Romans 5b

Introduction

So, the recent situation of having to be broadcast only meant that I had the opportunity to look back in the catalog of past messages and find what I consider to be some of the most important chapters that we’ve studied through.

We’ve begun to gather back together for Sunday morning services, but for a short time, we will continue in our “Important chapters of the New Testament” series.

Hopefully, by the time everyone is feeling comfortable with getting about regular life, we’ll be able to resume our chapter by chapter study of the New Testament.

So far, in this series, we’ve studied:

The epistle ofJude, dealing with false teachers.

And then there was Revelation 6, dealing with what is mostly known as the 4 horsemen of the apocalypse.

Also Hebrews 7, and how the Old Testament character Melchizedek prefigures Christ.

And also 1 John 3 and love in the Christians life.

And then we continued with the theme of love, studying 1 Corinthians 13.

That was followed by a 2 part study through 2 Timothy chapter 2 looking at the expression of grace in a believer’s life.

After that, we looked at the purpose of the law in Galatians 3.

Last Sunday we began a study through chapters 5, 6, 7, and 8 of Paul’s Epistle to the Romans, looking at “the implications of the revelation of God’s righteousness.”

We made it through the first half of chapter 5, so we’ll pick up this morning with the second half of chapter 5.

There is a chance we might move into chapter 6 … but I want to keep things orderly, so we might just finish a little early today with only the second half of chapter 5.

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We started out chapter 5 with a review of the author, the setting, and the context of this letter.

If you are just now tuning into our study through Romans 5, I would suggest that you go back to Part 1 and listen or watch that first.

You can find the video online on our YouTube channel and the audio podcast is available through iTunes and many other RSS feeds.

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For simplicity, all these links are available at our Calvary Chapel Birmingham website, go to calvarybirmingham.com and click on “Media” and then “On Demand” in the dropdown menu.

So, please go back and listen or watch that if you missed it … by the way, check out the custom video intros that I’ve been creating lately for this series … you’ll have to go to YouTube for that.

By way of quick review .... In regards to author, setting, and context, Paul wrote this letter to the young church in Rome.

That church, I believe, was planted by Paul … even though Paul had not yet been to Rome.

In fact, no Apostle had been to Rome before Paul finally arrived there as a prisoner to take his case before Nero.

But, when Paul DID ARRIVE … the church was already there.

Normally, Paul would travel to a place, preach the gospel, and start a church in that place with those new believers.

But in the case of Rome, what I believe happened was that Paul assembled the church together with trusted and faithful associates, and then sent them to Rome.

Which was certainly a difficult place to plant a church … there was a large Jewish population to oppose the church, and there were pagan Gentiles.

This was a church in the center of power for the Roman Empire … a church surrounded by intense pagan influence and pressure.

And it was a church that would endure great persecution in the time of Nero and going forward.

Paul was not a prisoner when he wrote this letter, but he was not unfamiliar with being imprisoned for his faith.

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And in this letter, Paul tells us that all mankind has been imprisoned.

All mankind has been confined BY the actions of a relative.

We are all related somewhere down the line, having the same ancestor.

That same ancestor is Adam … and we have all received an inheritance from him … our sin nature.

Speaking of the repercussions of Adam’s fall, the Bible tells us in the chapter we are in this morning, “Sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all, because all sinned.”

Do not read below:

Romans 5:12 NKJV

Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned—

From early in the history of man, the prison walls of death have had us trapped.

We have been held captive.

It has been our prison.

Sin has brought death into the world... and with death fear, and with fear, imprisonment.

So, the question must be asked … are we stuck here in this prison … or is there a way out?

And the answer, Paul writes, is “YES.”

Everyone falls short, but everyone can be justified freely by God’s grace.

Because of our sin nature and its appetite, we cannot save ourselves from the prison we are in.

And yet because of Christ, we have as God’s gift … salvation.

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God is beyond our full understanding.

He is far more complex than the universe that He built and the people He created.

At the same time, His grace and His plan to dispense His grace is not reserved for rocket scientists and the elite.

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Jesus, the Messiah … our Savior is God made flesh … born into this world as a helpless baby … God became simple and small, vulnerable and visible.

It was God’s plan to reveal Himself to simple man in simplicity rather than complexity.

God didn’t reveal Himself to us in millions of little pieces that somehow fit together but nobody can figure out how.

He came in the person of Christ … born as a helpless babe, in poverty, in a barn, in the smallest of villages.

