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If you can remember back 2 weeks ago to Rom
5:1-11 you'll recall that we discovered there that the
gospel brings us peace with God. That's because Jesus has
reconciled us to God through his death and resurrection.
What's more, we also discovered that a proper
understanding of the gospel gives us peace within
ourselves. That's because in it we discover that God's
love for us is unconditional, since Christ died while we
were his enemies, that our salvation depends on Christ's
righteousness alone, since we were still sinners when he
died for us, and that because he did it while we were
still his enemies, still sinners, we can have confidence
now that nothing can separate us from that love. So we
can have true peace: peace of mind based on the actual
peace that exists between us and God. But now as we read
on in Romans ch5 we discover there's now a new world
order in place. Here we find the reason that we can have
this peace with God, and why it is that this is a message
that needs to be passed on to all people, to everyone we
know. |
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Di and I went to a play a few weeks ago, called
"Life X3." It was set in an apartment with a
couple and their young child. The husband was an academic
working on a theory in astronomy. They had just finished
dinner and put their daughter to bed. There was nothing
to eat in the house because they were planning a big shop
the next day in preparation for a dinner to which they'd
invited the husband's professor, who was supervising his
research. Well, they're in the middle of an argument over
whether their daughter should be allowed something to eat
after she'd cleaned her teeth, when the door bell rings.
It's the professor and his wife. They've got the date
wrong. Well, the scene progresses from bad to worse until
they end up in a ding-dong argument, with the Professor
and his wife walking out in a huff. Then the stage falls
into darkness and it all starts over again. The same
scenario, but this time their reactions and words are
slightly different. And the end result is different. Then
again the scene starts over for a third time. Again the
reactions of the various people is different and the
final scene ends up with almost the opposite conclusion
to the first time round. The point of the play, of
course, was that small differences in the way we respond
or the things we say can make enormous differences in the
way situations work themselves out. If you've seen the
movie "Sliding Doors" there's a similar message
there. Something as simple as missing the train can make
a huge difference to the way your life works itself out. |
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So why am I telling you all this? Well, because
that's something of the idea that we find here in Rom
5:12-21. What we discover here is that a single decision
made thousands of years ago has had far reaching
consequences ever since. He says: "sin came into the
world through one man, and death came through sin, and so
death spread to all because all have sinned." Adam
and Eve chose to disobey God and as a result they died,
spiritually, and were removed from the place of God's
blessing physically. Their death was, at the same time,
the result of their sin, the sign of their sinfulness,
and the determinant of their future and the future of
their offspring. This diagram tries to represent what
happened when they sinned: |
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Now this is a bit tricky. We need to think
carefully about this. We know that we continue to live
outside the realm of God's blessing, in our fallen state.
But sometimes we think that this is simply because of our
own failings. We're just repeating Adam and Eve's
mistake. Well, it's true that we are doing that. He says:
"death spread to all because all have sinned."
Yet it isn't as simple as that. If it was just that we've
repeated Adam's mistake, that is, that we've rebelled
against God's lawful commands, there'd still be a
question mark over those people who lived between Adam
and Moses. You see, the people who lived, say, in Noah's
day didn't have a law to tell them how to live. So in a
sense there was nothing for them to rebel against, was
there? Yet they continued to die. So why did they die?
They weren't disobeying God. God hadn't given them
commands as such. In fact, we're told, they died because
sin ruled them, death exercised dominion over them even
though they hadn't disobeyed God in the same way as Adam
and Eve did. So why was this so? Because the death that
Adam and Eve suffered was passed on to all their
descendants. So we find now that all of us are
constitutionally unable to do the right thing. All of us
continue in the line of Adam, unable to help ourselves. 
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That then prompts the question, how can we get
out of this dilemma we find ourselves in? How can we
climb out of this pit that we've dug for ourselves? Well,
let me ask something of a hypothetical question. What
would have happened if Adam and Eve hadn't sinned in the
first place? Well, we wouldn't be in this pickle would
we? The long term consequences of their obedience would
have led to a totally different outcome. |
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So, then, what if another human being came
along, another Adam, who would be totally obedient to
God's will, and who would not only be totally obedient,
but would also have the wherewithal to incorporate other
human beings into his life. Again the long term
repercussions would be enormous wouldn't they? You see,
if one man's disobedience led to death for many, imagine
what this new man's obedience, righteousness, would mean
for those who are incorporated into him. Again, here is a
picture that illustrates what happens when Christ comes
as a human being to do what Adam was unable to do. |
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Christ takes on human flesh and transforms it,
restores it to life by his total obedience. When he dies
he overcomes death, because death has no hold over him.
He has no sin and it's sin that's the power of death. So
Christ transforms human life from the depths of the fall,
back to the realm of God's blessing. He lifts us out of
the pit and sets our feet back on the rock. And then he
gives to his followers his other great gift. He fills
them with his own Spirit, who draws us into his life, so
that from that moment on, we too are drawn back into the
realm of God's blessing. |
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So we have this semi-parallel: One man's
trespass leads to many dying. One man's obedience
provides a gift of grace that abounds for many. Except
that it isn't exactly a parallel is it? One has totally
negative consequences - condemnation, the other has
positive consequences - justification. The one man's sin
meant that death exercised dominion over all people,
God's free gift in Jesus Christ means that those who are
in Christ will now exercise dominion in life. One man's
trespass led to condemnation for all, now one man's act
of righteousness has led to justification for all. And so
it goes on. Parallel after parallel. The world now looks
so different. Now there are two paths that can be taken,
depending on the choice we make. Just as where we went as
a human race was the result of the choice made by Adam
and Eve, so now we're again given a choice. Will we
believe in Christ and join his line or will we continue
in the line of Adam? |
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But notice the unspoken implication of all this.
