(students chattering)
- 127, start there right on.
Sing praises as well.
Service time, seven.
Of our soul winning time, year to date,
soul winning statistics for the month and year there.
It seems like a lot of people are hibernating in December.
We gotta keep working hard to get them saved.
You have our upcoming events this upcoming Saturday,
evening at seven o'clock p.m.
We're gonna do Christmas caroling in Yukon,
same place that we always do.
If you've been with us before, which I think everyone has,
and I'll make sure to send that address just in case
in our signal group, please join us for that.
December 24th, a week from today,
is going to be the kids' choir.
They'll perform for us before our Christmas service.
And so this evening we have a practice.
And then after the Sunday morning service,
we'll have one more practice for the kids on that.
And then after the service on Christmas Eve,
we'll have a cookie bake-off.
And December 31st is the Wednesday after that
where we will have a New Year's Eve party.
So we'll have a men's preaching night,
15 minute sermons for the guys.
There's a sign-up sheet back there,
followed by food and fellowship 'til midnight
or however long you wanna stay for that evening.
Then on the right, we have our online visitor card,
as well as our online giving information
and our prayer list as well,
which I didn't see any new requests this week.
But as always, if you have any of those, please email me.
Let's go ahead and go to the Lord in prayer
before we go to our third song this evening.
Lord, we wanna thank you for Anchor Baptist Church.
Thank you for this great time of year
where we think about the birth of your son, Jesus Christ,
and these great songs that we're singing
help us to never get caught away
with the materialism of this season,
but to remember what this is really about,
the birth of your son.
I pray that you bless this evening's service,
that everything done would be done to your honor and glory.
I pray that you would just hearken your ear
to the requests this evening,
that you'd answer all of these according to your will,
Lord, that you would just bless us.
I pray for my brother on his deployment,
that you would just give him safety,
that you would just help him to come back safely
and whole to his family as soon as possible, Lord.
Also, we want to pray for Brother Theodore's mother,
that she'd be healed of her cancer as soon as possible,
that she would just touch her body and heal her, Lord,
and also for his sister,
that her heart would be softened to the gospel.
I pray that you would help Brother Theodore
be safe in his travels,
and that you bless him as well, Lord.
Also for Brother Miles and the Houseberg family,
that you would just bless their health and wellbeing.
We also pray for Mrs. Reed and Brother Kauaja,
for their unsaved loved ones,
that their hearts would be softened as well.
And I just pray for the upcoming events
that we have for the rest of this year,
that we would finish out strong,
that we would not take a vacation from serving you,
and we would just work really hard till the end.
We love you in Jesus' name we pray, amen.
This time we'll go ahead and go to our third song together.
Right, for our third song,
if you would turn in your hymnals to hymn number 428.
It came upon the midnight clear.
Hymn number 428.
Start there right on the first.
♪ Amen ♪
Verse five the Bible reads,
therefore being justified by faith,
we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,
by whom also we have access by faith
into this grace wherein we stand,
and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
Not only so, but we glory in tribulations also,
knowing that tribulation worketh patience,
and patience experience, and experience hope.
And hope maketh not a shame,
because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts,
by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.
For when we were yet without strength in due time,
Christ died for the ungodly.
For scarcely for a righteous man will one die,
yet perventure for a good man some would even dare to die.
But God commendeth His love toward us,
in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
Much more than being now justified by His blood,
we shall be saved from wrath through Him.
For if when we were enemies,
we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son,
much more being reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.
And not only so, but we also glory,
and not only so, but we also joy in God
through our Lord Jesus Christ,
by whom we have now received the atonement.
Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world,
and death by sin, and so death passed upon all men,
for that all have sinned.
For until the law, sin was in the world,
but sin is not imputed when there is no law.
Nevertheless, death reigned from Adam to Moses
even over them that had not sinned
after the similitude of Adam's transgression,
who is the figure of him that was to come.
But not as the offense, so also is the free gift,
for if through the offense of one, many be dead,
much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace,
which is by one man, Jesus Christ,
hath abounded unto many.
And not as it was by one that sinned,
so is the gift, for the judgment was by one to condemnation,
but the free gift is of many offenses unto justification.
For if by one man's offense death reign by one,
much more they which receive abundance of grace,
and of the gift of righteousness, shall reign in life
by one Jesus Christ. Therefore as by the offense of one judgment came upon
all men to condemnation, even so by the righteousness of one
the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life.
For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience
of one shall many be made righteous. Moreover the
law answered that the offense might abound, but where
sin abounded grace did much more abound.
That as sin hath reigned unto death even so might grace
reign through righteousness unto eternal life
by Jesus Christ our Lord. Let's bow our heads for a prayer. Father in heaven we
thank you for this day. Church we love you and we just thank
you for all the great works that you've allowed us to do
and we just ask that you bless our church and just sing a prayer.
Then Romans chapter number five. Romans five verse one.
Bible says therefore being justified by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
So throughout this book the apostle Paul's been building this case that the gentiles are sinful,
the Jews are sinful, the whole world is sinful and how the people in the Old Testament were
justified by faith. We're justified by faith. He continues on this thought saying therefore
being justified by faith we have notice this word peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
What is it about your life that changes when you get saved? Because there's false teachers
out there that will tell you that when you're when you get saved your life is going to change,
you're going to repent of all your sins. You're not going to be tempted. Some people even go as
far as to say that you will not even be tempted to sin anymore. You'll have preachers get up
saying you know I used to smoke a pack a day and now I don't even crave that stuff. That's just
garbage. Anyone who's ever had a physical addiction is going to have those physical
chemical cravings from time to time, those psychological cravings from time to time.
