Death in Adam, Life in Christ

WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.160 --> 00:00:06.120 Through twenty one. This wonderful passage, and here's how I'd like for us 2 00:00:06.160 --> 00:00:13.310 to proceed this morning. I'm going to again read the entire passage virtus versus 3 00:00:13.390 --> 00:00:18.190 twelve through twenty one. Then we're going to take a look at verses eighteen 4 00:00:18.390 --> 00:00:21.350 through twenty one. We haven't looked at them yet. Now I want to 5 00:00:21.390 --> 00:00:27.739 conclude with just some general observations of the entire passage and then just give you 6 00:00:27.859 --> 00:00:32.500 a couple of key principles that I'd like for you to take away from the 7 00:00:32.619 --> 00:00:38.329 passage take home with you. Fair enough. Okay, here we go. 8 00:00:39.210 --> 00:00:46.729 Add Romans five versus twelve through twenty one. Please stand as I read this 9 00:00:46.969 --> 00:00:51.799 text this morning. This is God's holy word, it's an arrant, it's 10 00:00:51.880 --> 00:00:58.840 infallible. So let's attend to what Paul says to us here. Romans twelve 11 00:00:58.920 --> 00:01:03.640 through twenty one. Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one 12 00:01:03.759 --> 00:01:07.950 man and death through sin, and so sin spread to all men, because 13 00:01:08.030 --> 00:01:15.189 all sin, for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given. 14 00:01:15.629 --> 00:01:19.299 But sin is not counted where there is no law. Yet death reign 15 00:01:19.620 --> 00:01:25.620 from Adam to Moses, even over those who sinning was not like the transgression 16 00:01:25.659 --> 00:01:27.980 of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come. 17 00:01:30.900 --> 00:01:34.530 But the free gift does not like the trespass, for if many died through 18 00:01:34.650 --> 00:01:40.409 one man's trespass, much more have the grace of God and the Free Gift, 19 00:01:40.530 --> 00:01:44.409 by the grace of that one man, Jesus Christ, abounded for many. 20 00:01:45.569 --> 00:01:48.840 And the free gift is not like the result of that one man's sin. 21 00:01:49.200 --> 00:01:55.000 For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift, 22 00:01:55.000 --> 00:02:01.909 following many trespasses brought justification. If, because of one man's trespass, death 23 00:02:02.109 --> 00:02:07.189 reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of 24 00:02:07.310 --> 00:02:12.550 grace and the Free Gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, 25 00:02:12.590 --> 00:02:19.379 Jesus Christ. Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, 26 00:02:20.979 --> 00:02:25.740 so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. For 27 00:02:25.939 --> 00:02:30.689 as by the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the 28 00:02:30.810 --> 00:02:38.009 one man's obedience the many will be made righteous. Now the law came in 29 00:02:38.250 --> 00:02:43.169 to increase the trespass. But where sin increased, grace abounded, all the 30 00:02:43.289 --> 00:02:49.680 more so that his sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness, 31 00:02:50.520 --> 00:02:55.719 leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Let's pray ask 32 00:02:55.800 --> 00:03:00.789 God to bless her the preaching this morning. Oh God, would you now 33 00:03:00.909 --> 00:03:06.069 let your word come to us in great power be received in love, with 34 00:03:06.229 --> 00:03:10.150 a tentive, reverent, open and obedient minds. We thank you for this 35 00:03:10.349 --> 00:03:15.300 word for us this morning. It is, indeed it's, the bread of 36 00:03:15.419 --> 00:03:19.259 life. To US belong to taste that bread this morning. So give us 37 00:03:19.300 --> 00:03:23.500 ears to hear. It hurts to apply it to our lives. In Jesus 38 00:03:23.620 --> 00:03:36.210 name, men, please be seated. Well, it's one thousand nine hundred 39 00:03:36.210 --> 00:03:43.280 and seventy six and, believe it or not, I was a new major 40 00:03:43.520 --> 00:03:49.680 in the army. I was being reassigned to headquarters US Army Europe of some 41 00:03:49.719 --> 00:03:55.189 in Heidelberg, Germany, and it was there that Caroley and I and our 42 00:03:55.270 --> 00:04:01.550 two boys, we had our first experience and what is called Stairwell living. 43 00:04:04.349 --> 00:04:08.990 I see a couple army and air force folks out there that know what stairwell 44 00:04:09.150 --> 00:04:14.780 living is. For the benefit of everybody, let me just briefly explain what 45 00:04:14.860 --> 00:04:17.939 I'm talking about. When I talk about stairwell living. Here's the picture. 