Life in Christ (Romans 5:12-21)

WEBVTT 1 00:00:01.560 --> 00:00:06.080 If you're able, please remain standing and let's give our attention to Romans Chapter 2 00:00:06.160 --> 00:00:15.789 Five, verses twelve through twenty one. Let us continue to hear God's word 3 00:00:16.309 --> 00:00:22.300 in this particular book, the Book of Romans, Paul's letter, now Chapter 4 00:00:22.500 --> 00:00:30.420 Five, verses twelve through twenty one. Therefore, just as sin came into 5 00:00:30.460 --> 00:00:35.700 the world through one man and death through sin, and so death spread to 6 00:00:35.810 --> 00:00:40.890 all men because all sinned, for sin indeed was in the world before the 7 00:00:40.969 --> 00:00:45.170 law was given. But sin is not counted where there is no law. 8 00:00:45.210 --> 00:00:51.280 Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not 9 00:00:51.479 --> 00:00:55.759 like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was 10 00:00:55.960 --> 00:01:02.719 to come. But the free gift is not like the trespass, for if 11 00:01:02.759 --> 00:01:07.829 many died through one man's trespass, much more have the grace of God and 12 00:01:07.950 --> 00:01:11.590 the Free Gift, by the grace of that one man, Jesus Christ, 13 00:01:11.629 --> 00:01:17.829 abounded for many. And the free gift is not like the result of that 14 00:01:18.069 --> 00:01:23.939 one man sin, for the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the 15 00:01:25.060 --> 00:01:33.129 free gift following Menne trespasses brought justification. For if because of one man's trespass, 16 00:01:33.329 --> 00:01:38.489 death reigned through that one man. Much more will those who receive the 17 00:01:38.569 --> 00:01:44.569 abundance of grace and the Free Gift of the Righteousness, of righteousness reign in 18 00:01:44.689 --> 00:01:51.400 life through the one man, Jesus Christ. Therefore, as one trespass led 19 00:01:51.480 --> 00:01:57.239 to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and 20 00:01:57.439 --> 00:02:01.310 life for all men. For as by the one man's disobedience the many were 21 00:02:01.390 --> 00:02:07.469 made sinners, so by the one man's obedience, the many will be made 22 00:02:07.510 --> 00:02:13.870 righteous. Now the law came in to increase the trespass. But where sin 23 00:02:13.949 --> 00:02:19.060 increased, grace abounded, all the more so that as sin reigned in death, 24 00:02:19.900 --> 00:02:24.819 grace also might reign through righteousness, leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ, 25 00:02:25.020 --> 00:02:30.490 our Lord, Ay God bless his word to us. Please be seated 26 00:02:55.479 --> 00:03:00.030 well. This passage in Romans, Romans five twelve through twenty one, presents 27 00:03:00.069 --> 00:03:05.550 us with a number of different challenges. One of them is simply reading it. 28 00:03:05.990 --> 00:03:09.349 I'm there is a kind of syntax here, a sentence structure, the 29 00:03:09.389 --> 00:03:14.659 way that Paul speaks that is a little bit difficult to follow. I think 30 00:03:14.699 --> 00:03:19.460 a lot of people tend to get discouraged right from the very beginning because Paul 31 00:03:19.620 --> 00:03:24.580 begins by setting up this contrast. He says just as and then you're sort 32 00:03:24.620 --> 00:03:30.009 of waiting for the other shoe, but it doesn't happen. Instead he moves 33 00:03:30.050 --> 00:03:35.810 into a parenthesis comment and verses thirteen through fourteen, then gets into a little 34 00:03:35.810 --> 00:03:39.810 discussion and then doesn't really come back to that contrast until the final verses. 35 00:03:40.560 --> 00:03:44.319 So you start out and you say okay, I'm tracking and then all of 36 00:03:44.360 --> 00:03:47.000 a sudden it's that I'm not tracking and you feel a little bit lost. 37 00:03:49.439 --> 00:03:52.879 So if you felt a little bit lost as we went through the passage, 38 00:03:52.919 --> 00:03:59.270 don't worry, you're not alone. But also don't worry because it is internally 39 00:03:59.389 --> 00:04:05.909 coherent. Though Paul doesn't follow all the strict rules of simple syntax and he's 40 00:04:06.030 --> 00:04:12.860 free to use Greek as he pleases her, so to speak, he does 41 00:04:13.060 --> 00:04:19.379 ultimately use it to communicate to us very clear and important truths. It's one 42 00:04:19.420 --> 00:04:25.089 reason I didn't break up this passage into smaller units, because the