Three Simple Truths
Notes
Transcript
How many of us would be willing to serve a jail sentence for someone they did not know?
This sounds ridiculous, doesn’t it? So why is it that we were punished for the sins of Adam and Eve? Why are we serving the sentence for someone else?
In biology we have a term called inherited traits, where we genetically encoded features are passed from parent to child. Just as we inherit traits from our parents we also inherited sin from Adam. We, too, are born with free will and the tendency to sin just like Adam. This sin is “original” in that it comes from Adam, and it is also original in that we have it from the beginning of our existence as persons, but it is still our sin, not Adam’s sin, meaning we inherited the ability to sin and still deserve punishment. It is through this sin that we experience guilt, and this guilt either brings conviction or further guilt and a feeling of no way out.
D. L. Moody visited a prison called “The Tombs” to preach to the inmates. After he had finished speaking, Moody talked with a number of men in their cells. He asked each prisoner this question, “What brought you here?” Again and again he received replies like this: “I don’t deserve to be here.” “I was framed.” “I was falsely accused.” “I was given an unfair trial.” Not one inmate would admit he was guilty. Finally, Moody found a man with his face buried in his hands, weeping. “And what’s wrong, my friend?” he inquired. The prisoner responded, “My sins are more than I can bear.” Relieved to find at least one man who would recognize his guilt and his need of forgiveness, the evangelist exclaimed, “Thank God for that!” Moody then had the joy of pointing him to a saving knowledge of Christ—a knowledge that released him from his shackles of sin.
You see, we have to come to the place in our life that we know we are lost. We must acknowledge that we have sinned and that we can do nothing on our own to overcome that sin. Not only can we not overcome sin, but we can not pay the price, the penalty, for our sin. We must recognize that there is only one who paid that debt, and through belief in Him, we can be set free from the guilt, shame, and penalty for our sins.
The text today deals with the sin of Adam, and salvation through Jesus. The apostle Paul tells us how sin and death entered the world, and how Jesus counteracted sin and death.
12 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—
13 for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law.
14 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 and death entered the world through one man, Adam. God had said: “Of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof [disobey God] thou shalt surely die” (Ge. 2:17).
Adam’s nature of sin and death was and still is passed on to all men. His corruptible nature was passed on to his children and on down through history to all men. It is a well known fact that the child inherits the nature of his parents. Therefore, if the parent’s nature is bent toward sin and is corruptible, so will the child’s nature be. Nature is like an infectious blood line: whatever the nature is, it is passed on down to the next generation.
Now note a significant fact: a man is not condemned to death because of Adam’s sin. Scripture clearly says this: “Death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned”. A man dies because of his own sins, not because of his father’s sins. Every man is personally responsible to God.
The proof that we inherit Adam’s nature is that sin and death existed even before the law (v. 13). The law of God does charge men with sin; it does show men that they are sinful and condemned to die. But something caused men to sin and die before the law was ever given to Moses in a written form. The people before Moses were not charged with sin by the law, for they did not have the law in a permanent and written form. What was it then that was causing the people between Adam and Moses to sin and die? It was nature, the sinful, corruptible nature of man, the nature that every child inherited from his father; and the process began with Adam. Adam was the first man created by God, and he was the first to sin and become corruptible and bear the punishment of death.
The importance of Adam is critical. He was “the figure [type, picture] of Him that was to come,” that is, of Christ. Adam and Christ are pictured as the two pivotal points of human history, as the two figureheads or representatives of the human race. Adam stands at the head of the human race, the first to bring sin and death to mankind. Christ also stands at the head of the human race as the first to live a sinless and perfect life and the first to conquer death through the resurrection.
15 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.
16 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.
17 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.
18 Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men.
As Adam brought the consequences of sin into the world, Jesus counteracted and reversed what Adam did. He has made it possible for man to live righteously and to conquer death.
Adam’s sin brought death; God’s gift brought righteousness.
Even though He did not have to, God has showered the grace of God, His glorious favor and care and love, upon mankind and He has made the gift of God (righteousness) available to us all through Jesus!
Adam’s sin brought condemnation; God’s gift brought justification. God’s gift differs entirely from what Adam did. Adam doomed the human race, but God’s gift justifies the human race. The one who trusts in Jesus is justified from all sin, corruption, and condemnation; both those inherited, and those we commit on our own.
Adam’s sin brought the reign of death; God’s gift brought the reign of life. Adam sinned and brought the reign of death upon all men. But Adam was only one man, one mere man. No matter what he did, God was able to counteract it and do more, for He is greater; and He is able to do anything.
God has done more, much more. They who “receive” God’s grace and God’s gift of righteousness “shall reign in life.” The term “reign in life” means to dwell and rule in eternal life.
Adam’s sin brought condemnation to all men; God’s gift brought justification of life upon all men. This is simply a summary of what has already been said.
“By the offense of one [Adam] judgment came upon all men to condemnation.”
“By the righteousness of One [Jesus Christ] the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life.”
19 For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous.
20 Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more,
21 so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
The conclusion is one of the most instructive and striking passages in all of Scripture.
Adam’s disobedience made many (all men, vv. 12, 18) sinners, but Christ’s obedience made many righteous. Jesus Christ lived a sinless life; He never sinned, never displeased God—not even once. He was perfectly righteous, securing the Ideal Righteousness.
Since His righteousness is the Ideal Righteousness, it can stand for the righteousness of all men, and that is exactly what happens. When a man believes in Jesus Christ, God takes that man’s belief and counts it as righteousness. God lets the Ideal Righteousness of Jesus Christ cover the man because the man believes and honors His Son, Jesus Christ.
Any man who will so honor God’s Son by believing and trusting Him, God will honor by counting his faith as the righteousness of Christ. It is that simple and that profound: “By the obedience of Jesus Christ shall many be made righteous.” But note, a person must truly believe—he must have the kind of belief that really trusts Jesus Christ, that really casts his life upon Christ, that casts all that he is and has upon Christ and His keeping.
The law was given to point out and magnify sin, but God’s grace was so much greater. If righteousness is by Jesus Christ, then why did God give us the law? What is the purpose of the law? Very simply. “The law entered [the world] that the offense might abound.” The law was given …
• to point out and magnify sin
• to make men more aware of sin
• to give men a greater knowledge of sin
• to stir more conviction over sin
• to increase the fact and awareness of sin more and more
• to make men more responsible for their sin
But note the glorious truth about the grace of God: wherever sin abounds, the grace of God abounds even more. God’s grace is far more effective and powerful than any sin or sins, no matter how magnified. God’s grace can forgive any man, no matter how great a sinner. And that forgiveness comes through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Closing
Closing
21 For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead.
22 For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.
Christ has counteracted what Adam did: reversed the sin and death of Adam. He did this through His own resurrection and life. Adam and Christ are pictured as the two pivotal points of human history. Adam stands as the head of the human race, the first to bring death to man. Christ stands as the head of the human race, the first to intervene into the process of death and to arise from the dead. Very simply stated, the sin of Adam brought death into the world, but the Man Jesus Christ brought the resurrection of life to the world.
But the question today is, what are you going to do about your sin today? Have you admitted your sin to God and accepted Jesus as your personal Savior? Do you have the promise of an eternal life? If not, what better day than today?
Leadership Ministries Worldwide, Romans, The Preacher’s Outline & Sermon Bible (Chattanooga, TN: Leadership Ministries Worldwide, 1996), 100-106.
Leadership Ministries Worldwide, The First & Second Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Corinthians, The Preacher’s Outline & Sermon Bible (Chattanooga, TN: Leadership Ministries Worldwide, 1996), 188.
