The Holy Spirit Guides Gospel Advance: Acts 16:4-10
July 5, 2020 Speaker: Bob DeWaay Series: Acts of the Apostles
Scripture: Acts 16:4-10
In response to the lawlessness we are witnessing in our society and the refusal of some civil authorities to deal with it, we explain the Biblical doctrine of the sin nature, its remedy in Christ, and how all humans are descended from Adam. The only way of escape from the sin nature of the first Adam is to be in Christ - the last Adam. Much is being said on the news about races of people. We deal with how the Bible sees the issue in both sin and redemption. The Bible says that those in Christ are new creatures (2Corinthians 5:17). The Bible also reveals redeemed people from all the tribes, nations, and languages praising God in heaven (Revelation 5:9, 10). We discuss implications of this.
We are to be bold in the gospel while not giving offense to “Jews, or Greeks or the church of God” (2Corinthians 10:32). One key passage we cover is 1Corinthians 15:21, 22. All who are “in Adam” die. All who are in Christ are made alive. Romans 5:12 also speaks of sin entering the world through “one man” (Adam). Ephesians 2:1 tells Christians that before conversion they were “dead.” Though some theologians say that sin is only transmitted because of weakness rather than imputed, this does not do justice to the Adam/Christ analogy. We are dead in Adam and only alive in Christ when we come to Him through the gospel. There is a sin nature that explains the evil we see in the world. Civil authorities are to restrain evil, but only Christ can redeem anyone from sin.