There is So Much More | Part 2

Can it get any better than walking with God? Listen to today's program, Pastor, Teacher and Author Adrian Rogers began to live in sin. And because we are his offspring, we are identified with Adam in this slavery to sin. But when we follow Jesus and join him in the kingdom of light, we gain so much more through Christ than we ever lost through Adam. If you have your Bible, turn now to Romans chapter 5, as Adrian Rogers concludes a powerful message, there is so much more. Remember, you're in one man, either Adam or Christ. And because you're in Adam or because you're in Christ, you're in the kingdom of death or the kingdom of life. You're in the kingdom of darkness or the kingdom of light. Now, I want you to see this.

Listen, here's the point. Don't miss it. You were in Adam. You got saved and you came into Christ.

Not that one man, but this one man. You came from the kingdom and the reign of death into the kingdom and the reign of life. And when you came out of Adam and you came into Jesus, here's the point and don't miss it. You gained much more in Jesus than you ever lost in Adam.

Don't miss it. You gained much more in Jesus than you ever lost in Adam. That's the reason.

That's the reason. I had rather live in Romans 5 than in the Garden of Eden. I had rather be a saved sinner than an innocent angel. Friend, we have so much more in the Lord Jesus Christ than Adam ever lost. That's the good news of the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Now, let's look at it. First of all, we're going to see, number one, what we lost in Adam. Number two, we're going to see what we gained in Jesus.

Have you got that? Number one, what did we lose in Adam? Number two, what did we gain in Jesus? And you're going to see that we gained so much more in Jesus than we ever lost in Adam. All right, now what did we lose in Adam?

Well, look in verse 6. For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. In Adam, we lost strength and now we display weakness. In Adam, we lost strength. Now, you see, today the sinner is without strength and we're not talking about physical strength. We're not talking about financial strength. We're not talking about intellectual strength. We're talking about moral and spiritual strength. You see, you do not have in Adam what it takes to be what God made you to be. We are just simply without strength.

I mean, don't tell an unsaved man, do right, live right, be good. Folks, he can't. He can't. He is without strength. We lost strength and we display weakness. You are completely, totally without power to live the Christian life in Adam.

Now, here's the second thing you lost in Adam. We lost strength and display weakness. We lost godliness and display wickedness. Look again in this same scripture beginning in verse 6. For when we were yet without strength, Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die, yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. But God commendeth his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. You see, we lost godliness and now we display wickedness.

And the Bible says we're sinners. The word for sin, the Greek word, hermatia, means to miss the mark. Like if you are an archer and you're aiming at the bull's eye. I took a course in archery one time and I had irritated the instructor ahead of time. This was in college.

I thought it was going to be what we call a crip course. He knew what I was up to. They gave me a bow that Samson couldn't pull and I'd never tried before.

I want to tell you, I was on the football team. I thought I was tough. I got that bow and I couldn't pull it and when I finally got it back, it was going all over like this. And then the arrow went... I made a fool of myself.

You see, I didn't have the strength to pull the bow and I never hit the bull's eye. Now the Bible says, this word sin means, it literally means missing the mark. Let me just tell you what the Bible says about sin. You know there are people who are sitting here today thinking you're good folks. I mean, you think if you came and gave your heart to Jesus, you'd be doing God a wild favor. You think that you are good. Most of the people in America are egomaniacs strutting to hell thinking they're too good to be damned.

Did you know that? Now let me tell you what the Bible has to say about our sin and what we lost in Adam. We lost godliness and now we devise wickedness. Let me tell you what sin is.

Let me give you some definition. Number one, sin is the transgression of the law. 1 John 3, verse 4, Whosoever committed sin transgresseth also the law, for sin, sin is the transgression of the law. Now if you have broken one of God's commandments, you're a sinner. If you get stopped for running a red light, you don't tell the policeman, look, let me tell you all the stop signs I did stop at and all the times that I obeyed the speed limit. No, it doesn't matter how much good you've done, you have transgressed the law and if a man is hanging over a cliff by a chain of ten links, how many links in that chain have to break before he falls?

All ten or just one. Whosoever shall keep the whole law and yet offend in one point is guilty of all. Is there anybody here who would say, I have never ever broken God's law? Sin is the transgression of the law. Number two, sin is failure to do good. James 4, verse 17, Therefore to him that knoweth to do good and doeth it not to him it is sin. Is there anybody here who would say, I have always without exception done what I should have done and never left any good undone?

Who can say he's always done good on every occasion? But the Bible says to him that knoweth to do good and doeth it not to him it is sin. And then in Romans chapter 14 in verse 23, the Bible says that whatsoever is not of faith is sin for whatsoever is not of faith is sin. That is, if you do anything, any course of action and you're not certain that it is the right course of action, you did not do it by faith.

For you it was sin. You say, I don't understand that. Well, you know, most of the time when there's something we say, is this right or wrong? You say, well, I'm not sure.

