Our Identity | The Old Man "in Adam"

In this episode, we walk through the sobering reality of what it means to be “in Adam” a biblical identity marked by unrighteousness, condemnation, and separation from God.

From Genesis to Romans, Scripture shows that Adam’s fall didn’t just affect him it defined all of humanity by nature. Through one man, sin entered the world, and death passed upon all. In this message, we unpack three major dimensions of that fallen condition: condemnation, abomination, and alienation.

We trace how Scripture describes humanity as under sin, without perfect righteousness, and even as enemies of God. We look at what it means to be servants of sin, dead to righteousness, and walking according to the course of this world. And we examine the sobering truth of spiritual alienation separated from life, hope, and God, belonging by nature to the kingdom of darkness.

But the story does not end in Adam.

The final movement of this message turns to the hope of the gospel: “But now in Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 2:13). What was once condemnation becomes justification. What was abomination becomes sanctification. What was alienation becomes reconciliation. In Christ, there is a new identity new life, new citizenship, and a new standing before God.

Thanks for listening to the Living Faith St. Louis podcast. This episode is part of our weekly sermon ministry from Pastor Blade Sbisa, with occasional guest speakers and special series.
 For more information, visit the LFSTL website.

Transcript

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I think that this is, next to discipleship, the most important topic that the church can discuss. And I just want to confess to you, over the years, as I preach a message, I might tell you every time I open the word, the most important thing we're talking about is what we're talking about right now. And the reason for that is because uh what I mean, what is the word of God if it's just some distant memory of something we learned yesterday? Like God's opening his word. It's a book that's alive and it's wanting to s he's wanting to speak to us. And so I, you know, what's my favorite passage? What's the one I'm looking at? It's the one that God is speaking to me out of, and I need to learn from. And so, more than that, though, I really think so many Christians today do not understand their identity in Christ. I also think they don't understand their identity prior to Christ. And so, because of that, uh misunderstanding of identity, they're they're not as thankful as they ought to be for what Christ has done, and they don't actually live out of everything that's true of the reality of what Christ has done for them. And so this is our topic this morning, our identity, a three-part series, a really brief one as a setup, an introduction to the book of Romans. And specifically this morning, we're gonna spend all of our time, it's gonna be kind of depressing, I'm sorry. We're gonna spend all of our time talking about who we were before Christ. Now, that's only depressing if you don't hear the gospel message at the end of this sermon where I make an invitation to you to come out of this condition. But what I want us all to see is before Jesus, before we put our faith in Jesus, what did the Lord, what does the Bible say was true of us? And I think in understanding this, once again, uh it'll bring great clarity to the scriptures, great clarity to our fallen nature, and great clarity to what the gospel accomplished for us. So much of our identity is misunderstood simply because we don't contextualize the passages we're reading, and we maybe isolate this random verse over here in scripture against another one. Anybody read the Bible and end up confused a little bit? No? Oh, am I the only one? No, everyone's shaking their head. They're like, yeah, you know, the Bible can be confusing. It absolutely can, especially when you can get online and you can hear ten different people read the same verse, and you go, yeah, I think that makes sense to me. And then they all explain in a different way, and you go, well, gosh, I don't know what this thing actually means. And and what it what it means is that I think, I'm convinced, that you can make the Bible say whatever you want if you read it out of context. I mean, you can make the Bible say whatever you want. If if you just isolate that verse, and you then you have your message over here, and you you create this thing that you want to say, and then you go, see, look how the Bible supports the thing I want to say. You know, God forbid, but so many do that. And and I'm at risk of that. You know, I have a great responsibility to stand before God's word and declare the word, not my opinions about the word. And so the way we remain safe in that discovery, if I in my delivery is comparing Scripture with Scripture. We see the full counsel of God's word, and then we we see how the word of God doesn't contradict itself over the pages of Scripture. And so to this morning, I just want to warn you in advance, lots of Bible. Now that's not me apologizing for it. I'm just telling you, there's lots of Bible. You might be bored. I mean, Braden's had like one hour of sleep, and so he's gonna he's gonna fall asleep on me. And uh, I'm not a very funny guy, you know, so I'm not gonna like keep him up by by uh making a bunch of really hilarious jokes. Maybe in time, I'll learn from my wife. This is the first time Gabby's been with us in the sanctuary since we started meeting because she's been caring for the kids, and so I'm just grateful for uh just this little step forward. Uh Kelsey's watching the the boys, and so I'm I'm really thankful for that. Pray for our sons that they do well with her. Um, Gabs, it's good to see you in the sanctuary. Three major aspects of our salvation. A question that uh a Christian has to ask, and what a lost person or a sinner must ask, is what does it mean for me to be saved? Have you ever heard in like Christianese, like you need to be saved? You go, saved from what? What does that mean? Salvation. Well, that's what I want to talk about with our identity in Christ. There are three major aspects of salvation, and those three aspects are justification, sanctification, and glorification. Now, those are some big Christian words, and you've probably heard them. Maybe you can even place them in your mind or in the scripture, you know what they mean. I'm hopeful out of this really short series, this identity series, that we can do three things. Define those words. We know what they mean according to the scripture. We can spot the doctrines surrounding those words. Again, justification, sanctification, glorification. We know what they mean. We know the other things that surround those doctrines, and then we accept, this is the most important part, by faith, we accept the reality that those doctrines give us in Christ. It's one thing to acknowledge the truth of God's word. It's another thing to understand what God is telling us. It's a whole nother thing to believe it and receive that truth as if it is reality. And that's that's so much the issue for the Christian. It is receiving the reality of what Christ has done for us, not the knowledge of what he's