much more the grace of God ...

If you look here, we've got a chart and you have this likewise on your handout. The free gift is not like the offense. The gift is not like. So one of his key points in this set of verses is the not like. It's not the same. It's not equal. Suppose you went to the store and you bought a can of frozen orange juice. You came up to the counter. The checker says, fine, that'll be $25,000, whatever they charge for them these days. If you came to the checker and you laid down a great big stack of bills, and he looks at that and he says, that must be a million bucks. What are you doing?

Oh, it's not like the amount at all that this can is worth. It's entirely out of proportion. And that's a part of Paul's concept that he's conveying here, isn't it? The offense was like this, and the offense was awful. But the gift is not just something with an equal sign to reverse this. It completely reverses the offense. The free gift reverses the offense, but goes way, way beyond it. Okay? Way beyond it. So it's not simply a matter of here's the offense, now I'm going to have an equal resolution of the offense, and now we're back to zero. It's not that, is it? You have this chart that kind of lays out the one man's offense.

One man, Adam. Many died. Condemnation. Death reigned. You look on the other side of the equation. The free gift. One man, Christ. Grace abounded to many. Justification and reigning in life. There is a consistent comparison and contrast that Paul makes in these verses here. So, let's take a look at verse 15.

And see, did you get a copy of the handout there? Got it. You're covered? All right. Here's the free gift is not like the offense, for if by one man's offense many died, much more the grace of God and the gift by the grace of one man, Jesus Christ, abounded to many. Now think about this. Here's this free gift. It's free to the recipient. So we got this question. How much did it cost the one who gave the gift? Was this one you get at Target for 25, 30 bucks, something like that? How much did it cost the one who gave the gift? Yes? No? Everything. Yeah. This is the priceless answer. This is the one, if you try to sum it up in human terms, hard to put a human figure on it.

It's one of the things that happens in our law courts and among insurance companies. I've done, as an engineer, I did forensic work for both attorneys and insurance companies. And one of the things that it always seems to end up with is, in any civil case, it's everything boils down to dollars and cents. Somebody loses a life, it's dollars and cents.

Somebody is profoundly offended, it's dollars and cents. Everything boils down to that. Well, there's no way to put dollars and cents on this. And it's way out of the orbit of anything you can put dollars and cents on. It's priceless. Now, here's the thing. We said it was priceless.

Why is it free? I mean, that just doesn't make sense. Why is this gift free if it's so incredibly costly? Does it make any sense? Why would that possibly be the price? I mean, maybe you could reduce the price on it, but why free? Oh, okay. That's one thing is it wouldn't be a gift. All right. Yeah. If we said now, okay, let's have Christmas. And here is you open the Christmas card that's attached to the gift. Here is your work schedule for the next year to work off the gift I'm giving you, right? That's not going to fly, right? It's not a gift, right?

So good point. All right. Any other thought? Why else is it free? Yes, Carol? Ah, yes. It's because when we talk about free and costs and things like that, I brought up some months back, there's a street in Carson City where Nancy and I lived for 15 years. called Tom Stoffel. And at first I thought it was some strange foreign name. Well, all it is, is there ain't no such thing as a free lunch. And it's just the acronym. And that's the way it is in the world, isn't it? That we're not accustomed to something that costly being absolutely free.

Just recently, there was an announcement that this, you know, world famous billionaire from Omaha, is going to give away billions. What you don't know is that he's going to give it all to Hannah. Hannah's going to get all that money, right? Not really, but it's that kind of an unbelievable thing where there is this massive, massive amount of money and it goes to just one person.

Why? It is only, as Carol makes the point, of the infinite grace of God. That's the only way it makes any sense at all. From a human standpoint, it doesn't make any sense. Could any of the recipients pay the price, even for themselves, even if they were trying to buy the gift?

Was that? No. I'm getting hit. No. Can't be. Why not? Couldn't we put you on a work schedule to get this thing worked off here? I mean, doesn't that seem like that would be something you do sit down and figure out? Hey, how am I going to work this thing off? You got to put in some hours. Here's the time. You just got to work it off. Isn't that going to be sufficient?

