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Paul Pendleton

Grace Did Much More Abound

Romans 5:20
Paul Pendleton • June, 21 2026 • Video & Audio
352 Sermons
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Paul Pendleton
Paul Pendleton • June, 21 2026
352 sermons

Sermon Transcript

Auto-generated transcript • May contain errors

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If you can, be turning with me to Romans 5. Romans 5. And I was glad to hear that message from Joe this morning. And we are going to be preaching the same message, although it's from a different passage. Because Christ is all. Romans 5, and I'm just going to read verse 20 for now. Moreover, the law entered that the offense might abound, but where sin abounded, grace did much more abound. I want to look at this morning grace, and specifically at grace abounding. We see, looking back up into the previous verses, and I'm not gonna read them, I'm just gonna mention some things, but verse 17, some contrast, if you will, in these several verses.

By one man's offense, death reigned. Then we see one man brings grace and righteousness. Then in verse 18, by one man, judgment came to all men unto condemnation, it says. Then we read, by one man's righteousness, the free gift came on all to justification of life. Verse 19, by one man, many were made sinners. But then by one man's obedience, many shall be made righteous. And then our text verse, verse 20.

The law entered that the offense might abound. the offense was already there. Because one man brought all of the above to us. Death. Men were judged and found wanting and condemned. They were made sinners. The law made what was already there to abound. But grace nullified it. and was gave to some, something totally different. They were given something totally different than what that one man did. Grace gave them life before God. Grace does much more abound.

So let's look at it. Where sin abounded, and we will look at these specific words, and then grace did much more abound. So where sin abounded. And first, I do want to point out, this sin that is said to have abounded, and I mean to say it that way, abounded, but this sin that abounded does not abound for every man. It most certainly is there, and it is equally there in all mankind born of Adam.

While all men are sinners, some have no knowledge of the sin abounding in them. Some think they are pretty good folk. Others may agree that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. But they first of all don't think that the sin is to the extent of condemnation. They do not think that man's condition by nature is permanent. They think they can do a little better by doing something they think is God worthy.

They think they can make the good outweigh the bad. The problem is there is never any good. The deed is already done. Death reigns. Then some may know they are sinner but they don't care at all and love their state of sinning. They love committing sins and they are proud of it. And you could probably name other scenarios because man loves to devise his own ways.

Micah 2.1 says, woe to them that devise iniquity and work evil upon their beds. When the morning is light, they practice it because it is in the power of their hand. Man is all about devising his own way. And when he has done so, man practices it or does those devisings. It says iniquity is in our power. That's what it says.

But my point is this, not all have a schoolmaster. And a schoolmaster appointed by God to go to a certain point and then stop. Those who continually have this schoolmaster, those who want this schoolmaster all the time, do not have a schoolmaster, but they are a god unto themselves. When we talk about the law entering here, we are talking about a schoolmaster.

Sin abounds in every man, but not all know this. Walter's been going through Galatians, Galatians three, turn with me there, Galatians three. And hopefully, Walter has passed this part of the passage, so we won't go back to it. But that didn't work out before when I thought that either. But Galatians 3, verses 22 through 25.

But the scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe. But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed. Wherefore, the law was our schoolmaster unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.

But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster. God appoints this schoolmaster to those he is pleased to appoint him to. but they do not stay under the schoolmaster. There is a time when the schoolmaster stops being a schoolmaster, and that time is appointed by God. As we just read there, it is when faith comes.

But in our text it says the law entered, and that is the schoolmaster, we know that. Now don't get me wrong, the law proves all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. but it does not make sin abound in every man. What happens when the law enters?

Sin grows even bigger, you might say. It becomes greater. It starts to abound. It becomes this big weight around our neck, and it makes it impossible to do anything. You are enslaved to it, kept prisoner by it. It's a crushing weight. Those who are under it start to labor, and they are heavy laden by it. Sin abounds. You begin to see that death reigns in you, and that you're judged and condemned, that you are a sinner.

