Major Bible Themes
Mike Doyle · Jul 10, 2011
Major Bible Themes (2011), No. 28
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/492624022351

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

Okay, this is kind of, I want to point out something here. This is the Malloy setup and we have just finished doing two sessions on man and his creation and today we are going to work on man and his fall and then next week we will go into sin. Let's see if I can do this right. Look at that, so far I haven't made a mistake. Okay, we talked about last week, about Adam was created by God, innocent, and what was the plan? How did God create Adam? What was his makeup? The body came from the dust of the earth. What else about him? He breathed life into him. Okay, he breathed the breath of life into him, plural. Not just one life. In his own image. And that's the most important part, that Adam was created in the image and likeness of God.

So, he gave him a home, he created the earth, but then he gave him a garden on the earth, and did he have a job to do? He was given dominion and he was to take care of it. He was also, God created things like watermelon. He was also to have dominion over it, which is a God-like quality. Understand why it is? He put him in charge. And he was to tend it and take care of it. And he was in charge. He could even name the animals. So he must have been pretty smart.

When God created him, he created him really smart, but also really naive. So, now, and then God gave him a test. Why did he give him a test? To see if he would listen. To see if he would listen. That's a great answer actually. That's exactly right. Now the test was pretty simple, wasn't it?

He said to him, you know, you can eat a freely eat of all of the trees in the garden, except for one. And the one in the middle, or somewhere around there, is called the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And when you eat of that, I'm telling you not to, but if you do, you will surely die. In dying you will surely die, is kind of how the King James says it. Which means that if he did, he would die instantly, spiritually, and at some time later, physically.

Now, I want to point out something. How many of you read the chapters this week? Nobody. I have one big issue with the chapter this week, or actually two. I'll hit the first one. Man and his fall. He starts out by saying the problem of how sin had entered the universe is a question which every system of thought encounters. Only the Bible, however, provides a reasonable explanation. As seen in the previous study on angels, sin first entered the universe in the rebellion of some of the holy angels led by Satan which occurred long before man was created. B.S. How long before man were the angels created?

Same week, two days. How Lewis Perry Chaffer and lots of other people think that angels have sort of been around in a created universe for a long, long time is ridiculous because if you look at Ezekiel, I think it's 28, you will see a description of Lucifer in the Garden of Eden before the fall. and talks about all of these, he looks like Jules and on and on and on.

So that's one issue I've got with Chafer. And the problem with that issue is what? What if he created angels and the angelic host long before he created man? Do you see a problem with that? Or is that okay that he may have done it that way? If you accept the fact that angels and all those hosts were created way before he created the earth, do you see a problem going forward with that?

It opens up the door for, at least to some degree, some evolutionary ideas. One of the guys that got evolutionized along this line was the guy from Los Angeles on the radio. His name was McGee. McGee was one of those guys that believed in the Gap Theory. He thought that between day one of creation and the day that man was created could be millions of years.

The problem is that the Bible doesn't say that. So I think the angels were created on the third day of creation, or second day when he created the heavenly house. Anyway, if you read the chapter, hopefully that set up a red flag, but maybe it didn't. Okay.

Adam and Eve and Satan after the fall and the effect on the human race. Now, everything that God created at the end of the day of creation he would say, and it was good. So it was created perfect in and of itself the way he designed it to be. Even though man was created innocent, do you happen to think that if man being created innocent and after he falls he has the knowledge of good and evil, did that improve him?

Because he didn't have that knowledge of good and evil before. Why didn't that help improve him? Would it have been okay if he was just innocent forever? Because he had the sinful nature. Before he had the sinful nature. Okay, he gets the sinful nature by disobeying God, but he also gets the knowledge of good and evil. Is that a good thing? No. It refocused his direction. What's that? It refocused his direction. Yeah. It's not a good thing.

So, if God is not sinful. And Adam before the fall isn't sinful. What the difference between God and Adam is that Adam is innocent and God is holy. What's the difference between those two? God can't sin. He can't sin. Because what's the definition of sin?