Yeah, isn't that interesting? You have people all over the world. These questions, we said, why is it free? They don't believe it. You ask the question, can they pay the price? And we're saying, no. I see Doris. She keeps shaking her head. No, no, no! But you have many, many people around the world who somehow got it into their head, certainly not by Scripture, that they can somehow chisel some chunk off this thing. Not going to happen, is it? Yeah.

The freeness is also offensive. I've had the situation at work where I've talked to somebody about the Lord, And I say, oh, that's that free thing. That's that free grace. And it's distasteful to them because I can work for it. And if it's free, it's of no value. Yeah. Isn't that strange? We even try to convey to children and grandchildren a sense of value and working for things and that kind of thing.

And yet, this is something where all those lessons, as valuable as they are in the human realm, just don't apply. We can't even touch it. One of the examples that I used some weeks ago in the Romans elective is the idea that there is some massive debt that we owe, and it's like $4 trillion. Well, there's no way anyone is going to touch that. There's no way anyone is going to begin to even chisel a portion of that away in their lifetime. It just can't even get there. It's way out of scale. It can't happen.

And so it's exceedingly valuable to have this insight, to say, yes, it is absolutely free. Later on in Romans 6.23, you're going to be seeing the wages of sin is death. So if you want death, that you can work for. You want something to work for? Death. You got it. Go ahead. Work for it. Eternal life is free. You want that? That comes free. Death, you've got to work real hard for it.

Every step. It's upside down from what this world would think. The world's perspective on it does not square up with reality. The offense. Is the offense free? Think about this. Is the offense free? What was the offense that caused this whole problem anyway?

The wages of sin is death. So what does death cost? Death, you have to work for it. And that's basically what happened. The offense brought about the thing that most people think of that Roger was pointing out. People can't get it turned around in their head. They think, well, if I've got grace, I've got to work. No, it's grace. Do you get it? But death is not free. The offense is extremely costly and you're going to work for death. Grace, you can't even begin to pay for it. In what ways is it not like the free gift? How is the offense different from the free gift? Here is the offense. There's Adam. He's in the garden. Now, Harry? The offense brings condemnation. Ah, yeah, that's real different. Okay, that's real different.

You've seen on TV, perhaps even seen personally in a situation where the jury says, hey, we've got a verdict and they bring everybody into the courtroom and the one who is accused has to, you know, stand there and listen to the verdict come out. And at that moment, I mean, it's a, Okay, am I guilty or am I not kind of situation? How does this read? And how it gets judged is a big issue, isn't it? It's a big question.

The condemnation and justification to life are radical different, okay? Real different outcome. So the question is which verdict do you get matters a whole lot, matters a great deal. How big is the difference between the free gift and the offense? How big is it?

If you're condemned, that's not good, right? If you receive a sentence of condemnation, that's not good, not a good thing. But if you are not condemned, if you're given a sentence of not guilty, is that anything but a relief? Certainly it's a relief, but what comes along with Our justification are being declared righteous, are being declared not guilty.

What's that? Life, yes. And then we get into Ephesians. Here's Ephesians 1.3. Blessed with every spiritual blessing, rather than even the message of the Sermon on the Mount. You must forgive, so your Father will forgive you. Message later in Ephesians. Forgive as the Father has already forgiven you. Grace. Grace. A huge difference between the free gift and the offense.

I got another question here. You see that there? For if. Does that bother you? The if? Does that make this sound like a chancy deal? Is there some question about how certain this whole arrangement is? Is that something that should trouble me? Should I feel doubtful?

What's that if therefore? What's that? Ah, okay, yeah. It is a logical if. You could carry the idea of since. He's saying if not to cast doubt, not to say that there's some ambiguity about it or something in question, but only to make, here's the premise, which is assumed to be true. And then, if that's the case, here's the consequence. So it's not something doubtful.