done. So, uh, for those reasons and many others, I want to talk to you about our identity. Our identity. Furthermore, knowing and accepting our new identity in Jesus will give us tons of things. It will give us justification, sanctification, and glorification. But in that, what it means is that in receiving Christ and understanding your identity, believing it, you are freed and your soul from anxiety and depression and fear. You're given a reason to thank God. You ever wake up and think, man, I don't really know why I'm thankful today? You're given a reason to thank God. In understanding these concepts, your mind is put at ease. It keeps you from living a life under the bondage of fear again to judgment. It motivates you to share the good news with others. It helps you to acknowledge how gracious God's been and to live out of that grace. It motivates you to then live according to your calling and your purpose in Christ Jesus. It reminds you that your flesh is not saved. And understanding your identity in Jesus, you're brought to the place where you remember that Jesus, when he died on the cross, did not save you from your flesh. Well, he kind of did. He gave you a new identity separate from it, but you're still left in a body of death. And in some way, that should relieve you. And in understanding these concepts, you should be relieved. And you should have the confidence to know that you will be accepted by the Lord Jesus. Oh, and and besides this, 10,000 other benefits that set beside. The gospel has accomplished so much. And yet, so often we just forget, or maybe we were never taught well, or or maybe we have all the knowledge we need. It's just not put together in a way that's easily digestible. And so when we go to try to understand it ourselves or communicate it to others, it just kind of feels like a bunch of jumbled verses. Is that anyone? I know exactly what I believe. I even know why I believe it. I just would do a terrible job at communicating all of those realities. I mean, yeah, me too. And I I feel like the way the content's going to be presented will give you a clean way and clean and a simple understanding of these, honestly, pretty profound and complex doctrines. Brothers and sisters, our identity in Jesus is everything. It is everything. I mean, out of our identity in Christ flows our spiritual life and everything to come. And this is what I want to share with you this morning, and that is that the main issue for us, this is where we're headed, by the way. I must have skipped some stuff. We're talking this morning about being in Christ, our old nature, then we're talking about our new nature, what it means to be in uh, I'm sorry, in Adam in Christ, and then lastly the operation of God. But this is the key thought I want to give you this morning, and that is that the main issue for all of us is less about activity and much more about a matter of identity. Most of the problems that come out or stem out of the Christian life are completely related to our identity, and it is there. If we can get that thing figured out, we can understand what God says about us, about our nature, and what he's done for us and what he's given us in Christ, then out of that new identity, upon believing it, will flow the righteous life that God intends us to live. Not the other way around. The Christian isn't to get all of their activities right and then, oh, now I've discovered who Christ wants me to be. That is not the order that God wants you to think about your identity. If I'm finally a good enough person, then Christ will accept me. That is backwards. That is not the gospel. The gospel is I understand everything God has done and everything he's made me, and then based on that truth and that reality of his sufficient work and everything he gave accomplished for me and gave me, now I live. I live freely, I live accepted, I lived loved, I live blood, I live forgiven, I live new, on and on. And we're going to talk about these concepts. It's very, very important. Furthermore, if we understand what Jesus has done, what he has accomplished, and what that now means, and more importantly, we believe his words to the extent that it is received as the truth, right actions will follow. So many today don't want to agree with God according to his truth, and and I'm I think I'm speaking to the choir in this room. But but many people, even in the church, it's crept in so subtly and slowly through philosophy and vain deceits, through people who flatter with their words and give fair speeches. What has crept in is a rejection of God's word and an acceptance of what seems right, what feels right, what makes sense, what the culture's giving me, what I can logically work through. Here's the problem the Bible says your natural mind is at enmity with God. The way that you naturally reason according to your old identity is actually against the things of God. And so, unless God teaches you a different way to think that's contrary to the way that you want to think, you will not live out of the identity that He wants you to live out of. Does that all make sense? I really hope that makes sense. Why? Because if you don't get your mind renewed according to what God thinks, against what you think, then you'll end up being just like that Laodicean church in Revelation 3, and I will be too. This church in Laodicea, you know, of Laodicea is told to be, you know, rich and increased with goods, and they think they have need of nothing, but in reality they're wretched and they're poor and they're miserable. I mean, that is the West, especially. The American church is just filled with riches and goods, and we say we don't need anything. We're the people that need to go to the world. And while that's true, we are in desperate need of the Lord. We are in desperate need of the Lord, and we should be in poor, you know, poor in spirit before him, saying, Lord, have mercy on me. The word Laodicea literally translates to rights of the people, the people's rights. What I deserve about it's the Christian life about me, how I want it to be lived out. You know, the Jesus that kind of makes sense with the convictions I already have, I'm going to believe in him. How can I make the Bible fit my worldview that I've already predetermined? God forbid. But how many of us even have done that? And we need the Lord to illuminate us to the truth so that we're not operating on our own relative truth. You know, Jonah. You guys remember the prophet Jonah in the Old Testament? Jonah was a man, he was a prophet of God called to go to preach to Nineveh, the enemies of Israel. And it says that upon hearing the word of God, Jonah rose up and went the opposite direction. He flee from the word of God. He went down in the ship and he slept there, and you know, it gets a new name. He's called O sleeper rather than dove. Jonah's name means dove. But Jonah's father's name, Amitai, means my truth. And so here it is. Jonah, the son of a man whose name means my truth. My truth. My relative truth. The son of relative truth. That's the culture we live in. Can you hear the point? Christians that are called to be missionaries throughout the world, who are sons, who are daughters of a culture that says, my truth, my opinion, that's what matters