Does God Treat People According to What They Deserve?
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Heaven or Hell

Man, in his lost condition, is addicted to the idea that his own goodness and his own efforts to do good carries some merit with God. If you still think that, I hope you can get that out of your mind first of all. "It is not of works," the Bible says, "lest any man should boast." Your good works are meaningless to God. They're all contaminated by the old sin nature. There are human good. So, they're evil. Remember that evil consists of two things: your human good works; and, your vile sins. Those two things constitute evil, and it is evil that takes you into hell.

Most of you understand that your sins are going to take you there, but most people don't understand that their good works are going to take them to hell. That's why we learned earlier in the book of Romans that the more human good works you produce, the more condemnation rests upon you in hell. The more human good works you produce, Paul has said, the worse you'll be punished in hell. It's terrible. You're in a condition such that the more you try, the worse you are.

The truth of the matter is that God in fact hates all that a lost person has to offer. Isaiah 64:6 calls all of our human goodness and our efforts to do good works as being filthy rags as far as God is concerned.

I must again stress to you also that specific acts of sin do not come into the picture with God here in Romans 5. Yet this preoccupies the unsaved mentality: to do good; or, to do evil. That's what people are preoccupied with doing. But your individual acts do not come into the picture. You're not going to hell because of all those individual sins you perform. That is not the issue. You're going to hell for something that's far more serious than that. And those sins you produce are only a symptom.

This is just as ridiculous as somebody catching measles, and a doctor saying just put some cosmetics on it and hide the spots, and everything will be all right. You know very well with that that's ridiculous. Hiding the symptoms does not reduce the disease. And personal sins are simply symptoms. You can quit sinning. You could start today and never seen again, and you'd still go to hell. If you had never sinned once, from the time you were born, you'd still go to hell.

So, forget about your personal sins. Just shovel all that out the door, and get that out of your mind. It will also help you about being worried about losing your salvation again. If your personal sins are not involved in getting you saved, they're not involved getting you unsaved. And that's exactly what people are saying: "Now my sins are so bad that I'm no longer saved." That's poppycock. Your sins were never involved in the first place. There's a deep-seated root that's the problem within you.

Human Good

The sacrifice of Jesus Christ (as the last Adam) on the cross actually reveals the true state of lost people. The problem of lost people was enormous, and what was done to Jesus Christ was absolutely hideous. It was fantastic, but it reflects how bad the problem was. God would not have done that to His Son if the problem was not so bad, or if we could have solved it in some other way. The Lord Jesus and His humanity in the Garden of Gethsemane the night before He was crucified, said, "Now, Father, if there some other way we can handle this problem, I'd like to do it some other way, but not My will, but Thine be done." Even at the last moment, the Son of God was appealing, if there was some way out of putting the sewage off of human sin and of human good upon Him, as was to happen the next day. The problem was enormous. And just looking at the sacrifice of Christ should indicate that some simple solution like your quitting your sins and being good is obviously not the solution, or God would not have put His Son through what He was put through.

We are hopeless and helpless in the slavery to the evil of our sins and our human good. We're spiritually dead, so we're totally lacking in any merit before God. We hate God and we are determined enemies of divine viewpoint principles. Yet God, in His grace, and a great personal sacrifice, pursued us. He pursued us. We didn't pursue Him. The Bible says, "No man who is lost seeks God. We learned that earlier in Romans. There is none righteous, and none seek after Him. He pursued us, and He provided forgiveness of sins and the justification of absolute righteousness in order to bring us into heaven.

Well, why put the Son of God through such suffering and such humiliation of mankind is not all that bad and can produce something good? Obviously, because mankind is that bad, and because mankind has no good to provide.

So, Paul has shown us that the real issue for every person is tied simply to what two men did: to what Adam did; and, to what Jesus Christ did. Paul has very beautifully removed all of us from the picture. He has very effectively simply said, "You're not involved, and what you do is not involved. Only what Adam did is involved here in God's dealing with mankind, and with you personally; and, only with Jesus Christ did is involved in God's dealing with mankind, and with you personally. The sinner himself is but the recipient of the acts of each Adam: the first Adam; and, the last Adam.

