All Roads Lead to Romans
November 30, 2014 :: Romans 5:12-21
Last week, we studied the first half of Romans 5 and learned about the incredible blessings of justification: peace, grace, hope, love, salvation, God Himself. All of those little words that carry so much meaning. And they come to us through justification, being declared righteous because of what Jesus did for us on the Cross.
And it just kept getting better and better, didn’t it?
Well, in the second half of chapter 5, the apostle Paul tells the story of how it could be so good. How the gospel could be such astonishingly good news for you and me.
Just like last week, he begins with “therefore” which means that he is explaining something.
And I think the thing Paul is trying to explain to us is how that HOPE that we talked about last week could be ours forever even though the story of the world had been so bad for so long.
Paul reaches way back and tells the story of the world one more time. This time, not through the Patriarch Father Abraham, but even further back to the father of the whole human race, the man we know as Adam.
All Roads Lead to Romans. Including the Adam road. From Genesis 3 to Romans 5.
Paul here compares and contrasts what Adam did with what Jesus did.
You know what Adam did, right?
And you know what Jesus did, right?
How do the two compare?
How are they alike?
And how are they different?
Are they equal?
Or is one of them much greater?
Now, last week, I said that verses 1 through 12 were really easy to understand. They were amazingly full of incredible, glorious truth, but all I had to do was read it to you and you could follow it.
Verses 12 through 21 aren’t really like that. They are much more confusing. Paul’s argument is much harder to follow. But we will do our best!
It’s still full of logic. Paul loves logic. Logic is what makes sense of the world to Paul, and it’s how he communicates. But like we said last week, it’s not cold logic. It’s logic on fire.
And in today’s passage, Paul’s favorite logic words are “How Much More.”
One thing may be true, Paul says, but how much more is this other thing true and wonderful. “How much more.”
And the two things being contrasted through most of this section are the things related to Adam and (how much more) the things related to Christ.
Does that make sense?
Here’s the point. People have been messed up for a very very long time, ever since the very beginning. And it came through Adam.
All of the blessings we learned about last week? All of the HOPE that Paul talked about had been dashed with Adam.
But Jesus has come along and not only reversed what Adam did but He’s accomplished how much more! So much more.
That’s the logic we’re going to see as we study it together this morning and apply it to our lives.
Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned--for before the law was given, sin was in the world. But sin is not taken into account when there is no law. Nevertheless, death reigned from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, even over those who did not sin by breaking a command, as did Adam, who was a pattern of the one to come. But the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God's grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many! Again, the gift of God is not like the result of the one man's sin: The judgment followed one sin and brought condemnation, but the gift followed many trespasses and brought justification. For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God's abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ. Consequently, just as the result of one trespass was condemnation for all men, so also the result of one act of righteousness was justification that brings life for all men. For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous. The law was added so that the trespass might increase. But where sin increased, grace increased all the more, so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. (NIV 1984)
Did you hear how complex Paul’s train of thought is?
Did you hear all of “how much more” in there?
The basic idea is very clear. You could make a chart of this passage like this.
Adam and Christ.
And under Adam, you can list all of the things that came from him and his sin in failing to lead Eve and choosing to disobey God in Genesis chapter 3.
And under Christ, you could list all of the things that came from Him and His act of righteousness in living a perfect life and then sacrificing Himself for us on the Cross.
And this column would be bad and this column would be good.
Everything bad flows out of this column.
And everything good flows out this one.
This is the story of humanity.
Have you ever had someone say, “What happened to you?”
Well, this is the story of what happened to you. Long before you ever were.
And what will happen to you long after eternity comes.
It’s the story of two very influential men.
But Paul wants to say more than that. He wants to say that what happens in this column is much greater than what happens in this one.
Now, part of what makes this passage so difficult to follow is that Paul begins a thought in verse 12 and then goes somewhere else for five long verses. V.1
“Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned–”
What? You’d expect him to say, “so also,” right? Just as, so also. That’s the logic. But Paul gets sidetracked by some thoughts he thinks need brought in before he can finish that thought.
The completion of that thought comes in verses 18 and 19. But he’s got a few things to say first.
So, let’s try to follow him. V.1 again.
“Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned–”
What column does that go in?
The Adam column, right?
What should we put in that column? Sin entered the world through Adam. Hello, sin.
And what came in with sin? Death. Both spiritual and physical death.
And not only death to Adam but to everybody.
Death spread to all people because (somehow) “all sinned.”
All of humanity sinned in Adam.
We’re not sure exactly how that works.
Perhaps, we were all spiritually present in Adam when he sinned.
Or, more likely, Adam was representing us as the head of the human race when he sinned. And he did the sinning for us.
