Now we're looking again at Romans,
Romans the 5th chapter. Romans the 5th chapter. I would be so bold as to say
Romans chapter 5 is one of the, I'd say one of the most important
chapters, certainly in the book of Romans. Romans chapter 5,
it teaches a very fundamental truth that God teaches every
believer whom He teaches the gospel of Christ. In Romans chapter
5, we'll begin at verse 12, Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into
the world, and death by sin, So death passed upon all men
for or rather in whom all have sinned." All have sinned in that
one man. That one man we know is Adam
when he sinned against God. Now these verses are vital, essential,
to a right and proper and good understanding of the gospel of
Christ. We see two things that are essential. We see and learn how we are made
to be sinners. How are we made sinners? We are
sinners by birth, nature, practice, and choice. We are sinners. We see how we are made to be
sinners. In Adam, all sin. The second
lesson that we learn, we see how sinners are made righteous. How are sinners made righteous? Well, we've been over the ground
several times. We're not made righteous by the
deeds of the law. By the deeds of the law shall
no flesh be justified. Now, if righteousness comes by
the law, if righteousness comes by what I do, or do not do, no
need for Christ to come, no need for Christ to die to put away
my sins. If righteousness is by my obedience
unto the law, I don't need the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.
So we learn here in Adam we have all sinned. Romans 3, 23 declares, all have sinned and come short
of the glory of God. That includes you, that includes
me, that includes every son of Adam. Secondly, we learn in Christ
how we are made righteous, as I mentioned a moment ago. Look
at verse 19, Romans 5 verse 19. For as by one man's disobedience,
thee many were made sinners. So by the obedience of one shall
many be made righteous." There we see Adam's disobedience and
there we see the obedience of the Lord Jesus Christ. By his
disobedience we were made sinners, by the obedience of the Lord
Jesus Christ. His obedience was Perfect obedience. Word, deed, thought, motive,
always to the glory of God. So much so that God the Father
speaks from heaven concerning the Lord Jesus Christ and said,
this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased, hear Him. In Adam we lost the way, the
truth and the life, right? In Adam we lost the way, The
truth and the life. In the Lord Jesus Christ, He
is the way, He is the truth, He is the life. We have in Christ
much more than we ever lost. In Christ, the way of grace is
established. justified freely by His grace
through the redemption that is in the Lord Jesus Christ. In
Christ, the truth of God is magnified. You remember the Lord came and
honored the law of God for us? He said, you shall know the truth
and the truth will set you free. In Christ, the life of salvation
is freely given. God who spared not His own Son,
but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also
freely give us all things? He that hath the Son hath life."
We learn in these verses what happened in the garden, That
is what happened when Adam fell, when Adam sinned against God.
We know that sin entered in. We know that judgment, because
of sin, entered in. We know that guilt entered in.
And all men everywhere became totally depraved, total depravity. Now, we don't believe in a partial
fall or a partial ruin. The Scriptures teach a total
ruin and a total fall. Now, this is key to understanding
the Gospel. If you have no conception of
ruin, total ruin, total depravity, you'll have no great appreciation
for redemption that is in the Lord Jesus Christ. If you don't
understand something of guilt, Total guilt and condemnation. You'll have no great appreciation
for the grace of God that justifies the ungodly. We learn here also
in the Lord Jesus Christ how we are restored. We learn and
we see what happened in the garden. We also learn and see what happened
at Calvary. By one man's obedience, many
were made righteous. Remember Philippians chapter
3, or Philippians chapter 2, by the obedience, he was obedient
unto death, even the death of the cross. He was obedient unto
death. We also learn what happened at
Calvary when Christ died for the sin of his people, righteousness
was established, sin was put away, and sinners were forever
justified by the blood of Christ. Look at verse 9 of Romans 5,
"...much more than being now justified by His blood, we shall
be saved from wrath through Him." That's the only way we are justified
by what Christ has done for us. We also learn that God deals
with all men in two representative heads. Now this is what we read
in these verses, two representative heads. The old theologians called
Adam and Christ, you remember the term, federal heads. Federal
heads. Adam represented a race, his
race, and the Lord Jesus Christ represented his people. Federal
heads, in Adam all died, in Christ shall all be made alive. Now, the reference there is to
1 Corinthians 15, 21 and 22, and we'll read that later on
in the lesson if we get that far. Now, with that introduction,
let's take a look at verse 12. Wherefore, wherefore, as by the
one name, one name, Sin entered in to this world. One man, one sin, one offense. Sin entered in to the world. Now someone rightly said, if
you're wrong on the fall, if you're wrong on the fall, what
happened in the garden, you're wrong on it all. If you're wrong
on the fall, You're wrong on all things everywhere. Now here we have the vital and
most important lesson of how we became totally depraved sinners. Now this is known also as the
doctrine... Now listen, this is very important. This is known as the doctrine
of original sin. Original sin. Where did sin originate? Where did sin originate? The
doctrine of original sin. In Adam all have sin. Sin entered in to him and to
us when he rebelled against God. Now it's sad, but true in our
day. This fundamental truth of original
sin and total depravity is not being taught in most churches
today, and it is rather denied. It's denied. Now, I'm not making
this up. You look at most churches, their
covenant or their creed or whatever it is, They do not believe in
original sin or the imputation of sin through Adam's disobedience.
