The Resurrection of Jesus: In the Beginning | Genesis | Pastor William Hixson

And we've been doing a preaching series

on great text of the Bible and going

through the Old Testament and pick

picking a text in the different books of

the Bible as we go from Genesis on

through the Old Testament. We're going

to continue that series, but I also want

to take a break from it because we've

been 11 messages into that series and we

intend to come back to it. But we're

three. This is a couple more Sundays are

going to be Easter.

And there's another series I've been

wanting to teach before the Lord Calls

Me Home. And uh the series on the

resurrection

of Christ.

And we've done different serieses like

that, like on the different appearances

of Christ when he arose from the dead,

those kind of things, and different

teachings on that. But this one's going

to be a little different. We're going to

we're going to go back

uh clear to the Old Testament.

We're going to put that the resurrection

of deal with the resurrection of Christ

and the resurrection doctrine of people

and put it all together uh in a whole

series. At least that's my goal. So, I

hope you'll come back for that. So,

we'll be doing that for a while and then

we'll maybe go back to the other series

and go back and forth and so forth and

so on. And this is the great doctrine of

Christianity,

the great teachings of Christianity, who

Jesus is and what he's done, right?

These are the big things. These aren't

minor things. These are things you and I

should know backwards and forwards,

inward and out.

And so when it comes to who Jesus is, we

should know that. We should know that

solid. All everything that you can have

in that doctrine, we should know it

well. Know well what passages teach you

who Jesus is, exactly who Jesus is, what

he did on the cross, how we get saved.

That's that's our business.

So if we're going to give the gospel, we

have to be clear about the gospel.

Uh,

somebody said, "If there's fog in the

pulpit, there'll be a cloud in the pew."

Well, if if you got a fog in your mind

of clarity of certain truths, then you

can't you can't transmit those truths to

people you're discipling or ministering

to.

So, there's some things we need to be

experts on. Can I say that? I mean,

experts.

We should be able to know the gospel,

preach the gospel, defend the gospel

from all comers.

We should be able to know that who Jesus

is and be clear clear on that great

subject of the person and work of Jesus

Christ

and especially resurrection

of Jesus Christ

because that's the foundation for

everything.

That's the foundation for the whole

Bible.

That's the foundation for our faith

is that he is risen from the dead.

If that's not true, we can ignore all

the rest.

But since that true, we need to know all

the rest

and teach the whole council of God and

spend and be spent for our risen savior.

So I believe this is a major subject of

the Bible. In fact, it's a major of the

major subjects. It's right up there in

the top of the major subjects.

We should be able to defend the

resurrection. We should be able to

proclaim the resurrection. We should be

able to teach the resurrection.

And so I hope when we get done with this

series, we'll all be more well informed

on this subject. And not just well

informed, but transformed

by this subject.

We're to seek the things that are above

where Christ is

the right hand of God.

God wants us to look at our whole life

in light of these things.

So, this is our series and I'd like you

to turn with me to Matthew 28.

Matthew 28.

In this particular series,

my intention is to begin every message

in this series

with Matthew 28.

We're not going to stay in Matthew 28.

In fact, I'm going to the Old Testament

today.

We're going to start.

We're going to start with the beginning.

But I want to read Matthew 28:16.

Matthew 28:16

This is in Galilee.

And get the context in your mind.

Originally, Jesus appeared not in

Galilee, but in Judea.

He appeared in Jerusalem.

in Judea. That's the south. Galile is in

the north.

But he told them Easter evening

to go to Galilee and there appeared to

you. So they knew they're going to see

him up there. So a bunch of them took

off for Galilee.

That's where we are in chapter 28 and

verse 16.

Then the 11 disciples went away into

Galilee. Remember Judas is dead.

Then the 11 disciples went into Galilee

into a mountain where Jesus had

appointed them. This is this is an

appointment that Jesus made.

Many of the appearances of Jesus, there

was no appointment. He didn't say, "I'm

going to be at the tomb outside the tomb

at 9:00."

But this was an appointment where they

knew where he was going to be, where he

was going to appear. A lot of the

appearings before this were all

surprises.

Now, think in your mind,

you're going up to Galilee. Your

family's up in Galilee. You have friends

up in Galilee. You got other believers

up in Galilee. What are you doing up

here? Well, we're going to go see Jesus.

He arose from the dead.

Well, what do you think that would

cause? Well, I'm coming, too.

Don't miss that.

My personal opinion, and I've worked

this out chronologically, is that

Jesus's appearance to over 500 at once

corresponds with this appearance in

Matthew 28.

And so, and the other people that were

there were other people that were there

with the 11,

but that's another study. So I believe

that there were a whole bunch of people

here besides the 11.

So verse 16, then the 11 disciples went

away into Galilee into a mountain where

Jesus had appointed them. And when they

saw him, they worshiped him.

But some doubted.

Now that might give you pause. Say,

"Wait a minute. They saw him Easter

morning. They saw him Easter afternoon.

They saw him Easter evening." and

doubting Thomas has been convinced.

So why are people doubting here? They're

not the same people.

There are other people that are there

with them. Now,

I believe that that's probably the

correct answer. The other part of the

answer is that Jesus was in the distance

because our English Bibles don't bring

some of this out. In verse 18, it says

Jesus came. It's really came up to. He

was in the distance.

