Romans 5:12-21
Notes
Transcript
The New Adam
The New Adam
Hey guys, good morning.
I pray you are doing well today. I hope you have enjoyed your week. I know it is hard to imagine, but we are just days away from the beginning of the month of October. WOW...
Fall is here…enjoy it while you can.
I want to say thank you again for giving sacrificially to our Vision Virginia Mission offering. This gift will be used in many ways, all of which help take the gospel to our brothers and sisters here in the Commonwealth of VA.
This week our church is also providing a meal (sub sandwiches, chips, drink and cookie) to the Union football team. Because of Covid still and JV game schedules we cannot get them all together in our multipurpose building. So the food will be delivered to the field house on Friday as they get out of school.
Now, today we come back to the book of Romans, talking about faith and Salvation, justification and grace..
So I hope you have your Bibles today… lets turn to Romans 5, verses 12-31.
And as you are finding that place in the Scriptures, lets remember what we have been talking about.
Remember, Paul is talking the our justification is by faith and it is through God’s abundant grace. There is no aspect of works in this life changing event. The law doesn’t bring life, Jesus does...
And this event has moved us from being separated from God, being His enemy to being at peace with God through the work of Jesus Christ for all mankind.
So lets consider this first thought today....
1. The First Adam....
To understand the nature of the problem of sin, you have to go back to the source, and that is Adam… Sin entered this world through the events of Genesis chapter 3, with Adam and Eve...
lets look at verses 12 through 14
12 Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned— 13 for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law. 14 Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come.
Now I say the first Adam obviously because of who He is, He is the first man, created by God, whom God used to bring humanity into the world after His kind.
But he came into this world perfect, in tune and in relationship with God. He walked and talked with God. He served God by fulfilling his purpose of taking care of the garden, naming all of creation and becoming the husband of Eve
Now I pause there, because a great event happens… I say great not in the sense of helping, but it hurt. It hurt God, it hurt this world and it hurt, effected all of humanity after this point in time.
Adam and his wife Eve sinned… they were disobedient, they did what God told them not too. Sin, at its very core is disobedience.
Let me take you to Genesis 3:6-7
6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. 7 Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.
Satan tempted, they were enticed, lured away and they sinned against God.
You can read the full account of Genesis 3, but just know their actions violated the word of God, the command He had given them. Adam and Eve sinned and there was a great consequence… Sin entered the world, mankind was separated from God. Death came, physically and spiritually...
That is what Paul is telling us in verse 12.... Rom 5:12
12 Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned—
So, thinking back to the previous passage, Paul says we are reconciled, saved by His life, meaning Christ’s work on the cross and His resurrection … why did this have to be?
Paul says therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and with that sin, death.. so death spread to all men.
Sadly this is the legacy of the first Adam…
He sinned against God, violated God’s standard and in sin experienced death. Now we know he didn’t die that day… His life was utterly changed… He went from a perfect world to being forced to walk in a world touched by sin, ruined by sin… And in sin, they are forced from the garden, the land changes, work changed and even for Eve her focus has changed and childbirth is now painful, a struggle.
The worst of all, sin (this spiritual issue) is passed like a genetic trait passes from one generation to the next. So Adam’s new nature, new life was passed to his sons and daughters and everyone born in this world, well except for Jesus. The Son of God because while born of woman, His father is eternal, holy and without sin.
Adam’s sin separated him, Eve and everyone from God, born into sin.
This is the legacy of Adam, the first man, whose life changed everything..
Now interesting enough, Paul goes on to tell us that even though the law was not yet in place, sin still rained, sin still had the consequence from Adam to Moses… and that was death.
Death rained in the lives of humanity from Adam’s failure till we reach the covenant of God with man in Exodus 20. Even though mankind did not break a specific rule or command like Adam, death still rained...
But Adam, we call him the first Paul says, Why? he provides us the understanding to know the relationship between sin and salvation.
Now lets move forward,
Consider this second thought this morning, The Second Adam
2. The Second Adam..... Jesus...
Just as Adam brought death through his disobedience, Jesus brought life to the world thought this act of obedience to God’s plan, namely through His death burial, and resurrection.
Paul is going to highlight this in our text, Listen to Paul, Romans 5:15-17
15 But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if many died through one man’s trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many. 16 And the free gift is not like the result of that one man’s sin. For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brought justification. 17 For if, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ.
There is a rich meaning here my friends.... Paul is providing a sense of comparison between the first Adam and the second Adam, Jesus.
Paul begins by telling those Roman believers that the free gift, is not like the trespass...,
What does Paul mean by that phrase?
What Paul is saying is this....the gift of God, it is so good, so much more value, you really cannot compare the two...
Do you remember what the gift is? in Romans 3:24 - we see the gift is the grace of God and just one chapter over in Roman’s 6, Paul says the gift is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord… so the gift brings salvation, life and hope.
Remember....The first brought death, and the second God’s grace
Paul says… If many died (in the sense of the entire Human race is effected) because of the Adam’s sin, because His disobedience, his sin passed from generation to generation…
Paul says How how much more will be saved, given life because of the gift...
