Believing Into Christ (Romans 5:12-21)

In this part of the sermon: Using Thomas Goodwin's image of two giants with all humanity hanging from their belts, Donnelly expounds Romans 5:12-21 to show that God governs human beings through covenant…

Donnelly asks the congregation to picture two enormous giants, each wearing a wide leather belt covered in millions of hooks, with every human being hanging from the belt of one or the other. Adam's belt holds all the lost; Christ's belt holds all the redeemed. Drawn from Thomas Goodwin's 'Christ Set Forth' (Vol. 4), this image drives the entire four-part series.

It is one that I have found helpful. I ask you to picture two enormous men. Two immense figures. Two giants.

12:43 - 12:54 Read in full sermon

The point: Every person alive is either in Adam or in Christ -- there is no third category. Preachers and counselors must frame every conversation about the human condition and the gospel from this binary, not from degrees of moral…

Donnelly reads from Goodwin's 'Christ Set Forth': 'Because these two between them had all the rest of the sons of men hanging at their girdle.' This is the theologian-of-the-day quote and the verbal source of the belt-and-hooks illustration -- the two covenant heads between them hold all of humanity.

And why, asks Goodwin. And here's the phrase. Here's what I want you to take away. Because these two between them had all the rest of the sons of men hanging at their girdle.

15:45 - 16:03 Read in full sermon

Driving home: in Adam we disobeyed in Adam we sinned in Adam we fell in Adam we were judged in Adam we died and so in Christ we obeyed in Christ we lived a perfect life in Christ we paid for sin in Christ we were raised from the dead …

Paul's opponents imagined God setting millions of individual exams; if you performed well enough, you passed. Paul's counter: we fell through one man, so we are saved through one man -- the same mechanism, not individual moral performance.

Salvation comes by our good efforts and our loving deeds and our obedience. His opponents were saying God sets millions and millions of exams and we all have to sit in examination and we all have to do our best and if we do well enough we will pass the exam Paul says is that how we fell how did we fall through the one man how are we saved through the one man we're saved the same way we fell do you see the simplicity of it and the symmetry and the perfection and the beauty God knows the end from the beginning God works it all out in the purposes of his covenant we fell through one man we're sav...

21:05 - 22:29 Read in full sermon

The point: Saving faith is not mental assent to propositions about Christ's past work but a total transfer of person, allegiance, and identity to Christ. Pastors must preach this fullness of faith and refuse to accept a thin, trans…

Donnelly notes that he realized that afternoon that 'depend' derives from Latin roots meaning 'to hang from.' So to depend on Christ literally means to hang upon him -- as a drowning man clings to a life belt or a mountain climber clings to a rope. The image ties directly back to the belt-and-hooks illustration.

to all that he is and receiving and resting upon him alone for salvation the great transfer out of adam into christ now we may not realize when first we believe the extent of the commitment involved it's rather like when when we get married we don't realize what we're promising you young man don't realize what the woman you plan to marry is going to demand of you instead of allowing you to to spend your hard-earned money on sets of puritan theology this woman is probably going to want to fritter it away things like food and clothing but we learn what commitment means as the years pass that's t...

31:45 - 33:13 Read in full sermon

The point: Saving faith is not mental assent to propositions about Christ's past work but a total transfer of person, allegiance, and identity to Christ. Pastors must preach this fullness of faith and refuse to accept a thin, trans…

When the disciples believed in Christ they left everything, bore mockery and abuse, and most died for him. Their wholehearted response illustrates genuine commitment of the whole person to Christ in contrast to a mere transactional assent.

to all that he is and receiving and resting upon him alone for salvation the great transfer out of adam into christ now we may not realize when first we believe the extent of the commitment involved it's rather like when when we get married we don't realize what we're promising you young man don't realize what the woman you plan to marry is going to demand of you instead of allowing you to to spend your hard-earned money on sets of puritan theology this woman is probably going to want to fritter it away things like food and clothing but we learn what commitment means as the years pass that's t...

31:45 - 33:13 Read in full sermon

The point: Saving faith is not mental assent to propositions about Christ's past work but a total transfer of person, allegiance, and identity to Christ. Pastors must preach this fullness of faith and refuse to accept a thin, trans…

Donnelly compares first-time faith to getting married: a young man does not realize the full extent of the commitment he is making until the years unfold -- including his wife's preference for food and clothing over sets of Puritan theology. 'That's the deal -- for better or for worse, I'm for Jesus, I'm in Jesus.'

to all that he is and receiving and resting upon him alone for salvation the great transfer out of adam into christ now we may not realize when first we believe the extent of the commitment involved it's rather like when when we get married we don't realize what we're promising you young man don't realize what the woman you plan to marry is going to demand of you instead of allowing you to to spend your hard-earned money on sets of puritan theology this woman is probably going to want to fritter it away things like food and clothing but we learn what commitment means as the years pass that's t...

