We are on page 25, having introduced the doctrine of sin by a Biblical description of it. We've made these points, sin is a fence against God, most importantly. It includes both guilt and corruption. It involves our thoughts, words and deeds. And sin is deceitful. The last point helps us remember that this is not merely an academic study. It is academic. We don't apologize for seeking to love God with our minds and understand His truth. Although we do understand, we're not going to understand Him perfectly in this life. But it's more than an academic study because it is God's truth and His grace claims our lives and sin is deceitful. Therefore each of us should take heed if we think we stand. First Corinthians 10, less we fall. I didn't mean to make a pun, but the next topic is the fall. The fall of Adam and Eve into sin. Any questions or comments on the description, Biblical description of sin. We can go into much more detail, but I do think that overview is is needful. God had created Adam and put him into a perfect environment. He told the first man that he was free to eat from any tree in the garden except from the tree of a knowledge of good and evil. The Lord had warned him, for when you eat of it you will surely die, Genesis 2.17. Then God created Eve as a helper for Adam. In Genesis 3, the crafty serpent and instrument of Satan according to other scriptures, spoke to Eve and questioned the prohibition which God had given to Adam. Did God really say you must not eat from any tree in the garden? Eve restated the privileges and prohibition which God had given. I don't make a big deal by her adding and neither you should touch it. It seems to me it's rather it was rather smart of Adam and Eve to hedge the law around a little bit. I wouldn't go criticizing their communication. I've heard that from time to time. I don't think that's the point. Satan then denied God's previous warning with a frontal attack. You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened and you will be like God knowing good. And Eve will question God's goodness. Eve and then Adam sinned by eating the forbidden fruit. Their sin was disobedience, unfaithfulness, and more to their creator. I propose that the death that they suffered was both immediate and ultimate. Immediately they died and that they were cut off from fellowship of God. For the first time they hid from him. They knew his presence but now they hid from that presence. And blame shifting began in the garden of Eden. God confronts Adam as the head of his home. He shifts the blame to his wife. She tries to pass it on to the serpent and so forth. They hid from God and shifted the blame when God confronted them with their sin. I thus see understand the account of the fall in Genesis 3 to be profound in its diagnosis of human sinning and even strategies that we use to deal with sin. And also it is indicative of the grace of God. In grace God confronted Adam to overlook that would not have been good. In grace God excluded them from the garden. In grace he also made a promise of the Redeemer before he did that. Promising that the seed of the woman would deal a fatal blow to the serpent seed who in turn would deal a real but less than fatal blow to the seed of the woman who ultimately is Christ. In grace God excludes them from the garden, less they eat from the tree of life and live forever in a sinful condition. If you will, less they exist as justified sinners. I would follow the traditional notion of the clothing them with coats of skins involving animal sacrifice and a picture of forgiveness that's fine with me. They were justified but they were being sanctified and they would have lived forever as justified but still being sanctified and not glorified creatures that was not God's will. In grace he excludes them from the garden. Later they died physically, they would not have died had they not sinned. Spiritual and physical death of human beings with the consequences of their disobedience to God. Genesis thus recounts the fall into sin of our first parents. It does not go into theological analysis of the fall. Derek Kidner in his Tindale Old Testament commentary on Genesis explains quote, the doctrine latent the teaching latent in the chapter that sin came into the world through one man and death through sin. Romans 512 emerges in sharp focus only in the New Testament. The Old Testament uses the story little, though it witnesses to man's bondage. It has the materials of the doctrine but has not formulated it end of quotation. The Apostle Paul would be the one to formulate the doctrine. The New Testament presents the doctrine of original sin in Romans 5 and it is to Romans 5 that we now turn. Yes sir. The question is what are we to make of the scant mention of Adam and Eve in the scriptures after the fall in the expulsion and so forth. The fact that Adam lived nine years and we're not told about what happened during most of those years doesn't indicate he wasn't in fellowship with God. We are told God tells us what's most important and Adam even then disappears from the record as the head of the human race and as the story continues if you will. But Adam and Eve are appealed to in the New Testament maybe more times than we realize. Romans 5, 1 Corinthians 15, 1 Timothy 2, John 8 and a number of times and in different contexts in the gospel Jesus says in the beginning God made them male and female and gave them in marriage and so forth. So it probably are more references than we realize but you're right in that they do drop out of the story because the story goes on and doesn't then dwell on the beginning but on then God's well punishing of sin in the flood claiming a man Abraham making a covenant with him and on the story goes. Romans 5, 12 to 21 in context again I'll emphasize you do not need to write I'll give you one of