I invite you this morning to
turn in your Bibles with me to Romans chapter 5. Romans the 5th chapter. It is my personal conviction
as your pastor and as a preacher of the Gospel to be faithful
to my God. to be faithful to my God and
to be faithful to this congregation and faithful to the stewardship
of the ministry that He's given to me. You and I are among the
most privileged men and women in this world. I want you to stop and think
about what I'm telling you. We are among the most privileged
men and women in this world. Thousands are gathered this morning
in total spiritual darkness with blind leaders of the blind standing
up, going on and on and on, ceremony after ceremony, readings after
readings, events after events, speaking, talking, All for nothing. All about nothing. I listened to a man preach on
the radio the other day for 30 minutes, and when he was done,
he said absolutely nothing. Nothing. He just talked. He just talked. He didn't have
anything to say about the things of God. We're among the most
privileged of the sons of men. We've been shown great things. Great things. Paul said, if our
gospel is hid, it's hid to the lost in whom the God of this
world hath blinded the minds of them that believe not, lest
the glorious gospel of Christ should shine unto them. We've been shown great things,
wondrous things, things that even the princes of this world
who wanted to see it never saw. Things that the angels desire
to look into. Paul said in 1 Corinthians 4,
1, Let a man so account of us as ministers of Christ, now listen,
and stewards of the mysteries of God. God has showed us that
mystery hidden before the foundation of the world, Paul said. These
mysteries of the Gentiles, hidden for thousands of years, but now
made known. Now made known. What a blessed
privilege. And then Peter tells us in 1
Peter 4, verse 10, as every man hath received the gift, even
so minister the same one to another as good stewards, now listen,
of the manifold grace of God. That's what it is. It's God's
gift of grace. It's not my desire to come in
here or at any other time or in any other place and just speak
like an empty echo bouncing around in the canyon of humanity. That's
not my purpose. Not my purpose. I came here this
morning to speak to you who are here. Not to those who are, boy,
that guy, you should have been there. That was for you. No,
it was for you. If it was for him, he would have
been here. It's for you. It's for you. And to speak to
you personally and pointedly about these eternal things. So
I hope you'll give me an honest hearing this morning. I've chosen
from my text this morning the last verse of Romans chapter
5. Romans 5 verse 21. That as sin hath reigned unto
death, Even so, might grace reign through
righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord." I
want to talk to you this morning about sin and grace. Everything Paul had to say, he
sums up in this last verse. Romans 5, verse 21. And here's
how he sums it up. and grace. A very old and dear preacher
friend of mine said one time in a message, any message that
does not deal with sin and grace is not worth hearing. And it's
not worth recording. And it's not worth writing in
a book. If it doesn't deal with these two subjects, there are
two forces at work in this world, sin and grace. That's what's
going on. You look around, what's going
on? What's going on? I was talking to one of my neighbors
yesterday and he was just all excited and upset and anxious
about earthquakes. Earthquakes in Oklahoma and earthquakes
in Arkansas and earthquakes in Texas and places where you just
don't hear about earthquakes. And he was upset about it. He
said, you know, that's a sign of the end of time. What's going on? What's going
on? That's what he said. What's going on? And I was thinking
to myself, here's what's going on. Sin and grace. That's what's going on. Two forces
actively engaged in the lives of men and women living out their
days in this evil world. Sin and grace. Every thought
we take, every step we walk, every work we do is owing to
one of these two forces. or grace. Sin or grace. And if we're to
deal honestly and faithfully and affectionately with our generation,
we must make our preaching to center on these two things, sin
and grace. I'm not hearing anything said
about sin. I don't know about you. I don't
hear anybody talking about sin. They're talking about prophecies.
They're talking about mysteries. They're talking about future
events. They're talking about Antichrist. They're talking about
this, that, and the other, but nobody's talking about sin. And
nobody's talking about grace. So let's talk about these two
things this morning. First of all, let's talk about
sin. What is sin? Can you define it? What is sin? I thought I knew what sin was
at one time. I didn't know anything at all
about it. What is sin? Well, let's just start with the
basics. In 1 John chapter 3 and verse 4, he says, whosoever committeth
sin transgresseth the law. For sin is the transgression
of the law. That's pretty basic, isn't it?
