Please turn with me in your confessions to page 233. I've struggled a little bit to decide how much to bite off this morning with the next nine questions. This section, which started in question 15 and goes through question 22, really make up their own section, which I think, again, still belongs under the bigger heading of God's decree. But it also seems to me that they really need to be treated together as a section to avoid getting bogged down and missing the forest for the trees. So because of that, I want to consider all these next questions together. It seems like a lot, but my goal is to work through questions 16 through 23. as one message this morning. I hope you'll see why I think that's a manageable goal as we get going. We saw in question 11 that God executes his decrees through creation and providence and then we saw that providence included a special act of providence in that God made a covenant of works for Adam and Eve and put them in the garden to live by the law. God created the world so that he might glorify himself, not only in revealing his power and creativity, but also in revealing his love and mercy in taking care of his creation. That's creation and providence. But there's even more to God's glory than his creativity and his love, isn't there? is also the moral nature of God. He is righteous and holy and he is just. These things are revealed to us in the special act of providence that God exercised through the covenant of works in the Garden of Eden. And to refresh our memories and remind ourselves of the overarching will of God that's been kind of the backdrop of our study, and we saw that in Ephesians 1 verses 9 and 10. His will is that according to his own good pleasure, which he purposed in himself, to gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth, in him. So God has a will, and a plan and a purpose, and all that is according to his own good pleasure." Those are words that describe God and his decrees. God has a plan and a purpose in everything that happens in this world, and that plan and purpose is that all things will be gathered together in one in Jesus Christ. God the Father has one overarching desire in his heart, and that is to be glorified in His Son, Jesus Christ. He wants to see all things ruled by His Son in perfect holiness and righteousness. And in accomplishing His will, we saw that God is not like a clockmaker who designs a clock and then winds it up and lets it run. He isn't some kind of hands-off God who has a will but is too busy or disinterested to make it happen. And surely not a god who has desires that he can't accomplish either. Instead, he is a god who rules over his creation carefully and thoughtfully and in perfect control. He has a desire and he is so powerful over both the physical and the spiritual realms that even his enemies will aid him in accomplishing those desires. Not one sparrow falls to the ground apart from His knowledge. That's providence. God provides for each and every creature. Our food comes from Him. Our shelter comes from Him. Our spiritual nourishment comes from Him. All things come from Him and all things accomplish His perfect will to gather all things in one in Jesus Christ. Question 14 asks the question, what are God's works of providence? And the answer God's works of providence are his most holy, wise, and powerful, preserving and governing all his creatures and all their actions. God is a governor of all things. He governs all his creatures and all their actions. Even Satan is under the governance of God. Even Pharaoh. Even Joseph's brothers and every evil action. that was ever done in all of history was done according to God's decrees and according to his governance over all things and all that to accomplish his plan and purpose of gathering all things together in one in Christ. It's a nice thought, right? God is so big and yet so close to us that no matter what the storm looks like in our lives, he's holding us closely in his arms. Even as cancer rips life from us or our loved ones, and even as tragedy hurts and maims us, God is holding us closely. And even evil will be used for his good plans and purposes to gather all things. So God executes his decrees through creation and providence. He builds and then he governs. And in governing, we saw last time that even the covenant of works in the garden, The one that led to the curse and even death is part of the providence of God. God will use the covenant of works, the one that ultimately led to death and separation, to gather us into a covenant of grace. And that's really the part of this study that we see in the next eight questions. Covenant of Works in the Garden lays the foundation for our desperate need for a Savior. It establishes Jesus Christ as the only way to communion with God. The Gospel, the good news of redemption by faith in Jesus Christ, requires some level of understanding of the covenant that plunged mankind into destruction in the Garden of Eden. And in all of this, we see God governing all things with the plan and purpose to gather all things in one. So I don't think it's a stretch to think that the catechism has intentionally placed these questions alongside our study of God's decree. I think the entire study of the fall and even Christ as our mediator and savior are all intended to be studied in the context of God's decrees. All right, so you'll find our summary this morning in your bulletins. Our summary says, God executes his decrees through creation and providence, and we see starting in the garden that he has governed all things, including the fall of mankind, for the purpose of gathering all things together in one in Christ. That's our summary this morning, and with that introduction, let's pray as we begin. Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you once again just to be gathered together. We thank you, Lord, for this day that you've set aside, that we might come to you to corporately worship you, Lord, we thank you for the songs that we've sung. We thank you for the prayers that we've prayed. We thank you for the word that we gather around. We thank you for your truth. Lord, you have not set us out into the wilderness without any direction. You've given us a map. You've shown us the way, and that way is found in your word. and that way is found in Jesus Christ. So we thank you for that, and we ask you, Lord, to lay these things upon our hearts, show us the way, and guide us each step of the way. We pray that you do that even today as you teach us by the work of your Holy Spirit. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. All right, so let's start with question 15. I want us to just follow the flow of these next several questions together to avoid missing the forest for the trees, if that makes sense. All of these next nine questions are in the context of questions 11 and 14. So question 11 asks, how does God execute his decrees? And the answer is in the works of creation and providence. And question 14 moved us to the works of providence. where we saw that God governs all his creatures and all their actions. God preserves and governs his creation. And question 15 moved the focus to his providence in terms of mankind. God's decrees are all about gathering mankind to himself. And question 15 helps us to see how God set the groundwork for his gathering. It says, what special act of providence did God exercise towards man in the estate wherein he was created? The answer is, when God had created man, he entered into a covenant of life with him, or a covenant of works, as we call it, upon condition of perfect obedience, forbidding him to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil upon pain of death. So there it is. We begin with mankind already gathered to him. God has created two people and he has put them in a very safe place in his presence to enjoy him and serve him forever, but on one condition. They had to obey him perfectly. God established in the garden a prerequisite for communion with him and that was perfect righteousness and holiness. And so we actually created mankind with that perfect righteousness and holiness that was required for communion with him. Adam was fully able to commune with the Lord in the garden. He was given everything he needed, but he could lose it if he failed to obey perfectly, and that's exactly what happened. But the takeaway from the garden covenant is that God requires perfect people to live in his presence. He requires people who are perfectly righteous and holy according to his own perfect standards. We have to start there. God entered into a covenant with man and would be their God, but only if they were perpetually obedient to his law. In that covenant, God revealed himself to be holy. He revealed himself to be righteous. And he even revealed himself to be just when he promised life for obedience and death for disobedience. So that's first in executing his decrees. He will gather a people to himself, but only after revealing who he would gather. And that would include only the righteous. Now turn to question number 16 with me. This begins our study from today. It says, did our first parents continue in the estate wherein they were created? And the answer says, our first parents, being left to the freedom of their own will, fell from the estate wherein they were created by sinning against God. They broke the covenant. In Ecclesiastes 7 and verse 29, Solomon tells us, truly, this only I have found, that God made man upright, but they have sought out many schemes. God made man upright, but man fell. We know the story well, but let's just turn to Genesis 3 and verse 6 for a moment. Genesis 3 and verse 6. Satan had convinced Eve that she should eat of the forbidden fruit, Then starting in verse 6, it says, So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked, and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings. And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day. And Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. There's so much that happened here. But the most obvious is that they fell from the estate wherein they were created. by sinning against God. They traded in spiritual life for spiritual death, and righteousness for unrighteousness, and holiness for unholiness, and they gave up the presence of God to hide themselves from Him. They were separated. Now they were holy, righteous, and in covenant relationship with the Lord in His presence. They were already gathered to Him. But sin