So since I'm not sure, I'll do it. One man was in the back bedroom. His wife was out front talking to a friend and the man was getting dressed. They were going out to dinner. He hollered out to his wife. He said, darling, is this shirt clean enough for me to wear?

She's talking to a friend without hesitation. She said, no. And so he came out in another shirt. He said, how did you know it wasn't clean enough to wear?

You didn't even come back and look. She said, if you had to ask, it wasn't. Now, friend, if it's doubtful, it's dirty. But the Bible says whatsoever is not of faith is sin. And most of us don't give God the benefit of the doubt.

We just go ahead and do it. Here's something that many of us don't realize is sin. Human goodness is sin. Isaiah 64, verse 6, but we are all as an unclean thing and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags. Not our bad things, our righteousness. I mean, the good deeds that you do, the nice things you do, the charity, the love, the kindness. I mean, in the sight of a righteous and a holy God, human goodness is sin.

I've said this many times. The worst form of badness is human goodness when human goodness becomes a substitute for the new birth. You see, we just don't understand what sin is.

And so, think about it. Sin is the transgression of the law. Sin is the failure to do good. What serves not of faith is sin. Human goodness without God is sin.

Why, the Bible even says the thought of foolishness is sin. So, what are we saying? What are we saying? What did we lose in Adam? We lost our strength and display weakness. We lost our godliness and display wickedness.

And then what else we lost in Adam? We lost our peace and we deserve wrath. Look in verses 9 and 10. Much more than being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. Did you know that the Bible teaches that we deserve the wrath of God?

Look in verse 10. For if when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his son. You see, what did we lose in Adam? We lost peace with God. We became enemies of God. And because we're enemies of God, we deserve the wrath of God. Do you know what sin is? Sin is high treason against heaven's king.

Sin is a clenched fist in the face of God. What did we lose in Adam? We lost strength. We lost godliness.

We lost peace. Now what do we have? We have weakness and wickedness and wrath. That's what we have in Adam. And I'm telling you, if you're in Adam, you're going to face the wrath of God.

And I'm not your enemy because I tell you the truth. And don't you let anybody tell you that God is too good to punish sin. God is too good not to punish sin.

God is a holy God. And there is in Adam the weakness we display, the wickedness we devise, and the wrath, the wrath we deserve. Now that's what we lost in Adam. Now I want to show you what we gained in Jesus. I want to show you the much more, friend, the much more. I want to show you that we gained much, very much more in Jesus than we ever lost in Adam. And now we're just turning over and we're going to look at these five much mores.

Five much mores. What did we gain in the Lord Jesus Christ? We saw what we lost in Adam. Now what did we gain in the Lord Jesus? First of all, there is the much more of his redeeming blood. Look in verses 8 and 9. But God commendeth his love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

Much more, then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. Now let me tell you, there are three words that come together at Calvary. These three words deal with God's character. One is the word justice. The other is the word mercy. And the other is the word grace.

Now I want you to think about these as we think of the much more of his redeeming blood. The word justice, the word mercy, and the word grace. Now justice is God giving us what we deserve. A person says, well, I hope I get justice.

Well, if you get justice, you're going to hell because God is a just God and we've all sinned and the wages of sin is death and the soul that sinneth it shall surely die. But justice is God giving us what we deserve. Mercy is God not giving us what we deserve. He just has mercy on us. But grace is God giving us what we don't deserve. It's where God makes us righteous. Three words.

You got them? There it is again. Listen, justice, mercy, and grace. Now all of these come together in the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Listen, because Jesus took our sins, when our sins were laid upon Jesus, God's justice was satisfied. Sin was paid for in that wonderful.

But now wait a minute. When my sins were laid upon Jesus, not only was God's justice satisfied, but God's mercy was shown. Because I deserved it, but God had mercy upon me. But not only was God's justice satisfied and God's mercy shown, when my sin was laid upon the Lord Jesus Christ, grace was given. And I now have become a child of God. I am made righteous in his sight. I am justified by his blood.

Look at it in verse 9. Much more than being now justified by his blood. Friend, we gain so much more than Adam ever lost. Now here's the second much more. First much more, there is the much more of his redeeming blood. Number two, there is the much more of his reconciling death.

Verses 9 and 10 again. Much more than being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. For if when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his son.

Here's the second much more. Much more being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. There is the much more of his reconciling death. Now here's the wonderful part. Jesus gave himself for us that he might give himself to us.

We are now reconciled. Now what's the difference? Well, Adam was an enemy. And so when God came in the midst of the garden, Adam beat it to the bushes to hide.

He tried to cover himself later on with fig leaves. He could not stand the gaze of a holy God. And he separated from God. By the way, it was Adam running from God. God never needs to be reconciled.

We're the ones that are reconciled. And so we have become enemies of God. Now remember, in the Garden of Eden, Adam walked with God. But when you get saved, you don't walk with God. God walks in you. I mean, you are saved by his life. He comes into you.

Listen to it. Look at it again in this passage of Scripture. All right, verse 10. For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.