clarity really 43 00:04:25.209 --> 00:04:30.290 comes when you take it as a whole. There a problem. So, 44 00:04:30.449 --> 00:04:33.649 speaker, not the problem, but the challenge of verse twelve and other smaller 45 00:04:33.769 --> 00:04:41.600 issues like possible universalism in verse eighteen. These issues are not really challenges, 46 00:04:41.639 --> 00:04:46.279 are problems at all if we approach the passage in the way that it is 47 00:04:46.360 --> 00:04:54.069 written, with the context and with the emphasis where Paul places it. So 48 00:04:54.269 --> 00:04:59.470 that's a brief and perhaps overly technical introduction, so forgive me for that, 49 00:04:59.790 --> 00:05:03.990 but I say it to assure you that there will be clarity here, that 50 00:05:04.110 --> 00:05:09.860 there is clarity here, and I can prove that right away by just pointing 51 00:05:09.899 --> 00:05:14.459 out what I think you'll immediately recognize on the surface of this passage. At 52 00:05:14.500 --> 00:05:20.100 there is a great contrast and connection going on between two men, between Adam 53 00:05:20.180 --> 00:05:25.209 and Christ. That's very clear, isn't it? That's where these contrasts and 54 00:05:25.329 --> 00:05:30.009 comparisons come throughout the passage, for as this one, this one, as 55 00:05:30.170 --> 00:05:33.050 this one, this one like this, not like this. There's this back 56 00:05:33.129 --> 00:05:42.040 and forth that is going on all throughout, verse after verse, sometimes repeatedly, 57 00:05:42.399 --> 00:05:48.160 in right in a row. We have two people, Adam and Christ. 58 00:05:49.589 --> 00:05:59.629 Adam's sin led to two things, condemnation and then death. Christ's righteousness 59 00:06:00.189 --> 00:06:06.300 leads to two things, justification and life. We have an action done by 60 00:06:06.339 --> 00:06:12.579 one person and an action done by another. There are similar in that way, 61 00:06:13.339 --> 00:06:18.810 but they lead in total opposite directions. So let's look at each one 62 00:06:18.810 --> 00:06:23.170 of those as Paul gives it to us. First Adam and then Christ. 63 00:06:27.089 --> 00:06:31.449 So we read of Adam's sin and are reminded of that in Verse Twelve, 64 00:06:32.000 --> 00:06:38.279 just as sin came into the world through one man and death through sin. 65 00:06:39.560 --> 00:06:44.519 This kind of the same ideas picked up then in similarly, in Verse Sixteen 66 00:06:45.639 --> 00:06:51.670 For the Judgment Following the one trespass brought condemnation. Look at verse seventeen. 67 00:06:53.870 --> 00:07:00.629 Because of one man's trespass, death reigned through that one man. Verse Eighteen, 68 00:07:00.620 --> 00:07:06.459 one trespass led to condemnation for all men. So you see this connection. 69 00:07:06.660 --> 00:07:13.540 But with this one man something happened. He sinned, he sinned the 70 00:07:13.939 --> 00:07:18.449 particular sin, he disobeyed the law of God and as a result several things 71 00:07:18.529 --> 00:07:27.370 happened. Death spread to all men, condemnation came to him and all men. 72 00:07:28.529 --> 00:07:34.279 Death reigned through sin, reigned over them. There was this powerful influence 73 00:07:34.360 --> 00:07:44.829 under which Adam and his posterity came, namely death. You remember the story 74 00:07:44.910 --> 00:07:49.350 right in Genesis. God makes Adam, he places him into the garden, 75 00:07:49.790 --> 00:07:55.470 he gives him this perfect setting, a very clear command. You can eat 76 00:07:55.470 --> 00:08:00.459 of all the trees that I have given you, except this one you shall 77 00:08:00.540 --> 00:08:05.220 not eat. And God says to Adam very clearly. He says to him 78 00:08:05.220 --> 00:08:11.819 if you eat of this tree, you shall surely die. And it was 79 00:08:11.889 --> 00:08:20.250 on that point that Satan brought God under question. Did God really say you 80 00:08:20.329 --> 00:08:28.480 shall surely die if you eat the fruit? Adam did sin. Adam did 81 00:08:28.600 --> 00:08:33.799 die. We when we look at rich at genesis, it's true he doesn't 82 00:08:35.159 --> 00:08:39.120 die and immediate death, but the genealogies that follow those passages make it very 83 00:08:39.159 --> 00:08:43.110 clear, Leer, that him and his children, one after another after another, 84 00:08:43.429 --> 00:08:48.190 died. They're powerful if you read them. So and so lived for 85 00:08:48.269 --> 00:08:52.990 so many