Who is Your Proxy?
(Romans 5:12-21)
1.. Two old friends bumped into one another on the street one day. One of them looked forlorn, almost on the verge of tears. His friend asked, "What has the world done to you, my old friend?"
The sad fellow said, "Let me tell you. Three weeks ago, my uncle died and left me forty thousand dollars."
"That’s a lot of money."
"And, two weeks ago, a cousin I never even knew died, and left me eighty-five thousand dollars."
"Sounds like you’ve been blessed...."
"You don’t understand!" he interrupted. "Last week my great-aunt passed away. I inherited almost a quarter of a million."
Now the friend was really confused. "Then, why do you look so sad?”
"This week... nothing!" (Source: Sermoncentral)
2. But where did death come from? The Fall of Adam.
3. “Had Adam and Eve retained their original state, they never would have died. But Eve and then Adam yielded to the serpent’s temptation, and death came into the world. Before that moment, they were in a beautiful, pristine state. They existed on a level far above the present condition of the human race. It is difficult to imagine what man was like then by viewing him as he is now. It would require something like trying to reconstruct the original version of an aircraft from its wreckage. If we knew nothing of flying, we would hardly suspect that it had once soared above the earth. The material would be the same; the capability of flight, however, would be lost.”
David Breese, Living For Eternity, Moody Press, 1988, p. 99.
http://www.christianglobe.com/Illustrations
Corporations often ask their constituents to vote “by proxy.”
2. The proxy is an authorized agent who votes on our behalf, your representative.
3. The human race has only two proxies: Adam and Jesus Christ.
4. Adam is the default proxy, for we are all born “in Adam.”
5. Jesus Christ is the proxy for all who are born again, “in Christ.”
Main idea: Today, we are going to look at the how’s of original sin and its remedy.
I. How Did Sin Enter the World (12-14)
1. Paul does not deal here with the origin of evil; suffice it to say that evil is the ___spoiling____ of the good; it is easier to destroy than to build.
2. Sin entered the world by one ____man_________, Adam (12a)
3. Death resulted from his ___sin________. (12b)
4.Since death came (or comes) to _____all____ men, therefore all sinned when Adam did (12c)…otherwise, why would death reign?
Paul extends the implications of the curse to all CREATION in Romans 8…
5. We call this doctrine, “Original sin.”
(1) the ___human___ ____race___ finds it solidarity in Adam
John Stott writes, “The concept of our having sinned in Adam is certainly foreign to the mindset of western individualism. But are we to subordinate Scripture to our own cultural perspecitive? Africans and Asians, who take for granted the collective solidarity of the extended family, tribe, nation, and race, do not have the difficulty which western people experience.
“More important even than African and Asian models, however, is the Scripture itself contains a number of significant variations on the theme of human solidariy…”
Stott points to examples: Levi paying tithes to Melichizedek through his forefather, Abraham; God punishing all Israel for the sin of Achan, and all mankind, including us, are put in solidarity with those who crucified Christ (The Message of Romans, p. 153).
(2) When Adam sinned, he was our ___representative___.
Ray Prichard puts it this way: Adam was the driver of the bus of humanity. When he drove the bus over the cliff, we went down with him. He was at the controls when the airplane crashed. It doesn’t matter that we were back in the coach section watching a movie on the big screen. When he crashed, we all went up in flames.
(3) We are born with a __sinful_____ nature, a predisposition.
“In fact, biologists are coming to a similar conclusion about the human condition. In 1996 Time magazine had an article called "Science and Original Sin." The article claimed that more biologists learn about our genetic make up, the more they’re discovering that we’re born with a genetic predisposition to do wrong, that we have a hereditary dark side. In fact, it’s possible that some immoral behaviors are passed on to us by our parents, such as a propensity for alcohol and drug abuse. That doesn’t force us to sin, but it does give us a predisposition toward certain kinds of sin.
This is what the Bible means when it says that we’re born spiritually dead. We’re dead to God, separated from God, lost in the inclinations of our own selfishness. We need spiritual life from God in order to please God and love him.” (Timothy Peck, Sermoncentral)
6. Even before the Law was given, people died because of their sin in Adam (13-14).
7. This raises a number of questions:
(1)Did God know Adam was going to sin before He created Him? Why then did He create them?
---mention the aseity and immutability of God (God is not lonely in dire need of companionship…He enjoys it, but does not need it)
(2) Didn’t Eve sin first…why are we sinners in Adam?
(3) How can God hold us accountable for what a forefather did? (Note: this is also how the Second Adam can redeem us).
8. Adam: imputed sin with a sin nature as a consequence; Christ: imputed righteousness with a new nature as a consequence.
II. How “The Gift” &“The Sin” Contrast (15-17)
Note: the Greek word for “grace” (charis) and “gift” (charisma) are pretty much the same concept and share a common root…something freely given…
1. The Sin brought destruction, death, and ____judgment____.
2. The Gift brought grace, life, and ___justification____.
3. Both the sin and the gift were brought by one ___individual___.
4. Paul gives four definitions of this gift.
1. The gift of God 5:16
2. The gift of grace 5:17
3. The gift of righteousness 5:18
4. The gift of eternal life 6:23
III. How Christ’s Act of ___Obedience____ Contrast’s With Adam’s Disobedience (18-19)
1. Verse 19 is the inverse of original sin…
Rom. 5:19 For as through the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the One (Jesus Christ) the many will be made righteous.
2. Christ undid what Adam did
(1) Adam was created in the image of God; when he sinned, that image was marred; in Christ, the restoration has begun
(2) The curse has begun to be reversed…
---right now, our souls
---one day, our bodies
---one day, all creation (but that’s Romans 8)
IV. How the __Law___ Accentuated the Gift (20-21)
1. Sin existed apart from the legal framework of the Law….
2. God had given moral codes before the Law of Moses
e.g., the covenant of Noah
3. But the law intenisfied sin, because those who had it could not longer claim ignorance
(1) it could expose sin like a mirror
(2) it clearly revealed a detailed standard that no one, except Jesus, could meet
(3) one thing to have standards, another to attain them:
A woman took her husband to the doctor’s office.
After his checkup, the doctor said, "Your husband is suffering from a very serious infection."
The husband, who was hard of hearing said, "What did he say?"
His wife said, "He says your sick".
The doctor went on. "But there is hope.
You just need to reduce his stress.
Each morning, give him a healthy breakfast.
Be pleasant, nice, and kind.
For lunch and dinner make him his favorite meal.
Don’t discuss your problems with him,
it will only make his stress worse.
Don’t yell at him or argue with him.
And most importantly...just cater to your husband’s every whim.
If you can do this for your husband for the next 6 months to a year,
I think your husband will have a complete recovery."
The husband said, "What did he say?"
His wife said, "He says, You’re going to die".
4. Verse 20b is interesting: “…where sin increased, grace increased all the more…”
--This will lead us to the question of Romans 6:1
--It also demonstrates that salvation is not by works…
CONCLUSION
1. The chart in your notes summarizes our text.
2. Are you in relationship to the second man, Jesus Christ, or are you still in Adam.
Action by Representative Judicial Ruling by God Experience Rewarded
Adam Sin Condemnation Death
Christ Obedience Justification Life
