Why You Can't Afford To Live In That Neighborhood

Inflation. It’s on the news, it’s what many are talking about. My two vehicles, a truck and a van, both get about the same mileage around town- 16 to 18 mpg. And while the van has a 16 gallon tank, the truck has a 27 gallon tank. And I feel it, like you do at the pump.

I stopped to talk to one of my kids this week and their spouse told me they were putting in a garden. I asked the spouse if she liked to garden, she said , “No, but this inflation stuff is real.”

Many people, and I suspect most of you, have made some adjustments in life because of it.

How many of you remember me making fun of Janice’s garden the past 2 years? I bought the plants this year. !

We don’t like, in fact we are stuck, when things become unaffordable! I suspect that this week at the Food Pantry night, the customer count will be up.

One of the lessons I learned growing up is that if you spend less you can save more and do more. We’ve practiced that concept through out our life together, raising kids, etc., Our vacations were planned to be economical, but we vacationed! Our meals had less stops at fast food than others, but we ate. Well.

Many things we did, and our family experienced, were done on a budget but we did so much. I woiuldn’t trade it for the world.

But our vacations never involved airplanes. It involved grandma’s spare bedrooms, 9 passenger station wagons with a pop up camper on the tail end, an occasional days inn. We may have rented a few condominiums along the way, but mostly we were blessed by God with different, more economical ways of doing things.

But what do you do when you can’t afford something? You go without. Right? You just do without.

James McMillan III (born December 1, 1946)[1] is an American political activist, perennial candidate, and Vietnam War veteran.

McMillan is best known as the founder of the Rent Is Too Damn High Party, a New York-based political party. McMillan has run for office at least six times since 1993, most notably in the 2010 New York gubernatorial election.[2][3] He declared in December 2010 that he would run in the 2012 U.S. presidential election as a Republican. He did not appear on the ballot in any state and suspended his campaign to return to the Rent Is Too Damn High Party and run for Mayor of New York City in the 2013 election. He attempted to run for governor again in the 2014 election but he did not make the ballot.

McMillan announced his candidacy for the Republican nomination for President of the United States in the 2016 election,[4] but withdrew from the campaign on December 9, 2015. He subsequently announced that he was retiring from politics[5] before endorsing Republican candidate Donald Trump.[6] The Rent Is Too Damn High Party website announced that McMillan would come out of retirement to make a fourth run for governor.[7] His petitions were challenged and ruled invalid in September 2018.

I remember him, just because of the name of his party. It’s funny, but today it’s so true.

It is interesting in this passage that one word is used 11 times- the word “one”.

“reign” is used five times.... paul sees both Adam and Jesus reigning over kingdoms.

“much more” is repeated five times, and pionts out that in Christ we have gained so much more than we ever lost in Adam.

Romans 5:12 ESV

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—

Genesis 3 in a nutshell.

The “one man” is not named, until v. 14.

Whoever he is, he has rearranged the furniture and made life incredibly much harder.

Romans 5:13 ESV

13 for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law.

The point is that from Adam to Moses, who gave the law on behalf of God, there was no law, but there was in fact sin… we know that because people still died.... it is proof that there was sin because death is the consequence of sin.

Because there was no law, the general cause of death was Adams’ sin.

Romans 5:14 ESV

14 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.

Even for people who were good people- people like you and me- death reigned. People who never crossed the line so blatantly as Adam did… death reigned. Death, the result of sin, was present in their lives.

Adam is a pattern, or type of the one to come- Christ. This rings funny in our ears when we understand how different they are in this text.... Adam the Sinner and Jesus the Justifier. \

their similarity is found in what they did… what they did, whether Adam or Jesus, was communicated to others around them.

Romans 5:15 ESV

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.

The free gift of God is different than the sin of Adam, even though Adam was a type of Christ, the result of those 2 things are different. While sin came to all through Adam, grace came to many in an abundant way, through Christ.

