WEBVTT 00:00:01.200 --> 00:00:08.800 Now we turn in God's word to Romans chapter five, please, Romans chapter five, and we're going to break into the chapter at verse 12. 00:00:09.200 --> 00:00:14.320 And we're going to read to verse 21, which is the end of the chapter. 00:00:19.675 --> 00:00:23.515 Romans chapter five and verse 12, this is God's word. 00:00:23.755 --> 00:00:33.320 Therefore just as sin came into the world through one man and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned. 00:00:33.720 --> 00:00:40.840 For sin indeed was in the world before the law was given but sin is not counted where there is no law. 00:00:41.160 --> 00:00:51.285 Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam who was a type of the one who was to come. 00:00:51.925 --> 00:01:07.390 But the free gift is not like the trespass for if many died through one man's trespass much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many. 00:01:08.110 --> 00:01:12.030 And the free gift is not like the result of that one man's sin. 00:01:12.485 --> 00:01:21.525 For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brought justification. 00:01:21.925 --> 00:01:37.280 For if because of one man's trespass death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ. 00:01:37.680 --> 00:01:46.945 Therefore as one trespass led to condemnation for all men so one act of righteousness leads justification and life for all men. 00:01:47.105 --> 00:01:55.745 For as by the one man's disobedience, the many were made sinners, so by the one man's obedience, the many will be righteous. 00:01:56.260 --> 00:02:03.220 Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more. 00:02:03.540 --> 00:02:13.605 So that as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. 00:02:14.405 --> 00:02:14.965 Amen. 00:02:15.525 --> 00:02:16.085 Amen. 00:02:17.525 --> 00:02:28.070 Now why should anybody really be interested in a saviour or in salvation itself if they didn't believe there was anything that they needed to be saved from. 00:02:28.550 --> 00:02:35.750 It would seem utterly pointless if you're not a sinner well why do you really need saved then? 00:02:36.465 --> 00:02:41.025 Imagine a medical setting, a patient visits a GP after the examination. 00:02:41.025 --> 00:02:48.065 The doctor says you urgently need a demanding course of treatment or even radical surgery if you're to be cured. 00:02:49.130 --> 00:02:51.930 Some patients reply, Well no I don't need that. 00:02:51.930 --> 00:02:53.450 I just want a second opinion. 00:02:53.450 --> 00:02:55.130 There's nothing seriously wrong with me. 00:02:55.130 --> 00:02:55.850 I'm fine. 00:02:56.330 --> 00:03:00.650 Most doctors have met people in denial about their true condition. 00:03:01.355 --> 00:03:05.035 And all around us there are people in denial about their spiritual health. 00:03:05.355 --> 00:03:09.115 The Bible goes further, they're not merely sick, they're spiritually dead. 00:03:09.115 --> 00:03:10.235 That's what the Bible says. 00:03:10.235 --> 00:03:16.235 And yet in evangelism we present the gospel to many who feel no sense of need whatsoever. 00:03:17.090 --> 00:03:19.490 They say, well, why should I want a savior? 00:03:19.490 --> 00:03:23.010 There's nothing for which I really need to be saved from. 00:03:23.250 --> 00:03:31.170 I'm as good as anybody else and there are things that yes, I can perhaps improve upon, but I don't need a savior and I certainly don't need salvation. 00:03:31.755 --> 00:03:33.915 And that's a very common response. 00:03:33.915 --> 00:03:44.075 A lack of spiritual need is probably one of the greatest obstacles, perhaps the greatest obstacle to people receiving the gospel and believing in the Lord Jesus Christ. 00:03:44.330 --> 00:03:49.850 They simply do not feel they need the savior or the message that the church proclaims. 00:03:50.090 --> 00:04:03.125 And we know of course that in their spiritual deadness only the Holy Spirit can give a real sense of need and open their eyes to what's wrong and show them the solution God has provided in Jesus Christ. 