Joshua and Judges: The doctrine of leadership part 27 - Essential qualities of leadership: The filling of the Spirit; Rom 5:12- 6:13.

Title: Joshua and Judges: The doctrine of leadership part 27 - Essential qualities of leadership: The filling of the Spirit; ROM 5:12- 6:13.

 

Announcements / opening prayer:  

 

 

In various terms the Bible describes two classes of Christians, the carnal or fleshly and the spiritual.

 

All believers struggle with areas of sin in their lives and God is gracious and patient in instructing us and strengthening us. God is freeing us from its mastery.

 

When God discusses sin through the scripture, it is never designed to condemn us but to free us from the mastery of the flesh so that we don't spend our whole time on earth as babes.

 

HEB 4:15-16

For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and may find grace to help in time of need.

 

But never once does God compromise with sin. The command to us is to walk in newness of life.

 

In this important section of scripture Paul first reveals the parallels between the first and the last Adam. Paul shows in this passage that sin and death come from the First Adam, and righteousness and life from the Second Adam.

 

The earlier chapters of Romans deal with the outbreak of sin in all human beings, considered not as sin but as sins; not the poison in the bloodstream but the boils caused by that poison. Here, however, God is discussing not sins but the poison, which is original sin.

 

ROM 5:12-21 sums up all that has been stated in Romans thus far, and all that comes after is here in essence.

 

Here the entire message of Romans is concentrated. Here is the hinge of the door that swings between life and death.

 

ROM 5:12 Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned — 

 

ROM 5:13 for until the Law sin was in the world; but sin is not imputed [ellogao = charged to their account]when there is no law.

 

Adam is looked upon as the federal head of the human race and so when he sinned all the race sinned. We are all born in sin and spiritually dead, separated from God because Adam sinned.

 

We are all born spiritually dead and separated from God in one hundred percent, total depravity.

 

The chief characteristic of death is separation. In spiritual death Adam was separated from God and the Garden of Eden and eventually he experienced physical death.

 

Automatically man acquired a heritage which had been decided for them from the first moment. The human will, swollen with pride, shrieks its wrath at the suggestion that it cannot take care of its own needs. Even in original sin each man wants to take his own credit. He also attempts to lift himself up to heaven. He alone attempts to justify his deeds. Such proud statements may satisfy some men, but the inheritance of death is upon every one of them and he can do nothing about it.

 

Although there was no Law until Moses and so those before Moses could not have been said to violate the Law, yet still they all died.

 

Along with the rest they were born in Adam and imputed with Adam's original sin and so sin reigned in their lives unto death. So their deaths were not so much because of what they did in their personal lives, although some of them faced judgment from God, as for instance in the flood or in the destruction of Sodom. But they all died because death passed upon the human race when Adam sinned. The sin of the one entailed spiritual and physical death upon all. Those who were saved, were saved by grace through faith.

 

ROM 3:19 Now we know that whatever the Law says, it speaks to those who are under the Law, that every mouth may be closed, and all the world may become accountable to God;

 

ROM 3:20 because by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified in His sight; for through the Law comes the knowledge of sin.

 

ROM 5:14 Nevertheless death reigned from Adam until Moses, even over those who had not sinned in the likeness of the offense of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come.

 

Adam is a type of Christ since both exercised a preeminent influence on the human race. The first Adam did so unto death and the last Adam unto salvation.

 

ROM 5:15 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 transgression brought death and this is nothing like the free gift (charisma = gift of grace). Christ's gift to all the human race was grace. This is described as super abounding. Grace is all that God can and does give to all who believe in Christ due to His death on the cross on behalf of all men.

 

What the believer is in Christ is nothing like what he was in Adam.

 

ROM 5:16 And 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.

 

Out of the source of Adam's sin judgment came to all mankind and resulted in our condemnation at birth. The contrast is on the other hand, the free gift took the judgment of all the sins that resulted from spiritual death and this resulted in justification to all who believe. Justification and condemnation are polar opposites.

 

The contrast continues in what reigns over mankind; one is death and the other is life.

 

ROM 5:17 For if by the transgression of the one, death reigned through the one, much more those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.

 

ROM 5:18 So then as through one transgression there resulted condemnation to all men, even so through one act of righteousness there resulted justification of life to all men.

 

In one act Christ satisfied the demands of the Law which all men broke. In this one act all sin was judged upon Christ with the result of justification of life to all men who would believe in Him. Justification is the act of God and not men. It is God declaring men free from guilt and acceptable to Him.

 

Justification is a legal standing before God as fully acquitted. However, alone this may not change the character of a person, but justification with spiritual life changes position and character.

 

Our oneness with Adam explains the universality of sin and its fatal hold on all humanity. Our oneness with Christ is the basis for the triumphant life that is expounded upon in the rest of the book of Romans.

 

Failure to live victoriously in Christ comes from failure to understand this passage, which is one of the most important in the Bible.

