Jesus Is Better: ADAM

· INTRO: This week we have the opportunity to begin a new sermon series for the Summer. We are in a season of transition in the Seabee Chapel, Chaplain Stevens is leaving, we are getting a new Command Chaplain, The Kenyon family is welcoming a new addition to our family in 2-5 weeks… I wanted to do a summer series that casts the spotlight on the most important person who ever walked planet earth and that’s Jesus.

- JESUS IS BETTER: So over the next 6 weeks or so, we are going to be in series called Jesus is better. In this series we are going to look at several old and new testament characters and their story and discuss how their story points to Jesus as the good and better. You see, the old testament points to Jesus and the coming Messiah and the New testament points back to Jesus. He is the centerpiece of the whole of the Bible.

· ILLUSTRATION:

- We could say certainly in human history there have been individuals who have risen above average notability, whose heads have somehow gotten elevated above the crowd, and they have influenced the human race singularly. There are some people in science who have done that (Alexander Fleming who invented penicillin, the first antibiotics in 1928), some people in politics who have achieved that; there are certain men in war who have risen above the crowd to singularly impact history (Alexander the Great). There are people in education, medicine, the arts, culture, social reform, engineering, agriculture and maybe even some in the realm of theology or religion who have ascended beyond the common man and singularly impacted thinking and life.

But two men have made the most monumental impact on human life. Two men have affected the whole of the human race for time and eternity more than all others combined and multiplied by an infinite number.

- And really, there are only two men in all of history, in the entire world that all of have to deal with indirectly. Adam and Christ.

- And this morning we are going to talk about how these two men have impacted all of us. Ultimately, this morning we will see how Jesus is the good and better Adam.

OPEN BIBLES: So, If you have your Bibles, open your Bible to the book of Romans.

- If you do not have a bible, or you do not own a bible there are bibles in the seatback in front of you.

- I do recommend keeping your Bible open for the duration of the sermon as we will be reading and studying it the whole time.

TRANSITION to text: So this morning we are going to be looking at the text that was read in the 5th chapter of Paul’s epistle to the Romans and were going to be looking at verses 12-21. If you have your Bible or your phone that’s awesome, if you don’t just know that there are bibles under the seats in front of you that you can use.

TEXT: READ .

Transition to B.I.: Now Paul the author of the letter to the church in Rome has spent a lot of time trying to systematically communicate one thing: ultimately that forgiveness of sin and access to God is provided through one person, Jesus Christ. He has been explaining the doctrine of justification by faith alone, in Christ alone, by the grace of God alone. Here he uses the comparison between Adam and Jesus to show the similarities and differences more clearly.

EX. Trysten and Rylee have a lot about them that is very similar. However, they have a lot about them that is very different.

Picture:

-- So Paul is showing the contrast between Adam and Jesus. In some ways they are similar… and in many ways they are different. And what they did within the parameters that God had given them… within the mission that God had given them, resulted in two categorically different realities for those who are impacted by their work. I said a moment ago that there are only two men in all of history that we all have to deal with directly. And that’s Adam and Jesus. You see, the actions of Adam have impacted every human who has ever lived. And we’re going to talk about that in a moment. Also, the actions of Jesus are going to impact a select few people. And ultimately we find that:

-- So I am starting each of the three points with this phrase,

Ø B.I.: What Christ has done for those that are in Him is vastly greater than what Adam did for those who are in him.

Ø BIG.IDEA.: What Christ has done for those that are in Him is vastly greater than what Adam did for those who are in him.

TRANSITION: and so the first point comes from verse 1: Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked, or stand in the way that sinners take, or sit in the company of mockers... God calls me blessed when I am, Number one >

TRANSITION: And so as we dig in to this text this morning, we need to look at exhibit A… we need to look at ADAM. >

(1) Adam - His Story – We all know his story right? In the Garden?

(1) Adam -

- Mission (Garden): Adam was created with a purpose. God created Adam to be

-

the steward over all of God’s creation. You can read all about it in and 3. Adam was created to be the caretaker over all of the things that God created. God has a plan for this person.

