All right, go ahead and open your Bibles to Matthew chapter number one.
Matthew chapter number one, if you don't have a Bible, there should be a Bible under the
seat in front of you.
Matthew chapter one.
Matthew one, the Bible reads, the book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of
David, the son of Abraham.
Abraham begot Isaac, and Isaac begot Jacob, and Jacob begot Judas and his brethren, and
Judas begot Phares and Zerah of Thamar, and Phares begot Asram, and Asram begot Aram,
and Aram begot Amenadab, and Amenadab begot Nason, and Nason begot Salmon, and Salmon
begot Boaz of Rakab, and Boaz begot Obed of Ruth, and Obed begot Jesse, and Jesse begot
David the king, and David the king begot Solomon of her that had been the wife of Uriah.
And Solomon begot Rehoboam, and Rehoboam begot Abia, and Abia begot Asa, and Asa begot Josephat,
and Josephat begot Joram, and Joram begot Ozias, and Ozias begot Joatham, and Joatham
begot Achaz, and Achaz begot Ezekiel, and Ezekiel begot Manasseh, and Manasseh begot
Amen, and Amen begot Josias, and Josias begot Jeconias and his brethren, about the time
that they carried away to Babylon.
And after they were brought to Babylon, Jeconias begot Salathiel, and Salathiel begot Zerubbabel,
and Zerubbabel begot Abiad, and Abiad begot Eliakim, and Eliakim begot Azor, and Azor
begot Sadok, and Sadok begot Achim, and Achim begot Eliad, and Eliad begot Eleazar, and
Eleazar begot Mathan, and Mathan begot Jacob, and Jacob begot Joseph, the husband of Mary,
of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ.
So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations, and from David
until the carrying away into Babylon are fourteen generations, and from the carrying away into
Babylon unto Christ are fourteen generations.
Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise, when as his mother Mary was espoused
to Joseph before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost.
Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not willing to make her a public example,
was minded to put her away privily.
But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in
a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife,
for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost, and she shall bring forth a son,
and thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins.
Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet
saying, Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall
call his name Immanuel, which being interpreted is God with us.
Then Joseph, being raised from sleep, did as the angel of the Lord had bidden him, and
took unto him his wife, and knew her not till she had brought forth her firstborn son, and
he called his name Jesus.
Brother Jesse, we pray for us.
Lord, just thank you for reading your word this afternoon.
The first and second Adam this evening, and some of you guys already got your nap in the
first sermon, so you might be able to get it on the second sermon, but I'm just kidding,
but kind of passive-aggressively, but this morning I preached about wise men still seeking
Jesus, but I kind of want to show, you know, in actually the chapter I'm really kind of
preaching out of is 1 Corinthians chapter 15, but that would take a half hour to read,
so I don't want a half hour to read, and then over go on the sermon.
If you have to leave for some kind of family engagement, I'm not going to be upset if you
just need to get up and leave, I'll just kick you out of the church, and that's it.
No, I'm just kidding, but I'll try to get through this quickly, but I want to show how
there's similarities between Adam and Jesus, and you think, well, how is that really possible?
Well, as we go through the sermon, you'll kind of see that, and obviously there's contrast
to Jesus Christ and Adam, where they're definitely the opposite of each other in a lot of different
ways, but they are similar in some, and I'll kind of try to point those out, and maybe
you'll see stuff in the text that I didn't see, and I definitely don't have time to go
through every single thing that I found, but I just kind of wanted to pick the ones that
I found that were the most interesting.
So the first thing that I noticed was that obviously that Adam and Jesus Christ are both
called Adam in the Bible.
So let's look, go ahead and turn, you're in Matthew chapter, let's actually look at Matthew
chapter 1 while we're there.
So Matthew chapter 1, verse 20, the Bible says,
But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in
a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife,
for that which is conceived in hers of the Holy Ghost, and she shall bring forth a son,
and thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins.
Now this is, of course, we're talking about Jesus Christ and how he was conceived of the
Holy Ghost, but now I'll have you turn to 1 Corinthians 15, verse 45, and this is kind
of where I take the title of the sermon, the first and second Adam, is because the Bible
actually says this.
So they're both called Adam, obviously Jesus Christ, his name is Jesus Christ, but Christ
means Messiah in the Bible, but Jesus is what we'd normally just call him, but he's the
Lord Jesus Christ, obviously.
1 Corinthians chapter 15, verse 45, the Bible says,
And so it is written that the first Adam, so the first Adam was made a living soul,
and the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.
So that term quickening is talking about to give or restore life, so obviously the
first Adam was made a living soul.
God made Adam out of the dust of the earth, and he was made a living soul.
