Pathway to Victory

Speaker 1

Hey, podcast listeners, thanks for streaming today's podcast from Pathway to Victory.

Pathway to Victory is a nonprofit ministry featuring the Bible teaching of Dr. Robert Jeffress. Our mission is to pierce the darkness with the light of God's word through the most effective media available, like this podcast.

To support Pathway to Victory, go to ptv.org/donate or follow the link in our show notes.

Now here's today's podcast from Pathway to Victory.

Speaker 2

Hi, this is Robert Jeffress, and I'm glad to study God's Word with you every day. This Bible teaching program on today's edition of Pathway to Victory.

Speaker 3

To help you along, what I'm going to do is summarize what Paul is going to say, and then we're going to get into the text.

Here's Paul's message. Write it down. Just as Adam's disobedience brought condemnation to everyone, Christ's obedience to God brought salvation for some.

Speaker 1

Welcome to Pathway to Victory with author and pastor, Dr. Robert Jeffress.

At the beginning of the world, Adam and Eve were God's most treasured creation. Then one bad choice destroyed their relationship with their heavenly Father and condemned the entire human race.

Today, on Pathway to Victory, Dr. Robert Jeffress shares how Jesus Christ reversed the effects of Adam and Eve's transgression.

Now here's our Bible teacher to introduce today's message: Dr. Jeffress.

Speaker 2

Thanks, David, and welcome again to Pathway to Victory. In a moment, we'll resume our new study in the Book of Romans. It's called Grace Powered Living. But first, I'm eager to remind you that you're invited to request an exclusive new study tool I've created for you: The Journeys of Paul Map. Paul wrote the Book of Romans. In fact, he wrote nearly half of the entire New Testament. And in the Book of Acts, we learn about his three historic missionary journeys. This map is conveniently printed in a format that you can keep at your desk or in your Bible, and it shows you the three missionary journeys and why they're important to you.

In addition to the map, there's an outstanding resource I want you to have. I can't recommend this volume highly enough. It's called An Illustrated Guide to the Apostle Paul. This isn't the kind of book that you'll sit down and read from cover to cover. It's a reference guide, complete with colorful pictures, illustrations, and artifacts. Whether you're a novice or a theologian, this illustrated guide makes the story of Paul accessible to everyone. It will breathe new life into your understanding of salvation and the Gospel of Grace. Be sure and request your copy today because this special offer expires tomorrow. It's yours when you give a generous gift to support the growing ministry of Pathway to Victory.

We'll repeat this information later in the program and we'll give our contact information as well, so be ready to jot that down right now. Let's begin today's study in Romans, Chapter five. I titled my sermon One for All.

Speaker 3

Never underestimate the power of one person to make a difference. Every few years, when the election cycle rolls around, there is an email that seems to make the rounds in everybody's inbox. It's an email that's sent out to point out how one vote can make a difference. And it goes something like this: in 1645, one vote gave Oliver Cromwell control of England. In 1776, one vote gave America the English language instead of the German language. In 1836, one vote elected Marcus Morton governor of Massachusetts. In 1868, one vote saved President Andrew Johnson from impeachment. In 1875, just one vote changed France from a monarchy to a republic. In 1941, just one vote saved the Selective Service System just 12 weeks before Pearl Harbor was attacked. But one person also has the power for great evil. In 1923, just one vote gave Adolf Hitler control of the Nazi party. That's pretty powerful evidence, isn't it, for the power of one vote?

Friday afternoon, as I was going over this, getting ready for today, I read that again. And I said, something doesn't seem right about a couple of these things. So I went back and I researched it, and guess what? Every one of those things I just read to you is not true. It is a part of Internet mythology. Not one of those things actually happened. Which, seniors, is a great reason not to do your research on the Internet. You better check out what you pick up on the Internet. I thought, Friday afternoon, what am I going to do? This was the way I was going to open the sermon today. And here's one great illustration ruined by the facts, you know? So I had to scramble Friday afternoon. I was in a panic. What am I going to do? But I'm happy to tell you that I found two historically reliable instances in which one vote actually did make a difference. One vote affected many, many lives.

The first historical instance in which one vote made a difference was when one man, his name was Adam, voted for disobedience to God. And the result was every human being who ever lived was condemned to death. The other instance is when another man named Jesus Christ voted for obedience to God, and his obedience has resulted in eternal life for millions who have trusted in him. And it's those two votes, the one vote for disobedience and the one vote for obedience to God, that we're going to look at today. If you have your Bibles, I want you to turn to Romans, chapter five. Romans, chapter five. Now we're in this section of Romans that talks about the right standing, righteousness with God. A right standing with God is available to everyone who trusts in Christ.

