a medical doctor in Scotland and go to Africa where there was no freight allowance, no outfit allowance, no transportation. He had to face hostile tribes and proclaim the gospel. During his ministry there, the British Government gave him a very difficult time and one day he laid down his life for his Master in that continent. After he died, the British government said, “This man deserves a royal burial.” They often do that. They make life difficult for people and after they die they say what a wonderful person he was. But the problem was that he died approximately 430 miles inland where there were no trains, no cars, no airplanes. No Britisher was willing to go all the way to pick his body up, so they asked the Africans if they could please carry his body by foot, those 430 miles through swamps, hostile tribes, wild animals. Anyone who has lived in Africa knows about the wild animals there. They said, “Yes, with one condition.” The British government asked, “What is the condition?” They said, “You can have his body. He deserves a royal burial in Westminister Abbey but you cannot have his heart. He gave it to us.” So they took out his heart and buried it in Africa. That is what the power of the gospel does. We are told in 2 Corinthians 5:14-15 what the cross did to the disciples. Because the disciples were Jews, when they saw their Savior crucified, to them it wasn’t the Roman cross. They saw Him bearing the curse of their sins. Mary saw Him bearing the curse of her sins. 2 Corinthians 5:14-15 For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live [we live because He died] should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again. The cross turned the disciples completely around and they gave up all their selfish ambition of being first in the kingdom of heaven. Now they were willing to be spent by God, to be burned out until every one of them was willing to lay down his life as a martyr. That is what will change us. When we as a people see the cross in the way that the disciples saw it, we can never be the same again. Of all professing Christians, we should be foremost in lifting up the cross. The devil has insisted that we lift up the law until we have become as dry as the hills of Gilboa. The time has come when we lift up Jesus Christ to a perishing world that they may know that Jesus was actually willing to say good-bye to life forever that you and I may live in His place. That is the supreme sacrifice. There were two people crucified with Christ. They were called criminals. One is going to heaven, not because he was better than the other or because he was crucified on his cross (because the other one was crucified, too) but because the one thief accepted Jesus Christ taking the wages of sin in terms of God’s law. The other one is going to be lost not because Jesus did not die for him but because he rejected Jesus Christ. Those two thieves represent the human race. The cross will divide the human race into only two camps. Both camps deserve to be crucified, both camps deserve the curse of God, but one camp will not experience the curse of God because there was One who died for them and they accepted Him. The other camp will suffer the curse of God because they rejected the One who died for them. God wants us to witness the cross to the world. Let the Holy Spirit do the convicting and the converting. Soul winning is the work of the Holy Spirit. We are to witness what Christ means to us. I was shown a poem written by a young lady who is an introvert (just as many of us are) but the cross of Christ touched her. Father, Lord of all, I thank You for the love that You bestowed upon me And the gifts that You gave me in the form of Your Son. He is wonderful. Lord, I wish I could tell the whole world about His love I pray Lord that others may see His willingness to give His very existence So that we might have the freedom of choice To live or to die I can’t find the words good enough to say how I feel inside I can never thank you enough Lord, Your Love overwhelms me To know you loved me Lord, the sinner that I am Is to know such peace inside. I cannot explain. I don’t have to be good enough or work hard enough because I know I can’t do this Christ will take care of this for me Once I was blind; I could not see Your love But now through the cross, love is all I can see O Lord, how could I have been so blind I am not worthy for this magnificent gift I thank you most graciously and for Your Son I did not know that Christ was willing to die the second death I did not know Lord that Christ could not see past the grave Christ was willing to give up His very existence for me, Lord. For me. He didn’t know if He would come up again or if He would ever see You again, Lord But Christ was willing to give up all even His life eternal So that all sinners could live and know You I didn’t know Christ went to the cross not knowing if He would ever see You again And yet He went in anyway Your Son was willing to give You up, Lord, for me To know that Christ’s love is so strong that He was willing to give up His existence for me So that I could choose life puts a joy within me I cannot explain A joy that makes my heart sing A joy I have never known before I pray, Lord, that all can see what I see and more in Thee Lord Your love is so warm and kind and sweet And, well, Lord, I’m thankful You can see into my heart And see how I feel ’cause I can’t find the right words that even begin to express what I feel How can I share these feelings of You with others? Help me, Lord, to tell the world the joy and love I have found in You Oh, Lord, I pray some day to know You better And to live the life You ask and to share the joy You have given me My problem seems so small in the light of the cross, my burden so light When I see what Christ was willing to do for mankind Not just for me but for all sinners, every one of us Lord, You’re so wonderful Thank You, Lord, thank You. Amen. That is what the cross must do to us. When we see what Jesus did at the cross for us, I hope we will never be the same again. 2 Timothy 1:8-10 So do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord or of me his prisoner. Rather, join with me in suffering for the gospel, by the power of God. He has saved us and called us to a holy life — not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time, but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who has destroyed [not the first death because we still die the first death — He abolished the second] death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. That’s the message God has called us to preach. Our human minds cannot comprehend the great sacrifice of the cross. All we can say with Paul is, “Thank you for Your unspeakable gift.” As our hearts are gripped with the supreme sacrifice may the things of this world grow strangely dim. May there be one desire in our hearts and that is to serve God, to lift Christ up, to witness Christ to a perishing world. May God use us to lighten the world that is groping in darkness and plunging deeper and deeper into sin. But where sin abounds grace must much more abound. May we realize that our hope is in God and that a crown of righteousness is waiting for us not because of our good works but because of Christ’s supreme sacrifice.