This morning we are at the end.  This is our list Sunday looking at Romans 1 to 5.  Paul writing about the relevancy of the Gospel to our lives.

John Stott made the following statement: 

“What keeps people away from Christ more than anything else is their inability to see their own need for him or their unwillingness to admit it.  Jesus himself put it this way:  ‘It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.  I have not come to call the righteous, but the sinners’ (Mark 2:17).  We only go to a doctor when we admit that we are ill and we can’t cure ourselves.  In the same way, we only go to Christ when we admit we are guilty sinners and we realize that we can’t save ourselves.” (1) 

Someone has said someplace:  “A man’s greatest need is to know what is his greatest need.”

God giving us up to the consequences of our choice is God showing us in gruesome detail our need for Him.

While some people may question the relevancy of the gospel today - for some pretty understandable reasons - the reality is that the gospel is relevant - crucial for our lives.  Because our bottom line need that transcends all of life - in all that we search for - long for - are desperate for - at the heart level - the essential deepest need of our lives can only be met by God.   Each of us needs to be at peace with God.  To be made right in our relationship with God.

That’s Paul’s teaching - here in these first 5 chapters of Romans.  How the gospel - God’s answer to our deepest need - how the gospel is relevant to our lives.  What it means for us to have peace with God. 

Coming to 5:12-21 - the passage we’re focused on this morning - if we’re going to get Paul’s point we need to be clear about something that Paul has touched on earlier - that Paul is going to really bring out for us in these verses.  This may be a bit of backtracking but we need to make sure we’re together and tracking with Paul.

Let’s be clear.  There are two opposing kingdoms in this world.  God’s kingdom of light and life.  Satan’s kingdom of darkness and death.  Everything else in life finds its source in either of these two kingdoms.  Everyone of us is in one or the other of these two kingdoms.  There is no in between.

Whatever philosophy we may espouse.  Whatever morality.  Whatever wisdom or knowledge.  Whatever our world view.  How we treat issues like abortion and euthanasia and poverty and wealth and sexuality and every element of life.  All of it is either based on one kingdom or the other.

There are only two religions in this world.

One religion was instigated by the one true God of creation - infinite - all powerful - loving - who has displayed His eternal power and divine nature all around us in His creation.  His religion is a relationship with Him through Jesus that is abundant life today and leads to eternal life with Him forever.

The other religion was instigated by a counterfeit god.  Satan desires to be like God.  But he can’t create.  Only God can create.  Satan can only imitate - and distort and pervert.  Satan’s religion is a religion of foolishness and lies - deception - delusion - all in opposition to God’s truth.  A religion that binds us in sin and self-destructive behavior that is degrading today and ultimately leads to eternal death.

We need to get this.  There are only two choices:  Life or death.  Every moment of our lives we’re either choosing to turn towards God - His kingdom - our relationship with Him - or not.

In Matthew 7 - Jesus clearly outlines the choice for us.  He gives us symbols - the narrow and the wide gate - the tree and its fruit - two foundations - sand and rock.

The wide gate - Satan’s enticing we can trust our own wisdom and dishonor God - the wide gate leads to destruction - and death.  The narrow gate - God’s way - leads to life.  The bad tree - Satan’s - produces bad fruit.  The good tree - Jesus’ - yields good fruit.  Build on sand - Satan’s option - and we’re in for terrible destruction.  Build on the rock - God’s foundation - and we stand firm.

That choice is what God - through Paul - is showing us here in Romans.  That choice - those two kingdoms - death and life - is at the heart of what Paul is coming to here in 5:12-21.  More so - how we need to respond to that choice - to the reign of death and the reign of life.

Let’s read together 5:12-14:  Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because of 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.

There’s a lot here for us to unpack.  Put simply:  Sin Results In Death.  There are four truths here that we need to grab on to.

The account of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden is familiar to us.  Man was created to enjoy an intimate relationship with God - an abundant  life of opportunity - a deep communion with others - and the freedom to glorify God with our lives.  Adam was placed in a beautiful garden that supplied all of his physical needs.