31:45 - 33:13 Read in full sermon

The point: Saving faith is not mental assent to propositions about Christ's past work but a total transfer of person, allegiance, and identity to Christ. Pastors must preach this fullness of faith and refuse to accept a thin, trans…

Donnelly describes the prevalent evangelical version of saving faith: a distant relative pays your debts at the bank, the manager rings you up, you sign a release, you send a thank-you note -- an impersonal, long-distance transaction with no transfer of person or allegiance. He contrasts this sharply with the biblical 'believing into' Christ.

with christ and friends is this not the case? it's not very different tragically different from the feeble anemic version of faith which is peddled in so many evangelical churches today the idea that long ago at calvary in some way that i don't really understand christ paid for my sins and all i have to do is to believe that he paid for my sins and to agree with that and to assent that this was done on my behalf and write down my name and that is what believing in christ means and i am saved i believe that long ago he was punished in my place and that's it like a distant relative who would mak...

33:13 - 34:34 Read in full sermon

The point: The gap between cultural religious profession (74% personal commitment claims in 1993 Gallup) and genuine saving faith should prompt serious self-examination: Is my faith the kind that involves movement into Christ, or m…

A Gallup poll found 74% of Americans claimed to have made a personal commitment to Jesus Christ. Donnelly uses this statistic to expose the gulf between a cultural profession and true saving faith: either the poll is wrong or the nature of the commitment claimed is far removed from what the Bible means.

The 1993 Gallup poll tells us that 74% of the population of the United States claims to have made a personal commitment to Jesus Christ. I don't want to criticize your nation, but there's something wrong with a poll or there's something wrong with a commitment. There's something wrong with a commitment. Saving faith is so very different in the Bible.

34:53 - 35:25 Read in full sermon

The point: The gap between cultural religious profession (74% personal commitment claims in 1993 Gallup) and genuine saving faith should prompt serious self-examination: Is my faith the kind that involves movement into Christ, or m…

Luther said religion consists in the pronouns -- 'The Son of God who loved me,' 'The Lord is my shepherd.' Donnelly extends this: religion also consists in the prepositions -- 'believing into Christ,' 'believing upon Christ' -- stressing movement, entrance, transfer, and commitment.

Luther used to say that religion. Consists in the pronouns. The son of God who loved me. The Lord is my shepherd.

35:27 - 35:36 Read in full sermon

Driving home: Believing into Christ. Believing upon Christ. Believing in Christ. The idea is one of movement and entrance and change and transfer and commitment.

Donnelly surveys the New Testament's images for union with Christ: Christ the cornerstone and believers the living stones; Christ the vine and believers the branches; Christ the head and believers the body members; Christ the husband and the church his wife. Each stresses intimacy, living organic connection, and oneness rather than distance.

We won't have time this week to look at all the analogies of union with Christ in the New Testament. But you know them. They stress this intimacy. He is the cornerstone and we are the stones.

36:18 - 36:29 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Union with Christ creates an entirely new relationship with God: he never deals with the believer except through his Son. Donnelly surveys Paul's compound 'sun-' verbs (crucified…

Returning to the belt-and-hooks image, Donnelly uses it to vivify Paul's compound 'sum/sym' verbs: when the giant moves, every person on his belt moves with him. Thus: crucified with, buried with, raised with, glorified with, seated with, reigning with Christ.

Isn't that marvelous? With him. With him. When the giant moves.

40:10 - 40:15 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Union with Christ creates an entirely new relationship with God: he never deals with the believer except through his Son. Donnelly surveys Paul's compound 'sun-' verbs (crucified…

Ferguson: 'The blessings of redemption ought not to be viewed as merely having Christ as their ultimate causal source, but as being ours only by direct participation in Christ.' The blessings are not in a storehouse Christ gives us a key to; they are embodied in him and received only in him.

Listen to Sinclair Ferguson. The blessings of redemption. Ought not to be viewed. As merely having Christ.

40:58 - 41:13 Read in full sermon

The point: The believer's desire for the growth of God's kingdom in prayer is itself a gift of union with Christ -- a reflection of Christ's own intercession. This should give courage in prayer even when one's desires feel feeble, …

From Dabney's Systematic Theology: 'Each gracious affection is a feeble reflex of the same affection existing in its glorious perfection in our Redeemer's heart. As when we see a mimic sun in a pool of water on the earth's surface, we know that it is only there because the sun shines in its strength in heaven.' Our prayer-desire is born in us because it already exists in Christ our Mediator, whom the Father hears always.

