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The Necessity of Changing Races - Genesis Part 5

So What? / Lon Solomon
The Truth Network Radio
December 16, 2021 7:00 am

The Necessity of Changing Races - Genesis Part 5

So What? / Lon Solomon

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December 16, 2021 7:00 am

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Well, you know his name was Albert Schweitzer. He was born in Germany in 1875 and he won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1952.

He was a brilliant organist and by the age of 21, he had become the world's expert on Johann Sebastian Bach. But at the age of 30, Schweitzer went back to medical school to become a doctor and when in 1913 he graduated, he went directly to French Equatorial Africa, modern day Gabon, and there he opened his first medical mission in an abandoned chicken coop. Over the years, he built a large medical center while he treated tens of thousands of people absolutely free every single year. And whenever the money would run out, Schweitzer would come back and give organ recitals all over Europe, raise money, and then take all of that money back to his clinic in Africa. As a matter of fact, he took the entire $33,000 that he won for the Nobel Prize and used it to start a home for people with leprosy there in Gabon.

He stayed active in Gabon and in his medical mission until 1965 until his death that year at the age of 90. You say, wow, what a guy. I mean, this guy had to be a follower of Jesus Christ.

Well, he wasn't. As a matter of fact, he wrote a book entitled The Quest of the Historical Jesus. And in this book, he says that he could not accept the Jesus and the Christianity that the Bible presents. As a matter of fact, he said in the book, and I quote, the Jesus which the Bible presents never really existed.

End of quote. Now, where is Albert Schweitzer today? You say, well, he's certainly not in hell.

I mean, after all the good things this man did, after all the love he showed and the compassion he showed and the self-sacrifice he showed for others. I mean, when God put that on the scales and weighed it against whatever he might have done bad. I mean, there's no way in the world that God could have possibly seen this man as a sinner and send him to hell. Well, this is exactly what we want to talk about today. Remember, we're in a study verse by verse of the book of Genesis. And today we want to look at Genesis chapter three, where Adam and Eve disobeyed God in the Garden of Eden.

And then we want to bring all of that forward and talk about, OK, so what difference does that make for you and me? So here we go, Genesis chapter three, and we begin at verse one. Now, the serpent was more crafty than any of the animals that the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, Did God really say you shall not eat from any tree of the garden? And the woman said to the serpent, Well, we may eat fruit from the trees of the garden, but from the tree that's in the middle of the garden, God has said you shall not eat from it or touch it or you will surely die.

And the serpent said to the woman, You shall not surely die, for God knows that when you eat of it, your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil. And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eyes and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband Adam with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked, and they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves. And then they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves among the trees of the garden from the presence of the Lord. And the Lord God called to the man and said to him, Where are you? And Adam said, I heard you in the garden and I was afraid because I was naked, so I hid myself. And God said to him, Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree concerning which I commanded you not to eat? And the man said, The woman that you gave me, she gave me from the tree and I ate.

We're not touching that. And then the Lord God said to the woman, What have you done? And the woman said, The serpent deceived me and I ate. Now you say, You know, Lon, you're an educated person, and so you don't really believe this, do you? I mean, you don't really believe that there was a garden and a talking snake and an apple and the two people ate the apple. I mean, you don't really believe this, do you?

Well, friends, I absolutely do believe it. I don't necessarily believe it was a red delicious apple because the Bible simply says it was a fruit. I mean, it could have been a Bartlett pear. I don't really know what the fruit was, but I absolutely do believe that Genesis 3 is giving us historical truth, the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. There's one important thing here that I really want us to notice, and that is that as a result of what Adam and Eve did, their relationship with God was radically altered.

Let's go back. Verse 8 of Genesis 3, And the man and his wife hid themselves among the trees of the garden from the presence of the Lord. Verse 10, And Adam said, I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked, so I hid myself. Hey, folks, Adam and Eve had never run away from God before. Adam and Eve had never been afraid of God before or hid themselves from God before something sinister had happened in their relationship with Almighty God. And you say, Well, Lon, that's too bad. I mean, I feel sorry for them.

