Once again, we're in the book
of Romans, chapter 5. We left off last week with verse
11, so we're going to pick it up again this week in verse 12.
And the design of these verses is this. There are two points
to what we're about to look at. First is to show how men came
to be in the condition of sin, in the condition of depravity,
and the inability to do anything that would please the Lord in
the flesh. Secondly is to compare the two heads. Christ. God sees all men in Adam, their
head and representative. In his descendants we are all
under sin, condemned to death. Yet God sees the believer in
Christ, his head as a representative. In Christ we are redeemed and
we live in him. In Adam we died. In Christ we
live. In Adam, we lost the way, the
truth, and the life. In Christ, he is the way, the
truth, and the life. Adam is a type in reverse of
Christ. Adam, the first Adam. The only
way that Adam typified Christ was as the head of a race. The
remainder of the comparison is the opposite of that. Look over,
if you would, at 1 Corinthians 15. 1 Corinthians 15, one book
to the right. And look with me, if you would,
at verses 45 through 49. 1 Corinthians chapter 15, beginning
at verse 45, and we're talking about the two Adams here. The
first Adam being Adam with Eve, and the second Adam being our
Lord Jesus Christ. And so it is written in verse
45, the first man Adam, that's Adam and Eve, was made a living
soul. The last Adam was made a quickening spirit. How be it? That was not first, which is
spiritual. but that which is natural and afterward, which
is that which is spiritual. The first man is of the earth,
earthly. The second man is the Lord of
heaven. As is the earthy, such are they
also that are earthy. And as is the heavenly, such
are they also that are heavenly. And as we have borne the image
of the earthly, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly. So there we see the difference
between the two Adams. The first Adam, man, he was a
living soul. The second Adam, as it said,
was a quickening spirit. First Adam, man, was of the earth. The second one was Lord of heaven.
The second one made sinners in him. The first one made sinners
in him, in what he had done. And the second one made righteous
in him, in what he had done. First Adam, death reigned in
him. The second Adam, life can be
found in Him. Now, in verse 12, we read of
Romans chapter 5, where we pick up after we did last week. Now
remember, last week, we looked at being justified by faith.
Actually, that was two weeks ago. And then we saw the love
of God and how He justified us by faith in verses 3 through
11. So in verse 12, we pick up, wherefore, because of that, because
of God's love for His people, because we were reconciled to
God by the death of His Son, as we read in verse 10, wherefore,
as by one man, Sin entered into the world, and death by sin,
and so death passed upon all men. the first man created on this
earth, transgression, sin, entered into the world. And by reputation,
in other words, a representation and imputation, sin and its results,
and the results of that is spiritual death, physical death, darkness,
disease, and enmity against God, it entered into all men after
that. When Adam sinned and fell, we
sinned and fell in him. Sin was not only imputed to us,
but a nature of sin was imparted to us, and we can read that over
in Psalms 51. In verse 5 we read these words, and in sin did my mother conceive
me." See there? We were born in sin. Our nature
was conformed to sin by what Adam had done. Over in the 58th
Psalm, just a couple of pages to the right, we read it this
way over there in verse 3, the wicked are estranged from the
womb. They go astray as soon as they
be born, speaking lies. Is that not each and every one
of us? That was our nature before God came along and gave us a
new nature. Look at our text. You'll notice
at the beginning of verse 13, there's a parenthesis. Back in
Romans chapter 5, you'll notice there's a parenthesis at number
13 there, all the way through the end of number 17. So we're
going to skip that. We'll come back to it. But let's
jump up to verse 18 for just a moment, would you? for all had sinned in verse 12.
Therefore, as by the offense of one, judgment came upon all
men. You see how that goes together
there? And condemnation, even so by the righteousness of one,
the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life. Paul
is telling us that therefore as one man's One man's sin, in
other words, Adam's sin, led to judgment and condemnation
for all who he represented. That was all of mankind, that
means you and I included. So by one man's obedience, that
would be Christ Jesus, because who in the world, other than
Christ, obeyed God? I have never done it. Some people
think they are. Some people truly think that
they're obeying God to the T. good enough to make them better
than what they were before. There was only one whose obedience
satisfied God the Father, whose sacrifice brought justification
upon mankind, whose redemption redeemed a people unto himself
and life to all for whom he represented. That was Christ Jesus. We weren't
present physically when Adam fell, but we were in his loins.
