Preached at Cornerstone Church in Cascade, IA on January 21, 2018

Let us begin this morning with our January Memory Verse, Romans 5:8, “but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” 
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This morning, we are will be continuing to examine Romans 5:12-21.  Last week I spent a significant amount of time talking about one side of the equation found in Romans 5, and very little time on the other side of the equation.  This morning I would like to flip that balance.  So let us begin by reading our text again.  Please stand with me in the reading of God’s Word. 

• Romans 5:12-21 “Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned--13for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law. 14Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come. 15But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if many died through one man’s trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many. 16And the free gift is not like the result of that one man’s sin. For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brought justification. 17For if, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ. 18Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. 19For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous. 20Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, 21so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

The Supremacy in Christ

I am concerned that many of us do not embrace the supremacy of Jesus Christ in the world and in our lives.  As I look at my own life and at your lives, I see a disconnect in how we live and what the Bible says.  Let me read a few verses to expand upon this:

• Colossians 1:15-20 – “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. 16For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. 17And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. 19For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, 20and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.”

In EVERYTHING he might be preeminent.  Everything means everything.  Jesus is to be preeminent over nations, over politics, over money, over your life dreams, over your health, over your spouse, over your kids..  That statement in Colossians 1:16, “all things were created through him and for him” is earth shattering.   Entire paradigms come crashing down in people’s lives when they embrace the centrality of Jesus Christ.
So the question is, when people look at your life, can they see the supremacy of Jesus Christ?  Do people see that you value Jesus more than you value everything that this world has to offer?  Do you display the ultimate treasure that is your King?  Why not?  Why is there a disconnect between Colossians 1 and your life?  The answer I believe is found in Romans 5.

Origin of Sin

Last week I spent a significant time unpacking what is called Hamartiology, which is the theology of sin, where it came from and how it spread, and what are the consequences.  And as we saw, sin did not originate in God, for Jesus tells us that Satan is the Father of lies.  Unrighteousness was first found in Satan, when he was a guardian Cherub upon the Mountain of God.  Satan, desiring to be like God, was the first rebel.  

Even though sin first originated in Satan, it does not mean that God was not sovereign over that event.  God is all knowing and all powerful, therefore, when God created Satan through Jesus Christ and for Jesus, God knew that Satan would manifest passions and desires in his angelic soul that would be against the will of God.  Sin began in Satan, and Satan is accountable for that sin, however, God in ways that are perhaps beyond understanding, ordained it. 

However, we must tread lightly and not credit God with sin, for God is without sin.  As it says in Isaiah 6:3, God is “Holy, Holy, Holy.”   As it says in 1 John 1:5, “God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.”  As Jesus says in Matthew 5:48, “your Heavenly Father is perfect.” 

So God is sovereign over all things, including evil, but he did not create it, however, he did ordain it.  This is how Pastor John MacArthur states it, “God was not caught off guard.  In fact, God decreed that evil would be part of His plan.  He is not the creator of evil and He is not the cause of evil.  He did not bring evil into existence in a cosmic sense, and He did not and does not bring evil into existence in a personal sense.  He is not the cause of sin, nor is He the cause of sins in the lives of people.  But He does use it for His purposes.” 

As we stated, this sin did not remain in the Angelic realm.  Through Satan’s deception and lies, Adam and Eve also succumbed to the desires witch gave birth to sin.  And at that moment, when the broke God's law, Adam and Eve became sinners by nature.  Sin was not just something they did, it was something they became.  And because Adam is the Father of all living, the sin nature that was in him was passed on to his children, and his children’s children, and so on and so forth.  Therefore, every person who has ever existed is a natural born sinner.  Paul, in his letter to the Ephesians says that we are “by nature children of wrath.”

Now, just as God was not caught off guard by Satan’s sin, God was also not caught off guard by Adam’s sin.  Just as Satan’s sin was a part of God’s eternal purposes, so was Adam’s.  How do we know this?  Two places in Scripture make this very clear. 

