Who do you belong to?

Introduction

If you’ve been with us lately you’ll know that we have been studying the book of Romans.

Last week we saw the 6 blessing of Life in Christ and this week the Apostle Paul, who wrote the letter, wants us to be crystal clear in our understanding of how these blessings have come to us.

In Romans 5:12-21 we see the comparison and contrast between two representatives of humanity: Adam and Jesus.

And the question of the morning is: Who do you belong to? Are you “in Adam” or “in Christ”? This is a really important question with really important consequences. This morning as we unpack our passage it is clear that we want to be those who are found “in Christ”.

This morning in our text we’ll see I. The War (12-14), The Works (15-19), and The Win (20-21)

As we get started let’s read the text

Romans 5:12–21 ESV

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— for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

The War (12-14)

The Christian life is a battle ground. That’s what the Bible tells us.

Every morning when you wake up you are entering into a spiritual battle with real physical effects. What do I mean?

Ephesians 6:12 “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.”

When Jesus was proclaiming the good news all manner of spiritual battle was taking place. He cast out demons—he did battle with Satan—and the flesh of man corrupted by sin fought against him.

And my goal in tell you that is not that you would think there is a devil under every rock—or to be frightened.

My goal is for you to be aware.

Because there are a lot of Christians who are in a spiritual war that are acting like they are already living in the peace of heaven.

Listen, that peace is coming—as we studied last week—that hope is sure—but if you are breathing today, you aren’t there yet.

Ephesians 2:10 “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”

While you are living today God has prepared work for you to do—battle for you to fight. You exist in the middle of a great cosmic war and this morning and the biggest question of your life is who do you belong to? Are you fighting in the army of Christ? Or are you found in the army of Adam.

Every time I share the gospel with people I start with sharing about how perfect God created everything. No separation between man and God. No fighting between humanity. No pollution. No brokeness and hurt.

And then I ask, “Is that the world we live in.”

I’ve never had one person say yes, I think we live in paradise.

We know the world is broken. The next question I ask is, “How did it get this way?” And Romans 5:12 is the answer.

How we got here.

12a: Sin came through Adam

12b: Death came through sin

12c: Death spread to all people

12d: Because all people sinned and sin.

Unpacking Sin

13a: Romans 5:13a “for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given...”

The presence of sin is not dependent on the law given.

13b: Romans 5:13b “...but sin is not counted where there is no law.”

This is not talking about in the “courtroom of God” but in the eyes of man.

Where there is no law—there is no law breaking. False.

Roe V. Wade. Whether or not the federal government or the state government says—killing people is wrong. IF a sweeping federal mandate came down legalizing all abortion it wouldn’t make it right.

The court of popular opinion is not God’s court room.

And believers are not immune to this either—how many times have you found yourself doing, saying, or thinking something that is contrary to God’s word—because all your peers are doing it? Don’t lie.

How often do we neglect to go to the Word to determine if a show is worth watching—if a conversation is worth having—if a fill in the blank.

We have to be careful here, because we’re all prone to say as Paul is pointing out that unless there is a big “HEY DON’T DO THIS SIGN” we are prone to sin and think we are righteous.

14a: Romans 5:14 “Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam...”

“Yet” Paul’s point here is that regardless of what humanity thinks—whatever gloss we put on it. Death continues to reign—and death is the result of sin.

From Adam to Moses, even though the people were without the written law, death reigned because people sinned.

“their sinning was not like the transgression of Adam”

Adam transgressed a given command. “Do not eat.”

So our human argument goes—well we didn’t know so we are ok. But Paul has already addressed that.

Romans 1:20 “For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.”

Romans 2:12 “For all who have sinned without the law will also perish without the law, and all who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law.”

Romans 3:23 “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,”

And in this passage he's saying, “Your sin was not like Adam’s but it was still sin.”

14b: Romans 5:14 “...who was a type of the one who was to come.”

What does it mean that Adam was a type of the one who was to come?

Adam—like Christ—is a representative head of humanity.

This concept is really hard for western, individualist cultures. The idea that we would be guilty for something someone else did makes no sense for us—when the consequences are negative.

If the result is positive we’re fine—you’d be happy to win millions by proxy, or get a nice seat at the restuarant because the owner knows your father. But we don’t like the idea of someone representing us and then dragging us down with them. Especially in America we believe the lie of individualism.

Individualism is really a lie. Uniqueness is real, but no one is an individual. We are all connected to one another. What we do affects others, always.

Getting punched for my little brothers big mouth.

In Adam we all sinned. In Adam human nature was corrupted to prefer sin. And so we are all guilty.

Adam was a type of the one who was to come. Thankfully Adam is not the only representative of the human race. All fell in Adam—but all can come to life in Christ. Everywhere Adam failed—Christ succeeded so that we would not be stuck under the curse of sin. Jesus is what Adam was supposed to be. As we continue we see the different works of Adam and Christ.

The Works (15-19)

Tresspass vs. Gift

Romans 5:15 “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.”

