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A One-Man Show - Romans 5:12-21

Taught on | Topic: grace | Keywords: believe, change, damage, death, gift, lamb, life, overflow, sin, world

Just one person can do a lot of damage, and conversely just one person can do a lot of good. Paul here showed the effect that Adam brought on by his rebellion and the effect that Jesus bought with His blood on the cross. One caused death. One conveys life. One brought guilt. One bought the gift of grace. The big question is, have you received the gift?

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9/1/2019
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A One-Man Show
Romans 5:12-21
Skip Heitzig
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Message Summary
Just one person can do a lot of damage, and conversely just one person can do a lot of good. Paul here showed the effect that Adam brought on by his rebellion and the effect that Jesus bought with His blood on the cross. One caused death. One conveys life. One brought guilt. One bought the gift of grace. The big question is, have you received the gift?
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Heart & Soul: A Study through Romans

Heart & Soul: A Study through Romans

When the wrath of God meets the righteousness of God, where does that leave us? The apostle Paul says that we are marked by sin at birth but marked righteous at salvation. In this series through Romans, Skip Heitzig explains the essentials of Christian doctrine that can transform your thoughts, words, and actions. Move from sinner to saint, and from saved to Spirit-filled as you inscribe the essence of the gospel onto your heart and soul.

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Outline

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  1. One Man’s Failure Brought Mankind’s Fall (vv. 12-14)

    1. Adam Sinned

    2. All Were Affected

    3. Condemnation Resulted

  2. One Man’s Fix Bought Mankind’s Favor (vv. 15-21)

    1. Christ Sacrificed

    2. All Can Be Affected

    3. Justification Resulted

Study Guide

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Connect Recap Notes: September 1, 2019
Speaker: Skip Heitzig
Teaching: "A One-Man Show"
Text: Romans 5:12-21

Path

Just one person can do a lot of damage, and conversely just one person can do a lot of good. Paul here showed the effect that Adam brought on by his rebellion and the effect that Jesus bought with His blood on the cross. One caused death. One conveys life. One brought guilt. One bought the gift of grace. The big question is, have you received the gift?
  1. One Man's Failure Brought Mankind's Fall (vv. 12-14)
    1. Adam Sinned
    2. All Were Affected
    3. Condemnation Resulted
  2. One Man's Fix Bought Mankind's Favor (vv. 15-21)
    1. Christ Sacrificed
    2. All Can Be Affected
    3. Justification Resulted
Points

One Man's Failure Brought Mankind's Fall (vv. 12-14)
  • One person can invent things to help people, and one person can destroy things and hurt people. This is clearly demonstrated in Romans 5: one man made a wrong choice; the other paid the cost of that choice by offering a sacrifice and opening the door for salvation.
  • Adam Sinned
    • Paul mentioned Adam seven times in contrast to Christ. Paul and Jesus saw Adam as an actual historical figure. Many try to erase both Adam and God from creation, espousing a godless ideology that says, "No one plus nothing equals everything." This is contrary to basic logic: design reveals a designer (teleology).
  • All Were Affected
    • Adam acted as the representative of humanity in his sinful choice. Jesus represents humanity in righteousness in order to provide salvation (see 5:12).
  • Condemnation Resulted
    • When Adam sinned, he generated a basic and all-encompassing change in his character. Adam's act condemned mankind because humanity exists through the propagation of traits. Humanity is marked by corruption; sin is in our spiritual DNA. Just as Adam acted for humankind, Jesus acted as the head of all believers.
One Man's Fix Bought Mankind's Favor (vv. 15-21)
  • Christ Sacrificed
    • In verse 14, Paul referred to Christ as a type of Adam. Adam is an anti-type of Jesus; their only similarity is that their actions affected many.
    • Paul used the phrase much more in verses 15, 17, and 20 to convey the truth that we've gained much more in Jesus than we ever lost in Adam. Whatever we lost in Adam is gained much more in Christ. "Where sin abounded, grace abounded much more" (v. 20).
  • All Can Be Affected
    • Adam's actions caused an awareness of himself apart from God and exposed his nakedness. God provided sheepskins to cover His sinful children. The skins pointed toward a sacrifice necessary to cover sin (see Hebrews 9:22). God demonstrated that a substitute could be offered in man's place. Death came into the world because of Adam's sin, and only a life can pay for it.
  • Justification Resulted
    • Because of Adam and Eve's sin, two lambs were needed to cover their nakedness (see Genesis 3:21). The Passover established that one lamb could be sacrificed for an entire family (see Exodus 12:3); and eventually, one lamb could be sacrificed for the nation on Yom Kippur (see Leviticus 16:29-34). John the Baptist proclaimed, "Behold! The Lamb of God" (John 1:29); Jesus took away the sin of the world. God provided salvation for mankind—justification for all who believe—through Christ.
    • God sent His Son to die for us while we were sinners because He loves us (see John 3:16; Romans 5:8).
Practice

Connect Up: Why do you think God allowed Adam and Eve to sin? Here are some thoughts to discuss:
  • To display the need for God; for God's glory; to preserve the free-will of mankind; to demonstrate love
Because of Adam and Eve's choice, sin has been passed down from one generation to another. Although the Bible doesn't explicitly state how this is accomplished, here are three points to discuss:
  • Genetic: sin is passed down genetically through the father's line (this accounts for how Christ was sinless; He had no earthly father). Social: sin is not physically genetic, but socially and mentally—passed down through learned behavior from others. Spiritual: sin is immaterial, passed down through humanity's metaphysical nature, infecting the soul.
Connect In: A sacrifice is defined as "offering something precious up for a reason." Christ is our final sacrifice—He died for His bride, the church. How should the church serve each other sacrificially? Use the following verses to discuss:
  • Matthew 23:11; John 12:26, 15:13; Romans 7:6, 12:9-13; Galatians 5:13; Hebrews 9:14; 1 Peter 4:10
Connect Out: Why do you think the Lord used the shedding of blood to redeem? Discuss Leviticus 17:11 and Hebrews 9:11-18. How does blood function biologically, and what does it symbolize? In a day when many see sacrifice as barbaric, how would you describe why God worked through sacrifice to an unbeliever? As one person asks, "Why must God employ such distasteful means to effect salvation?"1 Discuss a response.


1 Pulliam, Ken, Blogspot, "Why I De-Converted from Evangelical Christianity," August 4, 2010, http://formerfundy.blogspot.com/2010/08/why-must-someone-die-before-god-can.html, accessed 09/03/19.

