Romans 5:12-21
Getting on the Same Page as God about Basis of Salvation
Introduction
A. Legacy.
B. What Legacy will I leave?
C. What will people remember about me? Will they remember anything? Will I be completely forgotten?
D. I often wonder what I can do to leave a legacy?
E. To make a difference, to have people be able to say because of Dan, ____(fill in the blank)
F. I think we all want to be remembered
G. That is why we have wills so we can leave a legacy
H. So we can leave our mark
I. Legacies can be good
J. Rosa Parks left a legacy. She refused to move back to the bus and look what happen because of that?
K. Legacies can be bad unfortunately
L. 9-11 left a lasting legacy. We will never forget what happen that day
M. Today we are going to look as some legacies and see how they affect us even today.
N. Today we are going to look at three legacies
a. Adam’s Legacy
b. The Law’s Legacy
c. And Christ’s Legacy
I. Adam’s Legacy
A. Explanation
1. Adam had something that we do not have
2. Adam was made without sin
3. Their was no sin in Adam
4. However, Adam decided to willfully disobey God
5. God had told him not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil
6. Adam however, had free will
7. And the serpent came and tempted him
8. And you know what happen, he ate the fruit from the tree
9. He knew that God had told him not to eat
10. But he did it any ways
B. Application
1. From that moment on we have condemnation
2. Before Adam sinned this world was perfect
3. You could live forever before this happen
4. But in the moment sickness, death were upon us
5. That is why we have babies dying
6. That is why we have diseases all over the world
7. All of this is a result of that one sin
C. Illustration
1. There is a national forest in Oregon that has been infected by a fungus. Now this fungus started off as a single microscopic spore. It has been weaving its way through the forest for about 2400 years, killing trees as it grows. Today this fungus has infected 2200 acres of this national forest. Killed hundreds of thousands of trees all from a single spore
2. That is what Adams sin has done to the human race
3. The whole race is infected
4. From the moment you are conceived you are infected
5. Adams legacy is one of sin and death.
6. Adams legacy is a last legacy, we will all inherited Adam’s legacy
II. The Law’s Legacy
A. Explanation
1. Paul knew who would be reading his letter
2. He knew that Jewish community would as what about the Law? The law can save us right?
3. As we will see in a couple of months in Chapter 7, Paul will get into full detail about the purpose of the law, but he does deal with it a little bit here in chapter fives
4. The Law never offers a remedy for sin
5. The law aggravates sin.
a) The tighter we make our laws
b) The more we look for loopholes
6. The intent of the law was not to provide salvation but to convince people of their need for salvation
a) The law shows us exactly how sinful we are, and as we said a couple of weeks ago, GUILTY
B. Illustration
1. Think of a magnify glass. If you were to take that magnifying class and look at the spots on the carpet, it would not add any more spots, what it would do is make them stand out more clearly, and brink to light some that the naked eye cannot see
2. That is what the law does, it points out our sin
C. Application
1. What can we learn from the legacy of the law
2. After we got done talking about Adam’s sin and how it affected the whole world
3. You probably sat there like I did and started to get angry at Adam
4. If Adam wouldn’t have done that my grandparents would still be alive
5. If Adam wouldn’t have done that my friend would not be sick
6. If Adam wouldn’t have done that my friend would died without knowing Christ would have never died
7. Have you ever had those thoughts?
8. Here is the problem, if you had been Adam would you have done anything different?
9. NO! You would have sinned too
10. How do I know that?
11. Examine your life with the “Law Magnifying Glass”
12. That magnifying glass will reveal to you the dirty spots, the sins
13. We are no better the Adam
14. The Legacy of the Law is that we as guilty as Adam
III. Christ’s Legacy
A. Explanation
1. Here comes the good part, we are now going to look at the Legacy of Christ
2. There were only two people who were ever existed
a) Adam and Christ
b) Now you are going to say what about all the rest
c) Getting back to our first point because of Adam’s sin, we all experience death and suffering, meaning that we are not perfect
d) Which by the way if you want a fun point to ponder, if Christ would have not been sent to the cross, would He ever have died?
3. Here is the difference between the two,
a) Christ never sinned: Hebrews 4:15 “Tempted in every, just as we are – yet was without sin”
b) Adam brought Condemnation, Jesus brought Justification: II Cor. 5:21
c) Adam Brought death to all who were descended from him, Jesus brought life to all who would place their faith in him: John 3:16
d) Adam was disobedient to the father will, Christ was obedient to The Father’s will: Phil 2:8
B. Application
1. What do we gain from all this
2. Just as the sin of one person affect the whole human race
3. The gift of Christ affects the whole race
4. Sinned enter through one person
5. Condemnation entered through one act
6. In one gracious act, condemnation left
7. In one gracious act by one person, the penalty, the burden of sin was lifted
8. Leaving us with only one thing to do
9. Accept His gift
C. Illustration
1. I, like everyone, have received a lot of gifts in my life. Some of the gifts I have gotten I will admit, never really meant much to me. Never did anything for me, they were nice but didn’t mean that much to me. However, there are those gifts that you will always cherish and treasure. A couple of years ago for Valentines Day, Heather gave me the greatest gift I think I have ever got. She made put together a couple of pictures on fishing line. These pictures were very significant. They had me and her, my parents, brother, Tom, Barnabas, and my Nieces and Nephews.
2. Could any one else give me that type of gift? NO! It was one of those really special gifts
3. By the grace of God He gave us a gift that no one else could give, He gave us eternal life, He gave us salvation
4. All we have to do is accept it. Now imagine if I just told you that story about the thing Heather made me and added, but I did not accept it and gave it back to here. Does that sound stupid?
5. Think about how much worse it would be not to accept God’s gift?
Conclusion
A. We have looked at three legacies
a. Adam’s
b. The Law’s
c. And Christ?
B. Which one are you going to follow?
C. Are you going to follow Adam’s and choose to blame everyone else for your condition?
D. Are you going to follow the Law’s legacy and try real hard and only end up revealing more stains?
E. Or are you going to follow Christ’s legacy and be free from condemnation
F. Follow Christ legacy and have eternal life
G. Follow Christ and be justified
H. Just as if I never sinned
I. What is the Basis of Salvation?
J. It centers around two trees
K. The first tree is a tree in the Garden of Eden
L. The other is a tree that was formed into a cross
M. Its thanksgiving this week, make sure you give God thanks for providing us salvation.
N. The question is: Are you on the same page as God?
