The Reign of Grace
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
Pastoral Reminder: Head Heart Hands
16 All Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, for training in righteousness, 17 so that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.
Please turn to Romans chapter 5 verse 12. Last week we started the passage where Paul compares Death in Adam and Life in Christ.
We went through verses 12 through 14.
12 Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, in this way death spread to all people, because all sinned. 13 In fact, sin was in the world before the law, but sin is not charged to a person’s account when there is no law. 14 Nevertheless, death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who did not sin in the likeness of Adam’s transgression. He is a type of the Coming One.
In these verses, Paul made the argument that sin entered the world through a single man. Through the transgression in the garden. We looked at the context of that sin and why it is attributed to Adam as the one whom sin entered. That sin brought with it death. Both physical death and spiritual death. Physical death that our bodies are corrupted and no longer last forever and spiritual death that all men and women are born in.
He argued that one of the proofs that Adam’s sin is applied to all is that all men and women die. And we see the conquering beast of death devour all people as it reigns from Adam to Moses and beyond to all people even those that did not sin in the likeness of Adam.
He finished with stating that Adam is a type or a pattern of the Coming one Jesus. We are continuing in that thought today where Paul moves through a lengthy comparison of Adam and Jesus in how they are the same and different.
15 But the gift is not like the trespass. For if by the one man’s trespass the many died, how much more have the grace of God and the gift which comes through the grace of the one man Jesus Christ overflowed to the many. 16 And the gift is not like the one man’s sin, because from one sin came the judgment, resulting in condemnation, but from many trespasses came the gift, resulting in justification. 17 If by the one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive the overflow of grace and the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ. 18 So then, as through one trespass there is condemnation for everyone, so also through one righteous act there is justification leading to life for everyone. 19 For just as through one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so also through the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous. 20 The law came along to multiply the trespass. But where sin multiplied, grace multiplied even more 21 so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace will reign through righteousness, resulting in eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
In these verses there are three types of comparisons to help explain his reasoning. He uses the “how much more” comparison that states is this one is true then how much greater is this one. He uses negative comparisons of how they are different from one another. And he uses the positive comparison that if one is true then also is other.
He categorizes the two things that he is comparing as the gift and the trespass.
Contrast of the Gift and the Trespass
Contrast of the Gift and the Trespass
15 But the gift is not like the trespass. For if by the one man’s trespass the many died, how much more have the grace of God and the gift which comes through the grace of the one man Jesus Christ overflowed to the many.
The comparison starts with the gift in one hand and the trespass in the other. These two are not the same. He looks to the trespass first. These are not like each other because it is by the one man’s trespass the many died. The one man is Adam as he points back to verse 12
12 Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, ...
A more direct reading of the Greek would be “For if many died through the one’s trespass”
By using a singular noun for the act and a singular possessive adjective for the act, he pin points his thought here to a single act by a single man. This single act was a trespass or a transgression.
You decide to go for a hike in our great mountains. You come to the edge of a beautify meadows. You are just drawn to step out into it and pick wild flowers and watch the wild life, or just to get to the other side. But on the tree in front of you, you see this.
What do you do? Be honest. How many of you would obey the sign? It is clear what it means. You even see that there is a fence there making it even more clear what the intent of the sign means. But you look around. No one is watching. Do you trespass, do you transgress that clear boundary that has been established?
Adam was given a clear boundary and command.
16 And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree of the garden, 17 but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for on the day you eat from it, you will certainly die.”
Even with the serpent’s cunning lies, he was not deceived. Yet, he willingly grabbed the barbed wire fence, put the sign out of his mind and did what he wanted to do. He rebelled against God and he recieved the punishment that was promised. It is through this single transgression that then many have recieved death.
22 For just as in Adam all die, ...
If this is true then he says
15 ...how much more have the grace of God and the gift which comes through the grace of the one man Jesus Christ overflowed to the many.
If through Adam’s trespass death comes to many “how much more” does the grace of God and gift come through the one man Jesus Christ. The consequence of Adam’s act, though universal in its application to all mankind it is not an unchangeable reality. For there is one who came and made death small in comparison to the grace of God and his gift. These both are overflowed, they super abound, to the many.
We look at Adam’s sin and see it as great and powerful because the one sin resulted in separation from God for all, due the corruption that is now in mankind. But how much greater is the one who can overcome all of that.
Adam in his own actions caused the separation of all from God but through God’s work, through Jesus men and women can be reconciled back to God.
11 And not only that, but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received this reconciliation.
And unlike the result of Adam’s action which can be changed, Jesus’ acts are irrevocable as they are gifts and graces bestowed by God himself. These are over abundantly poured out in Jesus.
Paul continues with
16 And the gift is not like the one man’s sin, because from one sin came the judgment, resulting in condemnation, but from many trespasses came the gift, resulting in justification.
Here he puts a name to why Adam’s sin led to death. From the one sin came judgement. There was nothing to judge before he transgressed the command of God. There was no broken law, no failed law, no transgression until that point.
