Sermon Tone Analysis

*ECF – 4th May 2008 Romans 5:12-21*

There is a campaign in Ireland just now called the Power of One.

Maybe you’ve seen the adverts on the TV for it.

It says: “Global warming, climate change and fuel shortages can make us all feel powerless.

They're pretty big threats, and it's understandable if our knee-jerk response is: "But What Can I Do?".

The answer, actually, is "Quite A Lot".

If each of us becomes aware of our own power when it comes to energy efficiency, and uses it properly, we can collectively make a big difference.

To ourselves, to our pockets, and to the environment.

All we have to do is recognise our power, and use it.

It's what the power of one is all about.”

History would back up that claim that one individual can have a huge impact on the lives of many others, for good or for bad.

Think of the impact on the world of men and women like Shakespeare, Galileo, Christopher Columbus, Martin Luther, Florence Nightingale, Marie Curie, Charles Darwin, Hitler, Stalin, Mahatama Gandhi, Einstein, Rose Parks, Martin Luther King, Mikhail Gorbachev.

Again and again, history shows the power of one.

But there’s two men who have had a greater impact on this world than anyone of these people.

The actions of these two men have changed our lives more than anyone else.

In this next section of Romans 5 Paul compares and contrasts the impact of these two men, and as he does so he shows the our salvation rests on the power of one!

Romans 5:12-21

 

! *1.      *Two Men

This section starts with the word, “Therefore…” v12.

It follows on from what Paul has just written.

We were looking at the reasons we have for rejoicing in our salvation – if we have trusted in him we can rejoice because we are so blessed in Christ and because we are so secure in him.

But how is this possible?

How is it possible for the actions of one person to impact our lives in such a radical way?  Paul answers this by showing that our lives, our standing before God and our eternal destiny are determined by the actions of one of two men.

Either by Adam or by Christ!

 

!! *a)      *The First Man

Adam was the first man.

“The Lord God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.”

Genesis 2:7  These days it is popular, even among Christians, to reject the creation account.

But we don’t have to.

Science has not disproved the Bible.

The theory of evolution still is a scientific theory, not a scientific fact.

And the advances in science have proved that all of humanity share the same anatomy, physiology, biochemistry and the same genes.

Although we talk about different races, we are all the same species – we are all of the same family.

All of this points to the fact that we share a common ancestor.

The Bible says, we are all descendents of Adam by our natural birth.

!! *b)      *The Last Adam

Adam was also “a pattern of the one to come.”

v14  Adam prefigured or foreshadowed one who was to come.

In fact in 1 Corinthians 15:45, Paul calls Jesus, “the last Adam.”

So as Adam is the natural head of all of humanity, so Jesus is head of the new humanity.

The new humanity that are linked with him not by natural birth, but through faith, through spiritual birth.

If we have trusted in Jesus, then we part of this new humanity, we are in him!

!! *c)      *Similar but Different

And these two men are similar in that both of them have impacted the lives of so many by one action.

Paul states in v19: “Just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous.”

Most of us have been brought up with a strong individualistic attitude – we want to live our own lives and think of ourselves usually as in charge of our own destiny, in control of our own lives.

And yet, as we’ve seen we know the impact that other people have on us – for good and bad.

Every parent has this awesome responsibility because our actions impact our kids for good or for bad.

And so the actions of Adam as the natural father, or head of humanity, have had a huge impact on all of us.

In the same way, through his actions, Jesus, as the head of the new humanity has radically changed the lives of those who have trusted in him.

These two men are therefore similar, but the impact that they’ve had could not be more different.

It is the contrast between these two men that Paul sets out so clearly in this passage.

!

*2.      *Two Different Actions

Both these men impacted our lives through two different actions.

!! *a)      *One Trespass

Adam changed humanity through one act.

Paul calls it a “trespass”v15,17, 18 or  “disobedience” v19 “sin” v12, 16.  Adam stepped over the boundary line between good and evil, he disobeyed God’s command, he fell short of the standard God had set for him.

God had commanded Adam in Genesis 2:17: “You must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.”

But Adam knowingly and wilfully broke God’s command and sin entered the world.

“Just as sin entered the world through one man” v12  Of course Eve was implicated as well, but here he is talking about responsibility and ultimately it was Adam in his role as head of the human race that he bears the responsibility for bringing sin into the world.

It was this one act that changed the perfect world that God had created into the sin-cursed world that we are so familiar with.

All the problems that we see in this world are traced back as “the result of one trespass.”

v18 

 

!! *b)      *One Gift

But Paul says, “The gift is not like the trespass.”

v15 In contrast to Adam’s selfish act in the garden, we see Christ’s gift on the cross!

The cross was a gracious act.

This gift “came by the grace of the one man.”

v15.

Adam took what did not belong to him and he stole from God.  Christ gave what was his in the most generous and loving act of self-sacrifice.

It was a righteous act.

Paul talks of Christ’s “one act of righteousness”  v18.

It was a morally perfect gift, in keeping with God’s righteous law.

It demonstrated the justice and holiness of God.

It was an obedient act.

Paul talks about “the obedience of the one man.”

v19.

It was a act of perfect obedience to the Father.

Jesus expressed this so powerfully in the garden of Gethsemane with the words: “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.”

Luke 22:42

 

The cross is the turning point of history.

It is the most important moment in time.

And it was this gracious, righteous, obedient act of Jesus that literally changed everything.

That changes our lives, our standing before God and our eternal destiny.

From the despair of living in the consequences of Adam’s sin to the joy of experiencing God’s abundant provision of grace.

! *3.      *Two Different Results

For us to understand the impact of these two actions, we need to understand the different results of these two actions.

First of all we need to see what came as a result of Adam’s sin!

!! *a)      *The Result of Sin

!!! i) Condemnation

The immediate result of Adam’s sin was judgement and condemnation.

“The judgment followed one sin and brought condemnation.”

v16   Condemnation is the punishment that follows a judicial sentence.

The result of Adam’s one sin is that he was declared guilty before God and deserving of punishment.

And as Adam is the head of humanity, from then on all of mankind was under condemnation.

v18: “the result of one trespass was condemnation for all men.”

So it doesn’t matter how good we think we are – the fact that we are in Adam means that are condemned before God.

As we saw a couple of months ago – basically there is no difference between us.

There is no point in comparing ourselves to others!

We all stand condemned already because in Adam we all sinned.