made them unholy and unrighteous, and it broke the covenant relationship with the Lord, causing them to be separated from him. Seems contrary to God's will, right? And yet God is still in this, governing all his creatures and all their actions, right? And he will use this to gather together all in one in Christ. The last time we saw that only perfect people are able to enjoy communion with God, And now we see Adam and Eve evicted from paradise because they have fallen from their original perfection. So the story of redemption begins on this foundation. And this is all according to God's decrees. So question 16 teaches us that Adam and Eve fell from the estate wherein they were created because of sin. And so then question 17 asks us, what is sin? And the answer is, sin is any want of conformity unto or transgression of the law of God. 1 John 3 and verse 4 says, whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness and sin is lawlessness. The opposite of that might be called perfect obedience, right? To be obedient is to be lawful. That's what Adam and Eve were supposed to do. but instead they committed lawlessness. They broke the law of God. They did what he told them not to do. And notice this definition of sin includes any want of conformity or transgression of the law of God. I think this is important and I'd like to think on it for just a moment. The level of perfection required by a perfect and holy God is absolute. Adam was required to do everything he was commanded to do and to never do anything he was commanded not to do. That's the same for us. Jesus told the woman at the well, you are forgiven. Now go and sin no more. So even under the covenant of grace, the expectation is obedience. Jesus says, if you love me, keep my commandments. God expects his people to not sin. Now that doesn't mean we are judged guilty by our sins in the covenant of grace. But it does mean the standard for communion with God remains the same from the beginning. God will have holy and righteous people in his holy presence. But our hope, of course, isn't found in our own sinlessness. It's found in Jesus' sinlessness. His righteousness and his holiness are our only hope. And so when we consider the Lord's standard for us, it means that everything he commands us to do must be done, and nothing that he commands us not to do. That's the definition of obedience, and the opposite of that is sin. Salvation is from sin. Go and sin no more. Love your enemies. Treat others as you would have them treat you. Even falling an inch short of perfect love is sin. The slightest want of conformity is sin. Don't commit murder. By the way, Jesus says hating or slandering another person is murder. And any want of conformity to that is sin. Even an evil thought toward another person is a transgression of the law. Don't commit adultery. And again, Jesus says, just looking upon a woman with lust is adultery. Think about the slightest want of conformity, and it's sin. Don't lie, the Bible says. The slightest transgression is sin. I could go on and on, but think about just these couple commandments of God. How have you done today? This is more than we can bear, right? But do we really think our loving Heavenly Father put us under this law to crush us? Do you think he wanted to crush Adam and Eve. No. He did it to set a standard for living with him so that we would look to him for our righteousness. That's why he leaves us in our sin even after we're saved. It's a constant reminder that God will gather his people to himself, not by their own righteousness, but by his. That should comfort us, right? It's not our burden to carry, and since the fall, it never has been. Only in the garden, was man to earn his own righteousness. That covenant is broken. Now any want of conformity or any transgression of God's law is to draw us away from standing on our own righteousness. It's for the purpose of drawing us to him that we might be gathered in him and in his righteousness. That definition of sin means it is absolutely impossible to come to God on our own. Fellowship with God is unattainable according to the standard that God puts before us. Again, we see God revealing who will be gathered, and that's the righteous only. And question 18 moves us along by asking, what was the sin whereby our first parents fell from the estate wherein they were created? And the answer is, the sin whereby our first parents fell from the estate wherein they were created, was their eating the forbidden fruit. I think we understand this pretty well. God gave a law that said you can eat anything you want in the garden, but you can't eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And if you do eat of it, you will die. That's the law, and that's what they transgressed in the garden. And this is what caused them to lose communion with the Lord. Question 18 teaches us, teaches that it was in fact the eating of the forbidden fruit that caused Adam to fail and to fall. But question 19 now takes it one step further and says, did all mankind fall in Adam's first transgression? And the answer is the covenant being made with Adam not only for himself but for his posterity all mankind descending from him by ordinary generation ordinary birth sinned in him