Adam’s action called to question God’s justice. He knew the consequence that if they ate they would die. He still let his wife take a bite, first then must have looked and said that doesn’t look to bad. So I will eat as well.
Adam challenges God’s justice. But God is faithful to all of his promises both the positive and the negative. So God enforces his judgement, which is the condemnation of mankind. For now, humanity has been changed and corrupted with a sinful nature that is hostile to God and cannot live a life that does not brake God’s commands.
For this reason God demonstrates his love by making a way for people to not perish.
16 For God loved the world in this way: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18 Anyone who believes in him is not condemned, but anyone who does not believe is already condemned, because he has not believed in the name of the one and only Son of God.
Through one single sin came the judgement and condemnation to all. From that moment all of mankind is condemned before the judgement of God. In man’s own power there is no escape. There is no loophole or secret path to by pass what resulted from the one sin.
But from many trespasses came the gift.
8 For you are saved by grace through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God’s gift—9 not from works, so that no one can boast.
The gift that results in justification. The only way a person can stand before God’s judgement and not stay condemned is if they are given the gift that results in justification. This gift does not just cover the sin of Adam but it effectively covers every transgression that a person makes throughout the duration of their life. the many transgressions.
19 That is, in Christ, God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and he has committed the message of reconciliation to us.
In John MacArthur's commentary on this verse he points out the sobering truth that God hates sin so much that a single one condemns the whole world. And the incredible and heartwarming truth of God’s love is that he would send his son into the world to die for every single sin ever committed by the one who believes in the name of the one and only son.
17 If by the one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive the overflow of grace and the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ.
Expounding on it further, Adam’s trespass brought mankind under the dominion of death, But how much more will those that receive the gift reign in life.
Those that receive. The word here is a present active experience of receiving the gift. The gift that is quantified an overflow of grace. This grace is continually experienced as a person lives to receive eternal life.
22 For just as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive.
Adam had a thought of what might happen and he found out the hard way that a fall from grace that we can never experience. His action did not produce his desired result. But the act of Jesus produced exactly what was intended.
And it is far better. For God did not just redeem us to the state of Adam before the fall but he gave us his own righteousness.
21 But now, apart from the law, the righteousness of God has been revealed, attested by the Law and the Prophets. 22 The righteousness of God is through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe, since there is no distinction. 23 For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God; 24 they are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. 25 God presented him as the mercy seat by his blood, through faith, to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his restraint God passed over the sins previously committed. 26 God presented him to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so that he would be just and justify the one who has faith in Jesus.
How much greater is it that we were not just justified, but those that are receiving the gift, become the righteousness of God.
21 He made the one who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
The overflow of this grace is a life that is filled with abundance. Not abundance of possessions but a life that is filled with grace.
10 A thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I have come so that they may have life and have it in abundance.
A life that he will continue to work in as he carries it out to completion.
6 I am sure of this, that he who started a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
A life that is a new and transformative.
17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, and see, the new has come!
A new life that has been created according to God’s likeness in righteousness and purity of the truth.
20 But that is not how you came to know Christ, 21 assuming you heard about him and were taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus, 22 to take off your former way of life, the old self that is corrupted by deceitful desires, 23 to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, 24 and to put on the new self, the one created according to God’s likeness in righteousness and purity of the truth.
Letterman Jacket.
The Jacket is not who he is but is has been given to him in that he can grow into it. And it is not even from his own abilities or qualities but from the one who gave it to him. He has to choose to grow into what has been given to him and if he does, he has the ability to do what Adam did not.
11 And he himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, 12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, to build up the body of Christ, 13 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of God’s Son, growing into maturity with a stature measured by Christ’s fullness. 14 Then we will no longer be little children, tossed by the waves and blown around by every wind of teaching, by human cunning with cleverness in the techniques of deceit. 15 But speaking the truth in love, let us grow in every way into him who is the head—Christ.
We can grow into a maturity into the new life he has given us which is in Christ’s likeness. And when we mature in this way we will not be blown around the clever techniques of deceit that abound around us.
These are just some of the incomprehensible ways in which God grace and gift abound in the one who receives the gift. Because of this truth Paul continues with,
Comparison of the of Two Acts
Comparison of the of Two Acts
18 So then, as through one trespass there is condemnation for everyone, so also through one righteous act there is justification leading to life for everyone. 19 For just as through one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so also through the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous.
Paul summarizes this section by pointing back the the argument he started in verse 12.
12 Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, in this way death spread to all people, because all sinned.
Through the one trespass there is condemnation for everyone. Through this one act, all that are in Adam are condemned. This is a universal reality for everyone that has ever lived. All that are son’s of Adam by natural birth.
Likewise, through one righteous act there is justification leading to life for all of those who are in Christ. Jesus’ act of sacrifice on the cross, the propitiation and mercy seat where God’s wrath is appeased. The act of becoming death so that all who call on his name leads to justification and spiritual life. This is the will and work of God.
12 But to all who did receive him, he gave them the right to be children of God, to those who believe in his name, 13 who were born, not of natural descent, or of the will of the flesh, or of the will of man, but of God.