most. My my authentic true self, that's what I need to discover. My self-expression. You can't tell me who I'm not. No, actually, I can't, but God can. Right? Can't can't God overturn everything we think we are? Most certainly. And so this study is me asking you, who do you think you are? And not in like a condescending way. Who do you think you are? When you think about yourself, when you meditate on what it means to be human, what what what when you meditate on what it means to be a Christian, what do you think? Man, God's been really good to me, I'm kind of messed up. Well, that's not a Christian idea. You know, God's been awesome, he's awesome, but I'm just a a dirty, rotten sinner. That's that's also not Bible. You know, God's just loved me so well, but man, I've I've just been in a bad, you know, mood recently or depressed, and I'm ashamed of who I am and who I God's probably upset at me. He probably hates my guts. Like, I need to get right with him. That's also not a biblical idea. And you can see how quickly our ideas press up against the truth of what God says about us. Today, kids say things like, My parents don't have the right to shape who I am. Or parents, mothers and fathers, saying, We will raise our kids to discover their true authentic self rather than imposing some belief system on them. We will let them choose for themselves how they want to identify and what they want to know and how they want to learn and what their interests should be. And that's great. Yeah, you should give your kids liberty to a certain extent so that you don't impose some system or some thing that you think is so important, like you're a baseball fan, and so your kids have to play baseball. Yeah, God forbid. But when it comes to the truth of God's word and the responsibility I have as a father, I ought to be raising my children up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. That's a biblical command to me as a father. I don't get to just say, Zayd and Vaniah, do whatever you want. First off, that would be wild and a horrible decision. Um, they're one and two, you know, that'd just be awful. It's not only though kids and mothers and fathers, it's also leaders in the church. Leaders have replaced theological terms with therapeutic ones. And as a result, people end up choosing what feels best rather than choosing what God said. We say things like th we say things like, people are broken because of the traumas they have experienced, rather than saying people are sinners and they've lived a life with traumas that have been inflicted on them by other sinners. But we swapped those words, sinner and broken. Because broken feels better, and it makes us feel like a victim. But in the Christian life and experience, you are not a victim. You have more victory than you would ever realize in Jesus Christ. And so it's the leaders in the church, too, right? We all have to come to the Word and see what God says. See, without the Word, we don't know what it means to be human, and as a result, we do not understand our inerrant, God-given value. You are valuable because God made you, He loved you, He created you in His image, He lived a perfect and sinless life. He stood in your place of judgment, and He died for you. And now He's offering forgiveness of sins based on that message. If you don't read the Bible, you don't know that. You only have stories in your head that you tell yourself. Without the Bible, we cannot understand ourselves. And it is to no surprise then that so many people are left confused and hurt trying to navigate a broken, sinful world, attempting to solve their problems from the same place they were created in. The flesh. Anybody ever feel broken in life? Like like sinful before living living in holy God? I most certainly have. Often. How am I gonna solve that problem? Well, I can't solve it from the same place that it was created from. The issue, me. I'm the issue. And that's what I want to initially talk to you about this morning, is the fact that if we don't have an identity in Christ, we're gonna go find an identity in something else. We don't have an option. Like the human experience, left with the vacuum of not having God define the terms, puts us in the position of authority to say, What do I think I need to be in this world? Well, maybe I'll be somebody great. Or maybe you don't tend to confidence, you tend to pity, and and you think, man, I'm just a loser. God forbid any any of these thoughts. God wants to enter into your life with the truth of his word and say, No, you're free and you're forgiven, and you have a great and eternal purpose with me. Summarizing kind of what I've said, this is what I want to share with you. When you choose to forget God, you forfeit reality and form an identity based on a lie. And that's exactly that's exactly what happens to Jonah. In Jonah chapter 2, there's a verse, I think it's verse 8. Jonah chapter 2 and verse 8, it says, They that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy. They that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy. God wants to give you and I, this world, mercy, but because we're not willing to receive the mercy according to his word and his truth, we go observing lies to try to figure out who we are, and in the process we forfeit the salvation that God wants to give us according to his word. First Corinthians chapter two and verse fourteen, it says, But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto him, neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. The natural mind doesn't want the things of the Spirit of God because they are foolishness to him. I just want to tell you if you're willing to forfeit your earthly wisdom, your human wisdom, and you're willing to press it up against the wisdom of Almighty God, you will find a life filled with joy and pleasures forevermore. Moreover, because the fleshly mind is at enmity with God, our identity is to often, our temptation is to often create false identities in every present and endless time. For example, for those who choose to forget God and create a false identity, they often run to a career or a job. So rather than first identifying in their human experience as a child of God, they say, Well, I'm like for me, I was a home builder before the ministry. I'm a home builder. Or today, I'm a pastor. That's who I am. No, that's what I do. I do the work of pastoring. But who I am is a son of God. Given power to become a son of God. That's who I am. See the difference? For many, it's not a job or career, it's being a mother. I mean, isn't a mother being a wonderful thing? It is. It's just not your identity alone. It's not everything that you are, it's an amazing and significant and wonderful part of who you are. I mean, really, one of the most precious aspects and identities you could take on. In this life. But it's not who God wants you to first see yourself as. You know, you could be an amazing mother and still lost in your sin. Some people don't find their identity in their career. They find it in social justice or goodwill. I'm a good person. I'm a volunteer. I serve in my community. You ever meet somebody like that? You ask them, you start engaging them on a spiritual level. They're like, I'm, I, I give to the