Detailed Notes

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"A One-Man Show"
Romans 5:12-21
  1. Introduction
    1. One person really can change their world
      1. But just as one person can effect great good, one person can effect great evil
      2. One person can invent things to help people, while another person can destroy those things
    2. In this passage, Paul laid one man and what he did against another man and what He did
      1. Paul compared Adam and Christ and the effects of their actions
      2. This passage is perhaps one of the most difficult passages to understand that Paul ever wrote (see 2 Peter 3:15-16)
        1. The word one appears eleven times in this passage
          1. We have one man, one sin, and one wrong choice that opened the door for corruption
          2. On the other hand, we have one man, one sacrifice, and one right choice that opened the door to salvation
        2. The word reign appears five times
          1. Paul acknowledged these two men as reigning over two different kingdoms
          2. Adam reigned over the kingdom of death, and Jesus reigns over the kingdom of life
          3. Condemnation flows from the stream of Adam; salvation and justification flow from the stream of Christ
        3. The phrase much more appears five times; we have gained much more in Christ than we ever lost through Adam
    3. We've each met thousands of people over our lifetimes, but there's only one person we will ever meet who can completely change our lives—Jesus Christ
      1. He motivates us to do what we do—to start churches, go out as missionaries, etc.
      2. He's the only one who can change lives
  2. One Man's Failure Brought Mankind's Fall (vv. 12-14)
    1. Adam Sinned
      1. Adam's sin affected every single person
      2. Romans 3:23
      3. If God had tested every human being individually, the result would be the same
      4. Paul talked about Adam seven times throughout his writings, and he spoke about Adam as an actual, historical figure
        1. Jesus also spoke about Adam and Eve (see Matthew 19:4-5)
        2. Both Paul and Jesus referred to a literal Adam and a literal Eve—not mythical figures
          1. Most people today do not believe in a historical Adam and Eve, because that would mean believing in the creation
          2. The prevailing belief of the last century is Darwinian evolution
          3. As believers, we hold a teleological viewpoint: if something looks like it's been designed, there's a designer behind it
          4. Wherever there is a thing, there must have been a preceding thought; wherever there is a thought, there must have been a thinker
          5. If a historical Adam does not represent mankind in sinfulness, then a historical Jesus could never represent mankind in righteousness; one requires the other
    2. All Were Affected
      1. Evil seems to grow with each subsequent generation
        1. Right now, there are forty active conflicts on earth
        2. There's a rise in depression and suicide in our country
      2. Whose fault is this?
        1. Adam was given an incredible power—the power of choice, or volition
        2. Through one man, sin entered the world; when he opened that door, a deadly virus infected humanity
          1. Since Adam, every human is born with sin in their DNA
          2. Sin entered, death entered, death spread, and death reigned
        3. One man's act brought results so catastrophic we are still experiencing the repercussions to this day
        4. When Adam sinned, he generated a constitutional change in his character, and he acted as the federal head of humanity, passing on his nature throughout history
    3. Condemnation Resulted
      1. Why would God condemn the world because of what one person did?
        1. This principle works in other aspects of human propagation
          1. We get physical characteristics from parents and grandparents
          2. Eye color, hair color, body type, height, etc.—all of that gets passed on through our genetic code
        2. In the same way, sin is a matter of spiritual genetics—we inherit a fallen nature
      2. By condemning the race through one man, God is able to save the race through one man
        1. In consigning all of us under the condemnation clause, since we're all born into that state, we can all be saved by His grace by simply believing
        2. By one man we are condemned; by one man we are saved
      3. Our condition is the total depravity of mankind
        1. The word depravity means marked by corruption
        2. Depravity does not mean you're as bad as you can possibly be; it means you're as bad off as you can possibly be
        3. Before God, you and I can't get any worse
        4. Romans 1:18
        5. Romans 3:23
        6. We are, by nature, the children of wrath
  3. One Man's Fix Bought Mankind's Favor (vv. 15-21)
    1. Christ Sacrificed
      1. Paul called Jesus "the last Adam" in 1 Corinthians 15:45
        1. Just as through one man's failure came mankind's fall, so one man's fix bought mankind's favor
        2. Adam is a "type" (typos in Greek) of Christ (v. 14), not because they are similar, but because they are dissimilar to each other
      2. The only similarity between Adam and Christ is that what they did affected the rest of mankind; Adam is the antitype of Christ
    2. All Can Be Affected
      1. One choice, one act, one sin affected the many; one sacrifice, one righteous deed affected salvation for the many
        1. The many refers to all mankind
        2. Many is an appositional statement of every single person
      2. When the Law was written at the time of Moses, it made sin worse, because you might be doing everything the Law says not to do
        1. But now that the Law says, "Don't do it," you know it's wrong
        2. The Law makes the offense known and amplified
      3. Whatever we lost in Adam, we gained in Christ much more
        1. When sin reached its high-water mark, grace completely flooded over
        2. The point of this passage is that sin cannot erect a dam so high that grace cannot overflow
        3. God's grace can overflow your failures; where sin abounded, grace can abound much more
      4. If you think your failure has tapped out God's grace, you don't know your God and you don't understand His grace
    3. Justification Resulted
      1. After Adam and Eve sinned, they had a sudden self-realization of something that hadn't been an issue before: their nakedness
        1. They covered themselves with fig leaves, but fig leaves dry out; it was a temporary fix
        2. God graciously provided animal skins for them
          1. To get animal skins, you have to kill an animal
          2. God killed the animal, shedding innocent blood, to provide clothing
          3. Hebrews 9:22
      2. God shared two truths with Adam and Eve that became part of the biblical narrative
        1. Death came into the world because of sin, and only a life can pay for it
        2. A substitute can be offered in the place of the one who committed sin
      3. The cost of Adam and Eve's sin was one lamb per person
        1. But as time moved on, God established the Passover among the Hebrew nation and allowed one lamb to be slain for each family
        2. For Yom Kippur, God allowed the slaying of one lamb for the whole nation
        3. With Jesus, it became one lamb for the world (see John 1:29); Jesus undid the damage left by Adam
      4. It's not fair that Jesus should pay for your sin
        1. Some people complain and say, "Why should I get punished for what Adam did?"
        2. But the question is, why should Jesus get punished for what you did?
        3. Yet, He did; He must think we're worth it
  4. Conclusion
    1. Some of us may feel like leftovers at a yard sale—useless, worthless
      1. But God doesn't see you that way
      2. He doesn't think you're a bargain at a yard sale, because He was willing to pay the highest price to enter into a relationship with you
      3. John 3:16
    2. But it's a gift—you can't earn it
      1. Because it's a gift, you can't brag about your own accomplishments; you can only receive the gift
      2. But you have to receive the gift, or it's not valid
    3. What will you do with Jesus?
      1. Will you believe?
      2. Let Him change your heart and your life
        1. If you want to change a nation, or even the world, let Him begin with you
        2. God has given you the incredible power to choose
Figures referenced: Charles Darwin, Michael Denton, Adolf Hitler, Kent Hughes, Pol Pot, Charles Spurgeon

Cross references: Matthew 19:4-5; John 1:29; 3:16; Romans 1:18; 3:23; 1 Corinthians 15:45; Hebrews 9:22; 2 Peter 3:15-16

Greek words: typos

Transcript

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A One-Man Show - Romans 5:12-21 - Skip Heitzig

[MUSIC PLAYING]

[HEART BEATING]

And would you please turn, in your Bibles, to the Book of Romans, chapter 5? And we always say that, don't we, when we begin a service, "turn, in your Bibles, to." And that's because we believe that God speaks through what God has already spoken, that, in His word, He tells us what He wants, who He is, who we are, where we fit into His plan. So we always look at what the Scriptures have to say. And we're in the series in the Book of Romans called Heart and Soul. So we're in Romans, chapter 5. And in a few moments, we're going to begin in verse 12, and we're going to finish out the chapter, the 10 verses that are left.