years, he fathered so many children and he died. And then 86 00:08:52.070 --> 00:08:56.059 his son lived. Son So many years and fathered so many children and he 87 00:08:56.220 --> 00:09:03.340 died and he died and he died. This is the story of Man. 88 00:09:05.500 --> 00:09:15.009 Adam sinned, fell under condemnation for that sin and died. Contrasted to this 89 00:09:16.570 --> 00:09:22.129 is Jesus. We read of Jesus is obedience in many places. I'm all 90 00:09:22.169 --> 00:09:26.919 read to you just one place that sums up his life well and points out 91 00:09:26.000 --> 00:09:35.000 his obedience. From Philippians, Chapter Two, Philippians two, we read in 92 00:09:35.159 --> 00:09:39.870 verse six that Jesus, though he was in the form of God, did 93 00:09:39.990 --> 00:09:45.389 not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, 94 00:09:46.190 --> 00:09:48.629 taking the form of a servant. Being born in the likeness of men 95 00:09:48.710 --> 00:09:56.659 and being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the 96 00:09:56.779 --> 00:10:03.460 point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore, God is highly 97 00:10:03.500 --> 00:10:07.850 exalted in Him and bestowed on him the name that is above of every name. 98 00:10:09.409 --> 00:10:13.210 So you see how different it was. Jesus was also born as a 99 00:10:13.370 --> 00:10:16.850 man, he took on human form, he became and was made a servant, 100 00:10:16.889 --> 00:10:22.000 much like Adam was. But at that point their lives take two totally 101 00:10:22.080 --> 00:10:28.120 different directions. Where Adam grasped at the things of God by taking that Forbidden 102 00:10:28.200 --> 00:10:33.480 Fruit and seeking to be like God, Jesus instead did not grasp for the 103 00:10:33.559 --> 00:10:37.990 very things that were already his, but instead, as a man, was 104 00:10:39.110 --> 00:10:45.149 obedient. He was not only obedience under the point of life, in gaining 105 00:10:45.309 --> 00:10:52.259 the glory and majesty that was his for his obedience, but that obedience, 106 00:10:52.299 --> 00:10:58.500 Paul says, was even unto death. Adams Obedience, and many ways wasn't 107 00:10:58.500 --> 00:11:05.730 so hard don't eat of the tree. Jesus, however, suffered many and 108 00:11:05.409 --> 00:11:11.129 strong temptations from Satan himself and had to even undergo the death of the Adam 109 00:11:11.250 --> 00:11:18.129 earned for all humanity. Will Return back to that when we consider how much 110 00:11:18.129 --> 00:11:22.679 better grace is and how good the free gift is. But I want to 111 00:11:22.799 --> 00:11:26.559 point out these two stories of these two men so that you can see very 112 00:11:26.639 --> 00:11:33.269 clearly the similarities in the differences. The similarity is is that both were called 113 00:11:33.309 --> 00:11:41.309 to obedience. The difference is that only one of them obeyed. Jesus obeyed 114 00:11:41.950 --> 00:11:46.340 and in doing so he brought life, but Adam and his disobedience brought death. 115 00:11:50.379 --> 00:11:52.980 So this is the story of these two men, but it's a story 116 00:11:54.100 --> 00:11:58.620 that's not disconnected from us in any way. This is one of the other 117 00:11:58.860 --> 00:12:03.490 major points in this passage. Paul wants us to understand that it's not just 118 00:12:03.889 --> 00:12:07.970 something that happened to Adam a long time ago and something that happened to Jesus 119 00:12:07.049 --> 00:12:13.889 a long time ago and they're obedience is good. There's something much more, 120 00:12:13.929 --> 00:12:20.039 something much bigger, going on. As it turns out, we are wrapped 121 00:12:20.120 --> 00:12:24.480 up in this story. We belong to it, and not by pushing ourselves 122 00:12:24.639 --> 00:12:28.919 into it, not by making ourselves a part of it, but that is 123 00:12:28.000 --> 00:12:33.909 simply the nature of things, because that's how God has ordered it. Let 124 00:12:33.950 --> 00:12:39.470 me point out some of the connections that Paul makes between us and these men 125 00:12:39.269 --> 00:12:45.820 in this passage. Look again at verse twelve. Just as sin came into 126 00:12:45.899 --> 00:12:50.460 the world through one man and death through sin, and so death spread to 127 00:12:50.700 --> 00:13:00.009 all men because all sinned. Paul in a sense says two things. They're 128 00:13:00.009 --> 00:13:03.929 not opposite things, but