Fallen From God

From Adam to Christ: The Transformation of Humanity

Bible Passage: Romans 5:12–21

We took a momentary hiatus from a message series during these past few weeks to focus on Easter. I would like to get back into the series where we were looking at foundational doctrines and beliefs that we have as Christians. By way of reminder, we began by looking at God, and we spent a few Sunday’s looking at God as Father, Son & Holy Ghost. We also looked at the Word of God and how it is a reliable source of information about God and the things that we believe. We also looked at what it means to be the people of God, which was our response to the gathering of our sister churches a couple weeks back.

One of the foundational things that we need to understand about what we believe is our stance on sin, namely the topic of the Fall, or human sinfulness as a whole. I’m not going to sit here and list out all the things that are sins. I hope that we all have at least a basic understanding of the difference between right and wrong, and I would encourage personal and individual study on the topics of sin in our lives and what to do about it. But rather, I want us to focus on the concept of Sin as a whole and how it fits into God’s plan that points us in the direction of Jesus Christ.

Our primary passage to dig into this morning comes from Romans 5:12-21, so as usual, I encourage you to open your Bibles there so that you can follow along as we walk our way through the passage. But for the moment, simply keep a finger there because we are going to start by looking at the original sin in Genesis 2-3 as we get started.

Our purpose this morning, as we walk through the passage, is to see how sin is a universal problem afflicting all people and that the end result is death. But, just as with Good Friday, death is not the end of the story. Rather, God had purposes larger than death, namely that He wants to restore all people to Himself and so has provided a way to deal with the problem of sin. When we turn to Christ, our sins are forgiven so that His righteousness might accomplish the justification of all people. Let me say it another way. The foundational Christian doctrine that I want us to consider today is the fact that Jesus is our second Adam, through whom we find the remedy for the curse of sin instituted by the first Adam. Where Adam brought death, Jesus brings grace and life, which is God’s plan for redemption for us!

In Christ, all can be made alive and acknowledging our fallenness leads us to the transformative grace found in Jesus!

1. Fall Begins with Adam

Sin is a problem. Disobedience is a problem. We were created by God and designed with purpose, but given free will. That means we have the capacity to go against our programming. Is everyone familiar with Murphy’s Law? I have recently discovered that I am only familiar with part of it. The New Encyclopedia of Christian Quotations says:

Murphy’s Law

1. Nothing is as easy as it looks.

2. Everything takes longer than you think.

3. If anything can go wrong, it will.

Author unknown

Mark Water, The New Encyclopedia of Christian Quotations (Alresford, Hampshire: John Hunt Publishers Ltd, 2000), 682.

It seems that it was inevitable that when God gave Adam and Eve the capacity to go wrong… that they did. Genesis 3 paints a picture of paradise taken for granted. Adam and Eve were given one command to obey: Genesis 2:16–17: “The Lord God commanded the man, saying, “From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.””

Eve wasn’t a part of the picture until later, so when the serpent asks her his slippery question in Genesis 3, she relays the command as she knows it in Genesis 3:2–3 “The woman said to the serpent, “From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat; 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.’ ””

The rest of the story is a great read and I would encourage you to find time to read it together as families! The stories are great for our children to learn and for adults to study because there is a lot for us to know. As the story develops, Eve, then Adam eats the fruit from the forbidden tree, thereby breaking the one and only command they were given. They suddenly knew they were naked and they hid themselves and tried to cover up their nakedness. God walks in and calls out to them and they try to pass the blame and all three parties are given their curses… the serpent to crawl on its belly with “enmity between you and the woman” such that the children of humankind will bruise the head of the snake and the snake will bruise their heels. The women is given the curse of pain during childbirth. And the husband is cursed in his work whereby the ground will be cursed and he will work hard to enjoy the fruits of his labors. But the ultimate price that was paid that day is that death began to afflict all of creation. Adam and Eve were cursed to die and this has been the most universal trait passed down to all of their descendents regardless of race, religion or status in life. All will die. Sin leads to death.

Paul deals with the topic in Romans 5:12-21, so you can turn there now.

Romans 5:12–14 NASB95

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— for until the Law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law. 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.

The Law that God gave the nation of Israel was a significant part of the plan for redemption that God put into place to deal with the problem of sin and death. The people needed to know what exactly they were doing wrong so that they could at least begin to make strides to do it right. But Law is a tricky thing. Being under the Law did not save people from their sins and did nothing to stop death from occuring. Even everyone born before the Law was given on Mount Sinai were all still guilty of violating the Law of God and sin reigned in the world fromt hen, even until now in a sense. Adam sinned… and consequently Romans 3:23 “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” .

It is important for us to know the story of the original sin and our current sinful situation because it gives us a critical piece of information. We can’t talk about salvation without talking about what we are being saved from. We are being saved from a punishment we have earned for ourselves. Sin is a real thing and still a real problem. But how can we overcome it? If you’ve ever tried to do that under your own power, you know how impossible it is. We can’t save ourselves simply by not sinning. Not sinning is simply impossible. And even if we manage to stop sinning, it doesn’t matter because we are still guilty of sin. A bank robber can’t tell the judge at his trial that he only robbed the bank once and that he’ll never do it agian. He’s still guilty of the crime. So it is with sin… guilty of one sin makes us sinful.