Separation. Hamartia. What's that word mean? Miss the mark. It means to miss the mark. So there's a standard and there's a mark. And it's right here. For Adam, it was the way he was created. He was to stay there. God has a mark. His holiness, his righteousness, all of his attributes is glory. So when Adam sinned, he fell below the mark. So now he can't span the gap. Lucifer is the same way. When Lucifer was created, he was created perfect. He was probably the greatest of God's creations in terms of intelligence and power and that kind of thing. But when he sinned, he fell short of the mark, and the mark was the level in which he was created, the greatest of all God's creatures. So, missing the mark is not...

You grow up in our society, and 30-48% of us are Catholics, Another 20% are Methodists, and I'm like that. That whole mindset, which is attributable to John Wesley, is the fact that sin is doing a bunch of bad stuff. They never think about it as missing the mark, that you don't come up to what you should be. We always think about it as, well, I'm doing bad things rather than achieving where I should be. See that? Isn't that right? Didn't we all grow up that way? Our parents taught us, don't do bad things.

Now, God's plan and purpose in Genesis 1 was to make man in his own image and according to his own likeness to rule over the fish and the birds and the cattle. He created man in his own image and in the image of God he created them to be fruitful and multiply. God saw what he had made and behold it was very good. Now another phrase that Schaeffer used that I like was on the second page. He said man, because he was made in the image of God, possessed a complete personality and capacity to make moral decisions.

You see that? Man has a complete personality. And a personality or a soul is mind, emotion, and will. You can learn, you can feel about what you've learned, and you can make decisions. It's important to know that. If God gives you a decision-making capacity, then he's going to hold you to a standard. Do you agree with that? If he's going to give you the ability to choose for or against him, he's going to give you the opportunity to do it. Don't you think? I would think so. That's what he did with Lucifer. That's what he did with Adam. And why did he even create human beings?

Was he bored? Great question. No, that's a wonderful question. Why did he do it? I mean, did it add anything to him? No. No, I don't think so. So why did he do it? I mean, it seems like a waste of time to me based on my hanging around for... But it did give him something. It allowed him to enhance his own glory. How? By man acknowledging who he was. Okay. Maybe look at it this way.

He, because of his nature, wanted to share who he was. He wanted to share his holiness and righteousness and love. So he made creatures in his own image and likeness so that he could interact with them. And he could demonstrate his glory to them and you know what? They would respond in kind and they would appreciate who he was.

It doesn't add anything to him. But it demonstrates the character of God in that he would create you and me, a sentient being, who has the capacity to be with him for all eternity and to enjoy him beyond anything you can imagine. Now that's kind of cool. He didn't have to do that. It doesn't add anything to him, but that's what he did. But he gives everybody a choice. as to whether they want to be with him or not.

We talked last week that God formed man out of the dust of the ground and material part that he breathed into his nostrils the breath of lives and he became a living soul or like the new American standard says a living being and man is said to have a body, soul and spirit.

Now everybody understands the body part everybody pretty much understands the soul part. What about the spirit part? I'm not sure we understand what that is. Does every man born on the planet come with a spirit? It's like every Ford come with a transmission? Sure.

So when my son was born, he came with a body, a soul, and a spirit. But at the moment he was conceived, what was the difference between his spirit and mine? You were the grown-up, he was nothing. I'm a grown-up, he's nothing. I mean, you know, a little spot. My spirit was little, mine was big. Once you became a believer, then you had the spirit of God indwelling. See, I'm spiritually alive. I have the Holy Spirit of God indwelling me.

He didn't. Okay? So even though he has a spirit, It's falling short of the intended design for a spirit, which means it's not indwelt by God at all, and he's spiritually dead to God. He's separated from God. That's the way he shows up on the planet. Every human being shows up that way. Okay, so he has a spirit, but he doesn't have the Holy Spirit. No, he has a spirit, but the spirit doesn't have a connection with God.

Now I have a connection with God because I'm indwelt by the Holy Spirit. Now how about our boy Abraham? Abraham was declared righteous because of his faith. Was he indwelt by the Holy Spirit? Like we are? No. Then what's the difference? Because I thought Christ had a comment. Did Abraham have life in him? In his spirit so that he could communicate with God? I think he did. He just didn't have the permanent dwelling of the Holy Spirit. He certainly hadn't been baptized in Christ. That's unique to us. God's original home and instruction for man. He says to man, look at this really cool place I've created for you. It's awesome.

