The Overthrown Tyrant

Introduction

Art is a powerful tool because it reflects humanity’s ability to create, and so shows how men are created in the image of God. I have truly enjoyed art most of my life. My favorite types of art is that which embraces the power of contrast. Charcoal, for instance, expresses truth in black and white, with the occasional use of a gray shade. But in most charcoal drawings, the purpose is to create this stark contrast between the dark and the light, using the power of shadow to truly exemplify the value of light. It’s like when you go to a jewelry store and you are looking at a diamond, it is always put against a black cloth - the contrast makes you see the true value of the diamond.

Paul is doing precisely this in the text today. He is continuing to set up the blackness of Adam’s failure, and the reign of death, but there is a specific motive for this. He is setting the black backdrop of Adam so that we can see the glorious diamond of grace. I want us to walk through this text today, seeing the ways in which Adam is contrasted with Jesus, so that we can get to the ultimate prize of the passage at the end, and stand utterly amazed at the glorious grace of the Lord. Lets read the passage together once more, and then we can examine these powerful contrasts.

Romans 5:15–17 ESV

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. 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. 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.

how on earth is Adam a type of Christ? Because Adam’s failures, and the imputation of those failures onto all humanity, point us towards the one who succeeded and so imputed grace onto all Jesus’ followers. Paul is at work in this passage contrasting Adam and Christ, and in that contrast we can see more about the scope of God’s grace.

By looking at the contrast between Adam and Christ, we can see more of the depths of God’s grace through Christ:

What is the difference between what Adam did and what Christ did? Let’s go verse by verse and see what Paul says.

1. Adam brought sin, Christ brought salvation (15)

A Contrast of Motive

a. Adam’s trespass - One sin led to death for all (review 12-14) - Paul is very careful here to use the word “trespass.” This gives some insight into how God views sin. Deer season is soon to be upon us, and I know that will be a great blessing for many of us. When we are out hunting, or fishing for that matter, there is at least one sign that we must be aware of at all times: No Trespassing. In our community, trespassing can often come with dire consequences. Why is trespassing such a problem? What is the big deal?

We are going somewhere that is off-limits for us

We are deviating from the prescribed path or area we have been given

We are taking it upon ourselves to take something that doesn’t belong to us.

This is precisely the way that God views sin. When Adam sinned, he trespassed onto God’s property. How so? Look again at these three concepts:

Adam was told not to eat the fruit of the tree; he did, and so went somewhere off-limits for him.

Adam was given a prescribed path to walk: to tend the garden, eat freely from everything he saw, and not deviate from that. Adam saw the forbidden fruit, determined for himself it was good, and deviated from that path.

Adam was created in the image of God and to be a sub-regent of God, serving under God, not in place of Him. But Satan tempted Adam to believe he could be “like God,” and so to rebel against Him and to attempt to take something that didn’t belong to Him; sovereignty.

This is what Paul is saying Adam did - and the result of his trespass? He earned death, not just for Him, but for all people. In other words, Adam’s work earned his wages. And again, what does Ro. 6:23 say the wages of sin are? Death. This is how sin works. We sin, and sin brings death. But before it worked that way for us, it worked that way for Adam, just that one trespass brought death for all humanity.

Much more - there was even more to it. For sure, we have original sin in Adam. But we transgress even farther. if Original sin positions us inside the door to hell, our own sins, decisions take us as far from God as east is to the west. It isn’t just that we are cleansed from Adam’s original sin, we are! But that isn’t our only guilt. We are also guilty of the willful and intentional sins we commit!

But Paul carefully says that the free gift, it’s not like this. How is it not like this? He explains.

b. God’s grace through Christ - You see, one sin led to death for all people. But in Christ, one death led to life for the children of God.

Now, let’s go back and look at that idea of a trespass as going somewhere off limits, deviating from the prescribed path, and taking something that doesn’t belong to us. These are the things that Adam did; Christ’s work was the exact opposite of this!

Christ, the rightful ruler of His creation, came to earth and always accomplished his father’s will

Christ, the second Adam, was obedient in self-sacrifice, willingly walking the path of the cross for the glory of God and the salvation of sinners.

Christ, the true and better Adam, was perfectly submissive to the will of the Father, not considering equality with God a thing to be grasped, and so in humility performed the Father’s will.

