Turning tonight to Romans chapter 5. Romans chapter 5, begin reading at verse 12. And then we'll turn to our Belgic Confession, Article 15. It's on page 169, Forms and Prayer Book. Belgic Confession, Article 15 on page 169. Our topic before us tonight is the doctrine of original sin. First, we'll turn to the Word of God and read Romans 5, 12 through 21. A word to your congregation. It's interesting to me how the sovereign God works sermons. There's some repeat tonight from what we studied this morning. And I thought to myself, ooh, I don't know, is that okay? And it dawned on me, well, if the Holy Spirit wants to say it twice, maybe we better listen better. So here we go. Our focus, of course, is original sin, but I'm really thankful how the Belgic Confession handles this, and we'll see that as we dive in. This morning, you'll remember that we opened up the call to worship from Romans 5, 8 through 11's precious, wonderful, powerful verses. So the word therefore, as we begin tonight, is, of course, connected to what we saw this morning. So we begin reading at verse 12, and we'll read through the end of the chapter. I ask you, though, as we're reading it, to think about original sin. Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned, For sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law. Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come. But the free gift is not like the trespass, for if many died through one man's trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man, Jesus Christ, abounded for many. And the free gift is not like the result of that one man's sin. For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brought justification. For if, because of one man's trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ. Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. For as by the one man's disobedience, the many were made sinners, so by the one man's obedience, the many will be made righteous. Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, so that as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness, leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. The word of the Lord to us tonight. We turn then To page 169, if you'd like to follow along as I read to us this Article 15, the doctrine of original sin. We believe that by the disobedience of Adam, original sin has been spread through the whole human race. It is a corruption of all nature, an inherited depravity which even infects small infants in their mother's womb, and the root which produces in man every sort of sin. It is therefore so vile and enormous in God's sight, that it is enough to condemn the human race, and it is not abolished or wholly uprooted even by baptism, seeing that sin constantly boils forth as though from a contaminated spring. Nevertheless, It is not imputed to God's children for their condemnation, but is forgiven by His grace and mercy, not to put them to sleep, but so that the awareness of this corruption might often make believers groan. as they long to be set free from the body of this death. Therefore, we reject the error of the Pelagians who say that this sin is nothing else than a matter of imitation. Belgic Confession, very helpful to us tonight. If you're taking notes tonight, here's my outline. Three E's. One, two, three, three Es. First of all, the effect of Adam's sin on the world. We're studying tonight original sin and what it did. That's where we'll begin. That's what we need to focus on, the effects of Adam's sin on the world. We'll be talking about two things under that, imputed guilt and inherent pollution. We'll touch on those. Then the second point tonight is the efficacy. Fancy word, boys and girls, for power. The power of Christ's justification on His people. The power, the efficacy of Christ's justification on His people. So we'll be looking at imputed justification and inherent power. And then finally, the third point tonight, the expectancy of us. What do we think is going to happen from the scriptures since we have original sin? So those are our three points tonight we'll seek to labor on. So people, the Lord Jesus Christ, I recently, not too long ago, went to the doctor. You know, it was just a routine checkup. And one of the first things the doctor did was to ask me a barrage of questions. It was a new doctor for me. Had to get to know him. He had to get to know me. He wanted to take some notes. One of the things he wanted to know was the medical history of my parents. Spent a lot of time on my parents, particularly if there was any history of heart disease or heart problems and cancer. He really hammered on those two since I've got a lot of that in my family. Now, I might have said, hey, what's all these questions about my mom and dad, right? What's all these questions about my family in the past? I thought you were here to treat me. I could have said something like that. But of course, we now understand that many physical weaknesses, troubles that we have are hereditary. And there's a better chance, I hear, statistically, that if your mom and dad had this problem, you might have this problem. So, of course, the doctor cares about my mom and dad and their history. We enter tonight into that portion of the Belgic Confession that points out the same kind of truth. We had a problem with our mom and dad. My mom and dad had a problem. Your mom and dad had a problem. My grandpa