And not only that, you're not going to be bored. I'm going to give you something to do. And I'm going to give you the way I've created you. You have the capacity to do it. You're not going to get tired. And it's going to be perfect. And you're going to have to pay attention, but you're not going to toil. And you're not going to have resistance. Everything's going to be cooperative with you. But you're going to walk around and take care of it.

I think that's a cool thing because it does something very interesting. It keeps a man busy. It keeps him involved with whatever God is doing, which is cool. Don't you think that's neat? There weren't any flat screens in those days so you couldn't sit around and take a nap, but you didn't have to. You know what it makes me think about is, like if someone's living in Denver, they said, boy, if I could be living in Hawaii, then I'd be happier. Uh-huh. And they were living in the absolute paradise. Perfect. Perfect. And they still... They still went for it, didn't they? Yeah. Yeah. Boy.

So, we'll, and hopefully, if we've got time, we'll get into the nuances of why they went for it, okay? So, I want you to see this word right here, freely. When we get to this interaction between Eve and Lucifer, some of these words he purposely leaves out. And you've got to be aware of them. Now let's talk about the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. What do you think that thing was? It obviously was a tree that had fruit on it. Maybe it was a crabapple tree. And Adam didn't seem like he put a fence around it.

Why the term knowledge of good and evil? Because until then he didn't know. Didn't know what? Evil. He didn't know evil. He had no knowledge of what evil was. Or good. Or good. Because he didn't have the contrast. He was an innocent being. Which meant what? What's the difference between being innocent and being good? He wasn't aware. He was aware in the sense that he was aware enough to name all the animals. He was aware enough to walk in the cool of the evening and have a discussion with God. shows his sin.

I mean, innocent, he doesn't have a metric. There isn't a metric for him to measure good, evil, anything. It's neutral. What's the verse we studied on Wednesday night, right at the end? In Romans 16, where Paul says, I want you to be innocent of evil, is that how he puts it? And wise to the good?

Oh man. It's not like about the serpent, like as sly as a serpent. No, it's different than that. I'll find it in a second. Here we go. It's 1619. For your obedience has become known to all, therefore I am glad for your behalf. But I want you to be wise to what is good, and simple concerning evil. I want you to be really dumb when it comes to evil. N.A.S.P. such as innocent and demise is what is evil. So that's the same kind of thing. God wanted Adam to be innocent to good and evil. Evil is really easy to understand.

Why would he not know good? What did he know? Well, if he didn't know evil, he wouldn't know good. He was just a hop-along Cassidy, doing everything that... Hop-along? I can't, no. You know what I mean. So he doesn't have a contrast between good and evil, but we would automatically assume that the good is the good thing, because we all have eaten from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, so we think good is a great deal. But it's not. What did Adam have in place of the good?

He had God. You see that? He had holiness. He had the person who was holy. He wasn't yet. What do you think the definition of holiness is? One of the definitions is to be set apart. But another definition is to love the good and hate the evil. Adam didn't do either of those things. because he didn't know what they were. After he takes and eats of the apple, he was incapable of loving the good and hating the evil. As a matter of fact, he loved the evil and hated the good. Well, that's what I said. Apple on Cassidy? No, he had no idea. That's right, he didn't. He didn't. Okay.

Now, in dying you will surely die. Notice right here it says, in dying you will surely die. I just told you what that is. What does that mean? that in dying you will surely die. If the word death means separation, what does that mean? Simple. It meant that the day that he sinned, he would die spiritually to God. That spirit he had that was in tune to God would immediately be lifeless when it came to God.

And in dying, in his case, 900 years later, he died physically. And it's interesting, I've been reading this other book these last couple of weeks and it's going through Moses writing Genesis and kind of going through all these Old Testament guys that live seven, eight, nine hundred years. It says, yeah, so-and-so lived nine hundred years and then he died. And then so-and-so lived 750 years and then he died. Everybody dies. Everybody ends up dying because of sin. Now, God's testing a man. The serpent was more crafty than the beast of the field, he said.