Think of the accomplishments that one person is able to do. Think, for example, of Thomas Edison, who in his lifetime acquired 1,093 patents, 1,093 patents, who innovated the first record player, the incandescent light bulb, and an early version of a motion-picture camera-- one person affecting a whole group of people. Or think of Albert Einstein, who developed quantum physics, the theory of relativity-- Abraham Lincoln, who, by his Emancipation Proclamation, was able to free 3.5 million slaves and give them freedom. Think of women like Queen Esther, the right woman in the right place at the right time. By her boldness, she was able to save the Jewish race in Persia from genocide-- or Moses, who went up alone to Mount Sinai and heard from God the law to give to his people.

These are names we're familiar with, but here's a name you're probably not familiar with, Dashrath Manjhi. Have you ever heard of Dashrath Manjhi? Have you had a conversation about him this week? Probably not. He was a man who lived in the hills of India, living a quiet life, tending his goats, loving his wife. But one day, his wife slid down a slope accidentally and was injured severely, had to be taken to a hospital. The nearest hospital was 45 miles away. They had no vehicle. It was a catastrophic event.

After the ordeal was completed, Dashrath Manjhi sold his goats, bought a hammer and chisel. Get this. For the next 22 years, he dug a road through the mountain that is 30 feet high, 25 feet wide, 360 feet long to connect his village to the nearby town, reducing the drive rate from 45 miles to the hospital to 4 miles. That's what one guy did for 22 years-- impressive.

Someone said, "The individual activity of one man with a backbone will do more than 1,000 men with a mere wishbone." One person really can change their world. But just like one person can effect great good, likewise, a person can effect great evil. Think of Adolf Hitler, 6 million Jews or more killed at his hand, or the Cambodian leader of the Khmer Rouge in the '70s, Pol Pot, 2 million deaths because of him, because of starvation, because of disease, because of execution.

So one person can invent things and help people. But another person can destroy what they have invented. One person can light a match, cause a fire to burn, destroy homes, ruin lives. Another person can put out the fire, save homes, rescue lives. And that is the thrust of the passage we're about to read.

In this passage, Paul the Apostle lays one man and what he did against another man and what he did-- Adam and Christ. Now, you know that Peter said that Paul wrote many things that are hard to understand. And scholars, commentators, people who write books on what the Bible is about, most of them say that the section we're about to read is perhaps one of the most difficult passages that Paul ever wrote to understand.

So I'm going to break it down and simplify this passage. And I want to give you some preliminaries, and we haven't even started reading yet, but just some preliminaries. In the paragraph we're about to read, the word "one" appears 11 times. So you're going to get the thrust of what Paul is doing here. "One" appears 11 times. So we have one man, one sin, one trespass, one wrong choice. And that opened the door for corruption. But we have one man, one sacrifice, one right choice that opened the door to salvation. So both Adam and Christ performed a one-man show. They did something that affected the crowd, the group.

So that word appears 11 times. There is another word, "reign," not rain from Heaven, R-A-I-N, but reign like a king reigns, R-E-I-G-N. Did I spell it right? Reign-- so that word appears five times. And what Paul is doing is he acknowledges these two men, Adam and Christ, reigning over a kingdom-- Adam reigning over the kingdom of death, Jesus reigning over the kingdom of life. Condemnation flows from the stream of Adam. Salvation, justification flows from the stream of Christ.

So we have "one" 11 times, "reign" five times. And there's another phrase that is used five times in this paragraph. It's the two words "much more," much more. In other words, we have gained much more in Christ than we ever lost from Adam. That's the great thrust of this passage.

So we're going to look at what one person can do. A leader put it this way, "One smile can start a friendship. One word can end a fight. One look can save a relationship. And one person can change your life." I've met thousands of people over my lifetime, like you have. But there's really only one person I ever met who completely changed my life. His name is Jesus Christ. He's what motivates us to do what we do, to start churches, for missionaries to go out, for any good, godly work to be done. He's the one who can change lives.

So we have in this section, this 10-verse section, this 10-verse paragraph, two sections. It's divided into two parts. Verse 12 through 14 is the first part. Verse 15 through 21 is the second part. So in these two sections, I'm going to make two statements about two men, Adam and Christ. These two statements sum up their lives. One man's failure brought mankind's fall, and one man's fix bought mankind's favor.

Let's begin with the first. Let's begin with Adam, verse 15-- or verse 12 of chapter 5. "Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men because all sinned. For until the Law, sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed, or counted, or reckoned when there is no law. Nevertheless, death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who had not sinned, according to the likeness of the transgression of Adam, who is a type of him who was to come."

Bottom line is this-- Adam blew it for everyone. What Adam did affected every single person. I've often thought of, what-- you know, if I ever get a chance to meet Adam, I got some choice words for him. In fact, actually, I thought if I ever see him, I want to punch him out-- what he did and ruined it all for us. But then I started thinking about it. And I realized, I would have done the same. In fact, I did the same again, and again, and again. And so did you. The Bible says, all have sinned, and we've fallen short of the glory of God. And the truth is, if God would have tested every human being individually, the result would be the same.

Now, Paul mentions Adam. He talks about Adam seven times in all of his New Testament writings. And he spoke about Adam as though Adam were an actual, historical figure because Adam was an actual, historical figure. But I want to underscore that. He refers to Adam and Eve. Jesus also spoke about Adam and Eve. He says-- he calls them "the man and the woman." He says, from the beginning, from the beginning, God created. So you've got Paul the Apostle and Jesus our Savior both referring to a literal Adam and a literal Eve, not as mythical figures but as actual, historical figures.

However, you know this to be true. Whenever the name Adam is dropped in a conversation, it's a conversation stopper. I mean, try that next time you're at Starbucks. I wouldn't say try it at SoPo, but it won't work there.

Try it out in the secular world. Stand in line at the grocery store, and just have a conversation about Adam and Eve. They're going to give you a look like, what? You're kidding. Right? You actually believe in a guy named Adam and a gal named Eve? Because if you believe in an Adam and Eve, it must mean you believe in a creation. And that's where you lose the modern audience. They give you that smirk, that look like, come on. I lost my faith in high school biology class.

And that's because the prevailing belief of the last century is Darwinian evolution. And there was some point in the past, there was some Big Bang, some big explosion. And then a whole bunch of time went by, went by, went by, went by, went by. And finally, here we are. I've had a hard time going along with the naturalist notion that no one plus nothing equals everything.

I have and hold a teleological viewpoint that says, whenever I see something that looks like it's been designed, it's because it's been designed. It looks like there's gotta be a designer behind it. There's an old axiom that says, wherever there is a thing, there must have been a preceding thought. And wherever there is a thought, there must have been a thinker.

So I understand that, in modern culture, evolution is considered a done deal. It's considered a closed case. Everybody believes that this is science. Don't be an idiot to believe in creation or Adam and Eve. But what you need to know is that experts, scientific experts, they don't all agree on that. That is not the consensus. In fact, did you know that Charles Darwin, when he came up with the evolution of the species, his whole evolutionary theory, he knew that there was one glaring lack of evidence against his theory called paleontology. The fossil record did not substantiate what his theory was bearing out or what he was postulating in his theory.

