Identification Truths Plus 2012

We are on lesson 10. As I pointed out last week, we've talked a lot about the name of the class is identification. We've talked a little bit about what the term means, union with Christ and our identification with him and his death, prayer and resurrection and ascension and seating in the heavenlies. We've talked a little bit about grace. We went through John 17, which is pretty descriptive of what the desire of the Lord Jesus is for every one of us.

And now, when we start into Romans 5.12, we're going to talk about the mechanics of how God did it. This is how he pulled it off. And so, over the next few weeks, when we do two weeks in Romans 5, and then several weeks in Romans 6, what we're really going to discover, this is precisely how God united you to Christ. This is how he did it.

So the first thing we're going to study is 5.12-21 in Romans is what is known as the doctrine of the two men. And it's really important to know the doctrine of the two men and exactly what it means because what's going to happen as we go forward, you're going to discover that both of these men bring something to the table They are alike in a lot of respects, they are different in a lot of respects, but they are the two most important men ever on the planet. Who are they? Adam and Christ. The devil is an angel, not a man. But that horn thing, that's all a mystery.

Maybe the way to start, Somebody read Romans 5.12, I think through, let's just do through 17 today. Anybody who can read English.

Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sin. For until the law, sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law. Nevertheless, death reigned from Adam until Moses, even over those who had not sinned, in the likeness of the offense of Adam, who was a take of man who was to come. But the free gift is not like the transgression. For if by the transgression of the one the many died, much more did the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, abound to the many. The gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned, for on the one hand the judgment arose from one transgression, resulting in condemnation, but on the other hand the free gift arose from many transgressions, resulting in justification. For if by the transgression of the one death reigned through the one, much more those who received the abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness through the warning of Jesus Christ.

Okay, so, remember last week I talked about there's another significant difference starting in 5.12? Romans 1.1 through 5.11 talks about sins, S-I-N-S, right? What are sins?

Many. Many. Now you only speak about one. So now if you'll notice in your Bible that the word sin is now singular, not plural anymore. In Greek it has a definite article in front of it, which means it's the sin. So what does that mean? One nature. One sin. Well, one sin? What do you think? It means the sin nature. So notice the first verse says, by one man The sin entered the world. Okay, where's this? What number? 512. The the isn't there in English. It's only there in Greek. But the tip off is the fact that it's singular. So we're not talking about by one man all these bushels of bad stuff came in.

What happened was, is the factory that produces the sins came So, my first question was, how did the sin nature enter the world? Through Adam. Sure. And Adam, that's what he brought. Adam brought with him the sin nature through one man, and that's really important. That's why he's a really important man. Why is it significant that it be Adam that brought the sin nature into the world?

You remember when we first started this class back in January we talked about we were in Genesis of all places and one of the principles that God put in place was that like begets like. Right, so he gave us his sins so therefore we are all sinners. Okay, so that's not only true physically but it's true spiritually.

Well wouldn't it have something also to do because God it seems to me gave him the title You know, he told him to name the animals and he put him in charge. That's right, he made it. He gave him dominion. That's right. Yeah, he gave him dominion over the creation. I think you answered this for me once before, but did God create Adam, man, with a sin nature then? So he had a sin nature, but then when the devil came, then he exercise that sin nature? No. When God finished creating Adam and the whole first creation, what did he say about it?

It was good. So there wasn't a sin nature. That's right. There wasn't any sin. So when Adam... trick question. See who's smart. Courtney can't answer. He's heard the question. If Eve disobeys God and eats the fruit, and Adam doesn't, Does the whole creation fall? I wouldn't think so. Why not? Because Adam is the head of the race, not Eve.

Right. Okay? He's the representative man. And we women have been battling that ever since. But if you think about it, when God shows up and says, Adam, why are you hiding? What was his answer? You know, God, the woman you gave me? Whose fault did he say it was? He said it was God's fault. Oh, that's right.