and fell with him in his first transgression i want to think about this a little bit Romans 5 in verse 12 is a verse I quoted from last time and it says, through one man, sin entered the world and death through sin and thus death spread to all men because all sinned. It's about as straightforward as it gets, right? Adam fell and all men fell in him. This establishes something more as we see God governing all things. He's once again revealing the way to redemption by establishing Adam as something called a covenant head. This is crucial in teaching us how Jesus will redeem us. When Adam was given the covenant in the garden, it wasn't just life for obedience and death for disobedience. It was life for everyone and for all times for his obedience. Adam literally had the burden of obedience for every single person who would ever be born from his loins. If he had obeyed perfectly, all on his own, he could have earned life for all of us. Are you seeing the mind of God yet? God established the way he would gather us, and he laid the groundwork with Adam in the garden. He would establish a standard of righteousness and holiness and the way to a covenant relationship with him would be based on the work of one covenant head. This means one person represents everyone else in the covenant and we all stand or fall based on his work. That's why we can say we are fallen in Adam and saved in Christ. It's a weird way to word that in any other circumstance, right? We never consider ourselves in anyone else, right? But we are fallen in Adam and we are saved in Christ because they are the covenant heads of these two covenants. Romans 5 proves this. Verse 14 says, Adam is a type of him who was to come. So Adam was a foreshadow of Christ as a covenant head. 1 Corinthians 15 and verse 22 says, for as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive. How will God gather all together in one? Ephesians 1 and verse 10 tells us it will be in Christ. So how is Adam a type of him who was to come? He was a covenant head who represented others, who was charged with earning, meriting life for everyone by his obedience and subsequently death by his disobedience. God is governing all his creatures and all their actions and we see him doing it even in the covenant of works in the garden. It establishes a standard for communion with him and it disqualifies everyone who remains in Adam. Because of that, Adam must look to the seed of the woman, and we must look to the seed of the woman. There are only two covenant heads in all of the Bible. Eternal life can only be found in either Adam or Jesus. And by Adam's first sin, he has earned us nothing but death. The wisdom of God is on display here. He will gather his saints by showing them the way and the way is through a new covenant head. You will gather all together in one in Christ alone. You can see plainly that you and I can't be our own covenant heads either, right? We're not eligible to earn righteousness for ourselves because God never entered into a covenant of life with us, only Adam and Christ. And even if God did enter into a covenant with us to let us earn our own righteousness, We're already disqualified in Adam. Only a sinless son of God can take that mantle. Adam was the first. Luke 3 in verse 38 calls Adam the son of God. He was made with original righteousness, making him a sinless son of God in the garden. But he's no longer sinless, is he? That leaves us with our dear Savior, Jesus Christ. the sinless son of God who would live as covenant head of a new covenant earning eternal life for his elect. And we enter that covenant simply by claiming him as our covenant head. That's what we do when we trust in him. We're rejecting Adam's headship in exchange for Christ's. We're rejecting our own pretended headship as if we could earn anything for ourselves and we're laying hold of Christ the only other person in the history of the world whose headship could bring life to mankind. And we see in all of this the way in which the Lord would gather us. Adam wouldn't receive eternal glory for earning eternal life for mankind. Jesus Christ would. Instead, Adam would give his praises to the Lord for all eternity. He would be the first to be gathered by faith in the coming seed of the woman. God governs the earth, even in the covenant of works in the garden, even that covenant which seems to have plunged mankind into destruction. Now question 20 continues to help us paint the picture of God's providence when it shows us where Adam and Eve fell into. Again, the catechism is just moving us through God's plan of redemption beginning with the fall. We're seeing how God rules by decree. Question 20 says, into what a state did the fall bring mankind? And the answer is, the fall brought mankind into an estate of sin and misery. An estate of sin and misery. That's in contrast to the paradise that was lost, right? Romans 5 in verse 12 is our proof text again. And it says, just as through one man, sin entered the world, and death through sin and thus death spread to all men because all sinned. Sin and misery and of course death entered the world when Adam sinned. Mankind went from sinless but able to sin to sinful and unable to not sin. This is the cause of all of our