46 00:04:20.259 --> 00:04:24.810 When we arrived, we were assigned quarters, and it's a long building, 47 00:04:25.129 --> 00:04:30.449 four stories high, with three entrances in the front, one at each end 48 00:04:30.449 --> 00:04:33.810 of the building and one in the very middle, and there were lots of 49 00:04:33.889 --> 00:04:40.759 these buildings grouped together in a housing area called Patrick Henry Village in Heidelberg, 50 00:04:40.839 --> 00:04:46.920 Germany. Now there were two apartments on each floor of the stairwell and as 51 00:04:46.959 --> 00:04:50.759 the stairs went up four stories at meant, you do the math, there 52 00:04:50.800 --> 00:04:56.069 were eight families living in each stairwell, with a total of twenty four families 53 00:04:56.550 --> 00:05:00.750 living in each building. And there were many, many, many, many 54 00:05:00.829 --> 00:05:06.899 buildings. So you can imagine that at times. At times living got a 55 00:05:06.899 --> 00:05:12.620 little close, you know, with all the kids, pets, toys, 56 00:05:12.899 --> 00:05:18.819 bicycles, cars, campers, motorcycles parked outside and and people were coming and 57 00:05:18.939 --> 00:05:24.250 going at all hours of the day because they all had different duty assignments. 58 00:05:26.610 --> 00:05:32.250 Fact is pretty much as zoo. The apartments were small and cramped, the 59 00:05:32.410 --> 00:05:36.560 walls were paper thin and you could literally hear everything going on around you. 60 00:05:38.399 --> 00:05:42.480 I want elaborate, well, maybe a little bit, just to make my 61 00:05:42.680 --> 00:05:49.310 point this morning. Okay, I recall quite vividly that there was a warrant 62 00:05:49.350 --> 00:05:55.189 officer and his family. I forgotten his name. I asked Curley this morning 63 00:05:55.230 --> 00:05:57.949 when I could not remember his name. But this warrant officer and he his 64 00:05:57.990 --> 00:06:04.180 family. They lived above us in the stairwell and he usually worked quite late 65 00:06:05.180 --> 00:06:10.259 and he would come in you get ready for bed. He'd take off one 66 00:06:10.379 --> 00:06:15.620 combat boot and he drop it on the floor with a thud and I always 67 00:06:15.660 --> 00:06:21.009 waited for the thud of that other boot hitting the ground, hitting the floor. 68 00:06:21.850 --> 00:06:25.730 You know, I'm not sure, but the expression waiting for the other 69 00:06:25.930 --> 00:06:31.689 shoot to drop may have originated from stairwell living in the US army in Heidelberg, 70 00:06:32.079 --> 00:06:40.879 Germany. Well, that's an illustration and it perhaps it's a clumsy way, 71 00:06:42.120 --> 00:06:46.310 but I think it does illustrate what's happening here in this passage. You 72 00:06:46.430 --> 00:06:51.470 know, we have all been waiting for Paul to drop the other shoe ever 73 00:06:51.589 --> 00:06:57.389 since we took up this passage way back in verse twelve. Well, he 74 00:06:57.550 --> 00:07:00.189 finally drops the other shoe in the verses that we come to today, in 75 00:07:00.269 --> 00:07:05.860 verses eighteen through twenty one. So let's take a look. Now in verse 76 00:07:05.980 --> 00:07:15.420 twelve, Paul Begins This great section with a contrast. He he says, 77 00:07:15.540 --> 00:07:19.329 therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man and death through 78 00:07:19.490 --> 00:07:24.689 sin, and so death spread to all men because all sin. That's the 79 00:07:24.769 --> 00:07:28.649 first shoe and Paul drops the first shoe here. He says that sin came 80 00:07:28.689 --> 00:07:31.959 into our world through one man, through Adam, and each of us has 81 00:07:32.040 --> 00:07:39.639 been declared a center because of Adams original sin. His sin has been imputed 82 00:07:39.680 --> 00:07:46.029 to us. But just when we were expecting the second half of that contrast, 83 00:07:46.110 --> 00:07:53.709 expecting Paul to drop this other shoe, he breaks off his thought and 84 00:07:53.949 --> 00:07:57.589 it's indicated, as we've talked about many times, by that little dash at 85 00:07:57.589 --> 00:08:01.579 the end of verse twelve. And everything we've been studying since then, in 86 00:08:01.740 --> 00:08:05.899 verses thirteen through seventeen, is basically been a digression. It's been a parenthesis, 87 00:08:05.980 --> 00:08:09.899 it's been sort of an interlude and it's only when we get the verse 88 00:08:09.980 --> 00:08:16.689 eighteen that Paul Drops the second shoe and we get the full impact the contrast 89 00:08:18.290 --> 00:08:22.649 which Paul started way back in verse twelve. So Paul backs up a little 90 00:08:22.649 --> 00:08:28.480 bit, he restates in slightly different words what he said in Verse Twelve and 91 00:08:28.560 --> 00:08:33.600 then he finally completes the second part of the contrast. Therefore, as one 92 00:08:33.759 --> 00:08:41.190 trespass led the condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads the 93 00:08:41.309 --> 00:08:48.149 justification and life for all men. That's it. There it is. That's 94 00:08:48.230 --> 00:08:54.669 the contrast between Adam and Christ. Finally, Paul Drops this other shoe and 95 00:08:54.820 --> 00:09:00.620 then, just in case we've fallen asleep and missed the second combat boot drop 96 00:09:00.740 --> 00:09:05.460 into the floor during that long interview interlude, Paul drops it again in verse 97 00:09:05.500 --> 00:09:13.570 nineteen, adding for as by the one man's disobedience the many were made centers, 98 00:09:13.690 --> 00:09:18.129 so by the one man's obedience to many will be made righteous. Want 99 00:09:18.169 --> 00:09:22.370 to there's a great list of contrasts that are implied in those verses. Adam 100 00:09:22.450 --> 00:09:28.559 versus Christ, the one trespass of Adam versus the obedience of Christ, death 101 00:09:28.879 --> 00:09:37.759 versus life, condemnation versus justification. One shoe