The law shows us we are dead, dead in trespasses and in sin. We cannot keep the law. The law shows us we have already broken the law. Every time we see the law, we see more points of the law that we have broken. I'm talking about God's people. It becomes apparent to some, to God's people, that they have broken the whole law. We come to see and know in our soul that we cannot get out from under this crushing weight of this law, this schoolmaster. But there comes a time When something else comes, it at least comes to us. The grace of God is shed abroad in our heart. The law does not show us this. It's only when faith comes by the grace of God that we will ever see what our escape is.

So next, grace did much more about it. Now I want to look at some of these words specifically. And the reason I do this is because there are some who will say, if this is true, why don't we sin so that grace may abound? Paul knew this would be the response of some if you turn right over to chapter six. And this is a continuing thought here too. It's not a different chapter, it's a continuing thought. I'm gonna read the first 12 verses just to get the weight of what he's saying. Chapter 6 verse 1, what shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we that are dead to sin live any longer therein?

Know ye not that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore, we are buried with him by baptism into death, that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection, knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. For he that is dead is freed from sin. Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him. Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead doth no more, death has no more dominion over him.

For in that he died, he died unto sin once, but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God. Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lust thereof. The answer to such a comment, to such a thought as that, is God forbid. Sin is still there in the old man, but it has been crucified with Christ.

And we now live in Christ. And we are told, we just read it, reckon those things to be so because they are so. Even though we may not see it all the time because of this old man. But again, let's look at the words where it says where sin abounded. The word sin there is a noun. Now an action of sin can and is a thing. It is a real thing. But this sin that abounded is something we come to see is what we are.

All those contrasts that we read, we come to see that's what we are by nature. And this schoolmaster shows us this. But then we see the next word, abounded. It does not say abounds or is abounding. It says abounded, past tense. Here's what it says of this word in the Greek. I'm not going to go into the specifics of the Greek word, but I want to look at what it was given, the meaning of this.

It is aortas tense points to, the aortas tense points to a definitive historical occurrence. It views the entirety of human sin brought to light and multiplied by the giving of the law as a singular, complete, and expansive reality. What caught my eye is where it says they're singular, complete, and expansive reality. All those contrasts, as I'm calling them, are definite. They are a singular act done by one man that has caused a complete and expansive reality to exist for mankind.

And we can sum it up with one of those that it gives, death. We are dead before a thrice holy God. This flesh will in no way do anything to get back to God because it can't. And the law was there to confirm this. The law was not given to instruct us how we might accomplish this, as some would suggest. It is not given to instruct us how to love before God. It is there to show us we are dead in trespasses and in sin. It is given so that we will shut our mouth and it proclaims our guilt before God.

However, there comes a point in time that it no longer abounds. Sin no longer abounds in us because something came in and changed that, at least in time for us. And I got more to say about that later, but it totally nullified what one man did by another man. And like I said, they're still in this flesh, but for some it no longer abounds. They're still sitting there in this flesh.

Not because of what we do or do not do, but because grace comes. What about those words when it speaks of grace? It's one word where it says this, did much more abound. But what grace did was to completely overtake sin and it took it out of the way, and that's probably not even the best way to say it, and I'll explain later as I say it. Now our text does not necessarily say all this, but we did not read the last verse, verse 21.

That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. We start out that as sin hath reigned. It is something that is completed, but it has ongoing impact on this flesh, death. We are born in Adam dead sinners who have been judged past tense so that we have no reason that we can say we can do anything toward God. But what does grace do? It reigns.

It reigns through righteousness, the righteousness of Jesus Christ, because it says, by Jesus Christ. His righteousness is unto eternal life for all those who are in Him, Ephesians 2, 7 through 9, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace and His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.

For by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. Grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. When God is pleased to allow us to see this by faith, the weight lifts from our shoulders.

Because we start to see by Jesus Christ and by his grace. We start to see just how bad sin really is. Because it took Jesus Christ, God, to come down and pay for those sins. We've been freed from that law, and because of that we are no longer dead and condemned in him. This flesh is still dead, but thanks be to the grace of God, because of Jesus Christ, we now have life in him. Grace now super abounds, and we no longer serve sin, we don't. Romans 6 says, knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. It does not say we do not sin, it says we do not serve sin.