Yeah, well, I'm afraid it's not quite that simple. It's a lot more serious than that because of what Adam and Eve did in the garden affects you and me and every other human being alive in a deep and real way. And the Bible explains this to us in great detail in the New Testament in Romans Chapter 5. And I want us to look at that. But just before we do, I want to say to you that what the Bible says here in Romans Chapter 5 is some of the most important spiritual truth you or I will ever learn.

And so I want you to listen very carefully and I want you to put your thinking caps on and I want you to stay with me. Are we ready? All right, here we go. Romans Chapter five, verse 12. Therefore, the Bible says, as by one man sin entered the world.

Who was that? Adam. Right. And death through sin that happened in Genesis three.

We just read about it. So death passed on to all people for all sin. We'll come back to that. For if by one man's trespass, Adam in the garden, death reigned, how much more will eternal life rain in those who receive God's gift of righteousness through Jesus Christ? Therefore, the Bible says, just as one man's trespass, Adam's brought judgment to all men. So one man's act of righteousness, that is, Jesus Christ's death on the cross, brings justification of life. Verse 19 for as by one man's disobedience, Adam in the garden. And just like that made many every member of his race, many were made sinners in God's sight. So also by one man's obedience, that is, Jesus on the cross, many that is everybody in his race will be made righteous in God's sight. You say, Lon, what in the blazes is the Bible talking about here? I mean, I heard all that you just said, but it sounded like to me. I mean, what is going on here?

Well, let's take it apart together. In these verses, God is explaining to us the basis upon which people go to heaven and people go to hell. And what the Bible is telling us in Romans five is that this basis has nothing to do with some sort of cosmic scales where God weighs our good deeds versus our bad deeds. But rather, this basis has everything to do with what spiritual race we're in.

You say, Lon, I still don't get it. OK, listen, Romans five is teaching us that the whole story of the human race can be summed up in terms of two men, Adam and the Lord Jesus Christ. And each one of these men is the head of their own spiritual race. Another way of putting it is that in God's minds, there are only two races of people in this world. There is Adam's race and there is Jesus Christ's race. This is why First Corinthians five twenty two says, for as in Adam race number one, all die. So in Christ race number two, all shall be made alive. And so the Bibles is telling us that every human being alive is a member of a race in the sight of God. They are either in Christ or in Adam. There's only two races and every one of us here today is a member of a race in God's sight. Every one of us here today, God sees us as either being in Adam or in Christ. And my friends, there's nothing in between. And although it's true that God knows every one of us is an individual and that he cares about every one of us is an individual and that he understands every one of us as an individual.

That doesn't change the fact that first and foremost, God sees us as part of a race and he treats us accordingly. Now, are you with me so far? Everybody out there allowed in Prince William Bethesda, you with me? Okay, I heard that. Okay, good. Here we go. So let's go a little deeper, a little deeper. Let's follow the Bible a little farther as members of a spiritual race. The Bible here in Romans five goes on to tell us each of us has a union, a spiritual connection. We're joined at the hip, so to speak, with the head of our race. We call this the doctrine of federal headship. Adam is the federal head of his race. Jesus Christ is the federal head of his race. And Romans five makes it clear that whatever each head did before God, whether it resulted in blessing or in curse, every member of their race gets credited with what they did.

And every member of their race lives with the consequences of what they did as the federal head of that race. You say, Lon, I don't understand this. Yes, you do. You say, no, I don't.

Yes, you do. You say, Lon, I don't understand this. I'm telling you, if you're an American, you understand this.

You go, really? Yeah, because, friends, this is the way our government operates. You know, the kind of government we have here in America is the kind of government where we have a federal head. The president of the United States is the federal head of every American. And what that means is when our president makes a statement, when our president signs a treaty, when our president authorizes a course of action, when our president makes a decision, he does so on behalf of every American and every American lives with the consequences of his actions. Why?

Because he is the federal head of America. You know, a few years ago, Jimmy Carter, your federal head, my federal head at the time, gave away the Panama Canal. Now, I need to tell you that I had nothing to do with that. I didn't agree with that. I didn't think it was a good idea. And to this day, I don't think it was a good idea. But nobody asked me my opinion. Nobody cared about my opinion. The president made that decision as the federal head of America. And whether I like it or not and whether you like it or not, you and I are going to live for the rest of our lives with the consequences of that decision.