Has God said you shall not eat from any of the trees of the garden? What's so subtle about that? He slithers up to Eve and he says, hey, has God said that you can't eat any of the trees in the garden? What is so subtle about that? The freely part, but notice that he says, the first thing he does is he challenges Eve with what God really said. In other words, he's trying to divert her off. He puts her in a defensive mode right away.

God said you couldn't eat any of the trees, huh? And she comes back and says, no, wait a minute. We can eat all of the trees of the garden, except for the one of the knowledge of good and evil, and we can't eat it and we can't even touch it. Where did the can't even touch it come from? Did God say that? Did God say don't touch it? No. No, He didn't. But she did. How come? Because man's intelligence, even in an innocent state, recognizes that, well, if I don't touch it, I'm not going to eat it.

It's like the secondary list of Jewish laws. that are designed specifically to keep them from breaking the real law. They have a whole series that, you know, growing up a Catholic, they always had this deal about don't put yourself in the occasion of sin. So, you know, don't go into saloons because if you do, you're liable to drink. So they made it a sin to even go into the saloon. Well, it's okay to go in the saloon. But so Eve added something that God said, which is don't touch it. And then the serpent, and Eve said, and then if you do, you will die. And the serpent said what? You're not going to die?

So, and here's the hook. For God knows that on the day you eat from it, your eyes will be opened and you'll be like God, known good and evil. Is that a hook? What does that say to Eve? Or what's it intended to say? God's holding something back. That's right. God created you and Adam and created the earth and created the garden, put you in and gave you everything. But you know what? There's a couple of things he didn't tell you. And a couple of things he's holding back from you.

Now, understand, Eve does not have a sin nature right now. You see that? So he knows that he can't appeal to her sin nature because she doesn't have a propensity to sin like you and I do. But what he's doing is he's saying, God isn't giving you what he should have given you. There is more. And oh, by the way, the rest of what God is holding back is in that tree.

See? And he knows that if you eat of that tree, you're going to be just like him. Now, where did that thought come from? That's exactly right. It's exactly the same reasoning that Lucifer had. I'm going to put my throne above God's throne, and I'm going to be God. So what does he tell Eve? Want to be God? Want to be like God? God knows the difference between good and evil. He has that knowledge, you don't have it, and that's all you're lacking.

Now none of us have ever been tempted that way, right? We do, we're tempted that way all the time. We think that when the temptation of sin comes, whatever it is, however it's presented to us, it is somehow going to be a benefit to me. Right? I'm going to be smarter, more satisfied, less in jeopardy, somehow it appears to us that it is a good deal to do it even though we know better. Because it gives us some sort of gratification or some sort of gain that we didn't have before. Yeah, she wanted to be in charge. She wanted to be as God.

Yes. Right? So you have to recognize that this temptation is exactly how you and I are tempted. Nobody's going to tempt you to eat an apple or a piece of fruit unless somebody tells you not to. But you have to look at the nuances of this conversation. Wouldn't you think that Eve's got it made? You think that this slimy serpent can show up and get her to lose it all? Yeah, and how does he do it? How does he do it? Now, I want to point out one other thing that isn't in the overheads, but take a look at Genesis chapter 3. And look at verse 6. I hear that sound again. I hear that sound and I get nervous. Somebody read that verse 6.

When a woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit eight and she gave also to her husband with her and he ate. What's the first phrase? When the woman saw. Now, what has Lucifer succeeded in doing right there? He got her focus changed. You understand that?

When you and I are tempted That's the first thing that happens is our focus goes off of the Lord and onto whatever the object is. I can be the object. My so-called need can be the object. My security can be the object. My appetite can be the object. But the focus goes off of God, in this case, onto the tree, onto the fruit. You know, it's almost like when you're in court, And the guy says, the judge says, you know, you haven't heard that. Dismiss that. Well, it's in your head. So. Oh, yeah.

When somebody says somebody says right now, I don't want you to think about elephants. What are you thinking about elephants? Well, the thing that's striking me here all of a sudden is that during this process, of them looking at the tree or of her looking at the tree and considering and all these things and telling Adam don't touch and all this stuff. That's before the fall.

