WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:05.080 We hope that you enjoy this teaching from Christ Church. 00:00:05.719 --> 00:00:15.280 This material is copyrighted and no unauthorized duplication, redistribution, or any other use of any part is permitted without prior consent from Christ Church. 00:00:15.640 --> 00:00:22.620 Please consider donating to this work in the San Francisco Bay Area online at ChristChurchEastBay.org. 00:00:22.620 --> 00:00:32.420 Today's scripture reading is from Paul's letter to the Romans, verses 12 to 21 in the liturgy. 00:00:33.920 --> 00:00:42.760 Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned. 00:00:43.600 --> 00:00:50.960 To be sure, sin was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not charged against anyone's account where there is no law. 00:00:50.960 --> 00:01:03.980 Nevertheless, death reigned from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, even over those who did not sin by breaking a command, as did Adam, who is the pattern of the one to come. 00:01:05.219 --> 00:01:07.640 But the gift is not like the trespass. 00:01:08.120 --> 00:01:17.700 For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God's grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many? 00:01:17.700 --> 00:01:22.140 Nor can the gift of God be compared with the result of one man's sin. 00:01:22.960 --> 00:01:29.760 The judgment followed one sin and brought condemnation, but the gift followed many trespasses and brought justification. 00:01:31.520 --> 00:01:44.560 For if by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God's abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteous reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ? 00:01:44.560 --> 00:01:57.159 Consequently, just as one trespass resulted in condemnation for all people, so also one righteous act resulted in justification in all life for all people. 00:01:57.820 --> 00:02:06.500 Just as through the disobedience of the one man, the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man, the many will be made righteous. 00:02:06.500 --> 00:02:14.479 The law was brought in so that the trespass might increase, but where sin increased, grace 00:02:14.479 --> 00:02:20.439 increased all the more, so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign 00:02:20.439 --> 00:02:23.680 through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. 00:02:24.280 --> 00:02:25.280 This is the word of the Lord. 00:02:25.819 --> 00:02:27.060 Thanks be to God. 00:02:29.460 --> 00:02:31.340 Good morning, Christ Church. 00:02:31.900 --> 00:02:33.379 It's good to see you all this morning. 00:02:33.539 --> 00:02:35.039 Happy Independence Day weekend. 00:02:36.500 --> 00:02:45.800 I want us, as we begin, to just think about how much impact one person can make on a whole 00:02:45.800 --> 00:02:46.520 group of people. 00:02:47.460 --> 00:02:53.879 I read a book last summer about Thomas Edison, George Westinghouse, and Nikola Tesla, and 00:02:53.879 --> 00:03:00.379 it was this novel about the nature of genius, the cost of ambition, and the battle to electrify 00:03:00.379 --> 00:03:00.860 America. 00:03:00.860 --> 00:03:08.080 New York City in 1888 was full of gas lamps that still flickered in the streets at night, 00:03:08.620 --> 00:03:12.580 and the miracle of electric light was still in his infancy. 00:03:12.720 --> 00:03:17.600 So these three inventors, they were in a race to turn the night into day. 00:03:17.660 --> 00:03:25.080 And what I learned in that novel, that story about Edison, was that he acquired 1,093 patents 00:03:25.080 --> 00:03:29.940 in his lifetime, innovated, obviously, the incandescent light bulb. 00:03:30.580 --> 00:03:33.300 But more than that, he created the first record player. 00:03:34.380 --> 00:03:40.880 He also innovated an early version of the motion picture camera, each of which has had a massive 00:03:40.880 --> 00:03:42.100 impact on our lives. 00:03:42.300 --> 00:03:47.600 If in the last 24 hours you have turned on the lights, listened to music on Spotify or 00:03:47.600 --> 00:03:51.080 watched TV in the movies, you have Thomas Edison to thank. 00:03:51.080 --> 00:03:57.240 One person can have a huge effect on a whole group of people. 00:03:58.100 --> 00:03:59.700 We all know about Albert Einstein. 00:04:00.240 --> 00:04:03.140 He developed quantum physics and the theory of relativity. 00:04:03.540 --> 00:04:11.400 Less known is Marie Curie, who was the first woman to receive the Nobel Prize, and she was 00:04:11.400 --> 00:04:14.260 the first person to win it in two separate categories. 00:04:14.420 --> 00:04:20.780 She won it in 1903 in physics for her research on radioactivity, and then she won the Nobel Prize 00:04:20.779 --> 00:04:22.979 again in 1911 in chemistry. 00:04:23.279 --> 00:04:28.179 And then, as if that were not enough, she went on to help develop the first X-ray machines. 00:04:29.139 --> 00:04:35.000 And it'd be hard to imagine life in the 21st century apart from the impact of Einstein and 00:04:35.000 --> 00:04:35.299 Curry. 00:04:36.299 --> 00:04:39.679 Think about social reformers that we celebrate. 