But people just lie about what's really going to change about your life when you get saved. Now
of course if you walk in the spirit lots of things will change about your life as far as
repenting of sins, doing good works. But here is just baseline for every single Christian.
Here's one big thing that changes when you get saved is that now you have peace with God. That's
a big change because before, as we'll see in this chapter, before someone is saved they are called
enemies and they do not have peace with God. They actually have the wrath of God against them. Keep
your place there and let's look at this in John chapter number three. John chapter number three.
See the way that God views the unsaved is not a neutral feeling. Now God has at one point showed
love to the whole world. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that
whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life. But here's the thing,
because of sin, because of people being unsaved, he actually has a feeling of wrath against them.
I'll show you that in verse 36. The Bible says in John 3, 36, "He that believeth on the Son
hath everlasting life, and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God
abideth on him." Right? So God's feeling towards the unsaved is that of wrath, and not just wrath,
abiding wrath, meaning that God is mad at the world. God's angry at the wicked every day,
the Bible says. And until someone gets saved, that wrath is not going to be taken away from them.
That wrath is continually abiding on them. And what's worse is that if someone continues in a
state of being unsaved and dies and goes to hell, the wrath of God is going to be on them for all of
eternity. So that's no small thing when the Bible says, "Hey, being justified by faith, we have peace
with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." One more thing I want to show you, go to first or second
Thessalonians chapter one, rather, second Thessalonians chapter number one, because in
the book of Romans, you see things like for the wages of sin is death. And some people will see
words like death, destruction, and they will say, "Well, that must means you get burned up when you
go to hell. That must means you cease to exist." But John 3 talks about the wrath of God abiding
on someone. Then we see in second Thessalonians chapter number one, notice what it says in verse
eight, "In flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God and that obey the gospel
of our Lord Jesus Christ." Seems like God's wrath is abiding on these people, that he's taking
vengeance on them in flaming fire. Notice verse nine, "Who shall be punished with everlasting
destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power." See, the Bible defines
and describes someone going to hell as destruction, no doubt about that. It calls it death, it calls
it destruction, but it's not the type of death and destruction we're thinking of, it's everlasting
destruction. Jesus talks about in Mark chapter number nine, how you'd rather cut out your own
eye, you'd rather chop off your own hand, you'd rather do these horrible things than suffer the
hell fire, which is not going to be quenched, and your worm is not going to die. He talks
about just saying like you're going to be burning in hell for all of eternity. God's wrath is going
to be abiding on you. So look, go back to Romans five. That is no small statement right there in
your Bible that we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. That is an amazing blessing
because the alternative is the worst horror you could think of, an eternity in hell. And so as far
as your soul is concerned, as far as your destination of where you're headed, here's what changes when
you get saved, you have peace with God. And of course, God could be angry with us in this life
and chastise us for our sins, but you know what, overall though, it's peace because we're saved,
we're going to heaven. Look at verse number two, it says, "By whom also we have," notice this word,
"Access by faith into this grace wherein we stand and rejoice in hope of the glory of God."
What changes when you get saved? Number one, you have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Here's another great thing that changes when you get saved is that you now have access. You have
access. What is it that you have access to? Well, one of the things you have access to
is grace. Keep your place here. Go to Ephesians chapter two. Now, the Calvinists teach this
completely backwards. The Calvinists teach that you get grace and then you have access to faith.
They'll say God just chooses arbitrarily to bestow grace on someone and by God forcing this grace on
someone, that person will believe as a result of that. It's the exact opposite of what the Bible
says. We have access into this grace wherein we stand. How? Through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Look at Ephesians two, verse number eight. It says, "For by grace are ye saved through faith."
How is it that you obtain grace? It's through faith. You have to have the faith first in
order to receive the grace. Because here's the thing, God's grace is offered to all. It's not
like God has decided, has predestined some people to go to heaven and to go to hell. No, God's grace
has appeared to all men Titus talks about. But here's the difference between someone who's going
to receive God's grace and someone who is not going to receive it, but rather have the wrath
of God abiding on him. Are you going to believe the gospel or not? See, it's through faith that
you obtain grace. Notice what it says, for by grace are you saved through faith and that not
of yourselves. It is the gift of God. And the Calvinist will say, see, look, faith is the gift
of God. What a terrible doctrine. What an evil, wicked doctrine to say that God just creates
souls. God just creates babies. God just creates humans to be born in this world and they have no
chance of going to heaven. Nothing that they did. They're just predestined to go to hell.
They didn't even get a chance to believe the gospel. No, God just decided to create these
eternal souls and just damn them to hell with no choice of their own. No, that's garbage.
The gift of God is not faith. The gift of God is grace. That's what it is. But how do you obtain
that gift? It's through faith. Faith is a choice. Faith is a decision to put your trust in what the
Lord Jesus Christ did. Verse nine, "Not of works, lest any man should boast." See, salvation is not
of works, meaning not of going to church, not of repenting of your sins, not of pithing, not of
keeping the commandments. But then the Calvinist will go, "Faith is a work. Oh, faith is a work."
So faith can't be something that you have a choice in. Otherwise, that's you boasting. You're saying
that man has a part in salvation by his own work of believing. Believing is not a work, folks.
Trusting is not a work. Someone else did the work for us. It's Jesus. He's the one that died on the
cross. He's the one that went to hell and rose again. Us trusting in him, deciding to do that,
you know, that's not work. That's ridiculous. So Calvinism, of course, is evil and stupid,
and Romans 5 debunks it as well. Go back to Romans chapter number five. Actually,
I'm sorry. Before we go back to Romans chapter five, I'm thinking of another verse here. Go to
Hebrews four, Hebrews chapter number four, because I'm thinking of this idea of how the Bible says
that we have peace with God when we get saved. What's another thing we have? We have access.