Why did many die when one man, Adam, committed the offense? I mean, that just seems out of proportion. How did we all get stuck in this mess? Do you remember? What fruit was it that he bit into? Were you there? I hope it tasted good anyway. What tree was that? Were you there? Here's the amazing thing, and this is why it requires revelation. If you ask, what do you personally recall?

Let's take the courtroom case we just referred to. They put you on the witness stand. We're going to take Roger and put him on the witness stand, okay? And he does solemnly swear to tell the truth, so help him Hannah, okay? All right, now. They put him on the witness stand and they say, Roger, do you recall having been there in the garden with Adam?

And he goes, huh? He has no idea. Why? He doesn't remember it. We are told because God revealed it. But we were there. Now how about, you look at this, how about the free gift? Were you there? Do you remember being there when Christ was crucified? Do you remember that? You don't remember it, do you? How do you know that you were there? It's revealed to us, right? So you had a presence at both places as a believer. You had a presence at both places. But it's entirely by revelation.

Not by something you recall because it's up in your gray matter. Okay. Why isn't the grace gift just equal and opposite? Why doesn't it just kind of undo it and then just, that's it. Now we're even. God says, okay, Christ died on the cross. You believe it. Go ahead and go on with life. Everything's back to square one. We'll put you back in the garden and, you know, let bygones be bygones. Right? How come it doesn't work out that way? Ah, equal and opposite would be a payment, not a gift. That's a part of it. All right. Good. What else? His character goes beyond just to make this thing back to square one. Carol, you had your hand up.

Ah, this is a big distinction. The Adam life is a kind of life that is by character terminal. And when a person becomes in Christ, there is a change that never ends. There isn't some time even 10,000 years from now when the Lord says, you know, these last 10,000 years have been really great. This has been a fantastic time. But all good things must come to an end.

And so now you're on to phase two. Phase two? What's phase two? No, it doesn't end. You're right, Carol. It doesn't end. And so the Adam life, which can have a termination point, no, this is now different. It is eternal, on and on and on. A saying that comes out in the book of Revelation, the ages of the ages. Ages of ages keeps rolling on. Everlasting to everlasting. The Lord is God and we're with Him from everlasting into everlasting. Okay.

Why is it much more? Because he uses this phrase much more in here a couple of times in this passage. Why much more? Why not just leave it at that? Much more. The much more grace of God. Let's ask this, is the condemnation infinite? Is the condemnation that the person receives, apart from the grace of the Lord, is it infinite condemnation? Is the offense infinite? The consequence is certainly obvious. What's that? Eternally, time-wise, yes. Time-wise. But there's also something else about that. Human beings simply don't have the power to carry things over infinitely. However, when it comes to God's grace, as Vani pointed out earlier, when it comes to God's grace, that is infinite.

And that's why we've talked previously about Ephesians 2.7. It will be the rest of eternity, the Lord revealing His grace. As a matter of fact, the word is showing, and it means to physically demonstrate, to demonstrate His grace. So we'll be gasping in awe a trillion years from now, if it does mean anything. Alright, why is the word abounded there? Let's ask this, is God's grace skimpy? When it comes to grace, is God cheap? What's that? Yes, we have this massive, massive magnitude that is impossible for humans to conceive. Grace that takes eternity for God to reveal, that's just way out of proportion to the offense. Way out of proportion. Let's take a look.

Here's verse 16. The gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned. Here's the not like that, remember? For the judgment which came from one offense resulted in condemnation, but the free gift which came from many offenses resulted in justification. Why did Paul repeat the same basic message as the first line of verse 15, or did he? Why did Paul repeat the same basic message as the start of verse 15, or did he?

Ah, okay. He's changed from the act to the person. Ah, there's the distinction. Thank you for noticing that. It is a switch here in this verse from the act to the person. So it is not simply, I'm going to say this again, He says it but with that turn so that he's addressing a different aspect. The gift isn't like that which came through the one who sinned. We're talking about who's and not what's now. Why did he do that? Why would he make a point of it? Why does the who matter that much?