But he believed that, given enough time, time would vindicate him. The fossil record would vindicate him. Here's the problem. A lot of time has gone by. The fossil record has not vindicated him. And molecular biologist Michael Denton said, "Evolutionary theory is still, as it was in Darwin's time, a highly speculative hypothesis entirely without direct factual support," end quote. I could give you quotes like that all day long from a group-- from scientists and experts.

But here's the deal. Let's say you and I go out to the parking lot, and we're standing in front of your car. And you're showing me your cool car, and you're telling me how about they-- how they designed it at the factory, and they were thinking this. And actually, oh, no, no, no, no. Here's what happened. Billions of years ago, there were sets of explosions. Rocks hit each other, and there were gases. And eventually, over a long, long, long, long period of time, metal formed, and glass formed, and rubber formed. And rising up out of that pavement was your car. You'd look at me and go, you're an idiot. And if I believed what I just said, I would be an idiot. Because what you're going to tell me is, no, that looks like it's been designed by somebody, like a designer was behind that. And I would agree with that.

So that aside, I'm bringing all this up because a literal Adam is crucial to Paul's argument. Because, you see, if an historical Adam does not represent mankind in sinfulness, then an historical Jesus could never represent mankind in righteousness. One requires the other. One acted in such a way as to affect humankind. Another acted in such a way as to affect humankind.

But these verses tell us more. These verses actually answer the age-old query about how we got into the mess we find ourselves in. You know, every generation says something like this-- when I was a kid, things were different. You ever hear that before? Did you ever say that before? Yeah, of course you did. You heard your parents say it. I remember hearing my dad say that. Oh, here it goes again. When I was a kid, there was things [MUMBLES]

And then I grew up, and I go, I think he was right. Because when I was a kid, things were different. And now I'm hearing my son say, you know, when I was a kid, things were different. And I'm guessing my grandson is going to say the same thing. I think every generation says it because it's true. I think that evil grows with every subsequent generation.

And so we find ourselves asking, whose fault is all this? There was just another shooting we saw yesterday, and the day before, and last week another one. And it just seems like these things are rampant. Did you know that, right now, there are 40 active wars on planet Earth, 40 active conflicts? Those are on the rise. There's a rise of depression and suicide in our own country, among the very young, especially.

And so we scratch our heads and goes, now whose fault is this? This must be the Democrats' fault. You say, oh, no, no. It's the Republicans. Or, no, it's those Independents. They don't even know what side they're on. Or this is a Russian conspiracy, or this is a Chinese conspiracy. No. It's Adam's fault. Adam opened a door.

Adam was given an incredible power. It's called the power of choice, volition. Everybody knows this great power. When a young man asks a young woman for her hand in marriage, ooh, that's a lot of power. So Neil and Jackie, you're up in the front. When-- Neil, when you asked your wife, Jackie, to marry you, what did she say?

Yes.

She said yes. And I see your girls next to you, so that's a good thing. That's a very powerful choice that she made though. What if she said no?

Oh, boy.

Oh, boy. He said, oh, boy. OK, so choice is powerful. Every parent discovers when they give their child an order, a command, a directive to be obedient, and the little boy says, no-- powerful choice. Now that child's about to experience a powerful parent's choice after that choice. But nonetheless, volition is an extremely powerful thing. Adam was given a simple directive, a simple instruction, one easy rule, one restriction. Adam, dude, you can do this. Just stay away from that tree. But you know what it's like when you see a sign that says "Don't touch." Well, you want to touch. Right?

Yeah.

Because you know what? Why? Why is the sign there? And why do you want to touch it? Because it says "Don't touch." So if you see a sign on a door this says "Keep out," you just want to take a peek and find out why. What's so important? You see a sign that says "Wet paint," you're thinking, well, maybe it's dry by now. I just want to see. So God hung up a sign for Adam, but he touched the paint. He opened the door.

Look at verse 12. "Therefore, just as through one man, sin entered the world." That's where the problems all started. Through one man, sin entered the world. He opened that door. And when he opened that door, a deadly virus infected humanity. Since Adam, every human being is born S-I-N-positive. "Through one man, sin entered the world, and death through sin, thus death spread to all men." Look at verse 14, "Nevertheless, death reigned from Adam to Moses."

You notice the progression? Sin entered, number one. Death entered, number two. Death spread, number three. And number four, death reigned. So one man's act brought results so catastrophic we are still to this day experiencing the repercussions. When Adam sinned, he generated a constitutional change in his character. He acted as the federal head of humanity. That's what theologians call it, the federal head of humanity, passing on his nature throughout history.

OK, if that's sort of hard for you to get your head around the federal headship, I'll give you kind of a modern analogy. In the story and the movies The Hunger Games, the head actress, who is in this the character Katniss Everdeen, she becomes both a substitute as well as a representative. She's a substitute for her sister, Prim, saves her life by taking her place. But she becomes a representative. She becomes the federal head of her district so that if she wins those gladiatorial Hunger Games, her whole district reaps the benefits for a whole year of food and feast. So Adam acted as the federal head of humanity. Jesus comes after and acts as the federal head for all those who believe.

Now, I can hear wheels turning in heads. People are saying, well, wait. Wait a minute. That's not fair. I never met Adam. I wouldn't know him from Adam. Now, why am I taking the rap for what he did? Why am I being implicated for a crime he committed? I didn't eat the fruit. I don't even like fruit. Now, I actually do like fruit. But why would God condemn the world because of what one person did? How could He pass that along?

Well, let me answer that simply, first of all, by saying this principle works in other aspects of human propagation. We get physical characteristics from parents and grandparents. That gets passed down-- eye color, hair color, body type, height. All of that gets passed on genetically in the genetic code all the way down the line. In the same way, sin is a matter of spiritual genetics. We inherit a fallen nature.

I'm going to give you a second explanation. By condemning the race through one man, God is able to save the race through one man. By consigning all of us under the condemnation clause, since we're all born into that state, we can all be saved by His grace by simply believing-- by one man, by one man.

I'm going to read something to you that I've been fascinated with for years. I know you wouldn't read anything like this today from a government agency, but this is a statement given by the Minnesota Crime Commission. It was written in 1926 as an explanation that the government agency was giving to explain the rise in crime rate. But you would never hear a government organization say anything like this today, but it happens to be biblically accurate.

1926 Minnesota Crime Commission, the reason for the rise in crime rate, I quote, "Every baby starts life as a little savage." Boy, they got that right. "He is completely selfish and self-centered. He wants what he wants when he wants it-- his bottle, his mother's attention, his playmate's toy, his uncle's watch. Deny these and he seeths with rage and aggressiveness, which would be murderous were he not so helpless." This means that all children, not just certain children, are born delinquent. If permitted to continue in the self-centered world of his infancy, given free reign to his impulsive actions to satisfy his wants, every child would grow up a criminal, a thief, a killer, a rapist.

You'd never hear that today. Any-- we are so politically correct, they wouldn't touch that with a 10-foot pole. However, the Minnesota Crime Commission in 1926 seemed to have a good biblical grasp on what we call depravity. That's a term for our condition, the total depravity of mankind. That's a harsh word. That's a hard sound. And what does that mean? The word depravity means marked by corruption. It does not mean you're as bad as you can possibly be. It means you're as bad off as you can possibly be.

