[0:00] You're listening to the sermon podcast of Grace Reformed Church in Spring Hill, Tennessee. To learn more about us, visit our website at gracereformed.org.
[0:11] And now, today's sermon. I'm going to go ahead and just jump right in this morning. We have fallen into, I think, the illusion of creating our own realities in modern day culture.
[0:28] We have come to believe that, in essence, we can be God. Determining how our world will appear to everyone else.
[0:41] I've seen people tell the world they identify with about almost anything from the opposite gender of who they are to some type of animal. Or even as A, the letter A.
[0:53] Or technically as nothing. Their existence is just is. This is how God defines himself. I am. Because he is the only one unique being that can say that he is outside the created order.
[1:10] If you don't believe this is an evil strategy to self-proclaim, self-create, to identify as you please of Satan, you haven't been paying attention to the results that this type of bacteria is having on our world.
[1:30] Ignoring reality doesn't make the pain and confusion go away. It only creates a more significant amount of despair and hopelessness once one realizes they can't be satisfied by creating your own fantasy, by creating your own world's identity.
[1:46] When you wake up one day realizing you have been lied to, the shame and regret are often heavier than the original problem you were facing. The way in which we sometimes medicate ourselves is you hear or watch or listen to things that tell you you can be whatever you set your mind to be.
[2:09] But that's just not true. That's a lie to set people up to watch them crash again and destroy their life. Satan creates these lies to crush the soul of humanity.
[2:22] But we want it to be true. This is why we call it the American dream. Because there's no such reality. Human willpower can't change reality.
[2:34] No matter how many movies with motivational music, which I love them, our problems remain. We all love the rise from ashes story.
[2:46] Where the forgotten become the powerful and the weak become the hero. I was going to name a few, but then I was afraid you'd judge me, so. That's my reality.
[3:01] One of the realities of our world is death. You see, I don't think it's fair that I don't get to decide if and when I die.
[3:13] I just don't think that's fair. So, I'm just simply going to choose to not believe in death. I identify as a non-dying human.
[3:27] Sounds ridiculous, right? But no matter how much we hate the reality of our world, there comes a moment when it is better to accept the fact and to learn to live in light of it rather than to try and fight it.
[3:44] One of the daily realities we have to deal with is the evil that fills our world. And not only the existence of it, but where it comes from. At times I start to talk in this way, revealing how just grotesque our world is.
[4:03] And people's responses are, yeah, I don't want to think about that. I don't want to let that get involved in my life because then that removes my happiness.
[4:15] But the Bible tells us that this evil exists and it warns us about it. And it gives us the two places it comes from. First of all, we can all accept this one. It comes from Satan. He is called the father of all lies.
[4:26] A deceiver, a murderer from the beginning, an accuser, a thief. I mean, everything that's wrong about our world, zero back to him. But then the Bible also tells us there's a second cause of evil in our world.
[4:43] And that's humans. Humans without the influence of Satan contribute to the evil of our own world. They aren't forced to participate.
[4:56] They desire to fulfill the very evil that they do. The Bible tells us that it's a part of our nature.
[5:07] But what you learn from the Bible is that this nature, this desire to do evil, it was actually given to you by your ancestors, Adam and Eve.
[5:21] Not only was your sinful nature handed down to you, but the guilt associated with it is also yours. You were born declared guilty.
[5:38] Just like you can't choose what family you were born into, what gender you were or when you will die, you also can't choose whether you were born evil or neutral.
[5:54] And it's true that when you were born into a broken and sinful, cursed world with a body that is full of this sin, you were also spiritually born dead. So not only do you have the capacity to do evil, but you don't have the capacity to fight it or to stop it.
[6:10] It just is an instinct like an animal. Now we have two decisions to make at this moment. We can either learn more about our reality or spend the rest of our lives foolishly attempting to convince ourselves and others of a new fantasy that will never reach reality where sin nature doesn't exist.
[6:41] There was a man by the name of Pelagius who already tried this and he was deemed a heretic. When dealing with this subject here in Romans chapter 5 and the idea of the act of obedience of Christ, I find myself at times in the past, this is what I would say when first addressing this.
