Romans 5:12-14

MAIN IDEA: Three effects of sin in the world.

Scripture Text: Romans 5:12-14

Romans 5:12–14 ESV

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— for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law. 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.

Sin always affects other people.

Sin is mentioned six times in three verses. If we include transgression in verse 14, there would be 7 mentions. The Greek word for sin is hamartia which means, “to act contrary to the will and law of God.”

In the seven mentions, there are three different uses. Sin from deception. Sin from decision. Sin as a human condition.

Look at verse 12 - “sin came into the world through one man.” Why did sin enter through Adam, when Eve ate from the tree first? Turn to Genesis 2:15-18.

Genesis 2:15–18 ESV

The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.”

The Lord gave Adam the command not to eat from this tree before Eve was created. Eve ate and sinned because she was deceived. There was no deception with Adam’s decision. He could have stopped the whole thing, but chose to disobey God’s command.

In life, we sometimes commit sin because we have been deceived, convinced the sin won’t matter, we can get away with it, it will remain private. The enemy deceives people to act contrary to the law of God.

Satan also convinces people to act contrary to the will of God. To be very clear, avoiding sin is not only about avoiding sinful things. Don’t pull out a gun and shoot other people. Don’t steal something from the candy aisle. Don’t download a pirated game or movie. Don’t cheat on your taxes. Don’t look at pornography. Don’t have an affair. Don’t lie in a court room. There are obvious things we shouldn’t do and we call them sin.

Sin can be ignoring something beneficial. For instance, if God is speaking to you about calling somebody and talking to them about Jesus - but you don’t call. That is contrary to the will of God.

Sin can also be ignoring something completely neutral that is a personal conviction. For example, if you felt like God was leading you to fast from desserts for the entire summer and you decided to ignore that leading because it’s just food and it doesn’t matter. For you, that is contrary to the will of God for your life.

If we condition ourselves to ignore God when he speaks to us about seemingly small things in life, it is less likely that we will seek God’s input with larger things in life. It’s one of the reasons that adults who grew up in church, do not attend church. There are grandchildren across the country that are missing the message of Jesus Christ because of a conditioned heart to ignore God. Some of you are broken-hearted over that reality.

Sinfulness is a human condition that no person can escape. The text is clear that Adam’s sin affected the entire human race. Please do not be naive and think the consequences of your sin only effects you.

Sin distorts the person God created us to be.

I tend to think that God created Adam and Eve as eternal beings. They would enjoy the company of the Lord in the garden of Eden. No worries or stress. It would be like a trip to the petting zoo every day with unlimited chick-fil-a food trucks. How much better can life be?

Sin got in the way of the relationship. Instantly everything changed. Adam and Eve’s oneness with God was broken. They were removed from the garden. They had to find a new place to live. They had to become farmers. Death entered the world to relieve Adam and Eve’s guilt.

I realize that it’s too early for some of you to talk about death. Have you ever thought of God providing death as the relief to our guilt and shame? Even when sin distorted God’s creation, his kindness and graciousness would not allow the distortion to remain eternal.

The world would like us to believe all sorts of non-sense about cycles of life that existed before humans lived on the earth.

Jot down James 1:15 says, “Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.” and Romans 6:23 says “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Both verses remind us that all death has always been the result of sin as a human condition.

Genesis 9:2–3 says, “The fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth and upon every bird of the heavens, upon everything that creeps on the ground and all the fish of the sea. Into your hand they are delivered. Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. And as I gave you the green plants, I give you everything.”

Prior to the flood, every living creature walked on the earth together in unison. Sin distorted the original design.

Chris, what about dinosaurs? They were beautiful creatures that God made in Genesis 1 and lived on the earth for centuries. Psalm 74 and Psalm 104 speak of Leviathan. Psalm 74 was written by Asaph, King David’s worship leader around 1000BC, centuries after the flood.

Sin allows death to reign in our lives.

Let’s look at verse 13. “Sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law.” It is impossible to violate a law that doesn’t exist.

The Greek word for law is nomos. This word is used 209 in the Bible, which 135 times nomos points to the Mosiac Law or the Torah. The second mention of law points to God’s law.

It is anti-biblical to suggest there was no sin on the earth before God gave Moses the ten commandments in Exodus 20. Adam and Eve were removed from the garden. The serpent was cursed. Cain was given a specific mark. The worldwide flood. There were countless other occurences of sin in the book of Genesis. All of them resulted in death. Verse 14 says that death reigned.

Here are three ways that death reigns in a person’s life.

Spiritual death - sin separates us from God while we are living on the earth.

Physical death - every person will die. If there were no sin, then we would not need a way to be removed from sin.

Eternal death - judgment to the eternal lake of fire

Thankfully, we do not need to live in the effects of sin in our world. The Lord Jesus provided the way in verses 15-21. We will look at that next week. For now, all hail the power of Jesus’ name. Let’s sing together.

Present the path to salvation concisely and clearly!!! Today can be your day to know Jesus personally.