So he breathed in his mouth the breath of life, the spirit came into Adam and he became
a living soul, but the last Adam, which is Jesus Christ, was made a quickening soul or
a spirit that makes people alive.
So there's a contrast there, but they're both called Adam, and Jesus is also made,
he was conceived in Mary's womb from the spirit of God, so Adam was breathed in his nostrils
the breath of life by God, the spirit made Adam alive, and then the spirit also made
Jesus Christ alive in the womb of Mary, he was born of the Virgin Mary.
So now go ahead and turn to Galatians, keep your finger in 1 Corinthians 15, we're going
to flip over to Galatians really quickly, because, you know, Jesus was made.
Now of course, Jesus has always been, but he was made as a human when he was born in
Bethlehem's manger, so Galatians 4-4 teaches this fact in other places, but Galatians 4-4
says, but when the fullness of time was come, God sent forth his son, made of a woman, made
under the law.
See how it says made there, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were
under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons, and because your sons, God has sent
forth the spirit of his son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father, wherefore, thou art
no more a servant, but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.
So obviously Adam was born to make and populate the earth, and he was supposed to bring forth
more children, and those children, because of the transgression of Adam and Eve, were
made sinners, but when Christ came, he came at a certain time, he was sent forth as his
son, made of a woman, and made under the law.
So what does that mean?
Christ did not have a sin nature like we do, and so the reason why he's called the second
Adam is because the first Adam was made without sin also.
So there was a time when Adam and Eve were sinless also, but because of what Eve, being
beguiled by the devil, and then she took and gave that fruit unto her husband, and he chose
to take that and eat it also, that plunged the world into what is called sin, but the
Bible teaches, and I'll get to that a little bit later, the Bible teaches that it's not
the woman that passes on the sin nature, but it's the man that passes the sin nature on
to the children.
But the Bible does teach that Jesus Christ was made under the law, so during the time
of the Old Covenant, and so we're obviously in the New Testament, which Jesus Christ is
why we have the New Testament, because the New Testament is made because of the blood
of Christ and the sacrifice that he did.
So now flip back to 1 Corinthians 15, verse 46, the Bible says,
Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual.
So Adam was made out of the dust of the earth, or the dirt in the ground, right?
But that which is natural, so that's what it's talking about here, and afterward that
which is spiritual.
So the second Adam is spiritual, the first Adam is of the earth, and it says,
As is, sorry, verse 47, the first man is of the earth, earthy, the second man is the Lord
from heaven.
So you see the contrast there, the first man is somebody that God created, he breathed
into his nostrils the breath of life, he was created absolutely by God, in the image
of God, and then the second man, see he's not the second man ever to be on the earth,
but he's the second man without sin.
So hopefully that makes sense to you, but it says in verse 48,
As in the earthy, such are they also that are earthy, and as is the heavenly, such are
they also that are heavenly.
And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.
This is talking about the resurrection, so we bear the image of Adam, we don't have a
spiritual body at this point, but if you are saved, when Jesus comes back, he's going to
raise up our bodies, and we're not going to have just an earthy, natural body that can
die and decay and get old and get pain, and all the ailments that we have, and some of
us older folks in here, I'm not necessarily old, but I'm getting older, and trust me,
the older you get, the more aches and pains you're going to get, and the more that getting
out of bed every morning is a little tougher than it was five years ago or whatever.
But we're going to have a body that can't die, that won't get tired, that won't have
the issues that it has now, because we're going to have that heavenly body, and that
heavenly body is a body that lasts forever, so I mean, knees don't wear out, hips don't
wear out, joints don't wear out, hopefully nose hair doesn't keep growing out, and back
hair and all that kind of stuff, men, you know what I'm talking about, but your ears
won't keep growing, your nose won't keep growing, all that kind of stuff.
Anyway, so the first thing is that both are called Adam, so the first Adam and the second
Adam is what they're called in this chapter, and it's just kind of illustrating for us
that there was a man named Adam, the first man that God ever made, he's called the first
Adam, and then you have the second Adam.
And what also does that kind of picture, well it pictures that under the Old Testament,
that Old Testament was kind of more of the carnal law, the carnal ordinances, and the
pictures of Christ to come, and that's what Adam encapsulates, he's the picture of the
true Christ that was to come, the true sinless Son of God that's going to save people from
their sins.
Luke chapter 3, turn to Luke chapter number 3, and so the second thing, the second similarity
or contrast, is both Adams are called the sons of God, both Adams are called the sons
of God.
Look at Luke 3, 23, the Bible says,
And Jesus himself began to be about 30 years of age, being, as was supposed, the son of
Joseph, which was the son of Heli.
