One Man
Notes
Transcript
The beauty of Christmas is that we focus on God becoming man and dwelling among us. However, if we do not understand the purpose of his coming, then we have wasted our time. Did he come simply to live among his creation, or was there a greater purpose. Often times we causally say that it was for our salvation, but did his living on earth bring salvation, or is there more? While most of us in this room and listening in know that there is more, most of the world does not. They hear the songs at Christmas, but have not clue what they mean. While I will not be discussing wisemen or shepherds, today’s message is a Christmas message.
12 Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned: 13 (For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law. 14 Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam’s transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come. 15 But not as the offence, so also is the free gift. For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many. 16 And not as it was by one that sinned, so is the gift: for the judgment was by one to condemnation, but the free gift is of many offences unto justification. 17 For if by one man’s offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.) 18 Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life. 19 For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous. 20 Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound: 21 That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.
Over the years I have had several people tell me that it was not fair that Adam’s sin made all of humanity sinners. They use this as an argument against God. Whether we view it as fair or not is irrelevant. God sets the standards of His creation. He told Adam what not to do. Adam chose to do it anyway. For that, God gave the consequences. While Adam knew that to disobey God meant death, he did not know the depths of that death. The sentence of death did not just fall on him and Eve, it fell upon all of his descendants because all creation was marred. Adam was so tainted by sin that it infected his DNA and became hereditary. Because Adam chose to sin, whereas Eve was deceived, the male gender passes on the sin nature. Because Jesus did not have an earthly father, the sin nature did not pass on to Him.
I. One Man: The Contrast
In this passage, we bounce back and forth between “One Man” who is Adam, and “One Man” who is Jesus. The one brought sin and all of its consequences upon all of creation. The other brought redemption to all of creation. Paul wants to make clear not the condemnation that came upon all creation by one man, but the redemption that came through one man for all of creation.
I told you before that Paul was writing to a Jewish audience. The Jews understood that Adam brought about the fall from grace of all creation. They did not questions Genesis 3. To them, God’s Word was true. At this specific period of history, while there may have been some confusion of interpretation, they believed God’s word. This put them and the Roman Empire at odds, since Rome believed Caesar to be a god. Also, the Roman Empire was polytheistic and worshiped dozens of gods. Since the Jews were Monotheistic, the two religions and ideologies clashed.
Paul is telling the Jews, you know that condemnation came through Adam. To the gentile readers, this is instruction. He is saying, if you have never heard this, the first man condemned all of creation through his sin.
God knew that man, if given free will, would wilfully chose to sin.
Love and worship without freewill is not love or worship.
Though God knew man would sin, he made him with freewill anyway.
This was neither cruel or hateful.
Knowing man would cast himself into condemnation, God also provided a plan of salvation.
God’s plan of salvation has been from the very beginning and if it was offered to Adam, it has been offered to all.
13 And the Lord God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat. 14 And the Lord God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life: 15 And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.
21 Unto Adam also and to his wife did the Lord God make coats of skins, and clothed them.
The Curse of the serpent, the promise of the seed (v. 13-15)
The shedding of blood and the covering (v. 21)
In the reality of one man being able to condemn all of humanity, there is also the reality of one man being able to redeem all of humanity. This is not a bad thing, but rather a good thing. The plan of salvation was not reactive, but was proactive. God was not surprised by Adam’s sin. The plan of redemption was already in place beforehand. God the Father, The Son, and the Spirit were in agreement about the plan. They did not come to agreement. There was no discussion to which they all three reconciled themselves to. They are eternally in agreement. The plan was theirs for their creation.
II. One Man: Condemnation
Sin (12)
death (12)
offence (15)
condemnation (18)
disobedience (19)
The description of sin in man’s life
the offence might abound
Sin abounded
Sin Reigned unto death
This is what Adam brought upon creation. This is the legacy of Adam. We should not hate Adam. Had it not bee him, it would have been us. We willfully sin. We view a little white lie as better than the truth. We feel entitled and take what we believe we are owed. He hold grudges and withhold forgiveness because we feel entitled to our feelings. We feel justified in hating those we think of as most despicable. We may think of this as no big deal, but when we think about the sin that condemned mankind, it doesn’t seem that bad either. After all, all Adam did was eat a piece of fruit. The problem is, ALL sin is rebellion against God. It does not matter if it is eating what we are told not to eat, offering strange fire on the alter, striking the rock again, instead of speaking to it, or saying we do not know Jesus when we do; these are all rebellion against God and his Holiness.
Adam was condemned by a piece of fruit
The sons of Aaron died because they offered strange fire upon the alter
Moses did not get to enter the promised land because he struck the rock instead of speaking to it.
Peter felt rejected and unredeemable because he simply said he did not know Jesus.
ALL SIN is rebellion against God, even if we consider it a little sin and brings with it all of the consequences Paul describes here.
III. One Man: Righteousness
If by one man sin brought rebellion and condemnation upon all of creation, then we can also understand how one man could reverse that. Jesus brought righteousness to creation. Consider how Paul describes this.
Free gift (v. 15)
Free gift…unto justification (v. 16)
abundance of grace, gift of righteousness shall reign in life (v. 17)
justification (v. 18)
made righteous (v. 19)
grace did much more abound (v. 20)
grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life (v. 21).
Sin is the opposite of God
Sin places us in opposition to God
Adam reveals to us who we are in sin, Jesus reveals who we can be in His righteousness.
Conclusion:
While we can cry “not fair” because Adam’s sin brought the curse of sin upon all of us, is it also “not fair” that Jesus righteousness brought the possibility of salvation for all of us? Though Adam brought the curse of sin on us, we all willfully chose to sin. No one goes to Hell for the sins of another man. They must answer for their own sins.
20 The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son: the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him.
10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.
Paul makes the “One Man” argument so that we can understand how Jesus could redeem all of creation.
The Second Adam redeems what was stolen by the sin of the First Adam
The Second Adam gives life to that which died by the sins of the First Adam
The Second Adam makes righteous that which was polluted by the First Adam
The Second Adam Justifies those who were condemned by the First Adam
The Second Adam crowns those who were made slaves by the First Adam
Adam is not our enemy, he is us. While he was a very real person, he is also a picture of who we are because of sin. Adam means man and we are mankind. We do not hate Adam but recognize ourselves in him. Then, we look to the promise of the Second Adam who redeemed the first Adam. Just as the Second Adam, Jesus, redeemed the first Adam, so he desires to redeem us as well. All humanity stands in three categories:
Those who have received Christ as their Savior.
Those who will receive him as their Savior.
Those who will reject him and spend all eternity in Hell.
Paul wants us to understand that just as sin came about because of Adam, so salvation could be made available to all people by Jesus. He called it a gift, and so we must ask, have you re