[7:01] This is one of the questions that was in the book this week. When did you first learn about this? When did you first think about it? And I remember this is what came to mind. I refused to believe this to be true.
[7:14] I did not want to be held accountable for somebody else's sin. That is not fair. And that's exactly what Romans 5 was telling me.
[7:25] You are an Adam and therefore you are guilty. Simply because we don't understand why something is true doesn't remove the consequences we will face.
[7:40] Sometimes people think, oh, gravity isn't real. And then they wake up realizing after their death it was. Thankfully, we are not left with trying to figure it out.
[7:56] We are given an alternative message to the reality that we face. For the message is about a person who is more powerful than our current situation in our current state.
[8:09] As a parent, I feel this sentiment. But just as a parent would go to any length to find help of a cure for their child, they have to seek a power that is outside of their capacities and with passion because they love their child, they'll do so.
[8:27] Because they face the reality that something has gripped their child. This is the same kind of attitude that is being given to us from Paul. He is describing to you the state that you are in.
[8:41] And are we left to fend ourselves? No, we aren't. Are we simply put in a rat race to see who wins with endurance? Thankfully not. No, we have a loving and all-powerful father who wrote not just a chapter but a book describing to you how he defeats our reality, defeats the circumstances we find ourselves in.
[9:07] So the father comes to us not with just words but with proof. Not only of his means of grace to save us but the power to prove that nothing else will then cause the fall again or that can turn his promise against us.
[9:25] How many of you have heard of this phrase, it's too good to be true, a deal too good to be true? Right? We like the outcome promised but we don't trust the source.
[9:42] I don't know about this. This is how most people struggle with the gospel. It sounds too good to be true. Paul tells the Christian church twice that he is not ashamed of the gospel because the gospel is connected to a power that is not human.
[10:03] It's true. If we were trying to present the gospel through human power, you should all be very skeptical. I like the results. Set free from shame. I'm fully righteous.
[10:14] But what's this idea that I'm not involved? Yeah, I don't know how to verify that. I think I like the idea of my involvement in some way which guarantees the results.
[10:28] This is what Paul warns about. Just write this in your margins. This is 2 Corinthians 4, verse 4. As he brings this amazing gospel that Paul's like, I'm not ashamed of it.
[10:41] There's a counterbalance that's happening here. This is Paul. He says, 2 Corinthians 4, 4, in their case, the God of this world has blinded the minds of the unbeliever to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ who is in the image of God.
[10:59] He flips the scripts and says, it's too good to be true. You need to go look for something else. He blinds them to the power. So it's not only that the message of the gospel is so unbelievable, meaning literally it's hard to believe, you have a real powerful being running interference, making sure that he's blinding us from the power of God.
[11:30] What we're about to read this morning, it is so vitally important that we understand these are not just some human words. These are not just Paul's thoughts, but God himself, by means of Paul's pen, wrote this down to transform you into a whole nother creature.
[11:44] And so this morning, as we think, we're going to be thinking about the concept of what does it mean, this act of obedience of Christ. It's a weird phrase. We'll get to it later. But what we're going to do is just work through Romans 5, which is a powerful explanation of our situation and what does it mean for Christ to be our righteousness.
[12:04] So this morning, we're going to look at the three truths of our Father given to us to set us free from our prison, this reality that we live in, that we have inherited a sin and a guilt and a shame that we didn't commit, and yet it's ours.
[12:25] And so let's look at these three truths from Romans chapter 5. Here's the first one. Paul exposes the Father's truth of this. He exposes our true condition.
[12:37] He exposes our true condition. I just want to read the first half of several of these verses. Look at verse 17. For if because of one man's trespass, death, underline this, reigned through one man.
[12:48] Look at verse 18. Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men. Verse 19. For as by one man's disobedience. Verse 20. Now the law came in to increase the trespass.
[13:01] Verse 21. So that as sin reigned in death. You can almost see the reverse. The sin brings condemnation, which brings death. And he starts with death. Well, why is it we're dead?
[13:13] Because of our condemnation. Well, what condemned us? Our sin. And how did we get there? The law. So to summarize, sin reigns in our bodies because of what Adam did in the garden.