I have a question for you. If it doesn't matter that Eve sinned first because it is up to Adam because he is the father of the race, then why is there theological debates about whether or not Mary passed on her sin nature to Christ? I feel that the sin in a woman is still pertinent, maybe not to the same degree in regards to this question, but it can still be transmitted via a woman. That's a great question. Everybody understand that question? Yes. Why didn't Christ have a sin nature?

I know, I understand why he didn't, but what I'm saying is that theologians have debated for years how Mary herself, because they believe it can be transmitted via a woman, but why is this, not just strictly Catholicism, but why is this woman insignificant, but when Mary Well, that's right, God created Eve out of the side of Adam.

And so she was just like Adam. Now she has not been given, she was created as a helpmate for Adam. She was not given dominion over anything. Adam was. He was the guy. And so she's like him, And she's like him without sin too before she sins. But then when Adam sins, not only is he a judge guilty, but he becomes this thing called flesh. That's what his nature is now. And now he can only produce after what he is. And so he's got one option. He's got Eve. Eve sinned also. So when they produce an offspring, what do you get? You get a sinner. You get another sinner.

Two weeks ago in our Tuesday men's Bible study, we were studying Melchizedek. And it talks about what a great man this guy was. And one of the guys in the class was debating me that Melchizedek was some sort of extra human being that showed up on the planet and probably didn't have a sin nature. And I said, nonsense. Nonsense. The Bible specifically talks about Adam's first, then comes Eve, and then they procreate Cain and Abel, like that. Well, where did Melchizedek come from?

He came down that line. He had a sin nature. The thing about Melchizedek is that his office is particular, not him necessarily, personally. The fact that he was a priest was the significance of the fact that he was a great man. But he was still a man, and you know what? He still died. But his office goes on forever. In the Levitical priesthood, when the Levite priest died, so did his priesthood, but not with Melchizedek.

When were we given that choice of free will? There are two creatures that I know of, or three, that have had free will. Lucifer, Adam and Eve. And what did they do with it? Well, I take that back. The angels all had it too. But don't we have free will? Do you? I thought so. To choose between good and evil. Is that all that free will is? No. I never thought of it further. To choose between this sin and that sin. See, what we're going to discover over the next two weeks is that we are in bondage to sin. That we are enslaved to it. When we get to Romans 6, it's going to say that. So the issue of free will, you won't find it in the Word of God. It's not there.

You have the ability to choose. But you're not free to choose whatever you want. As an example, let's say you choose to be the President of the United States. Can you pull it off? I exercise my free will. What's the problem? I choose to fly without an airplane. Can you pull it off? Have I answered your question?

I don't mean any disrespect by that. I'm going to look up the theology of it again and see what I... You brought up a... I just disagree with you. But I like that you're presenting it this way. It's just a different way to look at it. Can I give maybe an example? Yeah, go.

When he talks about the sin nature, it comes through the seed. And the seed is Adam. So you've got a seed and a soil. The soil is just where that seed is being planted, whatever is going to grow from that seed, I think is the analogy that's given several times.

But theologians debate whether or not, like theologians, okay, Mary had Christ in her, no seed from man, physically, no seed from man, and many theologians think that Mary had the potential of passing her sin nature, while some of them will resort to this and say, no, because the seed of a man was not present, therefore Jesus Christ could not have a sin nature, but that is highly debated.

But he's God! Well I know he's God, I know that, but there's problems with him being God in a way. I don't think there's any problems with it at all, and I'll tell you why. Because the Bible clearly teaches that God was the one who impregnated man. And I agree.

