The Atonement: Why the Atonement was Needed

In this episode, Brother Jon talks about the new show's format, the question, "How can a loving God allow so much evil and suffering", Why the Atonement was needed, and why do I inherit anything from Adam?

Here are the show notes:

The Atonement: Why was the Atonement needed?

S2EP1

Remnant Bible Fellowship

 

1. Intro
   1. Starting a new format for the podcast.
   2. Plug for reviews, questions, and social media.
2. How can a loving God allow so much evil and suffering?
   1. I’ve already talked about this question before in a brief episode of the same title. I wanted to talk about it again briefly because this is a very common question. This will be one of the questions that you will be asked regularly. To me it seems to be a very silly question. I honestly can’t say that I’ve ever had a problem with evil and suffering in the world. If you just read the scriptures, especially Job, Psalms, and Christ’s words in the Gospels, I don’t think that you will have any problem. For the lost though, it is a major problem. It comes from their wrong perception about God.
   2. (Relate gas pump testimony)
      1. Why do you blame God for evil and suffering in the world when men are the ones who do evil and create suffering when they disobey God’s commandments?
         1. The next question that naturally follows is, “Well, why doesn’t God do something about it if He exists?”
      2. If God immediately judged every person when they broke His commandments, then no one would ever go to heaven. But God has appointed a day when He will judge the quick and the dead by Jesus. No one is going to escape. Every secret thing will be made manifest because all things are naked and open unto the eyes of Him with whom we have to do. There could be no forgiveness because no one would ever have a second chance.
   3. Deeper Conversation
      1. If you talk to someone who puts more thought into their arguments, you’ll need to explain worldviews to them. Most people that I’ve run into are either relativists or naturalists. The way to deal with them is to explain the nature of evidence to them. If you’re not familiar with it, then I’d recommend Dr. Jason Lisle’s The Ultimate Proof of Creation. I’ve mentioned it several times before, I believe, and honestly it’s because I think it’s an excellent book on basic apologetics. But you need to understand their worldview that they’re coming from. Like I said, the majority of people that I talk to are either naturalists or relativists. You can understand that by the questions that they’re giving you or the arguments they’re presenting.
      2. But what you should look for is remembered by the acronym AIP, which stands for: Arbitrariness, Inconsistency, and Preconditions of Intelligibility. Maybe in another episode we’ll talk more about that. I’ll just give you a couple of examples of how it would work. So, someone asks you, “If there is such a good God, then how can there be so much evil and suffering in the world?” And you could respond:
         1. As someone who doesn’t believe in absolute morality, how can you say that anything is evil?
         2. As a naturalist, why do you have a problem with evil and suffering? If evolution is true, then why shouldn’t people lie, steal, or murder, especially if it increases their survival value?

• You point out inconsistencies between their worldview and their arguments. You can also point out arbitrary claims—anything that is claimed without rational justification. Also, if you take the time to study out why and how, you can point out when a worldview does not provide the conditions necessary for science to be possible—called the preconditions of intelligibility. Things such as the laws of logic, the basic reliability of the senses, or even mathematics are not possible in a time plus matter plus chance universe.

1. Usually you don’t need to go very in-depth. Most people have never thought out their excuses for not becoming Christians.

• Taking a look at the Atonement
  1. Why it’s important—it’s the entire point of Christianity, it is the basis of the gospel
  2. Why it’s difficult—We have 1,960 years of people interpreting it to sort through: but not really.
  3. How doctrine should form:
     1. In your study you should be looking for plain statements from the Bible. It’s okay to be simple.
     2. You don’t have to sort through 1,960 years of people’s opinions, beliefs, and writings. You don’t have to know all the –isms. We should begin with the Bible, and end with the Bible.

• If a doctrine cannot be explained in plain statements taken directly from the scriptures, on a basic level, then it is most likely not Biblical. If there is a teaching or doctrine being taught that sets forth ideas or notions that you don’t see in the scriptures then it is most likely not true.

1. Most people do not take notice when they see a scripture that contradicts what they were taught. They brush it aside and say, “Well, that’s most likely not what it means.” Let me tell you, that is a very dangerous thing to do spiritually. The Spirit of God, without which no man can receive the things of God, is called the “Spirit of truth” who guides into all truth (John 16:13). One of His purposes is to teach you right doctrine. It’s probably not going to come like a lightning bolt to your brain. It will come line upon line, precept upon precept, as you are continuing to read God’s Word and seek His face daily.
2. Now obviously, not all the body of Christ is going to be individually taught all their doctrine independently. God has given the body of Christ teachers and so forth. But all believers are equipped to learn doctrine if they apply themselves to it. We are all to continue to grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. That’s all doctrine really is. It is true things about God from His Word. That’s why the only people who have no doctrine are people who don’t really read the scriptures. Given enough time of reading the scriptures, you come to understand what it says about certain things.