dropping, then, in contrast 102 00:09:37.879 --> 00:09:41.429 to that, Paul drops the other one, and all of them are summarized 103 00:09:41.830 --> 00:09:48.389 in verses twelve and I think eighteen and nineteen. So I want to think 104 00:09:48.470 --> 00:09:54.419 that warrant, officer, for it probably wasn't the best illustration, but it's 105 00:09:54.419 --> 00:09:56.740 the best one I could come up with. All right. So, but 106 00:09:56.820 --> 00:10:03.460 I want you to take the point here. If you sit here today and 107 00:10:03.620 --> 00:10:09.210 you are still in Adam, Paul says, you stand and condemned before God 108 00:10:09.409 --> 00:10:15.330 and you face eternal death. But if you're in Christ, if you're in 109 00:10:15.370 --> 00:10:20.639 the second atom, then you are justified and you have eternal life. What 110 00:10:20.759 --> 00:10:26.720 a great contrast that is. One you, another shoe. So take the 111 00:10:26.799 --> 00:10:31.440 point all right. I want to make sure before we go on that we 112 00:10:31.600 --> 00:10:37.750 understand just what Paul means here when he uses this word justifications, an important 113 00:10:37.750 --> 00:10:41.669 word. Paul uses it throughout this passage. So what does he mean when 114 00:10:41.669 --> 00:10:48.710 he talks about being justified, talking about justification? Well, first of all, 115 00:10:50.220 --> 00:10:56.179 justification is a declaration. It's an act of God's grace by which he 116 00:10:56.379 --> 00:11:03.419 declares sinners to be in a right standing before him so far as his so 117 00:11:03.500 --> 00:11:09.409 far as his justice is concerned. You See, you and I are not 118 00:11:09.889 --> 00:11:18.960 just in ourselves, we're not righteous in ourselves. We're sinners. So the 119 00:11:20.120 --> 00:11:26.000 only way by which we can be declared to be in a right standing before 120 00:11:26.039 --> 00:11:30.799 God is on the basis of the death of Jesus Christ for our sins and 121 00:11:31.840 --> 00:11:39.669 by the application of Christ righteousness to us by God's grace. This grace is 122 00:11:39.029 --> 00:11:46.549 received through the channel of saved, of human faith, but it's nevertheless utterly 123 00:11:46.629 --> 00:11:52.059 of grace. It's apart from anything that you and I can earn or deserve. 124 00:11:54.779 --> 00:11:58.500 You know, in fact we need to say this. Our faith is 125 00:11:58.659 --> 00:12:05.169 itself a gift of God. Paul makes this very point in his letter to 126 00:12:05.250 --> 00:12:09.850 the Christians at Ephesus. He tells them, for by grace you've been saved 127 00:12:09.929 --> 00:12:13.250 through faith, and this is not of your own doing. It's the Gift 128 00:12:13.330 --> 00:12:16.960 of God, it's not the result of works. So that no one can 129 00:12:18.120 --> 00:12:26.120 boast, dear ones, this is the way that God saves sinners. It's 130 00:12:26.120 --> 00:12:31.429 the only one to go wrong at this point. Not to understand and to 131 00:12:31.509 --> 00:12:37.309 apply it, I think, puts a person's salvation in question. You know, 132 00:12:37.389 --> 00:12:43.830 there's no place here for boasting, there's no place here for our merit, 133 00:12:45.820 --> 00:12:48.259 there's no place here for our works. We don't do anything in our 134 00:12:48.379 --> 00:12:54.899 justification. It's all of God. You know, John says the same thing 135 00:12:54.340 --> 00:12:58.330 in the marvelous verse over in Chapter Six, verse sixty three, he makes 136 00:12:58.409 --> 00:13:05.450 this same point. He says it's the spirit who gives life. The flesh 137 00:13:05.570 --> 00:13:11.730 counts for nothing. You know, Martin Luther who understood justification so well and 138 00:13:13.759 --> 00:13:18.519 who fought for it's for so long, he wrote in the margin of his 139 00:13:18.679 --> 00:13:24.039 Bible, right next to the phrase the flesh counts for nothing, this little 140 00:13:24.120 --> 00:13:31.350 comment he said, and that's not a little something luther saw. took him 141 00:13:31.389 --> 00:13:35.750 a long time, but he eventually saw that the flesh counts for nothing. 142 00:13:35.830 --> 00:13:43.019 It's not ninety nine percent grace and one percent flesh. Ninety nine percent grace, 143 00:13:43.299 --> 00:13:50.059 one percent merit. It's a hundred percent grace. You and I do 144 00:13:50.220 --> 00:13:58.610 not have any startup capital available to cause God to save us. We're justified 145 00:13:58.649 --> 00:14:07.289 by His grace alone. And you see, if you understand that and believe 146 00:14:07.450 --> 00:14:11.039 that you're utterly helpless except for the grace of God to save you from Your 147 00:14:11.159 --> 00:14:18.000 prison of sin, then you stand justified before him and you are indeed blessed 148 00:14:18.120 --> 00:14:26.470 beyond anything that you can ask or anything that you can imagine. You know, 149 00:14:26.549 --> 00:14:31.309 there's a lot more I could let me just conclude this section about justification. 