That's right. Right through that little process. That's right. Which is a distinction from where we're functioning from. That's right. So the whole thing with them was that And they were interacting with Satan himself. That's right. And his reasoning to them. And they were buying the reason. I was going to, don't interrupt your train of thought, but I want to go one step further back.

One thing that comes to me right now is that God's eternal plan. He created us. God's eternal and the covenant. between the eternal covenant with the sun. It was already in play before this. And the reason I'm saying is, why is the serpent in the garden? Because he had the freedom to go there.

God allowed it. He knew. He didn't have to have the serpent there. He didn't have to allow it. But as part of his plan, he allowed the serpent to tempt her. And it shows that the eternal covenant was way before this, that the plan was all along that he knew what was going to happen because he allowed the serpent to be in the garden. Okay, then he created us with flaws big time. No, not flaws, but the plan was he allowed us to make that choice. And he knew what the choice we'd make.

So he allowed the serpent to be there. was eventually to have Christ fulfill the eternal covenant. Well, what's interesting about that is when the Lord Jesus Christ becomes a man and the Spirit of God leads him out in the desert, who shows up to talk to him?

Same serpent. Only this time, the appeal bounces off this man. You see that? The appeal has no effect on the Lord Jesus Christ. It did have an effect on Eve. Now, one thing about that, I'm not disagreeing with what you're saying, what I'm saying is this.

Angels were created in the eternal realm. Human beings are created in time-space. So we think of everything as, well, this happened, and then this happened, and then this happened, and then this happened. I don't know how eternity functions. But Christ is a land slain from the foundations of eternity. You know, it's easy to think, well, maybe God is the cause of sin, or he created man in such a way that he couldn't resist the devil.

How could Eve have resisted? Just like you resist. How could she have resisted? Not listened. Well, I mean, he's in her face. He got her attention, see? He's just sliding along. It also says that the serpent was the most beautiful of God's animals. Well, the pivot function that she did was she took it. Before that, though, how did he get her engaged? By challenging her. He asked her a question. Everybody knows that the person who asks the question is in control of the conversation. It's the first thing out of his mouth. Hey, did God say? And right away, who's controlling? He is.

What should she have done? Well, I shouldn't say should she have done. What could she have done right then? Walked away. To what? Just turn her back and walk away? She was facing someone who was way craftier than she was and way more powerful than she was. So what could she have done?

Cried out to God. Sure. And cried out to God. Turned to God. And you know what? I think Adam is standing right next to her when this is happening. I don't think he was off going to the bathroom somewhere. He was right there watching this whole transaction go down. Could she have responded with a question? Could have. I mean, she could have said, well, why are you bugging me? I don't have time for you. Why should I even pay attention to what you're saying?

But once he got her going, then that verse 9 is to me an amazing verse. I went to Ezekiel, I was going to show you, but you can look it up on your own. In Ezekiel 28, you can look up and it talks about the king of, I think Sidon or something, who is really Lucifer. It talks about his beauty and who he is. But the fascinating thing about this verse 9, in chapter 3, is, I'm sorry, where am I wrong?

I'm sorry, 3-6, for when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, she's paying attention to the tree now, to the fruit, she's focused on the fruit. that it was pleasant to the eyes, must have been nice looking, that the tree was desirable to make one wise, which assumes that she doesn't think that she's wise and she's buying into what Lucifer has said to her, you eat this and you'll become wise, you're going to be like God, knowing the difference between good and evil.

She took the fruit and ate it. Isn't this exactly how we follow our own nature? It's exactly how we do it. It's, hey look over here. Or look introspectively. I need X. And you start focusing on it. And focusing on it. And the next thing you know you're at the car So is it the same question for Adam? You know, it's interesting. You think Eve was deceived here? Adam? Eve. Only because she wanted to be. You think she was deceived? You think she was... that Lucifer pulled a fast one on her? Yeah. I think he did. But not Adam. Not Adam. Adam knew. And why do you think Adam...

There's nothing in scripture that says why he did it, but why do you think he went for it? Because he didn't go through this process. Because she was persuasive. It was her fault. Well, it wasn't her fault, God, it's your fault for giving her to me after he sinned. But why, before he sinned, why did he, I mean, she just handed it to him and he ate it. Okay, she was, he was as bad as she. Now think about this. In one respect, They were naked in the garden. So what were they clothed with? Nothing. Right, nothing.