• Ephesians 1:3-5 – “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, 4even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love 5he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will,”

Before the world was created, therefore before the sin of Adam, verse four tells us that God chose us in Jesus to be holy and blameless.  This means that God’s will, his plan of redemption through His Son, was not reactionary to Adam’s sin, or our sin.  God’s plan existed in the the Trinity before time was even created.  This is what it means to be sovereign. 
Now the second verse that shows that God was not caught off guard by Adam's sin is Revelation 13:8.  In this verse, the Apostle John is talking about those who worship the antichrist, which I believe to be the things of this world.  

• Revelation 13:8 – “and all who dwell on earth will worship it, everyone whose name has not been written before the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who was slain.”

So we are told there is a book, and this book is called “The Book of Life of the Lamb Who Was Slain.”  This is obviously a reference to Jesus dyeing on the cross for blood bought redemption.  And in this book there are names.  And the names of this book were written before the foundation of the world.  Or another way to say it is that the names in this book were written before the existence of Adam, and therefore before the first sin of Adam. 

Therefore we can clearly see that God was not surprised by sin entering into the world through Adam.  It was always a part of the purpose of God's will.  And what is the preeminent, or supreme, purpose of God’s will?  That in everything, His Son would be glorified.

Adam, a Type of Christ

With all of this being said look at verse 14.  It says, “Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come.”  What does Paul mean when he says that Adam was a type of the one who was to come?  Who is the one who was to come?  The One?  It is Jesus, of course.  Jesus is the one who the sin saturated world had been waiting for.  Jesus is the one who was the Lamb who was slain.  Jesus is the one who is the Christ who would provide a path for us to be made holy and blameless before God. 

So what does Paul mean when he says that Adam was a type of Christ?  The Greek word is typos (tü'-pos), but is spelled t-y-p-o-s.  And this word means a die as struck, or a stamp, or a model, or impression.  Therefore to say that Adam was a type is to say that Adam was a model of Jesus.  I think the best way is to think about this modeling is in regards to the singularity of Adam and the singularity of Jesus. 

Remember Adam is the first of the human race, and therefore in the Garden of Eden he represented all of mankind.  All of humanity was in his loins, so to speak, when he sinned.  And because Adam sinned, we all sinned.  Likewise, Jesus is the first born of creation, the head of the Church.  Jesus is the representative of God’s elect, those who were chosen by God to be holy and blameless.  So just as sin came into the world through one man, Adam.  Salvation came into the world through one man, Jesus.  This is how Adam is a type of Christ.  Adam model's or is a pattern pointing to Jesus. 

The purpose of Romans 5 is to show the singularity of salvation through Jesus Christ.  Sin came in through the single doorway of Adam, and salvation comes through the single doorway of Jesus.  There was a single way you become a sinner, through being a descendant of Adam, and there is a single way that you become saved, through faith in Jesus Christ. 

• John 10:6, “I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved. “
• John 14:6, “Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
• 1 Timothy 2:5-6, “For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus, 6who gave himself as a ransom for all people.”

Jesus is not a way, he is the way.  And if you love people, you will tell them that Jesus is the only way.  You must point sinners to the person of Jesus Christ as their one and only hope.  You cannot beat around the bush and say, “Well...I guess...for me...my personal opinion...because I am a Christian we are taught...”  No you must preach the exclusivity of Christ with authority.  “No man comes to the Father except through Christ!  Therefore repent and believe before your soul is required of you!” 

The Gift is not Like the Trespass

Therefore Adam is a type of Christ as a God ordained covenant head of the human race, but as it says in verse 15, “But the free gift is not like the trespass.”  Jesus stands in stark contrast to Adam. 

First of all, Adam transgressed the law of God.  Christ did not.  Look at verses 18 and 19 “Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. 19For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous.”  Adam rebelled against God, Christ submitted to God.  His one act of righteousness, was the one act of his entire life.  Where Adam failed, Christ overcame.  Philippians 2:8 says, “And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”  Jesus did all that the Father commanded, including dieing in our place upon the cross.