150 00:14:31.350 --> 00:14:35.509 I want to read. It's always kind of dangerous to read something, 151 00:14:35.590 --> 00:14:39.779 but I want to read something by this by the noted Dutch Reformed Theologian Herman 152 00:14:39.899 --> 00:14:46.100 Bavink. It's a little long but it's so on point. It's important to 153 00:14:46.179 --> 00:14:52.419 read this. Bavink was a professor of theology at the Free University of Amsterdam 154 00:14:52.659 --> 00:14:58.049 in the early nineteen hundreds, and this is how he concludes his chapter on 155 00:14:58.370 --> 00:15:03.529 justification. He wrote a classic, a four volume work called reformed dogmatics, 156 00:15:03.649 --> 00:15:07.799 and this is how he concludes his chapter on justification. You know, I 157 00:15:07.840 --> 00:15:13.000 might also say that the Free University of Amsterdam was found by Abraham Kuyper, 158 00:15:13.960 --> 00:15:16.840 and one of the graduates of that university that you may know is Dr RC 159 00:15:18.000 --> 00:15:24.830 sproull. But I want you to listen carefully to how baving describes those whom 160 00:15:24.950 --> 00:15:30.549 God declared to be just because of their faith in his son Jesus Christ. 161 00:15:30.950 --> 00:15:37.139 It's so interesting. His argument is totally from scripture. Listen to this quote 162 00:15:37.179 --> 00:15:41.860 and I really want you to be encouraged by it, particularly during this time 163 00:15:41.019 --> 00:15:45.980 that we find ourselves in. And this is this is what he said. 164 00:15:46.059 --> 00:15:50.649 I'm quoting baving said, when we stand in a right relationship with God, 165 00:15:52.289 --> 00:15:58.049 we also come to stand in a right relationship over against the world. The 166 00:15:58.169 --> 00:16:03.970 Redemption in Christ is a redemption from the guilt and punishment of sins, but 167 00:16:03.129 --> 00:16:08.679 it's a redemption, also from the world which can so confine and oppress us. 168 00:16:11.720 --> 00:16:15.120 We know that the father loved the world and that Christ gained the victory 169 00:16:15.159 --> 00:16:19.190 over the world. The world can therefore still oppress it press us, but 170 00:16:19.309 --> 00:16:26.070 it cannot rob us of our good courage. As children of the heavenly father. 171 00:16:27.509 --> 00:16:32.590 The Believers are not anxious about what they shall eat, what they shall 172 00:16:32.629 --> 00:16:37.700 drink and what they shall be clothed, for he knows that they have need 173 00:16:37.820 --> 00:16:41.980 of all those things. They do not gather treasures upon earth, but have 174 00:16:42.139 --> 00:16:47.610 their treasure in heaven, where neither moth nor rust corrupts and where thieves do 175 00:16:47.809 --> 00:16:56.250 not break through. Nor still as unknown, they are nevertheless known as dying. 176 00:16:56.409 --> 00:17:00.600 They live as chastened, they are not killed, as sorrowful, yet 177 00:17:00.679 --> 00:17:07.839 always rejoicing, as having nothing and yet possessing all things. They do not 178 00:17:08.160 --> 00:17:15.359 torment themselves with the taste, not touch, not attitude, but regard every 179 00:17:15.400 --> 00:17:21.910 creature of God is good and accept it with gratitude. They remain and they 180 00:17:21.990 --> 00:17:26.150 work in the same calling in which they are called. Are Not bond servants 181 00:17:26.190 --> 00:17:30.700 of men, but of Christ alone. They see in the trials which fall 182 00:17:30.859 --> 00:17:34.740 to them not a punishment but a chastisement and a token of God's love. 183 00:17:37.420 --> 00:17:42.099 They are free over against all creatures, because nothing can separate them from the 184 00:17:42.220 --> 00:17:45.930 love of God, which is in Christ, Jesus, their Lord. Indeed, 185 00:17:45.970 --> 00:17:52.970 all things work together for good to those who love God and are called 186 00:17:52.009 --> 00:17:57.450 according to his superb called according to his purpose, the believer, who is 187 00:17:57.569 --> 00:18:03.319 justified in Christ, is the freest creature in the world, at least so 188 00:18:03.519 --> 00:18:11.480 it ought to be. In quote. That's all from I can provide you 189 00:18:11.559 --> 00:18:15.950 all the scriptures that he refers to here if you want them, if you 190 00:18:15.029 --> 00:18:18.829 want to see me after the sermon. That's all from the Bible. So 191 00:18:19.069 --> 00:18:23.750 thank you, Herman Bathing, for reminding us all during this time of stress 192 00:18:23.789 --> 00:18:29.980 that we're going through. I think it's enough set about justification, about who 193 00:18:30.019 --> 00:18:33.740 we are in Christ. So we come to these two verses at the very 194 00:18:33.819 --> 00:18:40.259 end of this passage very quickly, versus twenty and twenty one. Verse Twenty 195 00:18:40.420 --> 00:18:44.809 begins by mentioning The law. So I'm going to back up a moment to 196 00:18:45.130 --> 00:18:48.809 the moment to what Paul has already said in Romans about the law of God. 197 00:18:51.049 --> 00:18:55.839 He said a couple of important things already. First, he's pointed out 198 00:18:55.960 --> 00:18:59.000 that the law was not given as a way by which you and I can 199 00:18:59.079 --> 00:19:02.640 be justified. You know, if you turn back a few pages, that 200 00:19:03.960 --> 00:19:10.000 text from Romans Chapter Three Versus Nineteen and twenty that we read earlier about God's 201 00:19:10.000 --> 00:19:12.829 law. Let me read it again. It's very good. Romans three in 202 00:19:12.910 --> 00:19:17.390 nineteen and