00:04:39.819 --> 00:04:47.679 Abraham Lincoln, by his Emancipation Proclamation, was able to free 3.5 million slaves and set them 00:04:47.680 --> 00:04:48.680 on the path of liberty. 00:04:49.439 --> 00:04:54.600 Rosa Parks, by refusing to give up her seat on a bus, launched one of the most successful 00:04:54.600 --> 00:04:58.519 and effective nonviolent protests against discrimination in America. 00:04:58.620 --> 00:05:03.939 The staunch and active Christian woman became a figurehead of the civil rights movement and 00:05:03.939 --> 00:05:07.360 helped to achieve lasting change for the good of our whole society. 00:05:07.540 --> 00:05:14.139 So, one person can have a significant impact on the world around them. 00:05:14.139 --> 00:05:17.579 And that can be both positive or negative. 00:05:18.399 --> 00:05:22.800 One person can affect great good, and another person can affect great evil. 00:05:23.599 --> 00:05:30.240 One person's life can help and lift up many people, and one person's life can destroy and 00:05:30.240 --> 00:05:31.259 ruin many people. 00:05:32.060 --> 00:05:35.979 And that's the Apostle Paul's argument in Romans chapter 5. 00:05:35.980 --> 00:05:44.620 He's comparing and contrasting one man and what he did with another man and what he did. 00:05:45.420 --> 00:05:49.660 And as I said last week, this is the most important chapter and the most important letter in the 00:05:49.660 --> 00:05:50.140 New Testament. 00:05:51.040 --> 00:05:55.740 And so, we should remind all the people who went on vacation today that they really missed 00:05:55.740 --> 00:05:56.060 out. 00:05:58.020 --> 00:06:03.240 Verses 12 to 21 are really the heart and the center and the turning point of this whole letter. 00:06:03.240 --> 00:06:05.120 It sums up all that's gone before it. 00:06:05.639 --> 00:06:09.500 It encapsulates all that Paul's going to say to the end of Romans 8. 00:06:09.560 --> 00:06:10.780 It's a crucial section. 00:06:11.600 --> 00:06:17.900 And the scope and the sweep of what we just heard is probably the greatest, the widest, 00:06:18.000 --> 00:06:22.420 and maybe even the deepest of all the writings of the Apostle Paul and maybe even the whole 00:06:22.420 --> 00:06:23.160 of the New Testament. 00:06:24.259 --> 00:06:30.960 And this text really invites us to stand back and to take a look at this grand view of the 00:06:30.959 --> 00:06:36.339 whole panorama of redemption that's summed up in these two people. 00:06:37.919 --> 00:06:46.399 And what Paul wants to say is that we were made, we were made to reign in Adam. 00:06:47.519 --> 00:06:52.019 But now grace reigns in Christ and so we reign in life. 00:06:52.279 --> 00:06:54.560 It's a lot, so I'm going to say it multiple times. 00:06:54.560 --> 00:06:56.899 We were made to reign in Adam. 00:06:57.600 --> 00:07:02.180 But now grace reigns in Christ and so we reign in life. 00:07:02.899 --> 00:07:05.160 Let me just unpack each of these thoughts. 00:07:06.000 --> 00:07:08.240 First of all, we were made to reign in Adam. 00:07:09.500 --> 00:07:14.480 If you want to understand Christ and you want to understand your need for Christ, we must 00:07:14.480 --> 00:07:19.740 know something about our relationship with Adam and what it means to be in Adam because 00:07:19.740 --> 00:07:21.920 his story is the story of the human race. 00:07:21.920 --> 00:07:26.900 God has always, from the beginning, dealt with human beings through a head, through a 00:07:26.900 --> 00:07:31.439 representative, and through a covenant and an agreement with that representative. 00:07:31.640 --> 00:07:36.420 So what was the covenant agreement with our first head, the first representative of humanity? 00:07:37.360 --> 00:07:44.200 On page one of the Bible, we learn that at the climax of God's good creation, God says 00:07:44.199 --> 00:07:50.699 in Genesis 1.26, he says, let us make human beings in our image so that they may rule, 00:07:51.479 --> 00:07:52.740 so that they may reign. 00:07:53.920 --> 00:07:56.319 And so God does that very thing. 00:07:56.399 --> 00:08:00.779 He makes Adam and Eve in his royal image as the king and the queen of creation. 00:08:01.480 --> 00:08:07.240 So that every son of Adam and every daughter of Eve you'll ever meet is to share in this 00:08:07.240 --> 00:08:12.460 nature and this task that Adam and Eve had, that the people sitting in the pew next to 00:08:12.460 --> 00:08:16.720 you this morning, they're actually royalty, right? 00:08:16.840 --> 00:08:22.019 They, that the people sitting next to you were made to rule and to reign, right? 00:08:22.079 --> 00:08:27.960 We should really address one another as your majesty or your royal highness. 00:08:28.019 --> 00:08:29.439 You can try that at coffee time. 00:08:29.519 --> 00:08:31.819 I give you permission afterwards to try that out. 00:08:31.819 --> 00:08:38.500 But God goes on and he says in two verses later in Genesis 1.28, he says to his royal 00:08:38.500 --> 00:08:44.000 image, the king and queen of creation, he says, be fruitful, increase in number, fill 00:08:44.000 --> 00:08:48.000 the earth, subdue it, and rule over it, reign over it. 00:08:48.179 --> 00:08:50.299 That's what you were made to do. 00:08:51.759 --> 00:08:55.059 Theologians call this the creation mandate or the cultural mandate. 