What is it that we have access to? Well, we have access to grace. And look at Hebrews chapter number
four. It says in verse 15, for we have not in high priest, which cannot be touched with the feelings
of our infirmities, but was in all points tempted like as we are yet without sin. Let us therefore
come boldly notice unto the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time
of need. We have access to the grace of salvation, obviously through faith, but also once you're
saved, you have that access into the throne room of God, the throne of grace, where you're able to
bring your requests to God and to just have his ear at any time to have Jesus Christ, the great high
priest, be able to be our intercessor in prayer. That's a great blessing that we have as someone
who is saved. You know, there's lots of verses in the Bible talking about how God doesn't hear the
prayer of the wicked. God, you know, the prayer of the wicked is an abomination unto him. There's
times in Jeremiah where God says, don't even pray for these people. I'm not even going to listen
to your prayer for these people. So we have that access into prayer, access into the throne of grace
by faith. Go back to Romans chapter number five. So those are two things that change when we get
saved, by whom also we have access, verse two, by faith into this grace wherein we stand and rejoice
in hope of the glory of God, right? And hope in the King James Bible is not necessarily the same
way we use hope, like, you know, hope to see you next week, hope to see a soul winning or something
like that. You know, hope in the King James Bible is a strong assurance, a strong confidence. You know,
we're rejoicing in hope of the glory of God. Hey, we know that the Lord Jesus Christ is going to
come back someday. Hey, we know that the dead saints' bodies are going to be resurrected,
that we're going to get glorified bodies someday, that we're going to live eternally with God in
heaven and on the new heaven and new earth. Hey, we rejoice in the hope of these things. It's not
like a, "Well, maybe." No, we believe these things. We know these things are going to happen.
We rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Verse three, "And not only so, but we glory in tribulations
also, knowing that tribulation worketh patience." Here's another thing that changes when you get
saved. It's not necessarily that you're going to go through hardship because whether you're
saved or unsaved, you're going to go through hardship in your life. You're going to go through
problems. You know, everyone's parents die. People get cancer. People are victims of violent crimes.
People go through divorce. People go through horrific things in their life. So it's not like,
you know, by being saved, you're going to have problems or by being unsaved, you're going to
have problems. You're both going to have problems. But here's one thing that actually changes for the
better when you get saved is that there's actually meaning in your suffering when you're saved.
There's actually some silver lining in the dark clouds of life when you are saved because we have
hope to look forward to there's things that God can be working on in our lives behind the scenes
where it's like if you're unsaved it's just God's wrath is abiding on you and your life sucks and
you're going through hard stuff and then you're going to die and go to hell for all of eternity
the end that's not cool that's not fun and look here's the thing it may be possible that by
getting saved you might even have more hardship in your lives because yea and all that will live
godly in christ jesus shall suffer persecution psalm 119 i think it's verse 71 says it is good
for me that i have been afflicted that i might learn thy statutes right so there's a purpose
in our hardships as christians you know it's good for us to be afflicted it's good for us to be
brought low at times it's good for us to experience hardship and pain why so that we can learn god's
statutes so that we could be humbled and be reminded in ourselves how much that we need the
lord jesus christ how much we need church and each other and god's word and prayer you know if
everything went perfectly in your life you'd be a terrible person if you could just sit down and
write your little wish list for life like god is some sort of genie or something you would screw
up your life with your wish list the things that you and i think that we want sometimes and we may
even pray for you know may not be according to god's will and sometimes god says no to help us
to bless us in situations and not only does sometimes god not give us the things that we
want sometimes he gives us things that we think we don't want like persecution like hardship like
the world raging against you like some sort of you know battles that you go through in life
battles as a church you know a lot of times we're not really looking for these things
they kind of just find us right and why does God do this I believe God is always giving us trials
battles tribulations to teach us something through those battles which is why it's so important to
endure through hardship so that you can come out the other side purified like gold you know learning
the lessons that God has for you to learn but it's like if you're going to go through trials and
tribulations and then you quit what's the rejoicing in that you know Paul's saying here hey we rejoice
in a tribulation that's an attitude that the world does not have when you're going through
hardship when you're going through battles usually people's knee-jerk reactions not to rejoice but
what did Jesus say hey if people speak evil of you leap for joy rejoice be exceeding glad for great
is your reward in heaven you know we should be reminded of those things it says we glory
in tribulations also knowing that tribulation worketh patience see having patience is a good
quality in a person right building character having patience in life and again if we never
had to have patience in life and just as soon as we wanted something we got it we would become
spoiled brats we would become prideful jerks and you look at people in this world who are very very
rich and you know what they can give themselves anything that their heart desires are they usually
receptive to the gospel are they usually humble and wanting to learn from God's word or are they
prideful arrogant jerks that's usually the case notice verse four and patience experience and
experience hope right so when you go through a problem and issue a trial a tribulation in your
life and you're actually patient and you endure that tribulation you get this thing called
experience right which is wisdom having seen things happen in the past having seen God come
through for you in the past then you're given this thing called hope knowing that hey I've seen God's
promises come true in the past I've seen him carry us through battles and you could have hope for
the future whereas the world can just despair at times you know we've you know throughout our
country's history there's been many times where people have gone through really hard financial
seasons and the world without Christ I mean they're wondering are they going to starve is our kids
going to starve but it's like we have the bible hey seek ye first the kingdom of God and all these
things shall be added unto you we have that hope knowing hey God's not going to forsake us God
knows the number of hairs on our head you know God has us in his hand hey he will take care of you
we can know those things we could have that hope verse five and hope maketh not ashamed now ashamed