twenty. This is what Paul has already said about the law. 203 00:19:17.509 --> 00:19:19.349 Now we know that whatever the law says, it speaks to those who are 204 00:19:19.349 --> 00:19:25.420 under the law so that every mouth may be stopped, the whole world may 205 00:19:25.420 --> 00:19:30.140 be held accountable to God, for by the works of the law no human 206 00:19:30.220 --> 00:19:34.380 being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of 207 00:19:34.539 --> 00:19:40.009 Sin. That's pretty clear. He says that the law tells us that what 208 00:19:40.210 --> 00:19:42.809 you should do. It tells you what you should do, but it doesn't 209 00:19:42.809 --> 00:19:48.809 enable you to do it, it cannot and it does not justify anybody, 210 00:19:51.089 --> 00:19:53.880 for by works to the law no human being will be justified in his sight, 211 00:19:55.039 --> 00:19:59.400 in God's sight. So that's one thing. He also tells us that 212 00:19:59.480 --> 00:20:03.480 the law wasn't even necessary to condemn us. You know, when we looked 213 00:20:03.480 --> 00:20:10.109 at verse fourteen last Lord's Day, we saw that man was a sinner long 214 00:20:10.230 --> 00:20:12.950 before the law came in. It came in later through Moses at Mount Sinai. 215 00:20:15.269 --> 00:20:18.950 The law didn't make him a sinner. He was all already a center 216 00:20:18.029 --> 00:20:22.019 because of the sin of his first father, Adam. Sin was imputed to 217 00:20:22.099 --> 00:20:29.180 him. So what's the purpose of the law, you know, if it 218 00:20:29.259 --> 00:20:33.259 can't be saved by it, if it's not even necessary to condemn this, 219 00:20:33.500 --> 00:20:37.809 what does it do? What good is it? Well, Paul tells us 220 00:20:37.849 --> 00:20:41.250 here in these verses. He says in the first part of Verse Twenty, 221 00:20:41.569 --> 00:20:48.930 the Law came in to increase the trestpass. This is the effect of the 222 00:20:48.970 --> 00:20:53.640 law being added, of coming in. It doesn't justify, it doesn't provide 223 00:20:53.680 --> 00:20:57.279 a remedy for sin. In fact, Paul says, it's actual effect on 224 00:20:57.440 --> 00:21:00.559 man was that it allowed sin to increase. Well, that seems a little 225 00:21:00.559 --> 00:21:08.950 odd to me. How we to understand that? Well, one way in 226 00:21:10.069 --> 00:21:15.430 which the law increase in was by increasing our knowledge of Sin. That's what 227 00:21:15.549 --> 00:21:22.220 Romans three hundred and twenty says that we that we just read. So seems 228 00:21:22.220 --> 00:21:25.740 that one key purpose of the law is to bring out the true nature and 229 00:21:25.900 --> 00:21:29.099 the magnitude of sin so that it can be seen for what it really is. 230 00:21:30.779 --> 00:21:37.329 You know, before the law came in, man man didn't in every 231 00:21:37.410 --> 00:21:44.730 instance clearly understand what sin was. But when the law was added, it 232 00:21:44.890 --> 00:21:48.039 pointed it out to man that this evil which he had thought little of, 233 00:21:48.359 --> 00:21:53.200 was actually an abomination to God. You know, sort it's, let me 234 00:21:53.279 --> 00:22:00.400 put it this way, man's nature, and I think his character was sort 235 00:22:00.440 --> 00:22:04.190 of like a dark room didn't have any light at it. He couldn't see 236 00:22:04.269 --> 00:22:10.150 how filthy his house was. When a lamp was brought in or a window 237 00:22:10.269 --> 00:22:14.269 was opened or a door was open, he finds out to his dismay how 238 00:22:14.390 --> 00:22:19.900 bad conditions really are in his house. I don't know, maybe he had 239 00:22:19.980 --> 00:22:26.740 a premonition and everything wasn't as it should be, something wasn't quite right, 240 00:22:26.900 --> 00:22:33.809 but he had no clue how bad off he really was. You know, 241 00:22:33.849 --> 00:22:40.170 I think another way of saying this is that the law turn sin into transgression. 242 00:22:41.369 --> 00:22:47.400 All wrong acts are sentral even without the law, but they're really only 243 00:22:47.480 --> 00:22:51.880 seemed to be sin when they're exposed as a transgression of God's law. For 244 00:22:51.960 --> 00:22:55.799 example, it's I spent a lot of time in Germany and there I mean 245 00:22:55.880 --> 00:23:00.710 it's. It's always been crazy to drive your car a hundred miles per hour 246 00:23:02.109 --> 00:23:07.829 on the Autubon in Germany, but before speed laws were enacted, there was 247 00:23:08.069 --> 00:23:11.789 really no way to punish you. But when the law was added, it 248 00:23:11.900 --> 00:23:18.299 turned your foolishness into transgression. It turns your foolishness into a transpass, trespass 249 00:23:18.460 --> 00:23:25.059 of the law. The law doesn't make a sinful, but it does display 250 00:23:26.099 --> 00:23:32.210 our sinfulness. It brings knowledge of Sin to US and in the presence of 251 00:23:32.289 --> 00:23:37.890 this perfect, unattainable standard, I think we see just how far we fall 252 00:23:37.049 --> 00:23:42.880 short of it. So the law is designed to reveal our many trespasses so 253 00:23:42.960 --> 00:23:48.799 that we may be driven you out of this selfrighteousness, to the Lord Jesus, 254 00:23:48.920 --> 00:23:52.599 and whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sin. 