homeless. I work at soup kitchens. I and it's it's really them expressing to you that their identity, as they've defined it, is about being a quote-unquote good person. The problem is the Bible says there's none good, no, not one. There's only one that's good, Jesus said. God. Him. Some don't run to social justice, they run to environmental protection and preservation. You know, they're they're the people that spend their whole life building an identity around preserving this earth. It's like that that's fine. That's a good thing, isn't it? It's a good thing. I mean, we should re-recycle and take care of the thing that God's called us to steward 100%. It's just not your identity before the living God. Some make their identity around body image, and they spend most of their time thinking about what they look like. Some people become fitness fanatics, other people are insecure about being overweight, and yet their whole existence is about them and how they look and how they feel. They've built an identity around their flesh, a temporal thing rather than a spiritual thing. Others find their security and their identity in material possessions, living above their means, purchasing cars they shouldn't own, clothes they they can't afford, homes they can't buy, and yet they try and they they get indebted to things, believing that if they could just obtain this material possession that would satisfy everything that they need to be as a person. It won't. Why? Because God is trying to identify with us on a spiritual level. And until we humble ourselves before Him, we're never gonna receive the life that He wants to give. The list could go on and on and on. So many different identities that we could take on in this life. It's really endless. What about you? How do you typically identify? I'm a grandmother, I'm a student, I'm a son, I'm an employee, I'm a Bible says that in in 2 Timothy chapter 2 that we have to war good warfare as good soldiers in Jesus Christ, not entangling ourselves with the affairs of this life that we may know how to serve and please our master. Okay, so yes, you and I have to engage in this world. We've got to be working for most of our life. You know, we we get the privilege of having families and being grandmothers and Lord willing in time a grandfather, which is a crazy thought, and you know, a good employee, and on and on and on. But we have to make sure that in engaging in those things, we never become entangled by them or allow them to choke out the spiritual life God wants us to have. They're good things. Be a good steward of the gifts and the intellect, the skills that God's given you. Just make sure they never choke out the spiritual life God wants for you. I told you there's a lot of Bible. I promise there is, it's just at the end of this message. We haven't even got to 1 Corinthians 15. Is that bad? It's bad. That's bad. We got a lot of Bible to talk about. Romans chapter 8. Before we get there, though, I want to share this verse with you, and I want to call your attention to the end of this verse. It says, starting in verse 6, for to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace, because the carnal mind is enmity against God, for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. Your natural amount your natural mind cannot agree with the thing that's righteous. It cannot. It's against it. The law of God is holy, just, and pure, and your mind will not be subject to that law. Neither indeed can be. Verse 8, so then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. This phrase in the flesh leads us to another description or moniker that the Bible gives us to describe our old identity, and that is being in Adam. Being in Adam. And so this is the verse that's on your handout or on the bulletin on the back at the top, and the one that's setting over our study on identity. And it says this in 1 Corinthians 15, 22, for as an Adam all die. Even so in Christ shall all be made alive. Are you in Christ? These phrases in Adam and in Christ describe to us two types of people that are in the world. Those that are either still identifying with their natural physical birth, or those that are identifying with a new spiritual birth. John said to uh Jesus said to Nicodemus in John chapter 3, ye must be born again. If you want to see or you want to enter the kingdom of God, ye must be born again. That's what I want to talk to you about in our identity in Christ series. To be in Adam before God means that you're identifying with God in an unrighteous state. That's what I want you to first see, an unrighteous state. You are an offense towards God as a sinner. Versus being in Christ, which the Bible says, upon being brought into Christ, you are now made righteous, and you are able to be pleasing to God. You know, the verse right before this, right? Said, they that are in the flesh cannot please God. But if you are righteous, you're finally able to please God with your life. So I want you to consider on this sheet three major components of what it means to be an Adam. First, the Bible says that to be an Adam means that you are condemned before God. Secondly, to be an Adam means that you are an abomination to God. I know this is strong language. I know. But the message of the gospel relieves it all if you're willing to hear it. The third major aspect or component of being an Adam is that you are alienated from God. You're alienated from God. And so, to begin, I want to just first talk to you about this offensive identification of unrighteousness before God. In Genesis chapter 1 and verse 27, it says, So God created man in his own image. In the image of God created he him, male and female created he them. Adam and Eve were made in the image of God. What a beautiful thing. What an amazing privilege. What an exceptional thing to dwell on and consider, knowing that you are a distinct creation from all of the other mammals. Radically distinct. The only thing God ever made in his image, above the angels, above all the other angel. I mean, you are precious because you are made in the image of God. But this is what God told Adam. It says, and the Lord commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat, the first command in your Bible, freely do something. That's an amazing thing. God commanding you to do something freely. I want you to be free. That's God's heart from the first page of the scriptures. But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil thou shalt not eat of it, for in the day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die. Death. Death enters the scene. Why? Because Adam ends up taking of that fruit in Genesis chapter 3. And by Genesis chapter 5, this is what the text reveals to us. Male and female created he them, and blessed them and called their name Adam. In the day when they were created. Verse 3. And Adam lived in a hundred and thirty years and begat a son, listen, in his own likeness, after his image, and called his name Seth. Now in Genesis chapter 8, upon, or I think it's actually nine, when Noah ends up leaving the Ark, there's a command given to not murder people because they're made in the image of God. The point I want to make to you is that while the image of God is not lost when sin enters the world, what