they are two things. On the one hand, 129 00:13:05.090 --> 00:13:09.889 he says very clearly that death came into the world through one man, through 130 00:13:11.009 --> 00:13:16.120 the one sin of the one man, death came into the world. That's 131 00:13:16.159 --> 00:13:20.639 a that's a point that is corroborated in many places, like in Verse Fifteen, 132 00:13:22.519 --> 00:13:28.950 many died through the one man's trespass, or in Verse Sixteen, the 133 00:13:30.110 --> 00:13:39.110 Judgment Following one trespass bought condemnation for all men, or verse I'm seventeen, 134 00:13:39.309 --> 00:13:45.980 because of the one man's trespass, death reign through that one man, or 135 00:13:46.059 --> 00:13:52.019 verse eighteen, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men. So you 136 00:13:52.100 --> 00:13:56.009 see the connection between us and Adam. Because of Adam, because of this 137 00:13:56.490 --> 00:14:03.169 one man, because of his one trespass, death spread to all, condemnation 138 00:14:03.250 --> 00:14:13.279 spread to all, judgment and death would reign. And yet at the same 139 00:14:13.320 --> 00:14:18.919 time we read in verse twelve that death spread to all men because all sinned. 140 00:14:20.799 --> 00:14:26.029 There is a way in which not only is Adam responsible for his sin, 141 00:14:26.870 --> 00:14:31.070 but we all are responsible for Usin one. The one and the many 142 00:14:31.190 --> 00:14:37.149 come together here in verse twelve. Now Paul doesn't explain why that is here. 143 00:14:37.549 --> 00:14:39.940 We have to look at other portions of scripture to understand that and I 144 00:14:41.059 --> 00:14:45.259 won't get into it now, but the point is very clear. There is 145 00:14:45.539 --> 00:14:52.860 a kind of federal solidity that we have with this man. When God created 146 00:14:52.929 --> 00:14:56.250 Adam, he didn't just make a man and have a particular relationship with him. 147 00:14:58.690 --> 00:15:03.090 He had a particular relationship with him and his children, which includes us, 148 00:15:05.490 --> 00:15:09.720 which means that we, when Adam sinned, we also sinned in him. 149 00:15:11.919 --> 00:15:16.000 This is what Paul says in First Corinthians twenty two. In Adam all 150 00:15:16.279 --> 00:15:22.909 die. So while we consider Adam in the consequences that his sin brought, 151 00:15:24.389 --> 00:15:28.789 we are right to take on this, take the sin and understand it from 152 00:15:28.830 --> 00:15:35.429 our own perspective as being our problem. We can't just distance our ourselves from 153 00:15:35.429 --> 00:15:39.620 Adam and say, man, he really screwed up. This is us, 154 00:15:39.059 --> 00:15:45.340 this is our problem. We have sin and condemnation and death to deal with. 155 00:15:46.659 --> 00:15:54.250 This is one of the great misconceptions about the Bible. Many people will 156 00:15:54.289 --> 00:15:58.490 believe that the Bible is simply a bunch of kind of positive teaching and Nice 157 00:15:58.610 --> 00:16:03.559 truths to encourage you. And while there are many nice truths to encourage you, 158 00:16:04.000 --> 00:16:10.320 many great things that help, the Bible also takes so seriously sin, 159 00:16:10.480 --> 00:16:17.559 and that's a good thing, because you know sin. You deal with it 160 00:16:17.720 --> 00:16:22.309 each day. Every day you feel it in your heart, you feel the 161 00:16:22.549 --> 00:16:26.950 weight of it. You know what it means to ignore sin, to not 162 00:16:26.070 --> 00:16:30.269 pay attention to it, to let it go untended to. You know what 163 00:16:30.389 --> 00:16:33.820 it is to feed sin and the way it clings to you and grabs you 164 00:16:33.940 --> 00:16:40.580 and pulls you down. You understand in your own experience and in the things 165 00:16:40.620 --> 00:16:47.100 you see in this world how connected sin and death are. The Bible does 166 00:16:47.169 --> 00:16:51.649 not ignore that reality. The Bible doesn't whitewash it and pretend it all went 167 00:16:51.690 --> 00:16:55.570 away. The Bible takes us and makes us look at it directly in the 168 00:16:55.649 --> 00:17:03.240 eyes and say this is what the situation is. Death is reigning through sin 169 00:17:04.559 --> 00:17:11.799 because of this great fall, not only sin, as we confessed earlier, 170 00:17:11.880 --> 00:17:18.630 but all the miseries that are connected to it. But, of course, 171 00:17:18.869 --> 00:17:23.589 