If you can turn your Bibles to Romans chapter 5, and I'm going to read from verse 12 to verse 17. Romans chapter 5, verse 12 through 17. "Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned.

For sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law. Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come.

But the free gift is not like the trespass, for if many died through one man's trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man, Jesus Christ, abounded for many. And the free gift is not like the result of that one man's sin.

For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brought justification. For if because of one man's trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ." Let's pray.

Heavenly Father, we thank you for this morning. We pray, Lord God, that your word would go forth and that it would convict our hearts. Help us, Lord God, to understand the depth of your grace and love in us, that all our lives, Lord God, our mind and our heart, all of it, Lord, may be thoroughly gripped by who you are and what you've done.

So we pray for your help and the Holy Spirit to lead and guide so that we may understand. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. I think some of you guys may know if you've been hearing me preach for a while that you know that U2 was one of my bands that I liked when I was younger.

I know they're still around. They've been around for what, three decades or something? And when I was younger U2 had a lot of songs. And part of the reason why I was intrigued is because supposedly they started out kind of like a Christian band. So if you listen carefully to their lyrics, there's some Christian theme in it.

But it's very confusing because they backslid for decades and then Bono ended up recently started coming back and talking about his faith. But if you listen to a lot of the early songs, it has some Christian themes kind of mixed up. It's like you could tell he's a mixed up Christian.

Whoever wrote the songs. One of the songs that kind of stood out to me as I was preparing this message was the song titled Pride. And the lyrics go like this, and some of you guys may know the songs. "One man come in the name of love. One man come and go.

One man come he to justify. And one man to overthrow. In the name of love, what more in the name of love? In the name of love, what more in the name of love? One man caught on a barbed wire fence. One man he resist. One man washed up on an empty beach.

One man betrayed with a kiss. In the name of love, what more in the name of love? In the name of love, what more in the name of love?" Now that we have Google, I've always wondered, what does he mean by this? Now that we have Google, we can just type it up.

What does he mean by this? And all kinds of sites come up and tell you. And I found out what the lyrics mean behind it. And immediately, if you look at it superficially, it sounds like he's talking about Jesus. And there are some clear reference to that. That's a one man come to justify, and one man betrayed with a kiss.

Clearly that must be a reference to Christ. But the author of the song basically explains that the song was predominantly written about Martin Luther King Jr. And it wasn't just about him. He said that the song basically is about how one man can be so powerful that he can change the world, or he can feed the poor and do all of this.

And how Martin Luther King Jr. representing the Civil Rights Movement and how he made such an impact in our culture. Now that sounds great. That sounds great. But in history, I can only think of two people who had that kind of effect on mankind. Two people. And those two people are mentioned in this text.

No matter how much we try to venerate Martin Luther King Jr., he was not the only guy. He just happens to be the most noted person. There's plenty of civil rights leaders prior to him, during his time, and even after. We think about the Reformation, typically Martin Luther, the Martin Luther of the Reformation, the monk, say, "Oh, he sparked the Reformation." But if you study the Reformation carefully, you'll know that there are many, countless number of people who gave their lives that created the foundation for the spark of the Reformation.

So, he just happens to be the name that everybody knows. But there's no way that it was just one man. But when it comes to history, there's two particular people that literally had an impact on human history. And every single human being has been affected in some way or another because of these two people.

And obviously, the two people that we are referring to is Adam and Jesus Christ. Adam is introduced to us in verse 14, saying, "Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come." That Adam was a type of Christ. Now, when the Bible, in theology, when we talk about types, we're talking about something that is outlined for us in the Old Testament, kind of like a shadow.

And the reality is fulfilled in the New Testament. So we can say the tabernacle, the sacrifices, those were the types of Christ to try to teach that there needed to be blood sacrifice in order for sins to be atoned. The high priesthood, that was a type preparing for Christ, that he was going to come, he's going to be the priest, and he's going to be the king.

Jonah also was a type of Christ, where he goes into the valley for three days and comes back. Again, a type of Jesus in his death and resurrection. So there are all kinds of types in the Old Testament that is fulfilled in the New Testament. But in this particular instance, in reference to Adam and Jesus, they actually use the term "type." Right?

Just in case you don't see the connection, Paul is trying to make that clear connection that Adam was a foreshadowing of what he is about to say. Now the reason why he introduces this, he's been talking about justification by faith and how because of that, our sins have been forgiven, we've been reconciled with God, we have new life in Him, right?

