003 - STUDIES IN LAW: Part I
(1976)
Pastor Henry F. Kulp
Romans 5: 12, 13 “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: 13 (For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law.”
Now notice this verse with me. That’s why I’m going to spend the next few weeks with you. Now, did you hear that statement: “Where there is no law sin is not imputed.”
Now I’ll tell you something, I struggled with that verse for many, many years. What’s that mean?
Now there is a period of time, 2,500 years from the time of Adam up till Moses. This time is divided into two sections: one from Adam to Noah, then the Flood came, then from Noah to Moses; one on one side of the Flood and the other on the other side of the Flood. Now, God says in this period of time there was no Law; no Law at all. There was the law of sin and death but not the Ten Commandments; not the Mosaic Law. And God says here, “Where there is no Law, sin is not imputed.” Now, listen, look at me. You see, God has a period of time and I’ll tell you another problem I’ve had with this period of time, Adam to Noah from Noah to Moses; where does it fit in.
The Bible is mainly divided into two periods: Law and Grace. The earthly program and the Heavenly program; where does this area fit in? They’re not under Law. They’re not members of the Church the Body of Christ. Where do they fit in? And I’ll be honest with you, I have wrestled and wrestled and wrestled. This is a period of time that is very difficult and if you were to go out to find some books, you would find very, very few answers for these questions.
I bought many commentaries but I’ve given up on commentaries. People keep coming up to me, especially when I hold Bible Conferences, and say, “Pastor, what do you think is a good commentary?” You can’t find any. All the commentaries I know have reached a point when there is a hard problem, you know what they do? Close their eyes and pretend it isn’t there at all. It’s very difficult. Very few commentaries ever face the difficult problems of the Bible.
Now, what’s this mean, I’m going to burn it into your mind: “But sin is not imputed when there is no law.” Does that mean that all the people who lived from Adam to Moses that they didn’t have to answer for their sins? What does it mean, that the folks who lived in that time are all saved; that they are all in Heaven? Was there Universal Reconciliation for those folks? Didn’t they have to answer for their sins? What about a criminal who lived during that period of time? We have Cain, who became the first murderer, he didn’t forfeit his life.
Well, let’s look at this passage. I want to look at it carefully and I hope and pray I can keep you coming for about three or four weeks, because I would like you to see this period of time before I’m finished. I’m positive most people have just overlooked it.
Let’s go back to Romans 5: 12. “Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin;” Now what’s that mean? You know we’re living in a day that the average person does not even realize. The average fundamentalist says, “It’s getting worse; it’s horrible,” but what he fails to see is what is happening in the Bible-believing, fundamental church right now.
Two things are happening: Number one: we have neo- evangelism. Many men who stood firm for the Bible truth have now deviated and discarded many of them. I read a book by a man, who was a giant in fundamentalism in days gone by (if I mentioned his name I’m sure 95% of you would know who I’m talking about) I read a book in which he took a staunch stand for creation and then I read a book before he died, in which he felt perhaps God did mean evolution. You see, we have in the fundamental church today the problem of those who are deviating; still calling themselves fundamentalists, still calling themselves Bible-believers, but they have deviated from some of the basic truths. Now why? One of the reasons happens to be because they were looked down upon by the Liberals and college people, who said, “They are nothing, why they don’t even have any education.” These fellows didn’t like that, so they decided they were going to change that image. Let me say something, when the world speaks highly of you and me, we better watch—better watch out.
If we want the esteem and the honor and the glory of this world, we’re in trouble. And it’s led a large segment of believers into this neo-evangelicalism, whereby, they have gone down the road of ecumenicalism to get along with everybody.
Then, secondly, the problem has been as our brother prayed tonight, the charismatic movement. How many people are being swayed by that. I met a man yesterday, he and his wife stopped me and he said, “You’re Pastor Kulp aren’t you?” He said, “I’ve watched you on T.V. for about 20 years.” He said, “Were you down to Huntington last week?” (Where you down? Did you see it on T.V., lately? About 35,000 people. That’s a lot of folks in any man’s language--making inroads.)
What’s the answer? The answer happens to be that we must be Bible-believing, Bible- teaching churches. I’m convinced that we’ve had too much evangelism, which is fine, but that’s not the purpose of the church. We need more Bible teachers. People who are saved need to be grounded in the doctrine of the Word. Now we need evangelism all right, but not to the point that we forsake Bible teaching--Bible teaching.