And if he did that, then there would have been no sin nature from his side. If you look at this doctrine of 5.12-21, you're talking about two representative men. One of them is Christ, the other one is Adam. Now, if Christ had a sin nature, from a spiritual standpoint, that means that as we are identified with his crucifixion, burial, and resurrection, then we're going to continue to have sin natures, and the Word of God teaches over and over and over again that we are free from sin. free from sin in a lot of places. Because we are in Christ. He was made sin for us. He who knew no sin, and oh by the way, that singular, he who knew no sin nature became or was made sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

Two big problems. One is if he had a sin nature then he wouldn't have been a qualified sacrifice. Because you can't die for your own sins. And two, if that was true, then God wouldn't have raised him from the dead and we are in big trouble. In terms of whether we're saved or not. And as Randy spent two weeks talking about position and condition, position is really important. Our position in Christ is exactly what he is. I don't doubt the fact that theologians argue about stuff all the time. The problem with most theologians is they don't read their Bibles. They really don't. I don't know if I misunderstood you, but when you said that we're in bondage to sin, we're not anymore though. No, positioning. You have to understand that we are not positionally bonded.

We may be conditionally. I mean you can be an alcoholic and get saved and still be boozing every day. But your condition... The Spirit of God has now come into you to free you from the conditional aspects of your life. Right, so the cage door is open, but we're still going to sit in it, because that's all we know. Is that reasonably clear? Yeah, and you have salvation because you are positionally in Christ and that can never be changed.

That's right. Even if you screw up. Yeah. Especially for your husband. Amen. Did you have a question? No. Okay. So, through one man sin entered the world. Adam. Sin nature. That's how we got it. Everybody gets a sin nature. So, if, let's say, if we counted ourselves justified in the sense of merely having our own sins and trespasses paid for, those that we were those that we have committed ourselves, wouldn't this amount to counting ourselves as innocent before we personally sin? So here's the question. When did you become a sinner? Before we were born. When? When? When Adam was born. When Adam sinned. Look at the last phrase. What does it say? What does it say? Because all sinned. All sinned. So you didn't become a sinner the first time you committed a sin. You didn't become a sinner when your parents procreated you. You were in Adam's loins committing that sin in the garden.

And another example of that is Hebrews 7 again talking about Melchizedek when Levi offered tithes to Melchizedek. Abraham offered tithes to Melchizedek. It is considered that Levi did it in his loins although Levi was several decades before he was even born. So it has everything to do with position.

When Adam sinned against God, he was condemned to death. Remember what God said to him, in dying you will surely die, meaning that you're going to die more, there will be more than one death? What do you think he meant by that? Physical death and spiritual death. What's death mean? Separation. So he told Adam, if you sin, you're going to be separated not only spiritually from me immediately, but you're going to physically die in the future. Do you think Adam understood that? Yes, I do. I absolutely do. Adam was created by God perfect, to the point where he was given the leeway of maiming the animals.

He was more intelligent than anybody since then. And if he didn't understand it, God would have made sure he did. But God wouldn't have him in a position, yeah that's true, he wouldn't have the head of the race, who knew if he sinned, be ignorant of his sin. And it was an immediate because he was walking with him and then he was hiding. He knew it right away.

So Adam being your unsaved head and your unsaved life, does the same hold for you? Have you been condemned to death? Yes. Absolutely. Are you dead to God? No. I'm talking about before you were saved. Were you dead to God? No. Sure you were. Totally. Every human being is born dead to God. It's a pretty tough swallow though when you're young and starting to have babies. I remember Donna, when we had John, she was convinced John was the only kid born who didn't have a sin nature. Guess what? He proved her wrong. And we didn't have to send him to sinning academy. He knew.

What about people who even though they've never really turned to the Lord Jesus Christ, yet they pray and sometimes their prayers are answered. Does God hear their prayers? No. He does not. No. I wonder how those prayers are answered. Well, it appears that they're answered. I am. And it could be the Holy Spirit working to convict it. Perhaps. Could do that. I mean, the Holy Spirit's job is to convict the world. That's true. So everybody has the Holy Spirit, even unbelievers? No, they don't. So then how could the Holy Spirit be working to convict somebody? He's working to save them. Convicting them of their separation from God. Okay, and maybe answering someone's prayers might help them.

So Adam, when he sinned, he took the whole human race into the position of sin. 1 Corinthians 5.22, in Adam all die. except for a Republican.

In Adam all have his life and are therefore, Ephesians 2.3, by nature they are the children of wrath. So if somebody in this room didn't come from the line of Adam, then you're not by nature the children of wrath.