The wrath of God has been taken away. So all the benefits of justification that we receive because of Jesus' sacrifice. So the question is, if all mankind has been affected by what Jesus has done, how can that possibly happen by one act, by one person? Again, because we're raised in the Church, oftentimes we don't ask critical questions.

And we just kind of assume, "Yeah, Jesus died for me, died for me on the cross." But again, as a Jew who is listening to this for the first time, in their sacrificial system, they had to give sacrifices over and over and over for every sin that they commit.

Even the Day of Atonement, that has to happen every single year. So the question that they were having was, if Jesus' death and sacrifice was once and for all cleared our sins, how can that one act from one man do such a thing? So Paul is trying to answer this question by introducing Adam because they already knew that they were on their sin because of Adam.

So what Paul is trying to do is illustrate the power of Jesus' one act on the cross in comparison to Adam's one act of rebellion. One act of rebellion. So again, if we're engaged and we're really thinking through the Gospel, and we're talking about original sin, how Adam, because of his sins, it affected all mankind.

Now how can that be fair? We're not talking about Adam who sinned for many years to come. We're not talking about a generation of sin. We're talking about one man with one sin. And because of that one sin, all mankind has become corrupt and is deserving of death. It's hard for us to comprehend because we typically think of sin as a mistake, we've fallen short, it's a compromise.

But what this reveals to us is God's view of sin. Now years ago, Wendy's, it's probably been over 20 years, but Wendy's had a big scandal because somebody was eating their chili. I don't know if you've ever eaten their chili, it's delicious. If you eat their chili, they found a little mouse's head inside the chili.

And initially you can't tell, but you look closely, you can see the mouse in the chili. And after that came out, obviously, I love their chili, but after I saw that picture, I just could not go to Wendy's anymore. And nobody went, I don't know anybody, you go to Wendy's, it's wide open.

There was a period when Wendy's was ruined for a while. But logically speaking, they probably sold tons and tons of chili every single day. So that little rat's head, logically speaking, is probably not even .0001% of whatever is that they had. But nobody's going to say, "Ah, it's just one little mice." The thought of that mice in the chili, even if it is a minuscule percentage of that, ruined the whole thing.

And not only did they not eat the chili, they wouldn't eat their hamburgers. I don't trust their fries. Who knows what's in their Coca-Cola? So that one little thing in that chili ruined it for everybody for a long period of time. It's been 20-some years, I've had many chilis since then.

It's been a long time, I'm over it. But the idea of something as disgusting as a mouse in something that I'm going to put in my mouth is enough to keep a whole generation of people everywhere away from anything that they sell. The reason why we have a hard time understanding God's wrath upon mankind is because we don't see sin in that way.

We don't see sin the way God sees sin. So when we talk about that if one sin of that man brought corruption to mankind, consider, consider since then how many sins that even just Adam committed. Consider the generations that came after him, whether you believe in the old earth or the young earth, for thousands and thousands of years, sins committed over and over.

Let's just think about even just in this room, even just this week, our sins, our sins outnumber that Adam's one sin probably by a hundredfold, maybe a thousandfold. And so when the scripture talks about because that one man's sin, it brought corruption to mankind even up to this day, how much more when the scripture talks about the wrath of God being stored up in the last days.

If everything that you and I have seen, the corruption that you and I have experienced, even just last night, I don't know some of you guys may have watched the news, another crazy gunman went into a nightclub in Florida and killed 50 people, wounded another 50. So if you haven't seen it when you go home, it's kind of probably going to be the top of the news today.

I mean you almost get numb to it because you just expect it, oh another one, another one did that. But if you compare that in human history, it's just a blip, right? I mean we're horrified because it's closer to us, but I mean if you look at human history, human history is filled with violence and rape and murder.

Imagine if that one man's sin brought corruption to mankind deserving of eternal death, when the Bible says that the wrath of God is being stored up for all of sin of mankind, I believe hell would make a lot more sense. We have a hard time with the concept of hell being eternal and torment, because we don't see sin the way God sees sin.

See, the point that he's trying to make here is that because of Adam's sin, that all mankind was tainted, and you and I were inheritors of what has been tainted. Now, every human being is connected to the previous generation, right? I know that I have, I've had asthma and I have asthma, my father had asthma, my uncle had asthma, and so I found out that generationally that our, my father's line, you know, our ancestors, we have bad lungs, you know?

