Romans 5:11

Romans 5:11

In Romans Chapter 5 Paul is continuing his tremendous explanation of the meaning of justification and salvation. In Romans 5:11 the Bible says, "And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement." The atonement speaks of the covering of our sins. This is the most important issue for the life of any human. Jesus said so. He said, "What shall it profit a man should he gain the whole world but lose his own soul, or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?" It certainly makes sense. We live on the earth for a few years, but we live somewhere else forever. Therefore, to end up in heaven is the most important thing for any person. It far outweighs any other issue. If your sins are covered, if you have received the atonement through Jesus Christ, you have all the reasons to find joy in God. In Romans 4:7 Paul quoted King David from the Psalms and said, "Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven and whose sins are covered." The word that is here translated as atonement is translated elsewhere in the New Testament as "reconciliation". The words are closely related. It is because our sins are covered that we are reconciled to God. That is, we are restored to our proper place: rightly related to God.

Notice that it says; "joy in God." It is not joy in circumstances, or joy in what happens to us in this life, but "joy in God." A wise person and a spiritual person seeks to build up their joy in God. Your joy needs to be in connection with God and Christ, in connection with Who He is and what He has done for you. Remember that the Bible says, "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son..." God loves you and me so much that He sent Jesus to die and to rise from the dead so that our sins could be covered by the atonement and so that we could live in glory with Him forever.

In Romans Chapter 4 in order to thoroughly explain the doctrine of justification, Paul used what the Old Testament said about Abraham and King David. Now in Romans Chapter 5 he is going to use two other individuals from the Old Testament, Adam and Moses. This time Adam and Moses will be contrasted to Jesus Christ. Adam symbolizes fallen man. Where Adam failed, Jesus succeeded. Moses symbolizes the law. What the law could not do: give us righteousness, Jesus accomplishes by His grace.

We are introduced to the problems that we have inherited from Adam and Moses in Romans 5: 12-14. It says, "Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned; for until the law sin was in the world; but sin is not imputed when there is no law. Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the likeness of Adam’s transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come."

From a human standpoint the cards are stacked against us. We inherited from Adam a sinful nature. This human nature that we have, is both weak and prone to moral and ethical failure. There is no one who does good and sins not, and the reason for this is Adam. We inherited from Adam a sinful nature. The moral and ethical problems of the world can be traced to Adam. As a matter of fact every single problem in the world today can be traced directly to Adam: disease, starvation, pollution, war, greed, adultery, dishonesty, and irreverence. None of these existed in the Garden of Eden. There was no disease or death until Adam sinned. We can learn a lesson about the consequences of sin. It was at least 7,000 years ago and maybe longer that Adam was on the earth and the horrendous consequences of his sin still plague us every day. Avoid doing wrong whenever you can, because you never know how terrible the consequences may be from just one unrighteous act. But we cannot just blame Adam. Romans 5:12 reminds us that "all have sinned." It is our fault also. The problem of mankind is the sin problem, and Jesus has the answer to the problem.

Because Adam represented the human race in his great sin, we are taught something very practical. Every human that is alive today traces his lineage to Adam. Because of this no one should ever be prejudiced. If we go back far enough, we all have the same grandfather: Adam. We are all related because we are in the same family: the family of human beings. Anyone who is prejudiced, learned to be so from the social structure in which he lives. He did not learn it from God.

Adam is mentioned in the same context as Abraham, David, and Moses. He was a historical figure and not a myth. Human beings did not evolve from ape-like creatures. The first man, Adam, was created by God, according to the book of Genesis. Evolution is the myth. There are many evidences that prove that evolution is a theory with many flaws. The Bible indicates very clearly that Adam was a unique creation from the hand of God. The Bible says in Genesis 2:7, "And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul."

One of the things that shows the fallacy in the theory of evolution is the fact that it relies upon the principle of uniformitarianism. Scientists who believe in the theory of evolution base many of the things that they imagine on the idea that the processes that they observe today are the same processes that have always been in effect, and that the speed with which these processes take place are the same speed in which they have always taken place. That is one of the main reasons that they constantly give millions and millions of years as the time-frame for various events in the history of the universe and in the time-lines that they draw up. One example of this is volcanic activity. Scientists will observe volcanoes, they will measure the rate at which lava flows from the volcanoes, and they will observe the size of mountains that were built up by volcanic activity. Then they will conclude that these mountains were built up by millions of years of the same kind of volcanic activity that they see today. What they usually do not allow for is the possibility that such events at one time took place at a much greater speed than is seen today. That is the theory of uniformitarianism. The theory of evolution would have never been conceived of as plausible without at the same time accepting the doctrine of uniformitarianism. Even though the Bible does not give exact time frames in relation to creative events, the Bible does present many of these events as though they took place in a relatively short period of time. As far as time-lines go, the Biblical account is definitely in contrast to the theory of evolution.

What is interesting to note is how often the evolutionists contradict themselves. Evolutionists were only able to come up with their theory by claiming that things must have always happened at the same rate of speed at which they are now observed to happen. But as the years go by, there is more and more observable evidence that this just is not so; that there have been sudden, sometimes unexplainable, and cataclysmic events that have had major parts to play in the formation of the earth and the universe as we now know them. One example is a news story put out by Reuters on July 25, 1997 with the following headline: "Big Break-Through in Ancient Evolution Theory." The article goes on to say that scientists now realize that the movement of the continents as they separated from each other had to have happened at a much greater speed than they previously thought. There is geological evidence that cannot be denied. In other words, to the atheistic evolutionists, who over the years have based their thinking on the doctrine of uniformitarianism, they are shocked and surprised by physical evidence that shows that certain events are not accounted for on the basis of the doctrine of uniformitarianism. But scientists who believe in God and ordinary citizens who believe in God are not surprised by physical evidence that shows that some events in the formation of our world happened very quickly; because we know that creative acts of God can happen very quickly indeed; and we are not shackled by the various assumptions or the bias that inhibits the search for truth on the part of atheistic evolutionists. There will be more evidences to come, just wait and see. For example, scientists are very quick to point out that they have already discovered evidence of a worldwide flood on the planet of Mars. Of course, there is very little water on Mars today, but that does not stop the scientists from observing the facts. Here on the earth, where 3/4 of the earth is still covered by water, and there is much more evidence of a world-wide flood, such as fossils of sea creatures on the slopes of some of the tallest mountains; yet these same scientists will never talk about it because they are biased against the Bible, and against the notion of God. They are truly "Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth."