We were in him as the covenant head of human race. Therefore,
we were condemned in Him. In the same fashion, when our
Lord perfectly obeyed God's holy requirements and satisfied God's
justice on the cross, we were in Him as His seed and as a covenant
people. That's what we read over in 1
Corinthians. I'll turn over and read it for you over in chapter
15 of 1 Corinthians. We read these words in verses
21 and 22. For since by man came death,
By name came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all
died, even so in Christ, the second Adam, shall all be made
alive. And therefore, we are accepted
in him and justified by him. Back in our text in verse 19,
we read these words. For as one man's disobedience,
many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many
be made righteous. Well, the words here were made
and be made, in this verse are very important to consider. We're
made and be made. Adam's sin did not put us on
trial and make us only susceptible to sin or lead us into sin. Did
you catch that? Adam's sin did not put us on
trial and make us only susceptible to sin or lead us into sin, but
by his fall, we were actually made sinners. We were actually
made to be sinners. I am actually a sinner. God doesn't
judge me for what Adam did. He judges me for me. I'm a sinner. I know I'm a sinner. I don't
stand there and tell you, oh, the devil made me do it. Oh,
Adam made me do it. I am a sinner and I used to love
sin. Now you think, what? You used
to love the evil and wickedness that was in you? Folks, everything
that doubts, everything in our flesh that doubts our Lord, that
does not believe God for who He is, what He did, and where
He is right now, is as much a sin as anything else you can think
of in your life. Doubting God is the same thing
as calling Him a liar. And before the Lord called me
out of darkness, just the fact that I didn't care about Him
was enough to say that I don't believe Him. People think that
only Those who are child rapists, those who are cheaters on their
wives or husbands, those who kill somebody are sinners. Everything
about the human mind is sinful to our God. We lived in darkness
and we loved that darkness and we turned from the light, we
would not come to it. That's the sin nature that we
have within us. Adam's sin did not make us sinners,
we are sinners by nature through what he had done. Just the same,
even so, Christ's obedience did not render us savable nor enable
us to be righteous before God by our own works, but we were
made righteous and sanctified entirely on the basis of what
He did. That's what 2 Corinthians 5,
verse 21 is all about. I'll turn over there and let
me read that for you. 2 Corinthians 5, verse 21. For
He, God, hath made Him, His Son, to be sin for us, he who knew
no sin, that we might be made the righteousnesses of God in
him. Back in our text, in verse 20,
we read, moreover, the law entered that the offense might abound,
but where sin abounded, grace did much more abound. The law
came in to make apparent, to make it perfectly clear what
evil was. what evil was in us by birth
and nature. The law takes away all excuses
and reveals to us what we are. We are guilty sinners before
God, but where sin overflowed, abounded, and contaminated every
facility of us, the grace of God in Christ did much more overflow. It was more than what we could
fill ourselves with sin. Christ overfilled us with His
grace, with His mercy. Turn over to 1 John. Chapter
5, look with me if you would at verses 3 through 5. For this
is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments
are not grievous, for whatsoever is born of God overcometh the
world. And this is the victory that
overcometh the world, even our faith. Who is he that overcometh
the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God.
Sin has such a power over men in our state of nature that it's
said to reign in death. It's dominion, controlling, commanding
power over voluntary subjects, so it is the state of regeneration. Righteousness in Christ, the
grace of God, reigns and holiness becomes our governing principle.
People say, well, you don't have any law on you. You're a lawless
people. What is that word? Antinomian? Lawless? You don't have to follow the
law? That's foolish. I'm gonna bring that a little
deeper too. That is such foolishness to a child of God, isn't it?
You may think we're talking that where the law is no good, but
the law is perfect. God, everything about our God
is good. Everything about it. Everything
about our Lord is good. But folks, it doesn't matter
how good I try to do God's law, it's not good enough. I need
somebody who's perfect, who's done it perfectly for me. Nothing
I can do in this flesh will satisfy my God. But my Savior, His yoke
is easy, His burden is light, because He's done it all for
us. He said it is finished. Now look at verse 21 of our text
here. That sin hath reigned under death,
even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life
by Jesus Christ our Lord. Sin had such power over us in
our natural state, that it is to sin have reigned in death. It had dominion, controlling,
commanding power. Okay, let's look over at Romans
chapter 6 and look at verse 12 and 14 over there. We're talking
about the power of our God overreigning the sinfulness of our flesh.
