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Willey, RobertIn Adam Or In Christ ~ Romans 5;

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Now, I think this is the first time I've been up here since I got back from our trip to Europe. We got back a week ago Friday night. We were away five weeks and a half, I think. We had a wonderful time. We're so glad to be back here. Mr. and Mrs. Hagen, they left the day after us, and they got back just two or three days after us, too. They were away six weeks. They got in this week. And Mr. and Mrs. Rand got in this week, and of course Mr. and Mrs. Huffton got in this week, so we're all getting back. Now, if between us this morning we've left out some other names, I'm sorry. Once you mention names, you surely forget somebody. But Mr. and Mrs. Backman, we welcomed back last week. They were in the week before. It's so good to have all these back. Now, The Spender should be in. That's Mrs. Grace Spender and her son Jack. I think they're due in on Wednesday. We hope so. Mr. and Mrs. Tillman are due in at the very end of the month or November the first. And I believe Mr. and Mrs. Grant are coming November the first. And Mr. and Mrs. McRindle. And Mr. and Mrs. Strom and their sister-in-law. or rather Mrs. Sum's sister. They're all coming in in a very short while, so our numbers are beginning to really fill up again, and our family's getting complete, and we're so happy about it. Our accommodation for the winter, our apartment accommodation, is absolutely full, and we have people still writing and trying to come in. We have a few rooms left, but not many. So please be praying. We really need more accommodation here. God can work miracles. Four years ago, we were holding our meetings down in the lounge, and we asked God to give us a chapel. And we kind of take it for granted now. We've got this beautiful chapel, but I remember what it was when we hadn't got it. Now we prayed for it and wondered how in the world... we get a chapel, but God worked a miracle. And we've got this beautiful chapel, and we're so happy about it. And I believe God can give us all the accommodation we need, as part of the pounds, in his time, according to his plan and will, so that we might be able to accommodate his people as they come here. Keep praying about the condominium of pardons. We're hoping to start building very soon, but we still need plans, and there will be probably know more about that before this week is up. So pray about it very much. Remember, Mr. and Mrs. Wardenberg, they're still over in Europe, in Holland. I ask for God's blessing on them, a safe journey back. And then remember, Mr. and Mrs. Bell, Sr., they're leaving us tonight, Mrs. Bell, who plays the organ so wonderfully for us. I think it's tonight, Mrs. Bell, you leave. And they're going by train all the way to California. So pray for them for a safe journey and a happy time. And then Miss Barsox leaves in the morning driving alone to Baltimore. So let's pray for Miss Barsox. And the others are coming in. Now I would like to read a few scriptures together. The fifth chapter of Romans. The fifth chapter of Romans. verse twelve. The Roman Epistle is a wonderful logical argument by the Apostle Paul concerning God's wonderful salvation, God's plan of salvation. And it naturally breaks down into sections, as nearly all the writings of the Bible do. The first chapters of the Bible, of Romans, deal with the question of justification from the guilt of sin. Justification from the guilt of sin. The next section, which starts with verse twelve of chapter five, which we're just going to read, deals with justification from the power of sin. And the next section, Romans eight, starting about verse twelve, deals with justification from the presence of sin, from the guilt of sin, from the power of sin, and from the presence of sin. God has saved us from the consequences of our sin, the guilt of sin, by the blood of Christ. And then day by day he saves us, he's keeping us, he's giving us power over sin, a freedom from the power of sin. And by and by when the Lord Jesus comes back, he's going to take us out of the very presence of sin to be forever with himself. And then, of course, after that, the Roman Epistle goes on to three chapters, dealing with a dispensational section of three chapters, dealing with the God's ancient people, the Jews. And then there's some very, very practical truths, starting with the twelfth chapter. It says, Wherefore? Therefore. And when Paul uses the word, therefore, you've got to think of all he said before. And in the twelfth chapter, he says, Therefore, holy brethren, no, wait a minute, I'm quoting Hebrews. I beseech you, therefore, brethren, I beseech you, therefore, brethren, that He presents your bodies by the mercies of God, you present your bodies a living sacrifice. In view of all this wonderful salvation, Paul says, now there are consequences, therefore, you present yourself unreservedly to God. And then the rest of the book deals with our practical Christian life. I want to talk this morning just for a little while about this second section, Freedom from the Power of Sin. It starts with chapter five, verse twelve. Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world and death by sin, so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned. For until the law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed where there is no law. Nevertheless, death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come. But not as the offense so also is the free gift. For if through the offense of one many be dead, Much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many. And not as it was by one that sinned, so is the gift. For the judgment was by one to condemnation. But the free gift is of many offenses unto justification. For if by one man's offense, death reigned by one? Much more, they which receive abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ. Therefore, as by the offense of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation, even so by the righteousness of one, the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life. For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous. Moreover, the law entered that the offense might abound, but where sin abounded, grace did much more abound, that as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ, our Lord. And now a verse in First Corinthians chapter fifteen. First Corinthians chapter fifteen. That great big chapter on resurrection. Fifty-eight verses, isn't it? There's fifty-eight verses, the great resurrection chapter, one Corinthians fifteen. I want to read one verse. Verse twenty-two. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. And now back to John's Gospel for one more verse. Chapter three and verse thirty-six. The last verse is the third chapter of John's Gospel. He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life, and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him. Shall we pray? Blessed God, our Father, we thank thee for thy precious word, the Bible. We thank thee thou hast put in this book tremendous truth, deep, deep, rich truth, divine truth, and thou hast written them in simple language that we can understand. We ask thee that the Holy Spirit of God this morning might take these things of Christ and reveal them to our waiting hearts. We ask, Lord, that some work might be done in our hearts, that we might see some new truth in thy word this morning. that we might understand better thy great purpose for us in this world. We seek thy blessing in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Now my subject this morning is Adam or Christ. Adam or Christ. I read that twenty-second verse of the fifteenth chapter of Corinthians. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ shall all be made alive. perhaps it would be better to say my subject is in Adam or in Christ. As in Adam all died, so in Christ shall all be made alive. God looks down today upon this world, and he has looked down upon this world from creation, and he sees two men. Now there are millions of people living in the world today, but God sees to men. When I was a teenager, when I was a boy, I used to go to some very wonderful Bible readings and listen to the old brethren as they had conversational Bible readings and discussing the Word of God. I never said a word, but from ten years of age till I was twenty-five, every Wednesday night I was there just listening to what they said. And, you know, they used to talk, when they got to this fifth chapter of Romans, of what they called, the federal headship of Adam and the federal headship of Christ. They said, this is the chapter on the federal headship. Well, I lived over in Great Britain. And the word federal, you never hear it over there. And I didn't quite know what they meant by the federal headship. Twenty-one years ago, I came to this country. And as I moved around here from state to state, they took me to see the capital city of each state. I was in Maryland, and my brother took me down to Annapolis, and there he showed me the capital. He said, this is the capital city of Maryland. That building there with a dome, that's the capital. Then I went up to Trenton in New Jersey, and they said, this is the capital. I was down in Baton Rouge, down in Louisiana, and they said, this is the capital. We went up on the hill and there was the dome on top of the building. This is the capital building of the state of Louisiana. And so all around these different states and different capitals. I went to Raleigh there and saw the capitals. And then one day they took me to Washington, D.C. And there was that great big capital at Washington. And do you know what they said? This is the capital. And I said, I've seen so many capitals. Ah, but they said, this is the capital. This is the federal capital. And I thought, aha, that's the word I used to hear when I was a boy. The federal. This is the federal capital. And I said, now explain what that means. Well, it says this. They said this. All these states have their own capital. But everything combines in one head, and that head is at Washington, D.C. That's the federal. And so we talk about state taxes and federal taxes. We talk about state laws and federal laws. And at Washington, D.C., we have the federal government. And at the top of the federal government, we have a federal head, the President of the United States of America. and I began to understand something about Romans chapter five, the federal head. Our president, President Nixon, has been traveling in Europe and he's been representing this government out