If you're in a courtroom situation, do they ever do like they seem to do in court cases, you know, where you get, you know, John Doe? You have John Doe on trial? Have this sort of nameless, faceless person who's going to be charged with a crime? Does the prosecutor come up and say, you know, we've got all the evidence stacked up and did it, okay? It's personal, isn't it? Here's the offense, and we know who did it. And here's the one who's going to reconcile this mess, and we know who did that. Now it's getting personal. It's identifying people. Why was there a judgment?

Why not just skip it? Why can't God just... I mean, after all, you know, God says, you know, forgive one another and things like that. Why can't He just say, oh, Adam, I'm really sorry this happened. Let's just get past this, okay? Let's just not look at the past. Let's just move forward from here. And I'll just forget it. If you'll forget it, we won't bring it up. And we'll just be hunky-dory from here on out.

Why doesn't God just do that? I mean, wouldn't that just take care of the whole problem? Ah, you say it goes against his character. Good insight. What can you tell us about that? He's just. Okay. Is he a little bit just? Ah, he's not just a little bit just. What kind of just is he? He is a righteous judge. Good. Can we add any more to that? Well, the other thing is it doesn't take care of the problem. It doesn't take care of the problem. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

You know, Nancy and I live in this little place and it is, it's nice. But, you know, if you brought in a full grown elephant in the room, that would be a problem. And Nancy and I would have a difficult time, you know, having dinner with sharing it with the elephant and that kind of thing. And then we sit down, try to, you know, watch some movie or something of that sort. And here's this elephant in the way.

It's just a real problem, isn't it? And you can't just ignore this. It's a serious problem. It's a big problem. The offense was not something that could, in any reasonable assessment, be ignored. The offense was big and it was being looked upon by a God who is infinitely just and infinitely holy.

I don't have an example of it, but on another slide I had one time, we have this whole white screen and one little dot. And I asked people, what's on the screen? And almost everybody, oh, there's a dot in the middle of it. Yeah, but there's a whole bunch of white there. Why don't you point out the white?

And what happens is all I have to do is put one dot there, and all of you are going to pick that up. You're going to say, hey, wait a minute, there's a dot. I say, no, there's no dot there, and you're going to. I would have a hard time convincing you that there wasn't any dot on the screen, because there is. But what happens is that dot grabs your attention. You cannot ignore it and just say it isn't there.

And the same thing, this offense is one that is being looked upon by an absolutely and infinitely holy God, by a God who is entirely just. So the offense grabs his attention just like it would grab your attention if I put a nice dot on the middle of the screen. You would see that and not the white. You would notice it.

You would notice it as a difference and a defect compared to the completely white screen. If there was an offense, who was offended? Did Adam take a bite and the serpent went, oh, heavens, what have you done? Did Eve say, no, not that side, the other side. Is that what happened? Not so much, huh? Okay, I haven't convinced you. No, who was offended? It was God. It was God, the creator of the entire universe. He was the one who was offended. It was His character. It was His character against which the offense could not be just set aside and accepted. God couldn't just say, boys will be boys.

There was a judgment which came with the one offense. Was there also a judgment that came with the free gift? If so, what was the judgment? Why not just skip to that and get on with life? There was a judgment that came. What was the judgment that this passage is talking about? What's that? A judgment of death.

Is that something that was a complete surprise to Adam and Eve? Should it have been a surprise to them? What did he tell them? What's going to happen if you try out this fruit? You'll die. I think there was certainly a matter of, I'm sure they found out, but they were told in advance, you shall surely die. So here is this problem. Here is this judgment that came upon it, and the judgment, because he was representative of us, because we were there in him, that came to all people.

It could not be forgotten, just like if I showed the dot on the screen, you could not say there's no dot on the screen. No, there's a dot on the screen, okay? There is something there. Or to use the more prominent analogy, the elephant in the living room where Nancy and I have.

Why does it take just one offense for there to be mass condemnation, but many offenses had to be dealt with for there to be justification? One offense, and all of a sudden, all these people are condemned. But now, to deal with it, I've got to deal with a whole bunch of offenses.