TRANSITION: Verse 2 says, “his delight is in the law of the Lord, and he meditates on it day and night.” God calls me blessed when I am separated from the wicked, but also he calls me blessed when I am (and this is #2) Satisfied by the Word >

(2) In Christ we are all - (Vs 2): The wicked are not so, but are like chaff that the wind drives away

Listen to what it says in :

“15 The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. 16 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”

- Here you see the mission of Adam broken up into three things:

DELIGHT in the Law of the Lord:

1) WORK (vs 15) – Work is given by God, it’s a blessing!

- How many here honestly think of reading the bible as delightful?

TRANSITION: God calls me blessed when I am separated from the wicked, satisfied by the Word, and lastly God calls me blessed when I am sustained by living water. > Read: vs 3: That person is like a tree PLANTED by streams of water, which yields it’s fruit in it’s season, and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever they do prospers.

2) LIBERTY (vs 16) – “Every tree you can eat!”

3) PROHIBITION (vs 17) but the tree of the knowledge of Good and evil you shall not eat.

(3) The future of the wicked is not like the righteous. - (Vs 5): The wicked will not stand in the judgement, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous .

Now often I think people think that God is mean or unfair because he put this tree in the garden for Adam and Eve to be tempted by, but the reality is that God was actually giving them prohibition for their protection.

TREE planted by streams of water

- What does it mean to be like a tree planted by streams of water? I realized while

- ILLUSTRATION: Cream-filled Doughnuts: You can have all the cream-filled doughnuts you want, but not the one with the poison in it.

-You see, God said you can do this, this, this, and this, but stay away from that because it will hurt you. He does the same for us… He gives us parameters in his work on how to live for our protection. You see, there’s no freedom in doing what hurts you.

(4) acknowledge. - (Vs 6): For the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.

Encouragement for the righteous, reality for the wicked

-- but you know how the rest of the story goes right? What does Adam do?

- What does it mean to

- Adam disobeys God, and sins.

- Adam had a MISSION and he FAILED

TRANSITION: Before we begin to look at verse 4-6 it is very important to make a distinction… between the two kinds of people that the psalmist is talking about… Namely, the righteous one and the wicked. Now, there is a lot to be said about these kinds of people from the Bible, so we will use the Bible to understand the Bible. >

1. The Bible teaches that no one is righteous (apart from his grace).

Here’s were we pick back up in out text, , “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”

- These are the things that Adam has done for all those who are in him. And the first is this: SIN

a.

- SIN: Sin enters the world, vs 12, through the actions of one man.

- not just in the NT, but in the old.

c. .

- what is sin, let me read to you the first sin on earth, and this will help us. “For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil”

So, the psalms teach us about God, man, and life. Also, the psalms are songs or poems.

- In other words you will put yourself in the place of God.

2. The Bible refers to people who are called righteous.

- Sin is all about the dethroning of God. Theologian and Bible teacher D.A. Carson said it this way: “sin is the de-Goding of God. We make ourselves god.”

a. , , ,

- Sin is at the heart, us saying, you know what God, I know you think you’re in charge but actually I am. I am going to do what I want and you can go play in the corner. We fall short of God’s holiness because we’re not God!

Who are they?:

- We have the knowledge of good and evil, but we don’t have the ability to make the right choice because were not God. We’re going to choose what we want.

3. Those who trust in the Lord for the forgiveness of their sins are counted as righteous.

- One of my favorite pastors is Charles Haddon Spurgeon, he talked about sin this way, “Sin poisons the well-head. Sin is in our brain; we think wrongly. Sin is in our heart; we love that which is evil. Sin bribes the judgment, intoxicates the will, and perverts the memory. We recollect a bad word when we forget a holy sentence. Like a sea which comes up and floods a continent, penetrating every valley, deluging every plain, and invading every mountain, so has sin penetrated our entire nature.”

a. ,

- Adam and eve opened the door for all of mankind. As a result we all, every person who ever lived has sinned by both omission and commission.