these next time yes comment the Bible doesn't specifically correlate the fall of Satan and the fall of Adam and Eve and some have said Satan fell right here in the garden of Eden at the same time. It rather seems to me better to say that fall was before but that was not bringing sin into the world if you will because Romans 5, 12 is explicit that is through the fall of Adam that sin and death I would say in the context the sin and death of human beings came into the world that is there could well have been decay in the animal kingdom. There certainly was death of some plants of Adam and Eve 8 the plants and so forth so it's speaking of human beings and not of angels or of animals and plants and so forth. The theme of Romans is given in Romans 1 verses 16 and 17 where we read of the gospel the revelation of the righteousness of God. This is the theme I'm not ashamed of the gospel because it's a power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes first for the Jew then for the Gentile for in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed and then he appeals to Habakkuk. The righteous will live by faith Paul interprets that in a New Testament sense to mean the justified person will have eternal life through the means of faith. Here's the theme of Romans but the shocking thing is the next verse doesn't go on and speak of the revelation of the saving righteousness of God at all. If we set up the paradigm the revelation of the righteousness of God it's as if the apostle takes the word righteousness out and puts the word wrath in and he leaves it there until he finishes his task of bringing the world into submission before God. Finally at 320 he thinks he has sufficiently discharged his duty of showing everyone's guilt and corruption before God. The gospel is the revelation of the saving righteousness of God. Verse 18 then doesn't talk about that but rather the wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of human beings who suppress the truth by their wickedness. People anywhere under creation do that as they twist the revelation of God in the things he has made chapter 1, 2, 1 to 16. People also do it because the law of God is written on their hearts they know right from wrong and they either have one of two responses. 132 they plunge headlong into the wrong taking as many fellow miserable sinners as they can with them or two one through four they are hypocrites and they condemn the wrong in others but do the same things themselves. All along Paul has been shooting his arrow right for the bullseye and that bullseye is the Jews to 17 through the end. If he can show the Jews are guilty he's got the world by the tail and in fact the Jews are thrice condemned they're condemned by God's revelation and creation. They're condemned by the abuse of the law written on the heart because they criticize the Gentiles and then do the same things. But most of all they are accused by the law of God written on tablets of stone and then in the Old Testament scriptures. God's wrath is revealed against the world the summary is given there in chapter 3 there's none righteous no not one there's none who seeks for God and on it goes. The theme of Romans is a revelation of the saving righteousness of God surprise surprise from one 18 to 320 God does not follow this positive tack that some of our contemporaries are taking. No he very much takes that the broom of the law and stirs up the dust of sin so everybody's coughing and hacking you came and see it's so bad. Then he returns to his theme of the revelation of the saving righteousness of God in Christ 321 says but now a righteousness from God apart from law has been made known. It's another way of saying has been revealed now he is ready to give his explication of the theme he announced in chapter 1. With the backdrop of sin in its ugliness then grace appears all the more beautiful some has like some have someone has likened sin to the black or deep velvet purple jewelers cloth and then the diamond of grace is put in the middle and it just gleams against that background. From 321 to 325 21 excuse me Paul does talk about the revelation of the saving righteousness of God in Christ that is the doctrine of justification subset he introduces the concept including faith in 321 through 23 but now he says a righteousness from God apart from law has been made known. Law here is shorthand for law keeping for seeking to establish merit before God by doing the law compare 19 and 20 to two previous verses now apart from any notion of merit before God through law the righteousness of God the saving righteousness has been revealed to which the Old Testament testifies he wants to be clear when he when he puts aside law. But law is not law altogether it's not the Old Testament it's rather law as a system of human merit this righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ faith was introduced all the way back in the thematic statement in chapter 1 even more than once to everyone who believes the Jew and the Greek the just will live by faith. Here no sooner does he return to his theme and again he sings the song about faith introduction including faith. He still hasn't gotten sin out of his system so he says there's no difference for all have sinned in full short of the glory of God again he summarizes the needs remarkable. Verse 24 doesn't follow on the heels of 23 logically but rather it follows 22 the first part 22 a 22 big and 23 are a parenthesis here's the way 24 ought to be read this righteousness from God comes through faith in Christ Jesus to all who believe verse 24 and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came through Christ Jesus. In 3 24 to 26 Paul sets forth the basis of justification and that is the saving work of Christ understood under two pictures redemption and propitiation he does not