00:04:03.125 --> 00:04:08.245 It's a work of grace and we can't bring anyone to conversion. 00:04:08.245 --> 00:04:11.205 We present the message as faithfully as we can. 00:04:11.365 --> 00:04:17.500 We seek to avoid unnecessary offense but ultimately our God can convict a sinner. 00:04:17.500 --> 00:04:21.740 It's only our God can convict a sinner and bring him to salvation. 00:04:21.740 --> 00:04:30.940 Every conversion we need to take on board is a miracle and the greatest miracle of all, someone who was dead is made alive. 00:04:32.225 --> 00:04:51.700 And in our series that we've been looking at on Sunday mornings exploring the wonder of salvation, we have been considering the personal work of the Lord Jesus Christ and we've been thinking particularly of the person, the Savior God that God the Father gave in His only Son. 00:04:52.100 --> 00:04:55.300 Now we turn to ask a question this morning. 00:04:55.540 --> 00:04:57.940 Well, why is a Savior needed? 00:04:58.260 --> 00:04:59.860 Why is a Savior needed? 00:05:00.365 --> 00:05:04.285 And we're thinking about the tragic state of the unrepentant. 00:05:05.325 --> 00:05:15.085 The tragic state of the unrepentant, and we need to understand this regarding our own spiritual condition and also as we seek to spread the gospel. 00:05:15.470 --> 00:05:20.350 And we must know what's wrong with those to whom we're actually taking the message to. 00:05:20.350 --> 00:05:29.870 And a superficial view of the problem produces a superficial answer, and that certainly isn't the answer of the gospel that is found in the Scriptures. 00:05:31.355 --> 00:05:39.835 So to understand the tragic state of the unrepentant, there are three things that we need to get into your minds and that we need to be clear about. 00:05:39.835 --> 00:05:44.235 First of all, we need to examine covenant breaking by Adam. 00:05:45.040 --> 00:05:49.200 Then secondly we need to think about covenant union with Adam. 00:05:49.360 --> 00:05:53.600 And then thirdly we need to think about covenant breaking by humans. 00:05:54.000 --> 00:06:07.545 And these are three essential elements that we need to understand to see the tragic condition, the tragic position, that tragic position that the unsaved are actually in. 00:06:07.545 --> 00:06:11.385 So let's first of all examine covenant breaking by Adam. 00:06:11.705 --> 00:06:14.665 Covenant breaking by Adam and you must begin at the beginning. 00:06:14.960 --> 00:06:35.595 Literally we start at the beginning of human history in the Garden Of Eden and we have to realize this is not a myth or a legend but this is history as presented by the book of Genesis and what was the basic relationship between God and Adam and Eve in the Garden Of Eden at the dawn of history. 00:06:35.595 --> 00:06:37.515 What was their relationship like? 00:06:38.075 --> 00:06:46.900 Well when we view Eden in the light of Scripture as a whole, we see that the relationship was a covenant often called a covenant of works. 00:06:47.220 --> 00:06:59.460 And it's vital that we repeatedly return to this covenant relationship so that we grasp exactly exactly what the Lord was doing in Eden and how human history unfolded from that point. 00:06:59.985 --> 00:07:06.785 Now if you take the time to read the first three chapters of the book of Genesis, you'll not find that word covenant of course. 00:07:06.785 --> 00:07:11.745 As a result some folks say, well there was really no covenant in the Garden Of Eden because it's not mentioned. 00:07:12.640 --> 00:07:19.120 Yet when we examine the record carefully, the essential elements of covenant are clearly presented. 00:07:19.120 --> 00:07:23.200 The absence of the word doesn't mean the absence of the reality. 00:07:23.520 --> 00:07:26.445 And what lies at the heart of the covenant? 00:07:26.685 --> 00:07:32.845 Well in simplest terms God gives Himself to His people to be their God in a loving bond. 00:07:33.085 --> 00:07:40.460 And Scripture repeatedly uses that analogy of human marriage, a bond of love between those joined in covenant. 00:07:40.460 --> 00:07:43.260 So it was between God and man. 00:07:43.740 --> 00:07:58.855 And God lavished rich blessings in Adam and Eve, they lacked nothing, yet far greater than the gifts themselves was the fact that God was giving Himself, Not that He just gave them gifts, that He looked after them, but He was giving Himself to them. 00:07:59.255 --> 00:08:06.295 And God's not like an over busy parent who substitutes presents for presents. 00:08:07.015 --> 00:08:12.600 He gives blessings, and above all else, gives himself. 00:08:13.000 --> 00:08:13.640 And in the... 00:08:13.640 --> 00:08:19.320 And in Eden there was a a personal loving fellowship between God and the first human beings. 00:08:19.320 --> 00:08:27.175 And that fellowship characterized life and characterized life, a life that was wonderful, a life that was perfect. 00:08:27.415 --> 00:08:31.575 And in Genesis chapter three and verse eight, we have got that wonderful picture. 00:08:31.735 --> 00:08:35.415 The Lord God was walking in the garden in the cool of the day. 00:08:35.900 --> 00:08:39.340 And that's the image there of perfect communion. 00:08:39.500 --> 00:08:43.180 And it may well be that Adam and Eve saw a visible form. 00:08:43.980 --> 00:08:46.220 Most likely the Son of God, the person... 00:08:46.220 --> 00:08:52.145 Second person of the Trinity before His incarnation walking and speaking and enjoying fellowship with Him. 00:08:52.705 --> 00:08:56.625 And that's covenant life, God walking with His people in loving fellowship. 00:08:56.865 --> 00:08:58.545 And there could be no greater privilege. 00:08:58.545 --> 00:09:07.060 And Adam and Eve saw the Lord face to face, spoke with him, enjoyed fellowship with him and God gave Himself in the covenant to them. 00:09:08.020 --> 00:09:09.700 A response was required. 00:09:09.860 --> 00:09:11.780 That response was loving obedience. 00:09:11.780 --> 00:09:18.475 And the Lord poured out His love and in return they were to love Him and that love was to show itself in obedience. 00:09:19.115 --> 00:09:24.715 Amazingly, God's requirements were summed up in a single prohibition. 00:09:24.875 --> 00:09:32.790 Didn't need a big book of a command set out to Adam and Eve and present them to them, but just one simple statement. 00:09:32.790 --> 00:09:37.430 They were not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. 00:09:37.430 --> 00:09:42.070 Their response to that command would reveal whether they loved the Lord as they should. 00:09:42.765 --> 00:09:45.725 The consequence of disobedience was grave. 00:09:45.725 --> 00:09:49.805 We're told, In the day you eat of it, God said, you shall surely die. 00:09:50.125 --> 00:09:54.205 And not merely die physically, but die spiritually. 00:09:54.765 --> 00:09:55.885 Separation from God. 00:09:56.630 --> 00:10:05.030 And that everything they needed and yet despite God's good gifts and the privilege of covenant fellowship, Adam succumbed to temptation. 00:10:05.030 --> 00:10:12.705 Satan spoke through the serpent as his mouthpiece and temptation came mediated through Eve, and Adam capitulated. 00:10:13.585 --> 00:10:16.385 He ate the fruit, we're told that in Genesis three:six. 00:10:16.865 --> 00:10:18.545 Immediately the world changed. 00:10:18.545 --> 00:10:20.465 Every relationship was altered. 00:10:20.625 --> 00:10:22.945 Their relationship to each other was fractured. 00:10:23.160 --> 00:10:26.600 Adam blamed Eve, the woman you gave me. 00:10:26.760 --> 00:10:30.840 That's what he says to God and we're still in that implication of blaming Eve. 00:10:31.080 --> 00:10:34.760 He was really trying to shift the blame onto God Himself. 00:10:35.495 --> 00:10:39.975 And that's what sinners always do, not me, someone else's fault. 00:10:40.215 --> 00:10:43.415 And even the relationship with creation was twisted. 00:10:43.415 --> 00:10:51.490 There were thorns and thistles and painful toil to draw living from the ground suddenly became a reality. 00:10:52.290 --> 00:10:54.770 And at the root of it all the covenant was broken. 00:10:55.730 --> 00:11:01.490 The loving bond between God and His people was fractured and Adam and Eve could do nothing to restore it. 00:11:01.605 --> 00:11:03.845 They had taken that fatal step. 00:11:03.845 --> 00:11:06.085 And every relationship was now twisted. 