misery. Mankind also went from spiritually alive in their created state to spiritually dead. That's the misery of this fallen world. We begin the process of decay the moment we're born. We battle aches and pains. We battle cancer. We battle broken bones and sunburns and cold and heat. We battle weeds in the garden and too much rain and not enough rain. This earth and our own flesh are set against us. both physically and spiritually. And so this life is defined by misery. That's not how it was in the garden. Even our good days in this life are complete misery compared to the peace and rest that Adam and Eve experienced in the garden. It's impossible for us to even comprehend the perfect bliss that was lost. Nevermind the perfect bliss we'll once again gain in eternal life. But all that was lost in the fall, and it was replaced with sin and misery. The sin and misery is explained now in question 21, where it gives us the theology behind sin after the fall. It asks the question, wherein consists the sinfulness of that estate wherein man fell? And the answer is the sinfulness of that estate wherein man fell, consists in the guilt of Adam's first sin, the want of original righteousness, and the corruption of his whole nature, which is commonly called original sin. All this together with all actual transgressions which proceed from it. So let's break this down a little bit. Man was created innocent and sinless. When Adam sinned, he became sinful. And as the covenant head of everyone who would come after him, his sin was passed down to everyone who would come after him. Because of this, we share in the guilt of Adam's first sin. We are guilty in Adam, as I mentioned before. Because the covenant in the garden was made with Adam and not us, and because we would either receive righteousness or guilt according to his works, we find ourselves guilty and sinful because of Adam's first sin. That's the first reason for why we're not able to commune with the Lord after the fall. Second, the sinfulness of the estate wherein man fell is seen in the want of original righteousness. So Adam had an original righteousness. That just meant that before he even did anything good, he was considered good because he hadn't done anything bad. God requires perfect people without any stain or blemish, and that means we need to have original righteousness. In other words, we need to be born good. But of course, Adam's first sin was passed down to us, right? And because of that, we don't have an original righteousness. We have inherited original sin. That's another part of our sin. You can see we're starting out behind the eight ball, right? Humanly speaking, it is completely impossible to be on good terms with God because we are lacking every initial requirement. We are sinful before we even commit our first sin, simply by inheritance from our covenant head, Adam. We are sinful in Adam. Third, the sinfulness of the estate wherein man fell is seen in the corruption of his whole nature. Sin affects every part of man. Our minds are sinful and our hearts are sinful. Remember the verse that says the heart is deceptive above all things and desperately wicked. Who can know it? That's a corrupted nature. Or how about what was said before the Lord flooded the earth in Genesis 6 and verse 5. It said, the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil. continually. That's a corrupted nature for sure. In some ways that didn't change when he destroyed the earth. In our unredeemed state, there's literally nothing that we do that is good and righteous. And a lack of righteousness is sinfulness. So the unredeemed person, even today, is evil continually. Man is totally depraved. This is what we inherit in Adam. This is in contrast with the perfection and righteousness that Adam was created with when he was a sinless son of God in the garden. Then the catechism tells us that these are the things that summarize what is meant by the term original sin and the inheritance of Adam's sin. It's a lack of original righteousness and it's a corruption of the entire nature of man. and the inherited sin of Adam, along with our own sins, disqualifies us from heaven. You can see that the covenant of works completely destroyed every hope to earn communion with the Lord, right? And I believe that was the point. God was governing the situations that would lay the foundation for Christ gathering his elect. God would not gather a people who inherited their righteousness from Adam. So we are a hopeless race, it seems. We are, as the doctrines of grace teaches, totally depraved. We are completely sinful and unable to commune with the thrice holy God. And we are fallen in Adam, our covenant head. But it gets worse before it gets better. Fall has done more than make us sinners. It has literally cast us into destruction. I hope you can see why I wanted to power through all these in one message. I think it would have been a dark eight messages. Question 22 says, what is the misery of that estate wherein two men fell? And the answer is, all mankind, by their fall, lost communion with God, are under his wrath and curse, and so made liable to all miseries in this life, to death itself, and to the pains of hell forever. So we inherit sin, And then we