It's been passed down. And again, our physical deficiencies and decay, it's just a reminder of the corruption of man, it's not just physical because God didn't create us that way. God didn't create us to have heart disease, and God didn't create us to have cancer. All of that happened at the fall.

And so, these things are reminders to us that all mankind is under this sin. You know, up to this point, we've been studying about how God's love is so high and so rich that even while we were still weak and we couldn't do anything, even while though we were sinners, even while we were yet enemies of God, God sent His only begotten Son to die for our sins.

So the more we dig, the more amazing this love is. But what Paul is doing now is he's digging deeper just to see how deep this love is. Because he said that while we were yet sinners, but what does it mean? Because when we say you're a sinner, I'm a sinner, it impacts different people, different ways.

Some of you who are weighed down by sin are filled with guilt and looking for some way out and looking for grace. Some of you, when you talk about sin, it's like, "Oh yeah, yeah, of course, you know, everybody does it. Where do you draw the line?" And everybody kind of in between.

We have varying attitudes towards sin. And depending on how you are affected by sin in your life, you will be affected by the grace that God talks about. When the Bible says that while we were yet sinners, He reached down and got us, what Paul is trying to convey is just how deep this sin goes.

That it wasn't just you. That this, your sins that you're wrestling with, was passed down from your parents and you could probably see. So one of the things that we always talk about in marriage counseling is talking about how some things that you notice in the previous generation that you don't want to repeat.

Because that's always a temptation for all of us because we naturally just tend to act the way our parents acted. No matter how much you say, "I'm not going to be like that." And they did that because of their previous generation. How far does this sin go? Well, Psalm 51.3 says, "Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me, even before I was ever even born in my parents." Psalm 58.3, "The wicked are estranged from the womb, and they go astray from birth, speaking lies from day one." You know, we look at little babies and say, "Oh, they're so innocent." And yet, the psalmist say, "They come out as sinners.

They come corrupted." How far does this corruption go? All the way up to Adam. That's how deep this sin is. Right? I mean, our family are not known to be tall. You know what I mean? So it's been passed down from generation to generation. I can't just one day say, "I'm sick of this.

I'm going to be six feet tall." You know what I mean? Obviously, that's ridiculous. It's almost comical for me to just one day decide, "I'm not going to be this." Right? It is equally ridiculous for an individual who's been seeped in sin from generation to generation, all of human history, and all of a sudden, one day say, "I'm sick of it." See, what Paul is trying to convey is just how deep this sin goes.

Just how corrupt this nature is. You know, yesterday, we were talking about what's going on with this building. I'm going to make a little bit of an announcement at the end of the service, asking some of you to come out to the hearing that's taking place tomorrow. I'll explain a little bit.

But I was on the phone with the real estate agent of the buyers of this building. People are protesting. We're going to have a hearing tomorrow to see if the city is going to approve them purchasing this building. So he was kind of distraught. We're going back and forth.

You know, why are they doing this? Is it logical? They're creating headache. And they're concerned that, you know, we don't want to sell to them. We're concerned that they're going to walk away. And at the end of it, I could clearly tell that he wasn't a Christian, because he was using all kinds of colorful language, you know, in between calling me pastor.

And so he was just very frustrated. He was angry with what's going on. And so we're trying to get on the same page. What are you going to say? How are you going to say it? And going back and forth. And at the end of the conversation, you could hear him just sighing.

He said, hey, you're a man of the cloth, right? Meaning you wear cloth. I don't know what that means. Like you're a man of the cloth, right? And so he was kind of asking, so what sense do you get? Like something supernatural that I don't know. You have some tap into this, right?

So I thought, okay. So he's looking for some guidance because he's distraught. So I thought it would be a good opportunity for me to at least introduce the gospel to him. So we're on the phone talking and I said, hey, I think the way we should approach it is this, because Christianity teaches, the gospel teaches that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

And what that means is all man's inner being is corrupt. So our primary motivation of why we're doing is self-preservation, is self-glorification, is self-preservation. And so the point of the gospel is that Christ came to deliver us from a tainted position that we're in, of sinfulness. So we didn't get to finish the conversation, so I told him, so therefore when we're approaching the council, don't pound too much about what is right and what is wrong, right?