So, the real issue between God and you and me as lost sinners is whether we are in Adam or in Christ. That's the issue. When you witness to people, that's the issue. Don't talk about their drinking, and their boozing around, and their fornicating, and their thievery, and everything else. That is not the issue. You talk to them about the fact that God sees them in Adam – in a place of eternal death. And what they need to do is get out of Adam and get into Jesus Christ, the place of eternal life. Now that is the issue. The personal works of the individual are nowhere in Scripture, in any way, viewed as determining one's eternal destiny, neither before or after salvation.

Now that is a very important statement. The personal works of the individual are nowhere in Scripture viewed as, in any way, determining his eternal destiny, either before or after salvation. You're not saved because of your personal works, and you are not lost again because of your personal works. That is not involve. It is only whether you're in Christ or in Adam.

Religious Rituals

If you insist on approaching God on the basis of human doing, then all is lost. And you are lost, and you will remain lost. If you are insisting on approaching God on any of these bases that we talked about: your doing; or, your religious rituals, then you're lost, and you're going to stay lost. And you're going to lose your soul. And don't think that because you go to church, or you're a church member, or you're all for Jesus Christ means anything with God. It doesn't mean a thing.

So, this is a very important summary. We've come down to the end, verses 18-19, where the apostle Paul brings it all together. Let's translate verse 18 once more. It's not too well presented in the King James translation. Here it is: "So then, as by means of one transgression, there resulted condemnation to all mankind, even so, by means of one act of righteousness, there resulted to all mankind justification resulting in life."

You'll notice that verse 18 stresses the fact that we are treated as those who are sinners for the sin of Adam, and we are treated as those who are righteous for the righteousness of Christ. Verse 18 compares Adam's failure to stand upright with Christ's performance of standing in perfect righteousness. Now, again, verse 18 is dealing with how God treats us. Verse 18 says that we are treated as those who are sinners because of something Adam did. Verse 18 says that we are treated as those who have absolute righteousness because of something that Jesus Christ did. You may very logically and very rightly say, "Well, why is that? Why does God treat me as a sinner because of something Adam did? I wasn't even there. And why is God treating me as if I were absolutely as good as Jesus Christ, with His perfect righteousness, when I'm not that good in my experience and in my daily living? Why is that?"

That's where verse 19 comes in, and that's why it begins with the word "for," which looks like this in Greek: "gar." This is a conjunction, and it is used to introduce an explanation: "For." He's about to explain these two things just stated in verse 18: treated us condemned sinners because of Adam's transgression; and, treated as justified saints because of the act of the righteousness of Jesus Christ.

You and I often treat people in ways that they do not deserve. We pay an employee for incompetent work. We give good grades to poor students. We applaud somebody's poor performance. We compliment something which is not commendable. We're always doing that. We're always treating people in ways they don't deserve.

Does God Treat People According to What They Deserve?

Or on the other hand, when God says, "We're justified," is he treating us in a way that we really are not? Are we really justified? That's the thing that Paul is taking up. It's a very natural thought to a person. It's a very natural question.

So, Paul uses this little word "gar" to introduce an explanation of why God treats us as sinners or as justified people. This is a very important bit of divine viewpoint, because it bears directly on the basis of going to heaven or hell. And that's what we're talking about. This word is going to introduce the basis upon which a person goes to heaven and hell. If you can catch this, then maybe you can wipe out of your mind all the confusion and all the misconceptions that you've picked up from one person another, and maybe even from religious leaders. This is an important bit of divine viewpoint.

Sinners; and, Justified People

The next word is "as:" "For as." The word "as" is the Greek word "hosper." This is a word that introduces a comparison. When we see "hosper," right away we know that two things are going to be compared. The word means "just as" or "even so." It introduces a comparison between Adam and Jesus Christ. A little later on, we're going to have the conclusion of the comparison. This introduces the first part of the comparison. The conclusion comes in the second part of verse 19 with the word "so." But here is a word telling us that we're going to have a comparison. This comparison is introduced in order to explain why verse 18 says that we're treated as sinners or we're treated as justified. This is very important in determining your destiny to know why it is that God so treats us.

The Disobedience of One Man

So, when you put this preposition and this verb together you get "parakoe," which means "to hear aside" ("para" means "aside," and "akouo" means "to hear") – "to hear aside," meaning "to hear amiss." This word came to signify a refusal to hear what is said – negative volition to a voice.

In the Old Testament, disobedience is constantly described as refusing to hear. You can check this for yourself. For example, in Jeremiah 11:10 and Jeremiah 35:17, the idea is that disobedience is refusal to listen to God. Refusal to hear constitutes disobedience.