So, he didn't scare everybody by

appearing in the midst of 500 plus

people and start a stampede.

He was in the distance and let them get

used to seeing him.

And so in the beginning it says 17 they

worshiped him especially those who had

seen him before and knew he was going to

appear there. But some doubted and who

some might have said well I think that's

him but it might not be. Let's wait and

see. Or some said I don't know if that's

him or not. Maybe the people were new

and never seen him yet.

And Jesus came up and spoke to them

saying here here's what I want to

emphasize. I want you to watch the word

all. Will you do that for me? Watch the

word all.

And uh I had a I had a seminary

professor said that all means all and

that's all all means.

But watch the word all.

Verse 18. This is the risen Jo Lord

Jesus Christ. He Jesus came and spoke to

them saying all authority

is given to me in heaven and in earth.

That's the first all. Who has all

authority? Government,

the pope,

the elder board of the church,

the UN.

>> Amen.

All authority over every other

authority,

ecclesiastical,

governmental,

all authority.

Whether it's the family or the

government or the church, there is one

who's over everything and everyone.

There's nobody above him. There's nobody

equal to him.

>> Amen.

>> He gets it all.

And why shouldn't he? He's the one that

went to the cross. He's the one that

defeated Satan. He's the one that solved

the biggest problem of the universe, the

sin and death problem.

All authority

is given me in heaven and earth.

That's the first law.

Go you therefore and teach all nations.

That's the second all.

Now nations, we when we think of

nations, we tend to think of

geographical boundaries and political

boundaries, but the the phrase here is

all people groups is really what it

means.

So even if we get the gospel to every

nation, it doesn't mean we've got it to

every people group in those nations.

Remember, they didn't have nations as we

know it then. They had empires. They had

city governments.

So all the people groups, can I put it

that way?

And that's a little more uh intensive

and extensive, isn't it?

So all authority is given me in heaven

and earth. Go you therefore and teach

all nations, baptizing them in the name

of the Father, the Son, and the Holy

Spirit.

teaching them to observe what?

All things

whatsoever I've commanded you.

Now, this is very this is very

important.

No people group is to be ignored or left

out.

The commission from the risen ascended

returning Lord Jesus Christ to his

people is because of who I am and what

I've done go.

Now in the Old Testament evangelism was

done differently.

God would bless the Jews, Jewish nation,

and other nations would see that

blessing and they would come.

Their responsibility in the Old

Testament was to live on the family

farm, uh serve their Lord, be fruitful

and multiply, go to Jerusalem three

times a year, worship in the temple, and

be so blessed that other people would

see you got something I don't have.

That was Old Testament evangelism.

It was a public evangelism. The n that

they they were the light of of the of

the world in that sense that people were

expected to come like the queen of Sheba

and other people.

This is different.

We don't wait for people to come.

We go.

Sometimes that may mean no go to another

country. It might mean go across the

street.

It may be go to somebody in your family

and get to know them better so you can

have a relationship with them to

minister to them.

We're all supposed to go

somewhere

to someone.

Go

therefore and teach all nations.

Now, I know you know this. There's three

parts of the great commission. Number

one is teach.

People need content for their faith.

People need to know who Jesus is, what

he's done,

what he's going to do, what the Bible

is, what the Bible teaches.

The teaching all nations is important.

We need our job is to bring information.

Our job is to proclaim about him.

Teach all nations.

After teaching and receiving the

teaching by repentance and faith,

baptizing them in the name of the

Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, a

clear passage for the triunity of God.

But notice, they're taught before

they're baptized.

You don't baptize people that are

ignorant of the Bible or don't even know

the gospel or never even received the

gospel. There's a ministry before

baptism.

And this is talking about water baptism.

And that's a public confession of faith

by those who've believed in Christ.

But the teaching doesn't end

after they're baptized.

The teaching doesn't end. No. Now you're

taught and you're baptized and you're

good.

Teaching continues.

This is the third part. And this is the

part where the local church is vitally

involved and starting local churches is

vitally involved

because it's not enough to go evangelize

and just give people John 3:16 or

John 3:16

whatever and done my job.

I'm not saying that's wrong. I'm saying

it's not enough.

What this is talking about is churches

need to be started and people have to be

discipled

because baptism is something a local

church does.

You get baptized, you get identified

with Jesus and who he is, but you're

also identified with the local church

that baptizes you.

So you if you're going to get baptized,

you should get baptized by a church that

teaches the Bible as correctly as they

can, right?

I wouldn't want to get baptized by a

cult and say, "I've been baptized by the

Jehovah Witnesses.

I've been baptized by the Mormons." No,

you if you b you're you are identified

with who you are baptized by.

And so baptism is a local church thing.

Not that it saves you. It's to you only

baptize the people who are already

saved. But after you're saved and then

you're you're taught and you're saved,

you're baptized. And after you're

baptized, you are discipled even more.

You're discipled before you're baptized.

You're taught and then you're discipled

after you're baptized. And the

discipleship after you're baptized is

even more extensive than before.

Teaching them to what?

Observe all things.

whatever I've commanded you.

That's the third all.

All all things.

Dr. Witen was my professor in seminary.

He wrote a little pamphlet on Matthew 28

and he was the pamphlet basically said

a lot of people fulfill the first two

parts of the great commission but they

ignore the third.

There's people who've been saved, been

baptized, but their church never takes

them past kindergarten.