We need to say that. We need to tell him that. But let's emphasize how this is going to benefit them. You know, so I was talking to him about, hey, they made the mistake and everybody's angry and this is going to relieve pressure for you guys. So if you don't approve this, you know, this is actually beneficial for you.

For the city, it'll be beneficial for you guys, since you guys blew it with that building, now you can redeem yourself with this building. So we were talking to say, let's do that, because all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. I mean, dead silence on the phone, it's like, what are you talking about?

So I said, hey, let's talk more, you know, we'll have other opportunities. So I just kind of planted the seed, you know. But at the core of it, that's exactly what Paul is doing. What Paul is doing is, he's trying to get everybody on the same page to understand just how deep the sin goes.

But the next question that may come up if we talk about original sin is, how can that be fair? Why would we be punished because of the sin of Adam? Clearly, Ezekiel 18.20 said, "The soul who sins shall die. The son shall not suffer for the iniquity of the father, nor the father suffer for the iniquity of the son.

The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself." You hear that? It made it clear in Ezekiel 18.20 that you are not being punished for the sin of your parents or your grandparents. So how do we understand this when it says Adam's sin was imputed to us?

So if you look at verse 12, I think it gives, it kind of gives us some guidelines as to how do we understand this tension in verse 12. "Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin." Right? That's imputed sin. Right? We're guilty.

But then the second part of it, it says, "And so death spread to all men, because all sinned." Right? So in other words, are we sinners because we sin, or are we, do we sin because we're sinners? And the answer to that is yes. Both. See, no man is guilty simply because of the sin of the previous generation.

Right? And even though that sin had been imputed, everyone is guilty by their own sins. That's what he says in verse 12. So we sin because we're sinners, and we are sinners because we sin. He goes even further than that in verse 4.13, he says, "For sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law." Right?

And somebody may read that and say, "Huh, okay, then I don't want the law. As long as I don't have the law, we're not Jews, so therefore we're not guilty of sin." Is that what he's saying? Right? Don't shake your head like this, because that would be heresy. Right?

Is that what he's saying? Of course that's not what he's saying, because he spent the first three, four chapters trying to explain, "If you have the law, you're guilty with the law. If you don't have the law, you're guilty without the law." So there's no way he's saying now, "Those who don't have the law, all your sins don't count." Okay?

Let me explain what he is trying to say. What he is trying to say is that when the law came, that they began to keep record of sin. It's kind of like, you know, if you say, "Well, who's the greatest basketball player today?" And there's always a debate. Was it LeBron James?

You know? Was it, you know, was it Steph Curry? Was it Magic Johnson? You notice how people don't talk about Kobe Bryant anymore? Like ten days after he retires, like he's gone. Right? Is it Kobe Bryant? Right? Well, how do you determine that? Well, look at his stats. Look at the percentage.

Look at how many rings that they won. Look at how many, look at his jump shins. Look at his free throws. Look at what he's did. And so they kept a record so that they can compare and say, "Hey, look at his greatness." Right? Now, were they a good basketball player or not a good basketball player because they kept the record?

No. Whether they kept the record or not, a good basketball player doesn't change because somebody kept, started keeping record. So that's why the scripture says, "The sin came to make sin utterly sinful." It wasn't something that wasn't sinful and then made it sinful. Right? It was something that was already sinful and revealed it as sinful to people.

And so they started keeping record. That's what he means. That when the law, the sin was there even before the law came. But when the law came, they start keeping records of sin for what purpose? So that you can recognize just how utterly sinful we are. How desperately we are in our sins.

How we are deserving of this wrath. If one man's sin, one act deserved that wrath, how much more? And the wrath of God has been stored up from generation to generation. From one person to the next. From one group to the other. See, basically what Paul is saying is, sin is much deeper than you realize.

All the law does is measure what we can see. That's why Jesus constantly was telling the Pharisees and he begins to poke at sin that couldn't be measured by the law. He says, "Do not commit adultery." He said, "I never committed adultery. But I say to you, if you look at a woman lustfully, you've committed adultery." See, a lust can't be measured by the law because it's internal.

You have heard it said, "Do not murder." But if you hate your brother, you're guilty of murder. See, hatred can't be measured by the law. Greed can't be measured by the law. Bitterness can't be measured by the law. See, if you measure righteousness simply by the law, you can become righteous and say, "Hey, I go to church and I do this and I do that." And not realizing just how deep we are in our sins.

