Adrian Rogers - The Authority of the Holy Spirit
Would you take God's Word and be finding Romans chapter 5. The book of Romans, sometimes called the, "Constitution of Christianity". And what a great chapter chapter 5 is. It deals with kingdom authority. May I tell you this? Nothing is settled until the matter of authority is settled. Let me say that again; nothing is settled until the matter of authority is settled. And the church that pretends to be a church and does not operate under kingdom authority is a farce, not a force. And any Christian who has not discovered the tremendous worth and power of kingdom authority is living beneath his privileges. He is a disgrace to grace. He is a dishonor to his sovereign Lord. He is a source of mockery to demons. And he has cheated himself if he does not learn what the Bible teaches about how to discover, deploy, and enjoy kingdom authority.
God wants you as a believer to rule and to reign, not just someday, but today. As we said two weeks ago, not just in the sweet by and by, but in the nasty now and now you are to have victory over the world, the flesh, and the devil. Now we've already taught you in order to have authority, you must be under authority. And God will never place you over those things that He means to put under you until you get under those things that He has put over you. And you cannot be over those things that ought to be under you until you're under those things that God has put over you. And if you are a rebel, you're guilty of high treason against Heaven's King, and therefore Heaven's King will never give to you kingdom authority. But when He finds out that you have submitted to His authority, then He gives to you incredible authority.
Now, let me say this, beloved friend. We've already talked about areas where we ought to have authority and we ought to be under authority. We've talked about the fact that we need to be under the authority of the Lordship of Christ. You understand that, don't you? The King is supreme. Amen? The King is supreme, "Whatever he saith unto you, do it". John 2:5. And then we told you also that not only are you to be under the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ, but you're also to be under authority of the Word, the Word of the King, the Holy Scripture. And we've said to you that when the Bible speaks God speaks, and our response is, "Yes, Lord, yes".
And so we take Holy Scripture, not only the Lord of the Word but the Word of that Lord, and we place ourselves under that authority. But there's another authority that we need to be under and that's the authority of the Holy Spirit. Now so many of us don't think of the Holy Spirit as a person with authority. But of course the Holy Spirit has authority to rule and reign in our lives. And how does the authority of our sovereign Lord, and how does the authority of the sacred Scripture come to us? That authority is mediated by the Holy Spirit. In John 16 verse 7, the Holy Spirit is called in the Bible, "The Advocate of the Lord Jesus Christ".
Now Jesus is our advocate before the Father, but the Holy Spirit is the advocate, that's just a fancy name for a lawyer or attorney, to us. The Holy Spirit has the power of attorney. He takes the things of God, the things of Jesus, and He shows them unto us. And He gives us the power of the King as He works in our lives and He mediates that power to us, but we need to be under the authority of the Holy Spirit of God. So we're talking about kingdom authority today and the Holy Spirit. Now let me say this. Some people have gotten a conflict between the Holy Spirit and the Word of God. They say, "Well, I'm not bound by Scripture, I'm under the Holy Spirit". And others will say, "Well, don't tell me what the Spirit says. That's dangerous. I want to know what the Word says".
Well, that's an artificial conflict. I want you to know, friend, that the Holy Spirit was the One who wrote the Scriptures. I want you to know that the Holy Spirit is the One who interprets the Scriptures. And it is not the Holy Spirit or the Scriptures. It's not the Scriptures or the Holy Spirit. It is the Holy Spirit and the Scriptures as the Holy Spirit of God takes the Scriptures and interprets those Scriptures to our hearts that we learn how to live under kingdom authority.
Now, I don't want you to fade out on me today. I don't want you to miss the message today. I don't want you to think this is getting too technical. Believe me, if you will listen, you will be blessed, not because I am the preacher. I'm only the messenger boy. I want you to hear the message. I want you to hear what the Scripture is teaching to you today so that you can live with and enjoy, kingdom authority. But remember, to be over those things that God has put under us, we must be under those things that God has put over us, and God has put the Holy Spirit over us.