They got a kindergarten level of Bible,

Sunday school level. They don't know the

Bible.

They don't even know the books of the

Bible. They don't even, some of them

don't even know where to find a book in

the Bible

in America.

That's the church's fault.

Paul said, "I'm clear from the blood of

all men, for I've not hesitated to

declare to you the whole council of

God." Say, "That's too intense. I need

something less intense." No, you don't.

You need to be saved. You need to be

baptized. And then you need to get

intense.

So teaching them to observe all things

that's lifetime

whatsoever I've commanded you

and lo I'm with you always even to the

end of the age. The word always is the l

forth all.

I'm always with you wherever you go

whatever you're doing.

Others might not want this. Others may

not accept this method,

but I'm with you. I I'm with the ones

that are doing this.

So, there's intensity here.

And so, who is it that's saying this?

I'm coming back to this. Who is saying

this?

the resurrected

incarnate God, Jesus Christ, who has all

authority

and wants us to teach all nations about

all his commandments.

So, the resurrection of Jesus Christ

puts a lot on unsaved people.

You going to remain in unbelief after

this? Going to keep ignoring God after

this?

puts a lot of pressure on unsaved

people,

but it puts a lot of pressure on saved

people, too, doesn't it? We got to get

in business.

And so this is so important a subject

and when it comes to teaching all

nations, we need to be emphasizing

not just the books of the Bible and

everything in the Bible and their themes

and their authors and the main messages,

but the teachings of the Bible and the

main doctrines of the Bible. When you

teach the Bible, it's always this. Keep

the main thing the main thing, right?

And so resurrection is a main thing.

The subject of Jesus's resurrection is

one of the most important facts in all

the Bible.

RA Tory said it's the Gibralar of

Christian evidence and the Waterlue of

all infidelity. It's a great statement.

We don't argue about everything in the

Bible.

How many animals were on the ark or

>> Don't argue with that.

Get right to the resurrection. Did it

happen or didn't?

Let's talk about that. We could talk

about all kinds of subjects. Get on the

merger round of discussion on

everything. No, let's just stop and stay

with this.

So

with it with that in mind,

I want to begin at the beginning.

I want to go clear back to Genesis

and I want us to think through all these

things biblically.

And so please go with me back to uh

well before we go to Genesis, go to

Colossians 1:16.

Colossians 1:16

Well, I'm going to start with 14. It's

talking about Jesus. I'll go back to 13.

who's delivered us 113 from the power of

darkness and has translated us into the

kingdom of his son or the son of his

love

in whom that's in whom Jesus the in whom

there is Jesus the dear de dear son we

have redemption through his blood even

forgiveness of sins who is who's this

person that uh brought us forgiveness of

sins he's the image of the invisible god

the firstborn of all creation

And by him were all things created that

are in heaven and that are in earth and

that are under the earth, visible and

invisible, whether they be thrones or

dominions or principalities or powers.

All things were created by him and for

him. And he's before all things, and by

him all things consist.

That's how Paul teaches

the Lord Jesus.

He's the creator of everything.

Nothing was created apart from Jesus.

In the beginning, God created the

heavens and the earth. Well, who's that

God? It's the one God of the Bible, the

Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

It's the creator who died for the

creature.

Now, let's go back to Genesis chapter 1.

Genesis 1 · chapter mention

The creation account.

Genesis 1 and verse 26.

And God said,

"Let us make man in our image."

What do you notice there? That's pretty

obvious if you just aren't speed reading

with a fan blowing the pages by.

God's God's talking to himself.

Let us

make man

in our image.

There's one God, but there's a plurality

in the Godhead.

The creator we will find out later is

father, son and holy spirit and Jesus is

our creator.

John chapter 1 verse 1-18 could not be

John 1:1–18

more clear.

So the deity of God the son, the

incarnation of God the son through the

virgin birth, the death of God the son

and the resurrection of God the son was

planned

before the world was created.

This is the God talking to himself to

create in Genesis 1:26.

Genesis 1:26

But there's a there's something that

precedes this. We don't see it in

Genesis, but we will.

God planned to save human beings before

there were any human beings to save.

God planned to save you before God

created this universe and the human

race. There's an eternal plan behind it

all.

And we need to recognize that this plan

was baked into the original plan. It's

not some emergency matter.

Oh, Adam and Eve ate the I fruit. I told

him not to eat. What am I going to do

now?

I guess I'm going to have to go die for

him now.

The cross of Jesus Christ was planned

before creation of the universe,

before the fall of man. This is very

important.

God was not surprised.

God was not surprised. There's an

eternal plan behind it all.

And before God

mentions this in 26, before he said,

"Let there be light." before any of

these other things in Genesis 1:69, 111,

14, 20, and 24. As he created

everything, before he planned to make

anything, including man in his image,

before he made man in his image, he

planned to save mankind made in that

image after they would fall.

And he planned that the one who received

them would return and rule and reign

over them.

Say, "How do you know that, pastor?

This seems like the beginning to me.

That in the beginning, God created the

heavens and the earth. That's it. That's

the beginning. There's nothing before

that." Oh, yes, there is.

There is something before that. That was

the beginning of the universe, but it

wasn't the beginning of the plan.

There was a plan

and Christian, you are part of that

plan.

I'm part of that plan. God had me in

mind when he did all this.