But guess what you did, so you are. Where was the 1st Corinthians? 1st Corinthians 5.22. Now I want you to notice something else here. Verse 13 through 17 is a parenthesis.

Now, what it talks about there, and I'm paraphrasing, is that God did not impute sin before there was a law. Why do you think he didn't do that? Sure, so up until Moses, how many laws were there? There weren't any. There was one law. What was the law? And it was given to one guy. That's right. That was the only law. He broke it.

But notice that the verses say that people still were dying. How come? If they weren't breaking laws, and they didn't have these individual sins chalked up against them, how come they were dying? They were descendants of the prototype man. What makes you physically die? You get old. Now don't talk about old. What causes you to die? Because you have a sin nature. You're born with a sin nature and that's the problem of even though you have not sinned like Adam sinned, you didn't commit a specific violation of a law that God gave you, you die because you have the sin nature. Does that make sense?

I don't think you understand what I'm saying. It's like a reversal in a way. It's kind of reversed. I don't even know if I can say what I mean. That we don't die because we sin sins, committed sins, we died just because of who we are. In Adam, all die. So that's why that little phrase in there is that people were dying even though they didn't violate the law. King James uses the word similitude. We didn't sin like Adam sinned. We didn't break any law. We didn't get any.

But we still died. but through sin we die physically and spiritually. Because we came from Adam and because we sinned in Adam when he sinned and we have a sin nature. Now, the interesting thing about the sin nature is that we don't really, I don't think we get our arms around it for what it really is. You ask, well gee, don't we have a free will? Well if you have a sin nature, how free can you possibly be? Can you choose life? No. Not on your own you can't. No, you can't go before God and say, hey, you know, I got screwed in this deal. That's right.

I'm convinced that the great white throne, where all humanity comes before God for judgment, comes before Christ and we'll be there judging, that people who denied Christ or didn't even show up are going to stand before him and say, I didn't want you then and I don't want you now. Where's the door to hell? Nobody's going to say, oh, you didn't give me enough chances. Nobody.

And the reason that is that way is that the sin nature is so against God that there's nothing in it that would desire God. Because it's the nature of Lucifer, Satan, and what was his mindset? I will put my throne above God. So I'm not submitting to you, give me a break. I would rather be in the lake of fire than have to spend time with you.

That's how everybody's sin nature is. And when you ask questions about these horrible deeds that people do in the world, it says in John chapter 4 that they loved agape, the darkness, more than the light. Because it wouldn't come to the light because their deeds were evil. I don't think we really realize how unredeemable the sin nature is. And when we get to Romans 8, we're going to see that God did not... I'll make another question. Ready?

God forgave you your sins by Christ dying on the cross, right? Did he forgive your sin nature? I've got two no's up here. Anybody want to try? Yes, you did? No, forgive the sin nature. Did he forgive it? Oh yeah, if you believe. Did he? I don't know back there. What did he do with the sin nature? He condemned it. He forgives you the person but not that nature you have. That's right. He condemned the sin nature. You have two natures in you. You have the nature of the resurrected Christ and you have the nature of Adam. You have both. Only Christians have those two natures.

And that's kind of the free will part then, isn't it? Well, that's the thing. That's why free will is so important, because what's the choice believers have? You do have a choice. What is it? After you're a believer. to walk or not to walk, to reckon, to reckon one of them. That's not quite what it matters. You can choose from the sin in which you previously committed or a new sin, or you can choose to walk in the ways of the Lord He has laid out for you. Close.

But it's, if I have those choices then I think I have the ability to live the Christian life myself. So, add that into the equation, now what's the choice you have? You have a choice only of who's going to control Either sin or Christ. It isn't that you're going to live the Christian life. You have the choice to allow the Spirit of God to control you and manifest the life of Christ through you.