So it has that little bracket there, as was supposed, was Jesus' true father Joseph?
No it was not, his true father was God the Father, God himself, and so Jesus Christ's
Father was God.
And so now let's skip down, so this is going to give the genealogy of Christ in backwards
order, and it's going to go back through the generations to the very first person that
was ever made, and that's Adam.
Look at verse 38, the Bible says,
Which was the son of Enos, which was the son of Seth, which was the son of Adam, which
was the son of, what's it say there?
The son of God.
So both Adams were called the son of God because Adam was made of God in his own image.
So both Adams are called the son of God, but only one is the only begotten son of God,
so that's how it's different.
Jesus Christ is the only begotten son of God, Adam was created by God, which is different.
But they were both sons of God, so what does that tell you about Adam though?
I mean people would wonder like, is Adam saved?
What do you think?
If he's called the son of God, if he's called a son of God, then do you think he's saved?
Because in the Bible when you see the term son of God, or sons of God, that means they're
saved.
But do you take it that Adam is saved?
I mean obviously he made a really big mistake, and he obviously probably feels really bad
about that, and you know he gets his face rubbed in it all the time because, you know,
he's Adam.
Adam and Eve are mentioned a lot, everybody knows who Adam and Eve are, even if they don't
believe them, they still have heard of them.
So turn to John chapter 1, 1, John chapter 1, 1.
The Bible clearly teaches that Jesus Christ is the son of God, he's the word of God.
In John 1, 1 it says,
Well you say, well Pastor Tom said say in the word, well the word is Jesus Christ, look
at verse 14.
It says,
So verse 14 tells us the mystery of who the word is, the word is God, right?
But the word was made flesh.
This is obviously talking about the Lord Jesus Christ, and so it says he's the only begotten
of the father, it doesn't say son though, does it?
But if you're begotten of somebody that means that you're their child, right?
Now look at Luke 1, Luke chapter 1, it's time to wake up from my nap.
Alright, so Luke chapter 1 verse 31, the Bible says,
Remember Nebuchadnezzar wrote the same thing in Daniel chapter 4, basically that there
was going to be him reigning forever.
So it's weird that two people, two Gentiles, and one of them wasn't even saved, he was
a false prophet, are prophesying about the star that shall come out of Jacob, and then
of course that Jesus' reign would never end.
So two similar things, that they're both called the son of God, one was begotten, one was
created, and then number three, both Adam's gave their lives for their wife.
Both Adam's gave their lives for their wife.
Look at Genesis chapter 3 verse 5, and most people, maybe you don't think of it in that
way, but I think that it's definitely true that Adam gave his life for his wife.
In the picture of Jesus Christ, obviously we are called the bride of Christ, the saved
believers are called the bride of Christ, we're not his literal bride, okay, but symbolically
we picture the bride, and so if we worshiped another god or something, that would be called,
what's God called that, hordom, spiritual adultery, and so on.
But for the picture's sake, and I think that Genesis helps us paint the picture there,
look at Genesis 3 verse 5, it says,
For God doth know that in the day that ye eat thereof, this is Satan talking, 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, 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 unto her husband with her, and he did eat.
We're like, well Pastor Thompson, that doesn't prove that he died for his wife.
Well let's look at 1 Timothy chapter 2, 1 Timothy chapter 2, it'll help us to really
kind of nail this down a little better.
And a lot of times the New Testament's going to give us, shed the light on it, and give
the commentary to what the Old Testament is teaching.
So 1 Timothy chapter 2 verse 12 says, and this is talking about just who are allowed
to be teaching in the church, but Paul gives a really good point here, he says,
But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence.
Talking about just in church, teaching, and stuff like that, and here's why.
For Adam was first formed, then Eve, and Adam was not deceived.
See that?
Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression.
So who was in the transgression?
Eve was in the transgression.
Was Adam deceived?
No he wasn't.
So why did he eat it then?
Why did he eat the fruit?
Because he died because he wanted to be in the same boat with his wife, basically.
He died probably because he thought, well we're going to just die together, I'm going
to die.
You know, symbolically, I mean obviously what he did was wrong.
And what he did affected all of us today.
But symbolically, that first Adam died for his wife, just like Jesus Christ dies later
on for the church, which he calls his bride.
Look at Ephesians chapter 5 verse 23, and it's intertwined, you know, what Ephesians
is teaching about, and Paul's teaching, and most people will take these verses and apply
them to marriage, which yes, yes you can apply them to marriage, but what Paul makes
very clear at the end of this passage is that he's talking about Christ and the church.