And through His life of obedience, including the cross, we who are unrighteous are made righteous.  Our righteousness is not through our own works, but through the work of Jesus.  Look at verse 19 again, “by the one man's obedience”  Who is that one man?  Jesus.   “the many will be made righteous.”  Who are the many?  Those who are descendants of Adam and receive the gift of Christ.  It does not say, buy our obedience we will be made righteous, it says by Jesus's obedience will will be made righteous.  Righteousness is not something we earn, it is only something we can receive.  If you notice, in our text for today it says the phrase “free gift” five separate times.  The free gift is Jesus, the Son of God, and all that flows from faith in him.  

And it says in verse 16 says, “And the free gift is not like the result of that one man’s sin. For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brought justification.”  In the Jones County Courthouse in the District Courtroom, high above the judge's bench there is a plaster molding that says, “Justice for all man.” This is exactly what is happening in verse 16.  God as a righteous judge must bring justice to all man, and because all man have sinned, the judgment of God is that we are all guilty.  Everyone stands condemned, or guilty, under the law of a Holy God,in the Courtroom of His Universe, and this condemnation is brought upon us by Adam, the original sin. 

Jesus, who is the free gift of God, does not bring judgment, he does not bring condemnation.  Jesus brings justification, this is the exact opposite of condemnation.  Christ stands in the Courtroom of God and takes upon himself the judgment that we deserve, and he does this on the cross of Calvary.  Isaiah 53:5, “But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed.”  Our healing is our justification.  Through Christ we who are sinners have become holy and blameless before our Maker.  God, through Christ, sees those who receive the gift of Jesus by faith, are perfect in God's eyes.  The blood of Jesus has washed us as white as snow.  

And this is true for all men who chose to receive the gift of Christ.  No matter how wretched you have been in your life.  No matter what sins you have committed.  The free gift of Jesus Christ has more power than the curse of Adam.  Look at verse 20, “Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more,”  If anyone tells you that they have done too many bad things to be forgiven, you set them straight.  For the blood of Jesus Christ can pay any man's debt.  In the Kingdom of God, grace reigns.  As we have said, to reign means to have ultimate authority.  The grace of God in Christ is greater than the sins of man.  By the blood of the lam we have overcome. 

And all of this leads us to the final reality and that is life.  Though the sin of Adam, came death to all, for all sinned, but through Christ everything is reversed.  No longer is death our master, Christ is, and in Christ there is life. 

Verse 17, “For if, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ.”  Jesus reversed the curse.  Only though faith in Jesus Christ can we overcome our two greatest enemies, sin and death.  John 10:10, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.”

Jesus is not just some teacher.  He is not just some prophet.  He is not just a revolutionary.  He is not just an example for social change.  Jesus is the Son of God, everything was created through him and for him.  He is the center of all reality, and He is this world's only hope.  

Preached at Cornerstone Church in Cascade, IA on January 14, 2018

Let us begin this morning with our January Memory Verse, Romans 5:8, “but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
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This morning, we are going to continue to unpack this glorious love of God and its benefits as we continue to walk through Romans 5. Today we will be studying Romans 5:12-21. Let us all stand in honor of the reading of God’s Word.

• Romans 5:12-21 “Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned--13for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law. 14Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come. 15But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if many died through one man’s trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many. 16And the free gift is not like the result of that one man’s sin. For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brought justification. 17For if, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ. 18Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. 19For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous. 20Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, 21so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

Death Reigns

This morning we will be unpacking massive, fundamental truths about human existence. There comes a point in all child's life when they ask their parents, why do people die. And it is a fair question, for death is sometimes immediately thrown at the feet of children.