We had this used in Acts 7:57: "Then they cried out with a loud voice, and stopped their ears, and ran upon him with one accord." Here is Stephen describing the fact that he sees the Son of God, the Lord Jesus in Heaven, next to God the Father. And they refused to hear what he was saying. And what did they do? They refused to obey the instruction he was given, and so they ran upon him to kill him.

Disobedience

The result today is widespread disobedience on the doctrine of salvation as well as on other doctrines, because people will not listen to what God has said. It's just possible that you're sitting here this morning with some distorted concept of salvation. And it just may be that you are going to be guilty of this evil of refusing to listen to what you're going to hear today as to what God says is the real issue in going to heaven and going to hell. If you do, you're doing exactly what Adam and Eve did. You're putting yourself back in their position, and you are guilty of the evil of "parakoe" (disobedience) – refusal to listen to God. And that's going to cost you dearly.

Adam's refusal to listen to God was, in fact, the rejection of God's authority over him. And when you refuse to listen to the Word of God, you are rejecting God's authority. When you refuse to listen to the exercise of the pastor-teacher gift which was given within the local church congregation in order to enlighten you on divine viewpoint principles, and when you reject that pastor-teacher gift, then you have been disobedient – refused to listen to a voice of authority. You may reject the authority of the pastor-teacher when he is exercising that gift. You may reject it, on the basis that you say, "Well, he's teaching what is not true, and I can see from Scripture that is false" – then you should reject it. But if you cannot establish that that is false, and you reject it, then you are guilty of "parakoe," and this is a very serious type of sin.

This actually is what happened with Adam. He, of course, refused to listen to God, and therefore he rejected God's authority. What did he do instead? Well, he listened to his wife. So, what was he doing? He was permitting his wife to exercise authority over him. That's what he was doing. And the next time your wife comes along and wants to do something that you know is contrary to divine viewpoint principles, and you listen to her, then you are disobedient to God. You have been guilty of Adam's kind of "parakoe." You have substituted your wife's authority for God's authority, and that is bad business.

Over Eve, there were two authorities. There was God's authority over her, and there was her husband's authority. Eve rejected both of them when she listened to the serpent. Instead of listening to God and exercising that authority, and instead of listening to her husband, Adam, she listened to the serpent. Adam had very explicitly told Eve, "Don't speak to strangers – anybody you see coming in the garden when I'm not home." He told her that very clearly, but she didn't pay any attention. So, she rejected his authority, and she rejected God's authority over her.

Instead, what did she do? Well, she listened, and the person that she listened to is the person whose authority she accepted. She listened to the devil. So, she accepted Satan's authority speaking to her through that serpent.

So, this word "parakoe" means "authority." It means listening to the people you should listen to. And when you don't listen, then you are guilty of this particular kind of evil. The old sin nature of humanity today is determined to resist all divine lines of authority, so humanity does not listen to the people it should listen to. It is determined not to listen to divine viewpoint concepts. So, wives won't listen to their husbands; children won't listen to their parents; employees won't listen to their employers; students won't listen to their teachers; citizens won't listen to the laws; and, government will not listen to divine institution number four, that says that government must always be out of the lives of people, and only an administrator to keep everything fair and in order and justice. But government must never distribute wealth. Government must never try to produce wealth. God says that only the family, through marriage and children, can produce wealth. That is God's way of fulfilling the cultural mandate. Yet, governments refuse to listen to God. They're disobedient.

Entertainers refuse to listen to morality. So, television is increasingly covered with sewage. The Greek language has "the disobedience," with this word "akouo," to indicate that it's the specific one of Adam in the Garden of Eden which is in view – the one which determines so much for you and me.

In verse 16, we have the expression "the one offense," bringing condemnation. It's referring to the same thing. Noticed something (just in passing here) in describing Adam's evil act in the Garden of Eden, and it describes the nature of our evil acts. We've had three words so far here in Romans 5.

In verse 14, we had this word: "parabasis." "Parabasis," meaning "transgression," means "the overstepping of a defined line." Here is a specific commandment. And "parabasis" tells us that Adam did not walk on that specific commandment. He overstepped the line. That's a "parabasis." That's the first description of sin. When you and I sin, we're stepping out of line. We're stepping out of line of divine viewpoint.