How does that work out? Why did that have to happen? Why couldn't Christ have just said, well, I'll tell you what, I'll make a deal. I'll die for that one offense of Adam, and let's call that good. Why does that not fly? We would have done the same thing Adam did, and what's happened since then? Yeah, just what happens one offense after another, right? Yes, you're correct.

We would have done the same thing as Adam, and in fact we did in each of the contexts that we live. The sin replicates, so instead of just saying, Christ coming and saying, I will die for that one singular sin that Adam did, and just for Adam, and that will kind of undo this whole thing. Instead, from Adam until Christ, all these things have been committed and since then. Now, did Christ die for just the sins up to just that moment when He died on the cross?

I'm hearing no. Several heads are shaking no. Why not? I mean, wouldn't that seem like that would take care of it? Why is it important that He died for sins after that? Carol? Yeah, and you and I would be in tough shape, you know. You know, he's got to come back and die again, right? No. He died once, and Hebrews makes a repeated point of that. It uses the Greek word hapax, which means once done, perpetually valid. It continues to be valid for all sin.

First John 2.2, he propitiated the satisfied God for the sins of the whole world.

Everybody. Now, let's take a look here. This was a principle that we introduced some time back, but some of us have just joined and you may not have picked this up. There is a relationship between some of these words that we use, justification, redemption, forgiveness, that's connected.

Redemption is the ransom price paid through Christ's death. It does not have to do with blue chip stamps. Some of you probably don't know even what those are. It has nothing to do with blue-chip stamps. Redemption here is the ransom price paid through Christ's death on the cross for the whole world, effective for those who believe and are in Christ.

Forgiveness of sins is based on that ransom price paid for everybody. The picture that we used previously when we went through this, it was as if all human beings having taken part in the offense and having committed their own offenses were sentenced into this prison cell in which they were given a certain period of time and then they would be condemned have a contrary judgment and die now while under that sentence of condemnation while in the prison cell somebody walks in because They're saying, look, for you to get out of here, you've got to pay $4 trillion each person. Of course, nobody's got that kind of money.

Somebody walks in and said, I've got a check for anybody who wants it. There's enough money for everybody. Who of you would like this? And so one guy takes a check and says, let me see that. Hey, this is a great deal. All right, just flip it over, sign it, turn it in, and walk out. The next guy looks at it, and he says, man, this is fantastic. Turns the thing over, signs it, walks out. The next guy gets the check, he looks at it, and he says, oh, there's a bunch of garbage, and stays in the prison. Stays under the sentence. See, that's really the situation we're in, isn't it?

It is an amount we could never pay. The price was paid. There's enough money in the account to cover all the checks. The price was paid sufficient for all. enough in the bank account to make every check good so that everyone in the prison could get a check and sign it if they would. Only those, and they can't earn it, they can't add to the amount, they can't do anything other than to say, I believe this, turn it over, sign it, and turn it in and walk out. And that's forgiveness. The ransom price paid, you're forgiven. And it was only by faith. It was only because you believed it that it was good. You didn't add to it. You didn't earn it. Nothing.

And then finally, justification. Forgiveness of sins and the ransom price paid. I believe it. I get a declaration, a judgment that says righteous. Declared righteous. So those three words are tied together in that way. Now, let's go on to verse 17 here.

For if by one man's offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the one, Jesus Christ." So the question we got there is, how did death get to reign through just one person? I mean, this death is reigning as king.

Everybody gets impacted by this thing and boy, that's just, you know, we've got, you know, places around the Denver, we've got mortuaries. Why? People die at regular intervals. We've got police stations. Is that because everybody's perfectly good? No. We've got prisons, right? We've got a significant portion of the American population who has a job, you know, we've got people in the prisons. My second son is a prison guard in Nevada, holding people in there. Why is that? What's the problem?

When Adam sinned, death was set to reign as king, okay? Death calls the shots. You can jump and dodge and dance any way you want. Death reigns. Death calls the shots. What does it mean for death to reign? What does that look like? Tell me what it means for death to reign. To dominate?

