Open your Bibles with me to Romans
5, Romans chapter 5. We're going to begin our message
tonight where we left off this morning. That is, we'll pick
up with verse 12. We're going to study verse 12
through 21. And the key statement in these
verses, the key statement in all of these verses is found
in verse 14. This is what we're talking about.
It says here in verse 14, Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses,
even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's
transgression. who is. That is, Adam is the
figure, a type, a picture of him that was to come. Adam is a figure of him who came,
the Lord Jesus Christ. But actually, Adam is an anti-type
of Christ. Anti-type means an opposite.
He's an opposite type of Christ. I'm going to show you that. Turn
to 1 Corinthians, chapter 15. Now he's a, just like Paul says
here, he is a figure of him who is to come, who was to come and
who came. But he's an opposite type. Look
at chapter 15 of 1 Corinthians, verse 45. Now here it talks about
Adam and Christ. And so it's written. 1 Corinthians
15, 45. The first man, Adam, was made
a living soul. The last Adam, a quickening spirit. Now there's already opposites.
The first man, Adam. The second man is Christ. And that first man was made a
living soul. And he died. But that second
man is a quickening spirit. He is life. and he ever lives,
and life is in him. Adam was given life, and he died.
Christ is life, so he's the opposite. And also verse 46, how be it
that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural. In
other words, Adam is a natural man. Christ is a spiritual man. And afterwards, that which is
spiritual. Adam came first. He was created and lived on this
earth first. Christ came second, but Christ
is spiritual, Adam is natural, flesh. All right, verse 47, the
first man is of the earth. God made Adam out of the dust,
that's his name, red earth. Adam was made from the dust,
made from the earth. But this second man is not a
man at all to be, he became a man, he's the Lord. He was made what he wasn't, flesh. Adam was made what he is, flesh,
out of the dust. But this second man is the Lord
God himself, and he's not from the earth, he's from heaven. And as is the earthy, that's
Adam, such are they that are earthy, that's us. And as is
the heavenly, such are they that are heavenly, that's those born
of the Spirit redeemed, born again. And as we have borne the
image of the earthy, Adam, by God's grace and redemption and
precious blood, we're going to bear the image of the heavenly
soul. Adam, he is the figure of Christ, but in an opposite
fashion. He's an antitype. Everything
he was by nature, Christ is not. There is one way. one way in which Adam is a true
type of Christ, and only one way. I'm going to tell you what
that is. There's one way in which Adam
is a true type of Christ, true picture of Christ, and that is
Adam is the federal head of a people like himself. Adam is the federal head, representative,
and first of a long line of folks just like him. They all came from him. Jesus
Christ is the federal head, made so by the Father's divine will
and purpose and covenant, and the representative of a people
out of every tribe, kindred, nation, tongue unto heaven, just
like himself. That's right. Adam's the first
man, Christ the second man. And it sounds like that God Almighty
just speaks of only two men. These two men are spoken of as
if they're the only two men. William Traley, Adam was the
first man created by God, and God never created another man. He created Adam out of the dust,
and every one of us came from him. But God sent down from heaven
his son, the second man, conceived in the womb of the virgin Mary,
and formed and born into this world, the second man. And that's
the two men, the two men. Because the first man, Adam,
is the head and representative of all the people on the earth.
He's of the earth. And his representation, his lordship,
reaches only to those born from his flesh. All came from him.
Every person that lived came from that one man. He's the representative. And the whole family of God in
heaven and earth, the whole kingdom of God, of angels and mediums,
in heaven and earth, all the elect of God, came from Christ. born of his Spirit, conformed
to his image, and represented by him in life and death and
exaltation. Two men. The first man, Adam,
the second man, Christ. Let's turn 1 Corinthians 15 back
one page. 1 Corinthians 15, verse 21. Now, here are these two men.
