Okay, tonight we're going to be looking at Romans chapter 5, verses, we'll be focusing on verses 18 to 21, but I'm going to read from verse 12.
But first of all, I think it's important when we're looking at Romans to kind of give an overview of the previous chapters.
Because in Romans, everything Paul says is like one long, continuous argument from the first chapter to the next to the next.
And it's quite important for this chapter.
So for the first two and a half chapters of Romans, Paul kind of describes that the problem we have as humanity, that we've been, no matter who we are, all humans have been separated from God.
We've turned away from Him, and we've done what is evil, and therefore God is bringing judgment upon everyone.
Then for the next couple of chapters, Paul reveals that there's been another way that God has chosen to bring us back to Him.
And that's through faith in Jesus Christ.
And now in chapter 5, he's stepping back a bit and giving a more in-depth explanation of how did humanity end up in this situation in the first place.
And why is it out of all the people in the world that Jesus is the only one who can bring salvation?
So, from verse 12 in Romans chapter 5,
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.
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.
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 Adam, who is a pattern of the one to come.
But the gift is not like the trespass.
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?
Nor can the gift of God be compared with the result of one man's sin.
The judgment followed one sin and brought condemnation,
but the gift followed many trespasses and brought justification.
For if by the trespass of 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?
Consequently, just as one trespass resulted in condemnation for all people,
so also one righteous act resulted in justification and life for all people.
For 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.
The law was brought in so that the trespass might increase.
But where sin increased, grace increased all the more,
so that just as sin reigned in death,
so also grace might reign through righteousness
to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Now, if you went up to someone on the street and you asked them,
who are the two most important people in history,
the most influential, you might get a few different answers.
So one group of people might mention a great political or military hero
who brought massive change to society,
someone like Julius Caesar or Napoleon.
Other people might mention a great religious leader like Buddha or Mohammed,
or maybe you'll have a great moral example like Gandhi or Martin Luther King.
But for Paul, really there's only two answers to that question.
The two most important people in world history are Adam, the first man, and Jesus Christ.
And so we're going to think about who is Adam?
Why is it that Adam's actions had this drastic effect on all the rest of humanity?
And then we're going to think,
if Jesus Christ is a solution to the actions of Adam,
why does it have to be Jesus?
Why can't it be some other person, some other great leader, some other great hero?
So firstly, who is Adam?
So when God created the world, he created the world good.
He created Adam in the image of God.
When we say Adam is created image of God, what does that mean?
Well, an image is a representation or a copy.
So Adam, if you like, is God's representative on earth.
He's almost like God's ambassador to the rest of creation.
He's supposed to look after it, to rule over it.
But that's not all Adam is.
Because Adam isn't just a regular person.
Because he's not just an ambassador from God to creation.
He's also, if you like, the ambassador of humanity to God.
He's like the ruler or the king of humanity.
So for example, if the ruler of one kingdom or country travels to another one,
whatever actions he takes in that country,
his conduct, how he carries himself,
will reflect back on his own country and every single person in that country.
So when Adam is before God,
Adam's actions before God have consequences for all the rest of us,
all the rest of humanity who are descended from Adam.
So what exactly did Adam do that caused the situation that humanity is in?
So if we recall the passage that Arthur read,
there is a chain of events that happen that have this result.
Firstly, Adam misjudges the situation.
Secondly, he uses the wrong method.
He takes the wrong set of actions.
And so he ends up with the wrong result.
So his misjudgment of the situation came about
because he didn't listen to God.
So God's plan for the world would be that through Adam,
there's a connection.
There's harmony between God and between humanity
and between the rest of creation.
But the snake said, that's not how it works.
God's lying to you.
Really, what you need to do is,
he's trying to stop you from eating from this tree.
And if you eat from the tree, you'll be like God.
You don't have to accept your place in this world.
You can rise up higher.
And so because of that, Adam takes the wrong action.
Instead of living in harmony with God
and with the rest of creation,
he breaks away from God's plan.
And the end result is that the whole of humanity
is cursed because of Adam's actions.
And this seems like maybe a bit of an overreaction on God's part.
Well, I mean, all Adam did was eat some fruit, right?
But when we look at how Paul thinks about sin,
it's not just that you do one or two bad things.
It's about being in different categories.