and grandma had a problem, and their grandpa and grandma had a problem, and on and on and on it goes. And the problem we're speaking of tonight is the same problem, if you chase it all the way back, to Adam himself. Adam had a problem. What was the problem? Sin. And again, we would be wise to look out for the same kind of symptoms that Adam had. We would be wise. We want to particularly observe tonight this sin we have received by hereditary, or what we refer to as the original sin of Adam. will even be wiser to understand this problem we receive down through the ages, this problem more than any physical problem that might be in your family line. So by way of introduction, let me say that the sin we speak of is the first sin of Adam. This is the original sin. And I know tonight that you and I could debate quite a length exactly what that sin was. There was a host of problems that I see erupting during that time of that sin. But if you trace the genealogy of Noah, you would find that the world comes from his family as well. Why is it then that we speak of Adam's sin since Noah had sin too? because it's the first one. So this is the first sin that occurred upon the face of the earth. There was a moment in time where Adam and Eve sinned. When previous to that, there was no sin. Previous to that, there was joy, there was harmony, there was peace in the garden, all was well. They're walking with God. But then there was sin. And it changed everything. Changed everything. Note also we speak of a singular sin. Certainly Adam sinned more than once, but it is the first sin of Adam that we want to focus on. Romans 5, 12 tells us, therefore, just as sin, singular sin, entered into the world through one man and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men because all now have sinned. We begin tonight by observing, first of all, the effect of Adam's sin on the world. The first effect we need to see is that it imputed guilt to all of us. That was the first effect. Now, you may not like that. I don't like it, but it is reality. Adam's sin imputed guilt into every human then and now and ever will be here upon the face of the earth. Imputed guilt, imputed guilt. What does that mean? Imputed guilt, right? Boys and girls, we don't use that word every day, do you? You don't use that word, do you? Imputed, ascribed, counted, assigned to, would be words, credited. It's like a financial kind of a term. It's an accounting term, if you will. Some of you young people are getting some accounting classes in school. You know that in accounting, figures are put in certain columns and certain things are added up and subtracted. Kind of tells you the health of your business. Well, this tells us the health of our heart tonight. We understand this judicially. If, for example, you're caught speeding, and I trust no one here at Walker's getting caught speeding, well, you get a record. It gets accounted to your record. You now have a record. And yeah, you're guilty of a crime. But you may well ask me tonight, how can I be imputed with the guilt of Adam's sin since I myself didn't do it? Right? It's a fair question. Let's ask it. Let's put it on the floor. Let's look at that question. Let's try to think of it this way. You know, my illustrations are often weak, but let's try a few. When Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, Who did they really strike? Well, not just Pearl Harbor, but all of America. Or if two people are partners in a business and one of them is sued, they both are liable. Why? Because they formed a partnership. They have a relationship. But wait, you say, I made no treaty with Adam, and I never partnered with Adam to be liable for his mistakes. Well, OK, let me put it this way. Within our government system, we elect people to represent us. At least that's what they're supposed to be doing. So in the one house of our government, they call it the House of Representatives. We elected them. We sent them to Lansing or sent them to Washington to represent us. They vote for us. They act as our voice in areas of legislature. What they decide, were affected by. But you say, well, I didn't vote for Adam and Eve. But you have been affected by them, just as you've been affected by those in our government that pass laws that we don't agree with. Like it or not, it's now the law. He's our representative. Adam is our representative. As Americans, we are all ascribed on our account the national debt. You know, you owe a lot of money. Seen the debt in America lately? As humans, we are all ascribed on our account the guilt of sin. The effect of Adam's sin is guilt. That is all our position. That is reality. And we might not like it. We might say that's crazy. But it's reality. Because of our representative, we stand in the condemnation of death and proof of the fact that we are all affected by original sin is right at the cemetery. We all die. Listen to Ligonier Ministries on this topic. Let me read a little bit to you in a moment. It helps us with this text. Death is the punishment for sin, Genesis chapter 2. So if someone dies, they have been reckoned a sinner. However, one can be reckoned a sinner without ever having committed an actual personal sin, without ever having willfully broken a commandment. This is true, as our Belgic tried to point out, with extremely young babies. I don't know when babies start sinning, but I raised four