00:08:55.259 --> 00:08:56.340 What in the world does it mean? 00:08:56.340 --> 00:08:59.740 Well, it tells us something about societal life, right? 00:08:59.740 --> 00:09:07.379 That this first couple was to bear the fruit of kids and they were to increase the number 00:09:07.379 --> 00:09:14.279 of the image of God in the world and they were to cultivate an entire society of people 00:09:14.279 --> 00:09:17.500 that would reflect the glory of God back to God. 00:09:19.120 --> 00:09:25.220 And this text tells us something also about not only societal life but of cultural life. 00:09:25.220 --> 00:09:30.960 God placed the first man and the first woman in this, what we should think of as like a 00:09:30.960 --> 00:09:33.100 national park called the Garden of Eden. 00:09:33.899 --> 00:09:37.200 And he gave them this task to till it and to keep it. 00:09:37.740 --> 00:09:44.540 So that just as God had been forming and filling his creation, now Adam and Eve are to fill and 00:09:44.540 --> 00:09:46.899 to form his creation even more. 00:09:46.899 --> 00:09:54.539 To develop and to unfold in society and in culture all of the hidden potential that God has woven in 00:09:54.539 --> 00:09:57.340 and baked into his creation for the glory of God. 00:09:58.019 --> 00:09:58.639 Does that make sense? 00:09:59.459 --> 00:10:02.259 Adam and Eve were made to rule and to reign. 00:10:02.399 --> 00:10:06.559 And they were to do that according to the laws of nature and also according to the norms 00:10:06.559 --> 00:10:09.860 that God had built into society and into culture. 00:10:09.860 --> 00:10:16.139 The wisdom of God, the plan and the order of God had been woven into all the given structures 00:10:16.139 --> 00:10:21.019 and standards of all these various spheres and institutions of marriage and the family. 00:10:21.860 --> 00:10:26.820 Of education and culture and schooling. 00:10:27.120 --> 00:10:28.700 Of the arts and the sciences. 00:10:28.879 --> 00:10:30.940 Of business and commerce and industry. 00:10:32.620 --> 00:10:34.720 Economics and technology and media. 00:10:34.899 --> 00:10:36.980 Politics and government and administration. 00:10:36.980 --> 00:10:41.180 God says to Adam and Eve, I want you to work with me. 00:10:41.980 --> 00:10:44.259 Work with me as my royal stewards. 00:10:44.379 --> 00:10:45.840 As my under-sovereigns. 00:10:46.500 --> 00:10:49.759 To execute my plan for my masterpiece. 00:10:51.080 --> 00:10:58.120 And bring all of these spheres, all of these institutions to conform to what I intend. 00:10:58.259 --> 00:11:01.360 My creational blueprint and my design. 00:11:01.360 --> 00:11:09.379 And so this ruling and this reigning from the very beginning was never about tyrannical exploitation of the earth. 00:11:09.480 --> 00:11:17.220 It was always about this careful stewardship to spread the goodness of God and to glorify the name of God 00:11:17.220 --> 00:11:22.399 within this ordered creation in which God had placed Adam and Eve. 00:11:23.800 --> 00:11:27.220 And this is why Psalm 8, when you read the psalm, Psalm 8 says, 00:11:27.220 --> 00:11:29.360 Wow, praise God. 00:11:29.960 --> 00:11:35.840 God, you made men and women to rule and to reign over the works of your hands. 00:11:36.139 --> 00:11:36.460 Whoa. 00:11:37.960 --> 00:11:41.680 And you see, Adam and Eve were made to reign over God's creation. 00:11:42.200 --> 00:11:45.360 But instead of reigning over it, they ruined it. 00:11:46.200 --> 00:11:48.560 Instead of reigning over it, they ruined it. 00:11:49.399 --> 00:11:51.860 They were made for this personal relationship with God. 00:11:51.860 --> 00:11:57.360 They were made upright with this original righteousness to live in obedience to God. 00:11:58.039 --> 00:12:02.200 And I don't have time to talk about all the details of Genesis chapter 3. 00:12:02.419 --> 00:12:04.480 But we read there that they had a choice. 00:12:05.860 --> 00:12:08.580 Adam and Eve could obey God or they could defy God. 00:12:09.399 --> 00:12:13.639 They could yield to God's loving rule and therefore enjoy life. 00:12:13.740 --> 00:12:18.500 Or they could try to chart their own path and find their own way apart from God's word 00:12:18.500 --> 00:12:20.720 and therefore experience death. 00:12:20.720 --> 00:12:27.940 And so here they are fearfully and fully and wonderfully made to live out their freedom 00:12:27.940 --> 00:12:30.200 under God's reign and his rule. 00:12:31.180 --> 00:12:33.120 But this dark power comes in. 00:12:33.200 --> 00:12:34.440 This dark enemy comes. 00:12:34.639 --> 00:12:39.540 And he subtly begins to doubt, to cause them to doubt God's word. 00:12:40.560 --> 00:12:44.639 He begins to question and cause them to question the goodness of God. 00:12:44.639 --> 00:12:52.779 And tempts them to assert their own autonomy, to become a law unto themselves rather than relying 00:12:52.779 --> 00:12:54.559 on God's word for direction. 