On Average 55 million people die each year. That equates to 151,600 people every day; which equates to 6,316 people dyeing every hour; which equates to 105 people dyeing every minute; which equates to a little less than two people dying every single second. Of course with each death comes the issue of their burial. There was an news story put out by the BBC in 2015 regarding the increasing problem that large cities are having with finding places to bury people. Too many people are dying that there is not enough ground to put them in. As I have said in the past, planet earth could easily be described as one large cemetery.

And burial space is not the only issue we have when it comes to death. Whether you realize it or not, your life operates in the shadow of death. The looming risk of death follows you wherever you go. In fact, your life could be described as your battle against your greatest foe, death. Americans are perhaps more consumed by avoiding death than any other people who have ever lived. We count our calories, we take our vitamins, we go to the gym, we have regular medical checkups, we purchase cars with airbags that will pop out in every direction. The list could go on an on. As it says in our text today, death truly reigns in our lives.

Now what is interesting is when children ask the question, why do people die, it points to a greater reality. And that reality is that death feels wrong. When the simple mind of a child ponders the concept of death, it doesn’t add up to them; they have this sense that something is not right.

And to be honest, it is not just children. We all feel it. As natural and as regular as death is, it always feels wrong. There is something intrinsic in us that reject death, despite it being every man’s destiny. Why is this? The answer is because mankind was originally made to live, not die. So let us now look at our text.

The Origin of Sin

Look at verse 12. There we are told, “sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned.” What is Paul talking about? First let us answer the question, who is the “one man” Paul is referring to? As we can see in verse 14, this one man is Adam, the very first man to ever exist. In fact, the word for man in Hebrew is Adam. In our English translation, some times it is translated to Adam and sometimes it is translated “the man.”

Now, we should first acknowledge something very important here. And that is the Apostle Paul believed that Adam was a real life person. A person who historically existed in the very beginning. I say this is important because there are some people who want to argue that Adam, as describe in Genesis 2, 3, 4 and 5 is not a real person but is symbolic. Well if that is so, someone forgot to tell the Apostle Paul when he wrote Romans 5 because his entire argument in verse 12-21 is built upon the foundation that Adam is a historical person and Jesus is a historical person.

And if Adam is symbolic and not a real person, than not only did someone forget to tell Paul but they forgot to tell the Ezra, Hosea, Luke, and Jude, for each of them refer to Adam as a historical figure in their inspired writings. And if that isn’t enough, someone forgot to tell Jesus, for Jesus says in Matthew 19:4, “Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female.” Therefore, if you take the position that Adam and Eve are not real people than you entire view of the Scriptures starts to come unraveled.

We are told that sin came into the world through Adam. What does this mean? To start, it means that sin did not originate in the world. That sin existed outside of the world before it came into the world. Which leads to the question if sin did not originate with Adam, where did it originate? To answer that question we can look to a couple of passages.

First let us consider John 8:44. Here Jesus says to the Pharisees, “You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.” When Jesus describes the devil as the Father of lies he is giving the devil credit for its origin. We do this all the time when we call someone the Father of Modern Medicine, or the Father of Astrophysics. When we say these people are the father of something we are crediting them with playing the foundational role in its beginning. Therefore, when we see Jesus say that the Devil is the Father of Lies, he is saying that he played the foundation role in its existence.

Another interesting text regarding this question is found in Ezekiel 28:13-15. If you would like to turn to this text, it can be found on page 850 in the Church Bible. Now this text is contextually regarding the King of Tyre, but as sometimes Scripture does, it looks past the person and speaks about the dominion behind the person. Listen to what it says starting in verse 13, “You were the signet of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. 13You were in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone was your covering, sardius, topaz, and diamond, beryl, onyx, and jasper, sapphire, emerald, and carbuncle; and crafted in gold were your settings and your engravings. On the day that you were created they were prepared. 14You were an anointed guardian cherub. I placed you; you were on the holy mountain of God; in the midst of the stones of fire you walked. 15You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created, till unrighteousness was found in you.”