There shouldn't be anybody in here that doesn't understand
that. The law commands me to honor my father and mother. If
I don't, I sin. That's pretty simple. If God commands us in the law
to love Him with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength, and
we don't do it, it's sin. To covet is sin. To steal is
sin. To commit adultery is sin. Sin
is the transgression of the law. Now this is about as far as a
natural man can go. He understands that if that stop
sign says stop and he don't stop, he transgresses the law. He understands
that. He can go that far. But that's
as far as a natural man can go in his understanding of transgression. And this is why religious folks
who've never been converted talk about being holy. They talk about
walking a holy life. They talk about personal godliness
and all of these things, that they're righteous before God,
that they do things and God approves of those things and blesses them
for it. Paul said in his natural, unconverted, religious state,
he said, I was blameless as touching the law. That's what he said. That's what he thought. That's
what he believed in his heart. He was blameless as touching
those things of the law. You can find that in Philippians
3, verse 6. And then he tells us also in
Romans 7, verse 9, he said, I was alive without the law once. Now,
he's still talking about that same thing. He was alive. In
other words, he thought he had eternal life. based on his own
works of righteousness, based on his standing with the law.
He thought, well, the law said tithe, I tithe. The law said
keep Sabbath day, I keep Sabbath day. Law says honor your father
and mother, I honor my father and mother. Therefore, I'm righteous
before God. He was alive without the law
once, without a true knowledge of it. But he said when the commandment
came, when it came in power, when it came in truth, When it
came in revelation, he said, then sin was revived. And I died. I died. Well, what was the problem? What
did Paul come to learn about the law and sin that caused such
a radical change in his opinion of himself and in his opinion
of others? What happened? What took place?
Romans chapter 7, verse 14. We know that the law is spiritual,
and I am carnal, sold unto sin. What does that mean, the law
is spiritual? It means that the law is given
by the Holy Spirit of God. It means that what it commands
must be in accordance with his own perfection, with God's own
perfection. It must be in accordance with
God's own character. The law is spiritual. It doesn't
examine you on the basis of the best you can do. It doesn't examine
you on the best that any man can do. It examines you on the
basis of his own perfections and character. It's spiritual. It's spiritual. Our Lord told
those Pharisees, He said, you say to commit adultery, that's
a sin. You're out of wedlock. You lie
with a woman. That's adultery, he said. But
he said, I'll tell you what this law means. This law says to look
on a woman and lust after her is to commit adultery in your
heart. This law is spiritual. It's spiritual. And the plumb
line of God's righteous judgment will not be according to the
best that we can do, but by the holy standard manifested in the
life of Christ. Listen to what Paul preached
to those philosophers on Mars Hill. He said, God has appointed
a day in which he'll judge this world in righteousness, now listen,
by that man whom he hath ordained. He's the standard. A spiritual
law demands perfect, unbroken obedience in motive, thought,
and deed. And that which the Holy Ghost
has written Even though He writes it through men, even though He
inspired these writings through men, that which the Holy Ghost
has written is not of this world. It is of God. It is of God. And He says, listen to this in
Hebrews chapter 4, And this Word by which we are judged is a discerner
of the thoughts and intents of the heart, and there is no creature
that is not manifest in its sight, but all things are naked and
open unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do." The law is spiritual. And then
he goes on to say, but I am carnal, sold unto sin. Now, it's a sin
to transgress the law of God, but the problem goes a little
bit deeper than that. Paul said, I am carnal, sold
unto sin. Sin was no longer something that
a good man was tricked into doing or tempted into doing or that
a good man went wrong. That was no longer sin to him,
but sin was something he was. It's something that he was. He
was sold, he said, sold into slavery, sold under sin, dominated
by its power and influence. In Romans chapter 5, just before
we got to our text, it said, by one man's disobedience, many
were made sinners. See it there in your text, verse
19? Many were made sinners. Now the
word made in this verse, according to my strong concordance, means
to lay down permanently. To lay down permanently. To designate,
to constitute or to appoint. And when Adam fell, all of his
sons and daughters were permanently designated as sinners before
God. They were considered as sinners,
treated as sinners. In Romans 5, verse 12, it said,
By one man's sin entered into the world, and death by sin,
and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned. I'm going to show you something
here in this very next verse, in verse 13. that you may never
have considered before about this thing of sin. He says in
Romans 5.13, for until the law, sin was in the world, but sin
is not charged, it's not imputed, for there is no law. Nevertheless,
verse 14, death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them
who had not sinned the same way that Adam sinned. It reigned
over infants. It reigned over the mentally
retarded. It reigned over isolated tribes
and heathen idolaters who had no clear commandments of God.
Actually, God judged and destroyed the whole antediluvian world
before He ever gave a commandment of His law. Did you know that?
That's right. But He said up here that where
there is no law, sin is not imputed. Have you ever thought about that?
What in the world is he talking about? I'm talking about a man whose
very nature, heart, and mind is to sin, who loves darkness
rather than light. But how can God judge or impute
sin where there is no law? I want you to turn back to Romans
chapter 2. If sin cannot be charged where
there is no law, how could the righteous God destroy this world
because of sin. Romans 2, verse 11. He's talking
to the Jews now. He's already talked to the heathen
Gentiles. Now he's talking to the Jews.