of them, and I'll tell you, they're not very old before I saw evidence of it. But having lost a couple of children to miscarriage, as many of you have, we already got death in the womb. Has that baby, yet not even fully formed, openly, actively sinned? No. I don't think so. But do they bear the guilt of Adam's sin and hence die? Yes. So let me read on. But it is also true of Christ who died, though he never violated God's commandments. Jesus committed no sin. Neither was deceit found in his mouth, 1 Peter 2 tells us. Yet on the cross, for our sake, God made him to be sin who knew no sin, 2 Corinthians 5, 21. His sin, his people's sin, our sin, the people of God, sin was put on his account. And God regarded him as guilty. This guilt was not his because he personally sinned, but because God imputed sin to him. These facts help us make sense of Romans 5, 12 through 14. Let me read that again, because it's a difficult text. You got it open before you? This is not an easy text. Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned, verse 13, for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, right? Of course. Before the Ten Commandments were written in Exodus 20, 2,000 years after Adam, sin is not counted where there is no law. What does that mean? Well, it shows the effect of original sin. That even though sin was not accounted of someone, because they didn't have the law yet, right? I mean, if they don't ever post the speed limit, how do I know if it's 35, 45, 55? You can't give me a ticket if you don't post the law. So it wasn't until Moses that we got the law. So we went through multiple years before We had the law, and yet people still died. Why did they die? Because of original sin. They already bore the guilt of sin. Now, of course, they sinned without the law and within their own consciousness. We know that. Paul teaches us that in Romans 1 through 3. But nonetheless, this text teaches us That original sin imputes guilt, ascribes guilt upon us. All right, let me get back to reading here. His people's sin was put on his account and God regarded Jesus as guilty. This guilt was not his because he personally sinned, but because God imputed sin to him. These facts help us to make sense of Romans 5. When Paul says all have sinned, he's not speaking of the personal sins we've committed on our own in this text. Though all of us certainly have many personal and individual violations of God's law in our records. Instead, he means that we bear the guilt of Adam by imputation. The one trespass of Adam led to the condemnation of all men. In Adam all die. So you may be listening tonight and struggling with this. You say, this isn't fair. And what we're trying to understand tonight is the reality that we bear. We stand guilty. Again, I say to you, you may be struggling, you may be listening online tonight, you may be struggling with this issue. You say, well, this isn't fair, I don't like it, this doesn't make sense. It's reality. It's cold, hard reality. God told the human representative If you take of that fruit, you will what? Die. And they died. So not only do we have this ascribed on us, but we also have the inherent pollution that we talked about this morning, right? We're struggling with our position, we're struggling with our practice. That's what we saw this morning. And we saw that Jesus Christ has come to perfect our position and he is now indeed perfecting or sanctifying us. Awesome. Well, we need to know that because not only do we have this ascribed to us, but we see the inherent pollution within our hearts. Besides imputed guilt, there's another effect of sin, namely inherent pollution. We know what pollution is. It's dirt, it's contamination within my heart. Boys and girls, have you ever asked yourself the question, why did I just say that? That was so mean. Have you ever stopped, maybe you're in a fight with your brother or sister, and afterwards, you know, maybe mom or dad puts you in time out or something, and you're sitting there thinking about this. Have you thought to yourself, have you wondered to yourself, why do I do that? Why am I so selfish? Why do I get so mad so easy? Some of you might be wondering, why do I worry so much? Why do I get angry at disappointments in life so much? Why do I struggle? There seems to be something wrong with me. Have you seen that, boys and girls, in your heart? I hope you have. The younger you see that, the better. The faster you see that you're struggling with your own sin nature, the better. The faster you see that you're just like Adam and Eve, the better. So that. You'll look to Christ. So I suppose the best word for an inherent pollution is natural pollution, or we say natural sin. We know we have imputed guilt because of death. I mean, it's evidenced all the time. We know we have inherent pollution because of our actions, because of our lives. that don't have the joy that we know we should, don't have the peace that we know God would give us. There are those that think we have sinned because we imitate others, right? That was in the Belgian Confession. The Pelagians think this, that the only reason we got sinned is because we watched our mom and dad and we learned from them how to sin. We watched our brothers and sisters and we learned how to sin. That's really ridiculous. We had it in our hearts way before that. It's sort of like seeing one yawn. If you yawn, then I