In fact, the people who are sometimes the most dangerous in the presence of God are people who are surfacely righteous. But greed, hatred, bitterness, pride is so deeply embedded in them. But because they keep the law, they feel safe. And that's exactly what Paul was saying. He says sin goes much deeper than the law.

It was there even before the law ever came. We were deep in sin prior to you ever even recognizing it. Romans 7, 13, "Did that which was good then bring death to me? By no means. It was sin producing death in me through what is good. In order that sin might be shown to be sin, and through commandment might become sinful beyond measure." We've been talking about the height of His love.

And when we recognize just how deeply desperate we were. Even though we've been saved, sometimes we don't realize exactly what it is that we have. Until we recognize who we were before we met Christ. And sometimes we forget that. We forget the anger that we were in. We forget the bitterness.

We forget how lost we were before we met Christ. And how that was viewed in God's eyes. And so therefore grace just becomes grace, but not amazing. See, as a result of that, as a result of that sin, He says, "Death came into the world, and death reigned." It didn't just come into the world, it said death reigned.

What does reigning mean? To rule. To have absolute power. He doesn't just say that death came in and became part of life. You know, kind of like we say that every time we go to a funeral or we hear about death, they say, "Oh, that's just part of life." Death is part of life.

Is that true? It is part of our natural experience, our humankind, but is that what God intended? Absolutely not. It is not natural. It is unnatural. Because that's not what God intended. God's intent in creation of mankind was not for us to be created, become a teenager, and become an old person, and then die.

That was not intended in creation. That happened as a result of the fall. The diseases that you have, the physical defects, all of these things came in as a result of the fall. But not only did death come in, it said death absolutely reigned. What does that mean, for death to reign?

We typically think of death as something that has happened. We were sin and separated from God. We understand salvation in three parts, right? Past, present, and future. We talked about that. We are justified, we are being sanctified, and one day we will be glorified. So we are saved, the Bible says we are being saved, and we will be saved.

But the Bible also describes death in three parts. That we died when Adam died. And the Bible also says the gospel is foolishness to those who are perishing, but the power of God to those who are being saved. So not only is life described in the present tense, ongoing, so is death.

So death is not something that just happened and then just, "Oh, it just happened in the past." There is a continual decay and reigning of death. A greater and greater experience of death in mankind. And then ultimately in Revelations it says, "Inasmuch it is appointed for all men to die once, after that comes judgment." And the judgment is called second death in the book of Revelation.

So death is described as past, death is described as present, and death is described as future. So what this means is all mankind is experiencing a growing amount of this death reign. And that's why, to me, I understand. You know, when you're younger you see older people, they're so cynical and grizzled, and you're like, "Get off my lawn!" You know, like, "Why?" But they get older and everybody gets kind of like bitter and angry.

The older I get, I understand them. I don't want to deal with anybody. I just want to go up the mountain, get on a boat, just go fishing. Like, I get it. Right? And why, if you go to certain areas of the world where it's just kind of heavy population, where it's just kind of rubbing shoulders, where you don't see a train full of people going to work singing Kumbaya.

You know, it's like, "Oh my gosh, get off of me!" Right? "I got caught, oh!" Everybody's so angry. You know, I've been to parts of the world where it's just so, I felt so claustrophobic, and it was the nastiest group of people. I'm not going to say where it is.

You know? You ask them what time it is, and they look at you like you've offended them. You know? Typically speaking, I'm not saying it's like that everywhere, typically speaking, if you go to places where it's rural, where people don't interact with each other often, they're very friendly. And you ask them, "Hey, how did you get there?" It's like, "What?

You're lost! Come on, have some lemonade." And they take you to it. Right? That's in my mind. I created this world in my mind. But they tend to be, tend to be in the rural areas a bit more friendly. This is my theory. My theory is, if you're, what's corrupted in the world wasn't creation.

People are not angry at trains. People are not angry about cars. They're angry with the people in the car. They're angry with the people who are conducting, making decisions. So their anger and bitterness is toward other people. So the more you are around other people where death reigns, the more you will experience this in an increasing manner.