we call the Bible the Gospel, we call the Bible the good news, 172 00:17:23.910 --> 00:17:30.299 because it doesn't only speak to that part of reality, it also speaks to 173 00:17:30.339 --> 00:17:34.059 the reality that God has come into the world to deal with that problem, 174 00:17:36.940 --> 00:17:41.980 to take people, as Paul said in Ephesians, who were dead in their 175 00:17:41.059 --> 00:17:48.650 trespasses and sins and raise them to life, to wash away our sins, 176 00:17:48.970 --> 00:17:55.210 to cleanse us from unrighteousness, to make us reign in life, as he 177 00:17:55.329 --> 00:18:03.640 says, instead of reign in death. Our Unity With Adam is a unity 178 00:18:03.720 --> 00:18:10.799 that is also parallel to our unity with Jesus. In the same way that 179 00:18:10.960 --> 00:18:17.549 Adams disobedience was for him and his children, Jesus is obedience is for him 180 00:18:17.589 --> 00:18:22.109 and his children, who are brought to life by the new birth of the 181 00:18:22.230 --> 00:18:30.380 spirit. We aren't Jesus is, a genetic ancestors, but, even more 182 00:18:30.420 --> 00:18:34.619 importantly, we are his spiritual ones, bound and connected to him, even 183 00:18:34.740 --> 00:18:38.819 like a head and a body, even like a branch and a vine, 184 00:18:41.099 --> 00:18:45.329 we are connected to him in such a way that his life is our life, 185 00:18:45.930 --> 00:18:53.730 that his obedience is our obedience. That kind of solidity that we have 186 00:18:53.970 --> 00:19:00.400 with Adam is also a unity, a solid unity that we have in Jesus. 187 00:19:00.039 --> 00:19:07.559 In Adam All die, but in Christ all live. This kind of 188 00:19:07.880 --> 00:19:12.789 immunity that I'm talking about in these parallel ways is so clear in this passage, 189 00:19:12.789 --> 00:19:17.549 also with Christ. I read you the passages on Adam. Here are 190 00:19:17.589 --> 00:19:25.019 the ones about Jesus Verse Fifteen. If many have died through one man's Trestpass, 191 00:19:25.099 --> 00:19:27.460 much more have the grace of God and the Free Gift, by that 192 00:19:27.619 --> 00:19:33.380 grace of that one man, Jesus Christ, abounded for many? or verse 193 00:19:33.460 --> 00:19:38.410 seventeen. Much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the Free 194 00:19:38.529 --> 00:19:45.849 Gift of righteousness reign in life through that one man, Jesus Christ? Verse 195 00:19:45.970 --> 00:19:52.440 Eighteen. So one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. 196 00:19:53.599 --> 00:19:59.559 Verse Nineteen. As by the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, 197 00:20:00.000 --> 00:20:04.880 so by the one man's obedience the many will be made righteous. You 198 00:20:04.960 --> 00:20:11.109 see this glorious truth? Then we don't have just these two stories, two 199 00:20:11.230 --> 00:20:18.710 interesting stories about two men. We have these stories that describe for us the 200 00:20:18.829 --> 00:20:26.180 whole world they describe for us all men. We all are eat each and 201 00:20:26.339 --> 00:20:30.740 every one of us, each and every one of you, either is in 202 00:20:30.940 --> 00:20:37.609 atom or you are in Christ. It's that black and white, it's that 203 00:20:37.890 --> 00:20:45.809 simple. You belong to Adam and the condemnation and the death in the judgment, 204 00:20:45.890 --> 00:20:55.519 or you belong to Jesus, with justification, righteousness and life. You 205 00:20:55.680 --> 00:21:00.880 either go through life and experience life under the power of sin and misery and 206 00:21:00.920 --> 00:21:06.750 under the wrath of God, finally ending with your own death, the separation 207 00:21:06.950 --> 00:21:11.269 of your body and your soul, the dissolution of these things and ultimately your 208 00:21:11.430 --> 00:21:21.980 resurrection to judgment and Wrath and hell forever, or you experience your life as 209 00:21:22.099 --> 00:21:26.539 being in Jesus Christ, of knowing life in Him and knowing that, even 210 00:21:26.619 --> 00:21:33.089 though you will die, if the Lord doesn't return before you do, you 211 00:21:33.130 --> 00:21:40.410 will be raised, and raised to eternal life, forever and ever, reigning 212 00:21:41.609 --> 00:21:49.200 in the blessedness of God. These are the two realities that scripture presents before 213 00:21:49.279 --> 00:21:57.240 us now. This it should be obvious, but just to clear up a 214 00:21:57.240 --> 00:22:03.710 little confusion, or possible confusion as a side note, there's sometimes some question 215 00:22:03.789 --> 00:22:10.750 as to whether verse eighteen teaches a kind of universalism because of this strong parallel. 