Once we understand the pervasiveness of sin, we should be ready to understand the significance of the grace that Jesus offers us!

2. Gifts Surpass the Guilt

Romans 5:15–17 NASB95

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. 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. 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.

Paul contrasts the original sin with the gift of grace given by God through Jesus Christ. That original sin proved fatal for all people at all times, and it took a supernatural intervention in order to do something about it. Death has been our biological inheritance, but Christ offers something different. It is a gift offered to many. Notice though that it is not given to all, but offered to many. I won’t get into a debate between predestination and free-will, but notice that salvation is not given to everyone. It is given to those who receive the gift given by Jesus Christ.

Everything keeps pointing to Jesus Christ. He is the one who took away the transgression from us that condemns us to the judgment. It was because of our transgressions that Christ intervened resulting in our justification. And before I get too bound by heavy theological terms, justification, as we talk about it, is the instantaneous declaration of your holiness imparted by Christ. It is the moment of our salvation. It is when Christ clothes us with His own righteousness so that we no longer rely upon our own. Another word, sanctification, is the process by which we grow more into the likeness of Christ. Another way of talking about sanctification is that it is how we grow in our faith. Justification is salvation given the moment of our conversion. Sanctification is the process that begins at conversion and continues until we stand in the presence of God forgiven for our sins.

All of this is a gift given to us freely by Jesus Christ. While judgment and death is the result of the original sin committed by Adam and inherited by all people ever since, grace and justification in Christ are the transformative power of Christ in us, transforming us to become more as God originally designed and intended.

3. Death to Life in Christ

Romans 5:18–19 NASB95

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. 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.

Paul tries to make the contrast here as distinct as possible. But it also paints the picture of a journey that every believer is on, and one that every person could be on should they choose to leave the starting point. The starting point I am referring to is what verse 18 says where one transgression resulted in condemnation to all men. This is the universal condition of all people at the start of their faith journey. It is as true for you and me here today in church this morning as it is for the person who has never considered what the existence of God might or might not mean for them. We all share that common ancestry.

But the turn around comes with the one who performed the “one act of righteousness” which resulted in the justification that you and I experience when we invite Jesus into our lives! Christ offers up the alternative to death… life and life eternal! That is what He accomplished on the cross, and His resurrection on the third day was a declaration of its completion.

Notice what Paul says in verse 19 as he continues to contrast the righteous from the sinner. It only took the first man to disobey to make all people sinners. It only took the obedience of the One to make many righteous. This ought to urge us to trust in Christ’s righteousness all the more for salvation. We need that external act in order to shift us from unrighteousness to righteousness… from death to life.

4. Grace Triumphs Over Sin

Romans 5:20–21 NASB95

The Law came in so that the transgression would increase; but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, so that, as sin reigned in death, even so grace would reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

The original sin was a tragedy. Through it, death, sickness, injury, pain, toil in work, even labor pains all came into play. But such was the risk of giving us free will… the ability to choose to obey or disobey. If you’ve got kids, or perhaps you can remember when you were a child, you know that disobedience happens. Every child has a mind of their own, and some of the parents might be nudging one another saying how some of those kids have stronger minds/wills, which of course leads to the curious blends of joy and sorrows as we watch them make decisions and then deal with consequences. If that is what it is like for parents, I wonder what it is like for our heavenly Father.

But here is where the beauty of grace comes into place. Sin and disobedience demand a price and it never bodes well for the disobedient one. Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” It’s clear that sin leads to death. But that turn around, the free gift of God is what you call grace. Grace is the most beautiful gift we could ever receive. Paul says that where sin increased, grace abounds all the more. The imagery that he is using is attempting to help us understand that God is bigger than we are. His love is greater than ours… and consequently greater than we could imagine. If you’ve ever struggled with thoughts of “how could God love someone like me who has done such and such,” Paul says His grace abounds all the more. It is so abundantly more than your transgression.

Sin leads to death and Paul says that it reigned in death. But grace turns that around and says that grace reigns through righteousness through Jesus Christ our Lord. This means that we don’t need to be bogged down by sin and shame. If there is sin in your life, confess it to God and be forgiven for it. 1 John 1:9 “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” Nowhere in the Bible does it say you have to get your life straightened out first and then you get forgiven. You turn to God in faith, confessing your sin… which basically is a way of describing that you are now agreeing with God about what He says about sin… that you shouldn’t have done it and that it wasn’t good. And then He forgives you. That’s it, you are forgiven. Your burdens of the wrongs that you’ve done in life are done and over.

Conclusion

So, as I bring this message to a close, I am delighted to wrap things up with the invitation to come and experience the overwhelming, abounding grace of God. Sinner or saint, we all need forgiveness. The difference lies in whether we acknowledge the need for forgiveness or if we stubbornly hold onto the consequences to deal with on our own.

God loves you and wants to bless you. He has loved you from the beginning of creation until now and beyond until eternity. The sin that came through Adam and Eve has left its mark on all of us, but through the free will that God has given, and through the plans that He has enacted through history, we can be forgiven for that sin, and be restored to our original design, namely we can be made righteous through Christ if we would but ask. Death came through Adam, but life comes through Christ. It really is your choice, which ending you receive.