Romans 5 verses 1 through 5, "Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: by whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; and patience, experience; and experience, hope; and hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us". Now, there's so much in those first verses that we could comment on, but we'll resist that just simply to get to verse 5 where it says, "The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost".
Now that just simply means that it is the Holy Spirit that takes the things of God and gives them to us. Now, it is the Holy Spirit of God that takes the love of God and sheds that abroad, puts it in our hearts, helps us to understand it and then to share it, and it becomes love worth finding and love worth sharing. Now that comes from the Holy Ghost. Now, let me just fast forward a little bit for the sake of time, and I want you to go to verse 17, which is the key verse of all that I have to say today. Now remember these are things that the Holy Ghost is teaching you. Now look in Romans 5 verse 17, "For if by one man's offense death reigned by one; much more they which receive the abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ".
Now we're just going to slow down on this verse. There are three words or three phrases that I want you to learn. Number one is the word one, O-N-E. Number two, I want you to look if you will at the word reign, R-E-I-G-N. And then look at two words, much more. Now all are found in that one verse. But let me say if you were to go back and read verses 12 through 19, you'd find that the word one is used 11 times. Let me just show you here what we're talking about here. For example, look in Romans 5 verse 12, "Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world". Look down in verse 15, "But not as the offense, so also is the free gift. For if through the offense of one many be dead". Look in verse 16, "And it was by one that sinned".
Look again in verse 16, "For judgment was by one to condemnation". Look in verse 17, "For if by one man's offense". And then at the end of verse 17, "By one Jesus Christ". Verse 18, "Therefore as by the offense of one, judgment came". The middle of verse 18, "By the righteousness of one the free gift came". Look in verse 19, "For as by one man's disobedience". Look in verse 19 again, "By the obedience of one". Are you picking up a theme? One, one, one, one, one. Now, the word one is used 11 times. The word reign is used 5 times in this passage. Look if you will in Romans 5 verse 14, "Nevertheless death reigned". Look if you will in verse 17, "For as by one man's offense death reigned". The end of verse 17, "The gift of righteousness shall reign". Look if you will in verse 21, "That as sin hath reigned unto death". Again verse 21, "So, Even so may grace reign".
Now to reign means to rule, to have kingdom authority. Now, you say, "Pastor, I'm not understanding what you're saying. You're just reading a bunch of words". All I'm trying to do is to let you see what the theme is; then we're going to work it out. Okay? Now the one key word is the word one. Another key word is the word reign. Alright, now another key phrase is much more. Now folks, don't miss this. There is an incredible blessing here. Look if you will in Romans 5 verse 9, "Much more then, being now justified by his blood". Look in verse 10, "Much more being reconciled". Look in verse 15, "Much more the grace of God". Look in verse 17, "Much more they which receive the abundance of grace". Look in verse 20, "Grace did much more abound".
Now all of those words are in that one verse that we were reading just a few moments ago, verse 17; but they're in that entire passage. He uses the word one over and over again. Then he uses the word to reign over and over again. And then he uses the word much more over and over again. Okay? Now let's see what that means. What he is saying is this: there are two kingdoms. There's the kingdom of darkness, the kingdom of light. There's a kingdom of Satan. There's a kingdom of God. There's a kingdom of life. There's a kingdom of death. Two kingdoms. And then he says there are two men that are associated with each kingdom: one man; Adam, one man; Jesus.
Now what he is saying is that you are in one of those kingdoms. You are either with Adam in the kingdom of death, or you are with Christ reigning in the kingdom of life. But one kingdom will rule and reign over you, or another kingdom will rule and reign over you. So let's go back now to Romans chapter 5 verse 17 and look at it one more time, "For if by one man's offense," that's Adam, "death reigned by one," Adam, "much more," in a greater way, "they that receive the abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness shall reign in life," not out yonder, "but shall reign in life by one, Christ Jesus".