- Not only did Adam bring Sin into the world and to every human who ever live, but through sin he also brought: DEATH.

b. ,

- Justification/imputation of righteousness by faith alone in Christ.

- DEATH

- As a result of sin, death enters the world. says, “you shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden neither shall you touch it lest you die.”

-

So, what do we do?

- Physical death and spiritual death.

- Physical: right after Adam and eve sin, God sends them out of the garden so that they will not be able to eat of the tree of life and live forever. This is a gift of the grace of God because he didn’t want them to life for ever separated from God. He sends them out so that they will physically die.

4. Love the Lord, Love your neighbor.

- Spiritual: Death is a power dominating the present life of the individual, not just something that happens at the end of life! It is separation from God, it is the common factor in all natural human life, as a result of Adam’s decision.

a. As we.

CONCLUSION: JESUS IS THE WAY – Explain the Gospel connection

- “And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.”

TRANSITION: SO we know that Adam has brought sin and death to the human race because of his actions. Doesn’t it seem unfair that one man’s actions has brought condemnation for all humans who were born after Adam? It seems unfair if we just look at Adam. The reality is that there is another part to the story >

- : “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. 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”

TRANSITION: SO what we have here is a simple description of the doctrine of imputation.

IMPUTATION: - Comes directly from the Latin. It is an accounting term; it means “to apply to one’s account.”

- So because we are the seed of our father Adam, sin has passed down from him to us and to every human who ever lived. Likewise, if you chose to follow Christ, the free gift of justification by grace through faith in Jesus is yours. A good way to explain it is

- Representative headship

- Adam represents all humans who ever lived. Christ represents all those who are saved by grace through faith in Jesus.

- EX: The U.S. declared war on Japan in December 1941. It was Congress who made the decision to declare war on Japan. When the decision was final and official, every single US citizen was at war with Japan whether or not they even knew of Pearl Harbor or the act of Congress. The nation acted as a unit with binding implications for all.

- Likewise, Adam acted on behalf of all men when he sinned, plunging us in to sin and death. But Adam is also just a type of the one to come, which is Jesus.

TRANSITION: But Adam is also just a type of the one to come, which is Jesus. So let’s look at the things that the good and better representative has to offer, Jesus. >

(2) JESUS: - Like Adam, Jesus had a mission… the result wasn’t the same.

- Mission: Explain the Gospel. Jesus came, lived a sinless life. He was temped.

When he was tempted in the wilderness, he had nothing, and he honored God. Adam had everything, and he chose himself. Jesus did what God had for him to do, that was to sacrifice himself to take the world’s sins upon himself and pay the price so that all who believe in him could be forgiven and granted unto eternal life.

- Jesus had a MISSION and he SUCCEEDED

Back to the end of our text for today, , “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. Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men.”

- These are the things that Jesus has done for all those who are in him. And the first is this: Grace

- Grace:

- We are not stuck in our sin and death! Much more is the grace of God!

a. , “For the GRACE of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people!”

b. , “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”

- Justification: Jesus, the good and better Adam lived a perfect life, was successful

in his mission, kept the righteous requirement of the law. He took our sins upon himself and paid the penalty for our sin. He also gave us in return for our sin, he gave us his righteousness. He has imputed to us his righteousness.

- says, “for our sake, he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him, we night become the righteousness of God.”

- Not only did Jesus give Grace to those who are in him, but because of his grace, all who are in Christ will receive eternal: LIFE.

- LIFE: , “for God so loved the world…

TRANSITION: Paul intentionally showed the contrast between Adam and Christ. We saw that What Christ has done for those that are in Him is vastly greater than what Adam did for those who are in him. ADAM brought SIN and DEATH to the world, but CHRIST brought GRACE and LIFE. >

CONCLUSION: Have you received it?

There are a few kinds of people here.

1) You know it’s true, but you aren’t living in light of it’s truth. Jesus is your new master. Not sin and death. Paul continues and says we are alive to God and his leading in our life. We are dead to the power of sin in our life.

2) You haven’t believed this is true, this could be God calling you to himself. Don’t delay.