And he said, there are no respective persons with God. For as many
as have sinned without the law shall also perish without the
law, and as many have sinned in the law shall be judged by
the law. For not the hearers of the law
are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified."
Now here's what I want you to see. For when the Gentiles, which
have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law,
these having not the law are a law unto themselves. They are
a law unto themselves which show the work of the law written in
their hearts. They had no law on paper, they
had no law on stones, but they had God's law. And it's written
in their minds and on their hearts. It's written into their very
character from their creation. And their conscience bears witness
of it. and their thoughts either accused
or excused. And God will judge them by His
Son in that day. The truth Paul learned about
sin is that sin is what he was and who he was. And then he began
to cry in Romans chapter 7. Oh, he said, in my flesh, in
my flesh dwelleth no good thing. You see the difference now between
transgression of law and being seen under the law. This law demanded absolute perfection,
absolute holiness, absolute godliness, love for God with all your heart,
soul, mind, and strength, and man who can produce not the least
thing written in the law. In my flesh, he said, dwelleth
no good thing. That's Romans 7, verse 18. John says this. We're talking
about sin. What is sin? It's the transgression
of the law. But it goes farther than that.
It goes deeper than that. It's a principle of the heart.
And the fallen man is a sinner. He is sin. He is sin. And this is what John said. He's
talking about the converted man now. And he said, if we say we
had no sin, we deceive ourselves. We've got it. We've got it. It's what we are. Sin. If we
say we have not sinned, then we make God a liar and His Word
is not in us. Now, just turn one page with
me here in Romans to Romans chapter 3. God's law is spiritual. But we're carnal. We're sold
unto sin. We can't do the slightest thing
that law tells us to do. And yet God demands from us the
absolute perfection He commanded by the law. And then when we
look at ourselves in that light, we cry with Him, O wretched man,
who's going to deliver me? I can't do what God commands. I can't come up to those standards. Alright, now watch this. Romans
chapter 3, verse 19. And we know that what thing soever
the law saith, whether it's the law written on our hearts or
consciences or in the holy law of God, it saith to them who
are under the law that every mouth may be stopped. That's
why He gave it. To shut us up. to keep us from
our bold bragging about having no sin. That's all we can do
is sin. Well, now, you know, he's pretty
good. No, there's none good but God.
None good but God. He tells us this, that every
mouth may be stopped and all the world become guilty before
God. Therefore, by the deeds of the
law, there shall no flesh sinful flesh be justified in His sight. For by the law is the knowledge
of sin." I don't care what law it is. Here's how it just keeps
telling you, you're a sinner. You're a sinner. That's what
your conscience tells you. That's what the law of God tells
you. That's what the gospel tells you. You're a sinner. You're
a sinner. And Adam's sin entered into this
world and death, spiritual death, was passed upon all men. And
it's not the lack of moral leaders in this world. It's not the rising
up of this world's degenerate children. It's not the moral
decline of the home or the taking of prayer out of the schools.
It's sin. Sin. That's what he tells us. Sin hath reigned unto death. It reigns in the heathen idolaters
and it reigns in the religious. It reigns in the bars and it
reigns in the churches. It is the permanent designation
of God upon the sons of Adam. You can't work your way out of
it. You can't will your way out of it and you can't run your
way out of it. There is only one way out of
the curse of Adam, and that is the free and sovereign grace
of God. Do you notice in that last verse
that he mentions nothing else? As sin hath reigned under death,
even so might grace reign. That is the only thing that is
going to get you out of it. Grace. Two forces at work in
this world, sin and grace. And the only hope for any fallen,
depraved son of Adam is that God has interceded on his account
by His grace. I'd like for you to turn with
me to Ephesians chapter 2. I know I quote this all the time,
but I want you to read it. Ephesians chapter 2. I want to
show you this intervention of grace. beginning with verse 1. And you hath He quickened, made
alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins. Wherein in time past
you walked according to the course of this world, now He's describing
to you what He just told you. He told you you were dead in
trespasses and sins, and now He's going to describe that death
to you. You walked according to the course of this world,
according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit
that now worketh in the children of disobedience, among whom also
we all had our conversation in times past, in the lust of our
flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind,
and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others." That's
where we were. That's what we were, and that's
who we were. But God, look here in verse 4,
who is rich in mercy, and for His great love wherewith He loved
us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together
with Christ, by grace, now watch this, ye are saved. Now you look down there a little
bit and then He says this, by grace are you saved. But that's
not what this says. This says, by grace ye are saved. When was that? That's when God
quickened me to gather with Christ before the foundation of the
world. And, what's this? He's not done
yet. And, verse 6, and hath raised us up together. He made me appear
when He appeared. He made me live under the law
when He lived under the law. He made me die when He died.
