Mankind has been effected as groups and cultures by numerous people throughout history. There have been influential people; great people and not so great people who have influenced societies, whether for good or for bad.
But mankind as a whole has only been affected by two men; the first, Adam, and the second, Christ.
Adam brought sin and therefore death to all; Christ brought redemption and therefore life to all who believe.
In every area where the first Adam parallels Christ (the second Adam), we find that what Christ brings is MUCH MORE.
Not only has He lifted us from the fall, but He has raised us up to a higher plane than we ever would have stood had the fall never taken place.
Let’s read the verses of our study; Romans 5:12-15 (read)
Now, I have to start today by backing up some, because our understanding of what I’m going to talk about is dependent to a great extent on our understanding of Justification by Faith.
We have been studying Romans on Sunday nights, and those who have been in that study have heard this definition numerous times; but so that no one here is left behind, I want to go over it again here.
Justification by faith is a term we see used quite often in the scriptures; and it isn’t just a catch phrase that Paul has thrown out there to grab attention.
Justification by faith means something in particular; and what it means is that the believer in Christ has right standing before God...declared right. Declared just. Declared right by God, through faith in Christ.
It is not by anything we can do; it is not by our works...not by our merit or any attitude we can conjure up within ourselves; it is simply by faith.
In Romans chapter 3 Paul lays out very clearly the level that man has sunken to in sin. He talks about the potential that all men have for sin, and he says it as though every person is capable of the things that he lists in that chapter.
Paul lays that foundation, and then he says, “But now, apart from the Law, the righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even, the righteousness of God through Jesus Christ for all those who believe. For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified as a gift, by His grace, through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus, Whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith. This was to demonstrate His righteousness, because in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed, for the demonstration I say, of His righteousness at the present time, that He might be just, and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.”
That’s kind of long portion to read, and I can’t break it all down for you today, but I want it understood that God did what He did, so that He might be JUST; that is, He has to hold us all accountable. God can’t just wink at sin and say, “Ah...it’s ok. Just don’t do it anymore”.
He has to hold mankind accountable for sin. Therefore, He has shown Himself to be just, in that He sent His only Son, who was sinless, to pay the penalty for all.
ALL have sinned. ALL now come under this provision He has made, when they believe.
But He’s also the justifier. He is just, but He is the justifier. He now says, “Anyone who has faith in the atoning work of my Son on the cross stands before Me right. Just. Justified. That’s what justified means.
Now, in verses 9 and 10 here in chapter 5, he says, “Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, MUCH MORE, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.”
It’s not just a ‘starting over’. It’s not just ‘wiping the slate clean’; it’s putting us in a position before God, higher than we ever would have stood had the fall not taken place.
In the section of Romans 5, verses 12-21, Paul sets forth a truth very necessary to the understanding of the doctrine of Justification by faith. The wording in these verses is, at points, a little confusing if these fundamental truths are not understood; and that’s why I wanted to lay that groundwork first.
Nevertheless Paul, through these verses, abolishes all arguments against every man’s need for God’s grace, and establishes once and for all the fact of our natural, sinful state.
It is only when man realizes that he is by nature sinful and in rebellion against a holy God, that he can appropriate to himself God’s free gift of grace.
Verse 12 starts at the beginning and tells us how we all got dead.
“Just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned...”
When God placed the woman and the man inside the garden, He made one rule. Only one.
I’ll read it directly from Genesis 2:16,17
“And the Lord God commanded the man saying, ‘From any tree of the garden you may eat freely, but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat; for the day that you eat from it you shall surely die’.”
God told them that the day they ate of that tree they would die, and Paul, in Romans, confirms to us that that is exactly what happened.
Now, it shouldn’t surprise us that the Bible says “all sinned in Adam”. It’s not the only place in scripture that the results of the acts of a father are imputed to his descendants because they were in his loins when he acted.
Hebrews 7 tells us that through Abraham, Levi paid tithes to Melchizedek, because he was in Abraham’s loins when he paid the tithes.