That's why when you have a bunch of young kids, they're happy, and then you have a bunch of old people. Right? And I'm not saying it's like that everywhere. I'm just saying that's how life tends to get. And I get it. If you've been backstabbed, and people have hurt you, and you've seen sin over and over, year after year.

Right? It's hard not to get like that. See, that's how the Bible describes death. Death came into the world, and it absolutely reigned. See, James chapter 1, verse 15, it says, "But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then when it has conceived, gives birth to sin.

And sin, when it is fully grown, brings forth death." Sin brings death. The deception of sin. Typically, the temptation of sin is because we think that at that moment, that sin is going to bring joy. We talked about that last week. When we talked about Jesus came to bring life, life is where you feel the greatest joy.

Whatever it is that you're doing that causes the greatest joy is where you feel the most alive. So the opposite of that is when you look at sin, we're pursuing sin. Nobody pursues sin because it's the right thing to do. See, sin is not calculated wrong. Sin is at that moment, you're tempted, and you think that by lying, by cheating, by watching certain things, by doing certain things, that it's going to make you happy for that moment.

But instead of making you happy, as soon as the act is done, does that bring life? No. You see what the scripture says, and it confirms over and over again. Once sin has conceived, it produces death. It produces death. That feeling of guilt that comes over, that presses you, that compresses you, the desire to hide, it ruins fellowship, and it kills the joy in your life.

See, that's an experience of death. And that's what the scripture says when Adam introduced this, all mankind is under this umbrella of death. And the deception of sin is constantly thinking that if you just did this, if you just cut this corner, if you just do this, that somehow I'm going to be happy.

But at the end of that, you know that that's not there. It's a death absolutely reigned. In Genesis chapter 1, 28, God gives the command, creation command, that this is what God desires from Adam and Eve and all mankind. He said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth, subdue it and have dominion over it." So there's five commands in the creation account.

Of the five commands, the three are similar. And the three are, be fruitful, multiply, and fill the earth. Basically saying have a lot of children. Fill the earth. Now, after the fall, were they able to do that? You say, "No." Yes, we're here! They were fruitful and they multiplied.

And that's the reason why he created Eve, because Adam can't reproduce by himself. Right? So he created Eve to be a suitable helper. Suitable helper do what? To carry heavy things? Right? No, to be a suitable helper so that you can procreate, to be fruitful, to be multiply and fill the earth.

But the second part of this command, to subdue and to have dominion, is where the corruption can be clearly seen. The word "subdue" in the Hebrew basically means to overcome and to bring under submission. My professor, Dr. Saucy at Talbot, we're going through this in theology, and he said that word that is translated for "subdue" in the Hebrew means to conquer.

And I thought, that's a strange word. Like what would he be conquering? They're the first human beings. There's no other nations. Right? There's no treaty that they signed. There's no UN. Like, what is he conquering? But since then, I've been meditating and thinking upon, like, what does he mean?

Why would God use the word, a military term, to describe creation mandate? And it makes sense because when we come to Ephesians, Jesus described our walk on this earth as what? As a battle. He described Christian life as a warfare. And then in 2 Corinthians 4, 4, it says the god of this age is who?

Satan. So when did this happen? When did Satan become the god of this age? When did his kingdom get established that we needed to be delivered from to bring into the kingdom of Jesus? When did this happen? I'm not going to answer for you. I'm just going to leave it out there.

Okay? So during lunch, you can ask yourself. Just don't say heretical things. Alright? So the idea of it is that God created creation, and he wanted them to multiply and fill the earth and somehow capture, or somehow subdue, at least that's the language that is used, and then to have dominion.

The word dominion is to have rule over. Right? But instead, what God created Adam and Eve to do, what does it say? Adam commits a sin, and because of sin, death comes in, and death what? Has dominion. Death is the one that rules. What God intended Adam and Eve and mankind to do, now death took over.

And who has the, who has the, who is the accuser, right? That accuses, that causes death? It's Satan. It's in Hebrews chapter 2, 14 and 16, it says, "Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same thing, that through death he might destroy the one who has power of death, that is the devil." Power of death is the devil.

So when it says that death reigned, what does it mean? Satan reigns. By holding death over the heads of all mankind, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery. I know probably a lot of you guys have probably read that text before and said, well fear of death and to slavery, it's like oh that's what the Bible says.