And he applies it to the marriage between a man and a woman and how we're supposed to
treat them and how they're supposed to treat us, but the main passage of this is actually
teaching how Christ and our relationship and what he did for us and how we should be towards
him.
So Paul says in verse 23 in Ephesians chapter 5, it says,
For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church, and he
is the savior of the body.
Now skip to verse 25, husbands love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church and gave
himself for it.
So Christ loved the church and gave himself for it.
Just like husbands are supposed to love their wives and give their life if necessary for
their wives.
Look at verse 26, that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the
word, that he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle
or any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish, so ought men to love
their wives as their own bodies, he that loveth his wife loveth himself.
For no man ever yet hated his own flesh, but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the
Lord the church.
So you see how it's teaching us how we're supposed to treat our spouses and how we're
supposed to love our wives, but it's like saying, even as the Lord the church.
So it's comparing marriage relationship to how Christ loves us.
And so I would just submit to you that Adam, even though what he did was wrong, symbolically,
I feel like he's probably doing that, and that even though what he did was sinful and
wrong and wicked or whatever, but it does picture him dying for the church like Christ
died for the church, dying for his wife, knowing that what he was doing, he did it
willfully knowing that he was going to die because of it and that she was in the transgression
and did wrong.
Look at verse 31, For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be
joined unto his wife, and they too shall be one flesh.
This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church.
So see how he says at the end, I'm not talking about the marriage relationship necessarily.
He's saying it's a great mystery how two can be one flesh.
But where do we get that teaching from?
Where does that original teaching come from?
Does anybody know?
The book of Genesis.
It comes from the book of Genesis.
So that's where we get the teaching about two becoming one flesh.
Adam married his wife and they too became one flesh.
I preached about it last week, you know, that he married his rib or whatever, right?
So the McRib, you know, anyway.
So now turn to John chapter, so of course we know that Jesus Christ is the bridegroom
in these pictures.
Go turn to Revelation chapter 19, I'm going to read John 3.29.
Turn to Revelation 19.7, I'm going to read John 3.29.
John 3.29 says, He that hath the bride is the bridegroom.
This is John the Baptist talking, saying, you know, he's proclaiming that he's not the
Christ.
He that hath the bride is the bridegroom.
But the friend of the bridegroom, which standeth and heareth him, rejoiceth greatly because
of the bridegroom's voice.
This my joy, therefore, is fulfilled.
So John's saying, I'm not the bridegroom.
Jesus is the bridegroom.
So who's the bride then?
The church, the people that he's come to save, right?
Revelation 19.7 says, Let us be glad and rejoice and give honor to him, for the marriage of
the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready.
And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white.
For the fine linen is the righteousness of the saints.
So you see the picture there is that he has made all those sins of her as if she had never
sinned.
And that the fine linen represents the righteousness of the saints because of the fact that Jesus
died for them and cleansed us with his own blood.
John 2 verse 9 says, And he said unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto
the marriage supper of the Lamb, and he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God.
So the marriage supper of the Lamb, again, a picture of like the fact that, and even
in the Old Testament, he talks about, you know, being married to Israel or whatever.
But Revelation 21.9 says, And there came unto me one of the seven angels which had the seven
vials full of the seven last plagues, and talked with me, saying, Come hither, I will
show thee the bride, the Lamb's wife.
So clearly the Bible symbolically calls us the bride.
And so you have that picture where Adam just like knowingly just dies for his wife.
He knows he's going to die.
But isn't that what God said?
If you eat of this fruit, you're going to die.
And so symbolically, you see that Adam, you know, obviously, again, the truth of the matter
is that he sinned.
The truth of the matter, his wife sinned.
She was in the transgression, but he willingly did it.
But Jesus Christ willingly went to the cross for us.
Jesus Christ willingly died for somebody that he knew was wrong.
You know, who's in the transgression?
Was Jesus in the transgression?
No, he wasn't.
So but he still died for us anyway, knowing that we're the ones that deserve to die.
Does that make sense?
It's kind of a picture there.
So Genesis 2, go ahead and turn to Genesis 2.
We'll look back at the rib part again.
Genesis chapter 2, verse 21.
And kind of another part that pictures Adam giving of himself, giving his life is in Genesis
2 21.
It says,
So he's in a deep sleep, and he took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh.
So I mean, if you think about Jesus Christ on the cross, he wasn't in a deep sleep, but
he was just dead, right?
At that point, when he died on the cross, he's dead.
And what happened after that?
What happened when he died?
They came to break his legs, right?
And they saw that when they came to Jesus, Jesus was already dead.
So what do they do after that?
They took a spear and thrust it into his side, and blood and water came out, right?