And remember last time in chapter four, we talked about four benefits of being in a right relationship with God. What are the four benefits of being in a right relationship with God? First of all, being in a right relationship with God gives us peace with a holy God. When we trust in Christ, our status changes from enemy of God to friend of God, from child of Satan to child of God. Secondly, righteousness, a right standing with God gives us a hope in a future glory. Thirdly, righteousness gives us consolation in present suffering. And then finally, being in a right relationship with God, chapter four says, gives us assurance of eternal life. It gives us assurance of our eternal life for salvation.

Now, when we get to chapter five, remember, there's no chapter division. Paul is going to share a fifth and perhaps the most important benefit of a right relationship with God. And that is it gives us union with a powerful Savior. A union, a connection with a powerful Savior. Look at chapter 5, verse 10. For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, much more having been reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. Now that little preposition "by," you can underline it and write in the word "in." That's a better translation. We shall be saved in his life. When you become a Christian, when you trust in Christ, you are placed in Jesus Christ. Jot down 1 Corinthians 12:13. For by one Spirit, we were all baptized into one body. In some mysterious way, when you become a Christian, you are joined together with this spiritual organism called the body of Christ. You are in Christ Jesus. And that means because you are placed in Christ Jesus, whatever happens to Jesus is going to happen to you.

Let me illustrate it this way. Let's say you get into an airplane and you strap yourself in that metal tube. Guess what? Whatever happens to that airplane is going to happen to you because you are in the airplane. If the airplane goes to Detroit, guess what? You're going to Detroit. If the airplane makes an emergency landing in El Paso, you're going to make an emergency landing in El Paso. If the plane blows up in midair, you're going to blow up in midair because you are in that airplane. In the very same way, when we are in Christ Jesus, it means whatever happens to Jesus is going to happen to us because we're connected to Him. We are in union with Him. And that fact guarantees us of three things. Jot them down. It guarantees us, first of all, our justification. Our justification. That means we never have to worry that God is going to become angry with us and that we're ever going to experience God's anger. Because Christ has already experienced that anger. He did so when he was on the cross. God took all of the anger that you and I deserve. And because we are in Christ, we never have to fear the wrath of God. Romans 8:1 says, "There is no condemnation awaiting those who are in Christ Jesus." Paul's going to talk more about our justification throughout Romans chapter five.

Secondly, being in Christ guarantees our sanctification. Our sanctification. We are free from the power of sin once we are in Christ because Christ is free from the power of sin. Listen to me. Paul's going to talk about this in Romans 6 and 7. If you are in Christ Jesus and continue to live in sin, it's not that you lose your salvation. It is simply indicative that you were never saved to begin with. As he says in Romans 6:2, "How can we who have died to sin still live in it?" It doesn't make any sense. Just as Christ was buried and raised to a new way of living, just as those who were baptized were placed in the water and brought up again to symbolize their new way of life. When we become a Christian, because we're in Christ, we are freed from the power of sin. That's the theme of Romans 6 and 7.

And then thirdly, being in Christ assures us of our glorification. Just as Christ is now in the presence of God the Father in that brand new resurrection body, because we are in Christ, one day we will be raised from the dead and receive that same body. And we will be in the presence of God forever. Now, the last half of Romans 5 that we're looking at today introduces this concept of our connection with, or our union with Jesus Christ. And the way Paul explains our union with Jesus is by contrasting it with our union or oneness with Adam.

Now, I need to warn you ahead of time. I want you to take your notes or whatever you have right now. Because what we're getting ready to look at is what many commentators have called not only the most complicated passage in all the book of Romans, but perhaps in all of the Bible. But it's a passage that has great application to every one of us. So I want you to stay alert and follow me very carefully. In fact, to help you along, what I'm going to do is summarize what Paul is going to say, and then we're going to get into the text. Here's Paul's message. Write it down. Just as Adam's disobedience brought condemnation to everyone, Christ's obedience to God brought salvation for some. Let me say it again. Just as Adam's disobedience brought condemnation to everyone, Christ's obedience brought salvation to some.

Now let's see how Paul develops that thought beginning in verse 12. Let's look at the first Adam. Look at verse 12. Therefore, just as through one man—he's talking about Adam—sin entered into the world and death through sin. And so death spread to all men because all sinned. Now, this verse answers two perplexing questions. Question number one: Why do we sin? Question number two: Why do we die? Let's look at that first question. Why do we sin? Have you ever wondered that? I mean, why do we disobey God constantly? You say, well, we sin because we choose to sin. Just as Adam chose to sin in the garden, you and I choose to sin every day. And that's why we sin. It's because of our own free will that we choose to sin.