Okay, that's a good synonym if you will. Death dominates. Good way to put it. Any other thoughts on that? What does it mean for death to reign? What does that look like? Authority, alright. Death has authority. What does that look like in our daily lives? What are some of the aspects of death reigning? Yeah? Sin nature. Constantly tempting. Sin nature works its way out. Sin nature is simply attempted life without God. Attempted life. It's fake life without God. Now, if I have a bunch of checks that are, say, more than what I really need, and I just say, well, I don't really need those. I'll leave them out on the side of the curb, right? You're chuckling.

Why wouldn't you do that? You've got to sign them first. There are people that will do that for you. We have even in recent actions here in Colorado, actions to try to take, you know, some measures against identity theft. Why you have people who, you know, are inclined to take other people's assets secretly and without earning them and without permission, okay? You have that going on. We have other things going on in our society and that's just one example. Death reigns in lots of things. Even, you know, things that aren't right with your body. Okay? Anybody have a body that doesn't cooperate? Okay? Mine doesn't cooperate, you know? You know, you say, boy, I sure wish my body did this or didn't do that.

That's the way that death reigns, okay? until finally your body just stops cooperating altogether. That's when the mortuary comes into place. So death reigning, you're right in terms of seeing it as dominating, having authority, and the truth is it continues to work its way out in every single human life.

But don't we live in a democracy where we get to choose who's in charge? Did you see death on the ballot? Why don't we get to choose whether death reigns? Isn't this a democracy? I mean, we, you know, fought and have fought wars since then to keep this a free country. How come death gets to reign? I thought we didn't even have a king. Why does death get to reign? We could vote it off if we wanted, couldn't we? How come death reigns no matter what kind of government form we have? Why isn't it on the ballot?

Yes. Yeah. This is something that's outside. It doesn't matter what human systems of politics you put in place. This is above that. Yeah. Death reigns. It doesn't matter. You could come up with any system of government you wanted. Put it on the ballot if you want. You're not going to get it out of office. Okay. This is something we don't get to vote on.

It's something that no human governmental system, no matter what the benefits of the system, is going to get rid of. Paul writes here, those who receive. Now, that's interesting because he didn't put that before. Those who receive the abundance of grace.

So why does he get picky? Why didn't God just make it, you know, Christ died on the cross and all that bad stuff that happened through Adam, it's all fixed now and you all just go on with life and everybody's happy. Why didn't it work out that way? Why does He put in there those who receive? Doesn't everybody get saved? No? Why not? Why do we have the those who receive part?

To use the analogy, it's look, everybody gets this check for $4 trillion and it's not your money. Somebody else put it all in there. It's an amount you can't even hope to ever touch. But it's all paid. It's all in the account. The check's valid. All done. It's ready.

All you got to do is turn the check over and sign it. You can't add to the amount. You can't contribute to it. You can't enhance it. You can believe it and turn it over and turn it in and walk out. That's all you can do. And so it is good only for those who receive it by belief, okay? And those who say, nah, I don't believe this check. Nah, this is garbage. And they just, they throw it away or shred it or put it in their pocket. sleep on it or use it to eat their tacos or something. There's no way that that's going to be effective.

It is only by believing that it's valid. So that's why Paul puts there those who receive. It isn't a matter of being picky. That's the criteria just like if I handed you the check for $4 trillion. It's only if you believe it that it does any good. If you think that that's monopoly money, You're not going to believe it and you're not going to take advantage of it.

Does it matter that there is an abundance of grace? Now, this is something we got to talk about this. This abundance of grace, isn't that wasteful? It sounds like an excess, you know, you kind of, you know, here we got a need for some grace and why not get, why not have just enough grace and that's good enough, right? Right there that we're talking efficient.

Why not? Why didn't God just do that? We'll have just enough grace. I mean, God knows exactly how much it takes, right? So why didn't He just, just exactly the right amount? A God of infinite knowledge, certainly He could do that. Why this overflowing, abundant grace?