How about light? The light is the Orange God's presence. Sure. So when Eve eats, her light goes out, so to speak. Adam is sitting there watching this happen. She's history. Spiritually now, she just went across the abyss. He hasn't eaten it yet. Why would he? Isn't that ridiculous? Because I think he loved her. He wanted to be with her at any cost. That's my speculative answer. It's not Biblical. It's just what I think. Because it just says she handed it to him and he ate it and boom, it was over. Alright, let's quickly look at 14 and 15, God's judgment upon Satan. Somebody read 14 and 15. the field. On your belly you will go, and the dust you will eat in all the days of your life. And I will put enmity between you and the one, and between your seed and her seed. He shall bruise you on the head, and you shall bruise him on the heel."

So snakes now all crawl on the ground. They're on their belly, wherever they go. And so he's cursed them that they have to do this and then he puts this enmity between him and the woman. What is that? Women just are afraid of snakes. I must be the woman because I am deathly afraid of snakes. Human beings are above animals. Yes. So she is higher than he, the snake I mean.

And he said I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your seed and her seed. What are we talking about? Your seed and her seed. Who are those two seeds? Emnity between the seed of Lucifer and her seed which is mankind. There's enmity there. And he shall bruise your head and you shall bruise his heel. What are we talking about here?

Well, mankind is her seed and then Jesus is the seed of down the line who defeated Satan when he resurrected from the dead. Yeah. Her seed, that's talked about here, is the Lord Jesus Christ. because it comes from a woman, that's where he gets his humanity. Now the Holy Spirit impregnates Mary, but it's Mary's seed, and that man will bruise his head, but he'll bruise his heel.

What's the bruised heel about? The cross. That's what it is. So what he's saying to Satan is that enjoy your time while you've got it because there's coming a man who's going to put you down. That's really what he's saying. And that man will come from the seed of Eve, the one that you just tricked.

Okay, but you know what? A simple person would not get this. They might not. Yeah, why couldn't they have written it in a better way? I don't know, you have to talk to Moses, he wrote it. Okay, to the woman he said, I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception. In pain you shall bring forth children. Your desire shall be for your husband and he shall rule over you. Wow! Isn't that interesting?

Because of what she did, her pain is multiplied, her sorrow is multiplied. And that's not only in conception and childbirth, it's just women. It even says so about Mary when she was beholding the Lord Jesus, her heart hurt because she knew what was coming for him. Men can get over that kind of thing, but women don't. In pain you shall bring forth children. I don't need to explain that.

Your desire shall be for your husband. Why is that a curse? All you husbands, pay attention. Why is that a curse? I've heard it's more like she wants the Lord to pour it over the husband and be in charge. Isn't that right? Now think about what he's saying. that one of the curses is that your desire will be for your husband and oh by the way he's going to rule over you. True desire should be for God. Should be for the Lord. So God is setting up the structure right here that the man is the head, the woman is subject to him.

In the Garden of Eden, did it seem like it functioned that way? Seemed like they both of them. I mean, Adam was the head of the race, but the first temptation comes to Eve and she's the one that eats first. And Adam isn't saying there, hey, I forbid you to eat. Not saying anything. OK, the desire will be for your husband. That's not a good deal.

For most women, because how reliable is their husband? Probably not very much. Now we believers have a different set up because the husband loves the wife as Christ loved the church and gave himself for it. The woman can submit herself to a Christian husband who's walking with the Lord and she can be fulfilled and satisfied in that.

Outside of Christ it's nothing. They're under the curse. The whole world. Earth is under this curse. Yeah, look at the Middle East. Oh yeah. Look at Detroit. But I mean women have absolutely no say so. Yeah. In the Middle East. No, I know. They're like cattle. Yeah. Now, one last thing. Now he says to Adam, cursed is the ground for your sake.

In toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life. So now you're going to have to go to work. You're going to sweat. Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you and you shall eat the herb of the field. So you're going to have to work. Yeah, I bet. And you think about this one, in the sweat of your face you shall eat bread till you return to the ground for out of it you were taken and dust you are and dust you shall return.