does happen is it becomes latent. It becomes like a seed buried in the ground. It becomes hidden. There's something that ends up becoming corrupted, that's dead in the earth because of sin. And we learn about this doctrine in the New Testament as the Bible defines terms for us and speaks to us of Adam. Romans chapter 5 and verse 12, it says, Wherefore, as by one man, Adam, in context, sin entered into the world. And death by sin, and so death passed upon some people who were really bad, a couple people who were, you know, horrible people in this world, the Hitlers of the world, the Mussolinis. No, it's passed upon all men for that all have sinned. The reality is, because of Adam's sin, death has now been passed upon us by our physical birth. That's why you and I are sinners. And that's something that kind of blew my mind when I first opened the scriptures and began to understand my condition before God when I was 19. I thought being a sinner was connected with all the things I didn't do right and all the things I was doing wrong. And if I could just get my life right and I could just clean it up enough, maybe you know I could be a Christian. That was my attitude. I didn't understand that to be a sinner was to be bound to a fl a body of death. I didn't understand that being a sinner was something I was by nature, not by activity, not by identity. And it was actually in understanding that, that my world was illuminated and honestly liberated, and understanding that there was nothing I could do to be right with God, I finally was at peace knowing that God must have done something for me to give me an opportunity to know him. It's a strange thing to receive. I'm broken and I can't do anything, and God knows that about me. So what has he done? Well, he gave his son, he gave you his life that you could have it and live out of it. This identification to be unrighteous before God makes you condemned before God. Romans chapter 1 and verse 18, it says, For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and all and unrighteousness of men who hold the truth and unrighteousness. Condemnation before God. Again, three major aspects of being in Adam. The first major identification that we have as kind of this overarching thought is that we are unrighteous. And what that means is because we are unrighteous, we are condemned before God. We are condemned before God. Now, by the end of our three-part series, this is the clean version of what I want to express to you. This morning, this is what we're talking about. The three major aspects of what it means to be in Adam. But this is what the gospel gets you. It takes every condition and every identity that you had in Adam and it makes it new in Christ. And that's what we're going to talk about next week. And there's something that God does here that we need to talk about. We need to talk about how do I get from being in Adam to being in Christ? What does God do? What's the operation of God that gets done to move me from this permanent natural identity to a spiritual one in Jesus? Right now, this represents unrighteousness. This represents righteousness. For he who knew no sin became sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. 2 Corinthians chapter 5 and verse 21. Right now we're talking about one major aspect of your unrighteousness: condemnation. Because you're unrighteous, a holy God must condemn sin. And that's what we learn in Romans chapter 5 and verse 16, it says, And not as it was by one that sinned, Adam, so is the gift. For the judgment was by one, Adam, to condemnation, but the free gift is of many offenses unto justification. You see? Because of your unrighteousness, because of sin, you are condemned before God, but because of the free gift of the Lord Jesus Christ, you can be justified. This is what I want to show you over and over again in the scriptures. First, though, this first per point, you're condemned. And there are three major aspects of your condemnation. Romans chapter 5 and verse 18, it says, Therefore, as by the offense of one, judgment came upon all men to condemnation. You're condemned. You're like the criminal in the courtroom who can't get out, condemned before God. Even so, by the righteousness of one, Jesus, the free gift came upon all men. Remember, all had sin, but now because of Jesus, the free gift is being offered to all men unto justification of life. The first major aspect of our condemnation is that we are under sin. By nature, in our identity, we're under sin. Romans chapter 3 and verse 9, it says, What then? Are we better than they? Are we better than they as Christians than those that don't know Christ? No, and in no eyes. For we have before proved, both Jews and Gentiles, that they are, here's the phrase, all under sin. Everyone, everyone who doesn't know Jesus Christ and has put their faith in him, the Bible says is condemned because they are under sin. But secondly, but secondly, they're not only under sin, they have no perfect righteousness. And your blank here in the handout is only relative righteousness. They have no perfect righteousness, only relative is your blank, only relative righteousness. What do I mean by this? Before you are a Christian and before you receive the gospel, what you have is a feeling that you're better than most people in the world. And so you think, God can't condemn me because, you know, it's not like I've done all the all of these heinous acts. Like, I know that I'm not perfect, but I'm I'm better than most people. And the way in which you view righteousness is based upon your relative righteousness to your neighbor, the next person in the city. You know, there's some horrible people in the city, I'm not that bad. So maybe God will save me. Here's the problem: God isn't going to judge us before his throne on the basis of whether or not we were better than most people or not. We're going to be judged on the basis of our righteousness against his. Romans chapter 3 and verse 10, it says, as it is written, there is none righteous, no, not one. There's not a single person righteous, and that's the problem. It's not I'm a little bit better than you, and so God's going to cut, you know, 51% of the people to hell, and 49% go to heaven. That's not how it rolls. Better than most people isn't even language in God's economy. I'm a pretty good person. God knows that no one's perfect. It's not like I'm going around murdering people. I'm not an axe murderer, God. Well, it's like that's well, that's not the standard. God's not sending people to heaven because they shut up to church every Sunday. Because they played the Christian part. God only accepts those who have come under the covering of his son and received his righteousness. What is the main issue with this way of thinking, this relative righteousness that so many people position, that so many people conjure up to make sense of God's justice? What it does is it lowers God's standard. It takes his holiness and his righteousness and brings it down to an obtainable level. It's a belittling of God. Or they leave God really high and they just think way too highly of themselves. They know God is holy and righteous, and they think God will accept me because I'm an awesome and pure person. It's like