He lived his life with little more than what He had when He was born.

He took the complexity of the law and expressed it in it’s simplest form:

Matthew 22:37–39 NKJV

Jesus said to him, “ ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’

Yet not even the smallest law did He break … He fulfilled the law.

His life took the complicated spaghetti of prophecy given over thousands of years, and illustrated and fulfilled them all in a succinct 33 years.

His death on the cross took the difficult system of sacrifices and rolled them all up into one humiliating death … one tomb, one resurrection … the first of many.

Salvation would now be available to all who call on the name of Jesus by grace through faith.

Of course, from Adam to Abraham to the sacrificial system to today, by grace through faith has always been the way of salvation.

Before Christ, salvation was based on the future work of Jesus on the cross.

After Christ, salvation is based on the completed work of Jesus on the cross.

You see, the cross was like a fulcrum.

It was the pivot point for history.

The cross is also the fulcrum of our lives … the place where sin and death was exchanged for grace.

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The key verse for our study today is Romans 5:12 … it was the key verse for the first half of our study and it’s the same for the second half.

That is because Paul’s argument in this chapter hinges on this verse … it’s the pivot point.

Romans 5:12 NKJV

Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned—

Imagine a see-saw with a gift on each seat.

Adam's gift was sin and death.

By his one act of rebellion in the Garden of Eden, he brought ruin and devastation upon the entire human race.

As a result, we all die.

Adam's gift is the cause of all our deaths.

His gift comes in mighty fine looking wrapping.

It looks desirable, is heavy, and makes a lot of noise when you shake it.

But it’s very deceiving … it requires a lot of work that doesn’t result in anything that looks like the picture on the box.

The box shows smiling joyful people, but what the box contains is sorrow and death.

But the gift of God is greater.

Its package is simple and humble and there is no assembly required … the work has been done.

It is the greatest gift ever, joy, peace, and everlasting life.

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We jumped into chapter 5 of Romans … and to this point the book of Romans has examined:

The scale of human sin and guilt,

God’s wrath against sin

And the efficacy of God's justifying grace in and by virtue of Jesus Christ.

Paul has led us down into the depths of human depravity and up into the heights of divine mercy.

He has explained that there are two brotherhoods.

One is characterized by sin and rebellion … and the other by grace and faith.

One is headed by Adam … AND the head of the other is Christ.

Every person has been given the choice to change his lineage and inheritance by coming under the Lordship of Jesus Christ.

This choice is a life or death matter.

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Adam is the head of all the human race and the result of his sin is handed down to all his descendants.

Likewise, Jesus Christ is the head of all born again believers.

His righteousness is given to all the faithful.

Just as man is condemned by being born of the line of Adam, so is man justified by being born again of Christ.

This morning, … In the remaining 18 verses of our chapter, we will find a very easy and natural outline to follow.

That outline is this:

Sin Reigned Through One Man (12-14)

Grace Reigns Through One Man (15-17)

The Results of One Man's Act (18-19)

The Results of Grace (20-21)

The goal of our study this morning is to recognize that by (a) Who Christ is, by (b) What He did, by (c) What He gives, man may escape from the hopeless rule of sin.

But first, let’s pray.

Prayer: Heavenly Father, we thank You for this new morning, the breath that you have placed in our lungs, the beats of our hearts … You are truly the Living God Who is compassionate and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness. We ask that as we enter into our study of Your written Word that You would give us wisdom and understanding. We pray this in Jesus’ Name, Amen.

BODY OF MESSAGE PART 1

V12-14

So, we start off with the first item of our outline, which is SIN REIGNED THROUGH ONE MAN.

Here’s that pivot point … the fulcrum where two gifts find their contrast.

Before this point in chapter 5, Paul spoke of man’s redemption.

His focus now spindles over the 2 Lines of Humanity and their Headship.

The one line unwinds from Adam …

… and the other winds up to Christ.

Continuing in the line of Adam is an undoing … an unraveling of sorts.

In verse 12 Paul summarizes the story we find in Genesis 3 of the fall of man.

Paul highlights Adam's disobedience and how that brought (1) sin, (2) death and (3) separation into the world.

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By starting verse 12 with “Therefore” Paul indicates that he’s continuing down the line of the doctrine of justification by faith in Christ.

Man's right standing with God comes only through Jesus Christ's sacrificial death and His resurrection.

Acceptance of Christ brings:

(1) righteousness,

it brings (2) reconciliation (we could call that peace),

and it brings (3) life.