commit our own sins, and these things have consequences, don't they? We lose communion with God. We are under his wrath and curse, and we are liable to all the miseries of this life, to death, and to hell. Think on that. All because of sin. It should make us hate sin, right? Our sins should make us fear for our lives, because it is sin that's behind every ache and pain. behind every death of our loved ones, and behind the curse of hell. That's what sin deserves. And that's what Adam's sin earned for each and every one of us. And yet we, as fallen mankind, still sin constantly. We add our own sins to that list of transgressions every day, securing the punishments that we so deserve. Even those of us who are redeemed by God struggle daily with sin. And we are so depraved that it literally takes the power of the Holy Spirit acting in our souls before we can commit our first act of true righteousness. And that happens only after we're saved by grace. An unsaved person can't do anything righteous. That's original sin. It corrupts the whole nature of man and it deserves death and hell. It deserves an infinite punishment because sin is against an infinite God. This is truly a hopeless estate. But God's providence and God's governance over his creation doesn't end with his special act of providence in the garden. God never intended for men to earn their righteousness or for men to inherit their righteousness through Adam. That was never the purpose of the covenant of works in the garden. The purpose was to establish the standard for communion with God and the way to that righteousness. It sets the stage for us to see how God would now gather all things in one in Jesus Christ. Again, I hope you can see how this fits in the light of God's decrees. This is God's providence. This is God governing his creation. But so far, his governance has only taught us why we are ineligible for heaven, right? But he doesn't leave us there. I want to finish our study today by reading question 23 as well. It says, did God leave all mankind to perish in the estate of sin and misery? And here's the wonderful news. It says, God, having out of his mere good pleasure, notice those are the words of God's decrees, from all eternity elected some to everlasting life did enter into a covenant of grace to deliver them out of the estate of sin and misery and to bring them into an estate of salvation by a Redeemer. A covenant of works brought mankind into sin and death and hell. Now God enters into a covenant of grace to deliver them out of that estate. This is the gospel. We need to first understand the depths of our depravity. But then there's great news for a person who finds himself lost and unworthy. There's great news for the person who comes to find himself to be totally depraved. And that great news is that everything that happened after Adam's first sin is reversed in Christ. Sin is reversed and the consequences of sin are reversed. But instead of by the works of Adam, it's by the works of Christ. and we take part in him, not by natural inheritance. Instead, we gain salvation by faith in the person and work of Jesus Christ. It is by grace now that we find salvation through a covenant of grace. I'd like to read a couple of our final proof texts, and then we'll draw to a close. Ephesians 1, verses 3 and 5. It says, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love. having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will." Think about that. Those are God's decrees. That's providence. That's God governing his creation. He chose his elect, he predestined his elect, and all according to the good pleasure of his will. This is the language of his decrees, right? He will gather all things in one in Jesus Christ. And he has chosen and predestined those who would receive his grace. Nothing is left to chance here. Romans 3, verses 20 through 23, really summarizes this entire section that we've looked at today. It says, and listen to this closely, therefore, by the deeds of the law, no flesh will be justified in his sight. For by the law is the knowledge of sin. But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed being witnessed by the law and the prophets even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ to all and on all who believe for there is no difference for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Amazing right. The covenant of the works in the garden revealed that no man would be justified by the law. And the old covenant in Israel would republish that law and put it back in the front of mankind in a way that they could never ignore it again. The Ten Commandments republished the law written on Adam's heart that was corrupted by sin and the fall. It republishes the fact that no man could possibly be justified by the law because all fall short of the glory of God. Pretty basic when you think through it. And yet how many people still think they can earn eternal life? How many Christians sitting in evangelical churches still today think they can earn eternal life? It amazes me that God has revealed so much to us. This is why we are confronted by the law. This is why our conscience is given to us, not to make us try harder, although we should certainly endeavor to be holy, but