develop the idea of redemption here he merely mentions the word we get the concept from studying his writings. Leon Morris and his wonderful book the Apostolic preaching of the cross summarizes in three points John starting his wonderful book the cross of Christ uses for. They're both correct redemption assumes a prior state of bondage we were bound in sin redemption involves the payment of a price. In this case the blood of Christ his own atoning death redemption then involves a consequent state of liberty the freedom of the sons and daughters of God. So there's a state of bondage the payment of a price and the consequent freedom that follows. From this wonderful work of redemption of the redeemer Christ saving work is also a propitiation and this is the concept that Paul develops here in Romans 3 God presented him as a I like the NIV but I don't appreciate this decision as a propitiation I would translate it is a sacrifice of atonement but it's more than that it's a sacrifice of atonement directed toward God himself that turns away his deserved wrath. God presented him that is Christ Jesus as a propitiation in his blood through faith he did this to demonstrate his justice because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished. He did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus note first the redemptive historical contact trace between sins committed beforehand and the present at the present time what's going on well to make a long story short he's referring to the Old Testament time and right up to the time of Christ. In which the sins of God's people were truly forgiven by God but without God having made a final sacrifice of atonement God forgave as it were by writing himself I'll use because the blood of bulls and goats didn't really make a payment for sin they made atonement and there's real forgiven really real forgiveness granted by God. But those sacrifices didn't accomplish it they were merely pictures they were prophecies in action they were types of the great sacrifice for sin that the Lamb of God would accomplish many years into the future. Oh from God's side forgiveness was always on the basis of Christ's work whether viewed prospectively or now retrospectively surely nobody would limit redemption to those three hours when the son of God hung up on the cross that be folly but in God's unfolding plan the gospel was communicated through the sacrificial system one beautiful picture the laying on of hands indicated identification confession of sins and the victim now bears my sins. When the animal is slain in my place and the blood is shit and the priestly pronouncement of forgiveness is on the basis of that atonement made by the animal. Oh in God's side it's on the basis of the atonement to be made once for all by the son of God at the fullness of time so God in his forbearance it means clemency his long suffering had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished. The Israelites didn't make atonement and neither did the animals ultimately he left them unpunished and had a lot of IOUs to deal with but now at the present time he has set forth his son publicly on a cross hanging between heaven and earth to demonstrate that God is just. What does the cross have to do with the justice of God it has to do a great a great deal with it as well as with God's power and love and holiness and wisdom but here justice is in the foreground the cross demonstrated God's justice because now his wrath is poured out upon his beloved son. Unsafe people want justice and on the last day they will get it and they will not want it because they will be judged according to their thoughts words and deeds and they'll get justice they will be damned for their sins they'll not be condemned because they haven't heard the gospel although it's the only remedy study the judgment passages judgment judgment is based upon what people have done. God will judge them according to what they have done it will be fair and they'll be lost we don't get justice in that sense we get grace but on another level we do get justice because God justly forgives us by punishing his son with the punishment that our sins deserve and that is propitiation later on we'll study the work of Christ and we'll see that the work of Christ is directed toward us. It is directed toward the devil and his angels to defeat them it's directed toward us to cleanse us among other things but most profoundly the cross of Christ is directed toward a holy God himself it's God word and it propitiates the wrath of God. It is thus a satisfaction and sound called it although he did not understand it in the full sense of the reformers were Calvin and Luther plainly taught exactly what I am teaching that the justice of God was demonstrated in the cross of Christ. It is at the present time that God demonstrated his justice verse 26 of Romans 3 so as to be just and the justifier of every man and woman who believes in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior the problem of Romans is not the problem of modern people the problem of moderns is this how could a loving God condemn anybody according to the Bible that is no problema amigos and amigas no problem at all. Read three chapters of the Old Testament and read three chapters of Romans God could condemn all of us justly and it wouldn't jeopardize his love he doesn't owe us his grace it wouldn't be grace if he did. The problem of the Bible is this the problem of God's own moral integrity not how can a loving God condemn anybody no problem you can get them everybody because we deserve it the problem is how can a holy God maintain his his moral integrity and save anybody how in the world can God say people without compromising his law his own character how can he maintain his justice and still acquit sinners. The answer is in the cross since Christ bore the pains of hell for us when he cried out my God my God why have you forsaken me I didn't say it right if I do I break down and weep and it's not good because I can't go on but the sun cried out that cry of their election was a cry of despair of one forsaken by God in the three hours on the cross he bore the pains of hell all the divine mathematics is something like this. An infinite and eternal God man in a finite period of time can suffer eternal punishment oh it's a substitution and the church has always taught a substitutionary because of who he is he could suffer for three hours the equivalent of eternal punishment if you will in any case in the Garden of Gisemin he further had cried out three times asking the father to remove the cup of God's wrath from him but God wouldn't. He couldn't and forgive sinners the atonement is thus necessary and it vindicates the justice of God enables him to maintain the moral integrity of his character and to declare sinners righteous praise God for love like that and for the cross of his son by virtue of that cross God acquit sinners I say it reverently when a sinner believes in Christ as Lord is. There is only one verdict a holy God can give God must declare righteous anyone who runs to Christ for refuge God would be unjust to give any other verdict understand and my suggesting the father is constrained oh not against his will he delights to declare righteous anyone who believes in his son because it honors the son understand but God has no choice or understand God God gives the faith in the first place and only his preceding grace that brings us to that place although we usually don't know it then we learn later when we read in his word how wonderful and extensive his grace is but the basis of justification is the work of Christ the means of justification is faith let's not get the cart before the horse the basis of justification I did not say at the basis was faith because it isn't the basis is Christ's work the means the instrument whereby we grab hold of it is faith in saying this we don't minimize faith we establish it we give it its proper place it's a wonderful place look at all those verses 327 the 425 it's worthy of much exp of a great exposition this is theology class not Romans class although reformed theologians surely ought to know the book of Romans after 5 1 to 11 and the benefits of justification he again comes back to the basis of justification and lo me hold this is our original sin passage God forgot about sin didn't you there for a while I'll talk about faith here after I mentioned this in this Adam Christ parallel the big point is not original sin that's a subsidiary point it's a significant one but it's not the main one the main one is that God saves sinners on the basis of the work of Christ now understood as righteousness is this life long righteousness obeying the law that's in view well that's not excluded but it's not the main thing it says one act of righteousness Paul calls it it's his death on the cross the basis of justification considered negatively if you will is Christ death taking absorbing the wrath of God in our place I'll call that a minus a taking away of wrath here it's positively Christ procuring grace and righteousness for us okay relate this basis of justification to faith now for me help me understand faith is not the basis it is the means I like to use the illustration of the medicine and the spoon I'm sorry to bore some of you with it again but the reporter illustrator got about two good illustrations this is one of them I have to use it to the it if you have a sick child in your house some night can be a scary thing blessed are you if you have the life giving medicine we have two of our boys have asthma I know one of I speak if we've got the right stuff in the medicine cabinet refrigerator they bounce back it clears those air passages in the right technical words for these things forgive me doctors medical people but it clears enables them to breathe you can have a hundred or a thousand goal-plated spoons in your house or at a kind of spoon including down or down the plastic if you will you don't have the medicine the spoon doesn't save faith is like the spoon Christ saving work is like the medicine okay now ignore the fact that you could put you could really poor medicine without using a spoon we're not the comparison breaks down there the spoon is important it conveys the life giving medicine from the bottle to the sick child with me or adult it's important we don't be little faith when we say it's the means of justification because it is the means it's not by works it's by faith but the basis of justification is not faith the spoon doesn't really save in another in an ultimate sense it's merely the instrument it is Christ who saves I'll illustrate this way you can have mountains of faith in unworthy objects and that's even that's not only not saving it can be deadly the followers of the Japanese whatever it is cult and cultist friends they're not save the matter how much they believe they can give their life for that guru it's worthless is it not it's less than worthless Luther was right a little bit of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ saves because Jesus saves and his work saves next time we'll begin to work with Romans 5 12 to 19 in detail but for now we notice that in the grand scheme of things in the context of Romans this passage is about justification it is secondarily about original sin and in fact Paul draws a great comparison and contrast between the first Adam and condemnation and the second and last Adam the Lord Jesus and justification and we will pursue that contrast Lord willing next time please come with your quizzes prepared to do battle and gray those things together I thank you for your good interest and attention may the Lord