Okay. How do we know that? 1 Peter

1 Peter 1:17

chapter 1 verse 17.

1 Peter chapter 1

1 Peter 1:17

verse 17.

One of the most precious things that

Peter ever wrote.

1 Peter chapter 1 verse

1 Peter 1 · chapter mention

I want to start

Peter 1

17 to 21.

Chapter 1 17- 21.

Okay.

Um,

still in chapter 2. Excuse me. I got

this thin 10 page Bible. It's hard for

my old thumbs to

them apart.

Don't go to sleep. We'll get there.

1 Peter 1:17. And if you call on the

1 Peter 1:17

Father, who without respect to persons

judges according to every man's work,

past the time of your sojouring in fear.

For as much as you know that you were

not redeemed with corruptible things

like silver and gold from your vain

manner of life received by tradition of

your fathers, but with the precious

blood of Christ as a lamb without

blemish and without spot. Now here it

is. Say, "Well, I know all that." Did

you read this?

Who verily was fore orained

before the foundation of the world.

Before what?

Foundation of the world. That's before

Genesis 1:1.

Genesis 1:1

That's before in the beginning, God

created the heavens and the earth.

Before the foundation of the world, he

was for ordained before the foundation

of the world, but was manifest in these

last times for you who by him do believe

in God, who raised him from the dead and

gave him glory, that your faith and hope

might be in God.

So there was a precation covenant

between God the Father, God the Son, and

God the Holy Spirit that God the Son

would become incarnate and die.

For the human beings that would sin,

even though God told him not to sin,

put him in a perfect world with no sin,

put him in a perfect garden.

You know, when when you build a

building, you get a plan first, right?

You better have an architect. Better

have a plan.

God had a plan.

And this verse shows something of that

plan.

But this isn't the only one. Go with me

to Revelation chapter 13

Revelation 13 · chapter mention

and verse 8.

But did you catch our verse in Peter?

uh

in verse 20 if the one with who shed his

precious blood was for ordained before

the foundation of the world.

It was planned in a pre-creation

covenant that God the Son would be the

one to sacrifice himself on the cross of

Cal.

The serpent took Adam and Eve by

surprise, but not God.

Revelation 13.

And I call your attention to verse 8.

Revelation 13:8.

Revelation 13:8

And all this is speaking of the

tribulation period and the antichrist

and all the rest. And all that dwell on

the earth shall worship him. That's the

antichrist. Whose names are not written

in the book of life? Of the lamb. Who's

the lamb?

Our Lord Jesus Christ. slain from the

foundation

of the world.

Turn with me to Ephesians chapter 1.

Ephesians 1 · chapter mention

Ephesians chapter 1.

Ephesians 1 · chapter mention

So the death of Jesus was not plan B

because plan A didn't work out. The

death of Jesus was the plan in the

beginning before God ever made anything.

Before he ever said, "Let there be

light."

And so look with me in Ephesians chapter

Ephesians 1 · chapter mention

1 and verse three.

Blessed be God, the Father of our Lord

Jesus Christ, who's blessed us with

spiritual blessings in heavenly places

in Christ, according as he's chosen us

in him before the foundation of the

world, that we should be holy and

without blame before him in love, having

predestinated us unto the adoption of

sons by Jesus Christ to himself,

according to the good pleasure of his

will, to the praise of the glory of his

grace through which he's made us

accepted in the beloved in whom we have

what?

Redemption

through his blood,

forgivingness of sins according to the

riches of his grace. So our Lord planned

to die. He planned to pay the highest

price that could be paid for his

creatures and he had purposes involved

in that.

One more passage here. Re Hebrews

Hebrews 9 · chapter mention

chapter 9 and verse 14.

Hebrews chapter 9

Hebrews 9 · chapter mention

in verse 13.

How much more shall the blood of Christ,

who through the eternal spirit offered

himself

up to God, purge your conscience from

dead works to serve the living God. And

for this cause he's the mediator of the

New Testament that by means of death for

the redemption of the transgressions

that were under the first testament they

were called might receive the promise of

eternal inheritance. This is kind of

important. Jesus didn't die just for

people in the first century

and everything after that. He died for

every sinner from the very beginning of

time.

That's what it's talking about. The Old

Testament people didn't get saved by

keeping the ten commandments. The Old

Testament got saved through the cross of

Calvary.

>> So the blood went backwards and

forwards.

This is one of the passages there too in

the Bible that clearly teach that. So

now humans are created in the image of

God, right? Animals are not

humans are unique.

uh animals are not created in the image

of God. Therefore, God couldn't become a

donkey or a cow or a pig or a anything

like that. Nothing against animals.

They're just not in God's image because

man is made in the image of God. God is

able to relate to them and deal with

them because of that uniqueness that we

have.

And every person's made in the image of

God according to Genesis.

And so, um,

it's important for us to know who we

are. Now, let's go back to Genesis, if

you would, please,

chapter 1.

Genesis chapter 1 verse 15.

Genesis 1:15

Excuse me. I mean three.

No, I mean two.

>> Wrote it down wrong. And then

Genesis 2:15, the Lord God took the man

Genesis 2:15

and put him in the garden of Eden to

till it and keep it. And the Lord God

commanded the man, saying, "Of every

tree of the garden, you may freely eat.

Freely eat."

But the tree, you don't have to ask.