1. God’s Omniscience
   1. It’s very important to acknowledge at the outset of this that God knows everything. There is the old saying that nothing has ever “occurred” to God. People sometimes think that something got messed up in the Garden of Eden and that God had to go to plan B. That’s just not true. We’re told in Acts 15:18 that, “Known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world.” That means that God knew the entire history of humanity, and how all things would unfold in time, before any of it began.
   2. People sometimes have a problem with the omniscience of God, and they ask the question if God knows all things before they happen, whether or not man has any free will. The problem with that line of reasoning is always definitions of terms, and we’re not going to look at it now—frankly, because I find it unedifying and ridiculous.
   3. But, for the moment, you have to consider the fact that God is not only omniscient (meaning “all knowing”) but He is also eternal. He is not bound by time at all. In 1 Peter 3 we read that a thousand years with the Lord is as one day, and one day as a thousand years. He is not bound by time like you and I are. We are mortal, temporal, finite, and He is none of those things. So, the only way for an eternally omniscient God to commune with and interact with men is presently. God condescends to our level, at least in that respect, to interact with us.
   4. This means that God gives us choices while at the same time knowing what we will do. I’m not even going to argue about whether or not man has a free will to choose what he will do or not do at this point. I truly believe that if you were left on a deserted island with only a Bible, and you read it with simple childlike faith a thousand times, you would never in a million years come to any other conclusion. God has given man free will; otherwise, He would never command us to abstain from certain things and to do other things.
   5. But when it comes to the fall of man, what you will find is that God knew exactly what He was doing. The longer I read and study my Bible the more amazed I am at God’s wisdom, and how every single thing that He has done has been done in absolute wisdom and goodness. Sometimes people get hung up with questions as to why God allows for an innocent person to die in the place of the guilty, and the answer is seen in God’s grace, mercy, and the fact that He alone has the authority to make such a decision. Other times, people get hung up with questions like, “Well, why am I inheriting anything from Adam’s screw up at all?” It is questions like that that you will find are answered by God’s wisdom. It is especially when talking about the atonement that you see the wisdom of God, and the consistency of scripture testifying to the same exact thing.
   6. It is inevitable that some people will not like what I’m going to talk about, or they’re not going to agree with me, or they may want me to emphasize one thing over another. Our talking about the atonement is not going to come anywhere close to an in-depth look at it. It’s only meant to maybe instruct a little, and then to encourage you to read and study these things for yourself.
2. Why was the Atonement needed?
   1. There is a simple answer: the fall of man. The atonement is God’s answer to man’s fall.
   2. In talking about the fall of man we will see exactly what Christ had to accomplish in the atonement. That’s very important to understand: Christ’s atonement was accomplished in order to undo what man’s fall accomplished.
   3. By the “fall of man” we are talking about what happened in the Garden of Eden between Adam and Eve, and the serpent.
3. Adam: the figure of Christ
   1. We read in Romans 5:14, “Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come.”
   2. Adam is referred to as, “the figure of him that was to come”, speaking of Christ. He was a pattern, a type, of Christ. Christ Himself is referred to as “the last Adam” (1 Cor. 15:45). In that verse, there is a direct correlation between what Adam was and did, and what Christ is and did.
   3. Iranaeus, an early Christian writer, even stated very matter-of-factly that what Christ accomplished was meant to be the inverse of Adam. We’ll go more into detail on that next time when we talk about what was involved in the atonement. This time we will just focus on the fall of man. Since Adam was the “figure of him that was to come” let’s pay close attention to what happened in the fall.

• Genesis 3
  1. Let’s look at God’s punishment of the serpent, Eve, and then Adam after what happened in the Garden of Eden.
  2. “And the LORD God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life: And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.” (Gen. 3:14-15)
     1. The serpent, we know from Revelation 12:9, is Lucifer. We don’t know in what form or fashion this happened, but it’s only someone who calls God a liar who denies it. Now there is something very important to notice here. God does not question the serpent. He asserts the guiltiness of the serpent in saying, “Because thou hast done this”. The intention of Satan is very plain: He wanted man to sin. It’s very notable that he had to deceive him though. He had to get man to willfully choose to disobey God, and he succeeded. This made Adam and Eve yield themselves to the words of Satan. They chose to believe and obey Satan over God.
     2. I think people sometimes think that there are three options of obedience: God, Satan, or themselves. That’s wrong, there are only two: God, Satan. Under Satan falls everything of disobedience to God. If you choose to “go your own way” you are walking in the path of Satan himself who rebelled against God in pride.