[13:27] This disobedience. Sometimes people miss the sin. They think, how is it so bad that the whole world is going to be judged under God's wrath because Adam ate a piece of fruit? No, it's not the point.
[13:38] It's not the fruit. It's what he did. He rebelled. He literally said, I shall become God. I will remove you. I will remove your holiness and your glory and I will put myself in its place.
[13:51] I want what you are. This idea is a big word. It's a healthy word.
[14:02] It's a good word. It's a reform word. The concept of Adam being our representative, when Adam fell, we fell. It's called federal headship. Remember the first time I heard that? I was lost for the next few chapters.
[14:16] So let me help us understand this idea of a federal, that which is a representative and headship at the top. It's an old word, but it's an important one or old phrase.
[14:28] What it means is that Adam represented all of us. His actions would flow towards us either in benefit or in curse. And so Adam being the very first created being by God's decree, by God's plan, and because of his power and Adam was placed as the one who would lead mankind.
[14:54] And so think of it this way. Let's think of it in the positive. If Adam would have obeyed God and had children and God blessed his obedience, he earned righteousness not only for himself but for all of us.
[15:08] We would live with God because of the obedience of Adam. You see, this is proof. We're all born with Adam's sin. I told you. It's totally fine.
[15:23] See, the parents are the ones who are laughing because we all know, I've been there. But it's also true in reverse. Just as Adam sinned, his soul was killed by his sin.
[15:38] This is what death means. That death comes. That which brought this communion with God, that which allowed him to have faith and trust God was squelched by death and so death comes to all of us.
[15:51] Therefore, every human being in some ways is a walking zombie. We have the capacity to function through human mind but we do not have the capacity to believe because that's an act of the soul and the spirit.
[16:07] Many have spent their time attempting to argue with Paul in his statement. But it's not because he isn't clear. It's because we don't like the reality of what it exposes to us.
[16:22] I will admit it's a shock to the system to be told, especially as an American, that the outcome of my life is the result of someone else's failure.
[16:37] But notice how I only read the first half of every verse in telling our story. I think it's interesting how Paul understands how shocking this is. So he like puts one foot in the water and he goes, oh, it's okay, there's a solution.
[16:51] Then he puts the other foot in the water and he goes, don't worry, there's a solution. And then he dunks you and pulls you back out. Remember I told you the solution? He understands how much of a shock this is.
[17:03] So this leads us to the second truth. First of all, it is a gracious and kind thing for someone to come and tell you the truth. How many of you have ever had a doctor lie to you? Anybody? Because they were afraid you couldn't handle the diagnosis?
[17:16] Anybody have had this experience? It's frustrating. Our God loves us. He said, I'm not going to lie to you. Here's exactly where you are found.
[17:29] And then Paul says he provides the solution, right? He provides the replacement. Adam was our first gift. He failed.
[17:40] He provides the replacement. So now let's read it this way in its entirety. Romans 5, 17. For if because one man's trespass, death reigned through that one man, and here's the replacement, here's the provision, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through one man, Jesus Christ.
[18:03] This is why Paul calls him later in his writings, the second Adam, the second man. One man caused chaos and destroyed all of humanity.
[18:16] The second man is the solution and restores it. How? Look at verse 18. Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men.
[18:32] So Adam's disobedience handed down to us because of, we're humans, therefore we're in Adam. when the moment we transfer from being in Adam to being in Christ, all that Jesus did is now ours.
[18:48] Just like it was ours in Adam, it's now ours in Jesus. Look at verse 19. For as by the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man's obedience the many will be made righteous.
[19:04] This is what it means by the act of obedience of Christ. Jesus, the past, so we'll get into this, the passive obedience means that Jesus received in his body all of the punishment we deserved, so he passively received that which was put to be put on us.
[19:23] But to be righteous means to actively obey. To be righteous doesn't mean to be without blemish, but there's an activeness to it. And so when it says this action of Jesus when he did the actions it was taken and put upon you.
[19:41] That's why you're righteous. That's why you're saved. It's essential at this point to see the contrast in the story. Adam destroyed the future of the world but Jesus is the one man who will save the world from the destruction.