00:12:55.799 --> 00:12:57.500 And we know the fatal choice. 00:12:58.439 --> 00:12:58.580 Right? 00:12:58.620 --> 00:13:01.659 They chose to be self-defined rather than God-defined. 00:13:02.399 --> 00:13:05.699 They chose to be self-centered rather than God-centered. 00:13:05.700 --> 00:13:09.920 Thinking that in that they were going to find the path to true life, to true freedom. 00:13:10.960 --> 00:13:17.980 So that what the apostle says of all people can certainly be said of Adam and Eve. 00:13:18.100 --> 00:13:23.340 That although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him. 00:13:23.960 --> 00:13:27.060 But their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. 00:13:27.120 --> 00:13:30.000 They exchanged the truth about God for a lie. 00:13:30.000 --> 00:13:34.320 And they worshipped and served, created things rather than the creator. 00:13:35.840 --> 00:13:36.960 And so what was the result? 00:13:37.080 --> 00:13:41.059 What was the consequence of this action? 00:13:42.019 --> 00:13:44.580 Well, sin and death came flooding into the world. 00:13:45.120 --> 00:13:45.259 Right? 00:13:45.299 --> 00:13:47.779 That's where our text picks up today in verse 12. 00:13:47.899 --> 00:13:52.259 It says that therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man and death through sin. 00:13:52.340 --> 00:13:55.919 And in this way, death came to all people because all sin. 00:13:55.919 --> 00:14:02.579 And this is the catastrophe that Adam and Eve were made to reign, but they fell into ruin. 00:14:03.539 --> 00:14:08.860 They were made to subdue and to fill all of creation with the goodness and glory of God. 00:14:08.979 --> 00:14:15.039 And yet, what really happened was the world was filled with misery and trouble and wretchedness. 00:14:15.139 --> 00:14:21.199 Adam and Eve, rather than subduing, they became subdued by unhappiness and sorrow. 00:14:21.200 --> 00:14:31.680 And so our text tells us in verse 14, it says that death reigned from the time of Adam onwards. 00:14:32.960 --> 00:14:38.700 And in verse 17, it says, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man. 00:14:39.680 --> 00:14:44.840 And then in verse 21, it says that sin reigned in death. 00:14:44.840 --> 00:14:51.840 We were made to reign in righteousness and life, and yet sin and death began a reign of terror over every single one of us. 00:14:53.000 --> 00:15:01.440 Adam and Eve opened this door of sin and death, and it therefore invaded us like a foreign invader came into God's good creation. 00:15:01.700 --> 00:15:13.220 And Paul here personifies sin and death as this active, reigning, ruling, governing power that exercises total domination. 00:15:13.220 --> 00:15:23.840 A tyranny, an oppressive totalitarianism that makes us not rulers and people who reign, but rather makes us slaves. 00:15:25.500 --> 00:15:29.740 That no matter how free and liberated we think we are, we're not. 00:15:30.620 --> 00:15:33.120 We're rather in bondage and in captivity. 00:15:34.180 --> 00:15:37.040 We're not free even to choose sin. 00:15:37.120 --> 00:15:39.580 We will sin and we must sin. 00:15:39.580 --> 00:15:45.340 And we cannot even help ourselves from sinning because sin reigns, and we are the slaves of sin. 00:15:45.420 --> 00:15:46.440 It's controlling us. 00:15:46.580 --> 00:15:48.080 It's governing us. 00:15:49.200 --> 00:15:58.780 And Paul talks about the reign of death, which proves that we're all regarded by God as judicially and legally sinners. 00:16:00.100 --> 00:16:04.940 The poet John Dryden said that every man who lives is born to die. 00:16:04.940 --> 00:16:05.500 Right? 00:16:05.500 --> 00:16:06.060 Right? 00:16:06.140 --> 00:16:09.400 From the very moment we begin to live, we begin to die. 00:16:10.300 --> 00:16:16.980 The very first breath is only one in a long series of breaths that's going to lead to our last breath. 00:16:17.060 --> 00:16:21.600 And death will be our end because this world is a place of cemeteries. 00:16:21.680 --> 00:16:23.620 It's just strewn with corpses. 00:16:23.760 --> 00:16:25.960 It's a place where death reigns. 00:16:25.960 --> 00:16:31.620 And in Adam, we're not only dead physically, but we're also dead spiritually. 00:16:32.660 --> 00:16:32.800 Right? 00:16:32.860 --> 00:16:35.960 Because real life means knowing God. 00:16:36.060 --> 00:16:38.660 Real life means having a relationship with God. 00:16:38.759 --> 00:16:42.240 And so what we regard as life, apart from God, that's not life. 00:16:42.300 --> 00:16:43.320 It's just mere existence. 00:16:43.620 --> 00:16:44.660 It's not living. 00:16:44.940 --> 00:16:48.240 It's just merely existing in a living death. 00:16:48.240 --> 00:16:57.039 And Paul, he's saying, oh, how far we have fallen from what we were made to be. 00:16:58.060 --> 00:17:00.419 We were made to rule and to reign. 00:17:01.460 --> 00:17:06.420 And yet the reality is we're ruled by sin and we're reigned over by death. 00:17:06.480 --> 00:17:07.640 And that is our position. 