Either way or some other, we are all sinners now that Adam has sinned.
We all have sinful spiritual DNA inherited from our first father Adam.
As Ephesians says, we are all dead in our trespasses and sins.
We sin by nature and by choice and the consequence is death and more death. Spiritual and physical.
And what column does all that go into?
The Adam column.
That’s a pretty heavy column. Sin and death, death to everyone, sin by everyone.
It feels heavy already.
But Paul doesn’t finish the “so also.” He thinks that someone might have a question about whether or not there could be sin if there is no law. V.13
“...for before the law was given, sin was in the world. But sin is not taken into account when there is no law.”
I think what he means is that there might be some people who say, well, not everybody sinned. Because between Adam and Moses, there was no Torah, no law that sharply defined what was sin and what was not, so you can’t really say that everybody sinned until there was a law.
But Paul won’t have it. V.14
“Nevertheless, death reigned from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, even over those who did not sin by breaking a command, as did Adam, who was a pattern of the one to come.”
He’s saying, it was still sin and we know that because of the death. Death reigned from Adam to Moses and that shows that everybody between those two was a sinner even if they were not transgressors like Adam. Even though they did not have the law.
So, everyone is a sinner. Right?
Paul says, “Everybody died, right?” Death reigned.
What column? Adam column.
But v.14 tells us that Adam was a “pattern” of the one to come.
There was Someone to come whom Adam was a pattern of.
And He gets a column all to Himself. Jesus Christ.
Adam was made to point to and to compare to Christ. V.15
“But the gift is not like the trespass.”
Here’s where it starts to get good.
You are supposed to compare these columns, but they don’t really compare!
“But the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God's grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many!”
Here’s our first “how much more.”
#1. SUPER-OVERFLOWING GRACE.
Now, I know that sounds a little corny, but I’ve got to do something to help us hear how much more is going on here.
What does verse 15 say goes in Adam’s column?
Death, right? “For if the many died by the trespass of the one man...”
That’s a lot.
But the Jesus column is greater. V.15 again.
“...how much more did God's grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many!”
Do you hear all of the grace words?
“God’s grace.” “Gift.” “Came by the grace.” “Overflow.”
God’s grace in Jesus is overflowing. The Greek word is “eperisseusen.” It’s directly connected to that word that caused me to pour a few jugs of water all over the floor up here a few years ago.
Adam may have earned death for us, but Jesus GIVES AWAY His grace. Super-overflowing grace. How much more!
#2. SUPER-EFFECTIVE JUSTIFICATION. V.16
“Again, the gift of God is not like the result of the one man's sin: The judgment followed one sin and brought condemnation, but the gift followed many trespasses and brought justification.”
What does Paul say goes in Adam’s column?
One sin and condemnation.
What does Paul say goes in Christ’s column?
Many sins fully paid for by the death of Christ and (our Romans word) “justification!” v.16 again.
“Again, the gift of God is not like the result of the one man's sin: The judgment followed one sin and brought condemnation, but the gift followed many trespasses and brought justification.”
Do you follow this?
We think it’s something that Adam sinned and then we all fell down.
We are all condemned because of Adam’s sin.
But this is saying, that’s something but it’s really nothing.
Think about all of the sins that have been committed.
And think about how Jesus’ death was sufficient to pay for them all!
Now, think about all of your sins. Past, present, and future.
And think about how Jesus’ death was sufficient to pay for them all.
So that you are justified.
You are declared righteous.
Just by believing! Just by faith alone in Jesus alone!
That’s what we’ve been learning about in Romans.
Justification by faith.
Super-effective justification.
How much more effective is the gift of Jesus than the sin of Adam!
Do you see how taken Paul is with what Jesus has accomplished? V.17
“For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God's abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ.”
There he goes again.
What goes in the Adam column? Death reigning.
I don’t know about you, but that sounds big.
The reign of death. The rule of death. The dominion of death.
All out of the one man Adam and his one big sin.
Death reigned.
But that’s nothing compared to this! “...how much more will those who receive God's abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ.”
#3. SUPER-LIVING REIGN.
I know that sounds kind of comic-book-ish, but forgive me, I can’t find words amazing enough to get it across.
Notice that in the Christ column, it’s not that life reigns, though he could have said that, but that Paul says that WE will reign!
“[T]hose who receive God's abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness” will reign in life!
That’s us, friends!
We will reign in life! When Christ returns, we will reign forever! We will live forever and share in Christ’s reign!
Everything that Adam was supposed to be and do as the ruler of the Earth but lost for himself and for humanity will be restored to us in the End.
Death will not reign. We will.
Not on our own, but “through the one man, Jesus Christ.”