there in Europe. Now that's the best man you could send. if you want to send somebody to represent the United States, the best man to send is the federal head of the United States, the President. And as federal head, as President, he went and represented this country in other countries. Now we send our ambassadors, of course, but the federal head is the President of the United States. Now God looks down and he sees two classes of people, he sees two men, and these two men are federal heads. They represent, just as President Nixon, when he went to Europe represented you and me and every other citizen of the United States as a federal head, so Adam represents every member of the human race and the Lord Jesus Christ represents every member of the new race. In this chapter there are two ahead, Adam and Christ. And God says, In Adam all die. In Christ all should be made alive. Now let's get this very clear because tonight we're going to talk about baptism. And the great chapter on baptism is the sixth chapter of Romans. But you could never understand the sixth chapter of Romans if you don't get a grasp. of the fifth chapter of Romans starting at verse five, or verse twelve. In these verses, this section of Romans, the blood of Christ is not mentioned. In these chapters, God is dealing not with our sins. Our sins require the blood of Christ that they might be cleansed away. The early chapters deals with the blood of Christ and tells us that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God and that we have, it says this, we're justified freely by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth to be a propitiation, a mercy seat, through faith in His blood, to declare His righteousness for the remission of sins that have passed through the forbearance of God, through faith in His blood. The blood of Christ deals with our sins. When the Lord Jesus died upon the cross and shed His precious blood, that was to deal with our sins. But the death of Christ deals with our sin. Now mark the distinction. This is very important in understanding the Roman epistles. Our sins, with an S on the end, and our sin. Sin is the root. Sins are the fruits. And it was for our sins that Christ shed his precious blood. But you know why he died? He died and represented us in death, represented our sinful nature. sin, not sins. This is important to understand. And baptism deals with sin, not sins. Nobody ever gets saved by being baptized. Otherwise you'd have to put S on the end of the word sins there. Baptism deals with the question of sin. That's the same with the root. Not the fruit. The blood of Christ deals with the fruit. Have I made this clear? So then he says, Wherefore as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin so death passed upon all men. Here is a principle, a divine principle, that the race, the old race under Adam, or the new race in Christ, the race is affected by the conduct of its head. This is a principle in the Word of God. The race is affected by the conduct of its head. Adam sinned. Verse twelve, as by one man sinned. And say sins now, sinned the root, sinned, that which was born in you and me, the sinful nature. Therefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin so death passed upon all men. The race is affected by the head. Adam is the federal head of the human race. He sinned and because of his sin death came and death passed upon all men. The race is affected by the acts of the head of the race. Is that clear? Now the second man is the Lord Jesus Christ. What did he do? He died upon the cross. And he rose again triumphal. And it doesn't say, you know, you'd think, well, the corollary, the answer must be, if death came into the world because of sin, then life must come because of Christ. That's quite true. But the marwood of me is something lost. It says this, For as by one man's offense, death reigned unto one, reigned by one, much more they which receive abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness, what? Shall live by one? That's not what it says. We do live by Christ. Yes. But that's not what it says. Look at the glory of these words. As by one man's offense, I'm reading verse seventeen. death reigned by one. Much more, they which receive abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness shall reign in life. That's better than living, isn't it? Shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ. The consequences of the acts of the head is passed on to all the race. What did Adam do? He sinned. And God says, the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die, and death passed upon the whole human race. The Lord Jesus Christ died upon the cross and rose triumphant, and has gone back to sit upon the throne the glory of God, and he reigns up there. And it says that we are going to reign by him. What a glorious thing we have in Christ. You see the contrast now between Adam and Christ. What are the limits of these consequences? Let's read it. As by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin, so death passed upon all men. You can underline that word all if you like. Death passed upon all men. That's the consequences of Adam's sin. I was born a sinner. And that wasn't my fault. I couldn't help it. It wasn't my fault. You were born sinners. Oh, a lot of people in the world today will