So instead of, so like in this picture, you see that he's in a deep sleep, so he's not
dead, but it's kind of the same picture, right?
And then you have something to do with the side, you know, the ribs are on the side,
right?
In case you didn't know that, we had some ribs after church.
That's why you guys are all struggling right now, but you had too many ribs.
And then it says, he closed up the flesh instead thereof.
And so this is a contrasting picture to that, because God closed up his wound and helped
him and fixed him, and then brought the woman forth, and they became one flesh.
But Jesus Christ, he died, and then allowed, and God allowed that spear to be jammed into
his side, and blood and water came out.
Well, what does the blood and water picture?
Well, the blood that he shed for our sins, and you know, water is also a picture of cleansing.
The priests used it to cleanse themselves before they would do any of the sacrifices.
We get baptized after we get saved.
It's a picture of cleansing.
And so, and then instead of closing up the wound, there's the letting the wound flow
open freely for us.
So definitely a contrasting picture, both having to do with the sides.
It says, In the rib which the Lord God had taken from man made he a woman, and brought
her unto the man.
And the man said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh.
She should be called woman, because she was taken out of man.
Therefore shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall cleave unto his wife, and
they shall be one flesh.
And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.
So they start out, you know, sinless, and because of the second Adam, will end up sinless.
You know, they start out married, they start out sinless, they start out naked, and the
man and his wife, and they were not ashamed because they were not sinful.
It wasn't, you know, to them, it wasn't sinful because, you know, it wasn't a shame.
But Christ ends up clothing them in skins.
Remember, they try to cover themselves to cover their sin.
This is what man always wants to do.
They always want to cover up what they've done.
And so they made aprons, and those aprons pictured them trying to hide themselves, hide
their sin.
But what did God do?
He killed an animal and put those skins on them, which represent, so what, it covered
them.
And so God didn't allow them to cover their sins because we can't cover our own sins with
our own works and with our own efforts, God, it says God made them coats of skins.
So when you picture back to Revelation 19 where it says that he took that, you know,
that he put that linen, those outfits on them, which represents the righteousness of the
saints, the only way we're going to have that clean linen and that clean, the only way we're
getting cleaned up is if God does it for us.
And in Revelation, he's the one that puts on that fine, clean linen.
We don't put it on ourselves.
We have to be saved, and then we are allowed to have those garments that picture salvation.
So they start out sinless, and because of the second Adam, it becomes sinless once again
if you're saved.
So the second Adam gave of his ribs and let the, and then, you know, Jesus Christ's second
Adam gives of his ribs and lets the blood flow and be emptied to give his life for his
bride.
Good night.
That's my second wake-up call.
All right, John chapter 19 verse 34, you don't have to turn there, let's read it for you,
it says, but one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side and forthwith came out blood
and water.
So Adam died for his wife's transgressions.
Jesus died for his wife's transgressions, if that makes sense, symbolically, and Jesus
literally did that.
So and then let's turn to Romans chapter number five, Romans chapter number five, Romans chapter
five.
And this is where it specifically starts talking about Adam and Jesus here, Romans chapter
five verse eight.
Of course, this is a famous verse that we use outsole in a lot, it says, but God commendeth
his love toward us and 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.
So the fact that he raised from the dead, we are saved by the life that he lived that
was perfect and by the resurrection of him rising from the dead, but we are also saved
through his death, the fact that he shed his precious blood and because he lived that perfect
life and we can receive that life through him.
It says that not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ by whom
we have now received the atonement.
The atonement is basically the covering or the appeasement to God for what we owe for
our sin debt.
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.
I try to explain this to people that don't really understand why or how Jesus was sinless,
how he was born without sin.
It's because man has the sin nature passed upon him.
Everybody understands a little bit about genetics.
Some traits get passed on from your parents.
All your traits get passed on by your parents, but some traits are passed by your mother,
some traits are passed by your dad.
But the sin nature, the Bible teaches right here that sin entered into the world and death
by sin by one man.
So the man passes the sin nature on to the child, and we can't help it, that's just the
way it is, but it says death passed upon all men for that all have sinned.
So Jesus Christ was born of the Virgin Mary, Jesus Christ was born of a woman, and his
father was God, so if the woman was able to pass any sinfulness on to the child, then
Jesus would have been born a sinner.
Therefore the fact that he was born of the Virgin Mary and that God was his father means
that this verse is right, that Jesus Christ was born without sin because of that fact.
So verse 13 says, For until the law 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 see how Adam is a figure of the one that was to come?
Who's the one who was to come?
The Lord Jesus Christ.