You’ve heard the phrase, “Death is no respecter of persons. There is one per person.” Well, the grace of God is extended to all but to those who choose to accept that gift it abounds in their lives.... The grace is a cup that never stops pouring.

For these next few verses (15-17), we are going to see that the effect of Christ on humanity is totally different and far better than Adam’s effect on humanity.

Romans 5:16 ESV

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.

A major difference here is that one sin effected so many people and one act of love removed the effect of sin for so many people.

When adam sinned, he was condemned. When a sinner trusts Christ, he is justified.... and declared righteous in Christ.

Romans 5:17 ESV

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.

Here, Paul is contrasting the two reigns of Adam and Jesus. Adam’s reign- or death, …reigns. back in the 14th verse, Paul argued that from adam to moses people died without the law because death reigned. Death simply reigned because of the sin of Adam.

But Jesus ushers in a new kingdom. Listen to Romans 14.17

Romans 14:17 ESV

17 For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.

The kingdom of God isn’t a list of do’s and dont’s… it’s not about what you can’t do, the kingdom of God is about who you can be.

Back to Romans 5.17

Romans 5:17 ESV

Paul started this chapter in the first verse by saying , “Therefore, being justified by faith, we are declared righteous, we have peace with God, and we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.

This explains the difference in the two reigns of Adam and Jesus.... in Adam’s reign, death, it is death that reigns...

In Jesus, it is we who reign. In Adam we lost our kingship, but in Jesus Christ we reign as kings. And , this is important… look at the verse- we reign MUCH MORE!

Romans 5:18 ESV

18 Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men.

Adam did not have to commit a series of sins. In one act God tested Adam, and he failed. It is termed an “offense” and an act of “disobedience.” The word offense means “trespass—crossing over the line.” God told Adam how far he could go, and Adam decided to go beyond the appointed limit.

“Of every tree of the Garden thou mayest freely eat: but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die” (Gen. 2:16–17).

Romans 5:19 ESV

19 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.

The righteous act of Jesus dying on the cross did so much more than Adam’s sin. “The obedience of One”, or Christ dying on the cross, not only makes possible justification, but also justifies our living. Justification is a legal term in most greek language, describing our position before God. We are seen by God as justified.

but in this place, Paul makes it far more than that. Our justification is the result of living in union with Christ and that results in a new kind of life, a righteous obedience to God.

Romans 5:20 ESV

20 Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more,

The law “crept in”. The law came in beside. Grace was not added to the plan, grace was always a part of the plan.

God dealt with Adam and Eve in grace, he dealt with the OT saints with grace, he dealt with Israel in grace.

The law was given not to replace grace, but to reveal our need for grace.

And the law is temporary, grace is eternal.

As sin increased, God’s grace abounded even more. Grace has always been sufficient to deal with our sins.

Romans 5:21 ESV

21 so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

even though sin and death still reign, God’s grace is also reigning through the righteousness of Christ.

Final note: Being in Adam is out of your control. It came to you at birth. The curse of sin, the desire to sin… it is all yours at birth.

Sin Always Has A Balance Due: Grace Requires Nothing Of You

Mansion over the Hilltop

… I'm satisfied with just a cottage below A little silver and a little gold But in that city where the ransomed will shine I want a gold one that's silver lined

… I've got a mansion just over the hilltop In that bright land where we'll never grow old And some day yonder we will never more wander But walk on streets that are purest gold

… Don't think me poor or deserted or lonely I'm not discouraged I'm heaven bound I'm but a pilgrim in search of the city I want a mansion, a harp and a crown

… I've got a mansion just over the hilltop In that bright land where we'll never grow old And some day yonder we will never more wander But walk on streets that are purest gold

But what does this have to do with my life? What does it have to do with living.? Everything.

You Can’t Afford To Live In Heaven.

But being in Christ is a choice.

The first birth brought death.

The second birth brings life. That is why Jesus said you must be born again.

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