216 00:22:10.829 --> 00:22:15.230 As one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of 217 00:22:15.269 --> 00:22:22.579 righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. So by universalism I simply 218 00:22:22.619 --> 00:22:26.779 mean does the Bible teach here in Romans Five, verse eighteen, that every 219 00:22:26.819 --> 00:22:30.930 single person is saved, that every single person in the world dies under Adam 220 00:22:30.970 --> 00:22:37.250 and that every single person in the world lives in Jesus? Well, you 221 00:22:37.329 --> 00:22:41.089 may know the answer to that question already, but let me see if we 222 00:22:41.210 --> 00:22:47.599 can explain it here from Romans Five. Well, the answer should be I'm 223 00:22:47.599 --> 00:22:49.759 if you know your Bible at all, I'm should be very easy. Well, 224 00:22:49.839 --> 00:22:56.200 of course the Bible doesn't teach universalism. There would be no Romans if 225 00:22:56.240 --> 00:23:02.069 there was. If that was true. Or we have passages like second thessalonians 226 00:23:02.150 --> 00:23:06.750 one, eight and nine that when the Lord Jesus is revealed on the last 227 00:23:06.789 --> 00:23:14.019 day with his mighty mighty angels, mighty angels in flaming fire inflicting on those 228 00:23:14.059 --> 00:23:18.099 who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of 229 00:23:18.140 --> 00:23:22.420 our Lord Jesus, Paul says they will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, 230 00:23:22.460 --> 00:23:27.369 away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might. 231 00:23:30.009 --> 00:23:33.569 So Paul is very clear and tells us that exactly what it is to be 232 00:23:33.690 --> 00:23:37.849 an adom and he says that there will be those on the last day who, 233 00:23:37.970 --> 00:23:44.400 being found in Adam, will die in Adam, and the description is 234 00:23:45.079 --> 00:23:52.079 terrifying, suffering punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord 235 00:23:52.079 --> 00:23:56.390 and from the glory of his might. So the Bible doesn't teach that every 236 00:23:56.470 --> 00:24:02.390 single person will reign in life, that there are some who disobey, some 237 00:24:02.549 --> 00:24:07.910 who do not know the Lord, some who will suffer and punishment for their 238 00:24:08.029 --> 00:24:15.099 sins. So if that's true and clear, is there another way to understand 239 00:24:15.180 --> 00:24:22.259 verse eighteen other than Jesus has that Jesus is death was effectual for all men? 240 00:24:23.410 --> 00:24:30.009 There is another way and it's consistent with the passage. Paul teaches that 241 00:24:30.170 --> 00:24:33.450 there are particularly Paul's Focus, I should say, is not on the number 242 00:24:33.769 --> 00:24:40.000 of people in this passage. He's not sort of the great contrast here is 243 00:24:40.200 --> 00:24:42.799 not look at this number of people. Compared to this number of people. 244 00:24:44.640 --> 00:24:51.000 What's Paul's focus? Paul's focus is on the mode. How are people saved, 245 00:24:51.400 --> 00:24:53.869 how are those who are under Adam saved? Or, I'm sorry, 246 00:24:53.910 --> 00:25:00.349 how are those under Adam condemned? How are those who are under Christ saved 247 00:25:00.430 --> 00:25:07.859 and brought to life? Consider also the justification that is held out in Jesus. 248 00:25:08.380 --> 00:25:11.660 First of all, in Verse Sixteen, we read that that justification considers 249 00:25:11.700 --> 00:25:18.779 their many sins really all their sins. When God forgives us, he doesn't 250 00:25:18.940 --> 00:25:23.569 sort of wash part of the dirt away, he cleanses at all. Remember 251 00:25:23.609 --> 00:25:27.769 the psalms. As far as the East is from the West. That kind 252 00:25:27.769 --> 00:25:33.369 of degree of separation is the degree which God cleanses us and separates us from 253 00:25:33.369 --> 00:25:40.960 our sins. Justification, verse Seventeen, says we reign in life. It's 254 00:25:41.000 --> 00:25:45.960 not a part way kind of salvation, it's a complete salvation. It cons 255 00:25:45.200 --> 00:25:52.509 justification constitutes us as righteous people. Verse Nineteen says if we