00:17:08.240 --> 00:17:14.559 That's the status of everyone you'll ever meet who's a descendant of the race of Adam. 00:17:14.559 --> 00:17:29.279 And so if you're exploring Christianity today, I want to encourage you to consider whether or not this reign of death, which is universal and without exception, is that a part of the natural order of life on planet Earth? 00:17:30.460 --> 00:17:40.039 Or is this an unnatural, unwanted intrusion into the way that God wanted human life to be lived at a very, very high level? 00:17:40.039 --> 00:17:45.980 With human beings reigning as kings and queens just under the reign of God? 00:17:47.500 --> 00:17:52.319 Paul says that in Adam, we were made to reign in Adam. 00:17:52.940 --> 00:17:54.279 You following me so far? 00:17:55.200 --> 00:17:57.200 This is like one of the hardest texts in the New Testament. 00:17:57.339 --> 00:17:59.500 So I'm working hard up here for you this morning. 00:17:59.859 --> 00:18:04.059 We're made to reign in Adam, but now grace reigns in Christ. 00:18:04.899 --> 00:18:06.899 But now grace reigns in Christ. 00:18:06.900 --> 00:18:10.460 Paul says in verse 14 that Adam is a pattern of the one to come. 00:18:10.540 --> 00:18:13.300 He's a figure or a type of the one to come. 00:18:13.420 --> 00:18:16.960 Adam, he says, is only one half of the story of humanity. 00:18:17.280 --> 00:18:23.300 But there's also this other story of this one to come. 00:18:24.140 --> 00:18:26.940 The story of God's promised Messiah in Christ. 00:18:27.040 --> 00:18:33.920 It's a story of grace that's unfolding all the way from the beginning of the Old Testament to the end of the New Testament. 00:18:33.920 --> 00:18:38.259 The story of grace, which is the story of the Christian church, the story of all Christian people. 00:18:39.460 --> 00:18:46.140 And Adam, Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15, he says, Christ is the last Adam. 00:18:47.060 --> 00:18:48.440 He's the second man. 00:18:49.560 --> 00:18:49.660 Right? 00:18:49.740 --> 00:18:52.460 So Adam is the first man and Christ is the second man. 00:18:52.600 --> 00:18:56.360 Adam is the first Adam and Christ is the last Adam. 00:18:56.500 --> 00:18:59.500 God has only appointed two heads of the human race. 00:18:59.500 --> 00:19:01.559 There will never be another. 00:19:02.380 --> 00:19:05.619 And every one of us is either in Adam or we're in Christ. 00:19:06.460 --> 00:19:10.539 We're either experiencing the results and the fruits and the effects of the one man. 00:19:10.619 --> 00:19:14.720 Or we're experiencing the results and the fruits and the effects of the work of the other man. 00:19:14.759 --> 00:19:19.140 And what Paul is saying is that Christ came to be the head of a new humanity. 00:19:19.140 --> 00:19:25.940 He came to be the head and the beginning of a new race of men and women. 00:19:25.940 --> 00:19:33.980 So that in Romans 8, Paul says that Christ is the firstborn of many brothers and sisters. 00:19:34.080 --> 00:19:38.100 The firstborn of many who will be born after him and in his line. 00:19:39.559 --> 00:19:42.720 Christ came, Paul says, to launch a new age. 00:19:42.900 --> 00:19:44.180 A new kingdom. 00:19:44.340 --> 00:19:45.080 A new order. 00:19:45.200 --> 00:19:48.740 A new realm in which something different will reign. 00:19:49.960 --> 00:19:50.900 And what is that? 00:19:50.900 --> 00:20:00.340 He says in verse 21, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. 00:20:01.519 --> 00:20:07.519 As we are all related to Adam by nature, so we can be related to Christ by grace, he says. 00:20:08.480 --> 00:20:11.600 In Christ, we are under the reign of grace. 00:20:11.599 --> 00:20:27.259 The reign of sin and death that came to all by the action of one man, Adam, has now been overtaken by this new age, this new realm of the reign of grace through the action of the one man, Christ, he says. 00:20:28.319 --> 00:20:35.079 And so the apostle's main concern here is to unfold for us this amazing reign of grace. 00:20:35.079 --> 00:20:41.079 And in doing so, he's giving us a paradigm and a framework for human history. 00:20:42.139 --> 00:20:52.919 He says, the history of the world and really the history of redemption is a struggle between the reign of sin and the reign of grace. 00:20:53.759 --> 00:20:56.899 And it leads ultimately to the triumph and the victory of grace. 00:20:56.980 --> 00:21:01.960 And grace, you'll remember from the past few weeks, grace is God's favor to the undeserving. 00:21:01.960 --> 00:21:09.460 Grace is God's approval and God's acceptance of those who deserve judgment and condemnation. 00:21:10.360 --> 00:21:15.120 Grace says there's now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 00:21:16.079 --> 00:21:22.900 And the whole Bible is a story of the struggle between these two powers of sin and grace. 00:21:23.920 --> 00:21:27.500 And the moment Adam fell, the story of this struggle begins, right? 00:21:27.500 --> 00:21:32.880 This dark enemy, he came in, this dark power came into God's world, came into God's paradise. 00:21:34.220 --> 00:21:40.140 And he tempted Adam and he pulled Adam down from a very high place and sin began to reign. 