Does that make sense to you? I hope it does. The two men are Adam and Jesus. The two kingdoms are the kingdoms of death and life. And the idea is that everybody under this roof and everybody listening through television or radio or on tape later on, everybody is in one of those two kingdoms. Either you are in Adam, or you are in Christ. Either you're in the kingdom of darkness or the kingdom of light. Now, when you come out of Adam and you come into Jesus, you get much more in Jesus than you ever lost in Adam. That's the reason why he keeps on saying, "Much more, much more, much more, much more". Now all of that is just to set the stage. Got it? Got it!
Now here's where we're going. Let's see, first of all, what we lost in Adam. And then secondly we're going to see what we gained in Christ. And then thirdly we're going to see what we ought to do about it. That's simple enough, isn't it? Okay, let's go! Now what did we lose in Adam? Or what did we, to put it positively, what did we receive from Adam? Go down to Romans 5 verse 19, "For by one man's disobedience many were made sinners; so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous".
Now who was the one who disobeyed? His name was Adam. Who was the one who obeyed? His name is Jesus. And so now what did we receive from Adam? Remember, that Adam was the first man. He was the federal head of the race. Adam was given dominion over the earth. When God made Adam and Eve, He said in Genesis 1 verse 26, "Let them have dominion". But Adam sold himself into slavery. Adam sinned, and he became the slave, the servant, of Satan. And we are his progeny. We are his offspring. And remember this, that a child of a slave is a slave is a slave is a slave is a slave. A child of a slave is a slave. Adam sold his self into slavery, and sin now has dominion over the one who was to have dominion over all of the earth. And we are in Adam, and because we're in Adam without the new birth we are identified with him in this slavery.
Now, folks, we all have our roots in Adam. Sometimes people have the idea that we are in the image of God. You know they say, "Well, man is in the image of God". Come on, folks. Look around. You think God's in this shape? Adam was in the image of God. We are in the image of Adam. The Bible says in Genesis 5:3 that Adam, "Brought forth a son after his likeness," in His image, in Adam's image. And the image of God was in Adam, but the image of God has been marred and defaced. And now we do not bear the image of God. Only faint echoes of the image of God are in us. What we see in all of us is the image of Adam.
So you've never seen a man as a man was intended to be. You've never seen what God had in mind. Suppose you'd never seen a railroad train, never seen one in all of your life. I talked to a little boy one time in Key West, Florida, who'd never seen a railroad train. He never left Key West. He'd never seen a train! Suppose you've never seen a train. Suppose I took that little boy, and I brought him to Memphis, Tennessee, and let's suppose there'd been a train wreck in Memphis, Tennessee. And here are cars all tangled and bent and crashed and smoke and steam and the locomotive is upside down, and the rails are bent and bowed. And I said, "Son, you've never seen a train before. There is a train".
Well, I want to ask you a question. Has he really seen a train? What he's seen is a train wreck. Now you take Brother Scott over here. You think that's a man? Folks, that's a wreck! That's a wreck! You haven't seen a man. You won't see a man until the resurrection and you're made like the Lord Jesus Christ. Then you'll understand what a man is supposed to be. Then you'll understand what a woman is supposed to be. Then you'll understand what it is to be in the image of God. But right now, folks, we have inherited something from Adam. And what did we lose in Adam? Well, let's just go down and look. First of all, what we got from Adam, we got weakness rather than power.
Look in Romans 5 verse 6, "For when we were without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly". In Adam you received weakness rather than power. Now the weakness that he's talking about here is spiritual weakness. God gave Adam power to be what God wanted him to be, but he lost that power, he lost that authority. And God is wanting you to have authority one more time and power to be what you ought to be. Now, you say, "Well, I have strength. I have monetary strength". I'm not talking about that. You say, "I have physical strength". I'm not talking about that. You say, "I have intellectual strength". I'm not talking about that.
