3/13/22 Romans 5:12-19 “The Cure for COVID-19!”

11 Mar 3/13/22 Romans 5:12-19 “The Cure for COVID-19!”

3/13/22    Romans 5:12-19         “The Cure for COVID-19!”

I know that this is rather a silly question but how many of you have ever engaged in wishful thinking?  I know that I have.  What I have been wishing about lately is how it would be nice if winter were over.  I am really getting tired of all this snow and I’m the one who just got to back from a week in Florida.  I don’t think that there is really anything wrong with wishful thinking as long as it doesn’t start to control our lives.  I have heard of people who are wishful thinkers to the point where they spend all their money trying to win a jackpot in some lottery game.  There are other people who day dream to the point where they cannot even do their jobs anymore.  Satan can get a hold of this type of thinking and make our lives quite miserable.  In today’s reading we see where Satan caught old Adam and Eve in his terribly rotten clutches in a moment of their wishful thinking.  He did a good job of getting our ancestors to sin for the first time and we have been paying for it ever since.  Let’s see if there is any way out of this or are we just doomed.

There have been times in our history when some small thing has had great consequences.  In this story from Windows on the Word, we find a man who tells another man that he can make a lasting impression on many people in the world.  They had quite a heated debate and the friend didn’t think the man could do it.  So, the first man decided that he would introduce a new word into the English language.  So that night the first man went all over Dublin with some chalk and wrote four letters that were randomly chosen, on every wall he could find.  The letters were Q-U-I-Z.  The next morning when people started to move around, they saw these letters but they didn’t know what they meant.  “What does that mean?” they would ask.

It wasn’t long before the newspapers got wind of this word and soon this strange sounding word was on everyone’s lips.  Then shortly after this the term quiz was incorporated into the English language as a synonym for ‘questioning.’  The originator of the argument had won and he had made a lasting impression on many people by creating one new English word.

I would guess that being famous was the farthest thing from the minds of Adam and Eve so many centuries ago when they tasted some fruit.  After all what could be more innocent than tasting some delicious fruit?  Or maybe stated in our modern terms what could be more innocent than that second brownie?  Or second helping of food?  Or that second beer?  As innocent as these things might seem, the results could be life changing.

This has always been a rather fascinating passage for me.  I think that we are all in agreement that there have only been two perfect men in this world and they are Adam and Jesus.  Then you will say that Adam took the fruit and sinned.  You are right but up to that point, Adam had not sinned and was perfect.  It was at that point of eating the fruit that all hell broke loose, literally.  Every human being since then has inherited the sin of Adam.

I think that one of the first questions that we can have might be that if God knows everything and is omnipotent, then why did He make us in the first place if He knew that Adam was going to sin?  This is a very good question and I don’t know if I have the correct answer or not but I will try not to let that stop me from answering.  He made us like this because He loves us.  It is that simple.  We have no idea how long Adam and Eve were in the Garden before they sinned.  It could have been hours, months or even centuries before this event took place.

God made us with free will and an insatiable curiosity.  God knew that Adam would eventually succumb to his curiosity.  He also knew that after Adam had sinned, he could come back to God stronger than before.  Once he was away from God for a while, he would realize just how good he had it in Eden.  As a result of his first sin, he would be more vigilant against further sins.  We don’t know much more about Adam but this sure could be a possibility when we look at our own lives.

So, we don’t really know the answer to the question as to why we were made this way,

but we do know that once they were expelled from the Garden of Eden, things changed.  They were no longer surrounded by everything that was good along with the one possibility of temptation.  Now they were surrounded with all kinds of temptation and very little that was good.  They were thrust into a world of sin and we have been born into a world of sin ever since.

There is another interesting question you may have and that is do babies sin?  This is a question that has raged on for centuries so I doubt if I will solve it today.  I do not believe that babies will go to hell if they are not baptized.  Babies are born into a world of sin and develop the innate capability to sin.  But I don’t think that babies sin or end up in the wrong place.  I don’t think that this is Scriptural for them to go to the wrong place.  In Matthew 19:14 we read where Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and to not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.”  In Mark and other places, we read about how the children will inherit the kingdom.  If Jesus talks this highly of children, I don’t think that there is any possibility that they will end up in the wrong place until, that is, they reach the age of reason.  And that is a whole other topic.

The last question that I’m going to raise about Adam is “Is Adam to blame for the sins I commit?”  The answer to this is a resounding ‘no!’  Adam is responsible for bringing sin into the world.  Or maybe he is responsible for putting us in a world full of sin and temptation.  But he is not responsible for what you do as an individual.  You have the same choice that Adam had.  You can sin or not sin.

This is the choice you have every day.  Will I sin or will I not sin?  Now if you would like a little direction on this there are many books you can read.  There are also many people who are speakers on the topic who will guide you.  There are also some great movies and TV shows that might help.  Whatever you do, don’t pay any attention to any of these people until you have sat down and read in your Bible.  Go to the pure source first before you go to any man-made explanation.  Then pray and ask for guidance.  And then listen!  Listen for the soft voice of an answer.