NOTICE THE PHRASE “One Man” in verse 12.

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The "one man" Paul speaks of through whom "sin entered the world" is obviously Adam.

Adam is an interesting Hebrew word.

The first human ever to walk the earth was named Adam.

The Hebrew word for earth in the sense of the ground is adamah.

God formed man from the dust of the earth, and on the simplest level, that connection with adamah, earth, is the basis for man's name.

It is also a name that implies a lower or base nature and reflects man’s proclivity to sin.

It insinuates a kind of hot-bloodedness, a proclivity to make rash decisions, but it also insinuates the ability to choose right over wrong.

With all those things in mind, it is easy to understand how Adam is the Hebrew word that the Bible uses for man.

Of course, we are in the New Testament and Paul wrote in Greek, but he is referencing back to the Hebrew scriptures.

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With verse 12, Paul begins a comparison between the redemptive work of Christ and the condemning action of Adam.

Though it was Eve who first sinned, her head was Adam.

Adam thus carries the responsibility for sin AND sin's introduction to the perfect world created by God.

Those who are born of flesh inherit their sinful nature from Adam.

That means that man is predisposed to sin and therefore commits sin.

Romans 6:23 says that “The wages of sin is death” … Thanatos in Greek, in this instance meaning spiritual death, or separation from God.

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Romans 6:23 NKJV

For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Likewise, the death intended here is spiritual death (just as God promised in Genesis 2:17 with the Hebrew Word Muth meaning murder).

Sin is the cause of physical death and eternal death and Christ is the beginning of life and eternal life.

Paul enumerates this in 1 Corinthians 15:22, “For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive.”

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1 Corinthians 15:22 NKJV

For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive.

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So, sin and death are always together … joined at the hip, bosom buddies.

The plain and obvious point Paul is making here is that the effects of Adam's sin are translated down to his descendants.

The entirety of mankind is fallen with Adam.

But it is not simply because Adam sinned but because every human being after Adam sinned.

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When the Bible says, “All have sinned” the confession encompasses all of mankind … each and every person born into the world has sinned.

EXAMPLE: Nineteen-year-old Mary Sullivan had just moved from Cape Cod to Boston, where she rented an apartment in Beacon Hill. Within a few days of her arrival in January 1964, she was found dead. Her attacker had strangled her to death. She was one of 11 women who was murdered by the Boston Strangler. Albert DeSalvo confessed to the killings, but later recanted his confessions. Nevertheless he spent his life in prison. It was not until after his death that DNA evidence confirmed that he was most certainly guilty.

DNA is the genetic material of life.

Scientific work with DNA has revolutionized our ability to do many things including the ability to demonstrate family connections.

So then, DNA also confirms at a scientific level what Paul had asserted to the philosophers of Athens when he said, as recorded in Acts 17, “[God] has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth” (Acts 17:26).

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Acts 17:26 NKJV

And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings,

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Simply put, we are all connected and we all know it.

The common link for the human race, both physically and spiritually is Adam.

Death is an undeniable empirical reality.

Empirical means it is proven … there can be no denying that everyone is eventually tagged by death.

It’s a game of tag that is the result of disobedience toward God by the rebellious human Adam who chose his way over God's.

And all of us, like him, unconsciously or consciously do the same.

As Paul puts it here in this letter to the Roman church … “there is none righteous, no, not one”

Do not read below:

Romans 3:10 NKJV

As it is written: “There is none righteous, no, not one;

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So we have pretty well considered verse 12, but verse 13 seems to throw a wrench in our understanding.

Adam sinned and physical and spiritual death were the result.

We have all inherited this sin nature from Adam and we have all sinned.

But here’s the wrench … Paul seems to say that while sin was in the world prior to the law, until the law was given sin was not imputed.

Imputed means something is credited or assigned to someone’s account.

But sin was not introduced with the law, rather, as chapter 3 tells us, “By the law is the knowledge of sin.”

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Romans 3:20 NKJV

Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin.

This wrench of a verse seems to imply something we would not expect.

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If sin is not imputed where there is no law, then would we be better off without the law ever having been given?

The answer is … By no means is that the case, … because the law points out how we have missed the mark, how we have sinned.

In chapter 7 we’ll read this:

Romans 7:7 NKJV

What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! On the contrary, I would not have known sin except through the law. For I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said, “You shall not covet.”