you just have such a small view of righteousness if that's the case. Okay, so Romans chapter 2 and verses 1 through 6. It says, Therefore thou art inexcusable. This is what we're going to hop into in the book of Romans. Paul spends three chapters trying to convince people that they are condemned before God. They're condemned before God. And he gives a list of five excuses people end up making. And this is his point in the top of two. You're inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest, for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself. And so his point is there are people in this world who reject the judgment of God, saying, Well, God can't judge me because I'm better than so-and-so. God tells that individual, that hypothetical individual, if you do that, you're actually going to condemn yourself because as you go judging someone else, you're declaring to God, I have a standard of righteousness. And God says, even by your own judgment, you will fall short. So your own judgment against other people, like that guy shouldn't have talked behind my back. You know what God's going to say? You're exactly right. He shouldn't have talked behind your back. And you know what you did a few years ago? Talk behind somebody's back. You're condemned. Not by my standard, but by your own. You don't want to come under my law? Fine. I'll put you under your own righteous standard. Oh no. Condemned before God. I mean, it's a scary moment to think like every person is going to have their mouth stopped before the living God. For thou that judgest doest the same things. There's the point. But we are sure that the judgment of God is according to the truth against them which commit such things. And thinkest thou this, O man, that thou judgest them which do such things and doest the same, that thou shalt escape the judgment of God. You judge other people, but then you end up doing the same thing that you disagree with. God's like, You think you're going to escape? No. And the point here in Paul, and we'll talk about it in Romans, but the point Paul is trying to make to the Roman church is for three chapters, he's just trying to convince them, hey, you need Jesus. That's his only point. He's trying to help them get lost, trying to help them see their condemned so that they'll receive the gift of life and not trust in their own righteousness, righteousnesses. The third part of our condemnation before God is that we are enemies of God. The Bible says first, uh, I think actually I just skipped a verse. The Bible says first that uh we are ungodly. We're without strength, and it's skipping ahead. And uh and that's in Romans 5 in verse 8. Oh no, in verse 6. We are yet without strength, but in due time Christ died for the ungodly. My point here is that Jesus died for you not when you were a good person. Jesus died for you when you weren't able, when you were without strength and ungodly before him. And Paul would go on just two verses later and describe that ungodliness as being an enemy of God. 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. Yes, I read that right. Enemies of God. Okay, the second part, the second major part of our identity in Adam is that we are an abomination to God. Titus chapter 1 and verses 15 through 16, it says, Unto the pure all things are pure, but unto them that are defiled, if you were to look at the book of Leviticus, you would find that abominable things are defiled, and unbelieving is nothing pure, but even their mind and their conscience is defiled. They profess that they know God, but in their works they deny him being abominable and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate. So there's a group of people who profess that they are right with God, but they end up living a life that's abominable before God. So even the things they offer. To God in their condition in Adam aren't accepted. Even if they're good, even if they're right motions of religious activity, God says, I can't accept them because they're coming from the flesh. They're not, those good deeds are not being produced from my grace and my righteousness. They're being produced from striving and fleshly motivations. The first major aspect of being an abomination before God is that we are a servant of sin. Before Christ, before becoming a Christian, all you can do is serve sin. Even in good deeds, because you haven't come under the grace of Christ, you end up serving yourself. You're not actually serving God because your righteous acts are an attempt to try to get out of the adjudgment of God. You're looking for an excuse. God can't judge me because I'm a good person, and so I'm going to do a bunch of good things and care for people, and in my good intentions and doing that, it's actually about me trying to feel better. That I'm not going to be condemned before God. And so that ends up becoming an abomination to God. An abomination. We're servants to sin. Romans chapter 6 and verse 17, it says, But God be thanked that ye were the servants of sin. Sin was your master. You were in the bondage of sin. It's all you could do. Even your good deeds ended up serving sin. For ye have not, I'm sorry, for ye have obeyed from the heart the form of sound doctrine which was delivered to you. Three verses later, for when ye were the servants of sin, ye were freed from righteousness. And Adam, you didn't actually have, you know, the law of God or the righteousness telling telling you what to do, so you just freely did what made sense to you. And you were free from knowing the law of God. The problem is when the law comes in and God's righteous standard comes in and you begin to learn about God, your life becomes condemned. Because you were free when you were serving sin. But when Jesus becomes your master, your Lord, and you decide, I want, I want Jesus to call the shots, you know, you end up becoming abominable if you're not right with him. The second piece of our being an abomination before God in Adam is that we're dead to perfect righteousness. Okay, so the last section, I talked about how we have only relative righteousness in Adam. But the second blank is that we have no functional, we have no functional righteousness. And I know this is a weird concept, it's one that we'll we'll unpack in the book of Romans. But being an abomination to God is resolved through our sanctification, through our sanctification. Okay, so these words I know don't make sense right now. But what I want to express to you is that we had no functional life unto Jesus. When we're justified before God, this is God saying, I see you differently, I see you differently. The way that I'm ministering my justice is going to be on the basis of whether or not you've received my son. Have you come under the atoning blood? But in our sanctification, what we have to learn is that what Christ offers is actually a functional opportunity to bear fruit unto righteousness rather than death. Sorry, that's that was the verse we were just looking at. For sake of time, let me go. Let me just read it. Romans chapter 6 and verse 21, it says, What fruit had ye in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. This is in times past before knowing Christ. And then in Romans chapter 7, the next chapter and verse 5, it