Adam brought trespass. In Him we all have fallen.

But Jesus doesn’t give us a trespass, instead he gives us a free gift.

The gift was costly, but we didn’t pay its price.

The gift overcomes the trespass—in Jesus we get grace.

Grace is receiving what we didn’t earn. Jesus offers us the reward for his life lived before God.

Condemnation vs. Justification

Romans 5:16 “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.”

Both Adam and Christ give us something. Adam’s trespass given to us brings us condemnation.

We talked about this last week—wrath from a holy, God who will hold people accountable for their sin

Hebrews 4:13 “And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.”

Jesus gives us a this free gift despite our many trespasses and this gift brings us justification—peace with God.

Death vs. Life

Romans 5:17 “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.”

Adam’s trespass brought us death!

Christ’s righteousness gives us an abundance of life.

Future life: There will come a day when all people stand before God to be judged. All those found in Christ will spend eternity with the God they love. There is future life in Christ.

Present Life: But there is an abundant life for the follower of Jesus now.

John 10:10 “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.”

1 Corinthians 2:9 “But, as it is written, “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him”—”

The Greek word used here in John 10:10 means “exceedingly, very highly, beyond measure, more, superfluous, a quantity so abundant as to be considerably more than what one would expect or anticipate.”

Now we know that this doesn’t mean cars, money, fame, cruises, or even health—none of those things last.

Abundant life comes through the work that God is doing in you.

Galatians 5:22-23 “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.”

A life filled with these things is a rich life.

Don’t think that your life in Christ begins in heaven—God wants you to know him now. To trust him now. To love him now.

If we aren’t careful our faith can become academic, intellectual, it can become a “waiting game”.

I wan’t heaven, but God hasn’t called me to be spiritually dried up before I get there.

What are you doing to cultivate a walk with Christ?

Law Breaking vs. Law Keeping

Romans 5:18-19 “Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. 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.”

In Adam we get his disobedience. We get his law breaking record—and we add to it with our own. And we get condemnation. A Guilty sentence.

In Christ, we get his perfect obedience. We get his perfect record of righteousness and we can’t add to it—there’s nothing to add. By HIS obedience we are made righteous.

Who is this righteousness for?

Some will use this verse to say that Jesus death, burial, and resurrection has won righteousness for “all mankind”. This is what the universalist church believes.

But the error is obvious. And a classic example of always reading the Bible in the context of all of God’s word.

Just finish the verse— “many will be made righteous, not all”.

Why make this point? Because people need to know that there salvation is wholly dependent on being found in Christ. On trusting Christ for their salvation.

The Roman’s Road

Romans 3:23 “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,”

Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Romans 5:8 “but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

Romans 10:9 “because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”

Romans 5:1 “Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Salvation comes to you through Jesus.

Friends, I want to challenge you to share the gospel with people. Share the good news of Jesus.

Every person in the world has been found in Adam at birth—and their birthright in Adam is trespass, condemnation, disobedience, and death.

But Jesus died that they may receive a free gift of grace, won by his obedience, where you are justified and given life abundantly.

Pray that God would burden you for the lost people in your life.

And know that God wants to use you to see them saved.

Find a way that works for you and practice and pray for opportunities to do it.

Soon we are going to be meeting over at Lakeside Baptist to have a weekly meal, study the Bible, and have prayer and accountability together. And one of the things this is going to do for us is give us an ability to dive deeper into some things. Like evangelism training. 3 Circles-

All people are found in Adam, but they don’t have to stay there. Adam was a type of the one who was to come. And he has come. Jesus has lived as our representative and call all people to come and have life in him. We’ve see the War, the Works, now as we close let’s look at ...

The Win (20-21)

Romans 5:20-21 “Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

As we come to the end of chapter 5 we are coming to the end of a section. As Paul has been teaching the gospel through chapters 1-5 two things are evident:

1. You are more sinful than you ever dared believe.

Verse 20 says—the law came in to increase the trespass— One commentator said, “The law can count sin, but it can’t counter sin.”

The law has shown us that our sin is a great problem. In fact in and of ourselves there is no hope. In Adam there is no hope for any person to be saved.

2. You are more accepted in Christ than you ever dared hope.

“but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, so that…grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

In Christ there is great hope. Even though the law shows us to be great sinners—the gospel shows us that Jesus overcomes sin and death. Where Mosaic law crushes us Messianic hope frees us to eternal life.

Romans 5:12 “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—”

But it is through Jesus we have peace…grace…hope…righteousness…reconciliation…rejoice…live abundantly.

At the start of my message I asked you, “Who do you belong to?” Are you, today, found in Adam? Are you guilty before God for your sin? Are you living in your flesh?

If that is you this morning—know that instead you can have and be all that Christ offers you this morning.

Let me ask you: if you’ve never trusted Jesus to save you is there any reason you would stay “in Adam” when you can be “in Christ”?

Who do you belong to?

Let’s pray.