TWO MEN - TWO KINGDOMS
TWO MEN – TWO KINGDOMS
The Law of the Spirit of Life overcame The Law of Sin and Death
Sunday, July 9, 2023
Pastor Carolyn Sissom
Paul speaks in Romans 5 of two races of mankind --- just two. And the one is the figure or type of the other. Nor is it left to our imagination as to the manner in which the first Adam prefigures the Last Adam, for the apostle expounds all this in great detail.
As we consider this, it is well to note the comparison as well as the contrast in all that the apostle is saying. Just as we might compare the darkness to the light, a blade of grass to a mighty tree, a pebble on the beach to a rocky mountain, a shooting star to a galaxy --- so does the apostle Paul mention the attributes of the first Adam, and how we inherited our sin nature from him. He proceeds to magnify the contrasting attributes of the Last Adam, and all that we inherit from Him.
The First Adam was created by the breath of the Spirit of God without a sin nature, and yet he fell --- not because of inherited flesh sin, but because of an act of disobedience. Our Lord Jesus Christ was also born without the sin nature by the same Holy Spirit (Lk. 1:35). How else could He become our Redeemer? He was still subject to temptations and the trial of obedience. He had to be born into Adam’s race as the son-of-man to defeat the man of Sin. The First Adam chose to disobey. The Second Adam though subjected to a very severe trial walked in obedience and delivered God’s people from our captivity to the Law of Sin and Death into the Law of the Spirit of Life.
God set into motion this New Law of the Spirit of Life when Jesus Christ died on the Cross and rose from the dead. The New Law was designed of the Lord to swallow up the old law. For it was there on the cross that the Prince of Life destroyed the Law of Sin and Death and began to impart a New Law to the members of a New Creation order. We are the ones whom the Lord has apprehended from the clutches of the old law and introduced into a new order, a new sphere of life, a new realm, a new man, a new kingdom. It too, embraces a whole race of beings --- all those who by faith have been snatched as firebrands from the burnings of the old race, and brought into the new.
We are not brought in by a process of reformation or reconditioning, but we are brought into new life by being born-again by the outworking of a New Law --- the Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus.
When the Spirit of Life visited this planet, there was a fusion of God with man. The Divine “fusion” released divine energy; and this release of energy continues to generate more and more and more energy in a mighty chain-reaction of life that would very quickly fill the whole earth with God’s glory and presence were it not for the disobedience of God’s people.
For the Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus has made us free from the Law of Sin ad Death (Rom. 8:2). There has been a confrontation of the two laws, and the Law of Life has prevailed where the Law of Sin once reigned. The Law of Life not only defeated the Law of Death, but it has also replaced the old law as the motivating and energizing principle of the One New Man (Eph. 2:15).
Death reigned and was in supreme control. No one born into Adam’s race could escape its dominion. The Law of Death is inherent in all of Adam’s family. No one can be released from its tentacles except it be by the New Law of Life.
This is the way it is in Adam --- there is a chain-reaction of overwhelming, devastating dimensions --- We are to have much more expectation (Faith) --- to believe and to anticipate that there will be a chain-reaction of life that will have far greater dimensions than we have seen in the Law of Sin and Death.
November 22, 2022, on awakening, I received a sermon message. The message was clear and concise. Preach: “Jesus Christ as the Son of Man, has restored the full authority of Adam to the born-again, Sons-of-God.”
“Oh, how the LORD loves mankind! How He delights to identify Himself with humanity, made in his image! The dear Son-of-God became the Son-of-Man that the sons of man might become the sons of God.”
Per the message in my dream, what is the authority of Adam which has been restored to the Sons of God?
Genesis 1:26-30: God said, “Let us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion…” (Vs. 27) So, God created man in His own image; in the image of God, He created him; male and female, He created them. God blessed them, and God said to them, “be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it, having dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth. See, I have given you every herb that yields seed which is on the face of all the earth, and every tree whose fruit yields seed; to you it shall be for food. Also, to every beast of the earth, to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, in which there is life, I have given every green herb for food;” and it was so.
Romans 5: 14-21
THE TWO MEN (Vs. 14):
5:14: Nevertheless, death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who had not sinned according to the likeness of the transgression of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come.
“Death reigned” had dominion and ruled. The cruel king of death took hold of the human family when Adam sinned, and from that point on there was a chain-reaction of the Law of Sin and Death in the human family. But Adam was a “figure” of another “Adam,” who would likewise birth a generation of men --- in whose family all would partake of Life. Ro. 8:2: For the Law of the spirit of Life in Christ Jesus has made us free from the Law of Sin and Death.
TWO INITIAL CAUSES (Vs. 15):
5:15: But the free gift is not like the offense. For if by the one man’s offense many died, much more the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abounded to many.
One trespass was the first cause. But the grace of God was the second cause, and this brought the gift of life to all in the new race of the Last Adam.
TWO EFFECTS (Vs. 16):
5:16: The gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned. For the judgment which came from one offense resulted in condemnation, but the free gift which came from many offenses resulted in justification.
The effect of the one trespass was condemnation to the whole family of the first Adam … But the free gift of justification by faith overturns condemnation to all who are born anew into the family of the Last Adam.
TWO DOMINIONS (Vs. 17):
5:17: For if by the one man’s offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.
The first man’s offense brought into being a kingdom in which death became supreme lord over all in Adam’s realm … But grace and righteousness have overtaken the old kingdom, and have brought into being a kingdom of life, so that now life becomes the Lord and Monarch reigning in the new kingdom realms of the Last Adam, the Prince of Life.
