The Sin Vs. The Gift
Romans • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Last time:
We saw that because we are justified y faith, we now have peace with God through Jesus Christ
This is such a comfort, especially as we go through trials, knowing that it is through trials and tribulation that we grow and mature, and we don’t go through them because God is mad at us
And we take even more confidence that through Christ, God demonstrated His love toward us.
9 Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him.
10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.
11 And not only this, but we also exult in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.
12 Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned—
13 for until the Law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law.
14 Nevertheless death reigned from Adam until Moses, even over those who had not sinned in the likeness of the offense of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come.
Romans 5:9–21 (NASB95)
9 Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him.
“Much more”
“Much more”
Much more than just God displaying His love for us by dying for us while still sinners
“justified by His blood”
“justified by His blood”
In V.1, Paul says we were justified by faith, and now he is saying by Christ blood.
This is the precious reminder to us, that faith in nothing is actually, not faith.
Many people say “You just need to have faith”
But faith in what? Faith just for the sake of faith is not faith at all.
Here, Paul puts these things together… faith in the complete work of Jesus Christ, the work He did for us on the cross. Paul would say in Ephesians 2:8-9
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;
9 not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.
And then Paul would complete that with Ephesians 2:13
13 But now in Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.
It is the blood of Christ that has brought us near, not just simply a faith in something, but the faith that we have in the gift of God in Christ Jesus and through His blood.
“We shall be saved from the wrath of God”
“We shall be saved from the wrath of God”
And of course we should, because we are at peace with God. He isn’t mad or angry at you, He isn’t looking for a reason to smite you, you shall be saved from the wrath of God.
What is the wrath of God?
There are 2 words that are used to translate wrath in the New Testament:
First, is the word orgé, which is used 36 times in the New Testament, here in Romans 5:9 being one of them
The second, is the word Thymos, which is only used 18 times in the New Testament.
Both words literally mean “Anger, wrath, fury,” and there really is nothing to distinguish the two from one another. In fact, the two words are some times used together to emphasize the anger, as in Revelation 19:15
Revelation 19:15 (NASB95)
15 From His mouth comes a sharp sword, so that with it He may strike down the nations, and He will rule them with a rod of iron; and He treads the wine press of the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty.
We shall be saved from the wrath of God, this is such a wonderful promise. In fact, Paul will say this in 1 Thessalonians 5:9
9 For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ,
But God’s wrath will be poured out. In Ephesians 5:5-6
5 For this you know with certainty, that no immoral or impure person or covetous man, who is an idolater, has an inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.
6 Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience.
Then again in Colossians 3:5-6
5 Therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry.
6 For it is because of these things that the wrath of God will come upon the sons of disobedience,
In fact, we know what this looks like in Revelation 6:15-17
15 Then the kings of the earth and the great men and the commanders and the rich and the strong and every slave and free man hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains;
16 and they said to the mountains and to the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the presence of Him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb;
17 for the great day of their wrath has come, and who is able to stand?”
But this, we don’t need to worry about, if you have believed in the finished work of Jesus knowing that His blood cleanses us from all unrighteousness, because it is from this that we have peace with God?
Look at what we read next:
10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.
11 And not only this, but we also exult in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.
We have been reconciled to God through Jesus. Through His death.
So if Jesus died for us, to reconcile us to God, then how much more shall we be saved by His life, or, His resurrection. We see later as Paul says in Romans 8:34
34 who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us.
We shall be saved through Jesus and the fact that He lives today.
This is what Paul says we exult in, or we boast in, through Jesus, that we are reconciled to God.
Many of you remember the old song lyrics “Jesus is Just alright with me.” But this is what we actually get to exult in because we have been reconciled. And because of this, this means something even more for us.
Paul goes on and explains in 2 Corinthians 5:18-19
18 Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation,
19 namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation.
This ministry has been given to us, that we get to go and share this wonderful news with other people. People who are hurting, people who are depressed, people who are anxious and fearful, people who are scared, people who are worried, people who are weighed down by past mistakes, people who are enslaved to their own impulses, people who are dependent on their medication, people who are lost. Paul would keep going in 2 Corinthians 5:20-21
20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.
21 He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
We represent Jesus, we represent that transformative work that He did in us. We are ambassadors of the reality that we have peace with God because Jesus was the one who reconciled us to Him, not a work we did, but that Christ did. As Paul would say in Ephesians 2:8-9
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;
9 not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.
12 Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned—
13 for until the Law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law.
14 Nevertheless death reigned from Adam until Moses, even over those who had not sinned in the likeness of the offense of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come.
Paul now introduces Adam into this argument.