want to yawn. Bad example, but that's one. But the scripture teaches us that we have inherent sin. Matthew 12, 34, Jesus teaches us that from the heart, from our heart, the mouth speaks. Why did I just say that with that tone? Why did I just say a naughty word? Why did I say that? because my heart is corrupt so instead of being like a yawn that I imitate it is more like having a cold and coughing you know how it is when you get a cough kind of a tickle in your throat you can't help but cough right you just tickle sometimes you got to get up in church and walk out go get a mint or a drink or something sure we all get it we all been there That's how it is. I got something going on, something wrong inside, and so I cough. I got something going on, something wrong, and I sin. So that's inherent sin. There you are out in the woods hunting with your dad, right, boys? Right, girls? And you know you gotta be quiet. And all of a sudden you get that cough. It's hard to stop. It's even harder to stop sin. We have it, don't we? How utterly natural it is for me to sin. It's just my nature. Something doesn't go our way, we get impatient, we get mad, and just as Jesus said, the mouth speaks from the heart of sin. We can't help but say with Paul from Romans 7, O wretched man that I am, who is going to fix this mess? My translation. Indeed, you may have been greatly influenced by a dad with a bad temper or a mother who was constantly worrying or something, but you cannot use them as an excuse. So, there it is. That's the end of the sermon. Let's go home. We've got guilt assigned to us and we've got pollution within our heart. We've got no hope. Let's go home, right? Amen? Shall we stop? Shall we go home now? Aren't you glad Romans 5 doesn't stop there? Aren't you glad the Belgic Confession doesn't stop there? I love this word, nevertheless. Yes, even though we got this, we're a train wreck. Nevertheless. It's not imputed to God's children for their condemnation. But it's forgiven. It's forgiven. So we come to the second part of the sermon tonight. You don't get to go home yet. You don't even want to go home right now, do you? You want to hear the second part, right? The efficacy of Christ's justification on his people. The power of Christ to bring his broken, train wrecked people justification. Adam's sin imputed guilt on our account but now the children of God are imputed with justification treated just as if we never sinned. Note with me from verse 17 For if because of one's trespass death reigned through that one man, much more. Underline that in your Bible. Much more. will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ. So we have the power of Christ to come to us and change us. 1 Corinthians 15, 22 says, for as in Adam, all die. It's true, isn't it? So in Christ, all will be made alive. If you're in Christ, you can be assured of being made alive as sure as you know the day is going to be that you will die. That's the confidence you can have, just as sure as the day is coming, I'm going to die unless grace returns. I can be absolutely sure that I will live because of the power of Christ. Verses 14 and 15. Death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one to come. But the free gift is not like that trespass. For if many died through one man's trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man, Jesus Christ, abounded for many." Abounded. for many. As powerful as the imputation of guilt was, the efficacy of Christ's justification is more. How? Our new representative did not sin. The original one, Adam, oh yeah, but we've got a second Adam, and let me tell you again tonight, he never, ever sinned, and that is so critical to our understanding of our salvation. If Jesus Christ would have just sinned one time, you and I would not be saved tonight. But the fact is, he never did. Ever, ever did. Can you imagine that boy as a girl? As a little boy? He never sinned. Can you imagine this kid as a teenager? Never sinned. Can you imagine him in the workshop at 21 years old? I don't know. Never sinned. Ever. Not that he wasn't tempted to. On and on, the tempter worked on our Savior, but he never sinned so that his righteousness could be imputed to us. Our new representative did not sin, he fulfilled the law of God without any error. Remember when we were considering the imputation of Adam's guilt on us? It didn't seem fair, did it? How about now with our new representative, the Lord Jesus Christ? Let me ask you, does that seem fair? That he took your sin, gave you his righteousness? You want fair? I don't want fair. I only want one thing, and that's the grace of God. We know we stand with Adam because of the sins that we see in our own life, but how do we see ourselves stand with Jesus Christ? Do we stand with him because of our own righteousness? No, we stand by grace, a grace that imputes justification to our account. Boys and girls, it's like God getting a big eraser and erasing all of those sins in your life. What God calls justified by the atonement of Christ is justified. He declares it. Our account is erased. Our debt is paid. What was ascribed by our name is now changed from guilt to grace. Amazing grace, glorious grace that saved a wretch like me. Thank you for singing that song this morning so good. I just resonated in here. This is the good news that we share tonight. The efficacy of Christ's justification is an efficacy