Either you're living in perfect harmony with God
or you're completely separated from him.
What Adam did wasn't just he did one bad thing,
but he turned himself and with him all of humanity
on a course away from God.
No longer was he following God's plan for the world,
but he was following his own plan.
He was putting himself first
and putting himself in the place of God.
Therefore, this is consequences.
Because God is life,
when Adam turns away
and breaks the connection between humanity and God,
humanity is cut off from the source of life itself.
So the natural consequence of that is that we will die.
But not only that, God is also good.
And when God sees that there's this disarray in society,
there's this evil,
this turning away from his plan,
he wants to put things right.
And so when Paul talks about in the earlier chapters of Romans,
God bringing righteousness and justice,
he's talking about God's plan to fix the world.
In the first few chapters, he says,
well, humanity is evil.
So God has a way of fixing the world,
a way of removing all the evil from the world,
and that's to bring judgment
and to destroy all evil,
including humanity.
So that's the situation that we're in.
But then in the next few chapters,
Paul again says that,
well, there's another way.
One man has brought us into this situation,
and so one man can bring us out.
And that man is Jesus Christ.
So if you look in verse 18,
just as one trespass resulted in condemnation for all people,
so also one righteous act resulted in justification
and life for all people.
For just as through the disobedience of one man,
the many were made sinners,
sinners.
So also through the obedience of one man,
the many will be made righteous.
And so a lot of people have,
like Paul,
seen that there's problems in the world.
They've seen that there's evil,
there's injustice,
there's a breaking of the relationship
between us and God,
there's a breaking of the relationship
between us and one another.
And this results in death,
in evil,
in conflict.
And so many people have come to the same conclusion
that Paul's come to.
They've said,
we need someone to come fix our problems.
And roughly,
you can group these people into two different camps.
One group says,
well,
the problem is that society is messed up.
They're not very concerned about their relationship with God.
They think,
okay,
society's messed up.
There's a system in place as humans with God.
But it's not working.
And the roots of the evil in society are so deep
that we can't just get it out using the system.
There's this oppression of the poor by the rich.
One group's privileged over another.
And so what we need is we need someone to come along
and he needs to break the system,
smash it up,
and fix everything.
So you have,
those are people looking for some kind of military leader
or a political leader
who'll bring big change to society.
Then your second group of people say,
well,
we want someone
who fixes,
who doesn't,
I mean,
the problem's not just out here in society,
but the problem's in here in our hearts
and between us and God.
So what we need is someone to come from God
to tell us how to live.
We need to be showing the right path.
And if we all just get together
and follow this right path that God gives us,
then everything will be sorted out.
Now there's big problems with both of these groups.
And so if we compare and contrast both these groups
with Jesus,
we see that in fact,
it's only Jesus that can bring the solution we need.
So the first group
who are looking for one man
to be their great military or political leader.
Now,
the Book of Romans is of course
written to people living in Rome,
in the middle of the Roman Empire.
And they were very,
they had a very good idea of this sort of notion
of one man coming to fix
all of society's problems.
Because,
in fact,
the Roman Empire
wasn't always an empire.
So originally,
they were a republic.
And they thought,
okay,
we don't like kings.
They're,
we can't have one guy ruling the place.
It's unjust.
It's unfair.
What's better is if every year
we vote in a couple of people
and they'll keep society fair
and people are voting.
And so if they're bad,
we can remove them the next year.
But over time,
in Roman society,
it became apparent
that there were still problems with the system.
Because people are evil,
the slowly and slowly problems seep in.
And people began to realize
that even in their system,
the people in control
were still the rich aristocrats.
And those who were poor
didn't really stand much of a chance.
For example,
if you're an Italian farmer,
a poor Italian farmer,
it's quite likely
that you can outcompete
the rich Italian farmers
who could use slaves
without paying them
to grow loads of crops.
So they'd buy your farm.
You'd have to go to Rome,
try and find a job,
not find a job.
You'd be out begging on the streets.
And so you have this building
kind of chaos in Roman society.
But the Romans had a solution for this.
Because they realized
that sometimes systems don't really work.
So you need one guy
with absolute power
to come in,
fix the problem.
And then once the problem's fixed,
he goes,
okay, I'll give up my absolute power
and we'll go back to normal.