You just get it. You don't have to work

for it.

Just eat it. Every tree.

So you don't have to live on a diet of

oranges and oranges only or grapefruit

or apples or pears only or apricots. You

may freely eat every tree and every

variety.

But of the tree of the knowledge of good

and evil shall you not eat of it.

For in the day you eat thereof, you will

surely die.

Now let's do a hypothetical. What if

Adam and Eve would have never eaten of

the tree knowledge of good and evil?

Then they would never have died.

They'd still be here.

And guess what?

You and I wouldn't die.

>> This is very interesting.

>> Amen.

We die physically not because of what we

do but because of what Adam did.

You can see that in Romans Romans

Romans 5 · chapter mention

chapter 5.

Now we got our own sins that we we

deserve death for. But his his his work

on our behalf in the garden messed us

up.

And so but God was very clear to Adam in

the very beginning in the day you eat

you will surely die. You will surely

die.

Don't do it, you'll die.

So, we find that men, mankind in the

person of Adam is responsible to God's

authority and to be under his authority.

And if he gets out from under that

authority, there's a punishment and it's

very severe.

Now, I did all kinds of things in grade

school. I got punished a lot. I wasn't

like my wife. She never got spanked. I

got spanked at least once a week.

One other kind of punishments, put your

nose on the clock. You stand on your

heel on your on your toes and put your

nose in the circle on the blackboard and

you know all kinds of punishments

because I did I I wasn't trying to be

mean. I just tried to be liven things up

a little bit

and I deserved it all I got and more.

But the punishment God says to to Adam

is a very serious one. This is a death

penalty.

This is not a minor matter.

This is death.

Stay away from that tree,

you won't die. Eat of that tree, you'll

surely die.

Guess what this teaches? Man is

responsible to God's authority under his

authority and his revealed word

and will be held accountable for choices

made.

Adam kept that for a while and so did

Eve and she knew all about it.

But you know what happens if you go back

in Genesis? You know what happens in

chapter uh uh uh as we move through this

particular section. If you move on to

chapter three,

notice

um

now the serpent was more subtle than any

beast of the field which the Lord had

made. And he said to the woman, "Yay,

hath God said you'll not eat of every

tree of the garden?"

And the woman said, "Satan knows

everything God's ever said to you.

He knows every sermon you've ever heard.

He's not omnisient. He's not omniresent,

but he's got demons that listen and they

know what you know and what you don't

know."

He was listening when God was speaking.

And so he he uh

starts a discussion with the woman. And

the woman said to serpent, "We may eat

of the fruit of the trees of the garden,

but the fruit of the tree which is in

the midst of the garden, God has said,

you shall not eat it, neither touch it,

lest you die." And the serpent said,

"You'll not surely die." God says,

"You'll die. I say you won't die."

And then he went on, you know, all the

rest of it.

Now, Adam knew it. Eve knew it. Serpent

knew it. God said, "You eat that tree,

you're going to die."

God says, "You'll die." The serpent

says, "I say you'll not die."

Think about this. In the Garden of Eden,

originally, death was optional, not

death was an optional thing in the

future. It was something that didn't

have to happen as far as

their minds were, right? All we got to

do is not eat of that tree

and we'll live on forever.

But when they ate, what happened? Death

happened.

Now, this is where it gets very

interesting. It's kind of important to

school oursel on this because when you

talk about death in the Bible, there's

three kinds of death, right?

And then death starts to be defined when

they get kicked out of the garden. Death

is separation.

The essence of death is separation.

Spiritual death is separation from God.

Physical death is a separation of your

spirit from your body. Eternal

separation is to be eternally separated

from God.

So there's three kinds of death

here. Spiritual death is immediate.

In verse six, when the woman saw that

the tree was good for food, and that it

was pleasant to the eyes, and the tree

desired to make one wise, she took of

the fruit thereof and did eat, and gave

to her husband with her, and he did eat.

And the eyes of them both were opened

and they knew they were naked and they

sewed fig leaves together and made

themselves aprons. They never did that

before.

Now they're embarrassed.

Now they know that there's a barrier.

There's something between them and God.

They lost their innocence and their

intimacy with God. And so they started

sewing fig leaves to cover their

nakedness.

And it says the eyes of them both were

opened and they knew that they were

naked and they sewed fig leaves together

and made themselves aprons. Guess what

all false religion is and false

philosophy?

Fig leaves.

It's all is fig leaves.

And they heard the voice of God walking

in the garden in the cool of the day.

And Adam and his wife hid themselves

from the presence of the Lord among the

trees of the garden. And God called to

them, Adam, where are you? He said, 'I

heard your voice in the garden and I was

afraid because I was naked and I hid

myself. And he said, who told you you

were naked?

Have you eaten of the tree wherever I

commanded thee that you shouldn't eat?

And now they pass Adam passes the buck

to Eve and Eve passes the buck to the

devil.

And God doesn't accept any of that kind

of activity.

The woman said, the man said, "The woman

you gave to me, she gave me the tree and

I did eat."

That was shiverous of him, wasn't it?

And the Lord said to the woman, "What is

it you've done?" And the woman said,

"The serpent beg me and I eat." They all

had an excuse.