is also a word that is not always used the way that we use it in our modern vernacular we think
ashamed we think like blushing embarrassed right but oftentimes to not be ashamed in the bible
means that you're not going to be forsaken or you're not going to be let down that god's not
going to let you down and so it says hey hope maketh not ashamed why because the love of god
is shed abroad in our hearts by the holy ghost which is given unto us hey what's another thing
that changes when you get saved is that nothing can separate you from god's love that's not the
case for the unsaved they absolutely can be separated from the love of god the bible's full
of verses talking about god hating the wicked god saying hey all their wickedness was in gilgal
there i hated them hey i'll love them no more bible talks tons about this kind of stuff
but for us you know we'll never be separated from the love of god why what's another thing
that changes when you get saved you get the holy ghost okay go to ephesians chapter number one
because notice how it says the love of god is shed abroad in our hearts by the holy ghost which is
given unto us ephesians chapter number one notice what it says in verse 13 in whom ye also trusted
that's christ after that ye heard the word of truth the gospel of your salvation in whom also
after that ye believed you were sealed with that holy spirit of promise which is the earnest of our
inheritance until the redemption of the purchase possession unto the praise of his glory so when
you get saved of course what had to happen you had to hear the word of truth the gospel
and you had to what believe it which the bible uses the word trust synonymously with belief so
from this we can learn believe does not mean do good works right because people will say oh yeah
of course salvation is just by believing and believing means being faithful in your service
for god doing good works doing all these things no no believing means trust that is the biblical
definition when you trust he gives us notice we're sealed with that holy spirit of promise
again that's a big difference between us and the unsaved that's a big thing that changes when you
get saved is that you get sealed with the holy spirit of god and by being sealed with the holy
spirit of god you know our spirit bears witness with god's spirit knowing that we are the children
of god right so we experience the love of god we know that we're saved also the holy spirit leads
us and guides us into all truth so when you read the bible it helps us to understand
jesus said that he will teach you all things so you don't need a man to teach you you can
learn everything right from the bible with the help of the holy ghost these are things that not
people in the old testament did not necessarily have right the old testament the holy ghost came
upon people temporarily and enable them to do a great work for god enable them to do something
great but people in the old testament were not permanently indwelled with the holy spirit in the
new testament when we believe we're indwelled for how long until the redemption of the purchase
possession unto the praise of his glory it says that it's an earnest right and those of you who
have purchased the house before are familiar with that term that you have to put down some earnest
money making it clear like i'm serious about this deal i really want to buy this house and you're
kind of putting your money on the line there because oftentimes if you walk away from the deal
you're not going to be able to recoup that earnest payment well us as we'll keep learning throughout
the book of romans the bible promises us that we are going to have glorified bodies someday
that god is going to change this corruptible flesh into incorruptible like jesus right and so here's
the thing we're saved right now we're not going to be saved in the future our souls are saved right
now but there are additional aspects of our salvation that we have not yet received the
changing of our body we have not yet received so what has god given us as that earnest showing hey
i'm serious about this he's given us the sealing of the holy spirit that when it says there the
until the redemption of the purchase possession unto the praise of his glory i believe that's
just saying hey that's when the whole package of salvation is going to be done that's when you got
the glorified body and of course you're saved and in heaven with the lord go back to romans chapter
five oh you're saying that you can just get saved there's no change oh there's lots of changes
peace with god the holy spirit access to grace access to the throne room of god oh there's a
lot that changes when you get saved no matter who you are there could be even more things that
change when you actually walk in the spirit as well but you know what not everyone's going to
immediately clean up their life as soon as they get saved but at least they have peace with god
for eternity notice verse number six it says for when we were yet without strength in due time
christ died for the ungodly translation christ died for all because guess what the bible says in
romans 3 for all have sinned so who are the ungodly everyone calvinists in due time christ died for who
the elect only know for the ungodly that's everyone for scarcely meaning rarely for a righteous man
will one die yet per adventure perhaps by chance possibly per adventure for a good man some would
even dare to die so look putting your life on the line and dying for a righteous man is extremely
rare in this world and all you have to know to see that this is true is watch any video of a
traumatic event a shooting an emergency most people are just tucking tail and running that's
just human nature for the most part you know they're getting out of there they're only worried
about their own skin but you know what thank god for this there's some people that have like more
of a protective mindset and they're willing to do what needs to be done to protect people and look
some people would do this maybe not for the ungodly maybe not for the wicked but maybe some
people would do this for a righteous man and i think that us men i hope you could relate to this
because it's like hey you should die for your wife if you were called to do so you should be
willing to die for your children if you were called to do so but of course your wife and your children
in your eyes are special in comparison to the rest of the world you know if i told you hey are you
willing to die for your wife most men in a second be like yes what have i said hey are you willing
to die for the fentanyl addict that's passed out on the side of the road right there no right you're
going to think like well you know i've got things to do in life i've got family to take care of i've
got people that need me i've got people that love me and you just think like no i probably wouldn't
die for that type of person but here's the thing this is the comparison that god's making here
verse 8 but god commended his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners christ died for us
see here's the analogy we can understand okay dying for a righteous man i get that dying for
your wife i could see that dying for your kids i could see that hey maybe dying for your friends
i could see that dying for your church members i can maybe see that but it's like wait a second
dying for the drug addicted derelict fentanyl addict on the side of the road wait a second
dying for the you know drunk dying for the robber dying for the rapist dying for the blasphemer
dying for all these people it's like i don't want to give up my life for those people i don't want