Paul is comparing the headship of Adam and Christ. They are representatives of all that are under them. Adam was head over all of mankind and Jesus is the head over all that receive him and call on his name. All of his saints, and all of those in his bride the church. For he is the head of the church and the king of kings and the lord of lords.
18 He is also the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he might come to have first place in everything.
Christ is the head and the first born from the dead. The first to pass through death and all that abide in him, all that are born again, all that are in Christ will also pass through death and into eternal life.
19 For just as through one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so also through the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous.
There are just two truths that Paul is boiling all this down too. Through one man’s single disobedient act every single person is made a sinner and of those that were made sinners through one man’s single righteous obedient act many will be made righteous. There is not other path to reconciliation than through Jesus. It all depends on him and him alone.
7 Instead he emptied himself by assuming the form of a servant, taking on the likeness of humanity. And when he had come as a man, 8 he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death— even to death on a cross.
Over and over again Paul has already built the case that it is only by faith that people are saved.
26 God presented him to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so that he would be just and justify the one who has faith in Jesus.
Paul finishes this passage with a response to to the question he knew was coming. You have once again told us that justification is not by works so what was the point of the Law.
Grace will Reign
Grace will Reign
20 The law came along to multiply the trespass. But where sin multiplied, grace multiplied even more 21 so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace will reign through righteousness, resulting in eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
After the fall there is a deception that has come to all. Filled with lies of the enemy with hearts that are hard and apposed to God.
17 Therefore, I say this and testify in the Lord: You should no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thoughts. 18 They are darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them and because of the hardness of their hearts. 19 They became callous and gave themselves over to promiscuity for the practice of every kind of impurity with a desire for more and more.
The scriptures describe a blindness that is part of the fallen nature. It causes man to live in ignorance that they are doing anything wrong.
15 A fool’s way is right in his own eyes, ...
We know this and we live it every day. Those that are still in Adam alone, do not see the sins that they commit each and every day. They run through life darkened in their understanding and content to be excluded from the life of God.
God gives commands, statues, precepts, and instruction to describe what is right and wrong. We call this a law. The Mosaic law and any other instruction was given to define the way in which one would need to live to be righteous. One commentary commented that “The Law is a pattern of righteousness not a means of righteousness.”
You walk up to a sign like this one. It tells you not to jump. But you just cannot help yourself.
The laws multiply the trespass because the corrupted nature that all men have reigns in their lives. Even if you know what is right you still do not do it. Your children know what is right and wrong and they still choose wrong. The fallen nature of men is revealed that there is no one who can live in the pattern of righteousness and thus prove his own righteousness, except one.
Only Jesus lived a life that was in the pattern of righteousness and he could do so because he is and always will be the righteous one. Our sin will continue to cause us to want to jump over the no jumping sign, but Christ’s righteousness will give us what we need to do otherwise.
3 His divine power has given us everything required for life and godliness through the knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.
For those that are saved by the righteousness of God will be saved from the death. For in Christ he has abolished the result of Adam’s sin and brought life and immortality.
10 This has now been made evident through the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who has abolished death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.
Each time we see a law of God we see in our sin the inability to resist it on our own. The law multiplied the sins my setting what is right before people so that they could see the depth of their lostness? In doing so grace is multiplied all the more as Jesus’ one act of grace paid for them all.
It is grace that will reign in the redeemed and the reconciled. Death will reign in all through Adam until grace reigns in those that receive the gift of righteousness.
Conclusion
Conclusion
Why does this matter to us as Christians today?
The first reason is that our sin nature does not come from our own person. It comes from the act of disobedience of Adam. When we know this we understand that our sin is at work against us at all times. It reveals to us the battle that we have against the corruption that comes so naturally to us in the flesh. It shows us that a person’s fallenness is not based on their works. Their works come from their fallenness. We see clearly that there is no hope in men. That condemnation, judgment, and death are for all that stay in Adam.
Unless a person calls on the name of the Lord, confesses Jesus as Lord and believes in his heart that God raised him from the dead. To make the payment required for God’s justice, Unless they believe and are credited with righteousness of God. then they will stay in Adam.
But for those that are born again and given a new nature.
A new nature that is not based from our own person either. It comes from the single act of obedience of Jesus. When we know this we should be filled with gratitude and praise as we receive the abundant overflowing grace of God. That a person’s redemption is not from their own works but from the righteousness and holy spirit given to those that receive the gift. The gift of righteousness, justification, and eternal life for all that are in Christ.
These two truths put into perspective the sin and evil in this world and the righteousness and goodness that is in the kingdom of heaven.
We live in response to the work of God in our lives. This is the point Paul is making here. You cannot be good enough to not earn death and you cannot be good enough to save yourself from judgement. The only path to salvation is through the gift of righteousness that our Lord and savior laid down his life for.
Let us pray.
Let us pray.
Prayer
Blessing/Benediction
16 May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who has loved us and given us eternal encouragement and good hope by grace, 17 encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good work and word.