Who does this sound like God is describing? Satan. Satan was a beautiful guardian cherub, created by God, perfect in every way, until unrighteousness was found in him.

Another text that many people turn to as well is Isaiah 14:12-14. If you would like to turn there, it is found on page 686 of he Church Bible. This is God’s Word against the great nation of Babylon, yet once again, it seems to look past Babylon to the principality and spiritual dominion behind Babylon “How you are fallen from heaven, O Day Star, son of Dawn! How you are cut down to the ground, you who laid the nations low! 13You said in your heart, ‘I will ascend to heaven; above the stars of God I will set my throne on high; I will sit on the mount of assembly in the far reaches of the north; 14I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.”

Once again, who does this sound like? It sounds like God is describing Satan. So if we pull all of this together, it appears that Satan was originally a created being of God, a guardian cherub, and he was perfect in every way, but as he looked upon the glory of God, he wanted more, and inside of the soul of this beautiful creature sin was born. And upon the presence of unrighteousness that was found within Satan he was cast out of Heaven and thrown to the ground. Satan the Father of lies now walked upon the Earth.

The Arrival of Sin

Which brings us to Genesis 3. Please turn there with me, so we can see how the events unfold.

• Genesis 3:1-7, “Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” 2And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, 3but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’” 4But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. 5For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” 6So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise,b she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. 7Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.”

The world that Satan was cast down to was previously declared by God to be “very good” in Genesis 1. Adam and Eve were lacking absolutely nothing. God had given them a job, to be fruitful and multiply and to have dominion over the world. He had given them food from every tree in the Garden, minus one. He had given them each other in the glories of marriage. And he had given them himself, fellowshiping with them daily in the garden of Eden. Adam and Eve were living in perfect harmony with creation, with each other and with God.

But all of that changes when the villain of the story arrives, Satan and his demons. Satan, who is consumed by his lust for power goes on the offensive in the world that God had created. He is seeking a Kingdom of his own. He knows who Adam is and he knows God plan for Adam to be the father of all living, so what does he do? He attacks. And how does he attack? By twisting God's Word and lying, for remember the devil is the Father of lies.

God had previously told Adam that he could eat of any tree in the garden except for one, the tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. That was the one and only prohibition for Adam. Now it should be noted that the rule that God gave was originally given to Adam prior to Eve's creation. We know this from Genesis 2:16-17 where it says, “And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, 17but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” This command came before Eve was created out of the rib of Adam.

It doesn't say, but I think it is fair to assume that it was Adam's responsibility as husband too teach his wife about the command of the Lord. And we can see hints of this in Genesis 3 that some where along the way, things got a little fuzzy, for Eve declared the command of God slightly different that God stated it. She says in Genesis 3:3, “but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’”

God did not saying anything about touching the tree, only about eating its fruit. Satan then seizes on this subtle change to God's Word to make some changes of his own by saying that they will not surely die, but they will become like God. Eve then falls for the deception and eats of the fruit and gives some to Adam who appears to be standing right next to her during this entire ordeal and everything changes. Verse 7 says, “Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.” And through the single transgression of Adam, sin entered the world. The unrighteousness that began in Satan was now passed on to man.

And what God said would happen did happen. At this moment, Adam and Eve became spiritually dead, and would eventually die physically. The wages of their sin was in fact death.

The Spread of Sin

And this sin that now dwelt inside of Adam was like a disease, or perhaps a better way to describe it, it was like a trait. A trait of sin, or a trait of unrighteousness that was passed down from one generation to the next.

Adam and Eve's commission was to be fruitful and multiple, and they did. After sin entered the world they conceived and bore a child in the likeness of man. A what did they have? They gave birth to a bouncing baby sinner. Eve gave birth to Cain who eventually became the first murder, just like his spiritual father, Satan. The sin that had now taken up residence in the soul of Adam, was passed down to his child through the act of procreation.