And the Romans used to call
these guys dictators.
Which if you know
the modern English meaning of the word,
you can probably tell
where this is going to go.
So originally dictators,
that's how it worked.
Everything was fine.
They'd take power.
They'd give it up.
No problems.
But then about 50 years
before the birth of Jesus,
again, you have these problems
in Roman society.
And so one man,
Julius Caesar, comes along.
And he says,
you know,
he's a very popular general.
And he says,
okay,
I'm going to stand up
for the rights of the people.
I've got the people,
these people are oppressed
by the rich.
I'm going to come along
and I'm going to fix society.
I'm going to bring justice.
I'm going to bring equality.
But he couldn't do it
by using the system
because all the rich aristocrats
were against him.
So instead,
he brings in an army,
takes over Rome
by military might,
and he says,
you know what,
you make me dictator
for a few years,
I'll fix everything.
But then he says,
well,
okay,
I've been dictator
for a few years.
Maybe you can make me
dictator for life.
That would be a bit better.
And then he says,
maybe I could go around
wearing a nice purple robe
with a crown of leaves
on my head.
And if you remember
Jesus' crucifixion
or the trial
James was talking about
this morning,
where they make Jesus
wear purple
and have a crown of thorns,
these sort of things
in Roman society
represent royalty.
Then Caesar says,
oh,
maybe I could have
a nice big golden chair
I can sit into.
And then all the Romans
are suddenly thinking,
hold on a second,
this guy doesn't care
about helping people at all.
He just wants
to make himself king.
But actually,
Caesar went further
than that
because Caesar
then got the Roman society
to declare himself a god
and to build him a temple.
And eventually,
the people had enough
and some of his
previous followers
assassinated him.
So,
if we compare
Caesar with Jesus,
if we compare
the situation,
the methods used,
the end result,
and then finally,
the difference
between the two people.
Firstly,
the situation.
The Romans assumed
that their main problem
was just that there's
a few bad eggs
in society.
There's a few rich people
who are causing an issue.
And if that could be sorted out,
there'd be peace,
there'd be prosperity.
But what Paul says
in Romans
is that,
well, actually,
no,
the problem goes way back.
And it's in every single
human being.
Every single human heart
has been corrupted
by sin.
And therefore,
the methods that they use
are very different.
Because if you think,
well, the problem
isn't really in here,
it's not about
us walking right before God,
you justify any sort of
actions in order to bring
about your necessary
desired results.
So Caesar, for example,
was no better than any
of the other politicians.
He was perfectly happy
to bribe people,
to lock people up
who disagree with him.
I mean, Caesar himself
previously committed genocide.
He fought a whole civil war
to bring about
his desired conclusions.
But this isn't
the actions of Jesus.
Jesus comes and he says,
my kingdom's not of this world.
He doesn't come with an army.
He comes by himself.
And this isn't due to,
like, a lack of power.
Because, you know,
Caesar had his legions
of Roman soldiers.
But Jesus at any moment
in his life
could have called down
legions of angels.
And in fact,
Jesus didn't even need
his angels.
Because as we recall
in the Gospels,
Jesus meets the man
who's possessed
by a legion of demons.
And simply by speaking to him,
he defeats them
and casts them out.
Jesus comes with absolute power.
But he doesn't use it.
Where Caesar comes
only to claim power.
He came,
Caesar came
with these promises
that he would serve the people.
But instead,
he really just wanted
to be served as king.
But Jesus comes
and he says,
I've come
not to be served,
but to serve
and to give my life
as a ransom for many.
And that's the difference
is that
even in the end results,
Caesar
didn't even get
what he wanted.
His life was taken
from him.
But Jesus did succeed
by giving up
his own life
for the sake
of other people.
And that's the difference
between the two
is that
really Caesar actually
is a lot more like Adam
than we thought.
because
as Paul says,
in order to undo
what Adam did,
you can't have
another evil person
come in
who's just going
to smash things up.
Because what you need
is not just another Adam,
you need almost like
a new Adam,
a reversal
of who Adam is.
Because
if the condemnation
comes through one trespass,
there must be
a righteous act
to undo
what Adam has done.
If Adam was disobedient,
the new Adam
has to be obedient.
But Caesar simply
copied Adam.
