1. Imagine a time when sin doesn’t exist. Wouldn’t that be great!
• A time really, of perfection and beauty.
• No sin. No sinful nature directing to sin. No flesh/spirit struggle.
• Everything is just perfect, exactly as it was meant to be!
• Immediately we think forward don’t we?
1 John 3:1-2 Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. 2 Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.
NOTE: Oh Wow, Ed, I can’t wait for the heavenly scene!
• It’s going to be wonderful and simply unbelievable.
• But today, I want you THINK BACKWARD for a moment.
• To a place in time called the Garden of Eden…
• Let’s flip back to Genesis 3:1ff
When God created man, He created man ABSOLUTELY PERFECT.
Genesis 1:31 Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good. So the evening and the morning were the sixth day.
• He places both Adam & Eve in a PERFECT GARDEN to live a PERFECT LIFE in harmony & fellowship with Him.
• Entered into a PERFECT WORLD with no sin, no sinful nature!
NOW BEFORE WE GO ANY FURTHER…
• I realize there might be some listening in, either here or via radio or CD or on the internet that have just put up a wall.
• It’s a common wall, a usual argument that has been spread throughout our world to undermine the credibility of the Bible.
• Here’s it is: Come on Pastor you don’t believe in a literal Adam & Eve do you? A literal Garden? A literal devil?
• Science has proven that story to be an allegory. It’s a fairy tale!
• Listen… I believe the story of Adam & Eve is literal, that they were real human beings, living in a real place, tempted by a real devil, helped by the real grace of a REAL GOD.
The issue is actually very simple… it’s not a battle with the Bible but rather a battle with Jesus. He believed in a literal Adam & Eve:
Mark 10:6 But from the beginning of the creation, God ‘made them male and female.’
SO what happened with Adam & Eve in the Garden?
• They were tempted… and they sinned!
• They willingly rebelled against the Word of God!
• It was in that very moment of sin that Adam plunged the entire human race into a serious of long-lasting consequences!
• Let’s LOOK NOW AT Romans 5:12ff.
• Adam’s sin brought devastating damage to every human being to ever walk the face of the earth. Why?
Because Adam was our representative… standing in the place of humanity. Some have referred to this as bring our Federal head.
It’s much the same as when you and I vote. We vote for who?
• Someone to represent us, to speak out for us…
• Of course those we vote for don’t always act as we would want.
• Well, Adam was a perfect representative of human beings.
• When he sinned, it was just as A man, but as THE man.
• Really, Adam was OUR man… So when he sinned, we sinned.
NOW SOME SAY, “That’s not fair for God condemn the whole world just because of one man’s disobedience.”
• It was not only fair, but it was also wise and gracious!
• The truth is that if God tested every human being individually, the results would have been exactly the same: disobedience.
• But even more than that, by condemning the whole human race through one man (Adam), God was then able to save the human race through one man (Jesus Christ).
• SO did Adam do to us? At least 3 things.
#1 – v12,19 – Adam’s Failure brought SIN Into the world.
• Wow… now every person after Adam will be touched and tainted by sin… both by nature and by act.
Psalm 51:5 Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, And in sin my mother conceived me.
• Sin entered the world and Adam ushered it in!
• With it came deep sorrow, discouraging suffering, and sickness.
#2 – v12-15 – Adam’s Failure brought DEATH into the world.
• This was something that Adam knew ahead of time.
• Look back at Genesis 2:17
• And in the very moment of sin, Adam died immediately just as God promised.
• WAIT A MINUTE… Adam didn’t die. Yes he did.
• Genesis 2:17, can also be translated, “From the day that you eat of it, and dying you shall die”
• You will die that moment and continue to die, and die…
3 TYPES OF DEATH ADAM’S SIN BROUGHT… jot them down.
First: SPIRITUAL DEATH. He was cut off from God.
• The word death means ‘to separate’.
• Immediately Adam was separated from God because of his sin.
Ephesians 2:1 And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins,
Second: PHYSICAL DEATH. We see it all around us. Physical death is the dictator to which every man must bow.
• The world has become one huge graveyard because of sin.
• God never intended the world to be a place of death, but because of Adam’s choice, that’s exactly what it is!
• We will all die, separating from our bodies…
Third: ETERNAL DEATH. This can only be avoided if you accept Jesus Christ as your savior.
• Eternal death is called the 2nd death in Revelation 21.
• But to those who believe, the 2nd death has NO POWER!
#3 – v16-17 – Adam’s Failure brought CONDEMNATION into the world.
• Condemnation from our sin is a heavy burden to carry.
• It’s the feeling that things aren’t right and left untouched, it will begin to beat down on you and push you away from the Lord.
Romans 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.
So the First Adam’s behavior brought serious consequences upon the earth. We are all touched by his one sin…
• And we think sometimes, what CAN ONE MAN really do?
• Can my life really make a difference in this world?