But once again, it did not stop there, sin continued to spread. The trait of sin that resided in Adam was passed on to all of his children, and to his children's children, and so on and so forth. From Adam to Noah man continued to multiply, and as man multiplied so also did sin. At the point of Noah, God saw the wickedness of man was great upon the earth and flooded the earth in his wrath. After the flood, Noah and his son's picked up where Adam left off, they were commission to be fruitful and multiplying. And they did, more children, and therefore more sinners, because the sin that was in Adam, was also in them as descendants of Adam.

This is the story of humanity, the spread of sin entering into the world through one man, Adam. And because Adam is the first man, we have all inherited his sinful trait, his unrighteousness, his spiritual deadness. This is the fundamental reason why it says in Romans 3:10, “there is no on righteous, no not one.” It is because we are descendants of Adam and Adam was a sinner and a sinner can only produce a sinner.

Every child born on this planet, who has been born from the seed of Eve, which is all humanity, minus Christ, was born with a sin nature. Psalm 51:5, “Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.” And as Jesus says in John 3:6. “That which is born of the flesh is flesh,” The flesh of Adam was cursed, therefore, as all mankind is a descendant of one man, Adam, therefore we are also cursed.

And the consequence of sin is death. The world is a full of graves because the world is full of sinners. This is why people die. This is why you will die, sin. As Paul says, “just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned.”

Life Through Christ

However, this is not the end of the story. The spread of sin and and spread of death is why God sent his Son. Jesus is the second Adam, conceived by the Holy Spirit. Jesus is the one and only one who has the power to overcome the curse, to overcome sin and therefore overcome death. Through one man, Adam, came condemnation, and now through one man, Jesus, comes justification.

Where Adam transgressed God's law, Christ fulfilled it in perfect obedience. Where Adam harbored unrighteousness and passed it on to his offspring, Christ harbors righteousness and passes it upon those who are born again and place their faith in him.

Humanity falls into two camps, those who are born of Adam, and those who are born of Christ. One leads to the second death, and the other to eternal life.  

Preached at Cornerstone Church in Cascade, IA on January 7, 2018

Today is the first Sunday in January, which means a new memory verse for our congregation. In the bulletins you should have a half-sheet of paper that has this months, along with the previous verses we have memorized, so that you can hang it on your fridge.
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This month, we have a short memory verse, but I massively important verse, Romans 5:8, “but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” So let us all recite it together, “but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”- Romans 5:8.

This mornings we are going to be unpacking that specific verse and the verses around it. Our focus will be on Romans 5:5-11, however, to bring the whole thing into focus, I want us to read Romans 5:1-11 in its entirety. Please stand for the reading of God’s Word:

• Romans 5:1-11 – “Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, wea have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 2Through him we have also obtained access by faithb into this grace in which we stand, and wec rejoiced in hope of the glory of God. 3Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. 6For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— 8but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. 10For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. 11More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

This week, I was driving home from work and from time to time I will surf the radio and listen to bits and pieces of songs to hear what the kids are listening to nowadays, which I must say is not good. However, as I was doing so, I hit on a station that was playing a song by Miranda Lambert titled “Tin Man.” For those of you who are not familiar with her or her story, she was married to another County singer named Blake Shelton. Long story short, Blake left Miranda and ran into the arms of another woman. After those events, her song “Tin Man” came out. Let me read to you some of the lyrics:

Hey there, Mr. Tin Man
You don't know how lucky you are
You shouldn't spend your whole life wishin'
For something bound to fall apart

Everytime you're feeling empty
Better thank your lucky stars
If you ever felt one breakin'
You'd never want a heart

The song “Tin Man” is a love song for all humanity. God has created us to love and be loved, yet when left to our own passions and desires, all we do is break things. Because we are sinners, mankind has made a mess out of this thing we call love.

Everyone in this room has, or will have, a broken heart story. Maybe it was when you were younger, or maybe it just passed, or maybe you are in the midst of it right now. The nature of humanity is the longing to be loved, which I would love atheists to try to boil down to Darwinian evolution.