So Adam does picture Jesus, that's just a fact of scripture, that's what the Bible teaches,
and verse 15 says, But not as the offense, so also is the free gift.
So Adam's the offense, who's the free gift?
Jesus Christ.
For if through the offense of only of one many be dead, Adam, 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.
So it's contrasting them, it's comparing them here.
For the judgment was by one to condemnation, that's Adam, but the free gift is of many
offenses unto justification.
Notice how I keep saying gift and free gift, because salvation is a free gift folks, it's
just easy to be saved.
It's real simple.
It says, verse 17, For if by one man's offense death reigned by one, that's Adam, much more
they which received abundance of grace, and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in
life by one, Jesus Christ.
Therefore, as by the offense of one, talking about Adam again, judgment came upon all men
to condemnation, see we all are sinners, we're all condemned, even so by the righteousness
of one, the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life.
And that's not saying that everybody is saved automatically, but everybody has the ability
to be saved because of what Jesus did.
So verse 19, For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, that's Adam, so by
the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.
So you got the two guys, Adam's the first, you got the first Adam, the second Adam, obviously
the second Adam's way better.
He's the Lord from heaven, this guy's a creative being.
And you know, Adam definitely doesn't have a lot of great things to say about Adam, but
I mean, I think that Adam was probably a pretty good guy, even though we're all going to die
because of him.
But you know, other than that, he's a great guy, right?
But I mean, he was the first man made by God.
And you know, the fact that God put those skins on him and the fact that he called him
the son of God, or a son of God, you know, lets me, you know, I believe that Adam probably
was sinned, he probably understood a lot more about God than a lot of people that were born
after him because he actually walked with God, you know, literally, before he sinned.
So you know, what was life like for Adam, you know, and Eve before they sinned?
What did they experience?
We'll never know till we get to heaven, you know, and even though we might want to punch
him in the face when we get there, we're not going to want to punch him in the face when
we get there because we're all going to be saved and we're not going to feel that way
anymore.
But you know, a lot of people are dead because of them.
But Christ fixed that, and that's why he came, and that's why it's so important that he came
to this earth.
So number four, both had to toil in this life as a consequence to sin.
Both Adams had to toil in this life as a consequence for sin.
Look back at Genesis chapter three, Genesis chapter number three, the Bible says in Genesis
three, verse 17,
And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten
of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it, cursed is the ground
for thy sake, and sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life.
So when we sin, there's consequences to those actions, and the consequences to the actions
are, man, you've got to work for all your days.
And you're going to have to work hard, and it's not going to be fun.
Adam was tending to a garden, and everything was already growing there for him to pick.
Things were a lot more easy for him before all this happened.
So it says in verse 18,
Thorns and thistles shall it bring forth to thee, thou shalt eat the herb of the field.
In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground, for out
of it thou wast taken for dust thou art, and to dust shalt thou return.
That's where you get the ashes, dust to dust or whatever.
But he's saying that you're going to have to work hard to bring home the food.
You're going to have to work home or work hard, and life is not going to be easy for
you like it has been in times past.
Your wife might have to obey you, but you're the one that's supposed to be bringing home
the bacon, so to speak.
This is before bacon was able to be eaten, I guess.
But you know what I mean.
So anyway, verse 21 says,
Unto Adam also and to his wife did the Lord God make coats of skins and clothe them.
And the Lord God said, Behold, the man has become as one of us to know good and evil,
and now, lest he put forth his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat it and eat
and live forever, therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden to till
the ground from whence he was taken.
So there was a tree there that he could have taken and still just eaten and had eternal
life, but God stopped him from being able to eat from that tree.
And he said, It's time to move on.
Go get to work, buddy.
So they're not going to have the privileges, and they're going to have to die.
This is him just laying out the curse of death, and the life is going to be a toil.
You're going to have to earn your food by the sweat of your face.
And so that's the punishment that you're going to have to toil in this life because of the
consequences of sin, and you're going to die because of it.
Now Jesus Christ came to this earth, and he came for the consequences of somebody else's
sin, the whole world's sin.
And so he had to toil in this life and work extra hard, and when he started his ministry
on this earth, he worked harder than everybody.
And he didn't even do anything wrong.
And he's up before dawn praying on a mountain.
He's showing people this is how hard you need to work, and he's outworking everybody to
the point where people are going, you're crazy, dude.
You are working way too hard, Jesus.
You need to take a break, Jesus.
And then when he said, well, we're going to go to a desert place and rest a while, and
then they get there, and then they get mad because Jesus doesn't take the day off.
Jesus is like, well, we need to help these people, too, because people are just racing
across places and beaten under the spot, and they get there.