In that garden God gave one restriction that Adam was to obey.  We’ve memorized this.  “Adam, don’t eat the - what?  fruit.”  Stay away from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

But, Adam rebelled against God with his eyes wide open - knowing exactly what he was doing - a deliberate act of disobedience.

The result is that sin enters the world of men.  Humanity becomes a race that has fallen away from God.  We live in sin.

Second truth - verse 12:  “And death through sin”  Death comes into the world through sin.  Let’s make sure we’re clear on what death is.  Death is more than just having a reservation in the Marble Orchard.

As we’ve been studying through the first 5 chapters of Romans - on past Sundays we’ve seen Paul writing about God’s coming judgment and condemnation and wrath - all associated with physical death and what comes after that.  Paul has been describing a process of our future history - what our sin earns for us.   

Jesus said, “Don’t be afraid of those who want to kill your body; they cannot touch your soul.  Fear only God, who can destroy both soul and body in hell.”  (Matthew 10:28 TNLT)

Flipping forward to Revelation 20 - and what’s there is a description of a lake not made of water but eternal fire - sulfuric gas - acrid steam - foul odor - a place of eternal burning and choking.  Torment without relief.  That’s where Satan ends up.  (Revelation 20:10-15) 

The Bible tells us that when judgment comes there isn’t going to be any place to hide from judgment.  We’re going to be judged by what we’ve done before our physical death - before we leave this life.  And if we’re standing there trusting in our own righteousness - trusting in our own whit, wisdom, and works to get us into heaven - into eternal life with God - we’re toast.   

Those who die without Jesus as their Savior end up where Satan ends up - unending weeping - sorrow - gnashing of teeth - burning forever.  That’s the death that Paul warns is the consequence of sin.  A death that is far worse than physical death.

Truth number three - verse 12:  “So death spread to all men” - all of us.

There are two certainties in life.  Death and what?  taxes.  You can cheat on your taxes (which I am not recommending).  But you can’t cheat death.

Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 15:56:  “The sting of death is sin.”

Paul’s illustration:  A bee stings us and that has its own kind of pain. 

Sin is a self-inflicted wound - toxic - fatal.  Sin is our stinging ourselves.  The result will be death - physical death and eternal separation from God.

Years ago there was train wreck up by Dunsmuir - near Mount Shasta.  Do you remember this? Toxic chemicals spilled into the Sacramento River.  They tried everything to stop the flow of the chemicals.  But it was too late.  The chemicals were already in the river.  The river was polluted - wildlife died - the chemicals flowed down stream - all the way to the Pacific Ocean - killing everything along the river. 

We’re sinners because of the choice made by Adam for all of us and by the choices each one of us - every  man, women, and child - by the choice each one of us makes individually to sin we prove that Adam made the right choice as our representative.  We all live with this death sentence hanging over our heads.  Sin and death flow in our race - in us.

Paul writes about us in Romans 3 - verses 10 and 23:  “There is none righteous, not even one.  For all - that means all of us - for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:10,23 NASB)

Along the way there might have been experiences or people that have helped us develop and refine our skills at sinning.  But, if we’re honest with ourselves we have to agree with Paul.  No one teaches us how to sin.  We’re born with sin.  There’s a universality of sin.

Grab this:  Because sin is universal - death is universal - death reigns.  Every one of us is born into the reign of death.

Truth number four - verse 13:  Death reigns over all of us.  “for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law.” 

“Counted” is a word that can be easily confusing.  What does Paul mean by “counted”?

Let’s say we have a credit card.  All month long we’re out shopping.  Having a good old time.  Works great.  We go into a store.  Choose something to buy.  Swipe the card and its ours.  Shoes.  T.V.  Computer.  IPad.  Ferrari.  Whatever.  It’s the best thing since sliced bread.  Swipe it and its ours.

We have no clue what all this costs.  We don’t care.  As long as we can go on swiping and doing what we want - who cares?

At some point down the road the credit card company sends us a bill.  Instant sticker shock.  Suddenly we’re brought face to face with the reality of how we’ve been living. 

Before we got the bill we were still racking up debt.  But now all that is “counted” - as Paul uses the word- we’re shown the reality of our debt.