When you decide to sin, you think, oh, I'm free to sin. No, you're not. Handcuffs came out, they got slapped on you, and the sin nature took over and is using you to sin. And you're responsible. Do you see that? So your choice is really, who's going to control me? Now when we get to Romans 6, 13 and 14, it's precise right there, it'll tell you.

Isn't it contradictory though to thinking that I can somehow clean myself up to make myself presentable to God? It's the same idea. If I think I can clean myself up and present it to God, it means that I'm exercising my will within my sin nature to make me better and more pleasing to God. It's impossible to do that when you understand that the sin nature is irredeemable. It is evil beyond anything you could fix. Yeah, it's true. Look at Syria. Look at Mike Doyle. I don't look at you that way though. Good thing.

My buddy Bob Strong, who is a guy who led me to Christ, said one day in a class, he said, if you could see what went through my mind in the last five minutes, you could see every part of what went through my mind, you'd never talk to me again the rest of your life. And he was your teacher? He was a believer and a teacher and a really good one. You mean the stuff, the crap that goes through your mind you want to tell everybody about?

All that nice stuff? You know what, even if it's not crap, if it's like, oh I want to fix myself up for God. So that's selfishness and pride. Sure it is. Sure it is. You know? Why are we breathing? Well, I mean, you know. Because he's gracious. you know, the old man is taken care of.

You're no longer, you know, on the cross we have the penalty paid for and now the power. We're not under the power of sin anymore. It is broken. But we do have to keep putting the sin nature down. No you don't. That's the whole idea. You can't put it down. The fact of presenting or yielding your members as instruments of righteousness under God, as those that are alive from the dead, what do you do? I turn myself over to him and he puts it down. That's the difference. That's the difference between law and grace.

Everybody understand why people died between Adam and Moses? Moses was a law giver. There weren't any laws to speak of up until Moses got 600 plus of them. But people were still dying even though they weren't breaking laws and they were dying because they had sin natures that condemned them. And they were identified with the sin nature.

Do you understand that? Okay, here's Monique, before she's saved, I'm going to say it again, before she's saved, here's the sin nature. You cannot tell the difference between Monique, the person, and Monique with the sin nature. They're the same. And when the sin nature says go right, Monique goes with it. When the sin nature says go left, Monique goes with it. The sin nature says, I'm going to choose this sin over this sin, Monique goes along. thinking all the time she has free will.

Monique through the work of the Spirit is presented in her lost condition that she is lost and that if she believes in the person and work of Christ she will be saved for all eternity. Now she is now identified with the sin nature when she is included by believing in the person and work of Christ When we get to Romans 6, it's going to say that you were crucified with Christ. My old man was crucified with Christ.

Nevertheless, I live. Guess what happened? See, nature's still there. She's still there, but the union's gone. Over here, and now she's joined to Christ. Both of those natures are within her, and both of them can control her. In essence, then, we have three natures? Yeah, we have our own nature. No, you have your own personhood. Okay, a personhood, and then we have the sin nature, and when we accept Christ, we have his... The resurrected life of Christ, that's right. So, we still always just have two. Two. Non-believers have one. Yes, I understand that.

But then the personhood, how was it you stated? Well, you, the unique person that God created, this is you and Monique. That's the nature that's impinged on you. And so you become what? A believer. You're what? You leave this union and you're joined with Christ resurrected. Now this nature still is in you and still barking orders at you, but you don't have to respond now. That's true.

That's the third P. We have the penalty, taking care of the power now, and when we leave this planet, we leave the presence. See, when a non-believer leaves the planet, This is how he goes. Sin nature is still attached to him. What did God do with the sin nature? He condemned it. So what's going to happen to the person that's united to the sin nature? Condemned. Believer, now united to Christ, he leaves the planet. What happens to his sin nature?

Stays here. It's somehow attached to his physical body. He goes to be with the Lord, because the Lord is now his life. That's the difference. And that's why we need a new body? Well, you need a new body to keep up with this new life that you have. Because your old body won't do it. There's no gravity, so you don't need legs and stuff anymore.