255 00:23:52.880 --> 00:24:02.670 The law teaches us we need Jesus Christ. So Paul says that the law 256 00:24:02.710 --> 00:24:10.700 actually awoke sin. It allowed sin to produce even more sinful desires. So 257 00:24:10.859 --> 00:24:15.460 there's another way that we can, I think, understand this idea. You 258 00:24:15.579 --> 00:24:18.900 know, you think about it, we all know how the knowledge of a 259 00:24:18.980 --> 00:24:27.690 law produces a desire in us to break it. It's this whole it's this 260 00:24:27.849 --> 00:24:37.920 old idea that forbidden fruit is the sweeter this may not resonate, but just 261 00:24:38.319 --> 00:24:42.680 much a two year old when he tries to get into something and his parent 262 00:24:42.839 --> 00:24:52.039 issues the commandment, know what usually happens? Well, usually the commandment acts 263 00:24:52.119 --> 00:24:57.950 just like a magnet which absolutely drives him to touch the forbidden Obgy. And 264 00:24:57.950 --> 00:25:03.150 if there were it was no punishment of or if there was no observing parent, 265 00:25:03.269 --> 00:25:08.339 he would touch it every single time. I think that's true. How 266 00:25:08.420 --> 00:25:15.259 many of us drive five miles per hour over the posted speed limit just because 267 00:25:15.339 --> 00:25:19.140 the law says we can't do it and there's not a state trooper in sight? 268 00:25:22.130 --> 00:25:23.410 You know, I don't know. Someone told me the other day maybe 269 00:25:23.490 --> 00:25:27.170 this is true. Probably is. He said that during prohibition in the United 270 00:25:27.250 --> 00:25:36.799 States the sale of alcoholic beverages actually went up during that period because it was 271 00:25:36.920 --> 00:25:41.480 forbidden. Very interesting. You know, we could have a debate, Simmler, 272 00:25:41.559 --> 00:25:48.640 debate on the utility of, for example, teaching sex education in our 273 00:25:48.680 --> 00:25:53.869 schools. That good or bad? Well, we'll get into that some other 274 00:25:53.950 --> 00:26:00.950 time. But the point is, knowledge of Sin has never present a prevented 275 00:26:00.029 --> 00:26:04.180 anybody from sinning. Instead, the more you know about it, the more 276 00:26:04.259 --> 00:26:10.019 you're subject to the ten tation of it. What does that say to it 277 00:26:10.180 --> 00:26:15.299 what a terrible, terrible thing sin is. It's the law alone that shows 278 00:26:15.380 --> 00:26:21.130 us just how bad and pervasive it really is. It convicts us of our 279 00:26:21.210 --> 00:26:26.410 sins. The law drives us to Christ. It should be. But go 280 00:26:26.609 --> 00:26:30.569 on, look at the second part of Verse Twenty. Before Sin Increased, 281 00:26:30.690 --> 00:26:37.960 grace abounded all the more. You know that little phrase describe being grace, 282 00:26:38.680 --> 00:26:44.880 amazing grace. It stands out like a tenfold beacon on a dark night, 283 00:26:45.039 --> 00:26:51.869 on a dangerous night. The dark background is sin. This beacon flashes. 284 00:26:52.029 --> 00:26:56.470 But where sin increased, grace abounded all the more. We talked about this 285 00:26:56.670 --> 00:27:00.700 last week, about how amazing grace is God. God's grace is Boundiful, 286 00:27:00.740 --> 00:27:06.700 bountiful. It's invincible, it never ends. It overflows with God's benefits. 287 00:27:06.779 --> 00:27:10.420 I think Dr d Martin Lloyd Jones, who was a pastor for many years 288 00:27:10.460 --> 00:27:15.539 and in London, says it best. He says grace always gives, or 289 00:27:15.619 --> 00:27:22.450 as sin always takes away. Grace always gives, sin always takes away. 290 00:27:23.329 --> 00:27:30.359 Great, great quote sin. It's interesting if you look at Verse Twenty One. 291 00:27:32.440 --> 00:27:36.920 Paul Persona Defy Sin. Here refers to sin. There is sort of 292 00:27:37.000 --> 00:27:41.400 a tyrannical king. You know, we could say king sin. Sin says 293 00:27:41.480 --> 00:27:47.309 the exact opposite. King Sin tells us that he'll give us all with that 294 00:27:47.390 --> 00:27:52.269 we've ever wanted, all that grace, and that grace deprives us of all 295 00:27:52.430 --> 00:27:57.470 that, sin says. You know, look at these Christians and never have 296 00:27:57.579 --> 00:28:02.180 any fun. It's like they've been eating for Simmons. Look at all the 297 00:28:02.299 --> 00:28:07.460 things he can't do and I think all too often, like the prodigal son, 298 00:28:07.539 --> 00:28:12.809 we listen to that bad king, we take our inheritance, we journey 299 00:28:12.849 --> 00:28:18.609 into a far country where we don't have to listen to his voice or respond 300 00:28:18.690 --> 00:28:22.650 to what he says. And what do we do there? We spend our 301 00:28:22.730 --> 00:28:26.890 assets, the scriptures say, on while living, we waste our inheritance and 302 00:28:26.970 --> 00:28:30.200 when we come to the end of our days it's all gone. Sin Is 303 00:28:30.279 --> 00:28:33.799 take it at all and we find, as the Prodigal did, that no 304 00:28:33.960 --> 00:28:37.720 one will give us anything. You know, in the end, those who 305 00:28:37.880 --> 00:28:45.589 look to King Sin and ask for his help, he laughs at and he 306 00:28:45.750 --> 00:28:51.230 reaches out to snatch away even life itself. The Reign of King Sin Leads 307 00:28:51.390 --> 00:28:57.099 to death. But followed this the other king that's personified dare in verse. 