So Paul sets forth that all men sinned in the likeness of Adam’s sin, because all of mankind was in Adam’s loins when he sinned.
So as a result of Adam’s act of rebellion he died spiritually, and his nature was corrupted. Therefore all sinned, and death passed to all. We inherited that corrupt nature from Adam.
Even though no one after him created the same act; the same sin as Adam, we all share the same fallen nature.
Right here, if someone has taken time to think this through, he might ask, “Well, but wait. If the only law given was ‘you shall not eat from this tree’, and Adam and Eve were expelled from the garden, and the Law came through Moses 2500 years later, then how could men from Adam to Moses be held accountable for sin? After all, the scripture itself says that sin is not imputed when there is no law.”
If you ask that question, you’ve nearly hit on the truth that non-believers will never understand, and many believers never begin to live as though they understand it.
Our fallen state has nothing to do with not keeping the Law. We are born with a sin nature because we were in our father Adam’s loins when he sinned. Therefore, we are corrupted, we are at odds with God, even before we have the opportunity to either keep or break the Law.
It is because we are corrupted...because we have the sin nature, that we cannot keep the Law.
The Law was never meant to be kept unto salvation. It was not given with that intention. If we are spiritually dead and subject to the effects of the fall even before the Law comes, then how can the Law help us?
So...what good is the Law; right?
Well the Bible says the Law was given as a tutor to lead us to Christ. If you look down at verse 20 you’ll see another reason; it says that “the law came in that the transgression might increase, but where sin increased grace abounded all the more”.
Sounds a little strange, doesn’t it? Did God give the Law so that sin might increase? Of course not. What we know of the very nature of God denies that rendering.
What it’s saying is that our awareness of the knowledge of sin would increase, through the coming of the Law. The Law came to show us our sin, to give us an opportunity to repent.
Paul said, “I would not have known I was coveting, except the Law said ‘Thou shall not covet’.”
Since man can only turn from sin when he knows he is a sinner, then we can rightly say that it is by God’s grace and mercy that we have knowledge of our corrupt state, so we can turn to Him for His free gift;...and that brings me to my next point.
We’ve seen that even before the Law came, from Adam to Moses, all died as a result of Adam’s sin; for all were in Adam when he sinned...therefore all inherited his corrupted nature.
In fact, all of the world was affected by his sin.
Go out into a field during the Summer, and when you come out you’ll be picking thistles out of your socks.
You see a dead animal...there you are.
We see effects of sin all the time. People aging, getting sick...the evidences of sin are all around us.
Now, we are told that in one respect Adam was a type of Christ, and I want to point this out because it is the only respect in which Adam was a type of Christ.
Look at verse 14 “Nevertheless, death reigned from Adam until Moses, even over those who had not sinned in the likeness of the offense of Adam, who was a type of Him who was to come.”
Adam is a type of Christ only in this respect; that as his sin brought death to all, so Christ’s one righteous act brings justification to those in Him. THAT’S IT.
The similarity ends there. One act, one act. One act brought the fall; one act brought righteousness through faith in Christ.
Make no mistake; that is the only likeness between Adam and Christ. In every other respect we only see a contrast.
Through Adam, we have death. Through Christ, we will reign in life.
Through Adam, we have condemnation. Through Christ, justification.
Because of Adam we stand in judgment before God. Through Christ, we have His free gift of grace, and right standing through faith in His Son.
Through Adam we became an offense to God. In Christ we stand in His righteousness, clean before God.
Through Adam we became disobedient. Through Christ we become obedient.
As I Corinthians 15 tells us, “The first man, Adam, became a living soul; the last Adam became a life-giving Spirit”.
Adam’s sin brought himself and us down from a sinless condition; but Christ’s one act of obedience lifted up into newness of life and onto a higher plane.
Why is our relationship with Christ MUCH MORE?
Adam, before the fall, stood in his own righteousness. In man’s righteousness. We stand in Christ’s righteousness; therefore the terms, ‘much more’ and ‘abundance’.
