When Adam ate the forbidden fruit and gave it to Eve, humanity did not just fall into sin, but into a world torn apart by alienation from God. In Peter’s Forgotten Sermon: The Lost Biblical Plan of Salvation and The Oneness of God, author Randall E. Messina doesn’t merely analyze this fall he exposes how Jesus Christ, the “second Adam,” proceeded to undo Eden’s damage and recover what was lost.
This is not just an allegory. It is the basis for Christian theology, ringing from Genesis through Revelation and resurrected in Peter’s Pentecost sermon.
Adam’s Failure and Its Consequences
The first Adam was not deceived. As Messina makes clear, his sin was a willful betrayal. Eve, the Bible informs us, was deceived by the lies of the serpent but Adam disobeyed with full knowledge of God’s command and the penalty that resulted. His action violated the covenant of obedience, introducing sin and death into humanity.
The consequence was disastrous: instant spiritual death, emotional shame, damaged relationships, and ultimate physical death. Adam’s rebellion drove a gulf between God and man that no human work could span.
Romans 5:12 has it in few words: “Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.”
But all was not lost.
Jesus: The Second Adam
Paul presents the theological antidote in Romans 5:17: “For if by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace. reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ!”
Messina develops this idea by demonstrating that Jesus didn’t merely die He came to restore. He appeared as the second Adam, the sinless man, perfectly obedient to God, and unspotted with sin. Where Adam failed in the test of the garden, Jesus succeeded in the wilderness. Where Adam fled from shame, Jesus manifested the glory of the Father.
In the words of Messina, “The plan was never about creating religion it was always about restoring relationship.”
From Garden to Cross: Reversing the Curse
The similarities between Calvary and Eden are dramatic. Adam fell in a garden; Jesus gave up in one. Adam stole from a tree and brought death; Jesus was nailed to a tree and brought life. Adam hid in shame; Jesus was stripped so that we could be clothed in righteousness.
Messina skillfully weaves these events together and invites readers to realize that Christ’s work was not a response it was a plan of redemption initiated right from the start.
Revelation 13:8 calls Jesus “the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.” Even in the judgment of Eden, there was mercy. God slaying animals in order to clothe Adam and Eve prefigured a future offering the Lamb of God who would remove the sin of the world.
Peter’s Sermon: The Roadmap to Restoration
In Acts 2, the apostle Peter stood before a group of religious Jews, announcing to them that the Jesus they crucified was Lord and Christ. His announcement was not gentle or symbolic. It was an imperative call based on divine right.
When the multitude wailed, “What shall we do?” Peter replied with the same definiteness which Messina exhorts contemporary Christians to regain: “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.”
This threefold journey repentance, baptism, and Spirit baptism is not man’s plan. It is Heaven’s plan. It is by which we are born again. Messina contends that these words are not recommendations but the explicit instructions for by which Christ’s restoration becomes a reality in the life of a believer.
A New Creation: Living in the Image of Christ
As Messina puts it, “We are not saved to wait we are saved to walk.” The restoration Jesus accomplishes isn’t just for the afterlife. It’s today. By the Holy Spirit, believers are made new creations. They live with renewed minds, pure hearts, and restored communion with God.
Where the original Adam’s fall stained humanity’s image of God, Jesus restores it. This is reaffirmed in Colossians 3:10: “And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him.
This is not the return to Eden in the literal sense it is spiritual birth into a superior covenant, with superior promises, brokered by the sinless man who sits now at God’s right hand.
Conclusion: Which Adam Are You Following?
At its core, Peter’s Forgotten Sermon is a sermon on choice. Will we keep running after the first Adam characterized by disobedience, shame, and autonomy or will we run after the second Adam Jesus Christ who brings forgiveness, liberty, and complete restoration?
Messina reminds us that Christianity is more than a moral system or Sunday habit. It is an entire makeover, facilitated by the One who turned the curse around. The sermon Peter preached in Jerusalem some 2,000 years ago continues to beckon to us: Repent of your sin. Be baptized in Jesus’ name. Get the Holy Spirit.
This is God’s plan of salvation. This is the sole means to return unto God’s presence.