• Notice how God curses the serpent in v.14. Satan has been cursed by God. We read elsewhere that all those who follow him are cursed also.
  1. “Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:” (Mat. 25:41)

1. We see that the Lake of fire has been prepared as a punishment for the devil and his angels. His angels are those angels who follow him in his rebellion. Notice in that verse that disobedient humans are cast there also. Christ Himself calls them cursed also. This is expressed also in other places:
   1. “For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame. For the earth which drinketh in the rain that cometh oft upon it, and bringeth forth herbs meet for them by whom it is dressed, receiveth blessing from God: But that which beareth thorns and briers is rejected, and is nigh unto cursing; whose end is to be burned.” (Heb. 6:4-8)
2. This is because those who are not in Christ, and partakers of his atonement, are under the bondage of Satan. They are in the path of the disobedient.
   1. “And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will.” (2Tim. 2:26)
   2. “Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son:” (Col. 1:13)
   3. “To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me.” (Acts 26:18)
   4. “But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.” (2Cor. 4:3-4)
3. What you should take away from this is that God has cursed the serpent, Satan, and if you don’t belong to God you belong under His adversary’s dominion. The scripture tells us:
   1. “Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.” (Heb. 2:14-15)

• That brings us to the next part of God’s punishment of the serpent in the fall. In v.15 God makes a pronouncement of the serpent’s demise. He says, “And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.” This is what is referred to as the “first gospel”. It is the first promise of a redeemer in the Bible. This contains several points:
  1. There would be enmity between Satan and humanity.
  2. There would be enmity between the children of the Devil (all unbelievers) and the seed of the woman, which is Christ. We know this from the fact that God refers to the seed of the woman in the singular right after, saying, “…it shall bruise thy head”.
  3. Christ would destroy the power and authority (head) of the Devil. This is verified by what we just read in Hebrews 2:14-15, “Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.”
  4. The serpent, Lucifer, would bruise the heel of Christ. This signifying Christ being killed.

1. “Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.” (Gen. 3:16)
   1. This, as much as it may bother some people, is where women were given the place of subjection to their husbands when God says, “…and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.” Some people read into that more than is there. Women are not in any way less than men. Both men and women are affirmed to be made in the image of God. It is simply a difference in roles. Believers are told that “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.” (Gal. 3:28) The early Christians openly affirmed and taught that women were just as valuable as men. It’s ironic that people have any problem with this idea from the Bible because Charles Darwin taught that a woman’s brain was one-third the size of a man’s and I don’t see anyone crying out about that. Even if you were to take the naturalistic worldview to its ultimate logical conclusion then women would be fair game to be treated as less valuable and only good for child rearing: if naturalism were true. Why do you think men treat women the way that they do nowadays? They are taught naturalism. If they were taught Biblical values and beliefs they would fear God, love their wives as their own bodies, and they would treat older women like mothers and the younger women like sisters like the Bible says. But Paul the Apostle affirmed this principle found in Genesis, saying, “Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection. But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence. For Adam was first formed, then Eve. And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression.” (1Tim. 2:11-14)
   2. Again, this is not saying that women can’t serve God. Women are listed and named in the NT as doing just that. Women are said to be allowed to pray in the congregation and they were given spiritual gifts by the Spirit of God Himself. If God ever insinuated the carnal idea of the subjugation of women He didn’t say so in the Bible. Contrary to that, the Apostle condemned husbands who did not take care of their wives and treat them rightly. (See 1 Pet. 3:7; Eph. 5:25-28, 33; 1 Cor. 7:3) Also, before moving on, one of the main motivations for the modern feminist movement is because they hate God. They shout things like “kill the patriarchy!” It is a rebellion against God’s role. He is the one who has pronounced these things. If you have a problem with that then your anger is not against men, it’s against God. I would recommend that you don’t talk to or about God as though you can do battle with Him.