It says in verse 21, For since by Marian, Adam, came death,
by Marian, Christ, came the resurrection, eternal life. And as in Adam,
all die. Who died? All. All who are in Adam. And that's
everybody. That's every human being that
ever lived on this earth. In Adam, every one of them died. Even so, in Christ shall all, is that every human being that
ever lived? No, it's everyone in Christ. That's right. As in Adam, in Adam all who are
in Adam, and that's everybody, all who are in Adam. And there's
not any human being who's ever lived that can't trace his roots
to Adam. He's in Adam. He was in Adam
when Adam was created, he was in Adam when Adam walked the
earth, he was in Adam when Adam fell. He died, he died in Adam.
In Adam, all died. And in Christ, all who are chosen
in Christ, loved in Christ, redeemed in Christ, accepted in Christ,
live. All whom he represented. He said,
all that my Father giveth me, they'll come to me. And him that
cometh to me, I will no wise cast out. I came down from heaven,
not to do my will, but the will of him that sent me. And this
is the will of him that sent me, that all which he hath given
me, given to me to be their shelter, given to me to be their Redeemer,
given to me to be their Savior, all which he hath given me, I'll
lose nothing, not one. I'll raise them up at the last
second." That's the one way Adam is truly,
undoubtedly, a type of Christ. He represents a people in him,
who died in him. And Christ represents a people
given to him, in him, and he died for them. And they live
in him. Alright, look at our text. Let's
just move slowly through here. Romans 5 verse 12, Wherefore,
as by one man, sin entered into this world. This is the first
Adam, first man, Adam. And through Adam's sin, what
are we talking about sin? Sin with all its evil, iniquity,
sin with all its power, depravity, it entered into God's creation
by Adam. By Adam, by one man's sin entered
this creation. And what else? And death by sin.
Sin entered the world, sin entered Adam, and the consequence of
it was death. Death to the trees, death to
the animals, death to everything. Death. That's the consequences
of sin. Sin bringeth forth death. Sin,
when it is finished, bringeth forth death. And finally, Adam
too. But he died spiritually, and
he died physically. He died spiritually, he was holy,
he's now evil. He was a friend of God, now he's
an alien, he's a stranger. And Paul said in Ephesians, with
no hope and without God in this world. And not only did he suffer
spiritual death, but he suffered physical death. Let's turn over
to Genesis chapter 5 for a moment. I want to read you a solemn scripture
here. Genesis 5, verse 4 and 5. Now, Adam died spiritually, and all
the days, Genesis 5, verse 4, and the days of Adam after he
had begotten Saoth were 800 years, and he begat sons and daughters
And all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred years and nine
hundred and thirty years, and he died." That's just three words,
and he died. Verse 8, And all the days of Seth were
nine hundred and twelve years, and he died. Verse 11, And all
the days of Enos were nine hundred and five years, but he still
died. Verse 17, And the days of Mahali
were 890 in 5 years, and he died. And all the days of Jared were
960 in 2 years, and he died. And verse 27, here's the oldest
man who ever lived. And all the days of Methuselah
were 969 years, but brother, he died. That's the consequence
of sin. Spiritual death, physical death. Back to my text, Romans 5, verse
5. Wherefore by one man, as by one
man sin entered this world, and death, because of sin, by sin. And so death passed upon all
men. You see, David said in Psalm
51, in sin my mother conceived me. Adam's sin, I'm going to
show you in a moment, was ours by imputation, but it was passed
to us through the seed. You see, the root was evil and
the tree's evil. The seed is evil, so the plant's
evil. I was conceived in sin because
I'm a son of Adam. The first son of Adam came, a
murderer. And the last one born on this
earth just a few seconds ago, he's a sinner too. Passed upon
all men. Now watch this, "...wherefore
by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin. So death
passed upon all men through Adam through a sinful seed, for that
all had sinned." Now I want you to listen to me very carefully
right here. I think I have something that will be helpful to us. Our guilt is threefold. Our guilt
is threefold. Number one, our guilt is ours
by imputation. Now what does the word imputation
mean? Here's what it means back in the Concordance. Imputation
is used in the previous chapter of Romans eleven times. Imputed,
imputed, imputed, reckoned, charged. Eleven times, imputed. Imputation,
imputed, is to charge, to attribute to ascribe either guilt or goodness
to a person which comes from another. That's imputation. It says over here in Romans 4,
look at verse 3, what sayeth the scriptures? Abraham believed
God, it was counted, imputed to him for righteousness. Look
at verse 22 of Romans 3, and therefore it was imputed to him
for righteousness. That was not written for his
sake alone that it was imputed to him, but also for us, also
to whom it shall be imputed." Righteousness imputed. That's
goodness. Goodness imputed. Well, guilt was imputed. In other
words, the whole human race was in Adam when he sinned, with
Adam when he sinned, represented by Adam when he sinned, so the
guilt belongs to the whole human race. That's right. The guilt of Adam. We were in
him, we were with him, we were represented by him, and when
he fell, the whole human race was charged with rebellion against
God. And when Christ died on, when
Christ lived on this earth and died on the cross, we were in
him, with him, represented by him, and his goodness is charged
to us as if we did it. All right? That's what that says.