But it's fundamental. It's the fundamental, one of
the fundamental, fundamental truths of the Gospel. Ruin in
Adam, redemption in Christ, and regeneration by the Holy Spirit.
Those three R's, remember? The three R's. They go together. They go together. You can't have
one of them missing. Now in Adam, In Adam, all sinned. He stood as a representative
man, and when he stood, we stood. We were in him, in his loins. When Adam rebelled and sinned
against God, that was me, in him, sinning against God. You
see, we're the guilty ones. Think about this. I've never
read in Scripture, Adam's sin is so much mine that it really
is mine. We never read in Scripture one
time to pray this way, Lord, forgive me for Adam's sin. We
don't read that, do we? You see, we read oftentimes,
Lord, forgive me for my sin, my transgression, my iniquity. You see, what he really did,
that's what I did. His loins, He represented me. What He did, we did. You say,
well, I don't like that arrangement. You better, because exactly the
same way we're ruined is exactly the same way we're raised in
Christ. You see, what He did was charged
to us. I like that arrangement. I like
this other arrangement, too, because that's what God has determined. Now, a lot of people ask the
question, well, could God have prevented a fall? Absolutely. Absolutely, He could have. But
He did not. Why? Ask Him. Even so, Father, for so it seemed
good in His sight. The Lord caused, you remember
God said to Adam, in the day that you eat, He didn't say if
you do, in the day that you do eat. Did God know he'd sin? Absolutely. How do we know that? The Lord
Jesus Christ stood as the servant of the everlasting covenant as
a lamb slain before the foundation of the world, before Adam ever
was created. You see, the fall of Adam didn't
sneak up on God. It wasn't a surprise to him and
then he thought, oh now, now I've got to find some way of
fixing this. No, it was all in the eternal
purpose and plan of God Almighty. Adam's fall, Adam's sin, And
it did so, he did so to the glory of God that God might magnify
his mercy, magnify his truth. Now what Adam did, we did. Now
I use this homely example to try to wrap our puny mind around
what Adam did, we did. immigrated to this country from
Europe, from Holland, in 1948. She came to this country in 1948.
I wasn't born until 1952. Now, what she did, I did. Where she came, that's where
I came. I was in her. Now, that's a homely
illustration to try to help us to understand what Adam did,
we did. Where he went, when he went out
of the garden, and we went out with him. God kicked us out in
Him. We have all sinned in Adam. Now, what is the result of sin? Well, look at the next line.
Wherefore, if by one man sin entered into the world, and the
result of sin is what? Death. Death. The wages of sin
is death. Death by sin. So death passed
upon all men. Death by sin. The only reason
any person gets sick or he dies is because of sin. Our body is
full of sin. You see, sin is not so much what
we do, it's what we are. What we are. This body is nothing
but sin. That's all it is. Total depravity. There is none righteous, no,
not one. The result of original sin, the
sin of Adam, was death. Not only physical death, Adam
didn't physically die immediately when he sinned against God, but
he did die immediately, spiritually he died, and he was separated
from God. Adam was 930 years old, I believe,
when he died. But not only was physical death
pronounced upon Adam and us, but also, and most importantly,
spiritual death and separation and guilt by sin in Adam passed
upon all men or was charged unto all of us. And now the third
thing we see in verse 12, By one man, one man's disobedience,
sin entered into this world. Secondly, death as a result of
sin. Now, if I were not a sinner,
if I were not a sinner, if there was perfection in this flesh,
I would never grow old, I would never get sick, my eyesight would
always be perfect, my hearing would always be perfect, my hair
would not fall out, I would not turn gray, I would not be wrinkled,
stooped and old. You see, just the very fact that
we grow old and this body is decaying, what does that say
to us? This flesh is nothing but sin. That's all it is, sin. And one
day we'll take this body of flesh and we'll put it back to the
dust where it came from. And then one day, In the resurrection,
we'll have a perfect body, a resurrected body, like unto His glorious
body, that's not even capable of sin and cannot sin. A body just like His. Now, the
third lesson, it says here, for that all have sinned. As I pointed out, you see the
marginal reference there on the number 4. In whom? In whom all have sin. All have sin. Now, sin is charged to our count. Sin is charged to our count.