You see, before God, you and I are as bad off as we can possibly be. We can't get any worse. All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. The wrath of God is revealed from Heaven against all in righteousness and in godliness. That is our natural state. We are by children the nature of wrath even as others. That's depravity. That's what Adam brought. Sin entered. Death entered. Death spread. Death reigned.

Now we turn a corner. After considering Adam, we consider what Paul calls in Corinthians "the last Adam," Jesus. So just like through one man's failure brought mankind's fall, also by one man's fix bought mankind's favor. Let's look at verse 15. And I'm glad just for the first word because it's a nice change.

"But the free gift is not like the offense. For if by the one man's offense many died, much more the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, abounded to many. And the gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned. For the judgment which came from the one offense resulted in condemnation, but the free gift which came from many offenses resulted in justification. For if by the one man's offense death reigned through the one, much more those who received abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the one, Jesus Christ.

Therefore, as through one man's offense judgment came to all men resulting in condemnation, even so through one man's righteous act the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life. For as by one man's disobedience, many were made sinners, so also by one man's obedience, many will be made righteous. Moreover, the Law entered that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more so, that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ, our Lord."

Now if you just sneak back a half a verse, verse 14, notice what it says at the end. We haven't even looked at that yet. It says, "Adam, who is a--" what does it say? Type-- "Adam who is a type of Him--" capital H, referring to Jesus. "Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come." Type, tupos, pattern-- he is a type. Adam is a type of Christ not because they are similar to each other, but because they are dissimilar to each other.

The only similarity between Adam and Christ is that what one did affected the rest. That's their similarity. Adam is the type of Jesus in an opposite sense. We would say actually he's the antitype. Adam is the antitype of Christ. Kent Hughes in his commentary said, "There is a greater distance between Christ and Adam than between a grasshopper and the highest archangel."

So one choice, one act, one sin affected the many. One sacrifice, one righteous deed affected salvation for many. Now by the way, technically you see where it says "many?" It keeps using that word. Because of this many were made righteous. Many were made guilty. There should be a "the." There's an article before it in the original language, the many. So the one affected the many. And the second "the one" affected the many. And the many means everybody, means all mankind.

Look at verse 18. "Therefore, as through one man's offense, judgment came to all men." So "many" is an appositional statement of every single person, every one, all of them. But here, to me, is a great part. There's that phrase I told you about, "much more." I want you to look at a few of these.

Look at verse 15. "But the free gift is not like the offense." For if by one man's gift-- or "one man's offense many died, much more the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, abounded to many." Verse 17, "For if by one man's offense death reigned through the one man, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the one, Jesus Christ."

Verse 20, "Moreover, the Law entered that the offense might abound." In other words, people still blew it from the time of Adam to the time of Moses when the Law was given. But when the Law was written at the time of Moses, it now makes it worse because you might be doing all the stuff the Law says don't do. But now that the Law says, don't do it, you know it's wrong-- wet paint. Don't touch. Don't enter. The Law makes the offense known and amplified. "Moreover, the Law entered that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace abounded," here's the term, "much more."

Here's the composite truth of all these. Whatever we lost in Adam, we gained in Christ much more. And verse 20 is really the pinnacle of the entire passage. "Where sin abounded, grace--" here's a better translation-- "super abounded." That's what one translation says, super abounded. Another translation-- overflowed, exceeded the mark. Here's my translation. When sin reached its high-water mark, grace completely flooded over.

Charles Haddon Spurgeon preached a whole message on verse 20, the single verse. He called it, "grace abounding over abounding sin." Think of it like a dam, a water dam that is erected to keep out the flow of a great river. And there's several examples around the world. Two notable ones in our region would be the state almost next door to us, sort of next door, Nevada, the Hoover Dam built in 1935 by FDR, largest structure on Earth at the time. And then the Orville Dam in California happens to be to this day the tallest, the highest dam in the world, 754 feet high, 1 mile wide.

The point of the passage then is that sin cannot erect a dam so high that grace cannot overflow. I want you to hear that truth. Because some of you are thinking, man, I've-- you don't know what I've done. You don't know what I've thought. You don't know what I've said. And you don't know how often I've said it-- yeah, sort of like Adam. Like what I said, we're just like that. We keep doing it. But you might feel like a failure on so many levels. And if you're thinking, my sin has erected a dam. It's pretty high. God's grace can overflow that. Where sin abounded, grace can abound much more.

Back in 1492, remember what happened in 1492? In 1492--

Columbus sailed the ocean blue.

You got an A that day. And that was probably kindergarten, right, that we learned that. So you were there. You did good because I just heard it from you. 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue. Before 1942-- or 1492, for service. So before 1492, the Spanish coins, coins in Spain had a little motif on the front of the Strait of Gibraltar, the Rock of Gibraltar. And the words in Latin inscribed "Ne plus ultra." That means "no more beyond." What they're saying is, you've reached the end of the world. There's nothing after this. There's nothing beyond this. This is it, baby. There's no more beyond.

Well, that was 1492. And Chris hadn't come back home from his voyages yet. But when Christopher Columbus did come back home from his exploring the New World and discovered, oh, there's a lot more, they had to remint the coin. And they dropped the "Ne," and now it read "Plus ultra." There is more beyond.

And if you think your failure has tapped out God's grace, you don't know your God. If you think what you've done, the dam you've erected has kept God's grace away from you, you don't understand your God or His grace. And you need to let verse 20 sink in. "Where sin abounded, grace overflowed."

I'll go back to Adam. You know what happened when Adam sinned, right? Adam sinned with his wife. And afterwards, they're kind of standing there, and they look down. They go, we're naked. We've got to fix that. They had this sudden self-realization of something they never really realized before. It wasn't an issue before. Now they're very self-conscious. And so they had to cover themselves up. And what do they cover themselves up with? What did they put on?

Fig leaves.

Fig leaves, ever felt a fig leaf? It is so rough. It's got whiskers on it. It's itchy. It's rough. It's not comfortable. And it's temporary. Fig leaves dry out. They break apart. You have to keep getting new ones, which is just a bad experience all the way around. So God was very gracious and provided, the Bible says, skins, animal skins, for them. Now, question, would you rather have leaves with whiskers on your private parts or sheepskin? Easy choice, right?

So God provided animal skins, presumably, though we can't be sure, sheep skins to cover them up. But to get animal skins, you gotta get an animal. To, get animal skins you gotta kill an animal. You have to shed that animal's innocent blood. That animal didn't do anything. God killed the animal, shed the blood, took the skins, provided clothing.

That becomes a principle that is shared in the New Testament, Hebrews 9:22, "Without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sins." In that whole encounter, God was sharing two truths with Adam and Eve that become part of the biblical narrative. First of all, death came into the world because of sin, and only a life can pay for it. And number two, God is demonstrating that a substitute can be offered in the place of the one who committed the sin.

Now, with Adam and Eve, when they sinned, it was one lamb per person. Eve needed a skin. Adam needed a skin. So it was one lamb per one person. But as time moves on, God establishes the Passover among the Hebrew nation. And he allows one lamb to be slain for one family. Later on, time moves on. Yom Kippur, Day of Atonement, God allows the slaying of one lamb for the whole nation.