When Adam fell, guilt was imputed, charged, reckoned, attributed
to us by an act performed by another, but it was our act too. All right? Our guilt first is by
imputation. Secondly, our guilt is by impartation. When Adam conceived in the womb
of Eve, A son named Cain. He imparted to him a wicked nature. He was born from his father.
That which is born of the flesh is flesh. So he imparted to him
guilt and evil. Cain was a sinner when he was
born. Cain didn't become a murderer when he hit his brother with
that rock. He hit his brother with that rock because he was
a murderer in his heart. So that which is born of the
flesh is flesh. Now, when we're born of the Spirit of God, God
imparts to us his nature. Adam imparted to Cain a fallen
nature. God imparts to those who are
born of the Spirit a divine nature. So we are here this evening with
two natures. A nature we got from Adam, that's
imparted guilt. And a nature we've got from God
by the divine birth of the Holy Spirit, which imparted to us
a new heart, a new nature, a nature that cannot sin, that loves God,
and will be with us forever. Guilt by imputation, guilt by
impartation, and guilt by the third imitation. Adam's sons
acted just like him, just like your sons act like your daughters,
and I act like my parents. Our Lord charged the Pharisees.
He said, You do the deeds of your fathers. And that's difficult. We do the deeds of our fathers.
But I'll tell you this, those who are born of God, they do
the deeds of their fathers too. They're generous and kind and
tender and loving and forgiving. They're people of God. So, our
guilt and our goodness comes the same way, except through
different representatives. Our guilt was imputed to us,
charged to us, as if we acted ourselves in Adam. And our goodness,
righteousness, which is Christ's righteousness, is impeded us
as if we did it ourselves. And actually, actually, God's
people are righteous. They have a new nature. Adam's
sons are just flesh, God's sons are spirit. That which is born
of flesh is flesh, that which is born of spirit is spirit.
And if Adam's sons imitate him, God's sons imitate him. We want
to please our Lord. We want to glorify our Lord.
We want to do that which is well-pleasing to our Lord. That's the subject
of guilt, and that's what this is all about here. Verse 12,
Wherefore by one man sin entered this world, and death by sin
so death, spiritual death, physical death, passed upon all men, for
all sinned by sin. Now then, what about this age
of accountability? What about influence? He says
here, until the law of sin was in the world, but sin is not
imputed where there is no law. In other words, from Adam to
Moses, there was no written law. Now, there was a law. God gave
Adam his law in the garden. He said, do this and live. Take
the forbidden fruit and die. That's a law, isn't it? That's
a law. And then the law is written on
every man's heart and conscience. When God came to Cain and said,
Where's your brother? Well, he was immediately justifying
himself. Am I my brother's keeper? See,
he was already disturbed by what he'd done. So it's written on
the heart. But sin was in the world when there was no written
law until Moses. And proof of it. How can you
prove that sin is in the world whether there's any written law
or not? Here's the proof, verse 13. Nevertheless, death reigned from
Adam to Moses, even over them which had not sinned after the
similitude of Adam's transgression, over infants. In other words,
grown people had sinned imitating Adam. after the similitude of
his transgression. Disobeying God, disobeying God,
disobeying God. But these little infants that
are born and die, they never disobeyed God like Adam did.