The Lord said to the serpent, "Because

you've done this thing, you're cursed

above all cattle, above every beast of

the field, and on your belly you'll go

and your dust you'll eat all the days of

your life." In other words, you're going

to lose your legs and now you have to

crawl. Physical serpent and the

spiritual serpent. And I'll put enmity

between you and the woman, between your

seed and his seed. And he'll bruise your

head and you'll bruise his heel. And

that is the key verse in the Bible,

isn't it? This is the proto evangelical.

This is the gospel to Adam and Eve. This

is where God promises deliverance

through the seed of the woman who is

ultimately Jesus Christ. and a reversal

of this horrible thing that they got

themselves into.

So death is punishment for disobedience.

Adam knew it, Eve knew it, the serpent

knew it. They questioned it and then

death happened. Spiritual death happened

right away.

Physical death came to Adam 930 years

later.

You read Genesis

chapter is it five whatever it is

and yet because of Jesus Christ the seed

of the woman God could forgive them both

their sin and that's why God killed the

two animals and clothe them with the

coats of skin leaves don't cut it what

you can do to cover your nakedness

doesn't make it. You have to have

something God prepared and God given and

death has to take place so that you can

be with me.

It's either the animal's death or your

death physically.

So the animals died so Adam and Eve

could live.

And these are all fascinating verses,

aren't they?

They open up Christ died for our sins

according to the scriptures. He was

buried and rose again the third day

according to the scriptures.

See, if you don't understand death, you

don't understand the work of Jesus on

the cross. If you don't understand his

work on the cross, you don't understand

his resurrection, which Romans says he

was raised again for our justification

because of our justification. When Jesus

came out of the grave, it meant your

sins, my sins, the world's sins are paid

for. He doesn't have to remain dead.

You've been bought and paid for,

Christian.

And that's a precious thought.

Now, turn with me back to Romans chapter

Romans 15 · chapter mention

15. Excuse me, I'm sorry. Corinthians

15.

Paul thought all Paul thought all this

through very deeply after he got saved

and he realized my whole religion's been

wrong on the way of salvation

and uh began to understand things that

he didn't understand before.

So, and remember the book of first

Corinthians was written around 55 AD.

That's 25 years after Jesus arose from

the dead. Hope you all remember

Corinthians was written before Matthew,

Mark, Luke, and John. We said that many

times.

The gospels were written after after the

earlier epistles of Paul as far as date

of being written.

They didn't need the gospels because

they all knew all the stuff that Jesus

said and did. You know, had to write it

down as time went on.

But in 1 Corinthians chapter

1 Corinthians 15 · chapter mention

15

and verse 21,

Paul says, "Now Christ is risen from the

dead and become the first fruits of them

that slept.

For since by man came death," that's

Adam and Eve, "by man came also

resurrection of the dead." That's Jesus.

Verse 22, 15:22. For as in Adam all die,

as in Adam all die, even so in Christ

shall all be made alive.

This is the doctrine of the first Adam

and the last Adam. Right?

The first Adam and the last Adam.

It's very important for us to get that.

Who was the first Adam? Adam in Genesis

chapter three. Who's the last Adam?

Jesus Christ.

Now, go with me to Romans 5

if you would. I think many of you know

this. Romans, the book of Romans appears

before Corinthians in our Bible, but it

was actually written two years after

Corinthians. It was written in 57 AD.

Roman. And so Paul's developing this

more in Romans than when he just

mentions it in Corinthians.

Romans chapter 5:12.

He's comparing the work of Adam and the

work of Jesus.

Adam was not a private person.

Jesus was not a private person. Adam is

the federal head of the human race.

Jesus is the head of the church.

And I want you to watch the two Adams

here compared.

Now I know one of the cultist, that

Korean cultist, I can't think of who he

is now or his name. He thinks that there

he's the third Adam. Well, there's no

third atom.

>> No third Adam. There's the first Adam

and the last Adam.

But in Romans chapter 5:12, wherefore as

by one man sin entered the world and

death by sin, so death passed on all

men. For all have sinned.

S we've sinned because of Adam and in

Adam because his sin is put to our

account.

For until the law, sin was in the world,

but sin's not imputed when 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's the figure

of him who was to come? Underline Adam

is a figure of him who was to come.

What's the similitude of Adam's

transgression? This is very important.

Adam disobeyed a direct commandment.

But people died from Adam to Moses who

didn't have any direct commandments. The

Ten Commandments didn't come to Moses's

time.

Are you following me?

So Paul's argument is the people before

the flood were dying. They had their

personal sins and iniquity was filling

the earth. But people were dying

physically because of what Adam did, not

because of what they did.

Now his arguments are tight. You're not

saved because of what you do.

You're saved because what Jesus did.

So either you're united with Adam and

his sin or you're united with Jesus and

his death on the cross.

>> Amen.

>> That's it. There's no third alternative.

And watch watch the one and the many.

And the one is either Adam or Christ.

And the many are us, the human race.

Verse 15. But not as the offense. So

also was the free gift. Circle. free

gift. It's in here many times. Has

nothing to do with your merit or your

ability or anything you do be before

you're saved after you're saved. But not

as the offense. So is the free gift. For

if through the offense of one, many are

dead, much more by the grace of God and

the gift of grace which is by one man

Jesus Christ has abounded to many.

Now one and the many is a philosophical

concept, but it's also a theological

concept. And that's what Paul's doing

here.