That’s the law.  The law is like getting the bill.  It’s the written down reality check - the description - of what we owe for how we’ve been living our lives in sin.

Which is the reality behind what Paul writes in verse 14:  Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses,

Humanity looks at our situation and concludes that the answer is for us to work harder at trying to be good - more humane towards each other.  We can do this.  Which is a conclusion that prompts the question:  How’s that going for us?

There are occasional bright spots.  But let’s be honest - way too often we’ve messed up pretty bad.  Thousands of years of human history and we’d think we’d have gotten somewhere.  Pick just about any place in the world and something bad is going on.  When has there ever been a time when people haven’t been abusing or killing each other?

A while back I shared the illustration that Charles Spurgeon - the great preacher - shared in one of his sermons - about spending some time down in a hut in Italy.  When he went into the hut he noticed that the floor was very dirty - dirtier than any floor he’d ever seen in his life.

After he had lived there a day or two he couldn’t stand it any longer so he hired a cleaning lady to clean the floor.  This woman scrubbed and scrubbed and scrubbed.  But, the more she scrubbed the floor the dirtier it got.

Finally Spurgeon got down on his own at floor level and investigated what was going on.  He discovered that there wasn’t any floor.  There was nothing but dirt. (2)

With all of our philosophies and peace treaties and self-help programs and religious ideals and politically correct intentions and laws and everything else man - and each one of us has tried - when we get down to the bottom of things - conclude what we want - bottom line:  we cannot get past our own sin and death.

We understand this because of the world we live in.  There are some really great things about living in Merced.  But let’s be honest - we understand this because we live in Merced.

When God’s word says, “death reigns” - we don’t have to look very far to see that something is terribly wrong. 

These are the core issues of our hearts today - what drives people to suicide - to children killing children - to wars - to all of the horrible things we think about ourselves and the terrible things we do to each other. 

Death drives us to fear and uncertainty.  Death tempts us to think of our lives as futile and meaningless.  Death leads the wealthiest and greatest of mankind to look upon their lives with despair.

Death reigns in disease and poverty and failure and divorce and broken homes and addictions and defeat and on and on and on.

Beyond the grave is judgment - condemnation - wrath.

Death reigns - Paul writes - verse 14 - even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam.  Adam’s sin being the original sin representing us - our sin being of our own choosing.

The account of Adam and Eve in Genesis holds our attention because every day we relive it in our lives - the failure - the casting out - separation from God - the longing to return to paradise.  We despair because there’s nothing we - in and of ourselves - nothing we can do to return.  We’re bound by death - physical - eternal.  At the core of it all is our sin - Adam’s - ours.

Let’s go on.  Coming to verses 15 to 17 - here’s the theme:  God Offers Us Life - life in Christ.

Let’s read these together:  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.

First  truth:  Life in Christ is much more than death.

Paul writes in verse 15:  “For if many died through one man’s trespass - meaning because of Adam’s sin we are all under the reign of death - much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many.”

In contrast to Adam’s sin which leads the many - us - to death - is the death of Jesus Christ - which opens up the possibility for the many - us - to life.

Jesus takes the sins of the world - our sins - pays the penalty for them - death in our place - endures the ridicule of mankind and the hatred of Satan and his minions on the cross - is put to death - and forever buried - dispatched by the people - the religious and political leadership of that day - as we would have if we would have been there.  And yet - innocently enduring the worst of this world - Jesus did not stay dead. 

Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 15:  “The sting of death is sin…  Then Paul goes on:  But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Corinthians 15:56,57)

Jesus has triumphed over death - obliterated its authority and power forever.  The life He offers us is greater than the reign of death.  It is victorious over death.

Paul writes - comparing death and life - Paul uses the words “much more.”  Whatever death is, the life Jesus offers to us is “much more.”

The phrase in Greek has the idea of much more in value - much more in time - much more in content - exceedingly more - whatever way we slice it - with whatever perspective we may view it - with whatever needs we may come to it - as disastrous and terminal as death is - life in Christ is to the extreme the opposite.