Now, let’s go back with that in mind. “Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world,”: now what does that mean? Does that mean that all of us are born from one man by the name of Adam? Does that mean that we have one man, who is the head of this race, and all of the rest come from him? Is that what it means? That’s exactly what it means. “Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world,” Adam created by the hand of God; brought into existence and became a living soul.
Let me show you something. Will you turn with me to John 5: 45. I want to show you an amazing verse: I was showing this to a seminary student just the other week. He was talking to me and he wasn’t too sure that the Bible did teach everybody did come from Adam.
John 5: 45. “Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father: there is one that accuseth you, (what are the next two words?) even Moses, in whom ye trust.”
Now, the Jewish people, they based everything they believed on Moses. They were sure Moses was God’s man. But wait a minute! Listen to the next verse.
John 5: 46 “For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me: for he wrote of me.” Now, what’s he saying? Jesus Christ is saying to these Jews, “If you believe Moses, whom you put so much stock in, then you would believe me.”
You see, it’s one thing to say, I believe the Bible and it’s another thing to believe it. There are people who will say, “I believe the Bible is the Word of God,” but they don’t know what’s in it. How you believe something you don’t even know. It’s nothing but a superstitious belief. You say, “I believe the Bible is the Word of God”, but you don’t know what’s in it. You can’t believe it. That’s what God is saying to these Jews. “You say you are of Moses, Moses is of great importance, but if you believe Moses you would believe me.” Now notice the next verse the 47th. Here is a principal that is so important.
John 5: 47 “But (notice this conjunctive contact) “But if ye believed not his writing (who’s writing? Moses. What are Moses writings? Matthew, Mark, Luke, are they Moses writings? No, of course not. What are his writings? Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy, five books. What are they called? The Pentateuch. Now, notice the verse.) “But if ye believe not his writings; (Moses writings, the Pentateuch) how shall ye believe my words?” Now, listen to me. Anyone who discards Genesis 1 & 2 and says it’s a fable and that it doesn’t mean what it says; they can’t be saved.
God clearly says that. You say that God had another way, other than the one-man Adam to be the federal head of the race; Jesus said, You don’t believe Moses, and that included Genesis 1 & 2, you can’t believe on Him. Do you see, anyone who tells you, I don’t believe the creation story in Genesis 1 thru 5 up to the Flood, that means they are not saved; they are not trusting Jesus Christ. It’s just that clear. Let me read it again, so that there will be no mistaking it. “But if ye believe not his writings, how shall ye believe my words?”
May I digress for a second to give you a little background. We have so many young folks who have been coming to me about evolution. You know, evolution, young folks, is absolutely the most ridiculous thing in the world. I wouldn’t be afraid to meet any of your teachers in school on evolution; I wouldn’t be afraid for one second. In fact, I challenged one or two of them. Now, here is the reason; there are three gaps that absolutely prove evolution to be ridiculous. Here’s number one: (Do you know what it is?) the gap between nothing and material.
There’s not a scientific theory in the world that ever attempts to explain that gap. How do you go from nothing to material? There’s not a scientific theory in the world that ever attempts to explain that gap. How do you go from nothing to something? How do you go from nothing to material? What’s the second gap? The second gap is between embryo and life. How do you go from an inanimate object to an animate object? How do you go from a stone to an animal? What’s the third gap? The third gap is: How do you go from an animal to a man? There’s not a scientific theory in the world that will cover anyone of these gaps. All right, we have nothing and anyone in his common sense knows this world hasn’t been here always.
There is not a scientist in the world who doesn’t try to tell you how long it’s been here. They try to use carbon dating and all the other ideas to see how has this earth been in existence. Well, what if it’s been here 10 billion years; what was here before it? How did it start? And everything you ask a scientist who believes in evolution, he just stammers and stumbles around it.
How did it come into being? All right, they talk about an explosion; well; where did that come from that it exploded? Then the second gap: how do you go from an inanimate object to life. How do you do it? How do you take something that doesn’t have life and give it life? How does the evolutionist really solve this problem? Let me show you something.
Go with me to Genesis 1: 24. Let’s look at this second gap. “And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so. And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind and everything that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good.”
“And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature...” (Now if you have a Scofield Bible, right away you know what that word “Creature” should be. What is it? Soul, soul. Do you realize that every living animal has a soul? The Jehovah’s witness try to convince folks on their teaching on the soul. And they say, “Do you know that animals have soul?” and the average fundamentalist puts his hand in his mouth and his foot in his mouth and is all excited. Of course, animals have a soul. What’s the soul mean? The soul means self-consciousness. That’s the difference between inanimate objects and animals. You uproot a tree and what happens to it? It dies.