308 00:28:57.220 --> 00:29:03.900 Twenty one is grace, things will be very different now. King Grace sees 309 00:29:03.940 --> 00:29:11.569 you staggering, he comes alongside to help you and bear you up. Grace 310 00:29:11.690 --> 00:29:18.009 sees you destitute, pours the inexhaustible riches of Christ and the father right into 311 00:29:18.130 --> 00:29:26.480 our laps. Grace sees US dying, he imparts eternal life, as verse 312 00:29:26.599 --> 00:29:32.920 twenty one promises us, and Romans six twenty three. The wages of sin 313 00:29:33.119 --> 00:29:37.440 is death, but the gift of God is eternal life. In Christ Jesus 314 00:29:37.559 --> 00:29:41.230 our Lord Gray says, what do you need? Tell me, tell me 315 00:29:41.309 --> 00:29:47.910 anything at all, and grace provides for that need in accord with God's perfect 316 00:29:47.910 --> 00:29:56.380 wisdom, is invincible power and his unlimited supply. King Grace will lead US 317 00:29:56.420 --> 00:30:02.740 home. He will lead us not to death but, as the verse says, 318 00:30:02.819 --> 00:30:10.609 to Eternal Life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Well, here endeth the 319 00:30:10.690 --> 00:30:18.410 lesson. We have completed three quick studies in this remarkable passage and there's a 320 00:30:18.450 --> 00:30:22.319 whole lot more that we could said, we could have said, but let 321 00:30:22.319 --> 00:30:26.000 me just sum up and by a way of doing that, let me just 322 00:30:26.119 --> 00:30:32.759 all of her two key principles which are exemplified in this text, and I 323 00:30:32.799 --> 00:30:36.589 think they're important for us to take away. There's more. Let me just 324 00:30:36.750 --> 00:30:41.789 give you two. I think the first principle is is that God takes in 325 00:30:42.309 --> 00:30:48.710 seriously. You know, it's about the Bible and in the world about this. 326 00:30:51.539 --> 00:30:55.619 Men and women are constantly trying to minimize sin. We trivel we try 327 00:30:55.660 --> 00:31:02.539 to trivilize the consequences of sin, but the Bible constantly emphasizes the seriousness of 328 00:31:02.660 --> 00:31:07.369 sin and this text, I think, dramatically illustrates that. Just just look 329 00:31:07.490 --> 00:31:14.170 here, look at the devastation that one sin brought to the human race. 330 00:31:14.210 --> 00:31:21.039 Adam sin brought about his own death, but, dear ones, it had 331 00:31:21.079 --> 00:31:26.880 also condemned all of us to die. Who can say that sin is not 332 00:31:26.079 --> 00:31:33.750 serious? You know, most people today, they wouldn't even call what's Adam 333 00:31:33.829 --> 00:31:40.750 did a sin. Look what Adam did. It was nothing, just a 334 00:31:40.829 --> 00:31:45.990 little piccadilloh One the felony. It was a misdemeanor. It was just like 335 00:31:45.150 --> 00:31:52.779 spitting on the sidewalk. He simply ate the fruit of a tree. What's 336 00:31:52.819 --> 00:32:00.140 the big deal? Well, God thought it was a big deal because he 337 00:32:00.220 --> 00:32:06.690 had told let him not to do that. An Act which men would hardly 338 00:32:06.730 --> 00:32:13.690 even think of as sin today becomes the cause of the downfall of man. 339 00:32:15.480 --> 00:32:22.319 Amazing. God does indeed take sin very seriously, and I think the lesson 340 00:32:22.400 --> 00:32:28.640 is so much you and I. So I think that's one important takeaway that 341 00:32:28.759 --> 00:32:31.630 we can take from Romans Five, twelve through twenty one. God takes Sin 342 00:32:31.829 --> 00:32:38.069 Seriously. There's another principle to take away, and we've talked about it before, 343 00:32:38.190 --> 00:32:43.029 but it's worth talking about it again. Our identity today is found either 344 00:32:43.150 --> 00:32:47.700 in one of two men. It's found in Adam or it's found in Christ. 345 00:32:50.500 --> 00:32:53.539 We talked about it. Both Adam and Christ were appointed by God to 346 00:32:53.660 --> 00:33:01.890 be representatives for other men. God appointed them to stand for others and both 347 00:33:02.009 --> 00:33:07.849 became heads of particular bodies of people. Each is the source of what can 348 00:33:07.890 --> 00:33:12.130 be called either the old humanity the new humanity. We talked about that. 349 00:33:12.490 --> 00:33:17.559 The old humanity is the race as it stands apart from Jesus Christ. The 350 00:33:17.720 --> 00:33:24.279 new humanity is all redeemed people who have been saved by Jesus Christ. That's 351 00:33:24.319 --> 00:33:31.109 the only two groups people can belong to. The entire human race is divided 352 00:33:31.190 --> 00:33:37.789 into those two humanities by virtue of their relationship to these two representatives, and 353 00:33:37.910 --> 00:33:45.619 I think the question is, which group are you in you know we come. 354 00:33:45.740 --> 00:33:50.339 I want to look at this principle of our identity in either one of 355 00:33:50.420 --> 00:33:53.180 those two groups, Adam or Christ, another way. As as we close 356 00:33:53.259 --> 00:34:00.730 this morning. It's really interesting. This passage in Romans five explains the words 357 