How did the trespass of Adam get overturned? Paul gives us two things, which are very connected - the grace of God, and the free gift of the one man Jesus Christ.

God’s grace is greater than all our sin - We did not deserve anything but judgment. The great miracle of grace is that God would save anyone. Grace has abounded to us in Christ, and we can rejoice in that grace!

The gift of the one man Jesus

He starts this passage with an interesting phrase: “But the free gift is not like the trespass”. But what is that free gift? You see, the great gift that grace has given is even better than salvation; even better than just being forgiven of sin. It is that, but so much more. We look down a little farther and see the explanation of that gift: “the gift of the one man Jesus.”

that phrase that starts this verse “free gift” can also be translated “grace gift.” When used of what is given to God, it is in regards to a sacrifice that is acceptable in the sight of God. When used of what is given by God, it is God giving the exact opposite of what people deserve. Both these ideas of “grace gift” meet in the cross:

Jesus Christ, our propitiation, was the one acceptable sacrifice for the sins of the people of God.

Jesus Christ, our righteousness, is the means by which God looks at us and declares us righteous.

So, what is the “free gift?” It is Jesus! Jesus is the great gift of our salvation, as He both made an acceptable offering before the Father and is the means by which The Father grants us life, hope and eternity! Jesus is the great treasure of our salvation. He is the great gift of the Christian life! And in that, He is so unlike Adam.

we are no longer under the power of death. What does this mean? It doesn’t mean that I won’t die someday. Unless the Lord returns, I definitely will. It means that death does not have the final word. One of our folks in new members’ class last week put it very succinctly this way: Jesus’ resurrection enables my resurrection!

Much more than this: we aren’t just restored to Adam’s condition. Isaac Watts’ hymn: In Him the tribes of Adam boast more blessings than their father lost. We who are in Christ gain far more than Adam ever lost!

John Stott’s phrasing of this passage: “as we are condemned on account of what Adam did, so we are justified on account of what Christ did.”

2. Adam brought Judgment, Christ brought Justification (16)

A Contrast of effect

Now in verse 16, when describing the work of Adam, he doesn’t use the word “trespass;” he uses a different word: he says the free gift isn’t like that one man’s sin.

The word “sin” here carries the idea of committing an offense, violating a law, missing the mark. The tone has shifted to the legal violation of God’s law. Paul is helping us to understand a bit more about the legal work of justification, and how Christ brought that about.

a. Adam’s sin - one sin brought judgment for many

The judgement following one trespass - what a statement. Do you understand what Paul is saying here, because this is one of the hardest to accept statements in the whole Bible. Not so much hard to understand, but hard to accept as true. Paul is saying here that because of the one sin of Adam, that all of humanity after him was declared guilty. Every single person born after Adam is born with the guilt of Adam.

I appreciated how John Macarthur explained this concept today: “God hates sin so much that it took only one sin to condemn the entire human race and separate them from Him.” That’s how serious ONE sin is.

This is precisely why I say that we simply do not, and maybe even cannot, take sin seriously enough. It took only one sin, from one man, who represented all men, to condemn the entire human race. Wrap your head around that. Think my friends, about how much God is offended now, after generation after generation of people offend Him, rebel against Him, and heap judgment through their unbelief.

I promise you friends, if we really and truly thought about sin that way, we who love Jesus would love sin less.

what is the verdict? guilty. God has heard the case, all the evidence has been put out there, and now the Judge is delivering His sentence: guilty. What led to the guilty sentence? Sin. The sin of Adam makes every person ever born, except for one, guilty before God.

Despite God’s hatred for one sin, and for all sin, God’s love for His people is so great that He chose in His mercy to not just provide redemption for one, but to provide redemption for many!

The reality: all of us are guilty of more than one sin! We have an incalculable pile of offenses against us, that we simply cannot overcome.

Because of Adam’s sin, we are all already guilty, If original sin puts us inside the door of hell, the sins we commit cast us further and further into the darkest pits of hell, until we can no longer see any way out. But God, being rich in mercy, reaches down into the depths and rescues me from Sheol.

b. God’s grace through Christ - if one sin brought judgment for all men, one judgment brought life for the children of God.