Paul says, “therefore”, which means, because of our peace with God, because of this reconciliation, Adam is used as a type of Jesus. Why?
“JUST AS through one man sin entered the world…”
The demise of all mankind has come to rest on one man, and that is Adam. This story is told in Genesis 3:1-12
1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, “Indeed, has God said, ‘You shall not eat from any tree of the garden’?”
2 The woman said to the serpent, “From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat;
3 but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat from it or touch it, or you will die.’ ”
4 The serpent said to the woman, “You surely will not die!
5 “For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
6 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 desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate.
7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loin coverings.
8 They heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.
9 Then the Lord God called to the man, and said to him, “Where are you?”
10 He said, “I heard the sound of You in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid myself.”
11 And He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?”
12 The man said, “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me from the tree, and I ate.”
Then after the Lord deals with the Serpent and Eve, He turns to Adam and says in Genesis 3:17
17 Then to Adam He said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree about which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat from it’; Cursed is the ground because of you; In toil you will eat of it All the days of your life.
If you notice what the Lord says here, He clearly tells Adam that the command is what was told to him, not to Eve. He was responsible for what happened, and because he failed, sin entered the world. He rebelled against God, and that is the reality in which we live now.
This is what we call the Adamic nature. We live in a world and a body that is effected by sin. In fact, just the fact that we were born, means that we have inherited this sin nature. Look at what David says in Psalm 51:5
5 Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, And in sin my mother conceived me.
This is often referred to as “original sin.” This isn’t referring to Adam’s first sin, nor the first time we ever sinned, but that Adam is the representation of the nature in which we all inherit just by being born in this world.
But how does this effect us in our everyday life? How does this go beyond things like misplaced anger or incorrect behaviour? If “original sin” is not something we did, but rather inherit, what does this mean for us? How has the effects of sin, or this nature, affect us?
First, our motivation.
In this, we talk about our motives, our ability to choose and what we desire. This sin nature distorts the motives of our hearts. It makes us desire the wrong things. Look at what we read in James 1:14-15
14 But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed.
15 Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.
Here is what leads to a sinful act, our own desires. Things we want, things we desire, and they lead us to sin. In fact, James goes even further by saying in James 4:1
1 What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you?
You see, sometimes we say, “At least My heart was in the right place,” but we are only fooling ourselves. It is your motives that got you in trouble, this is the effect of sin in our lives.
This would lead us to sins effect on our thinking
This is what we call the “noetic effects of sin.” This is how we as humans can make good things seem wicked and evil things seem to be acceptable. The affects of sin have blinded us to the reality that we are actually sinning, that we are being rebellious. Just as we read earlier in Romans 1:28
28 And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper,
This is why women can have abortions and call it healthcare. This is why a man can have relations with another man and call it love. This is why people can riot and call it social justice. This is why a person can get high or drunk and call it a disease. They are completely blinded to the reality of their actions because of this nature we live in because of Adam. This is what Paul says about us in Colossians 1:21
Colossians 1:21 (NASB95)
21 And although you were formerly alienated and hostile in mind, engaged in evil deeds,
Then Paul also says in Ephesians 4:17-18
Ephesians 4:17–18 (NASB95)
17 So this I say, and affirm together with the Lord, that you walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their mind,
18 being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart;
Our understanding is darkened by sin. This is why the most brilliant men to have ever lived can look at the overwhelming evidence of creation and say that there is no God. It is a terrible thing, and why we can’t trust our hearts nor our minds. But there is more too:
We can’t trust our emotions because they too are affected by this sin nature.
Emotions are not a bad thing, in fact, they are good. God gave us the ability to experience emotion. But what happens, is sin causes our emotions to be disordered.
Lets take fear for instance. Look at Proverbs 14:27
27 The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life, That one may avoid the snares of death.
This is good. Fear of the Lord keeps us on the straight and narrow, fear keeps us from doing stupid things. But look what we read in Proverbs 29:25
25 The fear of man brings a snare, But he who trusts in the Lord will be exalted.
When fear is toward men, it is a trap. This is how our sin nature has turned fear into something bad. When we fear, we become paralyzed and don’t do what we should. Fear should motivate us and bring life, but because of sin, it brings a snare and traps us.
It is because of sin that we cannot trust our emotions.
Then we move on to what the effects of sin have done to our bodies.
This doesn’t take too much convincing, does it. Look at our Romans 8:10
10 If Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness.
Then Paul will say in Romans 8:22-23
22 For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now.
23 And not only this, but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body.
The aches, the pains, the disease, the ailments and maladies that we experience, this is all because of the sinful nature in which we live. And one day, we will be free from this decay.