tell you you were born a Christian because you were born in the United States of America. You were not born a Christian. You were born a sinner. Why? Because Adam sinned. That's why. Because Adam sinned. And down through the ages, we have become, we're sons and daughters of Adam. We are headed up in the human race under the headship of Adam, and Adam is connected with sin and death. And we were born in sin. And death passed upon all men because of Adam's sin. And we'll bear that consequence if the Lord Jesus doesn't come back, we'll die. Every one of us, and we're all getting up and up in years now, and we'll have to pay the price of Adam's sin if the Lord Jesus doesn't come and take us out of his sin. In Adam all die. That was the consequences of Adam's sin. We get that from our federal head. Adam, death passed upon all men. for all sin. Now, in the case of Christ, in Adam all dies, in Christ all, all who accept him, and come under him, and he's the head, all are made alive. The limits of the consequences of the acts of the head go out to the furthest farthest end of the whole race, whether it be Adam's race or Christ's race. In Adam all died, in Christ all are made alive. Now, there's a few things to understand here. Look at verse thirteen. Until the law, sin was in the world. But sin is not imputed where there is no law. Now what he's saying is this. You see, the law was given by Moses. God's law was given by Moses. And Moses lived fifteen hundred years before Christ. Now if we go by what we understand to be the time chart of the Bible, Adam lived four thousand years before Christ. Now what happened from Adam to Moses? There was no law. There was no law. Did they die? Oh yes, they died all right. You see, some people say you die because you broke the law. The breaking of the law is sin. Well, the breaking of the law, you see, there are different words to describe sin. One word is transgression. Transgression. That is the breaking of a known law. Suppose there's a line drawn across here. Sometimes I don't see it so much in this country, but over in the old country I used to say, see, there'd be a fence around a field and there'd be a notice. Trespassers will be prosecuted. And I could walk all around the fence, I'd never be a trespasser. But once I get over the fence and then on that property I'm a trespasser. I have broken the law. I have trespassed. Now he says, It doesn't matter. Law or no law. The consequences of Adam's sin fell on the human race. Even though God hadn't yet given the law, he says this. Nevertheless, death reigned from Adam to Moses. Death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression. What does he mean? You see, Adam was a transgressor. To be a transgressor you must have broken a known commandment of God. And God gave Adam a commandment. Thou shalt not eat thereof of that tree. Thou shalt not eat thereof. And he broke God's law, the law that God had given him. He became a transgressor. But after that there was no law for the human race. We have a period of what we call human government when men govern themselves. They still died. They still died. They hadn't broken the law that God gave because he hadn't given them any more law. But they still died. So he says, Death reigned from Adam to Moses, even under those that had not sinned like Adam and broken a known law. But when Moses came and the law was given at Sinai and we have the Ten Commandments, well, then it's a different thing. When we sin, we're transgressors because we're breaking God's law. So that whether we're under the law or not under the law, we've got to die because Adam sinned. Now in verse fifteen you get these too many. Not as the offense so also as the free gift, for if through the offense of one, that's Adam, many be dead, much more the grace of God and the gift by grace which is of one man, by one man, Jesus Christ. Adam is one, and the other one is the Lord Jesus Christ. Free gift is abounded unto many. There acts, verse sixteen, not as it was by one that sinned, so is the gift. For the judgment was by one to condemnation, the free gift is of many offenses unto justification. Adam sinned and we bear the consequences. The Lord Jesus died for our sins and he rose again and we bear the consequences we reign with him. The result, verse seventeen, for as by one man's offense death reigned by one, much more they which receive abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one Jesus Christ. Now I've specially brought this subject before us this morning because tonight I want to talk about baptism. And baptism is connected with the death of Christ, not the blood of Christ, the death of Christ. The death of Christ. We'll talk about this tonight. In Adam I died because of my sin. I tell you something. In Christ I died too. Because he died and I died in him. That's what baptism means. There's a lot of mistakes about baptism. I remember when I was baptized I didn't fully realize. It's years after that I realized what I was doing. I didn't realize that. They used to say it's an outward and physical sign of an inward and spiritual grace and it's just obedience to the Lord. It is obedience to the Lord but it means a lot more than that. We'll talk about this tonight. If we really know the meaning of baptism, our lives should be altogether different. It means