The Verdict
The Verdict:
Life in Christ
Romans 5:12-21
Introduction Our study of Romans this past week began with a really neat reflection. It said, “Our life is like the dial of a clock. The hands are God’s hands, passing over and over again. The short hand is the hand of discipline; the long hand is the hand of mercy. Slowly and surely the hand of discipline must pass, and God speaks at each stroke. But over and over moves the hand of mercy, showering down blessings 60-fold for each stroke of discipline or trial; and both hands are fastened to one secure plot, the great unchanging heart of a God of love.”
The importance of God’s mercy cannot be overstated. Not only do our sins of commission and omission condemn us, but original sin, the decadence of the human nature also condemns us. There is no escape, except through God’s superabundant mercy and grace revealed in Jesus Christ.
I. Death with Adam (12-14) Paul gets at this when he writes,
Asin entered the world through one man, and death … came to all men, because all sinned.
The point to consider is what the trespass of the one man Adam means, and more specifically, what it means with respect to us. Through Adam, sin enters the world bringing about death. The one act of disobedience brings God’s righteous judgment and condemnation down on the heads of all people. Why? Because, in Adam the human nature is corrupted and sinful.
In effect, Adam destroys man’s created relationship and openness with God. Sadly, this destruction is no respecter of age. All are born in the likeness of the one man; the sinful Adam. “I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me,” cries the Psalmist. Not even little babies escape the condemnation. But lest we loose heart, we need to go on in our study because there is another man; the second Adam, Jesus Christ.
II. Life with Christ (15-17) In Him there is a gift from God that transcends all sin, and death, and condemnation.
15Thus, the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God's grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many!
Jesus Christ brings a whole new equation into God’s justice and holiness. This equation overflows in mercy and grace. When we baptize, we are acknowledging and confessing two biblical truths.
The first truth is that even babies are in need of being restored to God. But the only way to be restored is to be perfect, as God is perfect. There is no room for error. But error is the condition we are all born into because Adam sinned. Even when there was yet no Law from God, all sinned. This is the natural-birth condition of all humanity since Adam. But there is another truth.
God Himself brings about the necessary restoration by His own Word of promise in Jesus Christ. Baptism is God’s gift. It blesses us with His Spirit and gives us the knowledge of salvation of Christ. By this knowledge we are saved. God put no age restrictions on who can receive His gift of grace through faith. He even extends His grace to little babies. The reason why is stated in the next three verses. Especially verse 19.
III. Disobedience/Condemnation;
Obedience/Righteousness (18-19)
19For 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.
You see, it is not our obedience that makes us righteous in God’s sight. It is the perfect obedience of Jesus Christ that makes us righteous. This is what faith lays hold of in Jesus Christ. In going to the cross, Jesus obeys the will of the father and receives the condemnation of sin in all human flesh. Righteousness and holiness and perfection become the free gift and possession of all who believe in Christ. You might even say that in Christ, God speaks us righteous. Any other faith mocks God and His Christ, and thereby keeps God’s wrath applied to one’s self. It doesn’t matter what degree of perfection we might think we have attained. By of one man’s disobedience we are all disobedient.
People have always been pretty thick-headed when it comes to God’s grace and what obedience really means. Satan is very cunning and crafty in the way he persuades people with another kind of Gospel that is no Gospel at all. If he can get us thinking that our salvation is somehow dependent on something we do, no matter how minute, he has turned our faith from God to man. How sad, because that brings God’s condemnation since no man is perfectly obedient to God’s will. Only the God-Man, Christ Jesus.
Still, people just don’t get it. So to help us get it, God gives the Law. It shows us God’s righteous expectations, and reveals our disobedience of God.
IV. Law Brings Trespass; Grace Brings Eternal Life (20-21)
Law brings trespass. How easy it is to understand this principle. Even little children know the principle of Law. Has there ever been a cookie jar as large and inviting as the one a child is told to stay out of. That’s the principle of Law. It heightens our awareness of God and sin. It literally sinks us into the depths of our human depravity. Even so, many never get it and are lost.
Doesn’t this make you wonder about the stubbornness of our sinful human nature? How far must a person sink into the slurry of his own excrement before he sees just how perverse and sick he is? Witness the acceptance of homosexuality as an alternate lifestyle. Do we not remember that God gives people over to the depravity of their sinful flesh when they stubbornly resist the truth?
Even so, God’s grace is ever-ready and overflowing to lift people up out of the depths of their sin and bring eternal life to bear on the contrite heart and broken spirit. Jesus Christ is an ever-present help in the day of trouble. Even today! Even for the homosexual looking for a better life. Even for us who have allowed the sinful desires of the flesh to rule over us.
What joy it is to even now see God’s mercy and grace in action. In Holy Baptism He touches another child and calls it His own. In the Lord’s Supper He touches all His children with confirmation of His love. What assurance we have through His Word and these visible means that He comes to touch us and heal us of our depravity.
Conclusion Slowly and surely the small hand of God’s discipline passes through our life, and God speaks at each stroke. Over and over moves the big hand of God’s mercy, showering down blessings 60-fold for each stroke of discipline or trial. How comforting it is to know that both of these hands are fastened to one secure plot, the great unchanging heart of a God of love. The verdict is certain, we have
eternal life in Christ. Amen.