go back to 256 00:25:52.589 --> 00:25:56.069 verse one and two of this chapter, we read that since we have been 257 00:25:56.190 --> 00:26:00.869 justified by faith, we have peace with God. We're no longer his enemies 258 00:26:00.950 --> 00:26:07.420 but his friends. And if we have any question about the permanent benefit of 259 00:26:07.579 --> 00:26:14.140 justification, consider the last verse, Verse Twenty One. We have been given 260 00:26:15.220 --> 00:26:22.130 grace that we might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life. The point, 261 00:26:22.210 --> 00:26:26.769 then, is that the justification that Jesus gives us is not a halfway justification 262 00:26:26.930 --> 00:26:34.880 or a part way justification or a possibly effectual justification, but it's justification. 263 00:26:36.720 --> 00:26:42.640 He justifies, he calls people righteous, he imputes to them his righteousness, 264 00:26:42.759 --> 00:26:48.990 he makes peace with them and he gives them eternal life. Because of these 265 00:26:49.150 --> 00:26:53.549 considerations, we see that the people that Jesus has saved, he has really 266 00:26:53.589 --> 00:26:59.309 saved. The people that are under Adam, that died on him, really 267 00:26:59.430 --> 00:27:03.220 died. That's the parallel that's being made here, and so the answer to 268 00:27:03.299 --> 00:27:10.579 these all questions here is that the focus is on these mediators, so to 269 00:27:10.619 --> 00:27:18.130 speak, these representatives. All who die in Adam die. All who are 270 00:27:18.250 --> 00:27:26.250 saved in Christ are saved. But those numbers are not exactly parallel, because 271 00:27:26.289 --> 00:27:30.519 we know what the Bible has been teaching us, what Paul has been teaching 272 00:27:30.559 --> 00:27:34.880 us in Romans. In Adam, we are born under him simply by virtue 273 00:27:34.920 --> 00:27:41.279 of being born. But how is it that we come to be borne by 274 00:27:41.359 --> 00:27:45.190 the spirit, only by the grace of God working in us? How is 275 00:27:45.269 --> 00:27:51.549 it that we come to receive this justification that's offered to Jesus by faith, 276 00:27:52.829 --> 00:28:00.940 by believing in him repenting of our sins. This is important to bring up 277 00:28:00.019 --> 00:28:03.539 and it is not just a side doctrinal issue because, as I said, 278 00:28:04.500 --> 00:28:08.980 each of us have to make a choice. We have to examine our own 279 00:28:10.059 --> 00:28:14.490 hearts and say where am I at? Am I in Adam, my ray 280 00:28:14.650 --> 00:28:19.289 at them being ruled and reigned by death, or am I under Christ, 281 00:28:22.369 --> 00:28:32.279 reigning in life? As we conclude, I want to point out one last 282 00:28:32.319 --> 00:28:40.559 thing from this from this passage. Paul presents this great contrast, these great 283 00:28:41.119 --> 00:28:47.190 parallels, but they are not equal. They're not equal like a like a 284 00:28:47.950 --> 00:28:52.990 two great warriors coming against one another and you kind of wonder who's going to 285 00:28:52.150 --> 00:28:59.299 win. Will it be a draw? Notice the great emphasis in this passage. 286 00:29:00.660 --> 00:29:04.339 Paul sets all of this up to make this particular point, that the 287 00:29:04.460 --> 00:29:11.609 grace of God is more, it abounds more, it covers more, it 288 00:29:11.809 --> 00:29:19.490 does much, much more than the condemnation Adam gives us. Ever did you 289 00:29:19.569 --> 00:29:25.599 see it in so many ways, like verse sixteen. The free gift is 290 00:29:25.880 --> 00:29:30.039 not like the result of that one man sin. It's not like Adams Sin, 291 00:29:30.400 --> 00:29:37.589 because the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift, 292 00:29:37.710 --> 00:29:48.150 following many trespasses, brought justification. See that Adam did one thing. I 293 00:29:48.390 --> 00:29:53.460 was terrible enough, but he did one thing. God revealed his law to 294 00:29:53.500 --> 00:29:57.619 him and he said, Adam, if you disobey this, you will die. 295 00:29:57.740 --> 00:30:02.900 And that's what happened to us all. But in Christ, not only 296 00:30:02.980 --> 00:30:06.299 did we die in Adam, but then we pile on top of that all 297 00:30:06.380 --> 00:30:10.210 of our sins, more and more and more, so that when Jesus comes 298 00:30:10.250 --> 00:30:15.890 to bring justification, he doesn't just cover Adams one failure, he covers all 299 00:30:15.130 --> 00:30:22.400 of our failures, all of them. Many trespass us, and that makes 300 00:30:22.759 --> 00:30:26.039 gray as the grace of justification, much, much greater, doesn't it? 301 00:30:27.039 --> 00:30:33.799 Then then the rat than the than the penalty of condemnation, or consider verse 302 00:30:33.839 --> 00:30:37.630 seventeen. For if, because of one man's trespass, death reigned through that 303 00:30:37.829 --> 00:30:44.549 one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the 304 00:30:44.710 --> 00:30:49.140 Free Gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ. 