I'm dead with Christ. Now then, in Adam, all die. In Christ, all are made alive. Let me ask you a very personal question. And I look around and I see, I think I know almost everybody here this morning, and I think I could say everyone, yes, they're born-again believers. Well, it's possible to say that. But you know in your own heart whether you are really born again. I have known Christians. Actually, I have known people. actually sit at the Lord's table and pass as born-again believers, and the time has come in their lives when they have to confess, I've made a great mistake. I was never saved at all. Let me ask you a question. Are you in Adam or in Christ? You were born in Adam. You can't help that. but as there have been a moment in your life when you came out of Adam into Christ. I could take you to the very spot and I could go back to the very moment in my life when I stepped out of Adam into Christ. Can you do that? You say, well, I became a member of a church. It doesn't say one word about that in the New Testament at all, becoming a member of a church. Once you accept Christ as your Savior and you step out of that and into Christ, well, that moment you're put into the Church of God. You can't help that. Whether you want to or no, you are a member of the body of Christ. Once you're in Christ. But the whole question is, am I in Christ? You can settle it. I can't. Deep down in your heart, you can say, yes, Lord, I have accepted thee as my personal Savior. And this morning with joy in my heart I can say I am in Christ and I have no doubt about it. I have met Christians going through life miserable, unhappy, on again, off again. One day they think they're saved, the next day they don't know whether they're saved or no. I can't understand it. The Bible says so clearly to me that God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life. And I believe in the Son of God, and I've got everlasting life. Do I feel it? Sometimes I feel very much otherwise. But God says it, and this word is forever settled in heaven, and God's word will stand the test of time and eternity if God says it's true. I don't rest on my feelings at all. I rest upon what God said, He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life. Are you resting there? This is most important. As we come to baptism, we must be sure on this. Now let's go back to the other verse I read. You see, the verses I've been reading this morning divide the human race into two sections. In Adam, in Christ. We were all born in Adam. When we were born again, we were in Christ. Now let's go back to another verse that splits the human race right down the middle. John three, verse thirty-six. I call this verse the gray divide. The gray divide. John three, verse thirty-six. He that believeth on the sun hath everlasting life. That's one side of the divide. He that believeth on the sun hath everlasting life. Now the other side of the divide. He that believeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him. And the whole human race is split down through the middle. And as you walk down the street or travel in a bus or an airplane, wherever you go, you're meeting people, or either on this side or that side of the great divide. He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life, and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life. Where are we this morning, every one of us, that settled in our own hearts now? Where are we this morning? Have I accepted Christ as my personal Savior? He that believeth on the Son hath, h-a-t-h, wonderful word, hath everlasting life. I remember once I was in the... I was preaching in the city of Alexandria in Egypt years ago. And I felt that God spoke in that meeting and I said, now if there's anyone would like to be saved tonight, I'd love to sit down by your side and talk to you. And I went to the door and shook hands with the people. At that time I was in the uniform of the British Royal Air Force and in the war. And one by one they all went out. And they shut the door. And there was a little boy came to me, and he said, Mr. Will, I want to talk to you. I said, what's your name? He said, Andrew. How old are you, twelve? I said, what do you want? He said, I want to be saved. I want to be saved. And Andrew and I sat down. And we got to John five, verse twenty-four. Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that hith my word and believeth on him that sent me hath everlasting life. and shall not come unto condemnation but is passed from death unto life. Have we read it together? And Andrew read it? He couldn't see it. Have we read it again? He couldn't see it. And I prayed with him. I said, Read that verse again, Andrew. And he read, Verily, verily, I shall you, he that heareth my word and believeeth on him that sent me. Hath everlasting. And when he got to that word, hath he said, hath I got it? I got it, he said. Hath I got it. That's what it means. Hath I got it. He that believe is on the sun, hath everlasting life. I went back to speak at a conference at Alexandria some three years later, and the man introduced me. He said, here's a young man called Andrew. I said, you needn't introduce me. I know it. He was twelve then, now he was fifteen. I said, how are you doing, Andrew? He said, I've been baptized. I'm reading that book every day like he