Why? Because he is the federal head of America, the president, when he makes the decision, we as Americans live with the results of that decision. Now, do you understand that? Then you understand the doctrine of federal headship. See, I told you, you understood this.

You do. Now, if we understand this, then we understand what the Bible is teaching here in Romans chapter 5. Romans chapter 5 is teaching us that because Adam is the federal head of the human race, whatever he did in the Garden of Eden, whatever blessings Adam earned before God, whatever curses Adam earned before God, every member of the human race inherits and lives with the consequences of Adam's action in the garden, just like the Panama Canal.

And so what did our federal head, Adam, earn for us in the garden? Well, Romans chapter 5 verse 12 says that he earned death for us. Romans chapter 5 verse 18 said he earned God's judgment for us. Romans 5 verse 19 said that he made us all sinners in the sight of Almighty God.

That's what he did. You say, now, wait a minute, Lon. Are you really sure about this? I mean, are you really sure that this race thing is really how God sees us and that I inherited all the stuff that the head of the human race, Adam, did? I mean, is there any other part of the Bible that proves that you're right about this? Oh, yeah.

Oh, yeah. Let's go right back to Romans chapter 5 and I'll show you. Romans chapter 5 verse 12, remember what it said. And so death passed on to all people because all sinned. The Bible says God sees all human beings, every member of Adam's race as a sinner because our federal head is a sinner.

And here's the proof of that, Paul says. Romans 5 verse 14, 4, here's the proof. This is why death existed from the time of Adam to the time of Moses.

For thousands of thousands of years, even though over those who did not sin like Adam did. How did Adam sin? By breaking a direct commandment of God. Friends, between Adam and Moses receiving the Ten Commandments and all the laws on Mount Sinai, the Bible says in that intervening period, there were no formal laws that God gave the whole human race. There were no direct commands God gave the whole human race. No Ten Commandments, no nothing. And so let's follow the Bible's logic here. Stay with me. The Bible's logic is if the only way to become a sinner in God's sight, if the only way to earn the penalty for sin, which is death, is to disobey a law of God, is to break a commandment of God the way Adam did in the Garden of Eden. You with me? Then between Adam and Moses, people couldn't become sinners.

Why? Because there were no direct commands from God to break. There were no laws from God to break.

And therefore, if there was no way to become a sinner by breaking a law of God, there should have been no death because that's the penalty for sin. You all with me? Do you understand? Yes.

Okay. But the Bible says between Adam and Moses, everybody did die. Anyway, in spite of this, which means that there had to be another problem. There had to be another reason why people died. And this reason, this problem is that God regarded every human being born between Adam and Moses as sinners from the moment they were conceived as being under his judgment from the moment they were born.

Why? Because they were members of Adam's race and they were sinners because their federal head was a sinner. Are you with me? So let's summarize what made Albert Schweitzer a sinner in the sight of God, in spite of all the wonderful good deeds that he did. And friends, what makes you and me sinners in the sight of Almighty God? Is it the fact that we've broken God's laws? Nope, even though we all have. Is it the fact that we've all done wrong things and thought evil things and said slanderous things about other people? Nope, even though we all have.

The answer is that what makes us sinners in God's sight from the moment our little lungs take their first little breaths is that we belong to a race whose federal head is a sinner. And you say, OK, Lord, I see that. And now I need to tell you that I am thoroughly depressed. And so I'm so glad I came today so I could leave here utterly discouraged. Well, wait a minute. We're not done.

We're just part way through here. Wait a minute. I got some really good news for you. And the more you understand the bad news, the better the good news is.

All right. The good news is this. The great news of the Bible is that in his mercy, God has created an entirely new spiritual race that you and I can transfer into if we want a new race whose federal head is the risen Lord Jesus Christ. This is why the Bible calls Jesus first Corinthians 15, 45, the second Adam.

Why? Because he's the head of a new race, not the first Adam. We don't want to be in the race with the first Adam.