00:11:06.085 --> 00:11:08.885 The bond between God and man had been ruptured. 00:11:08.965 --> 00:11:14.325 The fundamental sin in Eden was covenant breaking, putting self in God's place. 00:11:14.930 --> 00:11:18.690 And Adam effectively said, Well, I've got something to work out here. 00:11:18.690 --> 00:11:20.130 I've got something to decide. 00:11:20.130 --> 00:11:22.210 Is Satan right or is God right? 00:11:22.450 --> 00:11:23.570 I'll decide. 00:11:25.330 --> 00:11:29.235 And he put himself in God's place and that's what every sinner does. 00:11:29.235 --> 00:11:35.795 Even if the words are never spoken the heart says I want to be my own God. 00:11:35.955 --> 00:11:54.170 And Adam and Eve broke the beautiful bond of fellowship and that fatal step was taken and to understand the tragic state of the unrepentant, to understand your own heart this morning if you're not saved, you've got to take yourself back to the Garden of Eden and like Adam, you are a covenant breaker. 00:11:56.725 --> 00:12:02.805 But then secondly, let's examine covenant union with Adam, covenant union with Adam. 00:12:02.805 --> 00:12:05.445 Why should Adam's actions concern us? 00:12:05.445 --> 00:12:08.005 They happened so many years ago. 00:12:10.560 --> 00:12:16.560 And you may well be asking yourself, well, what effect does this really have on me today? 00:12:17.120 --> 00:12:22.800 Well, significance of Adam's fall for us lies in the position that he actually occupied in the Garden of Eden. 00:12:22.800 --> 00:12:27.965 The Bible shows that Adam acted not merely as a private individual. 00:12:28.525 --> 00:12:36.765 He was also a representative of all his descendants, and the entire human race was represented by Adam. 00:12:37.070 --> 00:12:42.110 And in the covenant of Eden, he stood as the covenant head of humanity. 00:12:42.590 --> 00:12:46.990 And what he did or failed to do affects everyone he represents. 00:12:46.990 --> 00:12:53.585 Now let me give you an imperfect analogy to help you understand one that I've used before. 00:12:54.145 --> 00:13:01.345 The actions of a government implicated citizens when a government declares war, the whole nation is involved. 00:13:01.345 --> 00:13:03.825 No one can say, Well, I didn't decide that. 00:13:03.825 --> 00:13:04.705 We're all in it together. 00:13:05.960 --> 00:13:13.560 And in a far deeper sense, Adam represented the whole human race and whatever he did involved all his descendants. 00:13:14.200 --> 00:13:23.235 And the threatened penalty was death and quickly becomes clear that death entered the world not for Adam and Eve alone, but for everyone. 00:13:23.875 --> 00:13:25.235 And why did we die? 00:13:25.235 --> 00:13:26.675 Or why do we die? 00:13:26.675 --> 00:13:29.315 Well, death is not merely a feature of evolution. 00:13:29.795 --> 00:13:33.315 It has come because of what our representative did. 00:13:33.690 --> 00:13:42.410 We're told in Hebrews chapter nine and verse 27, it declares there, It's appointed for man to die once, and that's true of every one of us. 00:13:42.410 --> 00:13:46.250 And the New Testament makes that link very explicitly. 00:13:46.490 --> 00:13:50.005 In first Corinthians chapter 15 and verse 22. 00:13:50.005 --> 00:13:52.725 It says, in Adam all die. 00:13:53.365 --> 00:13:59.125 And this is not merely that we we all follow Adam's example and bring forth death on ourselves. 00:13:59.125 --> 00:14:00.885 Adam represented us. 00:14:01.125 --> 00:14:07.320 And there's a spiritual covenantal solidarity between Adam and every one of his descendants. 00:14:07.320 --> 00:14:11.240 We are in Adam, and the consequence is that we all die. 00:14:11.240 --> 00:14:14.280 We are all covenant breakers in Adam. 00:14:14.360 --> 00:14:15.320 He's the head. 00:14:15.320 --> 00:14:16.200 We're his people. 