But now, does that really make sense, that we sin because we choose to sin? I mean, out of the billions and billions and billions of people who have ever lived, don't you think there would be at least one or two people other than Jesus Christ who would choose not to sin if sin were simply a matter of choice? I mean, why is it that every person who has ever lived always makes the wrong choice if it's just a matter of free will? Well, Paul has an answer to that that we'll see in just a moment. The second question he answers is, why do we die? Again, the naturalist will say, well, death is a part of life. Things are born, they grow, and they die. That's just part of the circle of life, as you know, Disney used to say. But there's something inside of us that tells us that death is not natural. I mean, everything inside of us fights against the idea of death. I mean, even when a loved one dies, we have a hard time accepting it. So what do we do? We make up the corpse, you know, put makeup on it and dress it in its finest clothes. And we're just trying to deny the reality of death because something inside of us says this is not right. This is not how it was intended to be.

Well, Paul has an explanation for why we sin and why we die. But not only does he have an explanation, he also has a solution to sin and death. And notice what he does. He connects it back to Adam's sin. Look at verse 12. Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, Paul says the whole reason for sin and death can be traced back to the first man, Adam, in the garden. Remember, God had said to Adam and Eve, you can eat of any tree you want to, except one, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Stay away from that tree, but every other tree is yours. So like moths attracted by the light, what did Adam and Eve do? They made a beeline to that one forbidden tree. And because of that sin of eating from that tree, mankind was doomed.

By the way, interestingly, even though it was Eve who first ate of the tree, she's not the one who got blamed for it. The man got blamed for it. Which is typical, isn't it? We get the blame for things that happen, but that's what happened here. Notice it wasn't Eve who's blamed, even though she's the first one who ate of the tree. In 1 Timothy 2:14, Paul explains why that is. He says, "And it was not Adam who was deceived, but the woman, being quite deceived, fell into transgression." Eve was deceived by the serpent, but Adam, he wasn't deceived. He knew exactly what he was doing. He was engaging in a hard-hearted act of rebellion against God, and because of that, he is the one who is charged with the sin.

Those of you who think Paul is just some male chauvinist pig who hates women, I mean, here's good evidence that that's not true. He doesn't blame the woman; he blames Adam for the sin that entered the world. By the way, this passage is a great argument, seniors, for the historicity of Adam. You'll hear people, evolutionists say, well, there was no such thing as the first Adam. There was no literal first man named Adam. And if so, he was just some primordial, you know, who crawled around on his hands and feet and so forth and was, you know, like a baboon. And so that's not what the Bible portrays. There are even some Christians who buy into theistic evolution. The Bible doesn't allow for that. The first man was absolutely perfect. There was a literal Adam who committed a literal sin that resulted in a literal damnation for all mankind.

And by the way, it's interesting that he links the first Adam to the last Adam, Jesus Christ. If Adam was simply a mythological figure, then that means Christ must have been a mythological figure as well. But just as Christ was a literal human being, so was Adam. And he traces Adam's sin to the damnation of all mankind. Now look at the consequences of Adam's sin. What happened with Adam's sin? What was the consequence? In a single word: death. It was death to Adam. First of all, God had said to Adam in Genesis 2:17, "In the day that you eat of the tree, you shall die." So Adam was going to die. Eve was going to die because of their sin. But it wasn't just death to Adam and Eve. Adam's sin resulted in death for all mankind, including you and me. Look at verse 12 again. "And death spread through sin. And death spread to all men because all men sinned."

So why do we die? Now, if Paul had stopped right here, here's how we would answer that question. We would say, well, we die because we sin. Adam died. He broke God's rules. He died. You and I sin, and so we die. We die because of the sins that we commit. Now, how many of you believe that's a good explanation? Raise your hand. You believe the word of God that we die because we sin? Raise your hand. You don't act so sure of that. Don't you believe this book? Don't you believe we die because of sin? Or you're hesitant for a good reason? Does it really make sense that we all die because of sins we commit? Let's take a little baby girl that's just born without any arms or legs, and she dies three days later. Can you tell me what sin that little girl committed that deserved death? Did she die for any sin she committed?

Speaker 2

No.

Speaker 3

But babies die all the time, don't they? Mentally challenged people die all the time who have no understanding. So we can't say that we die because of sins, present tense, that we commit. Well, Paul didn't say that either. He didn't say death spread to all people because all sin. Present tense. He says, because all sinned. Past tense. He is linking the sin that we inherit and the guilt deserving death back to Adam. When Adam sinned, you and I were held accountable for Adam's sin. And that means we not only inherited the virus of sin, the inclination to sin, the power to sin. We also inherited Adam's guilt. Death spread to us because of what Adam did in the garden.

