Tonight, we turn in our Bibles to Romans, Romans chapter 5, as we continue our study through Romans 5, and we come to what is a more challenging section, I believe, to preach, but very important for the arguments and the things that Paul has been developing here in this book and so tonight we come to romans 5 12 through 21 we will consider those verses let's give our attention tonight to god's word romans 5 beginning at verse 12 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 for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given but sin is not counted where there is no law 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 but 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. 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. 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. Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification in life for all men. For 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. Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased grace abounded all the more so that as sin reigned in death grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through jesus christ our lord may the lord bless tonight the hearing of his word well job uh in the book of job posed and asked years ago one of the most daunting and scary questions that could ever be asked when he asks, how then can man be righteous before God? Or how can he be pure who is born of a woman? If even the moon does not shine and the stars are not pure in his sight, how much less man who is a maggot and the son of man who is a worm? Maggots and worms. That's what Job asked. This has been a great question throughout history for people who are conscious of sin, hasn't it? How in the world can we stand before a righteous and a holy God? And Paul, in Romans 5, verse 2, said it. You got the answer to Job's question. We have peace with God, being justified by faith, and guess what? Now we stand in grace. Beautiful, isn't it? He just gave the answer. We stand in grace. The entire section in Romans is some of the most assuring and some of the most exciting language that we come across in the scriptures, and it's been wonderful to study. It's hard to move out of. I want to stay here for a while, but I got to move on. Paul is full of joy. Paul is full of hope. He's full of excitement and assurance as he labors to explain to us the fruits of our justification. I mean, remember the past few weeks, everything that he's been saying to us. We have peace with God. We have access now by faith into this grace in which we stand. And then he goes on to say that his love has been poured out in our hearts. And he says this gives you a whole entire perspective on now your trials as Christians. You don't ever have to think. You don't ever have to go through them thinking that God's wrath is upon you. Not at all. You have peace. That's done. Wrath is done. And that's what he said in the second section there in Romans 5. It's over. Now this is overwhelming language. And that's why I've been challenging us to think about why Paul would have to pray for the Ephesian church that they would be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the depth, height, and love of Christ which surpasses all understanding. We're surface in our understanding of God's love. But Romans 5 has been unpacking and showing us this in beauty and in such comfort and real peace. What Paul has been doing in the first section here is speaking rather subjectively, if you will, what we experience and what we get to enjoy because of now the fact that we have been declared righteous by the blood and the righteousness of Christ. Receiving it by faith, this is the life we get to enjoy. He's been unpacking that for us and that's why it's been so real. It's a wonderful thing to think about all of the blessings that we now get to live in light of and be assured of as we go forward. You can't preach Romans 5 without coming to a complete doctrine of assurance. If you've not done that, you've missed his point. But here we are tonight, and the struggle still is our sanctification. We really can't ever get out of that discussion. Just the seemingly little progress that we make. And I remember praying a long time ago up north and I had prayed in the congregational prayer similar to what I prayed this morning that we just long for the day. We long for the day when we will be in glory and we will no longer sin and that burden. And there was this 90-year-old lady who walked up to me right after that sermon and she said, oh, pastor. She says, I am tired of sinning. I'll never forget how she said it. Progress is so slow it feels. It was said in Sunday school this morning, progress feels so slow at times. And we long for this. The discouragement sets in, the real lack of progress. And why don't I enjoy this the way that I should? Shouldn't I be beaming with joy after this? Yes, you should. But sin's real. And sin's a struggle. And you are deeply discouraged often by our lack of love for the one who has poured out his love in our hearts. I believe Romans 5 is dealing with these struggles and explaining to us so that the Christian understands in clarity before we even get to the discussion about how to live, explaining for us what the death of Christ has accomplished. And what makes it so powerful tonight as we continue on in Romans 5 is that he is describing what has been done for us by the death, through the death of Christ, and he's not describing it now as something that we make powerful or effectual by our decision for Jesus. That's not it. That's how we think. We think, well, all of this was done on the cross and I kind of activate it or I kind of make it alive or effectual when I accept it. I don't want to undermine justification is that by faith alone and that we are declared righteous when we believe. But what Paul is doing here, he's moved out of what we call, what we experience subjectively in the fruits of our justification through our trials and through growing in our love for the Lord and being in union with Him. And now he's moving it on. And