What Reigns In Our Lives? Series

What did the first man Adam bring to us??

Through Adam we have life on earth! But did God create Adam just for a life on earth? God created Adam to be an eternal being! Through Adam we have eternal life to face as well. And yes, because of his sin against God, Adam brought death to life on earth and death to eternal life with God! Adam brought the good news of life but he also brought the terrible news of death!

Let’s learn more what God says about Adam and more importantly about Jesus Christ who is all good news! Open your Bibles to Romans Chapter 5. Before reading our text, let us pray our commitment to God’s Word….

Romans 5:12-21…….

What did Adam bring to us?

v12-14: states that through Adam sin entered the world and sin brought death

Remember what we learned from Romans Chapter 3? God’s Law was given to reveal how Holy God is and how sinful people are; but God’s Law also leads us to Jesus Christ! Now, did God need the Law to judge people of their sins?

Romans 5:14 tells us that death came through Adam and death already reigned before Moses received the 10 Commandments from God!

Take note of the word “reign”, for we will note it again later in our applications for our lives today. What reigns in our lives?

How can God know what reigns in our lives?

Let’s go back to the question, did God really need the Law to judge people? Does God need the church to judge people?

Does God need other people to judge people? You know, many of us are good at this aren’t we? We tend to judge people when judging people is actually God’s business not ours!

God does not need anything to judge people! Why? - because God can look directly at the hearts of people!

What is reigning in our hearts right now?

Is there sin in our hearts?

Because of the fall of the first man and woman, we are all stained with sin. We all have a tendency to ignore God. God can easily judge us and we are in deep trouble because God hates sin! God can not be associated with sin!

Now, it was God’s plan to create Adam and Eve and us.

Did God create us, just for us to live with the consequences of sin?

Did God create you and me just to be sinners?

A little problem with the bumper sticker which states “A Christian is just a forgiven sinner!”…....

Now, what do verses 15-19 tell us?

Yes, we have sin and death because of Adam and our own transgressions against God. There is none righteous. We have all sinned and fall short of the glory of God! God has a right to judge us all for eternity! But because God is love, what did God provide for everyone? God gave a gift who is Jesus Christ! In general, what do you do with a gift to give it meaning??

A gift has no real meaning unless it is received and experienced! Adam brought sin and death to us! What did Jesus Christ bring us? Look again at v18………….

The gift of God is Jesus Christ because through Him, people can be justified before God and be brought back to life! What does this mean? With Adam, we have sin and death! With Jesus Christ, we have forgiveness and righteousness before God and have life again as originally intended for Adam!

It is true that all of us have sinned, but through Jesus Christ we are forgiven and now righteous! So as Christians, don’t see yourself as a sinner anymore; see yourself as God sees you; forgiven and righteous!

Before sin, Adam and Eve walked with God and were to live forever with God! The gift of God is Jesus Christ because through Him, people can again walk with God and have life of eternity with God!

And so, how do we personally apply all of this to our lives?

Both Adam and Jesus Christ have impacted every human being. This is a fact: Both Adam and Jesus Christ have impacted every human being. Every person has been stained with Adam’s sin and death, but every person has been given the gift of Jesus Christ who brings forgiveness and eternal life.

1. What do we need to do with a gift?

Have you received Jesus Christ in your life?

You know, some people receive a gift but they never open it! What good is that? Have you opened the gift of God who is Jesus Christ?

Are you experiencing Jesus Christ in your life?

And the key verse for us this morning is Romans 5:17.

Read that again with me………….

You see, even though we have accepted the gift of God who is Jesus Christ and are no longer slaves to sin, because we are still human beings here on earth, we can still to allow sin and death reign in our lives.