So far, we have just talked about Adam and I don’t think that we have even begun to cover his aspect of this amazing story.  But let’s move on to what Paul refers to as the gift.  The gift is none other than Jesus Christ.  God sent Adam to this world and he was a perfect man until that day in the Garden.  We have all been doomed ever since.  Death came into this world and has stayed.  Then God in His infinite wisdom sent us a gift in Jesus.  Jesus was a perfect man also.  Only Jesus didn’t sin in his entire lifetime.  He was the perfect man all the way and as a result He died by torture so that we could be free from our sins.  One man brought us sin and one man can take sin away.  This is a gift that is free.

So, what do we do about this wonderful gift?  In my world of schooling and other things, I see that one of the things we really like to do is talk about this gift.  We like to discuss it.  We like to argue about it.  We like to read and write books about this gift.  The last thing that we like to do is accept this as a gift.  We seem to have a little disconnect between the problem and the gift, Adam and Jesus.

I ran across this illustration a while back and I don’t remember where it came from but it goes something like this.  Suppose that you have been given the perfect place to live.  Everything that you could ever want is at your fingertips.  You have the finest house, the finest food and wonderful friends.  Everyone in the world is there and is your friend.  There is just one little thing.  There is a box in the living room that you are not supposed to touch or open.

So, you do pretty well not touching it.  After all, it was placed over the fireplace so it is out of the way.  But as time goes on, friends keep asking you about it.  You can’t answer because you don’t know and these people give you a hard time because it is your house.  Why shouldn’t you know?  So, one day when all your friends are there, all the people in the world, you decide not only to move the box but you are also going to open it.  When you open it, out springs a white powdery substance and you find out that it is anthrax or better yet, COVID-19.  All the COVID-19 of the world was in that box.  By opening this one little box, you have not only killed yourself but you have also killed all your friends, everyone in the world who had nothing to do with this decision.

You are stunned.  Then someone comes to your door and tells you that he will help.  He comes into the room and inhales all the anthrax or COVID-19 in the air, on the surfaces and also what the people have already breathed.  Wouldn’t it be nice if this is how the story went?

But we all know that is not how things are.  However, this stranger at the door can do all of this and will take the COVID-19 out of your system only if you ask.  So, here’s what happens.  Some people say no because their doctor will take care of them.  Others have a favorite tree that they pray to every day and they will rely on this tree.  Still others have a special herbal doctor who can take care of anything.  Nothing will stop these people from running out that door to their certain death.  You alone have accepted the strangers offer and you have been cured but they don’t understand.  It is so sad that this is much more like how our world actually operates.

Do you remember last week when I mentioned how that if something seems too good to be true, then it is likely to be false?  Here is the one huge exception to this rule.  Jesus is that stranger and He is knocking on your door.  If you don’t know Him, then confess your sins to Him and ask Him to live in your life.  Let Him take all of your troubles.  Let Him give you a new life where you have a guaranteed place in heaven.  Don’t listen to all your non believing friends who just ran out that door!  Don’t go by the ways of our world!  Go with Jesus and this book called the Bible.  Now I want to ask each person here a question.  I don’t need the answer but you need to answer to yourself.  Are you absolutely sure where you will be spending eternity?  Are you positive?  If you can’t answer this by saying definitely, you’re going to heaven, then confess and ask Jesus into your life. Don’t get stuck dying from anthrax or COVID-19.  It is a terrible way to die.

I don’t think that we want anyone to die so terribly when the cure is right here, standing at your door.  I also know that we do a fairly good job of being a Christian instead of just talking about it.  I have seen you reach into the neighbors with the hand of Christ.  I have seen you invite the poor and lowly into our midst.  I have seen or heard of some wonderful acts of mercy and kindness you do.  These are all good things but we cannot rest on what we did yesterday.  We need to be always looking ahead for the next person who is in a divorce.  Do you know someone who is out of work or the family has health problems?  Be alert to the people around you and invite them into the world of Jesus.  I don’t care if we never add another new member to any church.  I do care that we keep helping those who are needy.  But let’s make it a point to keep asking people to come to our church anyway.  You never know what is going to happen.

It could happen like Michael Luke tells as a young man named Eugene Suter was a student at Yale when his father passed away and left him an inheritance of $400,000.  To everyone’s amazement he refused his inheritance.  The trustees of the estate insisted that he take it and he still refused.  Finally, they went to court to force him to accept it.  Judge William T. Collins reluctantly ruled that the young man had a legal right to reject the $400,000. The judge’s order legally cut off the 22-year-old-student from all future interest in the family fortune.  We don’t want anyone cut off from their inheritance in Jesus Christ.  Unfortunately, this happens far more than we like to think.

Or maybe it could happen like Don Schultz tells.  He wants us to imagine that we want an Olympic Gold Medal more than anything else in life.  This is your life’s dream.  Unfortunately, you were born with all kinds of physical conditions and problems.  Then to top all of this off, you get in a car accident that paralyzes you.  The dream of an Olympic gold medal becomes something that will never happen.  Then one day one of those athletes you see on TV, visits you and gives you his gold medal.  He has earned it but he gives it to you.  You can’t believe what has just happened.

Having a beautiful life and being happy are not out of the realm of possibilities as long as you have Jesus on your side.  He wants you to stand by His side on the gold medal platform.  Jesus promises to help you do all the things that are necessary in your life.  This week I ask you to go to Him and talk.  I ask that you take someone with you when you talk.  I’m not talking physically but bring this person’s name to Jesus.  Jesus loves us so much that He wants all our friends to join Him forever.  I praise the Lord for his love and patience. And thank you, Jesus, for first loving us. Let’s pray.