But is that true? Before you became a Christian, were you living in fear of death? And which caused you to be enslaved? I mean that's what it says, but was that your experience? Are the non-Christians that you know, are they living every day like in fear of death? You know, at least from what I'm observing, there's a lot of people who jump off of buildings with a little cloth, you know, saying, "I'm going to live it, if I die, I die, whatever." Crazy people, right?

Tight rope, and bungee jumping, and rock climbing, and they do all of this stuff, it's like, hey, if I die, I die. I know there are some people who are living in fear of death, but for the most part, it seems like we just kind of marginalize it, we just don't think about it.

We need to understand what the author means here in the context, right? What is the greatest, last rule of interpretation? Again, I already said it, it starts with a C, not commentary, but context. So what is the context of this passage? Who is he referring to? So who is the book of Hebrews written to?

It's a trick question. It's not a trick. To Hebrews, right? In case you didn't know, I was called Hebrews. It's written to Hebrews, meaning Jewish people. And the problem with the Jewish people, the second, third generation Jewish Christians, is that they were reverting back to the old system of law.

And so what the author is saying is, they are saying that the power of death has enslaved them. Death to them meant judgment. That they were going back to the Old Testament law, thinking that if they kept the rules and the laws, and went back to their old system, that somehow they will be delivered from the power of death.

But instead, he says, if you go back to that system, all you're going to see is greater death, a second death. And true life is found in Christ, and Christ alone. So what he's referring to in Hebrews chapter 2, 14, are people who are constantly living under the fear that you haven't done enough.

That your safety is not in Christ. That your joy in life isn't in Christ. It's about being better than other people. It's about giving enough, and doing enough. And being disciplined enough. Now all of these things are mandated in scripture. Now when we get to Romans chapter 12, I mean, he's going to lay that on thick.

But he's talking to a group of people who the power of judgment has so gripped them, that it affects everything that they do. They're literally under slavery. And that's what it says in John chapter 8, because these Jews were coming, who were so concerned about keeping the law. And Jesus says, "If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed." There is no freedom with what you're doing.

Until you are absolutely gripped by the grace of Jesus Christ, you'll be enslaved for the rest of your life. You'll be enslaved, without even knowing it. Thinking you're being righteous, but enslaved. Thinking you're worshipping God, but absolutely enslaved. Thinking that you have assurance, but deep, deeply inside, constantly living in fear, have I done enough?

That's why he says, "While we were yet sinners, while we were still weak, while we were enemies of God." That's how much He loved us. And this sin goes deep, way back into Adam. And yet, despite all of that, because we were weak, because we were sinners, because we were enemies, He came and He loved us.

We talk about all these details of original sin, and predestination, and justification, and all of that. And sometimes we get so caught up in that, and we forget the big picture. What's the point? What's the point? Why is He saying all this, and why are we spending all this time in the morning, like in a lecture hall, dissecting words and context?

And I know, you know, I hear it all the time. You know, it's like, people don't want to hear it. Just give me the plain point. The point of all of this is to say the same thing that He's been saying all along. That if you believe that Jesus Christ died for you, if you really believe that, not just superficially, not just superstitiously, but if you really believe that, you're free.

You're free. There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Just as sin came into the world through one man, and brought death, and death reigned. To the conclusion of this is not these four verses. The conclusion of it, it starts in verse 15. "But, but, but the free gift is not like the trespass.

For if many die through one man's trespasses, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man, Jesus Christ, abounded for many." We'll get to that when we talk about it next time, but let me conclude with the final pass in 1 Corinthians 15, 52 to 58.

"In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet, for the trumpet will sound and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written, 'Death is swallowed up in victory.' O death, where is your victory?

Where is your sting? The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law, but thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." Amen? Let's meditate on this this week, you know, as we think upon the depth of His love, the height of His love, the length and width of His love, that we may experience the fullness that God desires for us.

Let's take a few minutes to pray as we invite the praise team to come up. Again, it's important for us to wrestle with the small things because these small things add up to the big picture, and the big picture is always Christ crucified. It is foolishness to those who are perishing, but it is the power of God for those who are being saved.

So let's fix our eyes upon Christ, author and perfecter of our faith. So as we take some time to pray, to reflect on that, how deeply have we been affected by what it is that we are learning in the Book of Romans? So let's take some time to pray and come before the Lord and ask the Lord to strengthen us in this thing.

Okay, let's take some time to pray.