he's doing it in a pastoral way. I know I say that a lot, but it's very important to understand for Romans. He's doing this to help Christians think through and encourage them to think through what the death of Christ has secured for them. Just what happened in the month of Nisan in AD 30 at about the sixth hour of the day when Jesus said it's finished? What happened? And Paul has moved to that line of thought when he says, while we were helpless, he died for us. We didn't ask for it. We didn't bring it about. We didn't even accept it. You were dead, and he died for you. So any discussion about the life of sanctification we're going to get to in chapter 12. But in 5 and 6, he's really dealing with this to have us think about what was accomplished. There's an amen after all of this. It's firm. And so we left off with this statement last time in verse 11 that talked about reconciliation and how overwhelming the love is that has been poured out in our hearts. But I want you now, says the apostle, to consider what the death of Christ accomplished for you before you were even born. The fact is we are quite reluctant to believe in justification by faith alone. We struggle with it. The whole history of the church has proved that. It's hard for us who are workers. And we always still struggle that we feel that we have to make some kind of contribution. And Paul says, I want to take you somewhere else tonight before we even get there, before we even get to how to live. I want to take you somewhere else. Guess where you are tonight? You're not out on the street corner. You're not sitting on your couch at home. You're in God's courtroom. You've entered into the courtroom. The court is in session. The judge is presiding. Everyone arrives. Not really. This is the courtroom of God. That's where you've come tonight. And Paul wants you to see of what we, yes, subjectively enjoy living by faith and growing in our love for Christ and growing in that union and joining. He is describing now the basis of just what happened before the throne of God. That we can enjoy this subjectively peace. That we can enjoy hope of where we're going. That we can enjoy even through trial that God has a good end for us and he's not out just to make life miserable and punish us. No, that's not it. He has loved us with an everlasting love. How can you say that? Well, that's Romans 5. That's what we have here tonight. And Paul is taking us there to see the big picture for us before the throne room. I know you're struggling to understand how the death of Christ over there and back then is for you. and that how you can be sure. But I want you to consider what resulted through the righteous life of Christ. I don't want you to consider your life tonight. Let's just put that whole thing on hold. I want you to look with full eyes on His life. That's it. That's what I want you to do. Let me tell you about His life, says the Apostle. And so now Paul explains for us how grace works, if you will. how it more than deals with our sin the passage before us explains this beautifully if you look at verse 12 this is a little thick but the point is really clear therefore justice sin came into the world through one man and death through sin and so death spread to all men because all sin now what happens here is that paul begins a thought and then he stops and then he launches into something else that came into his mind and then he picks back up with the conclusion of the matter in verse 18. It's kind of like me saying to you tonight I'm going to preach tonight on Romans 5 and I'm going to just preach to you the objective work of the Lord Jesus Christ and dying in your place. Now I know what some of you are thinking. This is going to be heavy tonight. We're going to get a big doctrinal lecture but I really want you to stay focused for a minute and I really want you to think about what's being said to you and pay attention closely because it's going to be immensely beneficial for the understanding of your salvation therefore here's what the death of christ accomplished that's the kind of thought that paul has here so he summarizes his main point and we should get that first he's explaining how the death of christ what occurred through the death of christ and he raises here the issue about the nature of sin how did you become a sinner how did sin enter the world paul says through one man and through that one man sin and death came upon all men because they sinned in adam it's first at him so he unpacking this what this means is there are two great things here and we know this tonight the world knows this tonight there are two great things that we cannot overcome in this life that are a result of the fall what is it the two things are sin and death now some might fight us a little bit on the first one no one can fight us on the last one but we know that there's a relationship isn't there and the world may deny the presence of sin and talk about a bad system or whatever minor imperfections but ask them to live down on washington avenue in escondido and leave their door open at two in the morning and see if they still believe that sin's real people know this and there's another thing that no one can deny it's death it's coming the issue that paul is raising here is simply to have us think about where these things came from how did it come to you did you ask for that how did it come to you well we say well came came through adam but the question is how did it come to us through adam and the really striking thing about what paul is is saying to us in romans chapter 5 is that adam's sin was the sin of the people here is the result of adam's sin upon everyone you'll notice this very important phrase at the end of verse 12 therefore just as through one man's sin entered the world and death through sin and thus death spread to all men because all sin now that's a remarkable statement isn't it All sin. It's past in the Greek. And so what this means is that he's saying when Adam sinned, we all sinned in him. We all sinned in him. When he ate of that fruit of the tree and God