00:14:16.645 --> 00:14:21.365 His breaking of the covenant affects each and every one of us. 00:14:21.925 --> 00:14:30.620 And that's precisely why we read from Romans chapter five and verses 12 to 21 because Paul expounds this. 00:14:30.620 --> 00:14:36.060 He works out in detail the links between Adam and us and then between Christ and us. 00:14:36.140 --> 00:14:45.985 And because of his disobedience, Adam brought death to all who are in him and that is every human being born in an ordinary way. 00:14:46.145 --> 00:14:55.825 And later, of course, God willing, we were gonna see the corresponding truth, what the Lord Jesus Christ does in the covenant of grace that affects all of us who are in Him. 00:14:55.985 --> 00:14:57.185 This is the great hope. 00:14:57.185 --> 00:15:00.960 This is the great light before the light comes the darkness. 00:15:00.960 --> 00:15:03.120 So we have to look at the darkness. 00:15:03.120 --> 00:15:13.600 First of all, Martin Luther when he preached the gospel said the best thing to do is to preach the law, is to preach covenant breaking because then you're telling people where they're at and where they need to go to. 00:15:14.005 --> 00:15:15.845 And that's what we're doing this morning. 00:15:16.325 --> 00:15:31.000 Because we're in Adam, we share the consequences of what he did, death in all its senses, death of the body, spiritual death, separation from God, eternal death and a lost sinner's hell for all eternity. 00:15:31.640 --> 00:15:36.840 And all of that is ours because of what our representative did in Eden. 00:15:37.320 --> 00:15:40.760 And praise the Lord, that's what Christ has done or Christ... 00:15:41.025 --> 00:15:43.345 That's how Christ brings salvation for us. 00:15:43.345 --> 00:15:44.865 That's what Christ has done. 00:15:44.865 --> 00:15:48.305 He brings salvation to all who are in him. 00:15:48.545 --> 00:15:52.545 And yet we mustn't rush ahead to see what Christ will do. 00:15:52.545 --> 00:16:04.580 We must first see what's wrong with us and why this world that you and I live in is such a terrible mess and has been such a terrible mess from the time of the fall. 00:16:04.820 --> 00:16:13.035 We're united in Adam in the broken covenant and we're all in the same plight and death comes to all because we're in Christ. 00:16:13.355 --> 00:16:16.955 Adam represents us and what he did affects us all. 00:16:17.275 --> 00:16:24.870 And Paul tells us in Romans five that death entered the world through one man and because of the sin of one man all are affected. 00:16:24.950 --> 00:16:30.710 And this is also why it's important to insist on the historicity of the Bible. 00:16:31.270 --> 00:16:36.065 Adam is not a mythological figure borrowed from other cultures. 00:16:36.465 --> 00:16:47.505 Unless Adam was a real man who did certain things in a real garden, then Paul writes, What we say about human sin collapses into absolute and utter fiction. 00:16:48.110 --> 00:16:55.550 The Bible at every point treats Adam as a historical figure just as the Lord Jesus Christ is a historical figure. 00:16:55.550 --> 00:17:06.375 We're dealing with history and what actually happened, what you would have seen and heard had you been standing there in the Garden Of Eden, you would have seen covenant breaking. 00:17:06.375 --> 00:17:23.940 You would see this covenant union with Adam and you would see how the fall came around and how profoundly important it is that you see yourself aligned with Adam in this union with Adam, this covenant breaking with Adam. 00:17:25.140 --> 00:17:29.300 And then thirdly and finally, let's examine covenant breaking by humans. 00:17:30.025 --> 00:17:33.945 Covenant breaking by humans and let's bring this right home to yourselves. 00:17:33.945 --> 00:17:38.425 We have seen the connection in the broken covenant with Adam. 00:17:38.505 --> 00:17:44.025 When God passed a sentence in Genesis chapter three, the whole human race was in view. 00:17:44.105 --> 00:17:48.450 The consequences of Adam's disobedience implicated all of us. 00:17:48.450 --> 00:17:49.090 We die. 00:17:49.090 --> 00:17:52.850 We live in a world of thorns and thistles and painful struggle. 00:17:52.850 --> 00:17:59.090 And these things affect not only Adam and Eve, but the entire human race down through the centuries. 