12-14 we read these words, Let not sin therefore reign in your
mortal body, that it should obey it in the lust thereof. Neither
yield your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin,
but yield yourselves unto God as those that are alive from
the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness
unto God." There's the practical godliness. But practical godliness,
folks, cannot be left to itself. We have to include the gospel. Verse 14, "'For sin shall not
have dominion over you for a year, not under the law, but under
Grace. Oh, how wonderful. There's the
gospel. There's the gospel. Grace. Grace. And more grace. Now go back to
verse 13 of our text. Romans chapter 5, verse 13. In
verses 13 and 14, we read these words. For until the law, sin
was in the world, but sin was not imputed where there is no
law. Nevertheless, death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over
them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression.
who is the figure of him that was to come. Now back in verse
12, it declares this. It says that death passed upon
all men. That means death passed upon,
as we just read, even on Adam. Adam and Eve died at their natural
old age. They lived only so many years.
They're not still alive with us today, are they? The body
has to return to the dust. And that's what this is talking
about. Nevertheless, death laid from Adam unto Moses. The law
is not what causes death. Sin causes death. In verse 12
it declares that death hath put all men. None can stop it or
escape its power because in Adam all have sinned. Even those who
lived before the law was given in Sinai were sinners under the
condemnation. But someone might argue this.
They say, well, where there was no law, a man is not accountable. Is that true? If this be true,
then why did death reign before Moses? Why did people die? Infants died, didn't they? Infants
who did not even commit an act of rebellion like Adam did died
because Adam was a figure of Christ in one respect, as we
have stated back in 1 Corinthians 15, 21. We've already read that.
Continuing on back in our text in verse 15, but not as the offense
also is a free gift. For if through the offence of
one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and here's that
overflowing grace, that abundant grace that we just talked about
a minute ago, much more the grace of God and the gift by grace
which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many. Though
in one sense Adam is a type of Christ, the fallen Adam and the
judgments which followed are not worthy to be compared to
the grace of God and the free gift of life which we find in
his son, the Lord Jesus. In Adam, we lost all things.
In Christ, we gained much, much more than we lost. Verse 16,
we read this, and not as it was by one that sinned, So is the gift for the judgment
was by one the condemnation, but the free gift is of many
offenses unto justification. Now this is talking about the
effect of Christ's obedience. It should not be compared to
the effect of Adam's sin. Adam's obedience bestows much
more than what we lost in the fall. Our Lord pardons our sin. If Adam had never sinned, our
Lord wouldn't have to pardon us for anything, would he? You
see the point though that's being made here about how much Christ
is much more than what Adam did? What we gained through Christ
is much more than what we lost in Adam? Our Lord Jesus shines
His grace upon us because of that. And because of that, that
grace is much more beautiful than even the creation that God
created in Adam. We see the mercy of God in what
He's done for His people. Christ pardons us for sin. Not just one, but all. Christ
justifies in such a way that the believer is righteous and
can never perish. We can read about that in John
10. And then in verse 17, we read these words. For if by one
man's offense death reigned by one, much more they which receive
abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness shall reign
in life by one, Jesus Christ. If through Adam death reigned
over us, much more shall those who are made righteous in Christ
reign in Him." Look over at Romans chapter 8, would you? And we'll
close with that. Verses 16 and 17. We shall reign
unto life in our Savior, Christ Jesus. We who are made righteous
by Christ, we reign with Him. In verse 16 we read this, The
Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit that we are the
children of God. And if children, then heirs. Heirs of God and joint heirs
with Christ. Has God given Christ everything?
Does He not sit on the throne of all things now, working all
things out after His own will? Isn't that where the Lord Jesus
sits right now? Well, if He's sitting there,
doesn't it say in Ephesians Because of the love of God, He's made
us to sit in heavenly places in Christ. We're joint heirs
with the Savior. Everything is ours. All of this
world, all of the troubles that we deal with in this world, it's
all ours. Nothing can harm us. If He gave
His only begotten Son for us, if He gave His Son to lay down
for us life, how shall He not give us everything else with
it? And if children that heirs of
God and joint heirs with Christ, if so that we suffer with him,
that we may be also glorified together. All to one who is in
Christ the Lord. What we have to be thankful for
is so, so, so much.