00:34:00.769 --> 00:34:06.650 of our Lord Smoking spoken to Nicodemus better than any other new testament text. 358 00:34:06.730 --> 00:34:09.800 Let me just kind of review that. Remember, Jesus said to Nicodemus in 359 00:34:09.880 --> 00:34:13.920 John Three. Three he said truly, truly, I say to you, 360 00:34:15.159 --> 00:34:21.159 unless one is born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God. Now 361 00:34:21.280 --> 00:34:25.550 remember, you go back and you look in John Three. John Introduces Nicodemus 362 00:34:25.590 --> 00:34:30.989 as a Pharisee, he introduces him as the ruler of the Jews, and 363 00:34:31.110 --> 00:34:36.389 Jesus says that he's a teacher of Israel, another's. This guy was a 364 00:34:36.469 --> 00:34:42.699 heavy weight in the Jewish religious hierarchy and with those credentials, Nicodemus, this 365 00:34:42.900 --> 00:34:47.099 renowned teacher, had to have known about Adam. He had to have taught 366 00:34:47.139 --> 00:34:52.619 about at Adam, about his fall, about the downfall of the human race. 367 00:34:52.889 --> 00:34:54.489 But if he was like the rest of the Pharisees, and he was, 368 00:34:55.449 --> 00:35:01.449 Nicodemus trusted in his physical descent from Abraham and in his possession of the 369 00:35:01.610 --> 00:35:10.800 law, to save him. That's what Pharisees believed. What a shock it 370 00:35:10.920 --> 00:35:17.159 must have been for Nicodemus, this Pharisee, this teacher of Israel, when 371 00:35:17.159 --> 00:35:23.750 Jesus told him that entrance into God's Kingdom of grace required a second birth. 372 00:35:25.750 --> 00:35:31.070 You know, yet that expression born again. That should not have been a 373 00:35:31.190 --> 00:35:37.019 foreign thought to Nicodemus. It should have caused him, as it does us, 374 00:35:37.059 --> 00:35:40.059 I think, the turn to think in these terms in which Paul speaks 375 00:35:40.099 --> 00:35:45.699 of here in Romans five. How was it that the human race fell into 376 00:35:45.780 --> 00:35:51.090 sin? How did each individual fall under the curse? It was simply by 377 00:35:51.170 --> 00:35:59.050 being born. Birth made one a son of Adam, and thus the center. 378 00:35:59.329 --> 00:36:06.760 We inherited Adam Sin. John says that, Paul says it's clearly here 379 00:36:06.840 --> 00:36:10.400 in Romans five. And the solution to the guilt of sin encountered by at 380 00:36:10.559 --> 00:36:20.949 birth was another birth, a second birth by God's grace. To be saved, 381 00:36:22.750 --> 00:36:28.070 men have to exchange their identity with Adam, by which they're condemned, 382 00:36:29.269 --> 00:36:34.260 to an identity with Christ, by which they're justified, declared righteous, they 383 00:36:34.300 --> 00:36:40.260 are saved. So as birth was the source of Man's sin. So another 384 00:36:40.420 --> 00:36:49.409 birth is the solution to man's sin. And all that passed right over Nicodemus's 385 00:36:49.489 --> 00:36:55.769 head. He was a Pharisee. He never saw it. Why? Because 386 00:36:55.809 --> 00:37:00.480 he was still betting on his pedigree. He is betting on his pedigree with 387 00:37:00.559 --> 00:37:05.320 Abraham. He was betting on his possession of the law to save him, 388 00:37:06.000 --> 00:37:10.480 just like a lot of people to day, the dear ones. The Gospel 389 00:37:10.639 --> 00:37:20.949 is all about something different. Jesus Christ came to Earth to offer men a 390 00:37:21.190 --> 00:37:25.030 cure for the curse which adam sin brought upon mankind. You See, the 391 00:37:25.110 --> 00:37:32.179 Gospel confronts us with a choice. Will we remain in Adam, subject to 392 00:37:32.260 --> 00:37:38.099 the penalty of death, or will we accept God's gracious provision for a new 393 00:37:38.179 --> 00:37:45.809 identity in Christ? You see, being born again. That's the Lord's way 394 00:37:45.849 --> 00:37:52.849 a speaking of that point in a person's life when they acknowledge their own sin, 395 00:37:52.650 --> 00:37:59.280 their own guilt and the just sentence upon them of death. It's ceasing 396 00:37:59.400 --> 00:38:04.760 to trust in who we are, what we are ceasing to trust in our 397 00:38:04.840 --> 00:38:09.039 pedigree, whatever that is, and clinging to WHO Jesus Christ is. Its 398 00:38:09.119 --> 00:38:15.030 finding our identity in Christ rather than an Adam. It's turning from condemnation to 399 00:38:15.190 --> 00:38:21.309 justification, from death to life, from Adam to Christ. And so I 400 00:38:21.510 --> 00:38:28.340 pressed the question to you this morning. Have you been born again? You 401 00:38:28.420 --> 00:38:36.019 see, it was necessary for Dick Nicodemus, this famous religious leader, teacher, 402 00:38:36.099 --> 00:38:42.210 ruler of Israel. It's also necessary for you, necessary for me. 403 00:38:43.650 --> 00:38:47.610 We you choose death or life. We you choose sin or grace. Will 404 00:38:47.650 --> 00:38:52.969 you choose Adam or Christ? You see, there's no more important decision that 405 00:38:52.050 --> 00:38:59.920 you'll ever make than that one. None the salvation which God has offered in 406 00:38:59.960 --> 00:39:05.480 Jesus Christ. It's not automatic. It must be received, and I would 407 00:39:05.480 --> 00:39:07.400 pray that you would receive it today. Let's pray