says, For when we were in the flesh, in Adam, the motions of sins, the motions of sins, which were by the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death. The members of our body, the members of our flesh. I know this is a strange verse. It's why we need to spend a lot of time in Romans to unpack it. But my point to you is this when we were in Adam or in the flesh, we were doing certain things, our body was going through the right motions, but because of the law, there was something that was working in our members, our body, that was bringing forth death. I know that's a strange verse, but it's an important one to understand because the next chapter would go on to tell you in verse 8, so then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. That's how we we started our time. God wants to give us a new identity, not in the flesh or in Adam, but in Christ. But the Bible says when you have that new identity in Jesus, you can still live after the flesh. So the language is really important in the scriptures. It's a different thing to be in the flesh versus to be in Christ living after the flesh. This is where many Christians find themselves. They do have a new identity in Jesus, they've been born again, but they live according to their old nature because they never got their mind renewed according to the scriptures to help them understand what God accomplished for them. And because of that, they operate under the law rather than under grace. Can we look at a verse? Romans chapter, uh it's not in my PowerPoint. Romans chapter six and verse fifteen. Romans chapter six and verse fifteen, it says, or verse fourteen, for sin shall not have dominion over you, for ye are not under the law, but under grace. So many people understand that grace is something that they need for their salvation, but they don't understand how to live out of grace. And so they're under sin. They go back and they live under that old system. Right now they're under grace, but they live after this old system, being in Adam. It's like you don't, your identity is under grace, but you live as if you're under the law and you're a servant to sin. This is what we have to really understand. And maybe this is simple, maybe this stuff, I hope this isn't too simple and it's also not confusing. There's like that middle ground. I understand all the Bible being thrown can can be confusing, but I also pray it's just not boring you to death because in what we're talking about is profound truths that will radically change your Christian experience if you can understand them and believe them, living as if they're a reality in your life. Being an abomination before God means we're a servant to sin, we're dead to perfect righteousness, and we fought we have followed the course of this world. Oh man, I keep skipping forward. We followed the course of this world. Ephesians chapter 2, it speaks of that identity that we had before knowing Jesus. It says, And ye and you hath he quickened who were dead. That was something that was true of you. You think, no, death is something that hasn't happened to me yet. Well, that's true too. Your body is gonna die in a day to come. But that's different than what the Bible declares. The Bible says you can be spiritually dead in your trespasses and sins, wherein, the Bible says, in times past, if you're a Christian, you walked in Adam according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air. That's Satan, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience. You walked according to his way. You walked according to the course of this evil world. You followed its philosophies, you followed culture, and ultimately you follow the thing that Satan set out to corrupt the thing and the plan that God had from the beginning. There's a course that he wants us to walk, and in our natural state, we agree with it. We say, oh, these are great philosophical ideas. I think I want to follow this worldview. It makes sense to me. Well, it's easy to believe those things because your flesh agrees with them. But God is trying to get you renewed. He's trying to get you a new mind. So again, three not only major aspects of your abomination, but now I want to talk to you about this third component of being unrighteous in Adam, and that is our alienation from God. Our alienation from God. Colossians chapter 1 and verses 21, it says, And you that here's the word again, were some time alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled. Yet now hath he reconciled. In Ephesians chapter 4 and verses 17 through 18, says, This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk in the vanity of their mind, having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them. This is our state in Adam. Before knowing God, we were alienated from the life of God because of the blindness of their heart. Our our our the condition of our heart, our spirit, being in Adam, keeps us or binds us, blinds us from being able to experience the life that's in God. And because of our ignorance and the light of the glorious gospel not shining us unto us and us receiving it, we end up forfeiting the life that God wants for us. Three major aspects of our alienation before God. We are Gentiles in the flesh. We belong to Satan, and that's a strong saying, I know, and we are good citizens of Satan's kingdom. The first, Gentiles in the flesh, Ephesians chapter 2, right after the passage we just read in the same text that says, Wherefore remember that ye being in times past, Gentiles in the flesh, this is something that described your condition in Adam, you were Gentiles in the flesh, who were called uncircumcision, that means non-Jewish, by that which is called the circumcision, the Jews, in the flesh made by hands. That at that time ye were were pastents without Christ. This is this is our condition. This is a great summary of our condition in Adam without Christ. Well, that's true, duh. Being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel. And your Bible, the majority of it, I'm gonna, I don't know the stat here, I'll try to figure it out, but at least, at least 80% of your Bible is about the Jews. Like in its in its content. It's about the Jewish people and God's dealings with the Jews and his promises with them. And Paul is saying, before you knew Christ, you had no part in the blessings that were going to come through Israel. Now, with Christ, obviously we get that. But we were aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and everything that God was doing in Israel, and God was dwelling there in Israel in the temple. It says, and you were strangers from the covenants of promise. You were, because of that, without hope. You had no hope. Hopeless. You were without God in the world. I mean, what a summary. Our condition in Adam before Jesus Christ is miserable. And we need to help people see that. And the only way we're going to really, I think, help people see that is if we understand it ourselves, and then we see what God is offering as an alternative and as a free gift to replace all of this reality. And that's a reality, for sure. It's a reality of those that don't know Jesus. Colossians chapter 1 and verses 13 through 14, it says, Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness? You