Genesis 2:15-17; 3:1-7
Romans 5:12-19
“Two Adams”
By: Ken Sauer, Pastor of East Ridge United Methodist Church, 1601 Prater Road, Chattanooga, TN www.eastridgeumc.com
We have all been asked to clean up someone else’s mess from time to time.
Sometimes those messes are small, like a child spilling a glass of milk, but sometimes the messes are huge and take lots of time and energy to clean up.
Messes can happen anytime and anywhere, and we all make them, do we not?
Our Old Testament Lesson for this morning is about the person who made the biggest mess of all time.
The first human being, Adam, messed up big-time when he and his wife disobeyed God.
Their sin caused them to be kicked out of Paradise and to eventually suffer death.
Adam’s mess was so big that all of his descendants, and all of us here this morning, you and me have been tragically effected by it.
We are all born into a sinful situation, separated from God, and destined to die.
Saint Augustine put it grimly: “When a man is born, he is already born with death, because he contracts it from Adam.”
And we all live in solidarity with Adam as we can all relate to Oscar Wilde who wrote, “I can resist everything except temptation.”
It is only Christ, the Second and Perfect Adam Who came and was able to resist temptation for our sake.
Tonight during our 6:30 pm worship we will look at some of the temptations of Christ as He dueled with the Devil in the wilderness.
How was Christ able to overcome temptation?
How does Christ enable us to do the same?
This morning, Paul reminds us of how Adam messed up so that the world is now in a state of sin and death.
But Paul does not stop there; he goes on to proclaim the Good News that the Second Adam, the Lord Jesus Christ, broke the power of sin, brought new life, and cleaned up Adam’s mess!!!
What does that mean for you and for me?
It means that there is hope for us.
It means that we do not have to be mired in sin; we no longer have to wallow in a life of despair and isolation from God’s love, joy, and peace.
It means that while we may never be perfectly obedient, the One Who was perfectly obedient has paid the price for us, has forgiven us, and has bled on a Cross to reconcile us to God!!!
There once was a sculptor who was really pleased with his work.
It was an awesome statue, and it looked good in the town square.
The person for whom the statue was being made had lived in the little seaport town all his life, and had become famous when, at great risk to his life, he had rescued single-handedly a boatload of people caught on the rocks in a winter storm.
The town was very grateful and asked the sculptor to make a statue of him.
But it wasn’t long before trouble arrived.
The next summer a gang of kids rampaged the little main street.
They broke a couple of windows, and when they got to the statue they took turns running and jumping and kicking it with both feet in the air.
After a few minutes of this, the statue, which hadn’t been made for this, snapped off its base and crashed into the road, smashing into pieces.
The town council was determined not to be beaten, so they called the sculptor.
They wanted the statue remade exactly as it had originally been.
But the sculptor had a better idea.
He would remake it alright—but out of much tougher material.
It would look better too!
He wasn’t just going to put things back as they had been.
This was an opportunity to do something really spectacular!!!
The main point I’m trying to make is that what God has done in the One Man Jesus is far, far more than simply putting the human race back where it was before the mess of sin.
The statue has been remade, and it is far better than before!!!
It isn’t just a case of “what they knocked down, God will put back up.”
Nor is it a case of “what they did wickedly, God will do graciously.”
God has done far, far more!!!
The “trespass” and the “gift” are not equal and opposite!
Death is purely negative.
God’s gift of life can’t simply be compared to it.
God took the initiative in a situation where there was nothing but sin to be seen, coming to a place where humanity was in ruins, and died the death we deserve—fully sacrificed—showed us the full-extent of God’s love for us!!!
In verse 15 of Romans 5 Paul tells us, “the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God’s grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many!”
Look back at verse 15, 16 and 17 and see how many times the word “gift” occurs!!!
Have we really grasped the lavish scale of God’s generosity and love?
The pastor of a small, country church moved to the pulpit for the sermon.
“Before this sermon,” he announced, “I’d like to introduce a guest minister who is with us today.”
The pastor told the congregation that the guest minister was a very close friend and that he wanted him to say a few words.
So the elderly man stepped up to the pulpit and said, “A father, a son, and a friend of his son were sailing off the Pacific coast when a fast-moving storm blocked the way to get back to shore.
The waves were so high that, even though the father was an experienced sailor, he could not keep the boat upright and the three of them were swept into the ocean as the boat capsized.”
The old man hesitated for a moment, making eye contact with two teenagers who were, for the first time, looking somewhat interested in what was being said.
He continued his story, “Grabbing a rescue line, the father had to make the most excruciating decision of his life: Which boy would he save with the lifeline?
Would he throw the line to his son, whom he loved beyond comparison, or would he throw it to the other boy?
He only had seconds to make his decision, and he knew that he most likely couldn’t save both of them.
The father knew his son was a Christian.
He also knew that his son’s friend was not.
The agony of his decision was overwhelming.
“As the father yelled out, ‘I love you, son!’ he threw the lifeline to his son’s friend.
By the time the father had pulled the boy back to the capsized boat, his son had disappeared under the raging water.
His body was never found.”
By this time, the two teenagers were sitting up straight in the pew, anxiously waiting for the next words to come out of the old minister’s mouth.
“The father,” he continued, “knew his son would step into eternity with Jesus. But he could not bear the thought of his boy’s son dying without knowing Jesus as his Savior.
So, he sacrificed his own son to save the son’s friend.”
The old minister paused and looked over the congregation.
Then he continued, “How great is the love of God that He should do the same for us.
Our Heavenly Father sacrificed His only begotten Son so that we could be saved.
If you do not yet know him, I urge you to accept His offer to rescue you and take hold of the lifeline He is throwing out to you today.”
The old man sat back down in his chair as silence filled the room.
The pastor returned to the pulpit, gave a brief sermon with an invitation at the end.
But no one responded, and soon, the service ended and everyone was leaving the church building.
Immediately, the two teenagers were at the old man’s side.
“That was a nice story,” one of the boys said politely, “but I don’t think it was very realistic for a father to give up his only son’s life with just a hope that the other boy would become a Christian.”
“Well, you’ve got a point there,” the old man replied, glancing down at his worn Bible.
Then a peaceful smile broke out on his narrow face.
“It sure isn’t very realistic, is it? But I’m standing here today to tell you that story gives me a glimpse of what it must have been like for God to give up His Son for you and for me. All in the name of hope.
You see—I was that father and your pastor is my son’s friend.”
In 1 Corinthians 15:21-22 Paul writes, “death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man.
For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive.”
A professor at Harvard University was speaking on Columbus Day.
He told the crowd that there were three profound things about Christopher Columbus’ discovery of America.
First, when he left Spain he didn’t know where he was going.
Second, when he arrived in the New World he didn’t know where he was.
Third, when he returned to the King in Spain he didn’t know where he had been.
Someone later added, “And he did it all on borrowed money!”
When we started our journey in this life, we didn’t know where we were going.
Most of our lives, we don’t know where we are.
And when we return to where we started, we won’t know where we have been.
But we’ll have made the whole trip on borrowed money, the body and blood of Jesus Christ!
On the one hand, Adam left a legacy of sin and death, born from Adam’s disobedience.
On the other hand, Adam left a legacy of Jesus Christ, born from his own offspring.
On the one hand, we are children of Adam’s legacy of sin.
But…on the other hand, the hand marked by the nail of the Cross, we are called to be the children of Adam’s legacy in Jesus Christ.
Have you reached for the lifeline thrown out to you by God?
The legacy of the Second Adam, Christ Jesus, is the legacy that will last in Paradise forever and ever and ever.
“For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous…to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
Praise God!
Amen.