to show us how incapable we are of living up to God's perfect standard. It should teach us to look outside of ourselves for the righteousness we need. That's the purpose of the law, and that's God's providence in the law. Galatians 3. Verses 21 through 23 said, is the law then against the promises of God? Certainly not. Now listen to this. For if there had been a law given, which could have given life, truly righteousness would have been by the law. But the scripture has confined all under sin, that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. But before faith came, we were kept under guard by the law, kept for the faith, which would afterward be revealed. Therefore, the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. Look at that. Verse 21 tells us plainly that the covenant of works in the garden and the old covenant in Israel were never intended to bring us life. It says, if there had been a law given, which could have given life, truly righteousness would have been by the law. But that was never the intention of the law, not at all. So what was the intention of the law? It was to be our tutor, to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith in his righteousness. If there's only one lesson we can learn in this life, is that the law is not a way to earn everlasting life. Adam, by breaking the law, took away our original righteousness. We could never earn life because we are sinful before we even begin. And when Adam broke the law, we inherited his sin, and we became sinful and corrupt. The law established God's perfect standard for communion with him, but it was never intended to be the way to perfect communion with him. It was intended to show us another way, which is faith in Jesus Christ. He earned that righteousness when he came to earth as the sinless son of God and obeyed the law perfectly in our place. So what is the gospel's promise in the light of the fall? It promises to reverse the curse we inherit from Adam. It promises to make us righteous in Jesus Christ. It promises to supernaturally give us power over sin. It promises to overcome the corruption that plagues us. It promises that Jesus' death will be in our place. He dies the death we deserve and he gives us the righteousness that was lost in Adam and that we could never earn by the law. God requires perfection. We get that when we trust in Jesus. Not because we become perfect people, though. Any Christian can attest that we don't become perfect. But we do receive our holiness from Jesus and our righteousness from Jesus. And that holiness and that righteousness is perfect. We are washed white as snow, the Bible says. Our filthy rags are exchanged for the righteous robes of Jesus Christ. And when we put our hope and faith in him, Instead of our own righteousness, we receive life in exchange for death and heaven in exchange for hell. We inherit from Christ the solution for every problem we inherit from Adam. That's a wonderful picture of God's providence. God is active in governing his creation and that includes the covenant of works and the fall and especially redemption. His will is to gather all things in one in Christ and he accomplishes that in everything we read today. That's the wisdom of God. And Galatians 3 and verse 26 we read this morning reveals this to us in a powerful way. It says, for you are now all sons of God through faith in Jesus Christ. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek There is neither slave nor free. There is neither male nor female. Now listen to this. For you are all one in Christ Jesus. God has accomplished his will by providence. And he does it through the wonderful news of the gospel. The gospel truly is something we need every day as food for our souls. It's the gospel that promotes repentance. And it's the gospel that promotes faith. The law just reveals our inability. It shows us both by experience and theologically that there is no hope to be found in our works. The sooner we can learn that, the better off we'll be. The sooner we can learn that our only hope is a righteousness that we receive from God, the sooner we can know true peace and life. That's my prayer for all of us. And God doesn't leave that to chance. He is active in the redemption of his saints. Let us praise him for that. I'd like to pray the 85th Psalm as we close. This is a Psalm of the sons of Korah. Let's pray. Lord, you have been favorable to your land. You have brought back the captivity of Jacob. You have forgiven the iniquity of your people. You have covered all their sin. You have taken away all your wrath. You have turned from the fierceness of your anger. Show us your mercy, Lord, and grant us your salvation. I will hear what you will speak, for you will speak peace to your people and to your saints. but let us not turn back to folly. Surely your salvation is near to those who fear you, that glory may dwell in your land. Mercy and truth have met together. Righteousness and peace have kissed. Truth shall spring out of the earth and righteousness shall look down from heaven. Yes, you will give what is good and our land will yield its increase. Righteousness will go before you. and shall make your footsteps our pathway. It's in Jesus' holy name that we pray. Amen.