commanded him that he should not eat, the process of death began. He died. And that very sin as he represented us was imputed to all of us. And here we are. Here we are. now this is very important to understand tonight this is not just an academic exercise because he's using this to build to a very encouraging pastoral point for us to understand and that's why boys and girls in catechism we have to learn this and believe this because this is very important for understanding what jesus has done if you don't get that you miss the entire comparison most people really struggle today with the notion that that we are held accountable for adamson and that we are guilty in adam that he stood and represented us and most evangelical teaching today says well we're not not quite satisfied with that we don't really accept that that we're we're responsible for our own sin but not adam's we um have this sinful nature right but it's a sinful nature that's developed in other words adam made the choice to sin in his life and he suffered the consequences and so we're kind of put in the same environment that that when we choose to sin in our lives then we suffer the consequences and this was pelagius essentially who i quote believe that Adam's sin in no way made humans corrupt, but instead, over the years, our sin gradually corrupts us, building an addiction and then holding us bound with what seems like the force of nature itself. And that led him to deny crucial doctrines and understanding of justification. So, we have this today, don't we? We have an age of accountability and children aren't accountable, we say, in the modern evangelical world. We say they're not really accountable until they can make a choice and until they sin and so on. And if you run that route and if you buy into that, you destroy the very comparison and the pastoral application that Paul is making for your benefit. he proves this his point by speaking now about the reign of death we say well clearly an infant can die clearly death is reigning and that's because of sin we're held responsible so if we accept this when adam took of the fruit and ate and represented us God holds us accountable and this is an important point because now Paul launches into a bit of a tangent I don't know if that's the right word but it's important Paul said here somebody's going to come along and say well Paul you've said that where there's no law there's no sin this is what he's dealing with somebody's going to come along and say that you just said where there's no law there's no sin and you've got this period from Adam to Moses and Paul corrects that in verse 13 he's dealing with this thought that he knew would be an objection and he says for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given but sin is not counted where there is no law and I know this is thick tonight but I want you to keep the single simple truth in front of you paul is making the point that there was this long period from adam to moses when the ten commandments had not been specifically handed to israel on mount sinai the law would come through moses and paul is saying look the law has the purpose of bringing a death sentence right doesn't it the law exposes sin but the fact is that sin was in the world wasn't it and that means god did still hold people accountable to his law that's what he's saying a law he would even say written on the conscience in romans 2 and just because it was added later it does not mean there was no law when the law did come it served the purpose of making everything really clear for people that they had suppressed. But during this period of Adam to Moses, death reigned. How's that possible? Well, the answer that Paul is showing us here and laying out before us is because we sinned in Adam. And that there was death in that period. And that's what you see in Genesis 5. They died, they died, they died. Adam's sin was imputed to their account. And so we sinned in Adam, and now we accumulate. We all continue to go on sinning, accumulating to that original sin. Now why does Paul labor this tonight to bring this to us? The whole section is to provide assurance. How is he doing this? Look up at verse 10. For if, Romans 5, verse 10, for if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. That's a beautiful verse. Adam's life brought misery. But you see, Jesus has come. And notice what he says. We shall be saved in his life. Whose life? Not your life. His point is, if God is reconciled through the death of Christ, us through faith in him, he will certainly save us by being in his life. We call that union. Do you understand what he's developing here? We're in his life. So here's the great question. Did Christ die for us because we got our lives together? No one was deserving of it. We were enemies. We were hostile. We were dead. And so Paul says, consider the first Adam. He was a type of him who is to come. How so? What these heads did in their respective covenants is directly imputed to the accounts of those whom they represent. They both represented us. Adam stood in our place and sinned. He represented the whole human race. And what happened? We're all sinners. Christ stood in our place. Did He sin? Not at all. And He represents His people. He represents those the Father gave to Him. And whatever he accomplished, he saves them by his life. This is everything he's developing and saying here. Just as it's true that you became a sinner in Adam and are accountable, so whatever Christ accomplished is yours. Now, if that hasn't quite set in, we'll get there in Romans 6. but just to whet the appetite. Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into what? His death. We were buried. Therefore, with Him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Jesus was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in the newness of life. The old self was crucified that the body of sin might be brought to nothing. Now, if we have died with Christ, notice how everything being in his life is taken back to exactly what he did. This is Heidelberg that we considered tonight. In his life, death, and resurrection, that whole thing is viewed as what happened to you. And so, everyone represented by the first Adam are what? Covenant breakers. Everyone, every single person out here in the covenant of works have broken that covenant in Adam. And that will be the basis for the final judgment. That's why Revelation says that there's a giant book and every single deed that they've ever committed is written down. But, there's another book, isn't there? It's the book of life. You ever thought about what's written in that book of life? Just names. Just names. And so, think of what Paul is encouraging the Christian with tonight. When verse 15, he says, but the free gift, and I love that he keeps saying free gift here. You'll notice that. That's why the Heidelberg emphasizes freedom. the free gift is not like the offense. For if by one man's offense many died, much more the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, abounded to many. The great exchange works just like how it worked with Adam. And what does that mean for us who have embraced Christ tonight? Well, he now speaks of what you can enjoy because of that death and because of that accomplishment. Adam's act brought sin. Contrast. This free gift, by the act of the second Adam, is so glorious, he canceled that power of sin. And through his act, his death, it resulted in justification. That's what we've been developing. Romans so how can man stand who is a maggot it's because the son of man stood in our place and as the second and last Adam this is what he has given in exchange taking on our sin we receive justification the one sin of Adam brought wrath and judgment and condemnation to everyone Paul is saying being in christ being in his life he covers us not just the sin of of adam reckoned to us but every last sin we've ever committed and will commit and that's why we consider tonight in the heidelberg it's important we understand why he suffered all of his life he was fulfilling everything for us when he came here this was on his mind this is this is what remember john 4 i have a food to do i've got to accomplish his will and so carefully and so perfectly so that we might receive that blessedness of righteousness the second curse of adam's sin and death paul says look what christ canceled out think about it verse 17 for if by the one man's offense death reigned through the one much more those who receive the abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the one jesus christ when christ came and reconciled us we received something so glorious i think paul was really struggling saying should i this comparison really does it's there we have to make it but it's so glorious that it's not even like what happened at first in any shape way or form we're given the gift of righteousness super abundant and free to us as a gift of his grace abounding grace so that in our lives we would reign through him in life you know jesus was burdened to declare this everywhere he went i have come that they may have life and that they may have it abundantly that death would not reign and now you understand when lazarus died why he would stand up and that he would say whoever believes in me though he shall die he will live death's power cannot hold death's sting is broken because of his life we are now in his life and this is verse 18 putting it together for us tonight therefore as one trespass led to condemnation for all men so one act of righteousness led to justification in life for all men for 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 two atoms in history two heads all people today are in one or the other and those who have not believed stand guilty in the first atom but christ stands as the head of the covenant of grace doesn't and this is why he was raising his arms and saying to people come to me and you will have life you will live so what does this mean for us tonight in closing as we go home and we think about these things and we go out into another week to serve the Lord and to walk through this pilgrimage and face the struggles of this life, well you need to remember this free gift means you are free. Grace has abounded. Where sin entered in, grace in Christ abounds much more. And you will not see the face of wrath as a believer in Christ. You've received the gift of His righteousness through His perfect life. Having been justified by faith, we have peace. He means that. He means that. And so I come back to verse 11 in closing. We rejoice. More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ through whom we have now received reconciliation. I can't get away from what the Apostle is telling us there. Enjoy this. Enjoy what's been secured for you. You get to live a life rejoicing with who you are and what you have now because of Christ. Trust Him. Believe it. You know what this is going to do for life? When we get to Romans 12, it's going to say, now I get to present my body a living sacrifice because I am free. This is what I am. So that the apostle would declare to the Philippian church, this is so wonderful that even your death is gained. And so tonight I pray that as we went through this and looked through this challenging section, you would see what you have and that you would see that the Lord desires for you to live in His peace which surpasses all understanding. Guarding us in Christ Jesus. Let's pray. O Lord our God, we thank You and praise You tonight for sending Your Son who would suffer for us the whole time on earth and become the curse for us. Fulfilling everything that Adam could not and bringing in righteousness and life to those who are under sin, It's death and curse. And as we think about these things, may we always learn to praise you that this was accomplished when Jesus said, it is finished. And now receiving these things by faith, may we go forward and live in the joy of this comfort, knowing you, growing in that love, and receiving these wonderful benefits as we go through now reckoning ourselves, as Romans 6 says, dead to sin. but alive to you. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.