You say, "I have emotional strength". I'm not talking about that. You do not have spiritual strength. You may have or think you have the power to do what you want, but you do not have the power to do as you ought. And admit it. Every one of us know that we're without strength. What else did we gain from Adam? We gained weakness rather than power, verse 6. We gained ungodliness rather than godliness, Romans 5 verse 6. Look at it. "For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the," what? "the ungodly".
Now not only did we receive weakness from Adam. We received godlessness from Adam. To be ungodly doesn't mean to be vile. It just simply means not to be like God. It doesn't mean that you're an ax murderer. Doesn't mean that you're a rapist. It just simply means that you are not godly. You are not in God's image! You're not godly! Why? Because of Adam. You know one of the problems with many of us. We measure ourselves by ourselves. The Bible says in Second Corinthians 10 verse 12, "A man that measures himself by himself is not wise". But that's what we do. We look at ourselves and we have our own little standard.
We say, "Well, I think I ought to do this. I think this". And so we measure ourselves by ourselves. The Bible says a man that does that is not wise. And I'll tell you a man that seems to me almost a fool is a man who measures himself by somebody inferior to himself. You know, sometimes people say, "Well, I'm just as good as those folks down there at that church". I've been looking for a man honest enough to say, "I'm just as bad as those folks down there at that church". I mean, a church is nothing but a society of sinners who finally realized it and banded themselves together to do something about it. Isn't that right? But what a man does sometimes, he'll lie down in the gutter alongside some old hypocrite, stretch himself out alongside that hypocrite and say, "I am a little longer than he is, so therefore I must be a pretty good person". No, my friend, the standard is godliness.
Do you know what sin is? It's found in Romans 3 verse 23, "For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God". Do you want me to tell you what sin is? It's that difference between you and the glory of God. That's what sin is. Sin is that difference between you and the glory of God. The Bible just simply says we're ungodly. Now we're to be like God. We're to be righteous and holy like God. But from Adam we received ungodliness. What else did we receive from Adam? We received sinfulness from Adam.
Look in Romans 5 verses 7 and 8, "For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. But God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us". And so we're weak, we're ungodly, and we're also sinful. Now the word for sinner here is the word that means to miss a mark. It's like a man shooting a bow and arrow, and he fails to hit the bull's eye right in the center with absolute perfection. Do you know what God's standard for you, for me, is? Absolute perfection! Is there anybody here who thinks that he's perfect; who's never missed the mark, always hit the bull's eye? I know that you know that you're not.
You know, the Bible says that, "Sin is the transgression of the law". That, the Bible says that in First John chapter 3 and verse 4, "Sin is the transgression of the law". If you've ever broken one of God's laws you're a sinner. You say, "Well, I haven't broken all of them". Well if you get stopped for a traffic violation, do you think it's going to do you much good to tell the policeman all of the laws that you didn't break? The Bible says in James 2 verse 10, "For whosoever shall keep the whole law and yet offend in one point, he's guilty of all". You say, "I don't understand that". Suppose you're suspended by a fire with a chain of ten links. How many links in that chain have to break before you fall in the fire? Ten? Just one! Just one!
"Whosoever shall keep the whole law and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all," is what the Bible says. "Sin is the transgression of the law". But let me tell you something else that sin is. Sin is not only doing what you ought not to have done, but sin is failing to do what you ought to have done. James chapter 4 verse 17 says, "Therefore to him that knoweth to do good and doeth it not, to him it is sin". Have you always done everything that you thought you ought to do, everything that you knew that you ought to have done? "To him that knoweth to do good but doeth it not, to him it is sin".
God not only has us guilty for what we have done that is wrong, but for what we failed to have done that we ought to have done, the sins of omission. Who can say he's always done what he ought to have done in every occasion? But not only that, we're sinners when we don't believe God, when we don't have faith. The Bible says in Romans 14 verse 23, "For whatsoever is not of faith is sin". You say you've always had faith? Perfect faith? You never doubted God? Never done anything that was doubtful? "Whatsoever is not of faith is sin". And unbelief is the mother sin, the father sin, the sin of sins, the sin that will damn you and send your soul to Hell. "He that believeth on Him is not condemned; but he that believeth not is condemned already because he hath not believed".