told me, and I'm going on for the Lord. I know where he is today, but that's one of the joys of life, to try and lead a soul to Christ. He that believeth on the Son has everlasting life. In Christ has everlasting life. Now look at in Adam, as we were in our natural state. He that believeth not the Son shall not see life. shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him. You see, we read about, in our chapter, we read about Adam's transgression, and it was unto condemnation. This is in the ultimate, serious, eternal sense, unto condemnation. Through Adam's sin, people will be in a lost eternity. until his sin leads to condemnation. And in it says, He that believeth not the Son should not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him. Eternal condemnation. To be lost with the wrath of God abiding on him for all eternity. That's how we stand if we're not saved. If we're not saved. In Christ. If we're still in Adam, it leads to condemnation. But he that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life. I wonder if there's someone here this morning that can see this. Maybe for the first time, clearly. That by believing in the Son, I get out of Adam into Christ. And I get eternal life. There's something very interesting about this, He that believeth not. You see, in the Roman epistle that I was reading, I didn't dwell on all the verses, but it says, By the disobedience, by the disobedience of one man, death passed upon all man, the disobedience of one man. And that's just what this word, He that believeth not, The Greek word for believeth not is the very word, the center of it, this word is the center of the word disobedience. Disobedience. By the disobedience of one. There's something deeper even than that in it. It's the kind of rebellion in this verse. Do you know we're living in an age of rebellion? We're living in an age where everybody wants to do just what he wants to. He's going to do his thing. That's how they put it. I'm going to do my thing. That's the age we're living. Teenagers, school children, parents, cities, countries, everybody's going to do their thing. There's nobody ever thinks of submitting to God's will and signing, what does God want me to do? I'm going to do just what I like. That's disobedience. God has made man that he should be ruled. God's plan for man is that there should be leaders among men. All the masses can't be leaders. God has given the powers of leadership to certain men and the others have to be subservient to them. In the family life, the head of the family is the husband. and the wife and all the children must be subservient to the husband. That's the very reason, the very reason why the scripture says a woman should have her head covered, to show her subjection. That's what the scripture says. But we live in an age when they don't want to be subject. They just want to have their own way. And all this business is going on in the world, oh, it just broke my heart. I went to, the first day we got home to England, we'd been up all, or twenty-four hours, instead of going down to see our people, about a hundred and twenty miles drive, we got a car, but we just got into a motel and went to bed in the middle of the day. And we got up in the evening and took the subway down to London, right down to the heart of London, Piccadilly Circus. I don't know. I never saw such a disgusting thing in all my life. That beautiful spot there that was the center of the empire. Just crowded out with hippies. Hippies. All these long-haired, dirty, filthy creatures. And girls there. I never saw such a dirty thing in all my life. There was all this mob of trance, just trance. Humanity down in the gutter. And every cinema all the way around. Everywhere you look was showing sex, sex, sex. The great thing they were boosting. We passed three cinemas that were showing that pop thing they had up in the Rock and Roll Festival. They had up in Massachusetts. And there were pictures of naked men and women. They're on screen for everybody to look at. I never saw any. This is what we've come to. I'm going to do my thing. I'll not be subject to anybody or anything. I'm disobedient. That's what it comes. And that's what that verse means. He that is disobedient to the Son shall not see life. Shall not see life. For the wrath of God abideth on him. It's, of course, I was the question. Am I obedient to the Son in all the details that he's given me the life I have to live? May God write these things upon our heart. And again, may we settle the question, am I in Adam? In Adam all die. Am I in Christ? In Christ all made alive. Shall we pray? Blessed God, our Father, we bow before thee. We thank you for thy precious word that makes it so clear that we have no doubt that we know where we are this morning. We were born in Adam. We thank thee by the wondrous sacrifice of thy beloved Son. Our sins have been dealt with at the cross of Christ, where he shared his precious blood. We thank thee in the death of Christ. Our sin, our sinful nature was dealt with. And we died in him, died to that old nature. We pray, Lord, that help us tonight as we go on with this subject for thy glory. We pray that thy word might bear fruit in each of our lives, and the Lord Jesus might be magnified here in our midst. We ask it in his precious and worthy name. Amen.