But time does march on. And by the time we get to the New Testament, John the Baptist sees Jesus come, and he goes, ah, look. Behold the Lamb of God which takes away the sin of the world. Now it's one lamb for the world-- what one man, one lamb, can do. So what can one man do? A lot-- Jesus, now the new federal head, undoes the damage left by Adam.

So people might look at Adam and go, that-- God isn't fair. You're right. It's not fair that Jesus should pay for your sin. Think of it that way. People complain, and they say, why should I get punished for what Adam did? Here's my question. Why should Jesus get punished for what you did? And yet he did. He was that lamb. He did. Why? He must think we're worth it. He must think we're worth it.

Speaking of one man, you've heard that little statement, one man's trash is another man's--

Treasure.

--treasure. So there's yard sales all the time that bear that truth out. Right? So unfortunately, the stuff that is in the yard sale today is in the dumpster tomorrow. And maybe some of you feel like that. You feel sort of like leftovers at a yard sale. You feel useless. You feel worthless.

I want you to know God doesn't see it that way. God doesn't see you that way. God doesn't think you're a bargain at a yard sale. Because he was willing to pay the highest price to enter into a relationship with you. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son-- highest price.

And that's the gift. Verse 15, "But the free gift is not like the offense." Because it's a gift, you can't brag about your accomplishments. Because it's a gift, you can't earn it. You can only receive the gift. But you have to receive the gift, or it's really not valid.

So you can't blame Adam for what he did because you have that incredible power of choice yourself. And it comes down to this. What will you do with Jesus? What will you do with God's provision to fix the problem? What will you do? Will you believe and let Jesus be your federal head? Or will you just like, Adam did what he did, and here I am. It's pretty bad, bad stuff, every generation.

OK, let him begin with you. Let him change your heart, your life. You want to change a nation, a world? It's one person at a time. It begins with you. And God is giving you an incredible power right now to choose, to choose. Father, you've given us that incredible power of volition, human volition, choice. And we can receive the free gift that we can't earn, or we can reject the free gift. And our choice is so powerful that you are willing to honor our choice so that if we want nothing to do with you, you'll let that be true forever, for all eternity.

But if we want something to do with you, you'll allow that-- in fact, not just something to do with you, you'll adopt us as sons and daughters. You'll take us from slavery and make us sons and daughters of the living God, royalty, by a simple act of faith. What a gift. What an entrance. What a deal.

[ACOUSTIC GUITAR]

Father, I pray, we pray, that those among us today who have never done that would do it. And as you're gathered here, heads bowed, eyes closed, you're just thinking, or some of you are praying. You may have come to a church or churches for years on end. But it's more cultural to you. It's not personal to you. You do it because your parents make you, or your wife insists that you come, or your husband would like it if you joined him, or your children ask you if you wouldn't mind going with them, or a friend invites you.

Or you just come because you like the music. There's certain things you agree with. There's certain things you don't. But you're at a crossroads now. You're at a point where you look at your life. You're not satisfied with it. You're wondering if there's something more, and you're wondering if this Jesus is really all that we say he is and has the power to change you. And you'll never know until you choose him. You'll never know until you say yes.

Jesus said, "Come to me. Come to me all you who labor and are heavy laden. I'll give you rest." You'll never know if that rest is possible unless you come to Him, and you come to Him by faith. So if you've never done that personally or if maybe, one time, you made some choice in the past, but you're not walking with him today and, in reality, you've walked away from him, you need to come back home. Because today you're not following Jesus, and He's calling you to himself. He is the one person, the one man that can make all the difference in your life.

If you're willing to say yes to Jesus for the first time or you need to return to Him, I'd like you to raise your hand up in the air. I'm going to notice your hand, acknowledge you, and pray for you as we close. I just saw a couple hands right there in the middle. Thank you for that-- to my left. Anybody else? Put that hand up high so I can see it. Maybe wave it around just a little bit so I can-- yeah, thank you. Got it. Thank you for that-- right over here from the front to my left.

Anybody in the family room? I can see right through that glass. Just raise that hand up. Yes, yes. If you're outside, God bless you-- to my left on the side. You could be outside in the amphitheater. There's a pastor there. You raise that hand up. We want you to be a part of this.

Father, thank you for each life. Each hand is a person with feelings and experiences. And you love each one. You know each one. You know the worst. You know the best. You know it all. You love each one. And you are willing to give the free gift of life. Lord, I pray for life change among each one. In Jesus' name, amen.

Would you stand, please? We're closing out this weekend with a song. And as we sing this song together, I'm now going to ask those of you who raised your hands, whether you're in this room, balcony, you're over here to the left in the family room, to get up and stand. Move your-- make your way right up here to the front where I'm going to lead you in a moment in a prayer to receive Christ. Jesus called people publicly.

[MUSIC - "REND THE HEAVENS"]

So please, don't-- we're not trying to embarrass you. We are trying to encourage you. And as you come, you'll hear it. You'll hear it. We're so excited for this choice you're making. So if you raised your hand, please get up and come. And just stand right up here.

I'm going to lead you in a prayer in a moment to receive Christ. We'll make time for you. If you're outside, the pastor will walk you in. If you're in the family room, go through the doors to the right up in the front. Come through that hallway. Come into this room. If you raised your hand, comes stand right here.

(SINGING) We want to see miracles.

Come on. Come on. Join the party.

(SINGING) We want to see signs and wonders. We want to see you. We want to see you. We want to see the lost come home.

We'll wait for you. I saw hands go up around this auditorium. Don't be one of the silent types. You come. Come out of the shadow. Step into the light. Come join us. Make it your own. Make it real. Make it yours.

(SINGING) We want to see you. We want to see you. We want to see the lost come home, the sick made whole.

Yes. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Thank you. God bless you. I'm so happy for you guys. Whether you raised your hand or not, just come. You know you need this. Come join us.

[APPLAUSE]

(SINGING) Oh, we want to see miracles, the impossible.

Maybe you're on this side of the auditorium, and you're wondering, how come everybody on this side is coming forward? Well, that's you need to be here then. Maybe you need to come. It's for all y'all. Anybody else?

(SINGING) We want to see you. We want to see you.

Well, those of you who have come forward, I'm going to now lead you in a prayer. I'm going to say this prayer out loud, and I want you to pray this prayer out loud. But I want you to just to say it from your heart. You're talking to God. It's very simple. You're just asking Him to take control. You're essentially giving Him the pink slip of your life to Him. You're saying, drive this car. Drive this life. OK?

Let's pray. Lord, I give you my life. I know that I'm a sinner. Please forgive me. I believe in Jesus, that he came from Heaven to Earth, that he died on a cross, that he shed his blood for my sin, and that he rose again. I turn from my sin. I turn to Jesus as my Savior. I want to live for him as my Lord. Help me in Jesus' name, amen. Come on. Get a little excited about this.

[CHEERING]

All right. Antonio, come over here. You see this man right here? This is a Marine. Yeah, you don't want to mess with this guy. And you don't have to. He's a pastor. He's tame now. So would you-- and thank you, by the way, for serving our country. Would you follow this pastor right over here? We want to give you something and explain what it is to follow Jesus.