He didn't do anything but mess things up. We want to be in a race that's headed by the second Adam. OK. And in just like just like the race headed by the first Adam, the race headed by the second Adam, everybody in that race inherits all the blessings that the head of that race has earned before God.

And what are they? Well, Romans five, verse 18 says that Jesus Christ on the cross earned a justification acquittal for sin for us. Romans 5 19 says that on the cross, Jesus made us righteous in the sight of God. Romans 5 21 says that on the cross, Jesus earned eternal life through himself for us.

Are you with me, friends? Listen, this is the dynamic principle that underlies the plan of salvation in the Bible. Let me repeat that. Federal headship is the dynamic principle that underlies God's plan of salvation in Jesus Christ.

Listen carefully. It is not that God in his plan of salvation turns his head the other way and pretends like we haven't sinned. Folks, God is a holy God. God is a just God. God is a righteous God. God can't do this. And God didn't do this. What did he do? Well, what God did is that God birthed us into an entirely new spiritual race where the blood of Jesus covers our sin and where the righteousness of Christ absolves our sin forever.

And you can clap for that. And listen, you remember what Jesus said to old Nicodemus, old Rabbi Nicodemus? He said, Nicodemus, John 3 3, you must be born again. He said, unless a person is born again.

What does that mean? Well, a lot of us say, well, to be born again means to be saved. To be born again means that I get eternal life.

I get to go to heaven. That's true. But why?

Why? Unless a person is born again, meaning unless through faith in Christ, we allow God to birth us into an entirely new race of people with a new federal head, unless that happens, people cannot see the kingdom of God. Do you understand what Jesus is saying now? The bottom line, friends, is that salvation in Christ is all about switching races. It's a race change operation that in His mercy, God performs on every person who's willing to trust what Jesus did for them on the cross. That is the dynamic operational principle that makes the plan of salvation work.

It allows God to say, stay just, and it allows us to go to heaven at the very same time. Praise the Lord. Huh? Pretty cool. Yeah. Now, that's as far as we're going to go in our passage because we're going to stop down, ask our most important question. So are you ready? Loud and Bethesda, Prince William, Internet, you ready? Yeah, good.

I heard that. Okay, here we go. Nice and loud now. Come on.

This is worth shouting about. One, two, three. Yeah, you'll say, Lon, so what? Well, let's ask a question.

All right. Here's our question. Why don't more followers of Jesus Christ share their faith? Simple question. Why don't more of us share our faith?

With our friends, our relatives, our co-workers, our neighbors, our schoolmates. Well, for some people it may be they're scared, and for some people it may be that they're embarrassed, and for some people it may be that we don't feel we're trained enough, but I believe that the number one reason that we don't share our faith more is because we really don't believe to the depths of our heart that apart from faith and Jesus Christ, people are totally, utterly, hopelessly lost and headed for hell for all eternity. So why should I risk my popularity?

Why should I risk my reputation? Why should I risk my chance at promotion or my friendships or my inheritance to give people spiritual information about Jesus that they really don't need anyway? You say, but Lon, today you just established that the Bible's perfectly clear about this, that there's no equivocation.

I know. But friends, we let our human logic get in the way. We say things like, oh, my grandmother, she was the most pious person you've ever met in your life. There's no way that God would have sent her to hell.

My grandfather was the most philanthropic, wonderful man you ever met. Yeah, he didn't trust Christ, but he'd have given you the shirt off his back. There's no way God could have let that man go to hell. And my good friend is such a wonderful, nice, sweet person, there's no way that God could condemn her. And we think like this.

Aren't they nice? And what I'm trying to convince you of from the Bible today is that people can do all these nice things. They can be Albert Schweitzer times two. But as long as people are in Adam's race, none of this makes any difference. And people can believe in Buddha and Mohammed and Confucius and Rabbi Schneerson if they want. But friends, God didn't start a new race with Rabbi Schneerson or Mohammed or Buddha or Confucius.