00:21:41.140 --> 00:21:48.440 But immediately, immediately, God gives a promise and grace enters into the conflict. 00:21:49.579 --> 00:21:55.960 God says in Genesis 3.15 that the seed of the woman is going to come and he's going to bruise the head of the serpent. 00:21:55.960 --> 00:22:00.860 It's the first announcement of grace, the first announcement of God's good news. 00:22:02.019 --> 00:22:10.519 And then the remainder of the Bible records this conflict between these two mighty forces, the force of sin and the force of grace. 00:22:11.460 --> 00:22:13.519 And if you've tried to read the Bible, it's hard. 00:22:13.860 --> 00:22:16.960 It's a big, long story full of twists and turns. 00:22:16.960 --> 00:22:24.920 But it comes to this climax in what Paul calls one act of righteousness, one act of obedience. 00:22:26.140 --> 00:22:27.640 And what was that one act? 00:22:27.740 --> 00:22:34.980 Well, the whole life of Christ in the Gospels is just one steady, active obedience. 00:22:35.240 --> 00:22:39.500 One steady act of righteousness before God the Father. 00:22:39.740 --> 00:22:42.180 We see Christ listening to God's word. 00:22:42.180 --> 00:22:45.240 We see him fulfilling the law and the prophets. 00:22:45.380 --> 00:22:49.740 We see him loving God with all his heart and loving his neighbor as himself. 00:22:50.720 --> 00:22:54.980 We see at the beginning of his life and ministry, he's tempted in the wilderness. 00:22:55.580 --> 00:22:57.860 And he meets that temptation with the word of God. 00:22:57.920 --> 00:23:03.400 He does exactly the opposite of what Adam did in doubting and disregarding the word of God. 00:23:04.259 --> 00:23:09.440 We see at the end of Jesus' ministry in the Garden of Gethsemane, he's aligning himself with the will of God. 00:23:09.440 --> 00:23:11.680 Saying the exact opposite of what Adam said. 00:23:11.680 --> 00:23:15.420 Adam said, God, not your will but my will be done. 00:23:16.620 --> 00:23:23.200 And Christ at every point, at every point along the way, he's being obedient where Adam was disobedient. 00:23:23.900 --> 00:23:26.640 He's being righteous where Adam was unrighteous. 00:23:26.740 --> 00:23:29.920 He's succeeding at every point where Adam failed. 00:23:29.920 --> 00:23:33.660 And we get to that one climactic moment in the life of Christ. 00:23:34.660 --> 00:23:39.759 Where we see him submitting passively to God the Father. 00:23:40.560 --> 00:23:46.700 Who's putting on to his son, Jesus Christ, all the sins of all the people. 00:23:46.700 --> 00:23:54.600 So that Christ himself would bear the awful judgment and absorb the pain and the suffering of all of our punishment. 00:23:54.740 --> 00:23:58.779 And endure God's just wrath against our sins on his cross. 00:23:59.400 --> 00:24:01.840 That is the one act of righteousness. 00:24:02.039 --> 00:24:03.840 The one act of obedience. 00:24:03.839 --> 00:24:09.559 That's how grace came climactically to reign. 00:24:09.559 --> 00:24:17.440 And so what is the result of this one act on our behalf and in our place? 00:24:17.579 --> 00:24:19.119 Well, Paul says in verse 18. 00:24:19.119 --> 00:24:41.199 The reign of grace came in, Paul says. 00:24:41.199 --> 00:24:43.759 And changes our status. 00:24:45.519 --> 00:24:46.919 Transfers our position. 00:24:46.920 --> 00:24:51.340 We, our status in Adam was one of condemnation. 00:24:51.440 --> 00:24:57.019 But grace came in and removed us and set us down over here in this position of justification. 00:24:58.300 --> 00:25:02.840 That grace came in and it dislodged us from this place we were in. 00:25:02.940 --> 00:25:06.140 He extracted us from death and placed us over here into life. 00:25:07.180 --> 00:25:10.900 The reign of grace came in and it uprooted us. 00:25:11.920 --> 00:25:15.160 And it took us out of this class of unrighteous people. 00:25:15.160 --> 00:25:19.740 And therefore it planted us over here in this new class, this new category. 00:25:19.740 --> 00:25:22.880 So that we might be planted among the rank of the righteous. 00:25:25.580 --> 00:25:29.800 The reign of grace takes me out of Adam and puts me in Christ. 00:25:30.840 --> 00:25:34.060 And so unites me with him that I've been crucified with him. 00:25:34.480 --> 00:25:35.560 I've died with him. 00:25:35.920 --> 00:25:37.060 I've risen with him. 00:25:37.059 --> 00:25:42.720 I've been exalted to be seated on the throne of heaven with him. 00:25:44.720 --> 00:25:51.000 The reign of God's grace means that my being and my identity is no longer in Adam as it once was. 00:25:51.059 --> 00:25:52.359 But it's now in Christ. 00:25:52.480 --> 00:25:56.519 United with him so that now his story is my story. 00:25:56.639 --> 00:26:00.819 And all that he is and all that he has belongs to me. 00:26:00.819 --> 00:26:07.579 The reign of grace and God's grace is such an irresistible power. 00:26:07.720 --> 00:26:18.240 It's such an irresistible force that it can come and it can bring us out of this terrible power, this tyranny and this thralldom of sin and death. 00:26:19.220 --> 00:26:21.819 And we see it even in the man who's writing this very letter. 