Turn with me to Matthew 8: 20. “And Jesus saith unto him, the foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head.”
Now, notice, what’s the difference? You uproot a tree or a bush and it dies. You take a fox from its hole and a bird from its nest, and what will it do? It will try to return. You see animals have self-consciousness; they have consciousness of a hole; they have consciousness of a mate. Now here is a difference. Listen to this gap: Between material and animals. Material doesn’t have a soul; it doesn’t have self-consciousness but animals do. But now what’s the difference bridging animals to man? We have a soul, but what else do we have? We have God-consciousness. We have the consciousness of right and wrong given to us by the Fall.
So, beloved, you see there are gaps here that are just not to be bridged. And any self- respecting scientist will back away because he has no answer. The gap between nothing and material, the gap between material and life, the gap between lower forms of life and man cannot be answered. Now, “By one man, sin entered into the world,”: here again we have a problem. Man says, Ah, we don’t believe that Adam sinned and because of this we are all sinners.
How many times have I told you, you are a sinner because you got it from Adam. All in Adam sin. You sin because you are a sinner. Right away religion says what? Religion says, “You know that doesn’t make sense. That’s not fair, why should I be a sinner because a man, 6,000 years ago sinned. Why should God hold me responsible for that; that doesn’t make sense at all.” And here again it’s a matter of believing what God tells us. Did Adam eat of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, or didn’t he? Now, some even go so far as to say that Adam’s sin was sexual. That’s ridiculous also. What did God say to Adam in the Garden? “Be fruitful and replenish the earth.” How? Sexually. Then we have those who say, “Adam’s sin was the fruit he partook of was grapes, that it was fermented, and that it was drunkenness.” That, of course, is ridiculous for there was no fermentation even after the Fall. There was no fermentation until after the Flood. And then, we have the folks who say that Adam ate of an apple. “By one man sin entered into the world” and what was it? This one man, Adam is the federal head of the whole race and when he sinned by partaking of the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, he plunged the whole human race into sin. And how do I know this is true?
Go back to Romans 5. How do I know this; how can I be sure? Romans 5: 12. “Wherefore, by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin”.
Do all men die? They most certainly do. All men die. The fruit of sin is death. Everywhere. It’s in nature; it’s among human beings. Wherever you go death is still the prevalent one. We all die. Now, wait a minute. When we say, “By one man sin entered into the world and so death passed upon all men for all have sinned: (for until the Law sin was in the world:” but sin was not imputed where there is no law: well, how are we going to go to the second part: “...where there is no Law sin is not imputed...”? Well, now there is another thing I want you to see before we go. There are four basic institutions in the Bible and you have to understand this to understand this verse. What are the four institutions? They are there for the protection of man. They are there for believer and unbeliever.
Number one: is volition.
God gave to every man volition and this is why I hate Ultra-Calvinism with a great hatred: because it robs man. This idea that people have no choice: there is nothing they can do. This idea that tomorrow I’m going to do something and no matter what happens, I’m going to do it. Not true. God gave every man volition. When he placed Adam in the Garden, he said, “Do not partake of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil for in the day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die.” He had a choice or it did not mean anything and you and I have the right to make choices all day long. From the day you’re born, till the day you die, you make choices. So, volition is the first institution and the whole Bible is built on volition.
Number two: Marriage.
Marriage is very important. Outside of salvation, the most important decision any person makes is to choose a life partner. Marriage. Now, why marriage? Some folks say, today, “Well, what difference does it make, marriage is just a scrap of paper.” No, it isn’t. It’s not just a scrap of paper. It’s commitment. Young folks say, “Well, we live together. We love one another, what difference does it make?” It makes all the difference in the world. Do you realize marriages were before the Fall? Now, why marriage? Because, God said, “It’s not good for man to live alone.” God has ordained this is the way we continue the human race.
Number three: the family
And what’s the third one? The third one is the family. Now, the family is for protection. Now, why did God have the family? Well, a little child is born, it’s helpless. It needs to be fed, it needs to be clothed, it needs to be cleaned, it needs to be watched over. And that child does not stop needing its parents even when it’s 25 years of age as far as I’m concerned. I praise God I had parents who were loving and who were interested in me until the day they died. I was in the habit when I was 40 and 50 of asking my father his advice and I valued his advice. The family is important. Now, what is the fourth institution? This is the one I want you to see because this is the one we will be studying for the next couple weeks.