Jesus said that He came to give us life in abundance - superlative life - life above and beyond anything we can process today.  (John 10:10)

Who “gets” Hell?  Who here really understands the depth of it?  Who here “gets” Heaven?  The heights of it?  What it means to live abundantly with God?  I don’t.  Not until I get there - to Heaven.  And even then - it’ll take eternity and I still probably won’t get it.  I can be slow learner.

Whatever death is  - the life God offers us in Jesus is much more.

Second truth about life in Christ:  Life in Christ comes by God’s grace.  The life God offers us is totally undeserved.

Remember Hosea?  God comes to the prophet Hosea and commands Hosea to marry a prostitute and have children by her.  We know how this goes.  Right?  Hosea goes and marries Gomer - has 3 children by her - and then she abandons him and the family for another man.  Harsh reality. 

In the midst of all this - God - shockingly - tells Hosea - Hosea 3:1 - “Go again, love her again, even as the Lord loves the sons of Israel, though they turn to other gods.”  And so, Hosea goes and pays money - 15 shekels of silver and a homer and a half of barley - to buy back his wife who’s now working as a prostitute.  (Hosea 3:1,2)

When you think about Hosea doing that doesn’t it rock your boat just a tad?  Gomer must have broken Hosea’s heart.  Humiliated him.  Shamed him.  The one that he’s trusted with the deepest intimacies of his heart has made him the public joke of the town.  And yet, he loves her.  Goes and buys his beloved wife back from the bondage of her sin.  

All that is picture of what?  God’s love for the people of Israel that have prostituted themselves with other gods.  Such is God’s grace towards us who are dead in our sins.  We who have lived in disobedience.  We who have been unfaithful - even living in spiritual adultery - living captive to the reign of death..

That’s God’s grace - the expression of His love.  We deserve death.  We’re born into it.  We’re victims of it.  It reigns over us regardless of if we choose to acknowledge it or not.  But God gives to us what we do not deserve - what we could never earn - His love - His grace - His Son who dies horribly rejected on a cross in our place - paying our penalty for our sins - taking our death sentence upon Himself - to offer us life - a restored relationship with God.  

Regardless of the greatness of our sin - the frequency of our sin - the depth of the disaster that we’ve made of our lives - or the arrogance we feel in our own self-righteousness - God offers to us His abundant grace and loving acceptance - now - and again and again and again - to live in the “much more” abundance of life in the resurrected Jesus Christ.

Third truth:  Life in Christ is a gift given freely by God.

Have you heard this?  “It’s not the gift, it’s the - what?  thought that counts.”

Remember the two brothers who put a lot of thought into the giving of a pair of pants that they gave back and forth to each other every Christmas.

First - the pants were tied to a car wheel and run over snow and ice, then removed from the wheel, wrapped in a lovely box, and presented at Christmas.

When the other brother got them the next Christmas, he placed those same pants in a form where wet cement was poured and allowed to dry.  They were presented that year along with a sledge hammer.

So the next year they were placed in the framing of a small tool shed, and the entire shed had to be ripped apart in order to get to the pants. 

The next year, the same sorry, miserable pants sat in the front seat of a car which was demolished and compressed into a flattened piece of metal.  It took a tractor and crowbars to get to that same pair of pants.

It wasn’t the gift.  It was the fun and joy of giving it. (3)

That’s what Paul means that God’s gift is freely given.  God gives without reservation.  Lavishly - without holding anything back.  The giving is not because of what God gets from us.  But God - by His undeserved love and grace giving what is incredible - beyond comprehension - the gift of life in Jesus.  His gift wrapped in the body and blood of Jesus offered joyously - freely - to each one of us.

Paul writes - in verse 17 - that the gift is “the free gift of righteousness.”  Righteousness means being made right with God.  God restoring our relationship with Him.  Making it new so there’s nothing between us.  No issues where we have an unresolved conflict between us and God.

We need to think about the hugeness of that - and stay focused on that.  God freely supplying everything we need to be made right with Him.

God doesn’t have some kind of spiritual bucket list that He goes down checking off what we’ve accomplished in getting right with Him.  The gift is not up to us.  We don’t deserve it.  Never could.  We can’t earn it.  We can’t work for it.  Cleaning ourselves up before God will accept us.  We’re the one’s making lists.  Not God.