They never have deliberately disobeyed God. They don't have
any direction like that. But they're still dying. Well
why do they die? Because they're sinners. And
when Adam sinned, death passed upon all men. over those who
are infants, and who never sinned after the submittitude of Adam's
transgression, who is the fig of him who was to come." Sin is the cause of death, and
that's the reason infants die, because they're sinners. If they
weren't sinners, they wouldn't die. Sin is the cause of death. All right, verse 15. Now, this
is a verse that's a little bit difficult to to translate, but
not as the offense, so also is the free gift. What it's saying
here is God's free gift of life and redemption in Christ is so
much greater than the fall of Adam, it is not even to be compared. It's not even to be compared.
The free gift is so greater than the offense, it's not even to
be compared. For if through the offense of
one, many be dead." It's true that many died through the offense
of Adam. And men have died all the time
as a result of his offense. But much more and far greater
are the blessings restored in Christ. We have what Adam never
had. Adam rested in his own righteousness. He stood in his own righteousness.
We stand in the righteousness of Christ. Adam could die, we
can't. Adam could fall, we can't. What
we have in Christ, he's saying here, while it's similar, and
while you can preach both, it's not even to be compared. It doesn't
even belong on the same page. The gift of his grace and the
gift of his love is not even to be compared with the fall
of Adam. And then verse 16 says about
the same thing. verse 16, and not as it was by
one that sinned, not to be compared. Not to be compared. So is the
gift of life, the gift of righteousness, the gift of grace, the gift of
forgiveness. For the judgment was by one to
condemnation. Adam's death and condemnation
came by one sin. You ever thought about that?
One sin. I've committed a thousand. You
have to. He made one sin. And that condemned
him and the whole race by one sin. But the free gift, listen,
is of many offenses under justification. God forgives many sins. Now you
can be compassionate. This is the scripture I thought
about when I read that. Mark chapter 3. I thought about
this scripture here. Christ said in Mark chapter 3
verse 28. Adam's condemnation and Christ's
free gift of justification cannot even be compared, because Adam's
death and condemnation was the result of one sin. But the free
gift of righteousness extends to all sins, many offenses. Listen
to Mark 3, verse 28. Our Lord said, Verily I say unto
you, All sins shall be forgiven unto the sons of men, and blasphemies
wherewithsoever they shall blaspheme." All sin. Think about that. Think
about how many sins Christ bore in his body on the tree, and
God forgives all sins, all blasphemies. Not to blaspheme against the
Holy Ghost, of course not. If a man attributes the ministry
of Christ and the Holy Spirit to the devil, that won't be forgiven,
and that's unbelief. But we're talking about the sins
of his people. I mean, bunch up the sins of
which we're all guilty here tonight. Oh, that's not even worthy to
be compared with Adam's fall. You see what he's saying? That's
what he's saying right there. And not, verse 16, not to be
compared is the guilt over against the transgression. By the judgment,
the transgression goes by one man, one sin, the condemnation,
but the free gift of God's grace is of many offenses. You, there
is no sin you've ever committed that's not put away by the blood
of Christ. There's no thought you've ever thought, word you've
ever said, action you've ever, you've ever committed that's
not forgiven. Christ said all sin, blasphemy, are forgiven. The blood of Jesus Christ cleanses
us from all sin. Now, remember, there are sins
no more. Oh, that's just so awesome! Awesome! That's the free gift. Verse 17. For if by one man's
offense death reigns, death reigns, oh, how it has reigned, by Adam's
Back down in that Garden of Eden, thousands of years ago, the result
of Adam's sin and Adam's fall has wrought destruction, darkness,
diseases, death, depravity, wickedness, unparalleled, beyond description
upon this earth. Think about the death and darkness
and disease that came from that one act. But I want you to think
of something better, much more, listen, but much more, much more,
verse 17, they which receive abundance of grace, and that's
the grace we receive is abundant, abundantly pardoned, abundant
grace, sufficient grace, abundant grace, and the gift of righteousness
shall reign in life by one Jesus Christ, much more. Those who
receive the abundant grace of God and the gift of Christ's
righteousness shall reign eternally through Jesus Christ the Lord.