The word English word for love is used 684 times in the Bible. Interestingly, love is mentioned twice as much in the Old Testament as it is in the New Testament. In the book of Romans it is used 16 times. The first time we saw it was in Paul’s opening remarks, Romans 1:7, “To all those in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints.”

It isn’t used again until our text today, chapter 5, verse 5 where it says, “and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.”

To Know God is to Know God's Love

Jesus in John 17:3 prays these words to His Father in Heaven, “And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” This idea of knowing God, is not in the sense of academic information. It is not the knowing in the trivial. It is the knowing in the intimate. The idea of knowing, as prayed for by Jesus, is the knowing that we would equate spousal intimacy. It is the knowing that we see in Genesis 4:1 when it says, “Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain,” Adam knowing Eve was a subjective physical union. The same is true for the “knowing God” that leads to eternal life. To know God is to have a subjective spiritual union with him.

We also understand that to know God is to know Him as a God of love. 1 John 4:16, “So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.” So to know God is to know the love of God, for God is love. Love is an attribute that he has. It is not something he does, as much as it is something he is. Love for God is not only a choice, it is His essence.

The question we will address today is how can man come to know God’s love? How can God, the Creator of all things, omnipotent and omniscient, display to humanity His love. It begins with a proper understanding of ourselves.

Weak, Ungodly, Sinners, Enemies

Look at verses 6-10. How does God describe humanity? Weak, ungodly, sinners and enemies. I think everyone would agree that those words are not very encouraging. That description is not going to puff up our self-esteem. Imagine looking at your children and telling them that they are weak, ungodly, sinners, and your enemy. If you do that in public, you will get some angry looks, and rightfully so. Having said that, we are reading those exact words in our text to describe the nature of humanity.

And this is not the first time in the book of Romans that we have read about how bad we are. Remember Romans 1:18 through Romans 3:20. We were told that no one is righteous, no one is good, that we don’t understand, and that we are worthless. Why does God say such things?

For one, because they are true. It says in Psalm 139:1-4, “O LORD, you have searched me and known me! 2You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar. 3You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O LORD, you know it altogether.” Everything you have ever done from the moment of your conception until now, God has seen. And not only has he seen it, but he knew it before it existed, before the event even occurred.

Later on in verse 16 of Psalm 139 it says, “Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.” Ponder that for a moment. Before you were formed, God saw the days of your life. This is what it means to be all knowing. God doesn’t receive knowledge, God is the reservoir of knowledge. And what God sees in the life and hearts of humanity is weakness, ungodliness, sin, and hostility. And God, who we have already established is love, loves us enough to tell us the truth about who we really are.

And this is not the only place in Scripture that God spends time reminding us of our total depravity.

• Ecclesiastes 9:3 – “the hearts of the children of man are full of evil, and madness is in their hearts while they live, and after that they go to the dead.”
• Mark 7:21-23 – “For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery,22coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. 23All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.”
• Ephesians 2:1-3, “And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— 3among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.”

Christ Died for the Ungodly

So that is the first reason God tells us how bad we are, because it is true. The second reason is found in verse 6, “For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.” What does Paul mean by this? He means that God, who is perfectly aware of your ungodliness, who knows all of the skeletons in your closet, sent His Son to die an excruciating death upon a cross so that you can be reconciled to Him. Let that sink in. Christ knows how bad you are, but still dies for you.

As Paul says in verse 7, it is within the realm of possibility that someone might die for a righteous person, or a good person. But Paul wants to make it abundantly clear that this is not the case when it comes to Christ, for we are not righteous and we are not good. We are weak, ungodly, sinners, who are enemies of God. Yet Jesus is still willing to lay down his life so that we can be forgiven.