The gift contains everything we need to be made right with God.  We don’t need to look farther.  To the Koran or the Vedas or some other religion or philosophy or teaching.

Everything we need to know about salvation and being set free from the power of sin and the bondage to our sins and the consequences of our sin - the end point of eternal separation from God and eternal conscious punishment.  Everything we need in order to be removed from under the authority of Satan and his kingdom and to be placed into God’s kingdom under God’s authority.  Its all there in the gift.

The gift comes with the power of the Holy Spirit - with everything we need to do life - to live out the life that God has created us and called us to.  Life with meaning and purpose that counts for today and eternity - even sharing the Gospel with others.  Life together in the Church.  God working in us and through us to restore our homes - our marriages - our relationships with others.

The gift comes with God supplying what we need - whatever that is - comfort - forgiveness - wisdom - joy - strength - physical - spiritual - God supplying what we need in the midst of life’s crud.  God Himself going through the drama of life with us.  God even blessing us so that we can share with others as they go through their own drama.

Verses 18 to 21 begin with a “Therefore” which is there for as a summary:  Sin results in death.  God offers us life.  Therefore We Can Choose Life.

Let’s read these together:  Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and 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.

For 5 chapters Paul has been pounding away at the contrast between life and death.  These verses are all that in a nutshell.

Adam - our representative chooses disobedience - sins.  The result is condemnation - death reigns - over every aspect of human life now and forever.  We are sinners - condemned.

Jesus - our representative choose obedience - the cross - an act of righteousness that leads to justification - the potential for all men to be made right before God.  Pardon and life is offered to each one of us.

Paul writes in verse 15 that “the free gift is not like the trespass.”  Adam’s epic failure that got us into all this.  Unlike the trespass - sin and so death - we’re not born into the gift - the reign of life.  We’re not victims of it.  It doesn’t impose itself on us - forcing us to accept its power over our lives. 

In verse 17 Paul writes that “those who receive” the gift “will reign in life through...Jesus Christ.”  Receiving means accepting - literally - seizing it - reaching out and grabbing the gift. 

God puts the gift on the table.  Its given.  Freely.  With all that God offers to us.  It sits there whether we pick it up or not. 

If the gift if going to be of any value to us we need to receive it to ourselves.  To accept God’s gracious offer of life through Jesus.  The gift requires choice - to live within the reign of life instead of death. 

That is astounding to think about.  Isn’t it?  Based on what we see going on the world around us.  Maybe even in our own lives.  Maybe even a little hard to believe.  That God would offer us so much - something so radically different - so freely.  No fine print.  No strings attached.  Just receive the gift.

What could the reign of life in Christ be like for you?  Question:  Have you received God’s gift?

The bottom line is this:  God in Jesus offers us life - abundant - empowered - resurrected life.  Sin and death lose their hold on us when we give our lives to Jesus Christ.

God gives us the opportunity to turn from our sin - to turn from death - to turn from trying to live life by our own failing whit, wisdom, and working - to repent of all that and to trust God with our lives.  To receive what He freely offers us in Jesus the Savior.

Thinking through death and life - here’s another question:  What could the reign of life in Christ be like for those around you?

How many people do we know who are living under the reign of death?  Whether they choose to acknowledge it or not.

We need to keep coming back to the reality that we’re not end users of the gift.  If we’ve received God’s gift - if we have life in Jesus - if we’re living in His reign of life - we need to share that gift with others.

Death reigns.  Jesus reigns.  Both are true whether we acknowledge them or not.  But, God is honest with us.  They do exist.  God’s offer is on the table.  Each of us has a choice.  Death or life?

Which reigns over you?

_________________________

1. John Stott, Romans - Intervarsity Press, 1994 - cited by Gary Vanderet, Man’s Descent and God’s Wrath, 03.14.1999

2. Stedman, Ray, “To Reign in Life” - sermon on Romans 5:12-21

3. Charles R. Swindoll, Swindoll’s Ultimate Book of Illustrations & Quotes