I had a quick question. Yes, sir. The question about God didn't impute sin, it seems that they are still you know, not going to heaven unless they believe, right? That's right. So, even though there wasn't a law and say they died before the law came into existence, so how can he have not imputed sin against them?

Because this union with the sin nature, the problem is that there was already a judgment that took place about the sin nature. You and I sinned in Adam, so we're guilty. And even though you showed up a couple years after Adam sinned, you still have this sin nature which has been condemned to death. If you don't, in your lifetime, get separated from that, you're going to go to condemnation. Condemnation means that the trial is over and the sentence has been passed. It just hasn't been carried out yet. You don't have to sin anymore. You don't have to do anything anymore. Now, granted, you do.

I mean, every human being shows up, you know, fired up, ready to sin. And they do it, you know, and they have their own personal sins as the children of wrath. But the condemnation is because of your union with that sin nature. You know, all your own personal sins do is just pile on top. Does that answer your question? Yes. Okay. Any questions about that? The phrase, I'm down to question 5. Am I jumping ahead of you?

The phrase is the figure of him to come tells us what about Adam and Christ. Or the type or the figure of the one to come. What does that tell us first of all about Adam? He was the type. A type of what? He was a man. Huh? He was a man. He was the man. He was the type of Christ who was the new man. You see that? In other words, he's a representative man, he's a federal head of a race of people. Is Christ the federal head of a race of people? Yes. Sure he is. He is? Sure he is. I thought he wasn't a human being. Christ wasn't a human being? For a short time, but mainly he wasn't. The Lord Jesus Christ? He is now. Is Christ a human being right today? Sure he is. Absolutely. Isn't he unique and he is man and he is God and he is the only man God that will ever be? That's right.

Actually he is the only God we'll see. That's interesting because Christ is known as the Lagos of God which means he is the Word of God which means if you want to know God you've got to know Christ because you're never going to know him via the Holy Spirit or the Father ever. He's the one. He's the one you have to get to know if you're going to know God. But I thought that when he was resurrected he lost his manhood and became Christ. No. The man was the man that was resurrected. Christ the man.

Right. I guess we picture the body though. But then he's different now up there. Well his body was different than the one that was crucified. But when he ascended up into heaven What was he? He was a man. Today on the throne of God sits a human being. You know even after resurrection they recognized him as a man when he was eating on the shore.

He's 100% man but he's a new man. He's a different kind of a man. and he's the head of a new race of men. But he looked like a man. Yeah, he looked just like any other guy, except he didn't have any scabs on his hands. Why that? Because he had no blood in his body. He didn't need any blood to live.

Maybe that was just for us, or for humans, to be able to recognize him. I'm sure he can take on any form, too. Well, it's interesting. On the road to Emmaus, he walks with those two guys all the way, and they don't recognize him. But I mean as a human being, otherwise he had to look like he looked so people would recognize him. Well, I've had people say, well the reason that Mary didn't recognize him at the cemetery is because his face was still puffy. Because he was beat up, you know, three days. No, this body he rose with was a brand new body in kind and quality. Never before. Never before. No human body ever existed. Never like that before.

But won't we be able to see the... And put your hand in. That's right. When we see him. Well don't you find it interesting that four days after he's crucified, or five, here's Thomas sticking his fingers in the holes and putting his hand in the side. How could he do that if he hadn't scarred up? If he had the old body, what would have happened? It would have scabbed over and scarred up. but his body has holes in it. And he can sit down and eat, but he doesn't need food. He doesn't need a door to come into the room. And his body is now glorified. Yeah, he's a man.

It's really important to understand that the Lord Jesus Christ today is a man and will be a man for all eternity. And you know why that's really critical back to Adam? When God gave dominion over the first creation, who did he give it to? A man. Right? When Adam fell, who got dominion? Satan. And is Satan a man? No. He's an angel. Right. Screwed up God's plan. Right. When the Lord Jesus rose from the dead, he now got dominion again. Who's got it now? A man. That was God's original purpose. That's right. A man's in charge.