[19:57] By what? Obedience. Here is how we show the world the need of Jesus. By the law.
[20:11] You see, have you ever tried to explain to somebody they're in trouble but they don't believe you? This is dangerous if you proceed and what did they ask you for?
[20:23] Proof. Proof. Now if I come to them and I say, well Mickey Mouse told you. Like, some of the kids would be like, really?
[20:34] Who cares? Look at Romans 5.20. Now the law came in to increase the trespass.
[20:49] But where sin increased grace abounded all the more. The point of the law was to bring the level of, have you ever met somebody who thinks they're perfect? Other than a 12 year old?
[21:03] No. Right? Everybody says, well nobody's perfect. This is what Paul's getting at. It's not that you're not perfect. That's not the problem.
[21:14] It's that it's far worse than this. We need to increase the guilt and shame. We need to increase the weight so much that it makes you sick to your stomach and afraid of God.
[21:26] Afraid of standing before his holiness and being consumed as they were in Exodus. They were standing at the holy mountain of God and they said, don't ever let God talk to us again, Moses.
[21:38] He will consume us. And so who was the representative for them? Moses. And who becomes our representative underneath the holy wrath of God? And we turn from a fear of God and we call him Father.
[21:54] We have access through love. How does this happen? It's understanding the circumstances of the law. We need to preach the law in its full weight.
[22:05] It's not be good persons so God will be pleased with you. It is you are called to be perfect and if you are not you have every reason to be afraid. Because Adam was not perfect and destroyed the world and you continue to destroy the world by your imperfection.
[22:23] So what will you do? And I love Paul is such a good pastor. He's like, but grace was there. Grace abounded even more.
[22:34] Even more than your sin and all the weight of your sin and how it gets heavy and it gets stronger and stronger. He goes, there is no grace that has a limit. It's limitless.
[22:46] So church, we don't preach the law so that we can hopefully make the world a better place. The law is helpful to expose the world. There's something wrong with them.
[22:59] They want to disobey. They do it naturally. No one points a knife at them and says, disobey. It comes from in their heart. We actually need the sword of the law to push them back and say, there's something wrong with you because of what you want to do.
[23:15] But it feels like in today's world we want to preach on things like politics. But I'm not going to preach on politics as the means of salvation for the world.
[23:26] They're necessary. God put them in its place. They have a place for the community of the world. That's why we pray for our leaders every Sunday that God might use them to suppress evil but it will not save the world.
[23:40] It cannot change the nature and guilt. And listen, I hate, and I think this is an appropriate word, I hate what people do to each other.
[23:52] I hate how much crime and abuse and death exists. I hate how children are being treated and I hate how the beauty of God is being twisted and formed into something that's an abuse.
[24:06] And our king is mocked. I hate it. But I can see why Paul's like, my one reason for wanting to stay in this world is so that others might actually see this king of glory, might see the one who took your place, might be set free from the reality of your condemnation.
[24:29] And he uses Romans 5 to do this to open our eyes to our passion. With passion. We give the law to the world and say, do you not see your situation? Do you not see that to love this and to do this and to be this way and to promote these ideas is the opposite of the God who created you?
[24:49] And whether you believe in that God or not, you're under his condemnation. And the existence of death and the reality that people actually die is the evidence that the law is real and true because the Bible says for those who violate the law, die.
[25:03] And so if someone says, I don't believe in the existence of God, that's fine, you're still going to die. And he set that rule. And guess what? You can't stop the law. And it will bring you death.
[25:15] Or, you can have life. And so this leads us to the third truth that Paul gives us from the Father. The truth of, first of all, our situation, our reality of who we are.
[25:29] And then our replacement. But that replacement doesn't come by only one means. And this is it. He calls us by grace. He calls us by his grace.
[25:45] Look at verse 20. Now the law came in to increase the trespass. But where sin increased, grace abounded all the more. Grace overflowed. It's like this tsunami of a wave of God's love that just, as you erect all the reasons why God could never love you, he destroys it with his love.
[26:05] He says he casts it as far as the east is from the west. What a, the idea of abounding is like this floodgate that just opens. Verse 21. So that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness, leading to eternal life, through Jesus Christ our Lord.