Adam in the garden
said,
okay,
I'm going to become
like God.
And Caesar did
the exact same thing.
He was a man
who wished to become God.
But Jesus is a God
who became man.
He's the perfect one
who came down.
And
he has this
connection
between him
and the father.
You see,
for Paul,
you can't move
from being disconnected
from God
back to being connected
by God
simply by
trying your best
or doing enough
good things.
You must already
have that previous
connection.
And that's where
we come
to the second group
of people.
because the second
group of people
say,
okay,
this is our way
Caesar or these
political leaders
are doing things
isn't right.
What we need
is someone to come
from God
and to come to us
and say,
here's the way
you need to live.
We need a religious
leader.
And so these people,
you know,
they might follow
Buddha or Mohammed.
and some of these
people even claim
to follow Jesus.
And they think,
well,
what Jesus has done
is he comes from God
and he says,
you have to do
X, Y, Z
and then you'll get
back into God's
good books.
And the way Paul
talks about this
is he says,
describes this
as the law,
the way you're
supposed to live
before God.
But the problem
is these people
don't understand
the situation
either.
For them,
they think that
simply by doing
enough good things
we can move
from being separated
from God
back into
relationship
with Him.
But
if we read
what Paul
is saying,
he's saying,
so if you go back
to in chapter 3,
he says,
you know,
whatever the law says,
it says to those
who are under the law
so that every mouth
may be silenced
and the whole world
held accountable
to God.
Therefore,
no one will be declared
righteous in God's sight
by the works of the law.
Rather,
through the law
we become conscious
of our sin.
So the reason
people
make this mistake
is that they
think that God
gave us the law
in order that we
follow its rules
and make our way
back to God.
So they would think,
well,
if we just get together
and obey the works
of the law,
then the most sin
in the world
will decrease
and the world
will improve.
But when Paul
looks at this,
he says in verse 20,
the law was brought
in so that the trespass
might increase.
And you might think,
well, hold on, Paul.
That's the opposite
of what's happening.
Why would God
give us the law
to increase the amount
of sin in the world?
It doesn't make any sense.
But what Paul's
really saying here
is that the law
simply reveals
how bad our situation is.
it tells us
that there's no way
you can do enough
to get back
into God's good books.
When we see this
between,
but when we
look at the example
of the Pharisees,
so the Pharisees
are this same example
and they thought,
look, we've got
the law of Moses.
If we obey the law,
then God,
then we'll earn
our place before God.
And sometimes people
make a mistake
and they think,
well, the problem
with the Pharisees
is they're too
big on law.
Where Jesus is about love
and he's not so,
like, hardcore
about all these
specific rules.
But actually,
for Jesus,
the law of Moses
is about love.
He sums up the law
by saying,
you should love
the Lord your God
with all your heart,
mind, soul, and strength,
and you should love
your neighbor
as yourself.
And what happens
is there's just
this natural consequence
of how people
treat the law.
And what they do
is like the Pharisees,
they change the law.
So the Pharisees
would actually make
some of the commandments
easier.
So for example,
when it says,
honor your father and mother,
they'd come up
with all these sort of
excuses and reasoning
where they don't really
have to follow that rule.
Or they'd invent
some new rules
that they could follow
that other people couldn't.
So when Jesus comes to them,
he says,
he doesn't say,
you know,
the problem with you guys
is you're too hardcore
about the rules.
He actually says,
you guys aren't being
hardcore enough
about the rules.
Jesus on the Sermon on the Mount,
he says,
you know,
you think you've not
killed anyone.
But if you're angry at anyone,
you've broken that law.
You think,
you said,
I've not cheated on my wife.
And he says,
well,
if you've looked at anyone
with lust,
you've committed adultery.
And so when Jesus
came,
he didn't come to say,
okay,
the law is a bad thing.
We're going to get rid of that.
He came to reveal
the true purpose of the law,
which is why
when he speaks to the people
and he says,
you know,
I didn't come
for the righteous,
but for sinners.
And it's not those who are,
well,
you need a doctor,
but those who are sick.
What he's saying is not that
there are two categories of people.
There's those who've obeyed the law
and those who haven't.
And I've just come for those who haven't.
He said,
well,
actually,
there's only people who haven't.