Think about the certainty we have in Christ, that Adam never could have given us.
If Adam had never sinned, it would have fallen to the shoulders of everyone born after him to hold to that one Law; “If you do this you will die”.
Throughout history, man’s relationship to God would have hung on that one delicate thread; each man’s ability to keep that Law.
In fact, if you speculate a little bit, it would have been more disastrous. If Adam had not and his sons had not, if future generations...maybe ten generations down the line, someone had finally sinned.
Because you see, then, the Bible wouldn’t be able to say “all have sinned”; because all those before would not have.
Then, to be Just, God would have to say, “If they could do it then the rest of you could have.” To be just, He would have had to hold us accountable to the standard set by those early men, and could not have justly offered us redemption.
It is because ALL have sinned, from Adam on, that God was able to make the provision He did for us.
Now we’ve been raised in newness of life and the righteousness of One whose strength will never wane; who has paid the price for all so that we will reign in righteousness, eternally, with Him. MUCH MORE.
When Adam heard God in the garden, he hid.
We will see our Savior face to face.
Adam, apart from sin, enjoyed a perfect, healthy body.
In Christ, we’ll have glorified bodies, with no limitations inside the will of God.
Adam ruled over the animals of the field.
We will judge angels and rule galaxies.
MUCH MORE.
Adam was God’s creation, a little lower than the angels.
We are heirs and joint-heirs with Jesus Christ.
Adam, for a time, enjoyed the goodness of God’s creation, entrusted to him by the Creator.
We will sing a song of redemption that even the angels will not sing; but will stand by listening in wonder.
We will enjoy eternity, partaking of whatever it was God meant, when He said, “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor has it entered the mind of men, what God has prepared for those who love him”.
MUCH MORE
Dr. Martin Lloyd-Jones wrote about these same verses:
“Do we realize at this moment, that He has already made us kings and priests; that we are seated with Him in the heavenly places, now? That therefore we should be reigning in life here and now, no matter what may be set against us?”
You want a really graphic picture of the MUCH MORE that Christ has brought us?
Adam shared Paradise, with the fallen Lucifer.
We will share Heaven and eternity, with the One who crushed the serpent’s head.
But wait...there’s more!
We were lifted up to that higher plane the moment we believed. God never speaks to us in the past tense or the future tense.
We ARE seated with Him in the heavenly places; not going to be.
We DO stand right before God; not, as long as we play our cards right.
(You’ve all heard the jokes that start out with Peter at the gate and someone trying to talk his way into heaven...)
We HAVE eternal life through faith in Christ. It began the moment we believed.
He sees us NOW, as justified, sanctified, glorified.
That God already sees me as glorified! Wow. What a sense of security that gives.
We ARE more than conquerors through Christ who loved us.
We HAVE the prophetic word made more sure by the witness of the Holy Spirit dwelling in us.
The world, apart from Christ, seeks diligently for a lost paradise.
The world, launches programs designed to bring peace between nations and cultures; to curb crime, to find cures for diseases; to save the planet, to save the whales, to save the trees, to save...well...
...in futility, attempting to save that which is passing away; because that’s all they have to cling to.
For those who cling to the Old Rugged Cross, there is MUCH MORE.
“The day will come when they shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more, neither shall the sun beat down on them, nor any heat; for the Lamb in the center of the throne shall be their Shepherd and shall guide them into springs of the water of life, and God shall wipe away every tear from their eyes. And there shall no longer be any death, there shall no longer be any mourning, nor crying, nor pain; there shall no longer be any curse, and they shall see His face, and His name shall be on their foreheads. And there shall no longer be any night and they shall not have need of a lamp, nor the light of the sun, because the Lord God shall illumine them, and they shall reign forever and ever. And the Spirit and the bride say ‘come’, and let the one who hears say ‘come’, and let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who wishes take the water of life without cost.”
MUCH, MUCH MORE.