00:26:21.819 --> 00:26:30.519 The reign of God's grace can take someone like Saul of Tarsus, an adversary of Christ, a persecutor of Christ's church. 00:26:30.759 --> 00:26:38.000 And it can turn him into the greatest apostle, the greatest preacher of Christian truth and Christian faith that's ever been known. 00:26:38.079 --> 00:26:40.779 That's the power of the grace of God. 00:26:40.839 --> 00:26:43.899 That's the power of the reign of God's grace. 00:26:43.900 --> 00:26:51.980 So that if God has put you into Jesus Christ, you're finished with the old position in Adam. 00:26:52.940 --> 00:26:54.560 You're no longer a sinner. 00:26:55.320 --> 00:26:58.019 You're no longer living in condemnation. 00:26:58.140 --> 00:27:03.640 God's taken you out of that category and put you into a new category. 00:27:04.259 --> 00:27:05.120 Not sin. 00:27:06.040 --> 00:27:06.660 Righteousness. 00:27:06.840 --> 00:27:07.540 Not death. 00:27:08.259 --> 00:27:08.700 Life. 00:27:08.700 --> 00:27:20.500 Just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. 00:27:22.080 --> 00:27:23.640 Do you experience this? 00:27:24.400 --> 00:27:34.160 Grace reigning like a king in your life, conquering all of your biggest and worst enemies, controlling everything for your ultimate good. 00:27:34.160 --> 00:27:37.140 That's what it means for grace to be reigning. 00:27:38.700 --> 00:27:43.740 So we were made to reign in Adam, but now grace reigns in Christ. 00:27:44.860 --> 00:27:47.360 And so Paul draws the inference from this. 00:27:47.460 --> 00:27:50.019 He says, so therefore we reign in life. 00:27:51.360 --> 00:27:56.259 If grace is now reigning in Christ, we reign in life. 00:27:56.519 --> 00:27:59.700 And I just want to finish with a thought on this. 00:28:01.279 --> 00:28:08.279 He says in verse 17, this has become, I think, my favorite verse, one of my favorite verses in this letter. 00:28:08.700 --> 00:28:10.400 He says, 00:28:10.400 --> 00:28:27.360 For if by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God's abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ? 00:28:27.359 --> 00:28:34.259 This is an astonishing antithesis and really a thrilling contrast if it's actually true. 00:28:36.000 --> 00:28:37.799 We were dominated by death. 00:28:38.959 --> 00:28:42.939 But Paul says now we're identified with the risen and the living Christ. 00:28:44.159 --> 00:28:46.819 Because of one man's trespass, death reigned. 00:28:46.979 --> 00:28:49.899 But now, what's the opposite of death reigning? 00:28:49.900 --> 00:28:52.120 It's life reigning. 00:28:53.380 --> 00:28:55.980 But the apostle Paul doesn't say life is reigning. 00:28:56.800 --> 00:29:00.580 He says that's true, but there's so much more for us than that. 00:29:00.780 --> 00:29:03.420 He loves this phrase much more. 00:29:04.240 --> 00:29:06.160 We've got to think about the much more. 00:29:06.160 --> 00:29:12.080 However, the contrast of death reigning is not merely life reigning, Paul says. 00:29:12.140 --> 00:29:20.640 It's the fact that you now, brothers and sisters, are reigning in life by the one Jesus Christ. 00:29:20.640 --> 00:29:29.100 He's not only saying that as a result of Christ's work and because death no longer reigns over us, we receive the gift of eternal life. 00:29:29.180 --> 00:29:33.520 And therefore, life is going to reign over us and we've come under this new order of life. 00:29:33.600 --> 00:29:35.380 All of that is gloriously true. 00:29:35.780 --> 00:29:38.620 But he says there's so much more even than that. 00:29:39.660 --> 00:29:41.360 He goes way beyond that. 00:29:43.980 --> 00:29:47.060 He says we don't get the exact opposite of death reigning. 00:29:48.240 --> 00:29:50.400 We ourselves reign in life. 00:29:50.640 --> 00:29:54.540 Listen to it again. 00:29:56.259 --> 00:30:05.140 How much more will those who receive God's abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ? 00:30:06.620 --> 00:30:13.520 What Christ has done for us is not only to restore us to what we were in Adam. 00:30:14.680 --> 00:30:15.920 He's done so much more. 00:30:16.000 --> 00:30:18.940 He's not just put us back where we were. 00:30:18.940 --> 00:30:23.500 He takes us way far beyond that because in Adam we were united to a man. 00:30:24.420 --> 00:30:26.740 We were united to a created human being. 00:30:26.820 --> 00:30:29.840 But when we're united to Christ, Christ, he's not created. 00:30:30.740 --> 00:30:32.580 He's the only begotten son of God. 00:30:32.640 --> 00:30:33.920 He's the God-man. 00:30:34.059 --> 00:30:39.039 And so when we're united to Christ, we're not merely given back the human righteousness of Adam. 00:30:39.240 --> 00:30:40.640 We're given so much more. 00:30:40.640 --> 00:30:43.060 We're given the righteousness of the God-man. 00:30:43.800 --> 00:30:48.840 We're given the moral and spiritual record of the greatest life that's ever been lived on planet Earth. 00:30:48.839 --> 00:30:55.779 And Paul says, look, this Christ, he's not dead and gone as a past figure of history. 00:30:56.179 --> 00:31:04.459 Rather, he's risen and alive and ascended into heaven so that you are united to a living and a powerful Christ. 