John 3 verse 18. No greater sin than to aim the gun of unbelief at Christ on the cross and pull the trigger. But not only that, but friend, the Bible teaches that human goodness is sin. Many people don't understand this, but Proverbs chapter 21 and verse 4 says this, "A high look and a proud heart and the plowing of the wicked is sin". What does that mean? What does that mean? It means when a man in arrogancy, goes out here to farm, and he puts his plow in God's green earth, when he takes the seed that is made to germinate, a great miracle is a seed! I ponder, I think about seeds often. He takes that little brown thing, that seed, and puts it in the ground that's going to sprout and throw off its little overcoat and shoot up through the earth and bring forth life. That farmer puts that seed in the ground, and then he depends upon God's rain to fall upon it, and yet he is proud and he's arrogant and he never gives God thanks, and he never looks up to think of where it comes.
The Bible says in Proverbs 21:4, "The plowing of the wicked is sin. The plowing of the wicked is sin". Everything that an unsaved man does without God is sin. He contaminates everything that he touches. Human goodness is the worst badness when it becomes a substitute for the new birth. Now, listen, what did we receive from Adam? Weakness. What did we receive from Adam? Ungodliness. What did we receive from Adam? Sinfulness. What else did we receive from Adam? Wrath rather than approval. Look if you will again in Romans 5 verse 9, "Much more then, being now justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him". That's a word that we don't hear much about today, but there is the wrath of God. And what does that wrath of God lead us toward?
Romans 5 verse 18 says, "Toward condemnation". Now people have a lot of ideas of what's going to happen to people who are sinners who die in Adam, but friend, the Bible says in First Corinthians 15 verse 22, "In Adam all die". The Bible does not teach reincarnation. The Bible does not teach a chance after death. The Bible does not teach annihilation, that you're just simply going to disintegrate. The Bible does not teach universalism, that everybody eventually is going to be saved. The Bible teaches that if you die outside the Lord Jesus Christ, if you die a natural man, if you die in Adam, you will face the sure judgment of God, you will die and go to Hell.
I can't put it any plainer than that. I don't say that with glee. I would not be a good preacher; I would not be your friend, if I did not tell you that. We received from Adam wrath! Our sins deserve the righteous judgment of a holy God, and God's anger burns against sin. And then what else did we receive from Adam? Warfare rather than peace. Look if you will in Romans 5 verse 10, "For if then, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God". Did you know that if you are in Adam, you're an enemy of God? Did you know what sin is? Sin is high treason against Heaven's King. What sin is, sin is a clenched fist in the face of God.
You say, "I'm not an enemy of God, Pastor. I may not be saved, but I'm not an enemy of God. I may not have given my heart to Jesus, but I'm not an enemy of God". Well, let's hear what Jesus has to say about that. Matthew chapter 12 verse 30, Jesus said, "He that is not with Me is against Me; and he that gathers not with Me is scattering abroad". Either you're gathering for Christ or you're working against Christ. If you're not with Christ, you're against Christ. You cannot be neutral. Pilate tried that, and he failed miserably. And today I want to say to every one of you in this building, if you're not out and out 100% for Jesus Christ, you are out and out 100% against Jesus Christ. You need to understand that. We received all of this from Adam.
Now, let me just pause here and say. Somebody says, "I don't like that. I don't like that at all. I rebel against that. I mean, why should I be held accountable for what Adam did? I mean, I didn't vote for Adam. Why should I, as a matter of fact, what Adam did has absolutely nothing to do with me". Is that right? You think that? Well, I want to ask you a question; if Adam had had no children, where would you be? Don't say what Adam did had nothing to do with you. You say, "Well, I don't want to be held guilty for Adam's sin". Okay, how about yours? Is there anybody here who would say he has not sinned? Don't worry about Adam's sin. You've got enough sin of your own to worry about! I mean, listen, if you had been put in Adam's place, you would've made the same choice that Adam made.