• The other part of Eve’s punishment is that God would “greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception”. This seems to be clarified when God says, “in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children.” Throughout the scriptures references to the pain of childbearing is referred to almost like the worst kind of pain a human endures. When you think about the fact that Christ referred to the Tribulation period as the worst time period that will ever happen to humanity and likens it to “birth pangs” that gives you an idea. Having witnessed my wife give birth naturally twice now, I can tell you that it is not something to envy. This is something that we know was put upon women because of Eve’s sin. On the other hand, what you have to consider is the fact that God has also given to women the ability to have children. That’s something that men have never, and will never, experience. For what it’s worth, my wife says it’s worth it.

1. Notice though, that in Eve’s punishment she herself was not cursed. The only thing that changed about her—that is mentioned in this verse—was that she was subjected to sorrow of conception and subjection to her husband.

1. “And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.” (Gen. 3:17-19)
   1. It’s important to note that God is not punishing Adam because he listened to his wife. Adam is being punished for doing what God told him not to do. He is being punished for disobedience, for sin.
   2. But look at what God curses here: the ground. God curses the earth, and He says that it is for his, Adam’s, sake. We’re told in Romans 8:19-21 that God subjected creation to vanity in hope. That doesn’t seem to make sense until we continue, because God proceeds to pronounce physical death upon Adam. He says, “for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.” Adam is punished with mortality: he will die physically. This is extremely important as we’ll see in the next couple of verses.

• But, again, notice that God doesn’t curse Adam. In all of this passage God curses only two things: the serpent (Lucifer), and the ground (creation). Neither Adam nor Eve is cursed. They are punished, but not cursed.

1. “And Adam called his wife's name Eve; because she was the mother of all living. Unto Adam also and to his wife did the LORD God make coats of skins, and clothed them. And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever: Therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken. So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.” (Gen. 3:20-24)
   1. A lot can be said about these verses, and I am not going to go into everything. I want to focus on one aspect that we want to take some time to consider, because it is the principle point. God says, “…lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever: Therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken.” God drove Adam and Eve from the Garden lest he should eat of the tree of life and live forever. Understand that God’s subjecting man to physical death was an act of infinite mercy.
   2. Iranaeus, and early Christian writer, put it this way:
      1. “Wherefore also He drove him out of Paradise, and removed him far from the tree of life, not because He envied him the tree of life, as some venture to assert, but because He pitied him, [and did not desire] that he should continue a sinner for ever, nor that the sin which surrounded him should be immortal, and evil interminable and irremediable. But He set a bound to his [state of] sin, by interposing death, and thus causing sin to cease, putting an end to it by the dissolution of the flesh, which should take place in the earth, so that man, ceasing at length to live to sin, and dying to it, might begin to live to God.” (Iranaeus, “Against Heresies”, Book 3, ch. 23)

• It was God’s mercy to make man subject to death. God here instituted a principle that made possible redemption for man. For when God said, “For the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23) he also made it possible to say, “For he that is dead is free from sin.” (Romans 6:7) You might not get the implication of that right away. Just like Iranaeus said, “But He set a bound to his [state of] sin, by interposing death, and thus causing sin to cease, putting an end to it by the dissolution of the flesh, which should take place in the earth, so that man, ceasing at length to live to sin, and dying to it, might begin to live to God.”

• Death
  7. It is because God made death the wages of sin, or the punishment for sin, that it is possible for man to be redeemed. If God had not made man mortal and corruptible, then it would not be possible to redeem mankind because he would forever be in that state of sin. God putting death as the “end” of sin. Paul compared it to a marriage in Romans 7. So long as you live you are joined to it. If you die, the bond is broken. This is what Paul was referring to in the book of Romans when he said, “For he that is dead is free from sin.” (Rom. 6:7)
  8. We’re also told in Romans:
     1. “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:” (Rom. 5:12)
  9. It is because all men have sinned that all men are subject to death. A question naturally arises from this fact. What exactly did we inherit from Adam? I might make a lot of people upset by my answer, but it’s not a “sinful nature”. How would you define that? A nature that is only capable of sin? No man has that. Even Hitler could tell the truth. Would it be a nature that gives the ability to sin? No, that can’t be it. Adam and Eve in their first state were obviously capable of sin, because they did sin. So, if even the first state of man was capable of sin, what did we inherit from Adam? Well, let’s just consider a couple of scriptures:
     1. “Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.” (Heb. 2:14-15)
     2. “Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption. Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.” (1Cor. 15:50-54)

• “Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.” (John 3:5-7)

1. “For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin.” (Rom. 7:14)
2. “For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.” (Rom. 7:18)
3. “But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.” (Rom. 7:23-25)

• “Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.” (Rom. 6:6)
• “Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.” (Rom. 6:12)