There's only people
who haven't obeyed the law.
And if anyone thinks,
oh,
they have obeyed the law,
really,
they've not understood
its commandments correctly.
So that's
the problem
with using
the method
of obeying the law.
But then Paul says
that there's another method.
in chapter 3,
verse 21,
But now,
apart from the law,
the righteousness of God
has been made known,
to which the law
and the prophets testify.
This righteousness
is given through faith
in Jesus Christ
to all who believe.
So,
this,
the method
of going by the law
doesn't work,
but God
has,
through Jesus Christ,
has
shown us another way.
So,
and,
and this is the reality
is that
when we say,
okay,
we need someone
to come and save us,
whether that's
Buddha
or Muhammad
or even when we say
it's Jesus,
and what they're doing
is they're giving us
a rule book
to follow.
We follow these steps
and we get to God.
We're not really following
those people.
We're not really saying,
oh,
they're,
oh,
Jesus is bringing me
to God.
Really,
we're saying,
oh,
I'm doing it.
So,
Adam has brought us into,
has broken the connection,
but I,
and I alone
can do enough
to bring us back over.
But,
really,
if that,
if that happens,
this only has two consequences
and end results.
Either we're going to despair.
If we try our hardest,
oh,
thanks.
Yeah,
so,
the end result
of going by the law
is that either we'll despair
of our sin
and realize that we can't
make it ourselves
or we'll become self-righteous
and say,
well,
I'm not that great,
but at least I'm better
than that guy over there.
Because,
ultimately,
all that does is
set us back on the treadmill
of trying to work
our way up to God.
world.
But,
Jesus Christ
offers us
something different.
He doesn't offer us,
sorry,
hold a second.
But,
Jesus Christ offers us
something different.
He's not like
the political leaders,
the Caesars,
who come with
their false promises
and come with
their evil actions
only to kill and destroy.
but he came to save
and to rescue
and to heal.
And he's also not like
the religious teachers
who simply say,
here's some rules to follow.
If you try your hardest,
maybe you'll make it back.
But,
instead,
Jesus comes
and he says,
I've done it for you.
Jesus is the only one
who can obey the law
in our place.
And so,
if we look at what Paul is saying,
through all of chapter five,
over and over,
he repeats the word gift.
It's a gift of God,
a gift of righteousness
through one man,
Jesus Christ.
And what we need
to understand
is that
when we see
the reality
of our situation,
that in Adam
we're completely cut off.
We're separated
from God
by our sins.
It's only then
that we really realize
the true
message of the gospel.
That,
as Paul says,
where sin increased,
grace increased
all the more.
So that just as
sin reigned in death,
so also grace
might reign
through righteousness
to bring eternal life
through Jesus Christ,
our Lord.
Because,
Jesus Christ
has,
sorry,
God,
a chance
to try again,
to try hard.
It offers us
a way back
to God.
It's not
him saying,
like Adam,
you have to work
and try your best.
You,
as a man,
have to work your way
up to me as God.
But in Jesus Christ, God came down to us.
He came down to fix the problems that we caused.
The message that Paul is bringing is not a new set of rules by which us as humans can fix our relationship with God.
Instead, Paul's message is a message of good news.
It's saying that Jesus Christ has come and he's already fixed this relationship.
He's already done it for us.
There's nothing we can do to change that.
And if we think that we need to fix it ourselves, we don't have the gospel.
We don't understand who Jesus is.
And we're trying to replace him with a substitute, something different.
But when we realize that there's no other human being who can do what Jesus did, not us, not me, not you,
that's when we really realize the unique value of Jesus.
And that's the emphasis of what Paul is saying here.
So let's thank God for that.
Lord, you've shown us that we are so far away from you.
Ever since Adam sinned and turned from you and done what was wrong, we've been separated from you and from one another.
We've done what is evil and we've turned far from you.
But Lord, we also thank you that you have given us our Lord Jesus Christ.
A Savior who is perfect and righteous.
And that you've given him freely as a gift.
There's nothing that we have to do to earn it.
There's nothing we can do to win our way back to you.
But it's only by grace that you've given him to us.
We thank you.
We thank you for this.
And may, in Jesus' name, amen.
And now I think we're going to sing our final hymn,
Yet Not I, But Through Christ in Me.