So, in other words, you're going to die and you and all that come from you are going to die. You're going back to the earth where you came from. Except for you and me. Well, it's just the body though. Anybody want to tell me what the doctrine of imputation is? Because I don't believe in it. So let's go through it and then I'll tell you why I don't. The doctrine of imputation says that the sin of Adam was imputed to his posterity.

In Romans 5.12 it says, sin entered the world and death by sin so therefore sin passed upon all men because all men sin. Every single human being that comes from Adam gets what he has and what he is. You get a body that's dying, a soul that's infected with a sin nature and a spirit that's dead to God.

That's what you get. Chafer calls that imputation. Well why can't we raise our hand and say I elect out of imputation. That's one of the reasons why I have a problem. The sin of man is imputed to Christ on the cross. 2 Corinthians 5.21 says that he who knew no sin was made sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God. Imputation means that God is going to take something from one person and put it on another. He's going to take your sin and put it on Christ. He's going to impute that sin to Christ. and then the righteousness of God is imputed to those who believe. Here's the problem I have with that.

With the doctrine of identification and Romans 6.2 that says this, the reason that I'm born a sinner is because I came from Adam. There was nothing imputed to me. It says that I sinned in Adam when he sinned in the garden. I did it in his loins. Nothing was imputed to me. I was there hooking and jabbing right with him.

And that's a biblical principle because it says that when Abraham paid tithes to Melchizedek that Levi, who was not born yet, who was going to be the head of the Levitical priesthood, paid tithes to Melchizedek in the loins of Abraham. Because Abraham did it, so did Levi, even though Levi wasn't even alive yet. He did it in Abraham. So therefore, The Melchizedek priesthood is a much higher priesthood than the Levitical one because the Levitical one paid tribute to the higher priesthood, Melchizedek. You see that? Where was Levi? He wasn't even in the thought of Abraham when this happened, but he did it in the loins of Abraham.

I sinned in Adam. There was nothing imputed from Adam to me. I am, because I'm a son of Adam, just like him. When the Lord Jesus is on the cross, it says that he was made sin for me. How about them apples? That God took the sin of man. He did two things. He took all the sins of the world, including the sins of the angels, and put it on Christ. Is that imputation? I'd say that is. I'd say that is.

And then Christ died, and death means separation. He physically dies and he separates from all those sins. The other thing that was imputed to him was my sin nature and your sin nature. In that when Christ dies, so did you. In other words, you got separated positionally from your sin nature. You don't own it anymore. It's still there, but it's not you. Now, when Christ is raised from the dead, The righteousness of God is imputed to those who believe.

I disagree. And the reason I disagree is that if I'm in Christ, I don't need any imputation. I'm in him. I get all of what he is. It isn't that he says, okay, I'm going to impute. I got 25 cents in my pocket. I'm going to impute it to you. Not like that. I'm in him. So I get what he is. I was in Adam. I get what he is.

See the difference? That's true. So imputation, the concept of imputation cancels out nature. That's a good point. It would be like well I'm in neither one and things are being handed off to me or I got my merit badge. They ripped off the one that said Adam and sewed on the one that said Christ. But I didn't change. Yeah, I changed. I became a brand new creature. Nothing was imputed to me as a brand new creature, it is who I am as the new creature.

The doctrine of imputation, I think, takes away the idea of oneness in Christ. That's why I disagree with it. I think also, I think it's the difference between identification and imputation. It's the two federal heads. Everything is kind of DNA down either train in the federal head. And I think it's really You guys think about it and if you want to we'll talk about it more next week.

But I don't buy the doctrine of imputation, I never have. Because it's simple, if I'm in Christ, what am I getting imputed? It almost means it's a dualistic mentality. If I'm the one in Christ, what is this you and me stuff? that he's imputing something to me. Nonsense. I'm in him. I'm one with him.

See that? Dear Father, how we thank you for your grace and mercy towards us. We thank you for what we'll learn here soon of the rescue from this incredibly tragic position of our being in sin. We thank you for your grace and we pray in your son's precious name. Amen.