And not as it was by one that sinned,

that's Adam. So is the gift. There's

that word gift again. For the judgment

was by one to condemnation, that's Adam.

But the free gift is of many offenses to

justification. Jesus didn't just die for

Adam's sin. He died for your sins and

mine.

It was many offenses.

Um

verse 17, for by one man's offense,

death reigned by one. much more they who

receive abundance they have to receive

it of grace and gift of righteousness

shall reign in life by one Jesus Christ

therefore by the offense of one that's

Adam judgment came to all men to

condemnation even so by the

righteousness of one the free gift came

on all men to justification of life

that's all men who received the gift 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

reigned to death, even so might grace

reign through righteousness to eternal

life by Jesus Christ our Lord. To all

the legalist of the world, God's not

looking at you.

God's not counting up your good deeds.

You're either with Adam or you're with

Jesus.

All of us are with Adam in the

beginning. We all need to be saved.

Whether we're raised in a Christian home

or good church or anything, everybody

needs to be come to Christ individually

and be saved individually. But we're not

saved by our good works. We're not saved

by anything we do or anything we don't

do. We're only can be saved by what was

done at the cross of Calvary.

Nothing could reverse this.

Adam is a legal representative. He's the

federal head of the human race. Humans

aren't angels. angels stand or fall

individually. The humans fell as a race

and uh

so we all need saved

and we can only be saved by Jesus. Add

us Adam got us into trouble. Jesus gets

us out. It's just that simple.

He is a legal head of the

church, the new race.

as Adam was the legal head of the old

race

and that's why his resurrection

is so important and that's why the good

news needs to be proclaimed to all

nations everywhere so they can hear it.

So it's very very important.

You know the Bible became an open book

for Paul once he got saved.

He started to understand things he never

understood as a Pharisee.

You know every time I watch a movie

which I've watched very few movies. I

don't spend my time watching movies my

whole life. But if I wa if I really like

a movie and watch it the second or third

time usually a western of some kind.

I never saw that the first time.

I never saw that the second time.

Well, how'd I miss that?

And when you read the Bible, it's the

same, right? I never saw that the first

time.

I read the Bible all the way through. I

never saw that. Maybe you're daydreaming

that or maybe the phone rang or maybe

you're meditating on something and read

through something absent- mindedly. We

need to read and reread and reread our

Bibles whole life, right?

How many times have you read the Bible?

You ought to be able to say, "I don't

know."

You ought to be able to say, "I don't

know, pastor. I've been reading it my

whole Christian life. I can't even

answer that question.

Now, we need the Lord to open the

scriptures to us as Jesus opened it up

on the bay road just like the angel

opened Jesus's tomb. Uh, and the the

Jesus opened up the scriptures

in Easter Sunday. There's an empty tomb,

there's a risen Christ, and there's an

open Bible.

It's not just the tomb of Jesus that was

open. The Bible was opened on Easter

Sunday.

and became clear.

The open tomb is important, but so is

the open Bible.

He's not here. He's risen is important.

He's not in the tomb, but he is here and

he's alive. That's what the Bible says.

That is important.

He's not in the tomb of Joseph Arythea,

but he is in the teachings of the Bible

from beginning to end.

And either that's true or it's not.

And in Romans, in Hebrews 10, it says,

"The volume of the book, it is written

of me to do your will, oh God."

Now,

um

there's a continuity

that's very important as we move through

the scriptures.

Back in Genesis 2:17, God said, "In the

Genesis 2:17

day you eat, you will die." It actually

uses the day. You're not going to live

24 hours after this. The day you eat,

you'll die.

They died immediately spiritually.

That's why they knew they were naked and

they were afraid of God. People who are

dead spiritually are afraid of God.

Afraid of being seen by God.

And both the Hebrew text and the Greek

text are very clear. The day,

in other words, death will be immediate

spiritual.

It'll happen the same day you eat it.

But then physical death will come and

then eternal death will come. unless

there's an intervention.

You know, they say if I'm not very

familiar with cyanide

pills, of course, I've never flown a U2

plane and had cyanide in my pocket to

eat if I'm getting ready to crash land

or something.

But cyanide is often used in the spy

movies and so forth. And what's it do?

It stops the cells from using oxygen.

And death comes in just a few seconds of

inhaling a high dose of cyanide. A half

a gram of ingested cyanide will kill an

160 lb man.

Half a gram.

It doesn't take a big sin to get the

human race.

When Adam died,

race died with him.

He killed us all.

You were born dead.

I was born dead.

Even if we had Christian parents, be we

had spiritual death.

Things would have been been lot quite

different than they are if Adam and Eve

had not eaten of the tree.

You know, human history

could never have started. God had no

obligation to create.

No obligation to create. Human history

could have ended as soon as Adam and Eve

ate.

That's it. Done with the human race. I'm

going to go do something else. Told you

not to do it. You did it.

Too bad for you.

Human history could have gone on uh with

humans forever in a state of being born

dead. They could have been multiplying.

More dead. More dead. More dead.

Everybody dying physically, everybody

dying hypothetically. I suppose that

could happen.

But God intervened

in a dying world. God intervened. God

approaches. God speaks. God reveals. The

seed of the woman will bruise the

serpent's head. There is hope.

There's hope.

And that hope comes from the seed of the

woman who's also the son of God.

So now let's trace this real. I know I'm

over a little bit. Trace this just

through Genesis just for a moment.