 

God never tells the believer that he can do as he pleases. God entreats us to walk in the manner that is worthy of who we are in Christ, justified, righteous, sanctified.

 

Far too many Christians know nothing or very little about this victory in Christ and due to that very few Christians live a life of victory. They are those who search the dumpster for food while they have millions sitting in the bank.

 

ROM 5:19 For as through the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the One the many will be made righteous.

 

disobedience - parakoh, [parakoe; para = alongside and akouo = to hear] = a refusal to hear, not willing to listen to authority.

 

Adam refused to hear. This refusal to hear is a source of disobedience in the OT.

 

JER 11:10

"They have turned back to the iniquities of their ancestors who refused to hear My words, and they have gone after other gods to serve them; the house of Israel and the house of Judah have broken My covenant which I made with their fathers."

 

JER 35:17

"Therefore thus says the Lord, the God of hosts, the God of Israel, 'Behold, I am bringing on Judah and on all the inhabitants of Jerusalem all the disaster that I have pronounced against them; because I spoke to them but they did not listen, and I have called them but they did not answer.'"

 

The opposite was found in TLJC:

 

HEB 10:7

"Then I said, 'Behold, I have come

 (In the roll of the book it is written of Me)

To do Thy will, O God.'"

 

By the one act of Adam in disobeying God, the human race was constituted sinful, and this by the judicial act of God.

 

Likewise, by the one act of obedience of the Lord Jesus, all who believe are constituted righteous, and this by the judicial act of God.

 

Paul closes the parallel between Adam and Christ and now enters into the question of the Law which came in alongside the induction of sin.

 

ROM 5:20 And the Law came in that the transgression might increase; but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more,

 

In relation to Adam the Law would seem to be final. Sin existed in the absence of the Law from Adam to Moses but when the Law came in there was more violations and so transgression increased. So then the Law proved the conclusion concerning man which was condemnation, but that wasn't the final conclusion.

 

The Law stands between Adam and Christ. It condemns the children of Adam but Christ satisfied its righteous demands that we all broke.

 

Grace super abounded in Christ and through Him all are delivered from condemnation through faith.

 

The Law not only added commands that could be broken but it also fostered an antagonism from man against God which stimulates him to more disobedience. Arrogant fallen man takes offense at being told what he should do by his creator. He longs for independence, which he believes to be freedom.

 

Yet, though God was faced with more disobedience, His grace through the humanity of Christ super abounded and more even on top of that.

 

You can't extend yourself beyond the grace of God since it is unfathomable, but you can come short of it.

 

ROM 5:21 that, as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

 

The king of the unbeliever's life is the sin nature, yet in Christ this old monarch is dethroned and replaced by grace, righteousness, and eternal life.

 

If the monarch of your life is forever grace, righteousness, and eternal life by your position in Christ, then what should be your character?

 

Every believer has the power to choose such a character but he doesn't have the power to execute it. He must choose to strive for it by means of the Holy Spirit.

 

ROM 6:1 What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace might increase?

 

Is that the purpose of Paul's instruction in chapter 5, which is God delivering us from our position in the first Adam and from the king and queen of death and sin that had power over us, but now under abundant grace we are under the King, the Lord Jesus Christ, ruled by grace and eternally righteous? Have we been set free so that we may do as we please? That is not freedom but death.

 

ROM 6:2 May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it?

 

ROM 6:3 Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death?

 

ROM 6:4 Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, in order that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.

 

ROM 6:5 For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection,

 

ROM 6:6 knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, that our body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin;

 

ROM 6:7 for he who has died is freed from sin.

 

ROM 6:8 Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him,

 

ROM 6:9 knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, is never to die again; death no longer is master over Him.

 

ROM 6:10 For the death that He died, He died to sin, once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God.

 

ROM 6:11 Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.

 

ROM 6:12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body that you should obey its lusts,

 

ROM 6:13 and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.

 

"present" - pari,sthmi [paristemi] = to present, to put at one's disposal. The first use is present tense = stop putting your members at the disposal of your sin nature (quenching the HS).

 

There obviously was in some a constant and abiding experience of sinfulness. It is no use asking how many sins comprise a constant experience, for that is only looking to ritualize the situation or to give yourself a sin limit per day as if this is like a low calorie diet. The issue is your will; your free will.

 

Quenching the Spirit may be simply defined as being unyielded to Him, or saying, "No." The issue is, therefore, the question of willingness to do His will.

 

The unyieldedness could range from outright antagonism to God's plan to apathy. Every person has an intellect, a sensibility, and a will. These make up his personality. The will in everyone decides based on the intellect and sensibility or conscience. After salvation God the Holy Spirit sets the course of transforming the believer into the image of Christ.

 

As for the believer, just as his faith made Christ Lord of his life, so faith will submit to the ministry of God the Holy Spirit in his life.

 

The question for him is if he will allow the Holy Spirit to transform his intellect through consistent Bible study, and to transform his conscience through understanding, and so to point his will on the course set by the Holy Spirit in walking with Him.