Join us as we delve into the profound insights of the book of Romans, focusing on the transformative nature of salvation by faith through the contrast of two kingdoms: Adam’s and Christ’s. Discover how Paul articulates this fascinating narrative of liberation from wrath, sin, law, and death, as explained in Romans chapters 5 through 8. Through an in-depth exploration, we learn about the immense shift in identity that believers experience as they transition into Christ’s kingdom of righteousness and life.
So we’re just covering a couple of insights or so into the book of Romans before we start into the book proper. And you remember that I shared with you yesterday that one of the astonishing revelations in the book of Romans is chapter 5, verses 12 to 21, where Paul… puts the whole issue of salvation by faith alone in Jesus Christ in the context of the two ages, the two Adams. Although the two Adams is not mentioned here in Romans 5, but in 1 Corinthians 15, but nevertheless the idea is very strongly placed here in Romans 5. The two Adams, Adam, the representative of the whole human race, brings in sin and death, and he is astonishingly a type of Jesus Christ. Not in bringing in sin and death, of course, but Christ bringing in righteousness and life. So why are they compared? Because the one affects the whole human race, Adam. And the other one, Christ, also affects the whole human race. As in the first Adam, all are brought under the power of sin and death, even though they had no part in Adam’s sin, so in the second Adam, everyone is brought under righteousness and life, even though they had no part in Christ’s righteousness. That is why Paul can talk about us as being freed from sin and freed from the law and so on, because it is Jesus who has released us from that kingdom. We’re not freed from occasional sinning, but freed from the judgment and the identity and the kingdom of the sin of Adam. It’s a marvelous revelation. Now here’s another one. And it is that in the light of the fact that we are now released from the kingdom of sin and death, and are now counted as in the kingdom of righteousness and life, which we will of course fully ultimately know at the coming of Jesus Christ when our humanity is turned into immortality, and corruption is made into incorruption, when this all comes about, then we shall be, well, let me state it another way, Paul therefore describes what this life in the kingdom of Christ is. And where is that description? Well, it’s in chapters 5, 6, 7, and 8 of Romans. Now, you may not notice it when you first read these chapters. I encourage you to read the book of Romans ahead of time, ahead of the new series that we start in the book of Romans on this radio broadcast. But you might ask yourself when you’re reading chapters 5, 6, 7, and 8, well, where do I see the kingdom of Christ described here? Well, if you note, if you study it carefully, if you follow it through very, very closely, Romans chapter 5 talks about freedom from wrath. And Romans chapter 6 talks about freedom from sin, the sin kingdom of Adam. And Romans chapter 7 talks about freedom from law. And Romans 8 talks about freedom from death. Wrath, sin, law, and death, we are liberated from them. How so? In our own internal experience? No, not necessarily, because we still struggle in this world, though we learn to overcome one thing after another. But we are freed from wrath, sin, law, and death because Christ is the new head of the new human race, and he has brought in a new age, a new aeon, a new sphere of existence, which we now know by faith, and we shall know by reality at the coming of Jesus. Now, when you grasp these two great ideas, the idea in Romans 5 that there are two kingdoms, the kingdom of Adam bringing in sin and death, and the kingdom of Christ bringing in righteousness and life, and that these two kingdoms exist side by side, and yet the kingdom of Christ has overpowered the kingdom of Adam, When you begin to grasp that, and then you grasp how this kingdom of Christ is described, and what the contents of the kingdom of Christ are, freedom from wrath, sin, law, and death, then I guarantee you that everything in Romans is going to make sense, and you will have gained hold of two of the keys that are essential for understanding this marvelous book. You see, in Romans 5, we are told we’re freed from wrath. We’re not told it directly, but you gain the impression of it very, very clearly when Paul talks about we have been justified by faith and we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. That’s chapter 5, verse 1. Now when we know this, and we realize that Paul is talking about a kingdom outside of us, which we, by God’s wonderful grace and mercy, have been transferred into, when you understand that, then you begin to comprehend your life in a totally different way. The mistaken understanding of knowing Christ is having Christ in our hearts. Now, don’t misunderstand me. Christ, by faith, is in our hearts. But we think salvation is, well, I accepted Jesus into my heart. No, salvation is Jesus accepting you into his heart and into his kingdom of freedom from wrath, sin, law, and death. And so we don’t think in terms of keeping Jesus in our heart. by faith and struggle and discipline and so on, we think of Jesus