And then Jesus is like, well, we're going to help them, too.
He's working from the morning to the night, just healing people, preaching to people,
all this stuff.
And so he's toiling day and night, getting up before everybody else, going to bed later
than everybody else, all the while remaining sinless, and then taking all this weird rebuke
from all the Pharisees over everything he does.
He's got people just creeping on him, stalking him, saying something about everything he
teaches, everything he says, and he's toiling in the life that he lived here on earth, toiling
the King of Kings, Lord of Lords, left his place in heaven to come down to a bunch of
people that don't appreciate it, that spit in his face, and did all these horrible things
to him and stalked him and everything else that they did, and he came to work because
of sin.
Adam had to work for the rest of his life because of sin.
All of us in this world have to work and go through hardships and toil because of sin,
but Jesus Christ didn't have any sin but still came and toiled as a consequence of sin.
Philippians 2, verse 7 says,
But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made
in the likeness of men.
And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even
the death of the cross.
He did everything that he met.
He checked every box, every single thing that he was supposed to do.
He did it, and in the end, he just said, it is finished.
Everything that God had for him to do, he completed.
Everything in the checklist, and he didn't do it just as a checklist.
He did it because he actually genuinely loved people.
It wasn't a show to him.
It wasn't like some fake thing to him.
It wasn't pretending like he loved everybody.
He actually did love them.
He actually loved every single person.
He had compassion on people, and maybe some of those people's motives weren't even right.
But you know what?
He still loved them anyway.
And when he saw people that were downtrodden and hurting and crippled and maimed and blind
and poor and all these different things, Jesus had compassion on them.
He loved them to the uttermost and laid his life down for us, and him who knew no sin
became sin for us.
You know, for what?
Because he loved us, and he died for us.
And not only that, we get to inherit with him as if we're, you know, Jesus Christ is
the only begotten son of God, and we get to be co-heirs with him in heaven.
I mean, that is like the ultimate deal, folks.
The ultimate gift.
And to be able to take that stuff for granted, and people don't want to get saved, it's like,
you're crazy.
People that don't want to get saved, I don't understand, you know, hell, everlasting, lake
of fire, burning, darkness, torment, eternal torment, or eternal life, goodness, wealth,
maybe fame, I don't know.
Some people would be famous up there.
That's the guy that got me saved, that's the lady that got me saved.
The Bible says in Deuteronomy chapter 21 verse 22, it says, and if a man have committed a
sin worthy of death, and he be to be put to death, and thou hang him on a tree, his
body shall not remain all night upon the tree, but thou shalt in any wise bury him that day,
for he that is hanged is accursed of God, that thy land be not defiled, which the Lord
thy God giveth thee for inheritance.
You know, God put that provision in the Scriptures, and we know that when Jesus Christ was hanged
on a tree, that his body was begged for right afterwards.
And because of this law right here, that Jesus Christ became a curse on that cross for us,
and Deuteronomy tells us that anyone that's hanged on a tree is accursed of God, and they
were supposed to pull his body down that night.
But it's interesting how all this began, how all this trouble began in the garden.
What did it begin with?
God said, don't eat of that tree.
Everything else is yours, it's everything you can do, just don't eat of that tree.
And it's like telling a kid, don't touch that.
You mean that?
Right there?
Huh?
That?
And it's just like, they had to do it, you know, but obviously she was beguiled or whatever,
but it all ends up with him hanging on a tree.
You know, you got the tree that you're not supposed to eat of, and then there's a tree
that gives you eternal life, and they weren't allowed access to that.
But isn't it strange how in the end, so this provision is written in Deuteronomy chapter
21, and then in the end, what ends up, what is part of the salvation is that our Savior
had to be hung on a tree and cursed by God in order to save us.
So he had to become a curse for us so that we could undo the curse of them disobeying
about a tree in the garden all those years ago.
So it's really interesting.
I don't know.
I was geeking out on this, as you can tell.
But you know, Galatians tells us that this provision is written in there, and that's
why Jesus Christ became a curse for us.
So I won't turn there for the sake of time, but it's just interesting to me that the cure
that sin was committed, disobedience concerning this tree, and being banished from the ability
to heal yourself from the other tree, the tree of life, and the cure was absolute obedience
of a God-man born without sin to be hanged on a tree and killed for a crime that he did
not commit.
Isn't that, I mean, that's just, that blows my mind.
I don't know.
Maybe it doesn't blow your mind, but it blows my mind.
And so Adam was brought into existence, and then, you know, Adam was brought into existence
to be fruitful and multiply, and then you have Jesus Christ, you know, coming in to
make sure that everybody could get the second birth.