You say, "Was God just to let me suffer for Adam's sin"? Not only was He just, but He was merciful and wise. Listen very carefully. Friend, because we're condemned by one man, hallelujah, we can be saved by one Man. Listen to this. You see, if it were not that we were in Adam, we could never be in Christ! Thank God! Thank God for this one Man salvation. "For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive". First Corinthians 15 verse 22. Now we've been thinking about what we lost by one man, Adam. Let's think of what we gained through one Man, Jesus. And the idea is that we gain much more than we ever lost in Adam! That's what he's talking about. Now look at it. First of all, there's the much more of our justification.
Look in Romans 5 verse 9, "Much more then, much more then, much more then, being now justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him". Well, you say, "What is the much more there"? Well, Adam was only innocent. We are positively justified. Remember there are three words when you think about the cross you always need to remember. One is justice, one is mercy and the other is grace; justice, mercy, and grace. Remember? Justice is God giving us what we deserve, which is judgment. Mercy is God not giving us what we deserve. And grace is God giving us what we don't deserve, okay?
Those three words, they're all met in Calvary. When my sins were laid upon one Man, the Lord Jesus Christ, then God's justice is satisfied. That sin has been paid for. And therefore when I don't endure the wrath of God, God's mercy is shown. But then when God makes me righteous, God's grace is given. That's all in Calvary. That's all through the Lord Jesus Christ. That, my friend, is the much more. That's the much more of justification. Now look in the much more of reconciliation in Romans 5 verse 10, "For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by His life".
You see, when Jesus died on the cross, He gave Himself for us. But then when He sent the Holy Spirit, He gave Himself to us. And now we have that fellowship with God that was severed when Adam sinned. We're reconciled. Now I want to be clear and plain about this. It is not God that is reconciled. God doesn't need to be reconciled. We're the ones who are reconciled with God. Well, you say, "How do we have much more than Adam had"? Well, friend, Adam walked with God in the garden, but I have the Holy Spirit within me. Much more. Much more. You talk about reconciliation. Friend, it is much more. And then there's the much more of our regeneration.
Look in Romans 5 verse 15, the last part of verse 15, "Much more the grace of God and the gift of grace, which is by one Man". Now the grace of God just means that God has regenerated us. He's not just simply saved us from wrath. He has come into our hearts and given us life. Well, you say, "What's the difference"? Adam had life; I have abundant life. Jesus said in John 10:10, "I've come that you might have life and have it abundantly". Adam doesn't know what a Christian knows. Adam never knew until he got redeemed what you and I know. Folks, I want to tell you something. I'd rather live in Romans 5 than live in the Garden of Eden. Listen, it is the much more of regeneration. And then there's the much more of righteousness.
Look again in Romans 5 verse 17, "For if by one man's offense death reigned by one, much more they which receive the abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness shall reign in life". Remember, Adam was only innocent. I am positively righteous. When Adam sinned, he could have sin placed on his account. If I sin, I can never have sin placed on my account. Well, you say, "Adrian, if I believed that, I'd get saved and sin all I want to". I sin all I want to. I sin more than I want to. I don't want to. And if you want to, you need to get saved. Now you need to get your wanter fixed; no, you need a new one. You need to be born again. I'm telling you, folks, Adam was innocent, but when he sinned, sin could be put on his account, but sin can never be put on your account. Are you ready for a blessing?
Turn to Romans 4, just back to Romans 4 and look if you will in verse 5. Look at it. Romans 4 verses 5 and 6, "But to him that worketh not, but believeth on Him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness". You cannot work your way to Heaven. There's nothing you can do, big or small, that'll save you. You must put your faith in the Son of God, and when you do God says, "I count you righteous". Do you understand that? Look in verse 5, "To him that worketh not, but believeth on Him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works".