I want to serve Jesus Christ perfectly, but I cannot. but his grace comes in and conquers our soul, there is an operation that takes place by that great physician. There is a circumcision, Colossians 2 11 says, in whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands. In putting off of the body of sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ. One day I will be able to serve him as he ought to be fully served. when I lay this body down. But because of what he has done for us and to us, we no longer serve sin. We serve Jesus Christ. There's no doubt, man as he is born in Adam, we as we are born in Adam, have wrath against God. Because death reigns. Turn over with me to Psalm 2 for a minute, Psalm 2. It's a short one, so I'm going to go ahead and read it all. Psalm 2. Psalm 2.

Why do the heathen rage and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against his anointed, saying, let us break their bands asunder and cast away their cords from us.

He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh. The Lord shall have them in derision. Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath and vex them in his sore displeasure. Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion. I will declare the decree the Lord has set unto me. Thou art my son, this day have I begotten thee. Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen. for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession.

Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron. Thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel. Be wise now, therefore, O ye kings. Be instructed, ye judges of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way. for when his wrath is kindled but a little, blessed are all they that put their trust in him.

He pulled us from the heathens. That's what we are by nature. And some of those heathens have been given to Christ as an inheritance, that's what it says. Does not seem like much of an inheritance for him, does it? But Jesus Christ took those who, as I said in Danville last week, he took those who have committed whoredoms against God. Just as we see pictured in the account of Hosea and Gomer, Christ plucked us from those who hated God and who have committed whoredoms against him. But grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. The law entered and converted confirmed and indicted us to show us what we are.

There is no mercy in the law, the law kills. But thank God by his grace, he makes us alive. Those words for abounded and abound, they both are very close in the same meaning. They're different words, but they are close in the same meaning. Sin abounded by one man and the complete effects were immediate and complete.

Grace was always there. Joe just read that to us. Grace has always been there. It's not like grace came in and overtook it. It was always there before the foundation of the world. But there comes a time for God's people It was made manifest to us. This grace came to us, was made manifest to us through the gospel. Through faith, he reveals Christ to us. The law, the schoolmaster is then gone. God gives us faith and we believe him.

Romans 4.16 says, therefore it is of faith that it might be by grace. To the end, the promise might be sure to all the seed, not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all. Let's talk about Jews and Gentiles. Any who God is pleased to shed his grace on are given the faith of Christ. The law comes in and says you are guilty. But grace comes to us in that appointed time, giving us faith, and then we say by faith, the faith of Jesus Christ, we begin to say this.

Romans 3.31, do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid, yea, we establish the law. What does faith do?

It looks to Jesus Christ and what he has done. It believes Jesus Christ when he said it is finished in both times, Walker, that he said it. It was done in obedience twice, you can say, by Jesus Christ. He fulfilled the law where every jot and tittle and he redeemed those who were under the law. The law comes in and says guilty, condemned to death. Jesus Christ came in and said, saved by the grace of God through me, through him. Freedom. We've been freed from the law of sin and death. Not so that we might commit more sins that grace might abound. Those sins have already abounded. The full force of that sin is already known. We've been judged and condemned.

But grace through Jesus Christ our Lord says life and salvation to all those whom I have inherited. His grace causes us and enables us to serve him. No, not perfectly, but we do serve him. One man brought grace and righteousness, that's Jesus Christ. One man brought righteousness to justification of life. He, by his righteousness, by his righteous works, justified a people, made them right in the sight of God, giving them life. Justice was satisfied. That condemnation was satisfied.

We come to know and see that though we were dead, we now have life in Christ Jesus. We have been exempted from that law by the works of Jesus Christ who brought grace and truth. Grace came along way before we were even aware of it. But it is also manifested to us by grace in God giving us his faith to let us know his grace reigns. Do you want law or grace?

Amen. Thank you, God, for the gift of your son, dear Lord. We thank you. You've given him us as an inheritance, not that we're worth anything, but he's worth all. And we thank you that we have all in him, dear Lord, cause us to look to him and him alone. All these things we ask in Christ's name, amen.
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Sovereign Grace Chapel
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