00:17:59.250 --> 00:18:00.450 And that means you and me. 00:18:01.045 --> 00:18:06.165 And Paul spells out the result of our union with Adam in Romans chapter five verse 12. 00:18:06.565 --> 00:18:19.940 He says there in verse 12, if if you look at the verse it says, therefore just as sin came into the world through one man and death through sin and so death spread to all men because all have sinned. 00:18:19.940 --> 00:18:25.620 And he points us to that single historical event so many millennia ago. 00:18:26.065 --> 00:18:31.185 Every human being is constituted a sinner because of covenantal union with Adam. 00:18:31.185 --> 00:18:33.825 And that's how God decreed it would be. 00:18:33.985 --> 00:18:36.945 And so it was in Adam we die. 00:18:37.185 --> 00:18:41.320 We inherit from our forefather Adam a fallen human nature. 00:18:41.400 --> 00:18:45.800 We're born into the world as sinners and that's our inheritance. 00:18:46.200 --> 00:19:05.390 Paul says in Romans chapter five and verse 18, he says there in verse 18, if you if you look along, he says, therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. 00:19:05.470 --> 00:19:06.350 From one... 00:19:06.910 --> 00:19:12.910 From our our first moments we stand under the condemnation of a holy God. 00:19:12.910 --> 00:19:14.590 We're all implicated. 00:19:14.990 --> 00:19:18.190 The shorter catechism makes this very clear. 00:19:19.005 --> 00:19:29.645 All mankind descending from Adam by ordinary generation sinned in him and fell with him in his first transgression. 00:19:30.045 --> 00:19:32.800 And Jesus is the great exception. 00:19:32.800 --> 00:19:36.160 He didn't descend from Adam by ordinary generation. 00:19:36.240 --> 00:19:47.280 And that's exactly what Paul argues at length in Romans chapter five and what first Corinthians chapter 15 verse 22 affirms in Adam all die. 00:19:47.280 --> 00:19:48.995 We are we are dead men. 00:19:49.315 --> 00:19:50.835 Dead men and women walking. 00:19:50.835 --> 00:19:55.475 We may be physically vigorous and full of health but spiritually we're dead. 00:19:55.475 --> 00:19:56.835 Appearances deceived. 00:19:56.835 --> 00:19:59.155 In our sin we are separated from God. 00:19:59.155 --> 00:20:00.755 We have no fellowship with him. 00:20:01.180 --> 00:20:07.740 And the picture of Adam and Eve walking in the garden in the cool of the day is inconceivable for sinners. 00:20:07.740 --> 00:20:12.380 A holy God and unholy sinners do not walk together in fellowship. 00:20:12.380 --> 00:20:13.580 It's absolutely impossible. 00:20:14.125 --> 00:20:26.285 And we read in Romans chapter five and verse 19, For as by one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, so by one man's obedience the many will be made righteous. 00:20:27.165 --> 00:20:29.565 We're constituted sinners in God's sight. 00:20:30.260 --> 00:20:37.300 And as we're born into this world, there's only one verdict that fits our condition and it's guilty. 00:20:37.700 --> 00:20:46.355 And we stand before God, the judge of the guilty deserving his wrath and curse, and that's our terrible state because of our union with Adam. 00:20:47.395 --> 00:20:55.635 We can't change ourselves anymore that an Ethiopian can change his skin or a leopard changes his spots. 00:20:56.270 --> 00:21:00.350 Left to ourselves that's how we remain for all eternity. 00:21:00.350 --> 00:21:05.230 We're born sinful people with a corrupt nature and King David understood this. 00:21:05.230 --> 00:21:10.430 This is why he wrote in Psalm 51 and verse five and sin did my mother conceive me. 00:21:10.575 --> 00:21:12.895 He's not primarily accusing his mother. 00:21:12.895 --> 00:21:20.015 He's acknowledging that from the first moment of his existence he was a sinner in need of God's grace. 00:21:20.415 --> 00:21:28.800 And that sinful root, the corrupt nature gives rise to our particular sinful actions whatever form they actually take. 00:21:28.800 --> 00:21:31.040 They differ for each of us, but they are... 00:21:31.040 --> 00:21:40.925 They all spring from our sinful nature, and we we sin because we are sinners, and we often reserve the order... 00:21:40.925 --> 00:21:44.845 We we reverse the order, and we we we think because sinners... 