[26:30] This is so important that you understand the flow. It's God's unmerited gift of favor. So to have grace which means you do not have anything whatsoever that deserves the gift and God says I'm giving you a righteousness and that righteousness is verified, trustworthy, and observable and it's called Jesus.
[26:51] And through that you have eternal life. So our current condition is that we inherited sin and we were left in a state of disobedience and continued wrath.
[27:04] And God provides a power and I love this, backed by himself. Our God and King calls us to live with him again.
[27:20] The original design. Not in a world distant from him that it is now where we can't see him and enjoy him and his presence and his fullness but to be with him in full power and wonder.
[27:33] And it's hard for our minds because we're so tainted by sin that to even think about the wonder of God we want the pleasures of the world now. But to be with him here's the thing about the law this is why it's so important church.
[27:46] To be with God you have to be sinless and not only sinless but you have to be perfect in obedience. That's his requirement. Now you could say that's a mean God. No, no, no. You don't want to live with the deity who allows imperfection.
[28:00] We just start the world over again. I already did world 1.0. I'm done with it. Don't need 2 or 3.0. I need a new one. I don't want there to be sin.
[28:11] I don't want there to be imperfection. And if that means I can't be there in that world then don't let me into that world. But the Father says but that's okay. Because the power is not in you.
[28:22] The power is in me. This is why it's grace. It's not works. So what does the law do for us?
[28:34] It's that constant reminder church that as you got in here this morning and you were feeling the weight and shame of your life you came here thinking man if everybody knew who I was no one would want to talk to me.
[28:47] I literally say that every Sunday. But then I'm reminded I'm not standing up here because I have perfect righteousness in my strength.
[29:00] I'm standing up here because I have perfect righteousness in Jesus strength. So therefore I have something to talk about. I'm not going to stand up here and tell you how you can make this work.
[29:12] I'm going to stand up here and tell you how he made it work. It says he made you righteous. It's not how you will make yourself righteous. This is so important. These subtleties.
[29:29] This is the wonder about our new kingdom is that we do long for the day when you will never see another tear another wince another moment of darkness someone curled up in the corner someone crying out for help.
[29:45] You will never experience that again. Never. And the greatest hope that you have is because it's been granted to you.
[29:57] Turn with me to one passage. This is something I was thinking about. I mentioned it at the men's group. Turn with Matthew chapter 3. Everybody remember the baptism of Jesus? It's a great story. But there's an interesting interaction that happens between Jesus and John the Baptist that is directly connected to you.
[30:13] This is so important. When Paul is talking about Romans and Jesus is the one who is our righteousness these acts of righteousness that are ours.
[30:25] This is the story where Jesus is entering into his public ministry. It's time for him to prove righteousness. Look at Matthew 3 and verse 13.
[30:36] Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John to be baptized by him. John would have prevented him saying I need to be baptized by you and do you come to me?
[30:54] But Jesus answered him let it be so now for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness. Jesus wasn't even baptized for sin.
[31:10] He's perfect. baptism was a ceremony given to the priests as an entrance into their perfect role as great high priest. And Jesus says I'm here to receive the sign of the priest because I have one thing left to do and that is to be the great high priest for all.
[31:31] So let's fulfill righteousness. So Jesus obeys the father understanding to be the great high priest he must become the great sacrifice. And so Jesus is baptized verse 13 verse 16 and when Jesus was baptized immediately he went up from the water and behold the heavens were open to him and he saw the spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him.
[31:55] Hear these words church and behold a voice from heaven said this is my beloved son with whom I am well pleased. that phrase now lives in your soul because Jesus' fulfillment was put on you and so the father looks at you dear child and he says I'm well pleased.