• We think of men like George Washington Carver, and Thomas Edison, and Albert Einstein, and Abraham Lincoln.
• They made a difference in their world for good.
• And there is a list on the other side of men that through their single lives brought havoc and destruction in this world.
• One man can take a match and light it and destroy a forest, or a row of homes…
• Another man can take that match and light a candle to lead people out of darkness.
• Adam led man down a path of sin & death.
BUT GOD SENT ANOTHER Adam… The LAST Adam – Jesus Christ.
He too becomes a representative…
1 Corinthians 15:45 (NKJV) 45 And so it is written, “The first man Adam became a living being.” The last Adam became a life-giving spirit.
• Now with 2 representatives, we have a choice to make?
• Which family to you want to be in? Adam’s family? OR Jesus!?
NOTICE the contrast in this section… the first Adam brought death & destruction but the last Adam brought life and peace & salvation!
• V15… the free gift is not like the offense, it results in grace.
• V16 the free gift results in justification not condemnation
• V17 – Those who receive abundance of grace will reign in life
• V18 – Free gift came to ALL men
• V19 – Through free gift many will be made righteous!
• V20 – Where sin abounded, grace abounded much more!
• V21 – Grace might reign in Jesus Christ.
NOW THE WORLD TAKES ON A DIFFERENT FLAVOR doesn’t it?
• Everything wrong with the world today, with you, your family, and the people you work with is due to Adam’s failure.
• Knowing this allows me, encourages me, to see people in an entirely different light.
• I realize that the cheating, stealing, and lying of the world is something we all share in Adam!
• I see now that when Jesus looks out on multitudes and has compassion on them… he loved them in spite of their failures.
WHEN IT FINALLY SINKS in that by ONE MAN RIGHTEOUSNESS, JUSTIFICATION, and grace came…
• Then I can stop striving & struggling to prove I’m a little better.
• I can also stop feeling bad if I see others who seem to be a little ahead of me spiritually.
• This life I live isn’t about me at all… it’s about Jesus.
SO… as we close notice what happened here…
The FIRST Adam in the garden plunged the world into sin, death, condemnation, and eternal separation.
The LAST Adam, Jesus, made possible the gift of salvation.
• Where sin is replaced with RIGHTEOUNSESS.
• Where death is replaced with ETERNAL LIFE.
• Where condemnation is replaced with FORGIVENESS.
• Where aimless wandering is replaced with FOCUSED PURPOSE.
• Where the Law is replaced with ABOUNDING GRACE!
NOTE: It’s interesting as a pastor to see so many believe ‘theologically’ that their guilt was taken care of at the cross.
• Yes Ed, I know that. I’ve read it before.
• Yet there seems to be the continual battle on how to deal with the residual shame that seems to continue to pop up.
• So we say, OK I’m not under guilt anymore, I love God’s grace and still life under the shame of what you did wrong!
• GOD WANTS YOU TO BE FREE FROM THAT SHAME!
• Before you ever get rid of your shame, you have to have your guilt taken care of… come to Jesus at the Cross!
• It is there, and only there, that Jesus has completely taken care of the sin problem in your life.
God gave the nation of Israel a wonderful, tangible way of seeing their guilt removed… Flip back to Leviticus 16:7-10…
• The 2 goats together constituted ONE sin offering.
• The high priests would cast lots over them and one would die.
• That goat’s blood was used in the Holy of Holies.
NOW it’s interesting that with the other goat, it would run away.
• The High Priest would put both of his bloody hands on the head of the LIVING GOAT & confess sins of the nation (Look at v21)
• The LAYING ON OF HANDS was symbolic of transference.
• The sins of the people were laid on that goat as a picture…
Isa. 53.6 All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, every one, to his own way; And the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.
2 Corinthians 5.21 For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
NOTE: After the confession, the goat was given to another man and let go into the wilderness.
• Finally as it ran away, probably very scared by it all.
• It would eventually disappear never to be seen or found again.
• The news that the goat was gone was relayed all the way back to the area of the tabernacle… there was great joy & rejoicing!
• What a sight that must have been to watch & see!
• It illustrated many of the great teachings in the Bible.
Psalm 103.12 As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our transgressions from us.
Jer. 50.20 In those days and in that time," says the LORD, "The iniquity of Israel shall be sought, but there shall be none; And the sins of Judah, but they shall not be found; For I will pardon those whom I preserve.
AND TODAY, we have the REAL LAMB of God that takes away the sins of the world!
• 2000 years ago Jesus lived, died, and rose again to remove both the GUILT of sin and the it’s shame!
• By faith, by the hand of faith, we confess our sins upon Him, and we believe that He bore those sins for us.
• We then need to live in the freedom of that SHAMELESS existence that we have now!
• God wants you to really FEEL forgiven for the rest of your life!
• What the first Adam did, the last Adam has undone by faith!
