Better than New
Romans 5:6-12
I. NO one is exempt from sin. (Rom 5:12)
A. Everyone is a sinner because everyone sins. (Rom 3:23)
B. Adam’s “bad apple” seed spoiled the whole human race “barrel”.
C. Sin brings cataclysmic and catastrophic results: DEATH to ALL. (Rom 5:18)
II. God offers a Gift in Christ: A PARDON! (Rom 5:6)
A. God’s gift is offered to ALL and accepted by MANY. (Rom 5:17)
B. God’s gift restores to a new standing:
From Judgment to Justification- Just as if I never sinned. (Rom 5:18)
C. God’s gift has brought me from death to a new life. (Rom. 6:22-23)
“Better than New”
I don’t know if any of you have ever watched the TV show, “American Restoration”, but it has been described this way: “Rick Dale and his crew of loose screws at Rick's Restorations in Las Vegas, Nevada, take rusty, beat-up items and restore them to their original glory.” (history.com)
I know that bringing THINGS back to life is more difficult than it looks, but bringing relationships and PEOPLE back to life, to restore them, is something infinitely more difficult.
Although SOME people are exempt from SOME difficulties which others may have to endure, there is one BIG PROBLEM, from which no one is exempt and no one can restore on their own: NO ONE is exempt from the “sin problem” or its effects .
Romans 5:12 tells us: “Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way DEATH CAME TO ALL MEN, because all sinned…”
NO EXEMPTIONS
It means that everyone who was ever born on this earth after Adam (except Jesus) is a sinner because everyone sins.
In Romans 3:23, it tells us, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” When we talk about “falling short” we tend to think: I’ll just try again, but the Greek word, hystereō, is stronger than that: It means that we have FAILED to reach the goal and so we have been left behind. We have failed to become a partaker of the glory of God because we have missed the mark of His Holy standard. We MISS God’s perfect expectations and so we are exempt from participating in His Glory and Kingdom! We get the word “hysteria” from that word. We are in an unmanageable state of being because of sin.
How did everyone acquire sin and “fall short.” Let me SHOW you how that worked out for us. I have some little army figurines here. In Romans 5:12, it says:
“Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man and death through sin, (that man is Adam).” Here’s Adam. Adam was created GOOD but he became UNGOOD when he missed God’s mark of perfection. God is perfect and when Adam sinned, he became imperfect, actually, we might say UNPERFECT and UNGODLY. I’ll throw that ONE man called “Adam” in this bucket.
The rest of the verse says “and in this way death came to all men, because ALL sinned...” Abraham sinned. He was a liar and deceiver. Into the bucket. Moses. He was a murderer before he was a leader. Into the bucket. Aaron: poor parent. David: another murderer, adulterer, liar.
Is there anyone who could claim they are not from the seed of Adam? Is there anyone who could claim that they are PERFECT? No? Then you are sinful. You’re worse than imperfect. You know how people say: “Nobody’s perfect! You’re UNPERFECT and UNGODLY.
James 5:16 instructs the church to “Confess your sins to one another.” If we are supposed to be confessing sin to each other, that would make all of us sinners. I go into the same bucket. (Name some others.) I am SIN-FULL (full of sin) and my just wages according to Romans 3:23 are DEATH along with Adam. SIN puts us all in the same condition as Adam. In Adam, we are covered with sin.
Adam’s bad apple seed spoiled the whole human race barrel. You know that old adage. But Adam didn’t only ruin everything around him; his SIN SEED ruined everyone who would come after him. We all have an Adam’s apple and it should remind us that we have ALL eaten the same “forbidden fruit” that Adam did. Sin has become lodged in us. In Adam we are all partakers of sin. It’s as if we all ate Adam’s apple. Being “IN ADAM” means we are DEAD to LIFE. Sin puts us in the grave with Adam.
Part of Romans 5:18 says: “The result of ONE trespass was CONDEMNATION for all men.” (The word for “condemnation” is Katakrino. We get the words “Cataclysm” and “catastrophe”. You know what a catastrophe is. A “Cataclysm” is a sudden, momentous, violent event marked by overwhelming upheaval and demolition; sin brings God’s judgment.
Whether you consider SIN to be a noun, which means you’re carrying around a sort of debilitating terminal DISEASE, or if sin is something you DO, either way, the sin IN you or the sin you COMMIT,
Sin brings cataclysmic and catastrophic results, namely everlasting DEATH to ALL. Because of SIN, every sinner receives an everlasting sentence of judgment which is like receiving a LIFE sentence plus an eternal number of years.