Then we also see the effect of sin in our relationships.
Instead of living in harmony and at peace, we live at war with one another. We read some insight in Titus 3:3
3 For we also once were foolish ourselves, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, spending our life in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another.
In a world that is plagued by depression and loneliness, we see how our sinful nature has isolated us from one another. Even sitting here now, there are people that we cannot stand and despise. Who knows, you might be married to that person. And this is the most telling relationship we see the effects of sin in. The people we love the most, we hurt more deeply than any other, and this is sin.
You see, this is the sinful nature that we inherit from Adam. And as Paul says here in our scripture, death came through sin and spread to all.
But Adam is a type, and there is a greater picture here. Because we inherited all of this from Adam, look what Paul says next:
15 But the free gift is not like the transgression. For if by the transgression of the one the many died, much more did the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abound to the many.
What we inherited from Adam, we recieved something more powerful than sin, and that is grace.
Paul says it in a more clear way in 1 Corinthians 15:21-22
21 For since by a man came death, by a man also came the resurrection of the dead.
22 For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive.
So all who were born according to Adam, experience death because of sin… but all those who are born again, or born of Christ, are made alive. Just as Jesus would explain to Nicodemus in John 3:5-7
John 3:5–7 (NASB95)
5 Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
6 “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
7 “Do not be amazed that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.(or, “From Above”)’
Our birth of the Spirit, or from above, or born again, gives us this wonderful nature of grace.
16 The gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned; for on the one hand the judgment arose from one transgression resulting in condemnation, but on the other hand the free gift arose from many transgressions resulting in justification.
17 For if by the transgression of the one, death reigned through the one, much more those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.
The gift of abundant grace, that we are found righteous because of our faith in Jesus Christ.
This isn’t righteousness we have through the Law, this isn’t righteousness we have because of our efforts, this is righteousness by grace through faith… faith in the One Jesus Christ.
“Righteousness will reign in life through the ONE”
“Righteousness will reign in life through the ONE”
Notice, it is through the One, Jesus
Some think that we are found righteous because of Christ, and then we have to live in our own good deeds to life in that righteousness. But righteousness only reigns in life through One, not through us, not through Adam, not through the Law, but through Jesus Christ.
18 So then as through one transgression there resulted condemnation to all men, even so through one act of righteousness there resulted justification of life to all men.
19 For as through the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the One the many will be made righteous.
Through Jesus and His obedience!!!
This is why we have peace with God, because it is through Jesus Christ. He was obedient as Philippians 2:8 says
8 Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
Then the author of Hebrews explains in Hebrews 5:7-9
7 In the days of His flesh, He offered up both prayers and supplications with loud crying and tears to the One able to save Him from death, and He was heard because of His piety.
8 Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from the things which He suffered.
9 And having been made perfect, He became to all those who obey Him the source of eternal salvation,
I want you to see this as Paul wraps up how Adam is a type of Christ:
V.18-
The act of Adam resulted in condemnation to all man kind
The act of Jesus leads to justification for all man kind
V.19-
Through Adam we are made sinners
Through Jesus we are made righteous
You see, Adam is the Antithesis of Jesus. While Adam , called to tend the Garden of God in Eden found himself to be unfaithful, Jesus, called to tend to the flock of God was found faithful. Adam is a type, an example, and that is it. Proof that humanity has failed, but Jesus, proof of The Fathers faithfulness and love.
20 The Law came in so that the transgression would increase; but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more,
21 so that, as sin reigned in death, even so grace would reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
These verses are such an encouragement to me.
When I sin, when I fail, I always have the tendency to think, “Oh man, there I go again. God will finally be done with me on this one.”
BUT NO!!! Where sin increases, grace would abound all the more. Why would God do that? Why would He allow grace to abound in even my deepest, darkest moments as a human?
So that grace would reign through the righteousness through Jesus Christ!!!
I can’t help but share this thought by Jon Courson as we close:
“Everything wrong with the world today, everything wrong with you, your family, and the people you work with is all due to Adam’s failure”...
No wonder Jesus could look at the multitudes and have compassion on them—not crusade against them, march to get rid of them, or mobilize to neutralize them. He looked at the multitudes and in every instance He had compassion.
You see, when it finally sinks in that by one Man righteousness, justification, and grace came—I stop striving and struggling to prove I’m a notch or two above you, and I stop feeling bad if I’m a notch or two below you. I’m not the issue at all. He is.
When I understand this, I stop being a worker and become a worshiper.”
That is where God wants us… to be worshippers of Him and to completely rest in the grace that He has given to all of us.