Adam fell and could not rise. You and I by his grace rise and
cannot fall. Sin reigns, death reigns, as
long as God is willing to put up with it. But grace reigns
there forever. Therefore, by the offense of
one, Adam, judgment came upon all men to condemnation. Judgment,
guilt, sin, God's wrath came upon all men. All born of Adam
and in Adam are condemned. Condemnation is to judge against
and to damn. Even so, by the righteousness
of one, the Lord Jesus Christ, by his perfect obedience, by
his holy life, as our representative in the same manner, the free
gift, wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption,
came freely, it's a free gift, came freely upon all men whom
he represented, all men for whom he prayed. all men for whom he
died, under free, full, justification, acceptance by God in the Beloved. That's it. And here he says it
again, fall by one man, one man's disobedience. Many were made sinners. Now,
I want you to look at something here carefully. The word of God
It's not, when it says something, it says it in such a way that
the truth comes to us. Now watch this. For as by one
man's disobedience, it doesn't say we were led into sin. We
were made susceptible to sin. We were rendered in danger of
sin. It says by one man's disobedience we were made, made sin. We were made. Now, that's important. We were made sin. If we didn't
later become sinners, we were made sin right then. All right,
watch this. So, by the obedience of one,
when our Lord walked this earth in perfect obedience to God,
shall many be made righteous. Christ didn't make righteousness
possible for us on our acceptance. He didn't make righteousness
available to us depending on our works. But when he walked
this earth and obeyed God's law and died on that cross, he literally
actually made us righteous. You see that? It says in 2 Corinthians 5.21. He was made sin for us, who knew
no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.
It's not a cooperation. It's not something that we move
into by certain spiritual growth. Made righteousness by Christ.
That's what that says. Moreover, the law entered. Why
was the law given through Moses? It wasn't given to save. The
law entered that the offense might abound. The offense was
there. The guilt was there. The moral law was given to Moses
that the pollution, corruption, wickedness of human nature might
be apparent. By the law is the knowledge of
sin. Paul said that. He said, I didn't know sin until
the law came. And when the law came, I died.
I didn't know sin. to the law, showed me what I
was. And the law makes apparent, and it reveals sin in its own
light, oh, the exceeding sinfulness of sin. Laws do not make men
sinners. The law makes men conscious of
sin and takes away all our excuses. So the law entered that the offense
might overflow and abound. And it just gets bigger all the
time. The wretchedness of human nature. Somebody asked me today
about these days, these last days, and what's going on that
just seems like things unimaginable to happen. Unimaginable. Things
they didn't even know about when we were kids growing up. They're
just prevalent. That's sin. And where it did
overflow, watch this. Grace did much more overflow.
God's grace is able to say to the uttermost things that come
to God's eye. He's able to say to the uttermost.
I want to give you a parable. This story is a parable of the
bomb. I don't think I've given it to you before. But back many
years ago, in the days of the Great Depression. When nobody
had a job, the banks were all closing. People were hungry. People wandered from place to
place looking for something to do, something to eat, something
to wear, someplace to stay. This young man left home and
went to the big city. He stayed there a little while
and he got like the particle sun in worse condition all the
time. And one night, one cold night,
the wind was blowing so hard, he sought shelter in some stairs
in an alcove back into a building. He got back there, pulled his
collar up, tried to cover himself against the wind, trying to find
some relief from the cold. weary and a piece of paper came
blowing across there and he picked it up and opened it up and he
held it up to the street light see if he could read it looked
like some kind of advertisement and it was printed on there said
are you lost are you weary and heavy laden do you need help
But all you need is found in the gospel of God's grace. And
it had printed on there, Grace Rescue Mission, 104 Tremont Street. And he said to himself, I remember
where that street was. I'm going to go there. Am I lost? Yes. Am I weary? Do I need help? Yes. I'm going to go there. See
what that is. So he left his place there and
started walking, hunting that street. Finally found the street,
Fremont. He walked down the street and
he saw a building, 104. It was dark and late, but there
was a light on. He went up the door and knocked.