00:31:04.559 --> 00:31:08.359 And that's why you, if you're a Christian, you're reigning. 00:31:08.359 --> 00:31:08.500 You're reigning. 00:31:09.359 --> 00:31:11.939 You're reigning in life. 00:31:13.979 --> 00:31:18.599 So many of us know more than we'd like to know how powerful death is. 00:31:20.039 --> 00:31:21.839 The death reigns. 00:31:22.959 --> 00:31:24.579 The death came as a conqueror. 00:31:24.759 --> 00:31:27.559 Death came and triumphed over us as a tyrant. 00:31:27.919 --> 00:31:29.599 Death has dominated our lives. 00:31:29.599 --> 00:31:33.899 But here is one who has eternal life. 00:31:35.079 --> 00:31:36.679 Here's one who has the life of God. 00:31:36.759 --> 00:31:38.759 Here's one who walks into a crowd and says, 00:31:39.000 --> 00:31:43.159 My name is the way, the truth, and the life of the capital L. 00:31:44.659 --> 00:31:46.919 When he's resurrected from the dead, what does Jesus say? 00:31:47.000 --> 00:31:47.219 He says, 00:31:47.219 --> 00:31:51.719 All power and all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 00:31:53.139 --> 00:31:56.399 And when Peter preached the first Christian sermon at Pentecost, he says, 00:31:56.400 --> 00:32:02.940 God raised Christ from the dead because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him. 00:32:04.540 --> 00:32:11.340 And so, brothers and sisters, we've been united to one who's so much more than a mere human being. 00:32:11.420 --> 00:32:15.560 And we've been united to someone who's so much stronger than death. 00:32:16.620 --> 00:32:19.460 And this is why Christians no longer fear death. 00:32:20.660 --> 00:32:20.840 Right? 00:32:21.300 --> 00:32:24.560 We're reigning in life over a conquered enemy. 00:32:24.559 --> 00:32:29.839 We're reigning in life and we have victory over death before we even meet it. 00:32:30.980 --> 00:32:32.639 That's what it means to be a Christian. 00:32:34.799 --> 00:32:42.359 And what's even greater than that is that our present reigning in life is just the first fruits. 00:32:43.440 --> 00:32:52.019 It's just the foretaste of this much more glorious rule and reign and reality that's coming for us when Christ returns. 00:32:52.019 --> 00:32:54.879 We're going to know what it means to reign fully. 00:32:56.400 --> 00:32:59.359 Jesus says himself in Matthew 25, he says, 00:32:59.440 --> 00:33:00.599 Then the king, 00:33:00.599 --> 00:33:04.659 Then the king will say to those on his right, 00:33:04.879 --> 00:33:06.679 Come, you who are blessed by my father, 00:33:07.019 --> 00:33:12.439 Take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 00:33:13.639 --> 00:33:16.699 Because of this reign of grace, you are not only reigning in life, 00:33:16.779 --> 00:33:22.339 but you are going to receive an inheritance that's far beyond any inheritance you can receive in this world. 00:33:22.419 --> 00:33:25.559 You're going to receive the kingdom of the father. 00:33:25.559 --> 00:33:25.599 You're going to be ruler. 00:33:26.399 --> 00:33:26.779 You're going to be ruler. 00:33:26.779 --> 00:33:26.879 You're going to be ruler. 00:33:26.879 --> 00:33:27.659 You're going to be ruler. 00:33:27.659 --> 00:33:29.000 You're going to be ruling and reigning. 00:33:31.200 --> 00:33:33.899 The last book of the Bible, Revelation 1, says, 00:33:34.059 --> 00:33:43.720 He who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood has made us to be a kingdom and priest to serve his God and Father. 00:33:45.159 --> 00:33:48.960 And it goes on to call Jesus Christ the king of kings. 00:33:48.960 --> 00:33:53.900 Well, who are the kings of which Christ is the king? 00:33:55.920 --> 00:33:56.680 You are. 00:33:58.360 --> 00:34:01.600 The people of God are the kings. 00:34:01.700 --> 00:34:05.200 He's made us to be a kingdom to serve his God and Father. 00:34:05.299 --> 00:34:08.500 And that means that we are going to reign with the king of kings. 00:34:08.599 --> 00:34:15.720 We're going to share the throne of the Son of God who shares the throne of thrones of his heavenly Father. 00:34:15.719 --> 00:34:26.199 And so even now, because of this reign of grace, we're reigning in life through this one man, Jesus Christ. 00:34:27.679 --> 00:34:32.819 Adam's world, this sad old world, is a world full of the power of evil and sin and death. 00:34:32.899 --> 00:34:40.019 But this new world of Christ is a world that's full of the power of grace and righteousness and life. 00:34:40.019 --> 00:34:48.480 And this means that much more has been done by Christ to put things right than Adam ever did to put things wrong. 00:34:49.619 --> 00:34:54.800 And Christ is much more powerful to redeem than Adam was to ruin. 00:34:56.199 --> 00:34:58.360 Sin reigned in death, yes, that's true. 00:34:58.360 --> 00:35:09.740 But how much more does grace reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ, our Lord? 00:35:10.920 --> 00:35:12.000 Do you believe that? 00:35:13.980 --> 00:35:15.039 Let's believe it. 00:35:15.240 --> 00:35:17.019 In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. 00:35:17.900 --> 00:35:18.140 Amen. 00:35:18.140 --> 00:35:18.280 Amen.