Another one of the major fallacies in the theory of evolution is the concept that one species somehow evolved from another species. But evolutionists cannot have it both ways. If they want to use the doctrine of uniformitarianism to help explain some events, then they should use it in regards to the existence of species. Every species always produces individuals of the exact same species. There are no exceptions and there have never been any exceptions for which we have proof. This is consistent with measurable, observable science; and it is also consistent with the Bible. Genesis 1:25 says, "And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creeps upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good." The word "kind" means the same thing as the word “species”. God created the animals as unique species. Animals did not evolve from one another. Animals do have a God-given ability to adapt to new environments, but this adaptation has never resulted in the creation of a new species.

If one species had evolved from another in the slow process required by evolution, where are all the missing links? There would have to have been many millions of more species that once existed; and the evidence of their existence would abound, but there is no such evidence. For the few missing links that evolutionists claim to have just for the human species, they have been forced to practically invent evidence. Evolutionists will discover a few scraps of bones, perhaps from a deformed or sick human, and then they will invent not only whole individuals but also entire populations of sub-human species for which there is no other evidence. Cave men are not an evidence of groups from which we evolved, but are rather an evidence of groups who broke off from more civilized societies and who therefore lived in more primitive circumstances.

Similarities between different species are not an evidence that one evolved from another, such as similarities between chimpanzees and humans, but they are an evidence that each one was designed by the same Intelligence. Those who believe the Bible have a better possibility of correctly interpreting the evidences in nature. Most people who believe in evolution are simply repeating things that someone else has told them. They have not made an independent investigation into the truth. And if it was not evolution; it would be something else that would distract the masses from the true nature of things. The citizens of any country are usually enslaved to certain ideas that are false. One of the ironies of these wide-spread deceptions that have so often plagued mankind is that many times the deceptions have been supported and enforced by religious organizations, such as the rigid interpretation of the law by the Jews during the time of Christ, the inquisitions during the middle ages, and the nationalistic hatred approved by so many Moslem clerics today. Even though evolution is one of the primary deceptions of the century in which we live, and is not supported by most religious organizations, evolution has made up for that by becoming a religion in itself. But Jesus said, "You shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free." His wonderful statement applies to evolution as well as any other deception by which a human may be ensnared.

I was reading about the Big Bang Theory the other day, and found something interesting in the fine print. The Big Bang theory is the idea that all the matter of the universe, including all the stars and all the planets, was at one time shrunk down into an area smaller than any known sub-atomic particle and then for some unknown reason, exploded and the stars and planets as we see them are a result of that explosion. One of the problems with the theory is that in order for this explosion to have happened, in the beginning stages the particles of matter had to have traveled faster than the speed of light. The obvious problem with that, of course, is that nothing can move faster than the speed of light. The atheistic scientists want to have it both ways. They claim to only want to believe things that are observable and measurable; but then they come up with theories that are neither observable nor measurable.

Order does not come out of chaos without Intelligence.

The Word of God will forever stand just as true as it ever has been. Genesis 1:1 says, "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." Any theory of the origin of the universe, that leaves out Genesis 1:1 or any other part of the Bible that touches on creative events, will eventually be proved to be wrong.

The real problem is not the theory of evolution or any other deception by which a person may be entrapped. The problem is the sin problem. Solve that problem, and other things in the life of that individual will eventually be straightened out because if any man be in Christ he is a new creature, and because one result of salvation is to be predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son. The first man, Adam, gave us a sinful nature. But Jesus will set everything straight. He will give us a righteous nature. And now He has given us the firstfruits of our inheritance, the Holy Spirit, by which we look to God and say to Him, "Our Father."

Every time God does something for man, man seems to mess it up; and then God comes along once again to fix it. God put Adam in the Garden of Eden, an almost perfect environment. But Adam’s decision to yield to temptation resulted in death for all of us and resulted in the sinful nature that we all possess. Then centuries later in a time of many miracles, God gave to Moses the wonderful Ten Commandments and the rest of the law. It is a law that was so perfect, man could become righteous, should he only keep the law. But man has failed at that also. Adam was not the only one that sinned, "for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God."

Then centuries after Moses, the Son of God was sent into the world to die for our sins and to rise from the dead. Salvation is now a free gift. We have all proved that we will not keep the law, so God out of His abundant mercy has made this a time of grace, and He has given an invitation so that all who will may come and drink of the water of life freely and find abundant mercy and forgiveness of sins. But once again when this age of grace is over, it will be shown that man has failed. Even though this opportunity to go to heaven is freely offered to all by the grace and kindness of God, Jesus said, "Narrow is the way to life and few there be that find it, and broad is the way to destruction, and many there be that go in thereat."

The first representative of the human race, Adam, failed. But the last representative, Jesus, will not fail. One day Jesus will transform the world, He will lock Satan in the bottomless pit, and He will give all of His believers a sinless and perfect nature. What a wonderful day that will be!

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