So, instead of verse 13 excusing sin that happened prior to the giving of the law, …

… it explains why death reigned even before there was a full consciousness of man's sinfulness brought about by the written law.

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The statement “all sinned” includes those who lived on earth during the period from Adam to Moses before the giving of the written law.

Without definite commandments man is still a sinner because of his rebellion against God's will, God’s way, and God’s Word …

… and that sin is made clear by man’s general manner of life.

Early man, … or those who lived before the law, …

… knew the difference between right and wrong (1) by the declaration of their Creator in nature, (2) in their own nature and (3) by the inner law of reason and conscience.

We talked about the inner law and the outer law back in the first chapter of Romans.

We observed that while the law of Moses may not have yet been given, man did not do right in the light of the powerful witnesses of creation and conscience.

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Some find that there is an age of accountability taught here.

Now, I certainly believe there is enough grace with God that He does not hold the very young who die before they understand right and wrong accountable for sin.

Perhaps it is only when one can comprehend right and wrong that they become accountable before God for their sin.

Yet how many of us have seen our very youngest hide their faces, knowing they have done something wrong?

We cannot delay teaching our children the way of the Lord.

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Paul has already proven that the law does not bring salvation and he uses verse 14 to resolve verse 13.

In verse 14 he states that it is not simply breaking the law that brings death, but it is because we are sinners that we die.

Adam violated an expressed command of God.

Although Adam preceded Moses, through whom the law was given, the effects of his sin are clearly seen in the terrible consequences upon Adam’s descendants.

Since all men from Adam to Moses died even though the law had not yet been given, it must be a repercussion from Adam's direct disobedience to God.

Adam is the head of fallen man.

Christ is the head of redeemed man.

Paul says that Adam is a “type” (typos in Greek) … which means he is a pattern for those who follow Him.

Just as Adam died because of sin, so all who came after him continue to die because of sin.

Adam imparts his fallen nature to those that follow after him, which includes those who know nothing of Adam.

We all have traits of ancestors that we never met … a result of inheriting their DNA.

But Paul says that Adam is a type of Him who is to come … Paul was speaking of Christ.

Adam is a type of Christ in that as Adam imparted death to those who follow after him, so Christ imparts his righteous nature to those that follow after Him.

As Adam was the first of created humanity, so is Christ the first of a new recreated order or a new spiritual humanity.

BODY OF MESSAGE PART 2

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V15-17

This is the next division of our study, … Grace Reigns Through One Man.

In this section, Paul’s analogy between Adam and Christ is completed and he proclaims the reign of grace through One Man.

Paul starts out by distinguishing what each person, Adam and Christ, did … along with the affect of their actions.

The actions of Adam and the actions of Christ are not equal, and the effect of Christ is greater than that of Adam.

One man, Adam, performed one act … and that one act resulted in great consequences for all people.

We were all born into Adam's physical family.

It’s a family line that leads to certain death.

EXAMPLE: If you’ve ever filled out paperwork when going to a new doctor, you find they eventually ask if there is a history of certain diseases or problems in your family line. A person whose father has a history of heart problems might be more susceptible to heart problems. If diabetes is common in the family, then everyone in the line should have some concern or awareness about it.

Well, our great - great - great - great - great - great - great - great - great - great - grandfather had this little problem with sin and death.

That problem has been handed down generation after generation.

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There comes a time when everyone dies from the sin nature inherited from our ancestors.

All of us have harvested the results of Adam's sin.

We have inherited a sinful nature (the tendency to sin), and deserve God's punishment.

Because of Jesus, however,

We can trade condemnation for forgiveness.

We can trade our sin for Jesus' righteousness.

We can trade our WAY OF SIN for Jesus' WAY OF RIGHTEOUSNESS, … because receiving Jesus separates us as belonging to God and begins a process where we are being transformed into the image of Christ.

Colossians 3:10 says you, “have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him,”

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Colossians 3:10 NKJV

and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him,

Christ offers us the opportunity to be born into His spiritual family - the family line that begins with forgiveness and leads to eternal life.

If we do nothing, we have death through Adam; but if we come to God by faith, we have life through Christ.

It’s a changing of sides … Have you changed sides?

Through birth all are related to Adam; through faith "the many" are related to Christ.

Adam's people suffer death.

Christ's enjoy saturation in His grace and eternal life.

This means that those who receive the gift of righteousness in Jesus Christ also receive the gift of eternal life in Him.

So powerful is this reign of grace that it reaches into eternity … and opens it for all people who will come to Christ in faith.