So Adam, you know, and these are just things that I didn't have time to develop, but Adam,
he came in, God said be fruitful and multiply, and then Christ came in so that many people
would be born again and get that second birth.
Another thing is that Adam brought darkness into the world, and Jesus Christ brought light
into the world.
So a couple things I didn't have time to develop because they've got to be done pretty quick
here, but, and then the last point here is that the first Adam beget earthly children
that all die.
The second Adam, yeah, made it possible for spiritual children.
I guess I'm going to develop at that point.
Okay.
I should have scratched that on my notes.
Okay.
I'm almost done.
Genesis chapter 5.
So the first Adam beget earthly children that all die.
The second Adam came to make it possible for spiritual children to be born that can never
die.
Okay.
Genesis 5, 1 says, This is the book of the generations of Adam, and the day that God
created man, in the likeness of God made he him, male and female created he them, and
blessed them and called their name Adam in the day that they were created.
And Adam lived 130 years and beget a son in his own likeness after his image and called
his name Seth.
And the days of Adam after he had begotten Seth were 800 years, and he beget sons and
daughters and all the days of Adam lived, all the days that Adam lived were 930 years
and he died.
So this is the genealogy of Adam.
The Bible says that God created man in the likeness of him and then Adam in his own likeness,
you know, Seth was born to him and then he died.
In John 1, 12 it says, But as many as received him, talking about Jesus, to them gave he
power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.
So Adam died, but Jesus came that, and then all you have to do is to get that being born
again was to just receive Christ as your Savior and he gives you the power to become the sons
or daughters of God by simply believing on his name.
And it says in verse 13, which were not born, excuse me, which were born not of blood, nor
of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man.
And really this is what it all boils down to, but of God.
So it doesn't have anything to do with our own will, putting on our own coats, making
our own aprons, doing our own good works.
It's not the will of the flesh or the will of man, but it's of God.
And that's in Jonah chapter 2, we just covered it last week, last Thursday, it says salvation
is of the Lord.
It always has been folks and it always will be.
And anybody that's just trying to get there on their own is just, they're just trying
to go up their own way.
It's not going to happen.
You're going to fail because the only way to get to heaven on your own merits is being
absolutely perfect.
And nobody can do that.
Only one person was able to do that, it's Jesus Christ and he was born sinless.
And guess what?
He was actually God manifest in the flesh.
You have no shot.
And so if you think that you're going to just atone for your own sins in this life, you're
not.
Someone else already atoned for you.
So why not just take the easy way out?
I know that's hard for some people to do, but sometimes you've just got to take the
easy way out because you just have no shot.
It's like at some point you've got to give up and just stop trying to do things your
own way and do things the way God says to do them.
Last verse I'll have you turn to and then we're done, I promise.
Right now.
John 10, John 10.
John chapter 10.
The Bible says in John 10, 28, it says,
So Jesus isn't our Father necessarily, but he provided the way that God the Father could
be our Heavenly Father.
Jesus Christ calls us his brother.
He calls us his friend.
Obviously he is our God, but he paved the way for us and he's the one that gives us
eternal life.
And the fact that we never can perish is just the greatest promise ever.
We can't lose our salvation.
We can't get it on our own.
We can't lose it.
And once we get it, it lasts forever.
And so those are just the comparisons I found.
Maybe you found something else that I'd be happy to see what you came up with because
I think there's a lot of cool things to contrast and also some similarities between Adam the
first and second Adam.
All right.
Let's pray.
Lord, we thank you so much for a great day in church and for all the wonderful food and
pray that everybody would just have a blessed Christmas tomorrow, Christmas day.
And let's pray you'd take us all home safely and that you would bring us home back to your
house again here, Lord, on Thursday.
And just thank you for all the great church members, for all the help.
And we pray these things in Jesus' name.
Amen.
All right, our last song is song number 264, O Come, O Come, Emmanuel.
Song number 264, O Come, O Come, Emmanuel.
Song 264, let's sing it together on the first, O Come, O Come, Emmanuel.
And ransom captive Israel, that mourns in lonely exile here, until the Son of God appear.
Rejoice, rejoice, Emmanuel, shall come to thee, O Israel.
O come, thou rod of Jesse free, thine own from Satan's tyranny.
From depths of hell thy people save, and give them victory o'er the grave.
Rejoice, rejoice, Emmanuel, shall come to thee, O Israel.
O come, thou key of David come, and open wide our heavenly home.
Make safe the way that leads on high, and show the path that bring us nigh.
Rejoice, rejoice, Emmanuel, shall come to thee, O Israel.
Amen.
Good singing.
Brother Alex, would you close with a prayer?