Now what does the word impute mean? It means to put it on your account. Next time you go to the department store and buy something, don't say, "Charge it". Just say, "Impute it". That'll confuse her a little bit. It means the same thing. "Put that on my account". God imputes righteousness. He just simply puts that righteousness on your account. You say, "Well, that's wonderful. He imputes righteousness without works". But it gets better. Look in Romans 4 verses 7 and 8, "Saying, 'Blessed are those whose iniquities are forgiven.'" You say, "Thank You, Lord, for forgiving me". But He does more than that, "And whose sins are covered". Hallelujah! They're buried in the grave of God's forgetfulness, never to be brought up again. But it gets better than that!
Look in verse 8, "Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin". Did you hear that? "Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin". Not only does He forgive my sin, not only does He cover my sin, but He says, "I will not impute sin to you". I hear people say, "Oh, man, if I'm living good enough when I die, I hope I'll get to Heaven". Then you're not going to make it. You don't understand what sin is if you think that you can live good enough to get to Heaven. I wouldn't trust the best fifteen minutes I ever lived to get me to Heaven. But, "Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin".
You see, Adam could have sin imputed to him, but you can't have sin imputed to you if you're in the Lord Jesus. Do you understand what I'm saying? It is much more, much more, much more, much more, much more, much more in Jesus than we ever lost in Adam. Oh, hallelujah for this. Now, there's another much more. Very quickly, there's the much more of our reign that we have. Look in verses 20 and 21. Chapter 5 verses 20 and 21, "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".
Oh, the much more of our reign. Adam had an earthly kingdom; we have a heavenly kingdom. In Jesus, we've gained so much. And you see, Adam lost, listen, Adam lost his authority. God gave him dominion. He sold it out to Satan. Jesus came; He died upon that cross. Romans 5 verse 19, "By one man's disobedience many were made sinners. By one Man's obedience many were made righteous". What was His obedience? He became obedient to the cross. He laid down His life. He paid the debt that Adam's sin deserved. He bought us back. He bought back our ruined estate. It was lost by a man. It was gained by a man. It was legally lost. It was legally regained. And now He's bought it back. He has given it to us. And He's saying, "I am giving to you much more than Adam ever lost"!
Everybody is either in Adam or in Christ. In Adam all die. In Christ all are made alive. Let me say this and I'll be finished. I want you to imagine yourself as a passenger in an automobile. That automobile has stalled on the railroad tracks. You were not the driver; another man was the driver, but you're in the car with him, and the car is stalled on the tracks. Now you hear the train whistle, and you know that a powerful locomotive is coming down that train track. There's the door. You're healthy. The seat belt has been released. You must open the door and get out. At this point, you're faced with a choice. You can stay in the car and die, or you can open the door, flee, and live. Now the choice is yours.
You say, "I won't make a choice". Then you'll die, because not to choose is to choose in itself. Because you see, you're already in the car. Now folks, let me tell you this. You are already in Adam. You didn't have any choice about that. You were born in Adam, and in Adam all die. You know where the choice is for you today? It's to choose Jesus. And that's your choice. And if you don't make the right choice, you don't have to choose to die. You're already under the condemnation of death. You're already in Adam. You're already in condemnation. What you must do now, and what God sent me here to tell you today is you must choose life. Choose Jesus. Choose kingdom authority. And I'll tell you if I had ten billion lives to live, I'd give every one of them to Jesus. "Oh, hallelujah, what a Savior"!
Would you bow your heads in prayer? Heads are bowed and eyes are closed. Now while heads are bowed and eyes are closed, would you like to receive Jesus? Would you pray a prayer like this?
Lord Jesus, thank You for dying for my sin. Thank You, Lord Jesus, that You suffered, bled, and died for me. Thank You, Lord. Come into my heart right now. Forgive my sin. I want to step out of Adam; I want to step into Jesus. I receive You, Lord, this moment, right now, as my Lord and Savior. I receive by faith reconciliation, regeneration, redemption, justification. I receive it by faith. Thank You, Lord. Now Lord Jesus, give me the courage to make this public. In Your name I pray, Amen.