He lives in us. That's the reason I said I'd rather live in Romans 5 than in the Garden of Eden. Here's the third much more. Isn't this good? Isn't this good?

Listen, here's the third much more. There's the much more of his not only redeeming blood and reconciling death, but his renewing gift. Look, if you will, in verse 15. But not as the offense. So also is the free gift. That is, the free gift is in contrast to the offense. The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life.

Now watch this. For through the offense of one, that is Adam, many be dead, much more the grace of God, now watch this, and the gift of grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many. One man sinned and got us into trouble. One man died on the cross and got us all out and forgave every sin, and it is an absolute sheer gift.

Now, Adam lost and collected wages. Jesus died and gave a gift. The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. This is the much more of God's grace. God doesn't tell us to earn salvation by salvation, deserve salvation.

We cannot. It is the grace of God. Here's the much more of his reigning power. Look, if you will, in verse 17 of this same chapter. For if by one man's offense, death reign by one, much more they which receive the abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness, we just talked about that, shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ. Adam reigned over an earthly dominion before he fell. But, friend, we have a heavenly kingdom.

Adam simply ruled the animals. Friend, we're going to judge angels. I mean, we have a kingdom. We reign with the Lord Jesus Christ, and we don't have to wait until we get to heaven to do it. The Bible says we reign in life right now, not in the sweet by and by, but now we have moved into his kingdom. We are seated with Jesus in the heavenlies.

Adam was never seated in the heavenlies. Adam had a dominion here on earth, and he blew it, and Jesus died, and we got much more when Jesus died. Now, here's the last of these five much mores, and that's the much more of his restoring grace. Look, if you will, in verse 20. Moreover, the law entered that the offense might abound, but where sin abounded, grace did much more abound. Oh, the much more, the much more of his restoring grace. You see, when Adam sinned, a monster was let loose in the land.

A monster. That monster was sin, and that sin abounds and abounds and abounds and abounds until grace came along. And grace says, hold it right there. Where sin did abound, grace did much more abound. God's amazing grace. And if we fall, if we fail, if we stumble, if we fail to call upon the grace of God and fall into sin, he never lets us go. He will cleanse us, forgive us, and restore us.

Those are five much mores. One man, Adam, or Jesus. Two kingdoms, death and life.

A great loss in Adam. And, oh, my sweet friend, so much more in Jesus. That'll make you want to fight a bear with a switch, won't it? I mean, you think about it. Just think about it. It's God's amazing grace, not cheap because Jesus suffered and bled and died, that you might be saved today.

Would you bow your heads in prayer? Now, friend, you could not help being in Adam. You were born in Adam.

You had no control over that, but now is your time of decision. You don't have to stay in Adam. You can be born again. You can be born into the kingdom of heaven. Jesus Christ will be the head of that kingdom, and you can rule and reign with Jesus Christ. If you would like to be saved, pray this prayer after me.

Just pray it out of your heart. Dear God, I need you. I am a sinner. I have lost so much in Adam, but, oh, you want to save me and give me so much more than I ever lost. Jesus, thank you for paying for my sin with your blood on the cross.

I believe you did. I believe God raised you from the dead. You're the Son of God, and now I trust my destiny to you. I receive you into my life as my Lord and Savior, my God and my friend. Because you've saved me, I will follow you all the days of my life. I will not be ashamed of you, my Lord, my Savior.

Amen. And if you've prayed to receive Jesus Christ just now, we want to celebrate with you and invite you to our Discover Jesus page on our website. There you'll find answers you may need about your newfound faith.

There's a response section. You can share your testimony with us or how this message or others have made a difference in your life. Let us hear from you today, especially if you've committed your life to Christ. Go to lwf.org slash radio and click the tab that says Discover Jesus. Welcome to God's forever family.

We can't wait to hear from you today. Now, if you'd like to order a copy of today's message in its entirety, call us at 1-877-LOVEGOD and mention the title, There is So Much More. This message is also part of the insightful series, Foundations for Our Faith, Volume Two.

For that complete collection, all 27 powerful messages, call 877-LOVEGOD or you can order online at lwf.org slash radio or write us at Love Worth Finding, Box 38600, Memphis, Tennessee 38183. Each one of us is either with Adam in the kingdom of death or we are with Christ reigning in the kingdom of life. Choose Jesus today.

There is so much more. And we hope you'll join us next time for more profound truth simply stated by Adrian Rogers right here on Love Worth Finding. A listener wrote on our Facebook wall recently and said this, these messages are filled with solid biblical teaching and spiritual nourishment for hungry souls. I pray blessings upon this ministry. It's a privilege to hear how these teachings have nourished you in your walk with Christ. That's why when you donate to the ministry this month, we want to send you a hard copy of our new resource, Good Morning, Lord. This little book helps you structure your quiet time with a daily practice of studying scripture, praying to the father and giving him glory. Request the book Good Morning, Lord when you call with a gift at 1-877-LOVEGOD, 1-877-568-3463 or you can give online at lwf.org slash radio. And thanks for your generous support of Love Worth Finding.