Cranfield: “that the accumulated sins and guilt of all the ages should be answered by God’s free gift, this is the miracle of miracles, utterly beyond human comprehension.”

God’s grace is deeper than the pit of hell we earned

How? Grace!

Again, with that term “free gift.” Pharisees can’t handle that phrase, because we are often prone to think that we have done something to help aid the salvation of our own souls. But over and over again, we see that we get what we cannot earn when we get Jesus.

The grace of God led to the justification of many men and women.

The grace of God - all the sins of His people were laid upon Him. All the sins of those who are even yet unborn who would become His people were laid upon Him! In Him, all our sins, past, present and future are justified, so that we are declared righteous!

Then why ask for forgiveness now? Why the stress on the daily repentance? A couple of things here.

First, the once-for-all death of Jesus Christ paid the penalty for all our sins - past, present and future. So, in one sense, ALL our sins are forgiven, and we rejoice in this truth.

BUT, we also see that this truth is tethered to the fact that, when we do sin now, we are commanded to repent and forsake those sins as the Holy Spirit brings awareness of them to us. When the Lord’s Prayer, for instance, teaches us to ask for God to “forgive our debts,” then we take that seriously. Or when John in 1 John 1:9 says

1 John 1:9 ESV

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

then we trust that in a real and mysterious way, though my sins are already forgiven, I must also ask God to forgive me of my sins. And as I do, I experience the cleansing of God. Repentance reminds us that, while we are truly justified, there is more to the Christian life than simply being justified. Those who are justified are being sanctified, and repentance is one of the primary means of being sanctified in this life. We need to be consistently reminded that we are justified and gloriously forgiven, and that we cannot outsin the great grace of God.

3. Adam brought death; Christ brings life (17)

A Contrast of reign

Romans 5:17 ESV

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.

The third difference we see in this passage between Adam and Christ takes the cake. Of all the “much more’s” in Romans 5, this passage has to simply be THE most. Adam brings death, Christ brings life.

a. Adam’s death - remember last week? Through Adam, the door was cracked for sin to enter, then death kicked the door down and took over, reigning over all humanity? Through one sin, death came to reign! Adam’s work produced the opposite outcome than he was expecting.

Neither Adam nor Eve sin because they wanted to die; they sinned because they thought they would become like God. Sin produced the exact opposite, and instead of freedom and autonomy they experienced slavery and death. Instead of becoming more like God, they became more unlike Him.

How does death reign? What do we really mean by the reign of death? It is more than simply the fact that we die; it’s the fact that death colors almost everything.

Death is so devastating to those who don’t know Christ that it appears to be the end of everything. So, we must eat and drink and be merry, for tomorrow we are perishing! We create bucket lists, so that we can REALLY experience the things that matter before we die, because we may somehow be afraid of missing out - FOMO plagues all of us - what if I don’t accomplish this thing before I die? And our fear of no longer being here drives an unholy discontentment.

You know what drives the news you watch? Fear of death. We can be driven by an abject fear of harm and death that underlies nearly everything we watch.

You know what drives the great faith we place in the medical community? Fear of death. At least half of the fear that drove this whole country in 2020 was fear of death.

You know what drives the cosmetic industry? Fear of death. And that is precisely how death reigns, and why it is a tyrant. A tyrant reigns through fear, and that is how death reigns. We can be so afraid of death, either our death, or the death of others, that we are paralyzed from doing things that God would have us do!

and so, One man’s sin led to the grave taking all people. But grace has the final word.

If through one man came the reign of death, so through one man comes the reign of life for the children of God

Hebrews 2:14–15 ESV

Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery.

Paul puts it more succinctly in 1 Cor. 15:22

1 Corinthians 15:22 ESV

For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.

b. God’s grace through Christ

The power of the two is different. Adam brought the power of death and slavery into the world, Christ defeated death, set us free from slavery.

Christ’s work produced the exact, precise, desired effect. The effect of the work of Christ is one of the most amazing things we have learned so far in the book of Romans.

Stott: the ultimate effect of the two actions is different. “formerly death was our king, and we were slaves under its oppressive tyranny. What Christ has done for us is not just to exchange death’s kingdom for the much more gentle kingdom of life, while leaving us in the position of subjects. Instead, he delivers us from the rule of death so radically as to enable us to change places with it and rule over it, or reign in life.”