In verse 15, 17, and 18, you have another description of Adam's evil under this Greek word: "paraptoma." "Paraptoma" means that Adam should have stood upright, and instead he fell flat. And "paraptoma" is the word that describes falling from truth – falling from standing upright in the truth to falling on your face into the dirt.

The third description of Adam's evil is the one we had earlier: this "parakoe," which is disobedience – refusing to listen and hear the voice of God speaking, and Adam putting his hands on his ears and refusing to listen when God is speaking to him.

Now, that's the nature of Adam sin: stepping out of line; falling from an upright position of truth; and, rejecting divine authority by refusing to listen to God. That's what you and I do. If we do not know Bible doctrine principles, we keep stepping out of line. If we do not know the truth of God, we fall from walking upright as the sons and daughters of God. If we are negative in our attitude, we'll not listen to what God has said.

"Through the disobedience of one ('heis') man ('anthropos')." "Anthropos" here means human being. It does not mean a male person: "Through one human being," referring, of course, to Adam in the context. He's the one human being which is here in the context. The Greek actually has "the one human being" to indicate Adam in particular.

All right, now here's the consequence. That was the act: "For even as by means of the disobedience of one man, many were made sinners." The word "many" is "polus." The Greek again has the many, because it is looking at a specific group. It is referring to the same group as were spoken of in verse 18 as "all men" coming under condemnation. "The many" thus means every human being born into the race except Jesus Christ: "The many were made."

Here is the critical word of the whole discussion today: "kathistemi." "Kathistemi" means to appoint to a position. If you want to check this out on your own, you will find that, in Acts 7:10, this word is used about appointing a governor to a position of authority. In Acts 7:27 and Acts 7:35, it refers to a person being appointed as a ruler and a judge. In Acts 6:3, we have it used about those men who were appointed deacons in the early church – the first deacons. They were "kathistemi." They were appointed to a position. And in Luke 12:13-14, the word is used in connection with being a judge.

So, what this word actually means is not what it sounds like in our English Bible, where you have the word "made:" "Many were made sinners." That is very deceiving. This has nothing to do with somebody becoming something as a result of something you've done to him. What this has to do with is appointing a person to a position or to a category. And thus we sometimes translated as "constitute." This word in the New Testament never means "to make" in the sense of causing a person to become something, relative to his nature or to his character, which he was not before. "Kathistemi" does not mean to make one sinful. And we're coming back to saying, "Forget your sins." That's not the issue. And this word is used by God the Holy Spirit to try to help get it through to us that our personal sins are not involved.

God has placed you in a certain category. That is your problem – not what you've done. You had nothing to do with it. "Kathistemi" means only to place into a category. In the category of what? The category of sinner. Did you do something sinful? No. Did you plan to do something sinful? No. This was done before you could even sin as a child. You were placed in a category on which was the label "sinner."

This verb says that all mankind was regarded by God as being in a certain category because of Adam's disobedience. That category, we shall see in a moment, was the category of sinners. It does not mean that they were all made, or rendered, sinful. They're just regarded as sinners.

Now, it is true that because they were born in the human race, they pulled in 23 chromosomes from the male sperm that carried the genetic structure of the old sin nature, and they were born with an old sin nature. And with that old sin nature, there was attached to it the guilt for what Adam did. But they themselves were not sinful. They themselves had not done anything. They were simply placed into the category of sinners, and they showed that by this root of evil, the old sin nature, inherited genetically. So, in every cell of your body, there rests the genetic structure of the old sin nature, and that's why you do those individual personal acts of sin. Adam's disobedience was the ground of the yet unborn being placed in the category of sinners, and so regarded.

Now, this explains the statement at the end of verse 12, that we began a long time ago, where it says "For all have sinned," or "all sin." Here's how all sin, because God placed you in the category of a sinner, because Adam, your representative, was guilty of evil. The fact that people are guilty of personal sins after they are born is irrelevant to the problem of going to hell. This verb "kathistemi" is aorist. That means a point in time. It's the point in time in Eden when Adam ate the fruit. That's when you were placed in the category of sinner. It's passage. This was done to mankind. You didn't do it to yourself. It was done to you. Isn't that great?

Now, because most of you don't read the Greek Bible (you read English Bible), you didn't see this. And you could be foolish enough, because you don't see this passive, to think that you can be lost again by some terrible sin that you could commit. But once you read the Greek Bible, you say, "Wait a minute. This was done to me." This has nothing to do with my actively doing something. This was done to me. I'm constituted and am placed in the category of a sinner apart from any action on my part. That's right. It's passive. It's indicative – a statement of fact.