TWO JUDGMENTS (Vs. 18):
5:18: Therefore, as through one man’s offense judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so through one Man’s righteous act the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life.
Jesus Christ overcame the Law of Death for our justification.
Even at Christ’s birth, the prince of death set in motion an evil device to kill the Prince of Life. Daily Jesus was in confrontation with the Law of Sin and Death that resisted the light of God.
TWO PATHWAYS (V. 19):
5:19: For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.
The Spirit of life reigns in us because of the righteousness of Christ. For Christ is the end of the law.
TWO CHAIN REACTIONS (V.20:
5:20: Moreover, the law entered that the offense might abound. But, where sin abounded, grace abounded much more.
The chain-reaction of sin and death were greatly accelerated by the law, so that sin abounded in still greater dimensions of its dominion … God’s ultimate design being that when sin had abounded beyond all imaginable proportion, then He would reveal His grace that would abound far beyond all the realms of the dominion of sin and death.
TWO REIGNING MONARCHS (V. 21):
In consequence of all this, Sin became the King, and he would co-reign with Death as lord on the throne of mankind and would overtake and consume the whole family of Adam. The devil had the power of death. But now Christ Jesus has defeated death when He rose from the grave.
Heb. 2:14: Inasmuch as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise took part of the same, that through death He might destroy him that had the power of death, that is the devil.
God’s design was that when sin had run its devasting course and had consummated its reign of terror --- then grace would follow on its heels and reign in righteousness, and consummate His kingdom in eternal life, in the whole family of the New Adam.
The gospel does not bow to the kingdom of the Law of Sin and Death.
We bow to the LORDSHIP of Christ who forgives our sin and His Holy Spirit who guides us into eternal life. We have the Law of Life written in our hearts. Those who receive the gospel are no longer under the Law, nor are we judged by the Law of Sin and Death.
5:21: So, that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our LORD.
Can we grasp it? That as “sin reigned” so now grace must “reign unto eternal life.”
2 Ti. 1:10: Is now made manifest by the appearing of our Savior, Jesus Christ, who has abolished death, and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.
How can we miss the “logic” of the Holy Spirit as He sets forth in this comparison the overwhelming attributes of the Kingdom of Grace and Righteousness and Life that is inherent in the Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus?
We know the power and the authority of the Law of Sin and Death. We know from experience how effective it is. Much of the Church is yet to learn of the power of the Law of Life working within us that would be equal to the authority and power of the old Law of Sin and Death. But the Apostle says five times in chapter five --- MUCH MORE (vs. 9), MUCH MORE (Vs. 10), MUCH MORE (Vs. 15), MUCH MORE (vs. 17).
Not only did the old law have great power --- it had dominion! It ruled and reigned! But now, we have been delivered from that old monarch, and have become the subject of a new kingdom, ruled over by a new Monarch, subject to a New Law --- a Law that functions in grace and in truth. God tells us that His grace is not only to be revealed --- it is to reign in righteousness unto LIFE! Grace is to be in supreme command and control! Where sin was once in control, righteousness is to be in control! Where death once had dominion --- Life is now to have dominion!
It is for this very reason that God sent His Holy Spirit to abide in His people in the earth, that He, the Holy Spirit, might take from Christ and bestow upon His people in the earth, all the riches and treasures that are hidden in Christ Jesus, the Son of God, that as members of His Body, we might have that divine enablement to minister life one to another. According to the effectual working of the Law of the Spirit of Life that functions in each member.
God’s people through the teaching of the Law are willing to bow to the Kingdom of Sin and Death and give this cruel lord all glory and honor. Yet, refuse to bow to the LORSHIP of Christ, who desires to bring about a chain-reaction of life that will flow from one member to another --- and still another --- by an operation of the Spirit that far surpasses in its effect the authority and the power of the Law of Sin and Death.
When God’s people will humble themselves and bow to the KING OF LIFE, and give the HOLY SPIRIT His LORDSHIP in our lives, in our gatherings in His NAME, we can expect to see this kind of chain- reaction that will permeate the whole BODY OF CHRIST; and make us to be a people walking according to a NEW LAW, in a NEW REALM, and in a new power of Spiritual Life, the power of the Life of Christ flowing through His Body.
Jesus has been given the authority to rule as “prince of the Kings of the earth” (Rev. 1:5). This is inclusive of men who are earthly kings as well as all rulers of demonic powers and principalities. Heb. 2:15: And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.
Carolyn Sissom, Pastor
Eastgate Ministries Church
www.eastgateministries.com, 10115 West Hidden Lakes Lane, Richmond, TX. Scripture from N.K.J.V. I entered into Chain Reactions in Realms of the Spirit, part 4 by George H. Warnock (1918 – 2018). Comments and conclusions are my own and not meant to reflect the views of Rev. Warnock. Preached by Pastor Sissom at Light Up America Conference 6/14/2023.
Additional Notes -
Rev. 6:8: I looked and behold a pale horse; and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. Power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword and with hunger and with death, and with the beasts of the earth.
Because the two riders are identified as spirit beings, I have considered king death and king hell to be ruling principalities under the devil before Jesus destroyed their power (He has the keys to Hell and Death); but God is now using them to bring judgment because Jesus defeated them and now Satan has lost his power over death for the Christian.
Heb. 2:14: Inasmuch as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise took part of the same, that through death He might destroy him that had the power of death, that is the devil.
A study of the Book of Revelation, we will reveal that “exousia” (power) is given to Satan and his chain of command until the cup of iniquity is full. The Wrath of the Lamb and the Wrath of God will destroy all that is evil and exalts itself against God. But we who have received the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus will never be subject to the two riders of the pale horse.