Christ Offers the Gift of Pardon
We tend to downgrade sin and its effects, don’t we? Romans 5:6: You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, (without any strength to restore our condition, helpless) Christ died for the ungodly.” (Christ died for the god-haters. That hardly makes sense, does it? Dying for someone who hates you!)
That’s what Paul explains in verse 7:
“Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die.” That’s true, isn’t it? Military and public servants sometimes put their lives on the line for others, but that’s because it’s part of their job, but why did Jesus choose to do that?
Verse 8 “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” While most of the people in Jerusalem were feasting on roasted Passover lamb followed by six more days of celebration, THE Passover Lamb, the Lord Jesus Christ, DIED for sin. Before we come to Him in humility and repentance, we are sinning every way we can imagine, and still, He died for us.
God offers a Gift in Christ to sinners : He offers a PARDON.
Romans 5: 15: “But the gift (a gift is GIVEN not earned or purchased by you) 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!” (Remember one of the definitions of “fulfilled”? To be filled to the brim and overflowing. The love of God is fulfilled in Christ because it is filled to the brim and overflows to MANY.)
This is explained in16: “ Again, the gift of God is not like the result of the one man's sin: The judgment followed one sin and brought condemnation, (a catastrophe upon the human race) but the gift followed many trespasses and brought justification.”
17 “For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God's abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ. One sin by the first Adam caused millions of sins and death for all; Christ’s ONE gift as the Second Adam offers exoneration!
18 Consequently, just as the result of one trespass was condemnation (catastrophic) for all men, so also the result of one act of righteousness was justification that brings life for all men.”
Let’s look at a few things from these verses:
First of all, God’s gift is offered to ALL and accepted by MANY. In the most famous verse in the New Testament: “For God loved the World so much that He sent the gift of His one of a kind Son that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish.” Verse 17 said: “Those who receive God's abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness.” God’s gift is offered to the world, but not everybody accepts that gift.
What happens to the people who died in sin IN ADAM (when and if) they trust IN the Gift of Christ’s sacrifice? (Bring up the IN CHRIST canister and take one of the “soldiers” out.) When God in Christ died on the Cross, His death and subsequent resurrection blew the lid off of the grave of sin, death and hell for me. God picked me up and took me from death to life. The Holy Spirit revealed that to me and I knew that God had given me NEW LIFE IN CHRIST. I could NEVER have gotten there on my own. Hallelujah!
He did that for Abraham, for Moses, for David…because they believed that God alone had the power to save them from their sin. He did that for…and does that for MANY who accept Him.
God’s gift restores to A NEW standing: He justifies ME, not my actions but by His actions. My actions were always sinful, full of sin, and they are STILL sin-tainted, but by God’s grace, I accept His sacrifice on my behalf…and so does God.
Verse 18 says: “The result of one act of righteousness was justification that brings life.” When I was born, I was born in sin. I was as good as dead, but with one act of righteousness, performed, NOT BY ME, but by Christ, now I am brought to new life that I never had before. I am not only restored, but I AM BETTER THAN NEW. God’s gift in Christ restores me to the same fellowship that Adam enjoyed with God BEFORE SIN entered the world.
God’s one act of righteousness for me, brings me From Judgment to Justification.
He looks at me - Just as if I never sinned, and it is totally on His account: It is His one act of Justification. You start out dead and you can try all you want ; you can die trying and you’ll still be in the same place, ( DEAD) unless you accept His act of righteousness FOR YOU.
I have heard some people say: “Is that all there is to being saved? Is that all there is to God’s gift?” I would respond by saying: “What more would you want?” God’s gift to us changes my standing, my status before God. I’m no longer “in the Adam bucket”; I’m a life saved by Christ.
God’s gift makes a tremendous change in my life because He brought me from everlasting DEATH to a NEW and everlasting LIFE by Christ and IN Christ. It causes me to celebrate in worship. It causes me to want to know and to DO the complete and perfect will of God. It causes me to desire time with the God and Savior who has saved me.
It makes me want to obey Him, to please Him with everything that I have and do. It makes me love to be connected with and honored to be part of His Body, the Church, because He died for me and He died for Her. I love to spend time with Him and with Her, and to invite others to do the same. I have a new faith, a tremendous respect for God’s grace,
It’s tremendous gift of God to be Better than new, better than ever before, and that gift changes my behavior and values.
I close with Romans 6: 22-23: But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, (I’m in the Care of Christ) the benefit you reap leads to holiness, (without HOLINESS no one can see God, Heb. 12:14) and the result is eternal life. 23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
To God Alone Be the Glory.