The thing that you were made was a "hamartolos." This is an adjective, but it's used as a noun mostly in the New Testament, and it means "sinner" – not "sinful." You were made a sinner. This is the word for "sin" in terms of missing the mark or missing the target. The mark is God's standard of absolute righteousness. So, Adam's disobedience placed all mankind in the category of sinners, and that's why all die, and that's why all are doomed to hell. Have you got that straight? Adam's personal act of sinning placed all of you in the category of doomed sinners. That's why you're going to hell, and that's why you're going to have eternal death. Personal sinfulness does not enter the picture with God. Those personal sins flow from the old sin nature inherited genetically from Adam.

Every now and then you hear about some person that wants to come into the Christian life, but they've done terrible things. And they're terribly depressed because they've lived such vile lives. And they wonder, "Can God ever do anything with me, with the kind of life I've led?" Well, do you see the beauty of this particular doctrine that Paul is laying out for us? Paul says, "It doesn't matter how vile a life you led. Those are personal sins. That isn't why you're going to hell. You're going there because God has placed you in the category of doomed people on the basis of what Adam did. Your sins, vile as they may be, and tragic as they may be, are no issue with God. So, forget them.

Now, leaving the category of sinners in Adam is the only issue facing you is a lost sinner. Your issue is, "How am I going to get out of Adam? How am I going to get out of being "kathistemi" ("constituted" or "placed in the category") of the doomed?

This is the reason that verse 18 says, "We are treated as those who are condemned by God." Why? Why does God treat us as those who are condemned? Because we are so regarded. Verse 19 says, "You are regarded by God as having sinned." That's why you're treated as a sinner. It's not because you actually did something wrong. That's not why God treat you as a sinner. Verse 18 says you are treated as a sinner. Verse 19 says, "Because God so regards you, having constituted you (or placed you) in the category of the doomed in Adam."

Very quickly, let's look at the rest of the verse. It should be easy now after that, because the rest of the verse gives the other side of the picture – the obedience of Jesus Christ. We have the word, "So." This is "houtos." "Houtos" means "in this way." This is the other side of the comparison. The first part of the comparison said, "For just as." Now the other side indicates the conclusion of the comparison: "In this way." Something is true about mankind as a whole in relationship to Jesus Christ, just as it is in the relationship to Adam.

The Greek has another word which is not here in our King James translation, and that's this word, "kai." So, we have to add that. That's a conjunction which means "also." So, we translate it as: "So also." The first clause of verse 19 in the comparison explains why verse 18 says, "We were treated as condemned sinners destined for hell." Why are we treated as sinners? Because God has placed us in the category of sinners, and so, He so regards us. Now the second part of this comparison, in verse 19, is going to explain to us why verse 18 says that we are treated as justified saints destined for heaven. You can already draw the conclusion. The reason God treats me as justified is because He has put me into the category of those he regards as justified. In that way, verse 19 is explaining why God acts toward us in the way that verse 18 says that He does.

"Even so, by." Again, this is the word "dia," meaning "by means of." We had disobedience before. Now we have "hupakoe." This comes from "hupo." It's a preposition which means "under," and the verb again, as we had before, "akouo," meaning "to hear." This time it means "to hear under," meaning "to listen to what is being said," or "to obey." You have an adjective form which is "hupekoos," which is used in Philippians 2:8, describing the obedience of Jesus Christ in His going to the cross – obedience to the Father. It's a word related to here, but it reflects the same thing – the idea of obedience to a voice. In Philippians 2:8, you have Christ being obedient to the directions of His Father. This word is used in contrast to Adam's disobedience or refusal to hear God's voice.

So, we have a response to the obedience of one. Again, this is the word "heis," and the Greek has "the one," meaning specifically Jesus Christ. And again, you have the word "many" ("polus"). The Greek has "the many," referring to the same group as "all men" in verse 18 who come into justification. So verse 19 has: "The many ('hoi polloi') are made sinners," and verse 19 has: "The many ('hoi polloi' again) are made absolute righteousness."

This is not Universal Salvation

Luke 2:1 says, "All the world was to be registered." That means all the known Roman world.