Nationalism.
Turn with me if you will to Genesis the 10th chapter. Genesis 10: 32. Right here we have the beginning of the Tower of Babel. “These are the families of the sons of Noah, after their generations, in their nations: and by these were the nations divided in the earth after the Flood.”
Now, go to Acts 17: 26. “And have made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation.”
God has decided where every nation will live. He made nations; one world is not God’s program. One world is the devil’s program. The UN is not God’s; he never had anything to do with it. And just the evidence of what’s happened is proof of that. Why did God have nations? Now, I’m only giving you two Scriptures, I could give you many more. Why did God have this fourth institution called Nations, or Naturalism? You see, Communism isn’t Nationalism. Socialism says, “Let’s get rid of nations; let’s just be one people with one language.” God said, “NO”.
Now, why did God have nations? It’s important to see why God has nations. God said, “Germany is going to be here, Russia is going to be here, Italy will be here and Australia is going to be here”, why? Well, turn with me to Romans the 13th Chapter. I’ve only gotten about one third through what I wanted to give you tonight.
Romans 13: 1 “Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God.” Everyone who’s in authority has been raised up by God. You’ll have to see this if you are going to understand this. “Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation.” (Or judgement; don’t you dare resist the powers that be.)
All right, the 3rd verse. “For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? Do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same: for he is the minister (notice this) of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid; for he beareth not the sword in vain: for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil.”
Now, there are many different types of government in history. Where do you get the most efficient government of all? The most efficient government is one ruler, supreme authority, that’s the efficient one. What do you think is the worst government of all to live under? Democracy is the most evil of all governments. A Republic is a representative form of government. You see democracy says that everybody is equal and that’s not true. There’s not a greater fallacy in this world; we’re not equal. You have some talents I don’t have. Some people have talent in ruling and others do not. Some have talent to work with their hands, be creative and do marvelous things; be creative as man calls it. Others do not. You can give me a saw, hammer, a plane and I hate for you to see what I’d make. My mother, till the day she died, had a little foot stool that I had made in grammar school. You should see it, beautiful, slopes down, rocks this way; I don’t know if my wife still has it or not, but I have never been a carpenter. My dad was great; my dad could make anything. You see, we have different gifts and not all are meant to be rulers. All democracy is, is mob rule.
Under a Republic, we recognize that some people are more equip to be rulers, so we have a representative government. But what has happened with the news media, we now have part democracy, part republic and we have a catastrophe.
You’ve heard about the Son of Sam in New York. Have you read some of the articles about him now? These leading Liberals, “He’s insane, he’s insane.” He’s insane all right, he could plot like few people could plot. But the Liberals say, (the governor of New York State says he’ll not have any capital punishment.) But God has government (Now, I want you to listen to this, because we’re going to be studying this next week, Romans 5: 13) government is for your protection and my protection. It’s for the protection of the family. Above all, it’s for the protection of that first ingredient called volition. Government has been raised up by God; naturalism has been raised up by God for the protection of man and his family and in his marriage. But what happens when man becomes exceedingly sinful? Then the whole thing breaks down.
Lord willing, next week I want to take Romans 5: 13 “Where there is no law sin is not imputed unto them,”: I want to show you one thing that I want you to think about all week. I want you to think about it: I want you to digest it.
Romans 5: 13 “(For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law”.
Now, do you know what that word “imputed” is here? Well, let me tell you something, the Greek word “imputed” is only used one other time in the New Testament. Do you know what it is? Turn with me to the Book of Philemon. Don’t miss this, because if I’m going to foul you up, I’m going to do it right here. Philemon has one chapter.
Philemon 1: 18 “If he hath wronged thee, or oweth thee ought, put that on mine account.”
You know that’s the same Greek word translated “imputed”. Here’s what it means. “Where there is no law there was sin, but where there is law the sinner does not have his sin put on his account, or charged to him.”
Did that foul you up? It did me and I won’t say it was just a few days. It took me a long time and a lot of study to find out what God meant here. I want to share it with you, Lord willing, next Wednesday night. “Where there is no law sin is not charged to the account of the sinner, just put that on my account.”
This is the same Greek word; you can check me out and you’ll see that I’m right.
AMEN
Ref: 1976 / 003 - STUDIES IN LAW: Part I / 10/10/2020
No comments:
Post a Comment