to you know leave my wife a widow leave my children orphans for some fentanyl drug addict that
doesn't even appreciate his own life that's kind of the human understanding but it's like okay but
here's the thing humans level of love is nowhere near god's level of love because god actually
commended his love towards us he demonstrated it he gave his love toward us how by when we
were yet sinners christ died for us so it's not it's not well christ died for people after they
were sorry for their sin after they repented of their sin and started going down the right track
you know the the worldly mind could say all right i can understand you know they put in their part
and then god dies for them nope that's not the love of god the love of god was he died for the
ungodly he died for the sinners christ died for the drug addict christ died for the alcoholic
christ died for the blasphemer christ died for the adulterer christ died for the fornicator christ
died for all that is the love of god and the bible says greater love hath no man than this that a man
lay down his life for his friends right so sacrificing your life is a great demonstration
of love and look i think that there's different types of people god made different types of people
obviously no one's going to be able to surpass god's love god is the ultimate expression of love
but you know what i do think that maybe god has kind of called you to have more of a protector's
heart maybe you care about being that way you know people who conceal carry every single day
you're doing that why because you're willing to protect you're willing to protect your family
you're willing to protect others you know i think that we should try to up our level of love
and not only care about our own skin but if we can do good to anyone help them you know the bible
says i don't want to misquote it but i think it's in galatians it says as much as life in you no it
says as much as possible do good unto all men especially to those who are of the household of
faith i may be off a tiny bit on that but i hope you get what i'm saying hey do good to all men
right especially to the household of faith so us as christians how should we demonstrate our love
of course by sacrificing for your wife of course by sacrificing for your children of course by loving
your friends but you know what we should be willing to sacrifice for all we should be willing to
demonstrate our love for all because that's the love that god showed toward the world and this
could be in a very easy way like going out and preaching the gospel sorry but i think that's a
pretty easy way to demonstrate love by just walking around knocking on people's doors asking them if
they were going to die today if they would go to heaven look that's a great way to demonstrate love
and it's a pretty easy way to demonstrate love it's the most important way to demonstrate love
but thankfully you know the most important way in my opinion is pretty easy compared to other ways
of showing love like dying for someone right and you know we could see this maybe in little more
miniscule areas of life someone is injured someone needs first aid someone is stranded
someone needs help you know i think it should be christians that are known as the people hey
christians are going to respond to danger they if there's a christian man in a situation he's going
to be the protector he's going to care for others he's going to render aid he's going to help other
people i just think that you know obviously we should die for our wife and kids but i think that
we should be willing to put ourselves in danger even for other people and love other people
because that's the love of god was dying not just for the righteous dying for even the ungodly and
of course no one no one knows how they're going to react in a situation like that until they're
actually in that so talk is obviously cheap i'm just saying like it's good to have this mentality
in your mind that if there's something crazy going on that you would try your best to help
that you'd want to help people and not just be the person that just oh you know people are bleeding
out people are hurting a car crash and it's just like be warmed and filled may your blood be
clotted have a good day right it's like you want to actually try which is why i really encourage
men especially to learn some good first aid learn some trauma first aid moms know how to help choking
infants all that stuff moms know how to control bleeding we've seen some of you with knives it's
kind of scary right you never know when that kind of stuff's going to happen you should be willing
to step in in those situations verse number nine says much more than being now justified by his
blood we shall be saved from wrath through him notice that we're justified through the blood of
Jesus Christ and this is not just some sort of picture this is not some sort of allegory for
something else like false prophets like John MacArthur have taught in the past no we are
justified through the blood of Christ Christ went with his own blood into the holiest of holies
into the real mercy seat in heaven he sprinkled that blood on the altar we are justified by the
shedding of his blood and anyone teaching that you don't need the blood of Christ to be saved
that it's just a metaphor that it's just symbolic that person's a false prophet you want to know why
John MacArthur is burning in hell right now is because he was not justified by the blood of
Christ because he rejected the blood of Christ not only did he reject the blood of Christ he
rejected the gospel being by faith instead he taught this Calvinist work salvation of you know
doing good things to get to heaven so guess what being justified by his blood we shall be saved
from wrath through him what's that going to hell and that's exactly what John MacArthur is
experiencing right now is the flames of hell for all of eternity verse 10 the bible says for if
when we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his son much more being reconciled
we shall be saved by his life notice before you were saved you were classified as an enemy so not
only did christ die for the ungodly not only did he die for us when we were yet sinners he died for
his enemies i mean we talked about the seven sayings of christ on the cross and the first one we
talked about was father forgive them for they know not what they do who did jesus die for the romans
that pierced his side the romans that nailed the nails into his hand the people that were physically
there with him at the cross he died for those people he died for the people that blasphemed him
that spit in his face that mocked him hey he died for his enemies and notice how we're saved it says
much more being reconciled we shall be saved by his life oh to be saved you have to give your life
to christ you have to turn your whole life over to christ no you're saved by his life there's one
person's life that brings eternal life and that's the lord jesus christ jesus said hey the father
hath life in himself and he's given the son to have life in himself jesus of course is that bread
of life that gives eternal life to the whole world verse 11 and not only so but we also joy in god
through our lord jesus christ by whom we have now received the atonement so that's another great
thing that changes when you get saved is that you have joy in god you have joy in the holy spirit
knowing that you have received the atonement that's something to think about anytime you're down
i know it's cliche but it's like hey anytime you're down anytime you're depressed at least