(SINGING) We want to see miracles, the impossible. We want to see signs and wonders. We want to see you. We want to see you. We want to see the lost come home, the sick made whole. We want to see demons tremble. We want to see you. We want to see you. Amen. Thanks so much for joining us. We love you. Have an amazing Sunday. We'll see you back here Wednesday night.

We hope you enjoyed this message from Skip Heitzig of Calvary Church. How will you put the truths that you learned into action in your life? Let us know. Email us at mystory@calvarynm.church. And just a reminder, you can support this ministry with a financial gift at calvarynm.church/give. Thank you for joining us for this teaching from Calvary Church.

[HEART BEATING]

Additional Messages in this Series

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5/5/2019
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The Heart and Soul of the Gospel
Romans 1:1-7
Skip Heitzig
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Message Summary
Today we embark on a thirty-two-week journey through the book of Romans. Considered to be Paul the apostle’s magnum opus, this book is largely responsible for igniting the fires of the Protestant Reformation and the Wesleyan Revival. As Paul introduced himself to the church at Rome, he got right to the heart and soul of the matter—the gospel—the good news that presents Jesus Christ as God’s great answer to the pressing need of the human race.
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5/19/2019
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Unashamed!
Romans 1:16-17
Skip Heitzig
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Standing up for and speaking out about our faith in Jesus Christ can sometimes feel awkward and intimidating. Often our message is not received with glad faces or with open arms by the people we work with and live next to. As Paul was planning to visit Rome, he expressed eagerness rather than hesitation to herald this message. Why was that? The apostle gives us five reasons for his readiness and enthusiasm.
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5/26/2019
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Is God Mad?
Romans 1:18-32
Skip Heitzig
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The Wrath of God Is Revealed God is full of love, right? Right! That’s the good news. And Paul gets back to that theme and develops it fully in the chapters ahead. But first, there’s some bad news. Like a powerful prosecuting attorney, Paul made the case as to why we need the good news of Christ. God’s grace is necessary because of our guilt. In this section, we learn about the wrath of God—an attribute that many people can’t wrap their heads (and hearts) around.
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7/7/2019
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Four Mistakes Religious People Make
Romans 2:1-11
Skip Heitzig
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Jesus was not a religious leader. He was a righteous leader. And He was often confronting the religious leaders of His day. Likewise Paul found many enemies among the religious elite of his day, among both Jews and Gentiles. After announcing his theme of good news in Jesus, Paul promptly plunged into the bad news of God’s wrath—a subject that religious people sometimes love (but for all the wrong reasons). Paul tells us some of their most common mistakes.
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7/14/2019
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Hypocrisy Gets an Audit
Romans 2:17-29
Skip Heitzig
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All businesses, corporations, and individuals have blind spots. Auditors can help by giving a clear and unbiased reading of practices and procedures, and then give appropriate recommendations for change. Here, Paul played the role of auditing the hypocrite—the one who has spiritual style but no substance. Let’s consider the assets, the deficits, and the net appraisal of the one who wears a spiritual disguise.
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7/28/2019
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The Advantage of Having the Bible
Romans 3:1-8
Skip Heitzig
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Those who have been raised in a home with spiritual foundations and the teaching of Scripture have an edge over those who were never exposed to such benefits. The advantage of having access to the Bible is enormous, but it is not a fail-safe. Paul addressed the Jews who were caretakers of God’s own words, and much can be applied to anyone who has the advantage of revealed truth but fails to take it to heart.
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8/4/2019
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How Prisoners Go Free
Romans 3:9-26
Skip Heitzig
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Freedom is a huge word for the Christian believer. Picture yourself nervously standing in a courtroom before a judge who has just read the pile of evidence against you. Just before the gavel strikes the bench proclaiming your guilt, a piece of evidence strikes his gaze and he unexpectedly announces your innocence. You can now go free! Here Paul explains how any person anywhere can find hope and freedom because of the gospel.
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8/11/2019
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Old Age; Young Faith
Romans 4
Skip Heitzig
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Our skin may wrinkle but our faith never has to. Abraham’s faith was vibrant and youthful even when he was nearing one hundred years of age. As Paul points to the patriarch Abraham as an example for justification by faith, we can learn what it means to believe God through all the ages of life. How vibrant is your Christian faith? Have you let cynicism and doubt choke out your confidence in God?
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8/18/2019
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Our Benefits Package
Romans 5:1-5
Skip Heitzig
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Why is being a Christian so great? Every unbeliever you meet is asking that question as they observe your life. What are the benefits of living with a committed faith in Jesus? After explaining what it means to be right with God by believing in Christ, and after illustrating that principle with Abraham, Paul gives a short list of some of the benefits of a saved life.
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8/25/2019
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Unrivaled Love
Romans 5:6-11
Skip Heitzig
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Modern wisdom continually tells us, “Love is a verb,” rather than a sentimental feeling. Love is a commitment that involves action. For the first time in the letter to the Romans, Paul introduced the word love and a very singular kind of love—God’s love for us. Wanting to show how secure we are in this salvation, he described the greatest demonstration of love—its proof, its provision, and its product.
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9/8/2019
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Don’t Look Back
Romans 6:1-7
Nate Heitzig
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Returning to a life of sin after becoming a Christian is like winning the lottery but choosing to continue to live in poverty. Pastor Nate Heitzig poses this question: Can one be a Christian and continually pursue a sinful lifestyle? In examining Romans 6:1-7, we find the biblical answer: No. Because of what God has done for the Christian, the Christian's rightful response to God should be to pursue a transformed lifestyle.
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9/15/2019
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Winning the War with Sin
Romans 6:11-14
Skip Heitzig
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Message Summary
There is not a person I know who doesn’t struggle with sin. Evil thoughts, bad habits, immoral impulses, and recurring temptations all rear their ugly heads, leaving us exhausted and disappointed in ourselves and wondering if any deliverance is possible. This struggle is real. The war can be fierce. How can we believers (who still have our old natures) win in these battles? Consider this four-step strategy.
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9/22/2019
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The Struggle Is Real
Romans 7:14-25
Nate Heitzig
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Christians can struggle with consistency. Like everyone, we sin and fall short in many areas. It's easy to get discouraged and think to ourselves, "I'm weak," or "I must not be called to the Christian life." The struggle with sin is real for every Christian. In this message, Pastor Nate Heitzig examines the believer's situation and struggle with carnality as well as the solution for victory.
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9/29/2019
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Safe and Secure
Romans 8:1-11
Skip Heitzig
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As the old saying goes, “It’s always darkest before the dawn.” That’s certainly true of Paul’s authorship of this book. He closes chapter 7 on a low note, only to crescendo to a swelling high point in chapter 8. “Don’t despair! You’re in secure hands and you’re safe,” Paul tells us. He reminds us of four facts that should settle every heart.
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10/6/2019
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The New You
Romans 8:12-18
Skip Heitzig
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Most people love new stuff: a new car, a new set of clothes, a new puppy, a new haircut, a new adventure. But the best new thing you could have is a new you! Being a Christian isn’t a temporary reformation but a total transformation. When the Holy Spirit gets hold of a person’s life, He begins the process of a total makeover—changing you from the inside out. As a Christian believer these are among the changes you can expect to see.
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10/13/2019
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The Steady Hand of a Caring God