"All men coming to Jesus" in John 3:26 – that's true only of all those in a certain category: those who believe that the Messiah had arrived in Jesus Christ. The disciples of John there were speaking in a hyperbole – exaggerated terms in view of what seemed to be the case. It looked like everybody was coming, but that doesn't mean everybody numerically.

So, to say, "The whole world follows or looks to some famous person," we do not mean every single individual.

Acts 2:17 has: "All flesh is to receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit," and we know that all flesh, meaning numerically every one, is not to receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

Romans 5:17 limits the "all" and the "many" only to those who receive the grace of absolute righteousness. So, while all are condemned, only those who receive the provision of justification are included in that "all."

So, all who die in Adam will not all reign in life in Jesus Christ.

Romans 3:21-22 says that the absolute righteousness from God, which is received apart from human doing, is unto all them that believe. It's not the same number as those all who are lost, but only unto all who believe. Universal salvation is clearly denied by Scripture.

Everywhere, the Bible divides mankind into save saved and lost (Matthew 3:12, John 3:16, John 18:36, John 5:27-29, Romans 2:7-8). Matthew 25 divides sheep and goats. Everywhere in the Bible you have this clear division: some are lost; and, some are saved. The Bible never contradicts itself, and therefore salvation is presented in a consistent way. And salvation is presented as only to those who believe.

So, Paul's main point in Romans 5 is not the possibility of salvation, but the absolute certainty once you have believed. And I hope you haven't forgotten that. Paul is not simply talking about the possibility of salvation, but the certainty, once you have believed. And that's why, in verse 15 and in verse 17, Paul uses the word "much more." We've gone over this "afortiori," which means arguing from the greater to the lesser. If God could do the greater thing, in what He did in Christ on the cross, He is certainly going to do the lesser thing of taking you safely into eternity. Verses 15 and 17, that we went in detail on, have that specific point – that the salvation is certain. You can't ever lose it.

So, as condemnation in Adam is absolutely certain, so justification in Christ is absolutely certain. We won't go any further into that differentiation. All to be made righteous does not mean all numerically.

However, it does say that they shall all be made. And again, we have the word "kathistemi." It means the same as before – to place in a category. This time, however, its future, because it means whenever anyone believes the gospel and trust in Jesus Christ. And that's important. You can see how careful God the Holy Spirit is. It's future tense. Again, the reader of the Greek Bible caught that right away. Immediately, He said, "Oh, well, I see that everybody in the world who is condemned is not also going to be saved." It's only at a future time when you receive the gospel and trust in Jesus Christ.

However, again, it is passive, meaning that this is done for you. It is not your words. Don't miss the passive. This is very important that it's the passive voice. You do not do anything to place yourself into this category. You just receive the placing of this category on the basis of the provision that Christ has made. It's indicative – a statement of fact.

Paul uses the word to refer to what has been done to all men – not to what they do to themselves. The result, therefore, of God's doing is irreversible. It's passive. It's in perpetuity. Paul is basically comparing all who are connected with Adam and all who are connected with Jesus Christ. The numerical issue is not involved.

Adam has his seed; and, Jesus Christ has His seed (Romans 4:16, 1 Corinthians 15:20ff). The category that they're placed in is the category he describes as "dikaios" a chaos. This is an adjective which is used as a noun, meaning absolute righteousness. It refers to our position in Christ of all who are saved.

On the one hand, we are placed in the category of sinners, doomed to an eternity in hell. You had nothing to do with that that. That was done to you because of your relationship to Adam, your representative in God's dealings.

On the other hand, in contrast to Adam's disobedience, the obedience of Jesus Christ to His Father in going to the cross to preserve the integrity of God, so that sin was paid for, so that God could forgive, and so God could treat you as justified, because He could really regard you as justified. He placed you in His Son. He placed you in the category of those who are justified on the basis of your faith in Jesus Christ.

So, what is at issue? Nothing that you have done. The issue is one thing: your reception of what God has done. The issue is: will you believe it?

Now, here's the critical point. At this point, you can blow the whole thing. Just a speck of negative volition will cost you your soul for all eternity. But you just need a speck of positive volition, in saying, "I see that's what it says, and I believe it."

"For as by the disobedience of one man, the many were placed in the category of sinners, so also, by the obedience of one (Jesus Christ) shall the many be placed in the category of the righteous." That's for me. I hope it's for you.

Dr. John E. Danish, 1977

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