A man came to the door and he said, I found your advertisement. He says, are you lost? And he
said, I am. Are you weary and heavy laden? You need help. I
need help badly. I'm hungry, and dirty, and I
need help. But I got nothing to pay. I got
nothing. And the man, the old man inside
goes, son, you don't need anything. Says on that ad, all you need
is found in the gospel of grace. So won't you come in? So he walked
in. The old man closed the door and
led him down the hall. Took him into a room, and boy,
there was a beautiful fire burning there in the fireplace. Two big
overstuffed chairs. He said to the young man, said,
the old man's sitting by the fire, are you cold? He said,
mister, I'm so cold. I'm so cold, I've been cold for
days. Well, sit there and warm yourself. Enjoy the fire. And while you're enjoying the
fire, he said, I'm going to get you something to eat. Are you
hungry? Yes, I am eating, thank you.
I'm awful hungry. So the old man went to the kitchen,
and he sat there and warmed his hands with a fire. After a while, the old man came
back with a tray, and on the tray he had a plate with meat,
potatoes, and beans, and cornbread, and a glass of milk. He sat down
in front of the boy. And this young man just tore
into that food. Oh, he warmed it with a fire
and he ate the food. And the old man sat down and looked at
him. After a while he said, son, while you're finished in your
dinner, I'm going up and run you some bath water. You look
like you need a bath. He said, yes, I said, I haven't
bathed in days. I'm filthy. I'll run you some
bath water, warm bath water. You enjoy your food. And when
you get through, you come on up, upstairs to the bathroom
so you can take a bath, get cleaned up. So he finished his meal and
he went upstairs. He saw that bathroom light and
the steam was coming out of there. The old man filled that tub with
warm water. He walked in, the old man said,
now son, take off those filthy rags and throw them in the corner. You won't need them anymore.
I got some clothes for you. But he said, here's your pair
of pajamas and here's your nice robe. You get through bathing,
you put it on. I'm going to fix your bed. So
he lay there in that water. He couldn't breathe. cloth going
on there. He was so thrilled and soaking
in that tub. When he got through bathing,
he put those nice pajamas on and put on that white terry cloth
robe and looked in the mirror. Oh boy, I hadn't been this clean
in a long time. I hadn't been this clothed in
a long time. I had never had a robe like this. Oh, I want
to learn more about that gospel of grace. He went in there in
the bedroom. The old man had just turned the
bed down. There was a big fluffy pillow and white sheets and a
leather bed. He said, son, get in there. Are
you tired? Oh, mister, I haven't been in
a bed in I don't know when. Well, you just rest. He lay in
the bed. The old man pulled the cover
up. He said, now, son, in the morning when you get up, we're
going to talk about this gospel of the grace of God. which is
able to do for you on the inside what I've done for you on the
outside. And the old man left. And that boy lay there in the
bed. He thought, boy, I sure am interested in this gospel
of grace. This old boy hadn't been that
warm, comfortable a long time. I hadn't eaten food like that
in a long time. I hadn't been this clean. He
didn't even take that robe off, he just kept it on. He said,
I just, I hadn't had a robe like this in my life. And I hadn't
rested like this. I'm sure going to look into that
gospel again. And I tell you this, any person
that really is lost and hungry and dirty and filthy rags and
no rest, needs to look in to this gospel of grace, because
that's what it did for me and you. God brought a bum in off
the street and warmed his heart, gave him a new heart, took out
the stony heart, warmed his heart, fed him manna from heaven, washed
him in the blood and cleansed him, put a robe on him like you
can't even describe, and put him to bed. resting, in it is
rest. I'm sure going to look into that
gospel of grace. I wish everybody would, don't
you? Look into that gospel of grace. It's the only gospel.
It's the saving gospel. Where sin did abound, grace is
much more