you're saved at least you're not going to go to hell when you die at least your sins are forgiven
at least you've received the atonement now the rest of this chapter is going to be talking a lot
about adam who adam is a picture of the lord jesus christ let's keep reading verse 12 verse
number 12 says wherefore as by one man sin entered into the world and death by sin and so death passed
upon all men for that all have sinned go to if you would genesis chapter number two and we'll
remind ourselves of this story here when it's saying one man that is talking about of course
adam the first man genesis chapter number two notice what it says in verse 15 it says in the
lord god took the man and put him into the garden of eden to dress it and to keep it by the way just
as an aside people say oh the reason why men have to work is because of sin wrong god gave man work
to do before sin ever happened he put adam in the garden to dress and keep the garden don't look at
work as a curse from god work is a blessing from the lord keeping going here verse 16 and the lord
commanded lord god commanded the man saying of every tree of the garden thou mayst freely eat
but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil thou shalt not eat of it for in the day that thou
eatest thereof thou shalt surely die what is the clear words from god hey of all these trees you
can eat but not the tree of the knowledge of good and evil because if you eat of that tree
in that very day you will die now of course when the devil starts getting an eve's ear the devil
does what he does best which is twist scripture try to put doubt on scripture trying to get you
to say well you know is that really what the bible was saying there which a lot of false prophets
love to do just twist what the bible says put down on what the bible says let's look at it
genesis three verse one now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the lord
god had made and he said unto the woman yea hath god said ye shall not eat of every tree of the
garden uh no that's actually not what god said he said you could eat of every tree of the garden
except one except this one tree but the devil just often comes in asking questions you know it's
weird when you people are preaching when when preachers are preaching pastors whole ministries
and you just walk away with more questions than answers you walk away from a sermon more confused
than at the beginning that's a that's a bad sign that's a red flag you know i'm thinking of a
preacher in idaho where like the majority of his sermon titles are questions and it's like i'm not
against a sermon title being a question every once in a while but it's weird when it's just
always a question ye have god said you shall not eat of every tree of the garden and the woman said
under the serpent we may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden but of the fruit of the tree
which is in the midst of the garden god hath said ye shall not eat of it neither shall you touch it
lest ye die now if you paid attention to what god said to adam he said don't eat of this specific
tree he said nothing about touching it and you know oftentimes by what comes out of people's mouth
you could get a feel for how much they know or how much they don't know and here i think eve was
weak here in her bible knowledge if you will in her understanding and her grasp of the word of god
and you know what the devil and the devil's workers oftentimes like to take advantage of that
because god did not say that at the end but she says that he said that and notice in verse four
and the serpent said unto the woman ye shall not surely die so now after the subtlety after he's
broken her down a little bit what the devil does will just come right out and negate the word of
god just tell you no what god said isn't true nope you will not surely die for god doth know
that in the day ye eat thereof then your eyes shall be opened and ye shall be as gods knowing
good and evil and when the woman saw that the tree was good for food so she's looking at the
tree wow this tree looks so good and that it was pleasant to the eyes and a tree to be desired to
make one wise she took of the fruit thereof and did eat and gave also under her husband with her
and he did eat so here adam knew the command but eve starts talking to the devil the devil's
whispering in her ear the devil puts doubt on the word of god then the devil just negates the word
of god and eve starts to lust eve starts to look at the tree and think about how good it is and
think about what the devil just said and finally she just takes that fruit and notice how when
people sin they often don't just sin themselves they want to get other people involved in their
sin and adam just has a horrible weak moment here man the common sins of man are really described
in this story where adam knew what was right but you know what adam had this written on his wall
probably happy wife happy life right and adam's just like well you know if the boss says if the
boss says we're gonna eat this apple i want to make sure to keep her happy and he just goes along
with it and so even though it was eve that sinned the bible holds adam accountable right through
one man sin entered the world you know this don't let your ladies choose where to go to eat because
the last time it happened the whole world was damned all right we know best ladies no i'm just
kidding but no seriously though you know the men need to step up take charge in their life and not
let the wife be the spiritual leader of the home the bible talks about this in the epistles to
timothy saying hey the man was not deceived the bible clearly states the man was not deceived
adam did not think like oh maybe this tree you know will be great for us oh you know maybe the
devil's right about his interpretation of scripture adam knew what was right adam knew that what god
said was true and yet adam went along with it anyways you know what that tells me is that
leadership is not just knowing what's right leadership is not just i know the bible really
well leadership is having the spine to force people to make the right decisions and to say hey
nope you're not doing this nope we're not going down this path and you know what you have to do
i tell this this isn't going to become a marriage sermon all right we're in romans 5 but i tell
this to guys and i really mean this at times you just have to let your wife be mad at you you just
have to be okay with your wife being mad at you because there are times where you know what's
right and she's deceived and she's wrong and she's emotional and look god just made us different
they've got way more hormones going through their body they're dealing with their own struggles this
isn't to like be down on women or something like that but just the bible teaches that there's
situations where the husband knows what's right he's not deceived but yet his wife is wrong and
he just gives in happy wife happy life not true look leaders you have to be willing to say no
you have to be willing to be disliked you have to be willing to make people mad and look it's not
fun when you have to do this just being honest sometimes it could be lonely sometimes you just
like hate it because though you had to make someone mad though you had to be the person
that says no though you have to be the bad guy it's not like you don't love this person greatly
you do it's not like you don't want to be this person's friend you like them you want to be
your friend but what's more important than being people's friend is doing and preaching what's
right and so like that's what adam should have done here that's why adam is held responsible for