But you can't say that Satan screwed it up because God knew Satan was going to screw it up. Yeah, it's a bad choice of words. Mike, can you answer question four? I didn't know the answer to that one. The answer is yes. Why does the word say that death reigned from Adam to Moses? Is that the question? That's the question. Okay.

Well, actually, you know, I'm glad you mentioned that because I forgot to mention the term reigned. What's the term reigned mean? I like the choice of words. Death reigned. What does that mean? Absolute unequivocal control. What's the controlling factor in the world we live in? Death is. Isn't it the fear of everybody? Isn't the fear of death what drives most, we're not talking about believers, I'm talking about the whole world. Death is a reigning principle. What's a principle? What's a principle? That's how a thing operates or functions. A principle, death is an operating, functioning principle of which the entire world is underneath it and can't get out from under it. So we run around in this world looking for health, wealth and wisdom under the umbrella of death.

It doesn't make any sense to me. Is that the second buzzer? Sorry I'm late. I still don't know why it stopped with Moses. Because Moses was the one who was given the law. And now what happens is sin got cataloged. And when we get to 20 and 21 we'll talk about why the law came in and it was to make sin exceedingly sinful. Right. And then death still reigned. Death still reigned? That's what I was meaning. Yeah, it didn't stop. That's what I was confused. It sounded like it stopped once Moses came on board. No, it didn't. But if death reigned and those people... What happened to their souls then? What happened to their souls? I don't know. Between Adam and Moses in the law. Well, let's take Adam for an example. Do you think Adam is saved? You're not going to answer that. I think he is. You know why? Why? Because God presented him with a remedy for his sins, which were the skins of animals to cover himself in the garden. Because previous to that Adam... And that's why he was saved?

For animal skins? Think about it. Adam went and cut up some philodendrons and made himself a three-piece suit out of them. God came to him and said, they're not any good. Here are some skins for you to cover yourself. I guess from real animals. Yeah, he didn't get them from Walmart. That's right. He got them from an animal that died. So right there the principle of blood covering sin was instituted. Adam accepted God's remedy.

I think he's saved. But he's not in the body of Christ. No, not in the body of Christ. He went to the good part of Sheol, which is called paradise, rather than going to Hades. See? And every human being was locked there until Christ died and went and led captivity captive.

Okay? Is that alright? Does that answer your question? That answers my question. I brought up another one. I also want to know. What is all the importance for us to know all this? I mean, when people are saved, you know, they accept it, but you don't get in What's the beauty and the importance to know all this? The reason that this is going to be so important, hopefully in about a month and a half, is that these principles are going to hold true once we go into Christ. And a principle is an undeniable fact in how a thing functions or operates. So when the Word of God tells you that you're in Christ, there are lots of principles that now come into play that no longer being an atom play and so if you live by faith in the facts those principles will permeate through your life.

Romans 6.14 says sin shall not have dominion over you. Dominion. Why? Because you're not under law, you're under grace. So we're going to study part of this class is to study what grace is. So once you understand grace a little bit, and you stay under grace, guess what? Sin and death are no longer a dominion over you.

You're free now for the first time. Conditionally free. To live free. Conditionally free or positionally free? You already are positionally free, but conditionally, living under grace as the operating principle of your life, you're free from sin. Conditionally.

That's why it's important. Because of our identification with Adam, everything that's true about Adam is true about us as an unbeliever. The key is identification now that we're identified with Christ. Everything that's true about him is true about us. It's true about me. That's why identification is so important. It's really important. I had a man tell me early on in my Christian life, when you read in those epistles about the Lord Jesus Christ, you're really reading about yourself.

Because everything that's true of him is now true of you. Because you're in him. And that's why you've got to learn the principles. And that's why the two men are important. God is going to take you out of Adam and put you into Christ and these are the mechanics of how he did it.

Okay? I've got to close. Thanks for your patience today. Father, we thank you for your word and the carefulness with which you explain things to us about how you've done it and how we are absolutely positioned in your son and free. We thank you and pray in his precious name. Amen.