Even more so, Paul says as the one trespass, sin brought condemnation, the free gift brought justification.
Can you see the difference…??
The first Adam, his trespass brought condemnation, all were declared guilty. And being guilty, there is no hope, there is no help…
But the work of Christ, the free gift, brought justification. it’s just the opposite. So instead of being guilty you are declared right before the righteous Judge, There is in fact no condemnation.
1 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
How can this be… we were guilty? Remember from last week, in Christ; I, you didn’t receive what we deserved… instead we received what we didn’t deserve. Christ took our punishment, our pain and our sin upon His life
Noe come back to verse 17 one more time...
17 For if, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ.
Because of Adam’s sin, Paul stresses again, death reigned.... all of society is under a death sentence, because of our ( and when I use that plural pronoun ) I mean, me, you and all of humanity, from the moment God judged Adam’s sin there in the garden till the last day, sin rules over the lives of men and women, boys and girls...
But it doesn’t have to be that way… why? The grace of our wonderful God.
Look at Paul’s words, just as death reigned, how much more will those who receive the abundance of His salvation, the wondrous grace of His love because of God’s great work, in sending is Son Jesus into the world, how much more will they reign in life....
When you read those words of Paul, understand he’s not stopping with this life, no, he is reaching toward that future hope because of Christ. Listen, to be in Christ, means we are alive, clearly alive, we never knowing death...
The first Adam brought death, the second, Jesus brought life.
Here is the last thought for today my friends, in the midst of it all,
3. God Grace Abounds....
The grace of God is the most blessing my friends, it’s God work for us, to help us and bless us.
We have already talked about God’s grace a little this morning, but lets go a little deeper here, Look with me at
18 Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. 19 For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous. 20 Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, 21 so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
So Paul begins with what one word again, Therefore, so we understand we need to pay attention to what he is getting ready to teach us.
Paul comes back to the comparisons he was using early in the text we have looked at today...
And when I see that, I get the picture of reinforcing what we’ve been looking at already this morning..
So Paul begins. The first comparison is this....
A. One trespass and One Act of Righteousness....
1. One Trespass applies to Adam... Adan is the covenantal head of the whole human race. He being the first man and the first Father since God called him along with Eve to multiply.... to populate this world.
But as we have already looked at today, Adam’s problem is sin. His sin, his guilt before God for breaking his command brought condemnation and guilty upon the world world, every person that followed after Adam.
Man you talk about a cause and effect, that every child born this year, next and the next until the last day comes into this world with a sin nature.
That is the legacy of Adam, the first man.... He brought sin into the world.
2. One Act of Righteousness... Jesus is the one who did this… The son of God left the portals of glory and became flesh (Fully God and Fully Man), and since he was made as we are, even having been tempted, He remained without sin, and thus died for humanity.
Jesus took the sins of the world upon his life, his body becoming our atoning sacrifice for sin. That one act, perfect obedience to the Father’s plan did what no one could do.. His life redeemed us
That is the one righteous act my friends, the one thing we desperately needed to have life.
Then Paul moves to the second comparison...
B. Condemnation and Justification.
1. Condemnation… Simply we were condemned. Being born with a sin nature I, you - every person stand guilty before God. His law says that my guilty deserves death, the sentence is handed down. we are condemned… we are simply awaiting death.
2. Justification ... is the second one, Justification means to found in the opposite state as before, instead of being guilty, we are pronounced innocent. To be justified is being made right before God. This happened because God intervened in our lives and worked on our behalf.
And then we come to that last comparison....
C. All men [in Adam] and All men [in Christ]...
1. All men [in Adam].... Adam’s disobedience made all sinners and if you remember even though the from Adam to Moses there was no law, death still abounded, death rained in lives who were originally meant to be eternal… Sin continued all the more and with it death.
When the law came to man, their sin abounded, the offenses increased and man was even more guilty than before… Moffatt says the law was brought in to aggravate the trespass.
As Paul says in Romans 7:7, we wouldn’t know the nature, the seriousness of sin if it hadn’t been for the law. The law was in place to show us the need of a Savior.
We (humanity) was estranged from God...
But where the law abounded, Grace did all the more., because of Jesus
2. All men [in Christ].... Those whose life, whose decision is to follow Jesus with all loyalty, having given their heart over to him are blessed with forgiveness and salvation.
Grace is said to “superabounded”, so that the reign of sin is brought to death and the reign of God’s grace bring righteousness and eternal life.
How wonderful is it that God loves us so much that he has freely offered us life and life eternal, no longer separated but accepted.
The old Adam brought death but the new Adam, Jesus brings life.
The life that God offers we cannot earned, its not grasped by keeping the law instead it is God’s free gift to all those who call upon the name of the Lord.
This morning I would just ask you this one question, is there anything in your life that God has said “NO” too..
If God has said “NO” and we still hang onto it, isn’t that sin....
Yes, it is … let go of that today… Let grace abound all the more.