1. Do you see the emphasis in all of these verses? The children are partakers of “flesh and blood”. “Flesh and blood” cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither does “corruption inherit incorruption”. That’s why the body must be changed at the resurrection. Christ said, “That which is born of flesh is flesh…ye must be born again.” Paul said that we are “carnal”—“sarkikos”, the same Greek word where we get “fleshly”—sold under sin. In our “flesh” dwelleth no good thing. There is a law in our members Paul said trying to bring us into captivity to the law of sin which is in our members. Paul referred to our natural bodies as “the body of this death”. He calls it elsewhere “the body of sin”. And again, we are not to obey our mortal body in the lusts thereof. Paul says that in doing so we let sin reign. We inherited flesh from Adam, our mortal bodies. This corruptible body.
2. Paul refers to the weakness of the flesh. We are warned about the lusts of the flesh as one of our primary enemies. Why do you think that Paul said, “But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.” (1Cor. 9:27) Paul also refers to our “vile body” being changed in Philippians 3:21.
3. So you inherit flesh, a mortal body, from Adam. There are lusts that it has. There are desires that arise in your mortal body that are unlawful to God. They may seem pleasurable to you, but you will serve either God or yourself. This is why Christ continually emphasizes denying yourself.

1. The image of Adam
   1. So you inherit this likeness from Adam. We’re told in Genesis:
      1. “This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day that God created man, in the likeness of God made he him; Male and female created he them; and blessed them, and called their name Adam, in the day when they were created. And Adam lived an hundred and thirty years, and begat a son in his own likeness, after his image; and called his name Seth:” (Gen. 5:1-3)
   2. When Adam was first formed he was made in the image of God. When Adam sinned, the image was marred, because God is holy. We still retain many things, but mortality, flesh, and corruption is not it. This new image of flesh and blood is what continued in Adam’s son. We’re told, “And Adam lived and hundred and thirty years, and begat a son in his own likeness, after his image; and called his name Seth:”
   3. It may seem unfair, but what you’ll find is the wisdom of God. Why do you inherit the image and likeness of Adam by being born from him? Well, let’s just say it’s the wisdom of God. Consider this: Adam sinned, and became flesh and blood, subject to mortality and death. You are descended from Adam, and inherit the same flesh and blood, subject to mortality and death. If you continue in this likeness, Adam’s, you will die and give account for your sins with no remedy. You have no strength to change this. But what if a man was born in the same flesh and blood, a son of man, who was different? What if that man overcame the weakness and did no sin? What if He willfully subjected Himself to still die? To undergo the same penalty as all other men who have sinned, though He didn’t deserve it? Another thing, what if He overcame death and rose again because having not sinned He was not subject to it? What if, just as Adam became an image and likeness that you partake of, this son of man became a new image and likeness that you may partake of? If the wages of sin is death because of the pattern of the one that you were born into, as Christ said, “That which is born of flesh is flesh,” (John 3:6) what if you willfully chose to die and be born again in a new image? What if you chose to die to sin, for he that is dead is free from sin, and to be born after the image of Him that did no sin? You know what you’d be? You’d be a new creature.
   4. There is a pattern that has been given. You are living after the pattern of Adam, and you will reap the consequences. In the atonement, God has provided you with an alternative. Die to sin, and go after a new pattern. Be born of the spirit, for that which is born of spirit is spirit Christ said (John 3:6), and sow unto the spirit. “For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.” (Gal. 6:8) “For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.” (1Cor. 15:21-22) Consider Paul’s words in Romans:
      1. “O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin. There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.” (Rom. 7:24-8:8)
   5. Closing
      1. I think that we’ll stop there for this episode. We’ve talked about why the atonement was needed. It was needed because of the fall and the state that humanity is in as a result. We are born weak (in the sense of ability to overcome sin) and are in the bondage of corruption. Next time, Lord willing, we’ll talk about “What was involved in the atonement?” Specifically focusing on the things that the scriptures tell us Christ had to accomplish.
      2. Don’t forget, it helps us if you give the podcast reviews on things such as Google or iTunes. You can also send me any questions, comments, or anything like that through my email which is said at the end of every episode. There is also a question button at the top of the webpage that will send me an email. The webpage is www.remnantbiblefellowship.com. Our Facebook page is facebook.com/rbfellowship. We’re on most podcast apps. We have a YouTube channel that most people don’t use. All that sort of stuff. All of these things are just outlets. The key thing is getting people to seek Christ for themselves.

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