He started it with Jesus Christ and raised him from the dead to prove that he started it with Jesus Christ. So you can believe in all these people all you want. But folks, you're still in Adam's race, which means that you're still in big trouble. And it's only when we believe this with all of our heart and we see past all of the great things that people do. I'm not denying that Albert Schweitzer did some great things.

But we've got to see past that to the real issue. What race is this man or woman in? And if they're still in Adam's race, we need to tell them about Jesus Christ and give them a fighting chance to get out of Adam's race.

Because if you leave this world in Adam's race, friend, it's going to be a really ugly set of circumstances on the other side. You know, a few years ago, I was visiting my son Justin in Chicago and I couldn't sleep one night. So about three o'clock in the morning, I was up walking around the streets of Chicago.

I had on red champion shorts and a green Krispy Kreme T-shirt and tennis shoes with no socks. And it was 3 a.m. And Justin lives a block from Moody Bible Institute there in Chicago. So I was just walking around. I walked up to Moody. I walked around, I prayed for Moody, and I was sitting at this bus stop out on LaSalle Avenue in front of Moody because I couldn't get to sleep. And three o'clock in the morning, this young man comes walking up with a bunch of books under his arm. He was obviously a student coming from studying. And he walked past me.

I'm the only person on the street sitting there. And I'm sure I look like, you know, a bum. And so he walks about 30 feet past me, stops, turns around, comes back, comes into this little bus stop, you know, a little covered bus stop where I was sitting. Sat down and he said, sir, he said, I'd like to talk to you about Jesus Christ. I said, okay. He said, do you know Jesus Christ in a real and personal way? I said, actually, I do. He said, you do?

I said, yes, actually, I do. I said, I came to Christ 40 years ago in college. And he said, it's been a long 40 years, hasn't it, sir?

And I said, no, no, it hasn't been a long 40 years. No, I said, actually, I'm the pastor of a church. And he said, are you serious? I said, yeah, I honestly am. I'm the pastor of a church.

And I said, I just can't sleep tonight. And so we talked for a few minutes and he left. I don't know whether he ever believed me or not, but he did. But, you know, he was a student at Moody Bible Institute.

And I thought to myself, wow, friend, that's what this is all about. Who takes the risk to come up to some guy in red champions and a Krispy Kreme t-shirt at 3 o'clock in the morning, sitting out on the street of Chicago and share their faith? I'll tell you who. Somebody who really believes that that person sitting there, me, was lost and needed a fight and chance. And the only way to give me a fight and chance was to tell me about Jesus Christ. God bless that kid.

Would to God every Christian in America was like that kid. This is the way you take a city apart is by being like this young man and believing what he believed. And not just believing it, but friends, letting it compel us to take whatever risk we got to take to give people a fight and chance. So I'm going to leave you with a question today.

Here's my question. As a follower of Christ, do you leave your house every day actively looking for, hoping for opportunities to share Christ with every member of Adam's race that you get the opportunity to? I'm not suggesting we'd be obnoxious or force our way into things. I'm saying, Lord, we walk out the house saying, open the door.

Open the door, Lord, and I'll walk through it with the gospel. Do we do that? I know there's a lot of other things going on, but do we walk out every day saying, Lord, give me a chance to share today?

And if we don't, then my second question is, why not? Paul said it, Romans 1 16, for I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God under salvation. It's the power of God that allows us to switch races for everyone who believes.

Let's pray. Lord Jesus, thanks for talking to us today about spiritual truth and thanks for challenging us with the real situation that people face. And it's not about how many good deeds they do.

It's about what race they're in. And so, Lord, help us to understand this biblical truth so deeply and believe it so thoroughly that we're willing to go out and take the risk to share Christ regardless of the cost. Because we really believe that people in Adam's race are hopelessly lost no matter how many good deeds they do. And that only the gospel message gives them a fighting chance to get out of Adam's race. And so, Lord Jesus, make us anxious every day as we leave our homes to be used to share Christ with people. And thank you for the privilege you've given us, Lord, of having the information folks need to switch races. May we be excited about giving it out. And we pray these things in Jesus' name. And what do God's people say? Amen. Amen.
Whisper: medium.en / 2023-06-11 19:14:04 / 2023-06-11 19:25:55 / 12

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