were not only Gentiles in the flesh, the Bible says that you belonged to Satan's family. When you're born into this world and you have a natural birth of your mother, the Bible says that you were born into Satan's family, and you were under the power of darkness, but God hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear son, in whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins. I thought we were all children of God. I mean, some in some very, very broad general sense, yes, you're a creation of God and you're precious because of that, but the Bible never defines your lost condition before you know being born into this world. He never defines that as being his child. In fact, Jesus said to the Pharisees who thought because they came from a certain family that that was true, he said, ear of your father the devil and the lust of your father you will do. And condemned before God, abominable before God, alienated from everything that God was doing. And more than that, even. Because of this alienation, being Gentiles in the flesh, belonging to Satan, being not only in his family, so your blank there is, you know, that there is only uh one of two families that you're in. One of two families. You're either in in Satan's family, and you're of your father the devil, or in your natural state, you know, as as he is the prince of the power of this air, you're following the course of this world, you're in under the power of darkness, or you're translated into the kingdom of his dear son, finding hope in Christ, not being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, but you're that wild olive branch, as Romans chapter 11 says, you are grafted into everything God was doing with Israel. We're good citizens of heaven. I'm sorry, good citizens of Satan's kingdom as well. That's what the Bible says, and this is really what I want you to see in Ephesians 2 and verse 3. It says, Among whom also we had our conversation and times passed in the lust of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature, by nature the children of wrath, even as others. This is the issue. The gospel message, the burden that should weigh on every Christian, is that those who don't know Christ are children of wrath. Like the holiness of God looks out on a world who doesn't, you know, want God, and his wrath swells against those who have rejected not only him and his holiness, but him and his grace. The reality is so many people are ignorant of that second part, though. They're ignorant of what God has done to satisfy his wrath on their behalf. And you think, how did how did God do that? It seems like we were in a pretty terrible spot as people, weren't we? I mean, we were in a really bad place before God. We we were. And the Bible says that Jesus Christ stood in our place, taking the wrath and the judgment of God for us, that we could have his life and his righteousness instead if we wanted it. How many people don't know that? Sadly, the gospel message today has been so shallow. It's like, do you know that God loves you? Do you want to be loved by God? And then who isn't going like this? Me, me, me, I want to be loved by God. I mean, yeah, who doesn't want to be loved by God? The reality, though, is this that if if someone realizes how messed up they were and what God actually thought of them when Jesus died for them, they would only understand the love of God more. And that's what the Bible declares over and over and over and over and over again to us in the New Testament. But God commendeth his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us much more than being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. You say, How? How do I get saved from wrath through him? You get saved from wrath through him by believing and putting your faith in the work that Jesus did for you. And when you accept the work that Jesus did for you, then God's able to look at your life and say, I accept you on the basis of my righteousness, not your own, and you're beloved in my sight. What that means is that you and I can have confidence that we will go to heaven, not because we think we're awesome and amazing, and I I know that I'm gonna be accepted by God because of how good I am, but I know and have confidence that I will go to heaven because Jesus Christ has already died for me. God has already proven to me that He loves me and He's accepted me. And if I'm willing to be translated into a new family and be born again, I can't undo that birth. If God gives me a new identity spiritually, I can't undo a completely new identity that He would give me. And so as we close, I want to make an invitation to you to believe that message. The Bible says if you believe in your heart that God hath raised Jesus from the dead and you confess with your mouth, acknowledging your sin, and you call out upon his name and say, Jesus, I believe in you, and that you are the only righteousness that would make me right with the Father. The Bible says, in that moment of belief, you are saved. And that is one of the greatest offers I can make to you this morning. Um the Bible says today is the day of salvation, and I want you to all consider that. Ephesians chapter 2 and verse 13, it says, but now, this is where we're headed next week, but now in Christ Jesus, ye who were, I'm sorry, ye who sometimes were far off, are made nigh by the blood of Christ. It is true, you were alienated from God. You were Gentiles in the flesh, separated from the commonwealth of Israel, strangers to the covenants and promise. You were without God, you had no hope. But because of the blood of Christ, God says you can be nigh to me. In fact, Ephesians chapter 4 says you can enter boldly into his throne room and make requests to find grace and help in time of need. Do you think you need that? Go boldly. You think I can't go before God? He's a righteous and glorious God. He is a righteous and glorious God and to be terrified. But you know why you can go before him? Because of the blood of Christ. What do you believe about the blood of Jesus? Who is Jesus? That's an important question. He's not just a messenger of God, he is the God of the universe, manifest in human flesh, hanging on a cross for you, paying for your sin and resurrecting to new life. This is what I want to talk to you about next week. How God takes everything we talked about this morning and gives us resolution in the Bible in Christ. As we opened up 1 Corinthians 15 and 22, for as in Adam all die. All die. The Bible says it is appointed unto men once to die, and after this the judgment. And in the book of Revelation, it says that in the final day, God will put, He will cast death and hell into an eternal lake of fire. And if you find yourself dead before God in Adam, the message this morning is that you can be in Christ, and the promise is you will be made alive. Believe the gospel. You can walk out of this building knowing that you are not dead spiritually before God, but that you are alive and you're able to serve God in newness of spirit and life. Alright, let's pray. God, thank you so much for your love for us. My words this morning, I know, have fallen short of what needs to be articulated to bring proper understanding for these doctrines and these truths.