Each gracious affection. Is a feeble reflex. Of the same affection. Existing in its glorious perfection.

42:31 - 42:41 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Union with Christ creates an entirely new relationship with God: he never deals with the believer except through his Son. Donnelly surveys Paul's compound 'sun-' verbs (crucified…

Luther said he would have nothing to do with an absolute God -- meaning he would never seek to approach God apart from Christ. Applied by Donnelly: believers no longer deal with a raw, unmediated God but only with the God and Father of the Lord Jesus Christ, through Christ and by Christ alone.

Martin Luther said. I will have nothing to do. With an absolute God. He meant that he would never seek to approach God.

44:06 - 44:16 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Union with Christ creates an entirely new relationship with God: he never deals with the believer except through his Son. Donnelly surveys Paul's compound 'sun-' verbs (crucified…

Calvin: 'Since we have been made one with him, he shares with us all that he has received from the Father.' Every daily blessing is received from the Savior's own hands as a result of this union.

Calvin says.

44:48 - 44:49 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Union with Christ creates an entirely new relationship with God: he never deals with the believer except through his Son. Donnelly surveys Paul's compound 'sun-' verbs (crucified…

Donnelly quotes a hymn stanza: 'We are one with Christ. One in the tomb. One when he rose. One when he triumphed over his foes. One when in heaven he took his seat, while seraphs sang all hell's defeat. With him our head, we stand or fall. Our life, our surety, our all.' The hymn concretizes the belt-and-hooks image in the language of praise.

We are one with Christ. One in the tomb. One when he rose. One when he triumphed over his foes.

45:30 - 45:39 Read in full sermon

The point: Believers can and should find active assurance in the fact of death: just as death is universal and admits no exception for those in Adam, so life is universal and admits no exception for those in Christ. Funerals and ce…

Donnelly invites believers to walk through a cemetery, look at every tombstone, and let their hearts leap for joy -- because every grave preaches the same certainty of death in Adam that proves the certainty of life in Christ. Paul enlists 'the last enemy' as a witness to assurance.

And we can walk through a cemetery. And we can look at every tombstone. And our hearts can leap with joy and gladness. And we can say as in Adam.

48:44 - 48:56 Read in full sermon

The point: The unconverted should be urged to pray specifically: 'Oh God, I was born in Adam and I am still in Adam because I have never believed in Christ. I cannot get myself out of Adam. Take me out -- change me, unite me to you…

Allied commanders, facing Japan's 10,000 suicide planes, 2.25 million soldiers, 4 million reservists, and 28-million-strong citizen militia, dropped 700,000 warning leaflets over Hiroshima on August 4, then the atomic bomb on August 6, killing 100,000 immediately. If you were in Hiroshima that day you were doomed -- putting on Levi's, waving an American flag, calling your congressman changed nothing. As long as you were in Hiroshima you were doomed. As long as you are in Adam you are doomed, regardless of religious effort.

The Allied Commanders had tried to assess the cost of invading and capturing mainland japan they realized what they were up against the japanese had 10 000 suicide planes loaded and waiting two and a quarter million soldiers were waiting in the beach behind them were four million reservists and behind them a citizen militia of 28 million all resolved to fight to the last man and woman and the last inch conservative estimates given to the allies were that the allies would lose a million soldiers and japanese casualties would be between 10 and 20 million so the allied high command to avoid that ...

54:18 - 55:38 Read in full sermon

The point: The unconverted should be urged to pray specifically: 'Oh God, I was born in Adam and I am still in Adam because I have never believed in Christ. I cannot get myself out of Adam. Take me out -- change me, unite me to you…

Donnelly references comic-book Martians and Mr. Spock from Vulcan: different races can sit beside each other without any outward signal of their difference. So in the gathering that evening, people in Adam and people in Christ sit beside each other -- even in the same family -- with utterly different destinies, though they appear alike.

christians you're doomed there's no and nothing nothing you can do will make any difference as long as you're in adam that giant is going down and if you're in him you're going down you're going down going down into the pit going down into hell there is a solemn division among us this evening we read comics when we were children or watched star trek and we were familiar with people of different races the little martians with their big green heads and things sprouting and mr spock with his pointy ears from vulcan they were different races there are different races here sitting beside each other...

56:52 - 58:06 Read in full sermon