[32:19] How many of us long for the acceptance of an earthly father or a boss or a spouse or a sibling we want to hear the praise but yet it seems never enough and Jesus says your father every day looks at you and says I am pleased I am pleased with you well done and how is it we receive these words because we walk in faith and when he says he's pleased with us we go I know isn't Jesus amazing isn't he worthy to live for isn't he worthy to wear I have the acceptance of God and I didn't do anything to earn it and if you didn't do anything to earn it guess what you can't do anything to lose it this is the greatest point of the gospel church the gospel is not reset restart cleanse now do better the gospel is
[33:29] I am well pleased with you but I'm a sinner I know but you're in Christ this is why the act of obedience of Jesus is so important Jesus didn't just pay for your sins church Jesus fulfilled all the requirements so that he could stand before the king take his righteousness put it on top of you put you in front of the king under the wrath and say there's nothing left but to say child I'm pleased but it goes on Jesus goes on and he says do you know that the father is not only pleased with you he loves you you guys remember the prayer for Jesus and he says father help them to know that you love them as much as you love me it's not that he's just like good job give me a high five he says he loves you church if you're going to replace this with your own efforts you have every reason to despair and have no hope today and walk out of those doors medicating yourself in some way or you can walk out of here and say
[34:47] I have a hopeless life full of dread and doubt I am nothing I never will be anything and there's nothing coming out of these ashes but when I stand in the strength of my king who approves of me and who loves me church there's nothing you can't face think about that Paul says you're not just a warrior you're more than a conqueror seriously who can mess with you nothing can mess with you you can't mess with his approval and nothing will take you out of his love he's already promised that nothing is going to separate you from my love so you can either buy faith every day get up and say I am a broken weak frail person and I'm going to fumble all day but man do I have a strength that is far better than me and who else needs this my children do my spouse does my neighbor does and how is it they're going to get it well they're blind
[36:01] Adam's sin lives in them their soul is dead and that's why Paul goes and this is why we're not ashamed of the gospel because it's the power of God to save those and I was thinking about this idea of we kind of all at one point want to be a hero there's been a lot of heroes over the last few weeks right you've been watching the news I mean I'm seeing firefighters and doctors and ambulance and policemen do just amazing things and I'm like man I can't remember to take out the trash when we think about a hero we think about somebody of significance right somebody of significance I was fascinated by the word and I kind of wanted to know the etymology of it and where it came from so the authority on this apparently is Webster's dictionary
[37:02] I don't know but this is what the Dr. Webster said here's the first definition a mythological or legendary figure often of divine descent endowed with great strength or ability well I'm like well the definition of a hero is pretty we've messed it up because nobody I don't care how good of a police officer you are you do not have God like capacities unless unless he lives in you unless he not only lives in you but but gives you the capacities of his power and this is exactly what it means to be a proclaimer of the gospel listen to the last definition it's this one one who shows great courage you you have the most significant purpose in the universe there is no president or queen more powerful than you at that moment no president can grant life they can take life but they can't grant it no queen can say you will live forever but your king comes inside you and says
[38:50] I'm going to give you words that give people life does that a little way just get you excited going maybe I should start talking to people about this maybe just being kind to them maybe ready to give an answer of the hope that lies within you maybe I need to start teaching my children their significance is not in my approval their significance is not in their friends approval or what's going on social media what they wear what their weight is what their gender is or how many followers they have but their significance is in a God who created them and says I am so pleased with you and I love you and there is nothing that can take that from you now who would you like to share that with you see we believe as reformed that our doctrine only fills the love gate of our heart to cause us to be more set free from the burdens of this world doctrine isn't what divides us amongst each other but doctrine is what divides us from the lies of the world that enslaves us and our church will continue to preach the heavy doctrines of the gospel because we believe in it the power of
[40:02] God comes forward and church we need it because I we are purified of the hurt and pain and suffering that's coming our way and then I read a passage like this and go but I have hope from my mouth to the ears of those who are hurting can come life and I choose that over anything else and that's what we're here this morning to be refreshed and nude in the gospel so that we can then give it in word and deed and all God's people said amen father we now thank you through the fumbling of the singing and the reading and the prayers and this sermon of this man's mouth you have somehow brought supernatural power your grace has flowed through our ears and our eyes into our soul and now your grace will flow through our mouth by means of the table to sustain our soul in
[41:09] Jesus name amen thanks for listening to the sermon podcast of Grace Reformed Church in Spring Hill Tennessee where everyone is in equal need of grace to plan a visit or to learn more about us visit our website at gracereformed.org