Those born-again by Christ have gained all that was lost in Adam and more … a relationship with God that is greater than that had by Adam.

The believer in Christ becomes the habitation of the Holy Spirit of God, bringing with Him an entirely new life of love, relationship, and service to the Lord.

In Adam death and the way of death reigns.

By being born again into God's forever family we "reign in life."

We reign over sin's power, over Satan's attacks and over death's corruption.

We reign in life now through living in Jesus Christ, the Lord of Life.

No wonder Paul repeatedly talks of the Perisseia or abundance of provisions of grace for all those who leave Adam's lane to follow Christ.

There is the first Adam, and there is the last Adam, the Lord Jesus Christ.

And then there is Adam Ant, and speaking of which, I saw a nice offer on Amazon - if you buy all Adam Ant sheet music, they'll throw in a stand & deliver.

Okay but no … sorry … there is the first Adam, and there is the last Adam, the Lord Jesus Christ.

And one or the other is ruling your life.

The leadership of the first Adam leads to disobedience the leadership of Christ to obedience.The leadership of one to sin the other to righteousness. The first Adam brings death and Jesus Christ brings life.

It is not a question of whether we will submit, only which one we will submit to.

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Either death reigns in your life or life reigns in your life, but not both.

You can follow Christ and allow the effect of Christ's work to defeat the tragic effects of Adam's trespass.

The sin of Adam is canceled by the righteousness of Christ; the curse of the one is overcome by the grace of the other.

The one causes death, the other swallows up death in life, wiping away every tear (Isaiah 25:8).

BODY OF MESSAGE PART 3

V18-19

Our third section is 3. The Results of One Man’s Deed and it contrasts the deed of the one man, Adam with the deed of the One Man, Christ.

There is an abundant provision offered to all those who will come to Christ Jesus to be made righteous.

Verse 19 uses that word disobedience to portray the voluntary nature of Adam's sin … it was a choice.

Adam's act of choosing his way over obedience to God's word in the Garden of Eden is the disobedience by which men were made sinners.

Christ's sacrificial death on the cross for sinners is the obedience by which many are made righteous.

Just as there were two trees in the Garden of Eden, so there is one transgression and one righteous act effecting each of those who are born after them.

The result of Adam's sin (condemnation) is contrasted with the result of Christ's work (justification offered to all).

One brought death, the other brings life.

Disobedience brought death and obedience to God brings righteousness.

The obedient in Christ "will be made righteous."

V20-21

Finally, we close this morning with 4. THE RESULTS OF GRACE in the final few verses of chapter 5.

Verse 20 reminds us that knowing the law results in an increased realization of our sin.

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The Law's purpose was to make sin obvious.

Through the giving of the Law, God laid down a standard of:

(1) That which was pleasing in His sight and

(2) What was displeasing.

This standard made actions definable as right or wrong.

It removed the generalness of sin and added specificity.

Sin abounded because the law brought greater awareness of sin and man’s rebellious nature against God.

But it also highlighted God’s grace, which while sin grew, God’s grace overflowed in it’s great excess.

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Two different Greek words are translated as “abounded” here.

The first has to do with a numerical increase; it tells us that sins really did increase.

But the second means something along the lines of “to overflow” or “to have more than enough.”

No matter how great the amount of sin, God’s grace is sufficient to save.

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As a sinner separated from God you see His law from below and it looks like a rope to be climbed in order to get to God.

Perhaps you have repeatedly tried to climb it, only every time you try to advanced you to fall to the ground because of one small slip.

Maybe you looked up that rope and decided it was too high a climb.

In either case, what relief you should feel to see Jesus offering with open arms to lift you up and to take you directly to God!

Once Jesus lifts you into God's presence, you are free to obey - out of love, not necessity, and through God's power, not your own.

The Bible says that Jesus is, “Able to keep you from stumbling, And to present you faultless Before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy.”

Do not read below:

Jude 24 NKJV

Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, And to present you faultless Before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy,

It is no longer dependent on what we can do, but what He will do.

You know that if you stumble, you will not fall back to the ground.

Instead, you will be caught and held in Christ's loving arms.

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You see, however prevalent, however rampant sin may be, grace can overcome it.

Grace prevails over sin … grace miraculously overwhelms it.

Sometimes I wonder if I can exhaust God’s grace.

I’ll admit it.

I wonder because I need a lot of grace … and more every day.

Do you ever wonder if God’s grace exhaustible?