God spared people who had no idea they

would be spared

by the little Bible they had.

there. They're all be fruitful and

multiply and fill the earth, take

dominion over it, then don't eat the

tree.

You can eat all the trees, but not this

one. That was their Bible. That was a

pretty small Bible. And they that's all

the Bible they had. That's all as far as

they knew.

If the devil's wrong and God's right,

we're dead doing this. Think about that.

But we're going to chance it.

Then think of the results of that as you

go through Genesis. And by the time of

Noah, wickedness is so great, God says

it repents me that I've made man on the

earth.

I'm I'm sad that I made him.

And people have all the they say the

problem I I have a problem. How did God

get all those animals on the ark? Well,

my problem isn't that. My problem is how

did Noah and his family get on the ark?

How was there ever a saving of anybody?

And that was grace.

And then you get to Genesis 9 and the

rainbow and you get the to all the other

countermeasures God makes at the Tower

of Babel scattering everybody

because man is so depraved if he gets

together it that depravity is going to

multiply and multiply and multiply and

degeneration is going to happen faster.

You can't have all these people living

together, interacting with each other,

or it's just going to be Adam and Eve

all over again on a greater scale. Not

that we can repeat what they did, but we

can do like things.

Now, that comes us back to Matthew

and Mark

and Luke.

Preach the gospel

to every creature.

That's Mark.

As you go into all nations, teaching

them, baptizing them in the name of the

Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And lo,

I'm with you always, even to the end of

the earth. Go everywhere, do everything

to spread the resurrection. Why? Because

it's the reversal of what happened in

the beginning.

You know, I believe in the resurrection

not just because I believe there's

strong evidence Jesus came out of the

tomb. It's because the resurrection is

an answer to the problem started in a

religious book written before Jesus was

born over several centuries and finished

before he was born. And the problem

began in the Garden of Eden. So what's

the resurrection addressing? The sin

problem and the death problem.

It's answering a problem that Genesis

reveals

and everybody knew about.

Well,

I I don't know if I'm making myself

clear as I should, but I thank God for

all the evidences of the resurrection of

Jesus. But when I see what Jesus did

after he rose from the dead and what he

commanded,

we're dealing with an answer to the

problem that everybody on this planet

needs.

>> This is something worthy of God.

He's not doing little things here. This

is the whole human race

needs this message.

And so may God help us to see it.

and sense it. You know, horses are made

to run, aren't they? Dogs are made to

hunt. Birds are made to fly. Man was

made to take dominion over the whole

earth.

He messed that up.

Mission work

is to go to those who didn't get it done

and are scattered around the world. And

the whole point for me in Athens Bible

Church in the five decades I've had the

privilege of being here is to get the

gospel not just to Athens. We want it to

Athens and all the people here, but how

many people outside of here?

And I learned as I wanted to be a

missionary to Asia as God changed my

heart about those that business. I could

probably reach better people who knew

the language, knew the culture,

understood the food and everything

better than I could ever if I did it for

over there. And God allowed that to

happen for many, many years here. And

God brings in our little town many

people from many countries. We got a

gold mine here.

We got an opportunity here.

We don't have to go fly somewhere or

live somewhere in a hard place and learn

a language and learn a culture and and

struggle to deal. We can minister to

people who either know English or have

are learning English

and they know their country and know

their language better than we do.

And we have an opportunity to have an

impact through our missionaries that we

support in other countries, but also

through our local church and the

ministries here, the Bible studies that

are being taught and so forth and so on

that different folks have in the church

here. And I want to tell you something.

What a heartexpanding life enlarging

fulfilling privilege we have.

When my kids were my older three kids

were small, on purpose we would take

them to vacation

in different places.

We even took them to California and back

for three weeks.

I wanted to enlarge their comfort zone.

I wanted them to be comfortable living

in other places besides Ohio.

And I felt that was part of my parental

responsibility.

And it's it it we we need to all enlarge

our comfort zone

to relate to people different than

ourselves. What's it mean? go into all

the world and teach the god. It might

mean go across the hall, go across the

the uh uh the uh street and talk to

somebody that you don't know their

language and do a favor for them or try

to get to know them. Give them a gospel

track in their language. do something

like that.

And so it also means that where

regardless of a background of a person,

regardless of their sins, regardless of

their false ways of thinking or living,

they can come to know the creator who

made him and who died for him and rose

again. Then that's good news.

>> Amen.

>> That's good news. We have a

responsibility.

The the work of God does not cut the

cord of our responsibility

to proclaim the news and other people to

believe that news.

And so may God give us grace to do it.

Father, as we come into your presence

this morning,

we

we have a we have a great responsibility

upon us as a a local church and as

individuals.

Forgive us, Lord, when we forget why

we're here.

Forgive us when we forget

that we're created in Christ Jesus unto

good works that God's before ordained

that we should walk in them. And one of

those good works

is giving the gospel.

Help us to be about your business.

And we remember our Lord told us to do

this till he comes.

And he also said, "Lo, I'm with you

always, even to the end of the age. that

wherever we are to God's presence and

can count on his work

on others behalf as well as our own in

Jesus name. Amen.

Let's stand and turn to page 322.

Loving you more,

trusting you more.

May the power of your love and the light

of your word shine to a sin darkened

world.

As we go from this place,