God’s grace reaches to the throne of the tyrant and overthrows death.

One man’s defeat of the grave led to the overthrowing of the grave for many.

How? Grace?

But it must be recieved - we unconsciously receive the sinfulness of Adam, but we must actively and consciously receive the gift of grace.

Look at what we get because of grace: reconciliation, justification, and reign. A mind blowing statement: those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness will REIGN IN LIFE through Jesus Christ. What does this even mean?

we are more than conquerors! We have victory over death before we have even met it.

But even more than this: sin does not reign over us either! We will see more of this in Romans 6

Satan does not have dominion over us.

In other words, even now, our great foes have been defeated! But all this now, is just the firstfruits of what we will receive. Oh what a foretaste of glory divine!

We will be with Him, and reign with Him.

- This right here, this point, this is the point where our jaws should hit the floor in amazement. Friends, hear the good news of the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ: Jesus Christ died to overthrow the tyrant of death, so that we could reign in life! Let me say that again!

And that is what this passage is telling us to do for today.

What is Romans 5:15-17 telling me to do?

Reign in life

We are often afraid of phrases like these because of the nefarious work of the prosperity gospel, which deceives people into believing that their ultimate hope is being healthy or wealthy here. So please don’t think I am saying that to “Reign in life” means what it doesn’t mean. When Paul here is talking about reigning in life, he is giving us five chapters of content about what that means. When Paul says we are to reign in life, here is telling us to:

Share in the Kingship of Christ in this life - we are to boldly stand for truth, and proclaim the truth to a lost world, because we are currently, right now, as Christians co-heirs with Christ.

Embrace the great gift of righteousness - sin has been defeated! we are no longer slaves to sin, but slaves to righteousness! We no longer sin because we HAVE TO; we no longer have the devil as our father. Jesus’ Christ finished work, and the justification we have recieved through that work, has changed us, and given us a new master!

Stand securely in our salvation - we are already reigning with Christ, and we will reign forever! These are unfading things, that can never be taken away.

Now, how does this help me in my day to day life? Let me tell you the primary way that this has done work in my own heart this week, in hopes that it may do the same in yours:

We must stop acting like victims, and look to the Gospel of Jesus Christ to see the reality of who we are: reigning in life through Jesus Christ. Christ has won the victory, and so we who are his share in this victory! I truly believe that if we truly apply this to our own lives, it will lead to incredible, radical changes in our souls. Let’s just look at one of these:

Let’s start with speaking the truth - we may sometimes shy away from saying the hard but true things because we are afraid that others may not like us, or may reject us, or may be displeased with us. In some cases, some of us are so preoccupied with the bad news of this world that we can fail to speak the good news to the world! But look here, Jesus Christ has won! Is there a more glorious message in this world than that Jesus Christ has won? At the end of WWII, when the greatest earthly war anyone in that generation had known, had ended, people ran out in the streets to celebrate, beating pots and pans and shouting for victory.

We have a greater victory than this! Christ has defeated an enemy far more dangerous than any nation or power on this earth. And not only has it been won for us, we share in it as co-heirs with Jesus! If there is ever a message to be boldly proclaimed, it is that one. The very word “Evangelism” means “messaging the good news.” We are ALL evangelists. Every one of us. Let me explain. We absolutely will proclaim what we believe to be good news one way or the other. If you, like me, are a sports fan, your good news may be about your favorite sports team. If you like cars, that is your good news. If you are an outdoorsman, your good news revolves around that. If you are a gamer, your good news can revolve around that. But we have a better good news. We have the good news that Jesus Christ has conquered death and risen to life, and we now, right now, reign in life!

Here is the thing about sharing your faith - I don’t want you to feel guilty about not doing it. I don’t want you to be ashamed about all the things you are willing to talk about when you are unwilling to talk about Jesus. I want you to stare so deeply into this truth, that we reign in life, that you are willing to be like those who were so excited about victory in WWII that you boldly proclaim His mercy and His goodness! We want others to share in the joy we have! We have the treasure hidden in a field! Let’s proclaim it!

Lost: all these gifts of grace are only for those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness. How do I receive it?

Repent and submit

Believe

Benediction: Romans 5:20-21

Romans 5:20–21 ESV

Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.