Romans 8:28-30
Skip Heitzig
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The world to many people seems to be a random place where anything can happen. But a believer can (and should) step firmly onto the soil of life. Why? Not just because God exists, but also because God cares! There is not a single atom nor molecule out of place in God’s universe; His hands and heart are steadily controlling your every breath. Let’s examine some of the richest truths about the quality of care from a loving God.
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10/20/2019
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A Midterm Exam: Five Questions to Test Your Understanding
Romans 8:31-34
Skip Heitzig
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In the middle of any given course or semester, a test consisting of questions is given. This does two things: it measures the student’s grasp of the course materials, and it helps identify any areas that need work. Right in the middle of his sixteen-chapter book, Paul gives his readers a series of questions to jog our spiritual memory and face some wonderful realities about the love of God. Let’s consider five questions in these verses.
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10/27/2019
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For the Love of God
Romans 8:35-39
Skip Heitzig
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Can anyone really comprehend unconditional love? Perhaps the love that parents have for their children is the closest to unconditional love from a human point of view. But life’s circumstances certainly can challenge the idea that God loves us unconditionally. We’ve all heard about God’s love, we’ve sung about it, and we’ve affirmed it with our “Amens!” But as Paul closes out this section of Romans, he moves us into a fixed and secure confession that no matter what life can throw at us, we need never doubt God’s love for us.
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11/10/2019
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God, the Jew, and You
Romans 9:1-26
Skip Heitzig
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We now come to the third major section of Paul’s letter to the Romans that reveals God’s plan for Jew and Gentile. The early church in Jerusalem was entirely Jewish, but by this point, in most other parts of the world, it had become predominantly non-Jewish. But if God made so many promises to the Jewish nation, does that mean those promises are all now annulled? How does Israel’s rejection of Jesus as Messiah fit into God’s sovereign strategy, and where do we fit in?
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11/17/2019
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Salvation: Reverse Engineered
Romans 10:1, 14-17
Skip Heitzig
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Right in the middle of Paul’s great trilogy about Israel (Romans 9, 10, and 11), he gave an expanded view of how salvation operates. These are the seven components that make up the journey for anyone (Jew or Gentile) who comes to know Christ. Evangelism always begins with God’s sovereign election, but it also involves human cooperation. It takes both someone who will transmit the gospel and someone who will receive it.
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11/24/2019
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God’s Plan for Israel—and the World
Romans 11:25-27
Skip Heitzig
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Can God be trusted? More to the point, can God’s promises be trusted? If He promised to the Jews a kingdom, won’t their rejection of Christ cancel out His promises to them? Wouldn’t that mean that God is finished with Israel as a nation? Does their blindness forfeit God’s blessing? Today we’ll get the big-picture view of Israel, the church, and the kingdom age, and I think you will have a few loose ends tied up about God’s future plan for the world.
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12/8/2019
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Now It’s Your Turn
Romans 12:1-2
Skip Heitzig
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The blessings of God and the work of Christ have been flowing like a dynamic stream for eleven chapters so far. He saves, He justifies, He promises, He gives peace, He works everything together for good in our lives, and He plans an epic eternity for us. So how should we respond to all of this? What is our part? That’s what the next five chapters of Romans are all about. The thrust of this next section is: Based on all that God has done for you, now it’s your turn!
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12/15/2019
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Made for Purpose
Romans 12:3-8
Nate Heitzig
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The beauty of God's creation is evident all around us, yet nature is not God's greatest work; mankind is God's greatest masterpiece. It's estimated that to write down one person's DNA blueprint would require 200,000 pages. And God knows every sentence on every page. For the Christian, there's a custom design—a purpose in life to partner with God through gifts from the Holy Spirit. Pastor Nate Heitzig explains how believers can find their purpose in Christ in this message from Romans 12:3-8.
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12/22/2019
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Exercise for Your Soul
Romans 12:6-8
Nate Heitzig
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Americans seem obsessed with fitness and exercise, yet the U.S. is one of the most obese nations in the world. It’s similar in the body of Christ—many Christians are idle, preferring to sit around rather than exercise our spiritual gifts. The key to both spiritual and physical health is balancing exercise and rest. In this teaching, Pastor Nate Heitzig discusses why God gives certain gifts to each member of the body of Christ as well as how those gifts are given so that the entire body might grow and be strong.
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1/5/2020
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Love Is a Verb
Romans 12:9-21
Skip Heitzig
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Perhaps the most overused (but under-practiced) word in human language is the word love. We use the word for everything that includes a mild liking of a meal to having intense affection for another human. Paul is far more practical, knowing that love will show itself in the form of action. Love is a verb. He shows us how the hallmark virtue of Christianity, love, is shown among other believers and in the world, even when they hate us.
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1/12/2020
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The Christian and Government
Romans 13:1-7
Skip Heitzig
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There has always existed a tension between God’s people and human government, especially when we are not in favor of those who are in power. We may find it hard to “render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s” (Matthew 22:21) while being faithful to God. The Christians in Rome were no different when Paul wrote this letter. Let’s consider five principles that form a practical theology for Christian believers in relationship to secular human government.
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1/26/2020
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Wake Up Call
Romans 13:11-14
Nate Heitzig
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We are a fallen people living in a fallen world. Romans 3:10 says "none is righteous." There is evidence all around us that Jesus is setting the scene for His return, and Romans 13 is Paul’s call for the church to prepare for that event. Jesus Himself told us to "occupy till [He] comes" (Luke 19:13, KJV). In this message, Pastor Nate Heitzig explores the apostle's wake-up call to believers and helps us understand how we can effectively occupy until Jesus returns.
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2/2/2020
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Acceptance, Judgment, and the Essential Point of Nonessential Points
Romans 14:1-6
Nate Heitzig
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Today it seems that the church has become known for being judgmental and critical, not just toward unbelievers but even among fellow Christians. That's why we must focus on our commonality in Christ alone. In Romans 14, Paul addressed two groups of Christians—Gentile believers and legalistic Jews—who were causing division and friction among the early church. In this teaching, Nate Heitzig shares how to navigate the nonessential points of our faith while embracing unity in the essentials.
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2/16/2020
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The Cure for "I" Disease
Romans 15:1-6
Skip Heitzig
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Selfishness is part of our basic human nature. It is the default position for every human being. Left unchecked, everybody would focus on himself and live only to please himself. But redemption brings with it a different lifestyle—one that is focused on others, patient with faults, and motivated by a sense of unity in the church. Let’s consider a fourfold strategy to counteract selfishness and promote harmonious living.
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3/15/2020
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How to Treat Your Family
Romans 16:1-24
Skip Heitzig
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I am so honored and thankful to be part of this spiritual family. You are one of God’s greatest gifts in my life! In this last chapter of Romans, Paul’s tone and subject matter is familial—he approaches them not as Paul the theologian, but Paul their brother in Christ. It’s unfortunate that many believers don’t pay much attention to chapter 16 because in it we get a great example of how to treat our own spiritual family.
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There are 30 additional messages in this series.
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