How much more!
I’ve said it before and many times this year, I’m so tired of death.
We live under the specter of death. Death reigns right now.
Today is my friend Danny Mendez’s birthday. And it’s his first birthday since his wife died a few weeks ago.
I hate that!
I did 9 funerals in the last year. Many of you sat down to Thanksgiving dinners for the first time without a loved one who died.
Death reigns.
And the world we live in is profoundly broken.
Ferguson.
Whatever you think happened there between Wilson and Brown, you know that it’s not the way things ought to be.
The world is under the rule of death.
But life has broken through!
“How much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness (there’s our word again) [will] reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ.”
Notice that you have to receive it.
You have to receive God’s abundant provision of grace.
To be included in Adam, you only had to be born.
But to be included in Christ, you must believe.
And if you believe, you receive the gift of righteousness, justification by faith.
And then you will reign and rule in life. A bit now and fully to come.
Now in verse 18, Paul gets back to finishing the thought that he started in verse 12.
It’s what he’s been saying all along, but now he says it right out. V.18
“Consequently, just as the result of one trespass was condemnation for all men, so also the result of one act of righteousness was justification that brings life for all men.”
The Adam column has one big sin whose result was condemnation for all men in Adam.
And the Christ column is one act of righteousness (the Cross) whose result was justification that brings life to all men in Christ.
And he puts it in other words in verse 19.
“For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous.”
Adam and Christ.
This is the story of you.
It’s what happened to you.
You were in Adam and you were getting all that Adam’s column offers, but if you received Jesus’ and His gift, then you get all of what His column offers, as well.
And His column is so much greater!
One more. #4. SUPER-INCREASING GRACE.
Someone might say, but what about the Law?
Paul cares deeply about the Law (as we saw in verse 13).
Paul, you tell us the story of the world starting with Adam and then going to Jesus.
Death then life.
What was the point of the Law then?
And most good Jews would assume that the point of the Law was to try to solve the sin problem. But that’s not where Paul goes with it. V.20
“The law was added so that the trespass might increase. But where sin increased, grace increased all the more, so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
I think that what he’s saying is that the Law came about to intensify sin by showing how sinful it is. You instinctively feel that you shouldn’t steal, but when someone in authority says, “Don’t steal.” then you really feel how bad it is to steal.
And you really feel like stealing. Don’t you?
So sin intensifies and multiplies because the Law has arrived.
Sin increased.
V.20, “But where sin increased, grace increased all the more.”
How much more?
The Greek word here is, “hupereperisseusen” and it’s even more overflowing than the grace in verse v.15!
As we sing, “Grace Greater Than All My Sin!”
Sin reigned in death, but now grace reigns through righteousness.
Now, we who are believers in Jesus are dominated by grace!
We are ruled by grace!
By an ever increasing grace.
Grace increased all the more!
Do you know that because you belong to Jesus, you are ruled by an every increasing grace?
Paul is going to have much more to say about this in chapters 6, 7, and 8. We will get to them at the first of the year, Lord-willing.
He’s going to have to answer the question that naturally comes up, if grace increases with the increase in sin, maybe we should sin some more to make grace increase even more.
But that’s nonsense, of course.
No, because we see how sinful we are, we give even more glory to God because of how much grace we see we need and how much more grace-filled God is than we even needed.
Super-increasing grace calls for songs of loudest praise.
Not on our own but (v.21) “through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
Do you see what Paul has done?
He has told the story of the world. How the world went wrong with Adam.
And how sin and death have dominated our world for all of human history. The Adam column.
But now something greater has come.
Jesus Christ has sacrificed Himself in such a way that we now have:
Super-Overflowing Grace, because of His gift.
Super-Effective Justification, paying for all of our sins.
Super-Living Reign, restoring the righteous, living rule that Adam lost,
and Super-Increasing Grace, that reigns through righteousness.
How much more!
All of our hopes restored and so much more.
Same two points of application as last week.
#1. Put your faith in Jesus to be justified.
Because you don’t move from the Adam column to the Christ column without going through verse 17.
“Those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness...”
Only those who put their faith in Jesus get this grace, this justification, this life, this reign.
It’s so good! But you have to choose it. You have to put your faith in Christ alone.
And #2. Rejoice, rejoice, rejoice!
Because of how much more greater Jesus is has accomplished on our behalf.
We have every reason to rejoice.
***
Messages in this Series
01. All Roads Lead to Romans
02. I Am Not Ashamed of the Gospel
03. The Bad News
04. Hope for Holy Sexuality
05. The Even Worse News
06. The Worst News
07. Justified
08. Father Abraham
09. The Blessings of Justification
10. How Much More