We make foolish choices and get into trouble. We put ourselves into the place of temptation again and again. We okay things we should condemn. We trust ourselves rather than God.

Can we go too far?

Can we push God beyond His limits?

Well, yes and no.

We can take advantage of His grace so that He will have to chasten us.

He wants us to gain the victory over sinful habits, not just confess them.

Yet His chastening is in His grace.

Someone once said that “Doubting the supply of God's grace is like a sparrow wondering if the sky is big enough for it to fly in, or a fish wondering if the ocean is big enough for it to swim in.”

How full and wonderful is the gift of God's grace!

Ephesians 2 says that we are saved by grace.

In 2 Corinthians, Paul wrote, “He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.”

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2 Corinthians 12:9 NKJV

And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

To know His grace, is to need His grace, is to daily enjoy the benefits of His grace, … and as His children, we learn that God's grace is more than sufficient for our every spiritual need.

If you are faced with a tough situation, He gives strength to endure it.

If we have an opportunity to witness, His grace empowers us to speak out for Him.

If we have an opportunity to serve, He helps us.

If we are tempted, He strengthens us to resist.

If we stumble, He forgives us.

God's purpose in giving grace is so man might triumph over the reign of sin or death by following Christ.

The demand for God's grace will never be greater than His supply!

Conclusion

We watch the news today and are confronted with the horrifying tyranny of sin.

The power of redemption in Christ, however, outstrips the power of destruction that is in sin.

That’s no small hope in a world where nuclear holocaust can reduce whole cities to vapor and ash, … where beheadings and torture are prime time television and where injustice and social decay threaten moral and political anarchy.

James Edwards writes, “God, however, has not consigned the world to its madness.”

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Before Christ, mankind was trapped in a predicament from which there was no escape.

Sin had man in its power and there was no hope.

Into this situation was born Jesus Christ.

By who He is, by what He did, by what He gives, He can enable man to escape from the hopeless domination of sin.

Man is ruined in sin but is rescued in Christ.

EXAMPLE: Near Paris is a place known as THE CATACOMBS. Within these catacombs are the bones of thirty million bodies which have been removed from the cemeteries and carried there. Certain days of the week one is permitted to visit this sepulcher. Each visitor is given a lighted candle and follows the guide down many steps into the catacombs of the dead.

The Word of God is vividly true when it says, “Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned.”

Do not read below:

Romans 5:12 NKJV

Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned—

It’s recorded that while sitting in the room of a well-known Paris hotel near the Catacombs, … a certain physician from New York said, “What a stir there will be in the catacombs when the resurrection trumpet sounds!”

The physician was right.

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There will be TWO times when there will be a stir in the catacombs.

1. There will be a stir when the dead in Christ are recovered and raised from prison house of mortals.

2. There will be ANOTHER stir when, at the close of the thousand years, the wicked dead will be raised to stand before God.

The Bible teaches that there will be a resurrection both of the just and the unjust.

These will be one thousand years apart, but time does not alter the fact.

Indeed there will be a great stir among those bones and this dust, Christ will raise the dead.

The resurrection of Christ is the guarantee of the resurrection of the Christian.

Wherever the head is, there also members must be.

Christ will quicken the believer's mortal body.

Resurrection from the dead is in prospect.

It will be a wonderful stir!

The dead in Christ shall be raised first.

As Paul wrote to the believers in Corinth:

1 Corinthians 15:53 NKJV

For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.

It will be a wonderful stir!

The trumpet of God shall sound!

And the dead shall be raised!

Let’s pray:

Heavenly Father, we thank You for Your love. How immensely thankful we are for Your grace and Your mercies that not only endure forever, but are new with every morning. Your name is holy in our hearts and we pray that Your name would be holy in all the world, to all people and in all nations. We desire Your kingdom and we seek to do Your will. You have provided, and we know that You will continue to provide according to our needs and we thank You. As You love us, teach us to love one another. And as You have forgiven us, help us to forgive one another. Lord, help us to have our treasures in heaven, rather than seeking after our selves here on earth. We ask that You would establish us in all good things. We ask that You would guard our hearts and keep our hands from evil and that You would protect us from the deceptions of our enemy the devil. Thank You for the trials that You graciously see us and grow us through. May You be glorified in our trials. Thank You for being our Great High Priest. Lord, we place ourselves before you to do Your will. Lead us in victory, and use us to spread knowledge of Jesus Christ to the unsaved world.