All people suffer the results of Adam's sin. All are
under the rightful condemnation of God, because all
people continue to disobey. Yet there's now available a
cure for this incurable human disease. All people can now
be made righteous by faith in Jesus Christ. All people
can be brought back into the realm of God's blessing. And
that means that the task of evangelism, the task of
sharing this good news with our friends and family is
incredibly important. Because unless they hear about
Jesus Christ and put their faith in him they're stuck
down there with Adam and his descendants in the fallen
world. But when they put their faith and trust in Jesus
Christ and his death and resurrection, he lifts them up,
raises them into God's presence again. |
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Well, that just about covers what I want to say,
except for one thing. That is to point out what he
reminds us of in vs20 & 21: "Law came in, with
the result that the trespass multiplied; but where sin
increased, grace abounded all the more, 21so
that, just as sin exercised dominion in death, so grace
might also exercise dominion through justification
leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our
Lord." We still live with the consequences of Adam's
sin. Those born in Adam's line remain in that line until
death. So sin continues to exercise its dominion over us
in death. Until the day when Christ takes us to be with
him in God's presence we'll continue to battle against
sin and temptation. Yet at the same time grace exercises
its dominion over us through justification. That is,
God's takes our continued failure to please him and wipes
it away, over and over again. Where sin increases, he
says, God's grace abounds all the more. Even though our
human frailty means that we struggle to resist
temptation, God's grace is great enough to overcome our
sinfulness. Christ's death on our behalf was sufficient
to cover all our sins. His resurrection life is poured
into us through his Holy Spirit and nothing can separate
us from that life. In other words, once we're born again
into Christ's line we continue in that line forever. |
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Just as an aside, it's interesting that as you
read through the Bible what you find is that the
expressions of God's judgement on sin increase in
intensity. But always, along with the announcement of
judgement comes a promise of rescue or mercy, and the
intensity of these promises grows accordingly. So where
sin and judgement abound, grace abounds all the more. |
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Well, the point of that is that there's a
struggle going on in our lives all the time between sin
and grace. We live our lives in a place of tension, where
what we will be is not yet seen, where we long for that
day when our obedience will come naturally to us, even
though now we struggle to obey. So the picture we get
looks like this: 
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Now next week we'll discover that the
implications of this state of living under the grace of
God means that we can't take this tension lightly. We're
called to fight against sin and temptation. But that
struggle isn't what determines our future. Our future is
determined by which line we live in. Are we continuing in
the line of Adam, ignoring the work of Christ, or have we
accepted the free gift of his grace? Have we allowed
Christ to bring us back to the Father? |
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The same goes for every other member of the
human race. Christ has done everything necessary to
restore humanity to God's original design, but people
still need to hear the gospel so they too can decide to
put their faith and trust in Christ. So while we live in
this place of tension, let's keep two things in mind.
First of all, we're now living in the realm of God's
blessing, God's original design for us. There's nothing
more we need to do to enjoy that great benefit of his
grace. But at the same time, this is something that needs
to be shared with others, so they too can benefit from
the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness
won for them and offered to them by the one man, Jesus
Christ. So let's be thankful for God's grace to us and at
the same time be seeking to share that grace with others.
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One night at a small church in Atlanta, Georgia,
a man shared how he had become a Christian while in
Sydney. "I was at the street corner in Kings
Cross," the man began, "when I felt a tug on my
sleeve. Turning, I found myself face to face with a
street bum. Before I could say anything, the man simply
asked me, 'Mister, if you were to die tonight, where
would you spend eternity?' That question troubled me over
the next three weeks," the man continued. "I
had to find an answer, and I ended up giving my life to
Christ." |
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The pastor of the Atlanta church was amazed that
a man on a street corner could have such an impact. But
imagine his amazement when, three years later, another
man came to his church and gave an almost identical
testimony. He, too, had been at Kings Cross in Sydney
when a derelict had pulled on his sleeve and asked him,
"if you were to die tonight, where would you spend
eternity?" This second man, also haunted by the
street bum's question, eventually sought and found an
answer in Jesus. |
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Shortly after hearing the second testimony, the
pastor of that small church in Atlanta had to be in
Sydney for a mission conference. On one of his nights
off, he went to Kings Cross to see if he could find the
man who had been mentioned at his church by two different
people. Pausing on a street corner to look for someone
like the street bum he'd heard about, he felt a tug at
his jacket. He turned, and before the poor old man could
say anything, the pastor blurted out, "I know what
you're going to ask me! You're going to ask me if I were
to die tonight, where would you spend eternity?" The
man was stunned. "How did you know that?" He
inquired. The pastor told him the whole story. When he
finished, the man started to cry. "Mister," he
said, "10 years ago I gave my life to Jesus, and I
wanted to do something for him. But a man like me can't
do much of anything. So I decided I would just hang out
on this corner and ask people that simple question. I've
been doing that for years, mister, but tonight is the
first time I ever knew it did anybody any good." |
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The destiny of all human beings was changed by
the actions of one man who disobeyed, and again,
potentially at least, by one man who obeyed. But we can
change the destiny of individuals that we know by the
simple gift of sharing the gospel with them. Let's pray
that we might have the opportunity of changing the future
for the better, for someone we know. |