00:21:44.925 --> 00:21:46.605 We're sinners because we sin. 00:21:46.605 --> 00:21:46.845 No. 00:21:46.845 --> 00:21:47.485 It's not. 00:21:47.725 --> 00:21:54.570 The truth is we are sinners born in sin, and then we sin. 00:21:54.810 --> 00:21:57.690 We're not compelled to sin against our will. 00:21:57.690 --> 00:22:05.605 We we sin willingly, and we are free agents responsible for our actions, and we're held accountable for that. 00:22:05.605 --> 00:22:07.445 We're guilty in God's sight. 00:22:07.845 --> 00:22:15.845 And the sovereign God had every right to establish that covenantal arrangement in Eden with all the consequences that flowed from it. 00:22:15.845 --> 00:22:28.770 And yet this is a wonderful truth, and we shall want to explore it a bit more, but the same principle of representation that implicates all of us in Adam's sin also opens the door for great hope, does it not? 00:22:29.330 --> 00:22:37.015 In Christ the covenant head, covenant head of the covenant of grace, that same principle provides what? 00:22:37.015 --> 00:22:39.415 Salvation for all who trust in Him. 00:22:39.495 --> 00:22:43.975 And if we're inclined to protest, well it's not fair that Adam represents us. 00:22:44.670 --> 00:22:46.990 I didn't want Adam to represent us. 00:22:48.030 --> 00:22:57.870 Well then the same consistency requires us to say, well it's not fair that Christ represented sinners like me that I should receive salvation through what he did. 00:22:58.110 --> 00:23:02.005 It's the same principle, covenant representation. 00:23:02.325 --> 00:23:09.205 And we need to be clear as as the scriptures have shown about the tragic state of the unrepentant. 00:23:09.605 --> 00:23:18.620 It's rooted at the very beginning of human history, covenant breaking by Adam, disobeying God, rupturing the loving covenant that had been made. 00:23:18.620 --> 00:23:25.260 Because he represents us and because of our covenant union with him, we are all in that same tragic state. 00:23:25.260 --> 00:23:26.620 We're all guilty before God. 00:23:26.925 --> 00:23:31.085 We're covenant breakers who deserve the judgment and condemnation of God. 00:23:31.325 --> 00:23:40.765 Sin entered the world through Adam, and death through sin is part of us, and so death has spread to all of us. 00:23:41.410 --> 00:23:46.050 So we come this morning, and you might say to me, well this is a very hard word. 00:23:46.370 --> 00:23:48.370 Well this is the condition that you're in. 00:23:48.690 --> 00:23:53.330 And you know, you might say to me, well that's very hard telling me of my tragic condition. 00:23:53.915 --> 00:24:02.955 Well, only reason I'm telling you about your tragic condition is because I love you and and I'm concerned about your soul. 00:24:03.995 --> 00:24:17.020 It would be a sad thing if I didn't tell you, and I would admonish you this morning if you have not yet trusted Jesus Christ as your savior, that you would come to him because you are implicated. 00:24:17.980 --> 00:24:25.815 You're implicated in sin through Adam today if you're not saved, and your only hope is Jesus Christ. 00:24:25.815 --> 00:24:34.695 He is our great representative, and it's to him that we turn, and it's to him that we look, and it's to him that we cast ourselves upon. 00:24:34.695 --> 00:24:43.510 And today I would admonish you to cry to him for mercy and trust in him as the only savior of covenant breakers. 00:24:43.590 --> 00:24:50.075 And don't delay because it's appointed for man to die once, and after that comes the judgment. 00:24:50.475 --> 00:24:54.635 And at this moment, you're still within reach of that grace. 00:24:55.195 --> 00:24:58.715 And I say come to Christ and live. 00:24:59.035 --> 00:24:59.755 Let's pray. 00:25:00.630 --> 00:25:04.310 Heavenly Father, we just thank you for these moments together. 00:25:04.710 --> 00:25:13.590 We thank you for being with us today, and we just simply plead that you would write this word upon hearts and draw sinners to yourself. 00:25:13.670 --> 00:25:15.270 For we ask it in Jesus' name. 00:25:15.842 --> 00:25:16.402 Amen.