Now, the argument and the question among those who hate God and
hate the gospel of grace and those who deny original sin,
they would ask the question, well, is God going to send me
to hell for Adam's sin or my sin? Now, what's the answer to that
question? You see, his sin is mine. It's my sin that's going
to damn me. It's my unbelief that's going
to damn me. Now, if sin charged to our account
and judgment of sin is reckoned unto us, what do we deserve? Judgment. That's all that sin
deserves is judgment. And the guilt of sin has been
imputed, reckoned, and charged to you. So what's man's state
by nature? Guilty. The only way we are made
justified in God's sight is to be found in Christ. He is our justification. He is
our sanctification. Now, along with this, not only
are we born in sin, we have a fallen, evil, inherent nature of sin
that is imparted to us. Now, I know you raised your children
in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. You wanted your
children to be right and to do right. But now, I know you never
taught your child to lie. Do you? You don't teach children
to lie, do you? You have to beat it into them
to tell the truth. Why is it their nature to lie
and to act up and to rebel? Why is it? They have a fallen,
ruined nature that they inherited from their father and his father
and his father and his father all the way back to Adam's ruin. We all descended from that one
man. Now, unless you believe that
we came from an ape, I guess you have no problem with this
thing of sin being charged to your account. Someone said this,
It is much, much easier to say that we descended from apes,
and then say, look how far we have progressed, than to say
we have sinned against God, and we've come short of the glory
of God, and then truly say, look how far we have fallen. See,
that's why the evolutionist says, well, look how much progress
we have made. He hasn't made any progress at
all. It's all downhill. We've all sinned against God.
We're all born with a fallen evil nature that is imparted
to us. Now horses beget horses. A horse has the nature of a horse.
He doesn't have the nature of a cow. He has the nature of a
horse. And sinners only beget sinners. My two boys and my one daughter,
they all have the same evil nature that their daddy has. That's
the only thing I gave them, was sin, that sin nature. It's imparted
to us and it is implanted within us. It is a wicked nature of
rebellion against God that can do nothing but sin. That's all it can do. This flesh
is not capable of producing one righteous, holy, D. I know men, all these hurricanes
going on, people down in Houston, people in Florida, and they all
talk about the people doing good things toward men. Now, I'm all
for that. I'm all for helping one another,
giving to one another, but now in reality, There's none that
doeth good, no, not one. The only one who truly does anything
good and righteous, only, totally, solely, is the Lord Jesus Christ. There is none that doeth good,
no, not one, in the standard, in the realm of absolute holiness.
Now, down here, wiggling maggots and worms, we can help other
worms, and we can help them along and do good deeds, and I'm not
against that. But don't ever count that as
righteousness before God, because it's nothing but wickedness in
the sight of God. In the eyes of men, what's a
good thing? In the eyes of God, does it count
for anything? No. Man in his best state is
altogether vanity, the best righteousness we have, the best deeds you could
muster up. God says is what? Filthy rags
in his sight. So this is our problem. This
is our problem. Wherefore by one man sin entered
into the world and death by sin. So death passed upon all men
in whom all have Sin. We've all sinned against God. Now, this is what Paul is describing
over here in Romans chapter 3, where he says over here in verse
9, we have before proof, Jews and Gentiles, you see verse 9,
that they're all under sin. All under sin. As it is written,
there is none righteous, no, not one. There is none that understandeth,
there is none that seeketh after God, there is none understanding,
there is none that seeketh after God, they are all gone out of
the way, they are together become unprofitable, there is none that
doeth good, not in the sense that God is good, no, not one. Not one, not the first one. Not the first one. All have sinned
and come short of the glory of God. Now, as I pointed out, verse
13, you see that parentheses on the word for? For until the
law, sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there
is no law. Nevertheless, death reigned from
Adam to Moses. Before the law was given, before
the law magnified our rebellion and sin against God. After Adam's
sin, death has reigned from Adam to the giving of the law." We
know that from reading the record of Scripture. You remember the
obituary chapter? Genesis chapter 5, we call that
the obituary chapter. And so and so lived, and he died. And so and so lived, and he died. And so and so lived, and he died. Why did they all die? Even though
many of them lived many hundreds of years, yet they all died.
Why did they die? Death as a result of sin before
the law was given, sin reigned from Adam unto Moses. Now we'll look at verse 13, down
to verse 17 next time, and then we'll see the comparison of,
and it keeps using, not as, so also, and much more, much more,
by one man's disobedience, All have sinned, even so by the obedience
of another shall many be made righteous." Okay, well that's
a good start on that. I intended to actually get down
to verse 17, but as you can see, we'll have to save that for next
time. Okay.