Approximately two years ago, there was a video going around via Facebook that was well produced, inspiring, relevant, you name it. And it had this hip looking young man speaing with hi energy stating that the reason that God sent His Son to die for you was because of how awesome you are. That God wanted because you are smart and you are funny and you are just a wonderful person, and because of that, you were worth Christ dying for. I had multiple “Christians” send me that video thinking that it was the greatest thing since sliced bread, and they were shocked when I responded with a rebuke, because that is not what the Bible teaches.

The reason that Jesus died on the cross is not because you are awesome. The reason that Jesus died on the cross is because He is awesome. That is the preeminent purpose of the cross, to display that awesomeness of Jesus. For in the cross we see the display of the essence of God, His love.

Look at verse 8, “but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” The purpose of the cross, the purpose of the death of the Son of God, is to put on display for all time the glorious beauty of God’s love. And this love
God's love is not like the love of the world. God's love is not based on anything of value or worth in us. God's love is not quid pro quo. God does not love because you are beautiful. He does not love you because you are smart. He does not love you because you are awesome. God's love is not based upon a condition. God loves the weak. God loves the ungodly. God loves his enemies. God loves sinners who have failed to love him.

1 John 4:19, “We love because he first loved us.” They key word is because. The reason we love God is because he first loved us. God's love is the cause of our love. If God does not love us first, we do not love Him. God's love in the ignition of our hearts.

God's Love Poured into our Hearts

So how does this happen? How does God ignite our hearts for him? Look at the second half of verse 5, “because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.” God's love is poured into our hearts by the third person of the trinity. The Holy Spirit, takes the love of God as displayed in the objective event of Christ on the cross, and subjectively applies it to individual hearts. The Holy Spirit takes the gospel of Jesus Christ and pours it over our souls.

What do we call this? We call this being born again. This is what happens at the moment of our conversion, the Holy Spirit subjectively applying God's love to our individual hearts. This is the intimate union that occurs that causes us to know God, not just academically, like we know algebra, but intimately, like we know our spouse. It is an internal transformation, not an external work.

And it is important to know that the Greek Word for poured is ekcheō which means an abundance, an extravagant amount. Interestingly, it is the exact same word that Jesus used in Matthew 9:17 when he says, “Neither is new wine put into old wineskins. If it is, the skins burst and the wine is spilled and the skins are destroyed.” This is the picture of God's love being lavished upon you, whereby you have to become a new creation to contain this overwhelming love of God that has been poured into your life. And once again, this love that the Spirit pours into your life is done when you are a wretched sinner, not when you cleaned yourself up.

The Security of God's Love

Which leads us to our final point, and really the main purpose of our text this morning. Look at verse 9-10, “Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. 10For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. 11More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.” What is Paul's point?

Paul is saying that Jesus died for us while we were sinners, and when the Holy Spirit pours the love of God into our hearts and we respond by placing our faith in Jesus Christ, at that moment we are justified before God, “we have now been justified” is past tense. Meaning we are completely not guilty before God. All our sins are forgiven at the first moment of authentic faith in Christ.

And at that particular moment of our justification it says that we are reconciled to God. Look at verse 10. It says, “now that we are reconciled.” This means, as we see in verse 1, we are no longer enemies, but have peace with God. Right now in this moment, through faith in Christ you are reconciled with God. Therefore, if God loved you while you were an enemy, he will continue to love you as a child. Meaning, that you cannot lose your salvation. Christ will keep you.

In John 13:1, right before Jesus went to the cross it says, “Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.” Jesus loves his disciples to the end. He did not stop loving them, and he will not stop loving you. The love of God is not like the love of this world. God's love is not like Blake Shelton's. He does not get bored with you and move on. He does not divorce you when you sin against him. Once he sets his love upon you through eh Holy Spirit, it is finished. God's love is enduring, it is steadfast, it is eternal.

As it says in Romans 8:38-39, “For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Did you hear what he said, things present or things to come will not separate you from God's love. You don't have to worry about God's love growing cold towards you. It will always burn for you. And as Paul says in Romans 5:11, in this we rejoice.