the sins listed here go back to romans 5 and so it's through adam it's through adam that sin
entered into the world which again i mean the bible doesn't specifically say this verbatim
this is a little more you know on opinion but i do believe this is i believe that the reason why the
virgin birth was so important is because the bible seems to indicate that the sin and nature of man
is passed on through man through the father so if jesus is born of a virgin hey how come he
didn't sin because he didn't have that sin nature he was fully man but he did not have that sin
nature it says where we at here verse number 13 for until the law sin was in the world but
sin is not imputed where there is no law so until the law what is that talking about that's talking
about from the time of adam to the time where god gave the 10 commandments that's what the law is
and of course that's when the law was actually given formally where it was
hodified in the bible saying even when there was no law even when god hadn't formally given his
commandments even before the 10 commands were given sin was in the world but sin is not imputed
where there is no law nevertheless death reigned from adam to moses even over them that had not
sinned after the similitude of adam's transgression who is the figure of him that was to come so you
say huh well there was no law given from adam to moses yet death reigned from adam to moses
even if people didn't sin the exact same type of sin that adam sinned right and it's kind of like
well how is this how is this happening well number one the bible talks about how the law of god is
written on our conscience on our heart and people just know what's right and god does not have to
formally tell you not to do something for you to know that something is wrong now of course
why does the law come because of transgressions well who is the law for the law is for sinners
right but it's remember when pastor Shelley was preaching here there is no law there is no law in
this church there is no rule in the bulletin that says thou shalt not graffiti all over the walls
but if someone did that then there might have to be a formal pronouncement given for that if
someone did that i would still be angry at them they're still sinning and just like god had not
yet said thou shalt not kill when cain killed god was mad right and other situations like that when
men are sinning god is angry even before he formally gave the law so there's there's one
definition of sin where it's like sin is the transgression of the law that is true but the
bible also talks about how love is the fulfilling of the law so what's one way you could look at
sin anything that's not loving is sinful anything that's not loving god anything that's not loving
your neighbor is sinful and so god doesn't necessarily have to spell out exactly every
single possible thing that someone can do wrong is just wrong objectively you know god has just
created us this way you know makes me think about some some rules i've seen created as a result of
transgressions that you would have never expected i played baseball my whole life and i remember in
high school playing at this facility and there's these signs everywhere that says do not bring your
llamas onto the baseball field i'm just like okay yeah yeah i'm down with this you know i don't want
to play with llamas on the field but i'm just like how did this happen who thought let's bring the
llamas on the baseball field and so it's like you know mankind is just doing stupid stuff and of
course god's giving law hey if weird stuff started happening in church there might be some really
specific rules where it's like don't do this very specific thing but here's the thing death is still
reigning from adam to moses so even without god formally giving the law they're still dying
people who are unsaved are still going to hell then it says in verse number 15 or wait before
i move on to that so the question is okay if god is still sending people to hell before there's a
formal law if people are still sinning before there's a formal law then what is the need for
the law it's a good question skip ahead to verse number 20 the bible explains why moreover the law
entered that the offense might abound but where sin abounded grace did much more abound see when
there's there's a difference between someone bringing their llama on the baseball field for
the first time when there was no rules i'm sure whoever's owning the field is going to be upset
by that but there's a different level of accountability between that and between after
there's multiple signs that say don't bring your llamas on the baseball field you know your wrath
and the amount of accountability you have is actually going to be higher in the second situation
so it's funny people are like oh god was angry and mean in the old testament but now in the new
testament he's so gracious and loving and kind and god is gracious and loving and kind but here's
the thing we're going to be held more accountable for our sins we're going to be held more accountable
for the things that we hear out of the word of god because we have so much more specificity given
to us in the word of god we have the complete canon of scripture we have all of the law and the
prophets and the poet poetry books and the historical books and the whole new testament
and prophecy i mean we are without excuse and we've got a good church to go to and we're
edified by brethren that know the bible really well i mean god's gonna hold us to a higher
standard than he held even cain then he held other people and so that's the purpose of the law now
let's go to verse 15 but not as the offense so also is the free gift i love those words there
that salvation is a free gift for if through the offense of one many be dead much more the grace
of god and the gift by grace which is by one man jesus christ hath abounded unto many so how is
adam a picture of christ he's a picture of christ but kind of in the inverse that's why he's saying
not as the offense so not in this way not in the way that sin happened so is the free gift one man
sin enters in the world the righteousness of one man jesus christ is how people are saved let's look
at this in first corinthians 15 first corinthians chapter number 15 notice what it says in verse 21
for since by man came death by man came also the resurrection of the dead for as in adam all die
even so in christ shall all be made alive so first corinthians 15 is getting really specific
of how adam is a picture of christ go back to roman's chapter five roman's chapter number five
look at verse number 16 it's just going to kind of say very similar things multiple times here if
you ever try to memorize chapters of the bible roman's five is one of the hardest chapters to
memorize as we'll see here verse 16 and not as it was by one that sinned so is the gift for the
judgment was by one to condemnation but the free gift is of many offenses unto justification
right so one sin damns the whole world then by jesus's righteous life many offenses
are forgiven and we're justified through christ verse 17 uh for if by one man's offense death
reigned by one much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness
shall reign in life by one jesus christ so we talk about the imputed righteousness of christ how
christ lived a perfect life jesus never sinned and notice how it says that it's the gift of
righteousness right so that's jesus's righteousness being bestowed on us as a gift it's not saying
that you're being righteous to get to heaven because he just got done saying a bunch of times