I don't get it. Help me here. Ah, okay. Yeah, when we talk about efficiency, when we talk about efficiency, that's usually because our human resources are limited, aren't they? Is God's grace limited? Ah, no. Nancy's shaking her head, no. Okay. God's grace is not limited like we have here in the human realm where we've got limited resources.

And so this is not wasted grace. This is not excess. as if it was ruined or somehow lost, but it is grace that is abundant and overflowing because God doesn't have any shortage to begin with. And, remember, the gift is not like the offense. God says, I will deal with the offense and reconcile that, but we're going to go way beyond that. It's not in the same measure. It's not limited to it. And the excess is not wasteful. The excess isn't wasteful.

What does it mean to reign in life? That's an interesting one, to reign in life. Does this mean when you become a believer, everything after that is just smooth sailing? I mean, when you become a believer, after that, I mean life just doesn't get any better than that. It just keeps getting fantastic. You're just on a highway to heaven and all the gas is free and you never have to change the oil. And the buzzer never goes off either. Isn't that what it means to reign in life? What does it mean to reign in life? We had death reigning, now what's this reigning in life have to do with that or compare with it?

Yes. Ah, in our positional life in Christ, our position is now what? It is now in Christ. Where is it? in the heavenlies, and we've gotten a certain percentage of our spiritual blessings. Is that right? Certain percentage? Oh, we have all of them. Oh, I'm glad you told me. Okay. So we've got, they're in Christ, in the heavenlies.

Is somebody going to steal them? Is identity theft a problem? Not a problem there, is it? Okay? So, no identity theft. We don't have to call the fire department or the police about them. Okay? And it's not a percentage deal. It's all of them. We are blessed 100% in the heavenlies, entirely. Done deal. All completely taken care of. Does it mean that we're guaranteed to live like kings here and now? No, not so much. Okay? Not so much. Paul gets real singular and personal here.

Why the one Jesus Christ? Why not just say, you know some pretty good people, don't you? You know some folks kind of in your circle of friends that are pretty good people? You say, is that a good guy or a good gal? Yeah, yeah. Why not them too? Can't they help us in this process? I mean, you'd think they could pitch in. I mean, you know they're good folks. Can't they help? Why is it the one Jesus Christ? Why is He singularly qualified? He was the gift. He was God's gift.

And even though you and I all know folks who we'd say, I'm glad these are our friends or maybe even relatives. You and I know people who would say, now that's somebody, I'm glad I know them. They're good people. Jesus Christ, is not in the same category. We're talking about one who is God's gift, the very son of God, God himself, one who is infinitely loving, infinitely perfect, who came not to just give his life and, okay, I'm done, but also in resurrection to bring us life. one with whom we could be identified in his death, burial, resurrection, ascension and seeding. Incomparable, not just a pretty good guy, not just a good buddy or a good friend, but way beyond that. Did Christ die to make us Adam again? Are you getting ready to go back in the garden? You've got your gardening tools ready, right? That looks like a pretty nice place. I mean, that wouldn't be too bad, right? You're going to spend eternity there. Hope they got good lawnmowers.

Does that mean we could sin again, though? Yeah, Bonnie's got a good question. Does that mean we could sin again? OK. That's not good. Yeah, that's not so good. Oh, no, here we go again. Yeah, this is different, isn't it? This is different. Where were Adam's blessings? Right there. Where are our blessings? Are any of our blessings in there? No. Our blessings are in the heavenlies. And also, were Adam's blessings all spiritual? He had a lot of physical blessings, right? We've been told we have every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.

Was Christ simply God's undo button? No. Because He didn't just reverse everything back to the way it was. There have been many times I've been glad to be able to click undo. Let me tell you. Lots of times. Even this last week. But God didn't want to just click the undo button and just put us back in the garden and make it all the same. Okay. Let's pray. Lord, as we look at this passage here, you made some contrasts, and we've examined it and looked at it, and when we're all done, all we can do is give you thanks. We can't add to it, enhance it, improve upon it, tweak it, but we can give you thanks, Lord, and we do that now, and we entrust all things into your hands. In Jesus' name, amen.