And then He raised me up when He raised Him up. He has raised
us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places in
Christ Jesus. That in the ages to come He might
show the exceeding riches of what? What does that say? 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. For we're His workmanship, created
in Christ Jesus. He did that when He quickened
us together with Him. Unto good works which God hath
before ordained that we should walk. Back before the fall of
man and God's curse upon His offspring, the Father chose a
people out of every nation, tribe, kindred, and tongue under Him.
It's called in Scripture the election of grace. The election
of grace. Who's going to be saved? Everybody
God chose to save. That's who's going to be saved.
Well, who are they? I don't know. I don't know. But
in time, I do. Because everyone that he gave
to the Son, everyone that the Father chose, comes to the Son. Every one of them. And that's
what Paul told those Thessalonians. After seeing their faith, after
seeing the Gospel become effectual in their hearts and minds and
in their lives, he said, now, he said, I know your election
of God. And by that same rule, Peter
said, make your calling and election sure. It's an election of grace. The
Apostle Paul, he took election past the Jews. Religion likes
to say, well, all those passages that talk about election talking
about the Jews. They never talk about the Jews.
They're always talking about Gentiles. Almost everywhere that
occurs, he's talking about Gentiles. But the Apostle Paul takes it
past the Jews and includes the Jews. to God's spiritual Israel,
which is made up of both Jews and Gentiles. And in the light
of the Jews' rejection of Christ, he gives hope to his hearers,
quoting an Old Testament type. He quotes old Elijah down there
in the cave. Jezebel is seeking after his
life, and he's hiding down there in the cave, and he begins to
cry unto the Lord. He'd been forsaken by everybody,
and he said, I'm the only one left. I'm the only one left. Listen to what God tells him
here. In Romans 11, verse 4, he said, I have reserved to myself
7,000 men who have not bowed the knee to Baal. But now watch this. Even so,
at this present time also, there is a remnant according to the
election of grace. And if by grace, then it is no
more works, otherwise grace is no more grace. He came before
Rebecca, who conceived by her husband Isaac. And he said of
the children, before they was ever born, before they ever did
any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election
might stand. Jacob have I loved, Esau have
I hated. And the elder is going to serve
the younger. God's grace intervened when God the Father determined
to save a people for His glory. He blessed them with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places in Christ. He chose us, Paul
tells us in Ephesians 1, before the world was in Christ. He predestinated us unto the
adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself according to
the good pleasure of His will. And to the praise of the glory
of His grace, He made us accepted in the blood. In Him we have
redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sin according
to the riches of His grace." Are you with me on this thing
of grace? It's just grace upon grace upon grace. And it's sin
upon sin upon sin. And the only thing that's going
to deliver you from that sin is that eternal grace of God. We are going to have to come
to find something out personally, experienced in our heart of that
grace. In these things God abounded
toward us in all wisdom and prudence, causing us to obtain the inheritance
predestinated of Him who worketh all things after the counsel
of His own will, and all to the praise of the glory of His grace. who first trusted in Christ.
Salvation is by grace, electing grace, predestinating grace,
grace personified, grace manifested, grace and truth came by Jesus
Christ. Grace reigning and grace in the
hearts of all that believe. There's only one force that can
prevail against sin and magnify the righteous justice of God,
and that is God's sovereign, unchangeable, irresistible grace. Now, I'm telling you this, you
can sit down with your children and your neighbors and your friends
and your co-workers and you can sit down and you can talk from
now to doomsday about it. Nothing's ever going to happen
into their life until they hear something from God and experience
something from God in their heart according to this grace. Until then, it's just down, down,
down, down, down, down, down. And you can't stop it. You can't
stop. Listen to what the hymn writer
said. He said, marvelous grace of our loving Lord. Grace that
exceeds our sin and our guilt. Yonder on Calvary's mount outpoured. That's where that grace was poured
out. There where the blood of the Lamb was shed. Sin and despair,
like the sea waves, cold, threatened the soul with infinite loss.
Grace that is greater, yes, grace untold, points to the refuge,
the mighty cross. Dark is the stain that we cannot
hide. What can avail? What can wash it away? Look,
there is flowing a crimson tide wider than snow. You may be today. Marvelous, infinite, matchless
grace, he said, freely bestowed on all who believe. You that
are longing to see His face, will you this moment His grace
receive? His grace. Grace, he said. Grace that is greater. than all
our sins. May the Lord be pleased to reveal
that to both your hearts and mine.