that it's a free gift that it's of grace verse 18 therefore as by the offense of one judgment came
upon all men to condemnation even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon
all men unto justification of life right so people say oh yeah you just got to live a righteous life
what does it take to get to heaven oh be righteous do good do things that are right no no it's only
through the righteousness of one there's only one that's ever been righteous and by his righteousness
you get the what free gift that comes upon all men unto justification of life doing good works
that doesn't make it a gift that makes you earning something verse 19 for us by one man's disobedience
many were made sinners so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous i mean how many
different ways can he say it oh what do you have to do to get to heaven obey god obey his commandments
obey the bible no no it's just by the obedience of one you can't obey all god's commandments you
can't get to heaven by your works it's by the obedience of one then he explains what i just
mentioned earlier it's like okay well then why have the law then if the law if if god's condemning
people if people are in sin before the law is given why have the law moreover the law entered
that the offense might abound see you're supposed to read the bible and look at the bible and say
look how many offenses i have look how many transgressions i have look at how far i fall
short of the glory of god look at how far off track i am from being righteous look at how far
i how far i fall short from obeying god right but people who don't actually read the bible they say
i'm righteous i obey god i'm a good person i'm doing pretty good i obey the commandments you
must not be reading the law then because the law entered that the offense might abound and whether
you are saved or unsaved you will transgress the law of god what is that called sin you will sin
every single day and you know what the bible the law is supposed to show us how badly we need
salvation from an outside source of ourselves because if it's just left to us all we're going
to come to the conclusion of is man that sin just keeps abounding man the offense just keeps
abounding but here's the good news notice but where sin abounded grace did much more abound
so notice this doesn't say well if you sin a little you have a limit of up to five sins you
have a limit of up to 10 sins or something like that no it's like where sin abounds right i mean
sin is just bubbling over sin is just abounding people are just sinning tons all the time the
only people that don't think that they sin a lot are people who really really sin a lot being
prideful right and so where sin abounds here's the good news grace much more abounds right
because jesus christ's righteousness is bestowed upon us so guess what i stand before you as a
pastor telling you that i will sin in the future and so will you but here's the good news that
doesn't make us unsaved no the grace of god will continue to abound this is a great way to prove
that you can never lose your salvation because people say oh yeah yeah you're saved but after
you're saved if you do something bad then you'll go to hell no no no the bible says that grace
abounds even more now of course this is going to lead to next week where you ask well should we
just sin then and the answer is obviously no but i want to show you just another great verse here
go to john chapter number five john chapter number five we're almost done this evening
you cannot lose your salvation the apostle paul makes it very clear jesus makes it very clear in
verse 24 of john 5 probably my favorite verse on eternal security jesus said verily verily i say
unto you he that heareth my word and believeth on him that sent me remember believe is what trust
hath everlasting life he says when you believe you have present tense everlasting life how long does
everlasting last oh until you sin no no no it means forever it's not you have eternal life you're
saved until you do something bad no no you have everlasting life and shall not come into condemnation
hey those that are condemned are going to hell those who are damned are going to hell if you
believe you have everlasting life you shall not come into condemnation it says but is passed from
death unto life notice salvation once you're saved it is a past tense thing to speak about
you are passed from death unto life this is why we ask people are you 100 sure if you die today
that you would go to heaven because guess what i am 100 sure i hope you're 100 sure in here
why am i sure because i live a good life because i keep god's commandments because i obey god no
no no no i read the bible i see the law of god and i see the offense of bounding but when you
believe on christ you're passed from death unto life it's already happened hey where sin abounds
grace doth much more abound you cannot lose your salvation by the way anyone who thinks you can
lose your salvation is unsaved and is going to go to hell you could get up here and you can tell
me oh i believe jesus is god oh i believe jesus died on the cross oh i believe salvation is by
faith but i mean if you sin then you'll lose your salvation you're not saved you're going to hell
why because you're trusting in yourself to save you you could say i believe in jesus but what
you've just revealed is that you're trusting in yourself because if you think you have to
abstain from evil or that you have to keep doing good what you're saying is you are the one that
gets yourself into heaven and you know what you're not saved and so look eternal security is a
deal breaker it's not like we could agree to disagree on eternal security that you know
believing you could lose your salvation that doctrine will never be tolerated here for an
instant and you know what people can come here and be quiet about that doctrine and learn and
hopefully get saved but you know what i'm probably going to preach about every sermon until they get
saved or leave as you as you saw earlier this year because we don't tolerate that last verse
roman chapter five roman chapter number five verse 21 the bible says that as sin hath reigned unto
death even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by jesus christ our lord hey at
one point sin is just reigning unto death we think the word reigning you know it sounds like
you're you're ruling with an iron fist you've got that power you've got that authority you know death
is just reigning over this world through sin but you know what we get what does it say there grace
reigning through righteousness unto eternal life by jesus christ our lord you know that's another
great thing that you have changed in your life when you got saved is at one point death is reigning
over you it's ruling you it's controlling you through sin now grace is reigning over our lives
not through our works not through being a good person through jesus christ our lord let's pray
thank you lord so much for sending your son jesus christ to pay the full sacrifice for our sins
lord we know we have nothing to do with us going to heaven but we're just very thankful
that that gift was offered to us i pray that you'd help us to care about not just our salvation our
family's salvation but to continue to care about the lost in our city state and world and please
please use us in a mighty way to get as many people saved in our lifetimes as possible
in jesus name we pray amen that will go ahead and sing one last song to conclude the service if you
would take your hymnals and turn to hymn number 430 while shepherds watch their flock hymn number
430 start there right on the first