keeping us in his heart, by his faithfulness. When we see that, in other words, when we see that the initiative is his and not ours, then it completely changes our thought pattern and our paradigm around. we are being kept in him. We’re not desperately keeping him in us. Of course, once we know that we are being kept in him, then, of course, we want to abide in him. And therefore, we do think in terms of Jesus in our heart, but in the smaller way. not in the bigger way of the macrocosm of God’s kingdom in which we are a part. Do you see how it works? And so when you very carefully read the book of Romans, you see things that you never had seen before. Why, for instance, does Paul speak about our being in chapter 5 without strength? Jesus died for us, and when we were sinners, and when we were helpless, we were reconciled to his heart. How can it be that sinners are reconciled to God, when they are still enemies. That’s what it says, you see, in verse 10. For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God. I mean, that doesn’t seem to make sense, does it? But it makes all the sense in the world when you realize that you have been, that the whole world, not only you, but the whole world has been incorporated into Christ’s kingdom by his victory and by his representing all of us and going through the judgment for all of us at the cross on our behalf, so that even when we were enemies, our judgment was taken away from us. You say, I don’t know as I can believe that. Well, you don’t have to at this point. But simply keep listening each day, and it will become clearer and clearer to you. Because if you are reconciled while you’re an enemy, don’t listen to that while you are thinking in terms of your faith and saying, well, it’s me who was reconciled because I have faith. No, you were reconciled when you didn’t have faith, while you were an enemy. And now by faith you believe it. And that is true of your neighbor. It is true of your community. It is true of your nation. It is true of the world. That the world has been reconciled and doesn’t realize it yet because there’s still enemies. but Christ is going to reveal it to all, not only here in the world when great issues of the last days take place before the coming of Christ, but also in the final judgment, when every knee shall bow, and every tongue shall acknowledge and take an oath. Once they realize who Christ is and their sins and the glory of God, they will take an oath that in Christ alone is their righteousness and strength. So you see, when you come to chapter 6 and you read about freedom from sin, This previously makes you afraid, doesn’t it? Because we say, well, how can I possibly be freed from sin? I’m still struggling here and there, and therefore I can’t position myself in the book of Romans. I can’t position myself as one of the people that Paul is talking about. But once you realize the two kingdoms, you realize that Paul is talking about being freed from the kingdom of Adam. which is the kingdom of sin and death, where we are under the judgment of sin, the condemnation of sin, the identity of sin, the power of sin. Now, once we enter the kingdom of Christ, we recognize we are no longer under the identity of sin or the condemnation of sin, even though we might still be sinners. We no longer identify ourselves that way. We identify ourselves as freed from sin because Christ has done that, made that victory for us. Once you see this larger, broader, higher, deeper picture, you begin to say, ah yes, I see it now, I understand what Paul is saying. We are moved from our little perception of Jesus in our hearts to our big perception of our being in Jesus’ heart. Remember this, that the high priest of the Old Testament, you remember, had that plate of 12 stones hung around his neck and resting on his heart and chest. How come? Because they represented the 12 tribes of Israel. And that means that in Christ’s heart, all of us are represented. We are there in his heart. He knows all about us. He knows all our foibles, our weaknesses, our failures, and our longings and our needs. And he takes us in his heart to the Father. He is the intercessor. And he bears us in his soul and on his heart. So you see then, once we are understanding these larger kingdoms, the two aeons in which we exist, in our flesh we exist in the aeon of sin and death, but in our spirit by faith we live in the kingdom of Christ in which the kingdom of sin and death has no way to identify us anymore. It does not determine our destiny or define our existence. Now we are in the kingdom of Christ, we have such liberty to walk with him, and all the experiences we go through in this life, troubles, disappointments, sadnesses, griefs, they are all now experienced in the kingdom of life, and they bring grace to us instead of a curse. Thank you for listening today. Colin Cook here and how it happens. You can hear this broadcast any time of the day or night on your smartphone. Simply download a free app, soundcloud.com or pudbean.com and key in how it happens with Colin Cook when you get there. Thank you very much. If you’d like to make a donation, you can send it to FaithQuest, P.O. Box 366, Littleton, Colorado, 80160, or online at faithquestradio.com. Thanks so much. See you next time. Cheerio and God bless.