Paul anticipates a lot of people are going to object to that, saying, that's just not fair, that I would be held accountable for what somebody else did. Well, he talks about our connection to Adam in verse 13. Now, this is where I need you to stay with me. Look at what he says. For until the law. He's talking about the Mosaic Law. Sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed. That means counted against you where there is no law. God gave Adam a law: don't eat of this tree. But from the time of Adam until Moses, thousands, perhaps more years afterwards, from Adam unto Moses, there was no specific law given to man. The law did not come until the time of Moses.

Was there sin in the world during that time? Of course there was. But what Paul is saying is a legal truth. You can't charge somebody with violation of a specific command if that specific command is not known and is not there. That's what he's saying. Sin is not imputed, counted against a person where there is no law. Let me illustrate that for you. Where we live, we have water restrictions. You can only water two days a week. But let's say instead of saying you can only water two days a week, the law says you need to be as conservative as possible with your use of water.

So I decided to water my lawn five days a week, five hours every day, and one day while the water is pouring into the street, my doorbell rings. I open it up, and there's a policeman who said, "Dr. Jeffress, we're giving you a ticket for the violation of our water ordinance." I said, "What water ordinance?" And he says, "Well, you're supposed to be conservative with your use of water." And I said, "Well, to me, this is conservative." He said, "Well, we're going to charge you for the illegal use of water." Do you think his ticket's going to hold up in court?

Because I didn't break any specific law. And that's exactly what Paul is saying. Where there is no specific law, you can't be held guilty for breaking a law. But notice what he says in verse 14. Nevertheless, death reigned from Adam until Moses, even over those who had not sinned in the likeness of the offense of Adam. Even though there was no law from the time of Adam to Moses, did people die during that time? Of course they did. Were people sinning during that time? Of course they were. Think of the people in Noah's day; they were sinning, but they could not be charged for any specific sin because there was no specific law from the time of Adam and Moses, and yet they continued to die.

Speaker 2

In his letter to the Romans, Paul builds a strong case for the history of God's law and the consequences of our sin. In the coming chapters, he'll explain our desperate need for God's amazing grace. My hope is that these rich theological truths awaken you to the beauty of God's love for you.

As Pathway to Victory goes out every day through radio and television, we want you to encounter Jesus Christ in fresh new ways so that you're compelled to serve Him. Jim is one of our listeners who experienced an awakening. He wrote to me not long ago and said, "Pastor Jeffress, I haven't been to church in about nine years. I know and understand that Christ is my Savior, but my life isn't where it needs to be. I feel like God is working through your program to bring me back to Him."

That's great news, Jim, and that's why Pathway to Victory exists. And when you give to Pathway to Victory, God is using your generosity to reach men and women. Just like Jim, your gift becomes the lifeline that rescues people who have lost their way.

Today, when you give a generous gift to support Pathway to Victory, I'm going to say thanks by providing the book I mentioned earlier. It's called *An Illustrated Guide to the Apostle Paul*. Plus, when you respond, I'll also include the companion resource called the *Journeys of Paul Map*. This exclusive offer expires tomorrow, so don't delay in getting in touch with us. Thank you for giving generously today.

While our ministry is growing and thriving, it's not without its challenges. All to say, we couldn't provide Pathway to Victory without friends like you. Thank you so much for your continued generosity.

David.

Speaker 1

Thanks, Dr. Jeffress. Today, when you invest in the ministry of Pathway to Victory by giving a generous gift, we'll say thanks by sending you the book *An Illustrated Guide to the Apostle Paul*. It comes with a copy of the *Journeys of Paul Map*. Now this is an ideal reference companion. To request the special package of resources, call 866-999-2965 or visit our website.

That's at ptv.org. And when your investment is $75 or more, we'll also send you the audio and video discs for the *Grace Powered Living* series featuring Romans Chapters one through eight. But time is running out, though. To request these resources, ask for your copy of the *Grace Powered Living* teaching set along with the book and the map when you call 866-999-2965 or go online to ptv.org. You're always welcome to write to us at P.O. Box 223609, Dallas, Texas 75222. Again, that's P.O. Box 223609, Dallas, Texas 75222.

I'm David J. Mullins. You know, when sin first entered the world, it seemed as if all hope was lost forever. But next time, we'll learn how the last Adam reversed the damage done by sin. Hear the conclusion of our message called "One for All" Friday on Pathway to Victory.

Pathway to Victory with Dr. Robert Jeffress comes from the pulpit of the First Baptist Church of Dallas, Texas. You made it to the end of today's podcast from Pathway to Victory, and we're so glad you're here. Pathway to Victory relies on the generosity of loyal listeners like you to make this podcast possible. One of the most impactful ways you can give is by becoming a Pathway Partner. Your monthly gift will empower Pathway to Victory to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ and help others become rooted more firmly in His Word.

To become a Pathway Partner, go to ptv.org/donate or follow the link in our show notes. We hope you've been blessed by today's podcast from Pathway to Victory.