305 00:30:49.180 --> 00:30:56.779 Verse Twenty. Now, the law came in to increase the trespass. But 306 00:30:56.900 --> 00:31:02.980 where Sin Increase, grace abounded all the more. You see what happens. 307 00:31:03.819 --> 00:31:08.609 What God is reminding you here. When Jesus saves US, when we receive 308 00:31:08.890 --> 00:31:12.569 that gift that he's offering to us, we don't just get a clean slate. 309 00:31:14.369 --> 00:31:18.250 We don't just say, okay, I don't I'm not condemned anymore. 310 00:31:18.799 --> 00:31:23.039 It's not just you're condemned, you're not condemned, it's that you're not condemned, 311 00:31:23.119 --> 00:31:29.200 your pardoned of your sins, but you also receive this positive righteousness. 312 00:31:30.720 --> 00:31:38.950 You receive this positive righteousness of Jesus in such a way that your eternal life 313 00:31:41.029 --> 00:31:45.710 is secured forever. You don't just get to start over again. You don't 314 00:31:45.750 --> 00:31:48.460 get put back in the garden. All right now, let's see if we 315 00:31:48.500 --> 00:31:53.579 can get this right this time. Don't disobey. No, instead, God 316 00:31:53.660 --> 00:31:59.380 gives us the righteousness of Jesus Christ, which is perfect, which is complete, 317 00:31:59.859 --> 00:32:04.730 and which gives us the very glory that Jesus earned that we read of 318 00:32:04.809 --> 00:32:09.690 in Philippians. Two. These are not equals, Adam and Jesus. There 319 00:32:09.769 --> 00:32:15.359 are similarities, there are things to be connected there in those two stories, 320 00:32:16.079 --> 00:32:23.319 but Jesus, as the second Adam, is supreme. His grace super abounds, 321 00:32:25.480 --> 00:32:32.430 and in it we have eternal life. So if you look and examine 322 00:32:32.470 --> 00:32:37.869 your heart and you examine your life and you say, I do not believe 323 00:32:37.910 --> 00:32:42.670 in Jesus Christ, if you are not trusting in Jesus, then know who 324 00:32:42.710 --> 00:32:47.700 you are under know that the sin that has its clause in you, the 325 00:32:47.859 --> 00:32:53.059 death that reigns in you, will not go away. There is only one 326 00:32:53.180 --> 00:32:59.410 solution that God has provided to this problem and it is Jesus. You have 327 00:32:59.650 --> 00:33:07.490 already died and you will die forever. Eternal death is yours. But if 328 00:33:07.529 --> 00:33:12.849 you feel those sins and you know them in your heart and you hear what 329 00:33:13.039 --> 00:33:16.960 God is saying in his Gospel and he's sang to you, repent and believe, 330 00:33:17.200 --> 00:33:22.319 because here is a salvation that can do what Adam failed to do, 331 00:33:23.359 --> 00:33:29.309 it can do what you failed to do, and it's simply given to you. 332 00:33:30.109 --> 00:33:31.869 It's given to you freely, it's given to you by His grace, 333 00:33:32.190 --> 00:33:38.309 it's given to you by his love. If you believe that, if you 334 00:33:38.430 --> 00:33:44.220 turn away from your sins and trust in Jesus Christ alone, then what do 335 00:33:44.339 --> 00:33:52.700 you have? Super Abounding Grace, the amazing love of God, eternal life 336 00:33:53.700 --> 00:34:01.730 and reigning in it forever. And as Christians who know that and if experienced 337 00:34:01.849 --> 00:34:08.489 that, let's cling to it, let's remember it often and remember that, 338 00:34:08.610 --> 00:34:15.480 as the flesh and the spirit wage war against us, we have a battle 339 00:34:15.440 --> 00:34:23.630 that is not of equals. Grace is super abounding. God, in His 340 00:34:23.789 --> 00:34:29.829 mercy to us, is super abounding. The Holy Spirit within you is super 341 00:34:29.949 --> 00:34:38.619 abounding and one day will result even in your glorification and heaven forever. Let 342 00:34:38.699 --> 00:34:39.099 us pray