that none can match, none can change. And this is the good news we want all to hear tonight, don't we? Would you have your account covered by Christ? Would you be free from the burden of sin? Then believe in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and you will repent of your sins. Believe in him. But there's still more good news. We said that from Adam we have an inherent pollution. What do we have in Christ? An inherent new power to stand against sin. Let me say to you again tonight, Christian, you do not have to sin. You do not have to. Before when you were enslaved to Satan and deceived by Satan, he was your master. but he's no longer your master. You have been set free from him. He has no business telling you what to do. You do not have to have that attitude. You do not have to speak like that, talk like that, walk like that. You can change by the power of the Lord Jesus Christ. He's working in you to bring great change as we saw this morning. You have this new inherent power. Before it was an inherent weakness. I got to sin. Satan's my master. You don't have to sin anymore. You can't stand before God and say, God, listen, I just sinned, but it's really not my fault. I mean, I got this weak, I got a problem, and so I got an excuse, don't I? No, you've got the dwelling of the Holy Spirit within you to say no to unrighteousness and yes to righteousness. Look at verse 19. I'll start with verse 18. Therefore, as the one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. Now watch verse 19. For as by one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man's obedience the many will be made... What is it? What will you be made? Righteous. He's gonna turn an unrighteous man like me into a righteous man like Christ. That's powerful. That's power. In Adam, we have an inherent pollution, but in Christ, through the efficacy of Christ's justification, we have inherent power. Before, the most natural thing in the world was to sin. And Ephesians called us slaves to sin. Remember when we studied the book of Ephesians? But now, because of the inherent power, You are free. You are free. Free to no longer sin. We've considered the effects of Adam's sin. We've studied the efficacy of Christ's justification. Just a couple more words here tonight. We're running late. I'm sorry. Here's the third point very quickly. What do we expect? What's the expectation of us? The end of Article 17 now speaks very close to us by saying, Not that we should rest securely in sin, but that a sense of this corruption should make believers often to groan. Did you hear that? To groan. May I ask you tonight, are you sick and tired of your sin? Are you groaning tonight because you've just had it? You've had enough of it. Then praise God for that because that's evidence of the power of the Holy Spirit dwelling within you, first changing your desires to be sick and tired of it. It's time for a change. That's the work of the Holy Spirit in you. So don't let his mercy put you to sleep. We've had that warning in the book of Hebrews. Don't get dull, but get on the attack. Fight your sin nature. Stand against the devil and his ways. Flee from your flesh. Make the changes you need to make. Shut that device off that's tempting you. Get away from it. Stop listening to Satan and his word to you, but instead stand in defiance and quote the scriptures that Jesus Christ is greater than all my sin and all my shame. Adam's sin is not eternal to the believer, but Christ's righteousness is. Revelation 21, 4. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Oh, that we had more tears over our sins. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death. Or mourning. Or crying. Or pain. For the old order of things has passed away. While death will end for the child of God, life will never end. He's given us life. God will continue to work in our lives by the power of Christ. Oh, did I say that this morning? I did, didn't I? That's interesting. The Holy Spirit wanted us to hear something twice today. God has not only changed our position, but he's now working in us to change our practice. So Christians, go out this week and live the way God would have you live. Amen? Let's pray. Father, we thank you for the power of the Holy Spirit dwelling within us. We thank you for the power of your word. We pray that Heavenly Father, you would convince our weak faith that you have changed our position We are your child by the blood of the Lamb, but also, Lord, change the practice of our life. Convince us of the power of the Holy Spirit that we do not have to sin, we do not have to listen to Satan. Father, would you help us be a holy people unto you in every way, shape, and form? Forgive us of our sin. Now help us, O Lord, to battle this sin, trusting you each day. Father, help us as a congregation to be praying for one another, because every one of us has got some sin to battle. So, Father, would you hear our prayers this week for one another, that we'd be praying for each other, helping us in this battle? Lord, thank you for this encouraging word to us this day. For Lord, you said something to us this morning. You're saying it to us again tonight. So we're trying to listen to you and your word. Thank you. Father, bless us on our homeward way. Bless the college and career group tonight as they meet. Watch over us this week. Help us to love you. We pray in Jesus name. Amen.