First of all, let me begin this morning by making a few remarks about Easter. After all, today is the holiday we know as Easter and it’s important that we know why we observe it. Easter is a celebration of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. which many believe was on this date, or close to this date. But what some may not realize is that we celebrate the resurrection of Christ every Sunday morning. The Sabbath was discontinued as a Christian observance on the first day that Jesus rose from the dead. Contrary to some misinformation out there, Sunday service was not instituted by the Emperor Constantine around 300 AD. It was instituted in the first century at the time of the resurrection, and it was called the Lord’s Day. Consequently, as Christians, we do not observe the Sabbath, but we observe the Lord’s Day, which is Sunday, the day that Jesus rose from the dead. And you should be very glad we do not try to hold onto any part of the Sabbath laws.
So while I certainly appreciate that traditionally this day has been appointed to be celebrated as Easter, to remember the Lord’s resurrection, I would also point out that we already celebrate it 52 Sundays of the year. That is the reason the church began to meet on Sunday instead of Saturday, and we have been continuing that for 1990 years or so.
Secondly, let me remind you of why Christ’s resurrection is important. We studied this passage a couple of weeks ago, but perhaps you could use a refresher. Romans 4:25 tells us “[Christ] who was delivered over because of our transgressions, and was raised because of our justification.” So His resurrection was because of our justification? “Now wait a minute,” you might say, “Romans 5:9 which we looked at last week said we were justified by His blood. So which is it, are we justified by His blood or by His resurrection?”
The answer is we are justified by His blood, but His blood was verified and validated as sufficient to pay the price of our justification by the fact that God resurrected Him from the grave. So God raised Him, 4:25 says, because of our justification. Because Christ’s sacrifice was considered sufficient for the sin of the world, because His righteousness was considered sufficient God resurrected Him from the grave. And I would say to both of those points, that his sacrifice and his righteousness was considered “much more” than sufficient. So Christ’s resurrection is proof that we are justified by His sacrifice.
And futher more we celebrate His resurrection because His resurrected life is the power of our resurrected life. Because He lives, we shall live. Because He is our representative, because He is the first fruits of the resurrection, we too shall live. Not only spiritually made alive, but physically our body will be resurrected to new life at His coming. And so because He lives we live. We that are Christians by faith in Christ shall never die, but we shall be raised at the resurrection with a new glorified body. And I should emphasize that fact should characterize our life. Especially in light of the fear of death that we see spread throughout the world because of this Corona virus, Christians should stand out from the world because we have no fear of death. Because Jesus lives, we know that we will never die, but our spirit will live forever, and our body will be resurrected when Christ returns for His church.
Not only that we will one day experience the resurrection from the dead at His coming, but the power to live now a new life is available because He lives. As Paul says in 5:10, “much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.” So the fact that He lives guarantees our salvation. As Heb 7:25 says, “Therefore He is able also to save forever those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.” And much more than that, because He ascended to the Father, He has sent to dwell in us His Spirit, who is able to give us power from on high to live this new life. If He had not risen, we would not have the Spirit indwelling us with power.
So that is the significance of Easter. And as I said, we celebrate His resurrection every Sunday, not just today. But as important as that is, Jesus did not command us to celebrate His resurrection, per se, but to celebrate His death. On the night before His crucifixion, as He ate the Passover with His disciples, He terminated the observance of the Passover and instituted the Lord’s Supper, which He said commemorated His death. And He said as often as you do this, do it in remembrance of Me. And I want to use that as an segue to plug our Wednesday night service this coming week. We are studying 1 Cor. 11 and this week we will be looking at Paul’s instructions concerning the Lord’s Supper. There seems to be a lot of confusion lately about the Lord’s Supper and about it’s predecessor, the Passover. And so we will be looking at that in depth this Wednesday night. I would encourage you to join us online for that time together to see what God has to say about this ordinance of the church.
Now as we look at the passage before us today, we see that Paul uses the expression “much more,” again and again to describe the benefits of our justification. And that is the title of my message today; “Much More.” Paul uses this expression “much more” repeatedly in this passage to describe to us the immeasurable grace that God has bestowed upon us because of our justification which was purchased by Christ. Paul has painted a dark picture in the first few chapters we have looked at so far, describing the condition of sin in the world and the death and condemnation that comes to all men because all have sinned. But now in chapter 5, Paul breaks out into a series of exultations at the surpassing greatness of God’s grace which has been poured out to us who have trusted in Him.
And Paul does so by comparing the darkness and despair of sin with the abundant grace and hope of the gospel, and by expressing that contrast again and again with the expression, “much more.” The first “much more” we find in last week’s passage, vs 8,9 “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. MUCH MORE then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath [of God] through Him.”
The second is found in vs10; “For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, MUCH MORE, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.”
The third reference is in vs15 “But the free gift is not like the transgression. For if by the transgression of the one the many died, MUCH MORE did the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abound to the many.”
The fourth reference is in vs 17; “For if by the transgression of the one, death reigned through the one, MUCH MORE those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.
And the fifth reference is in vs 20 as translated in the KJV; “Moreover the law entered, that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound.”
Now this list of contrasts could be expanded even further if we did not restrict ourselves to the literal expression “much more,” but took into account where it is indicated in other verses. And what Paul wants to illustrate here in this passage might be called a representative style of government. We have a representative style of government in the United States. You often hear that we have a democracy. But more specifically we have a Republic. And in a Republic government there is a representative which is suppose to represent the people. And in a similar sense, in God’s government we have a representative government. And Paul is going to illustrate this system of representation as the heads of two parties, to show these principles of our salvation by contrast. So Paul uses what he called a type who is the representative of the natural man which he compares to the representative head of the spiritual man.
And the type or anti type he uses is Adam, who of course you will remember from the Genesis account. Adam was the first man, and Paul indicates here that as such he is the representative man. He is the head of the human race. And Adam is both a type and an anti type of Christ. Notice in vs 14, it says “Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression, who is a type, (that means a figure or foreshadowing) of him that was to come.” So Adam is a type of Christ in the sense that he is the head or representative man of the human race, the natural man.
Now the counter part to that type is found in 1 Cor.15:45, which says this concerning Christ; “So also it is written, "The first MAN, Adam, BECAME A LIVING SOUL." The last Adam [became] a life-giving spirit. ... 47 The first man is from the earth, earthy; the second man is from heaven. ... 49 Just as we have borne the image of the earthy, we will also bear the image of the heavenly.” Christ then is the head of the heavenly man, or the spiritual man. And as such He is called the second Adam, confirming that Adam is a type of Christ.
So then following this “much more” metaphor, let’s look at these principles according to the contrasting parallel of Adam to Christ. I have tried to put them on a chart which I hope will help you to see it more clearly as we work through this passage.
Under Adam as our representative man, Paul says sin came through him. vs 12, “Wherefore, just as through one man sin entered the world…. “ That one man is Adam.Those who have been born since Adam inherited their sinful nature from him. The Bible teaches that as Adam sinned, all sinned. As the corruption of sin spread in him, it was imputed to all men who inherited his nature. And our sinful nature is evidenced by our personal sin. That is our natural condition.
But by faith, we are able to have our government changed. By faith in Christ, we come under the headship of Christ as our representative, and so we see that where sin abounded, grace abounded much more. Vs 15, “For if by the transgression of the one the many died, much more did the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abound to the many.” If we inherit sin on the basis of our representative Adam, then we inherit grace on the basis of our representative Christ.
Paul goes on to say in vs 12, in regards to Adam, as our representative man, that through him sin entered the world, and death through sin and so death passed to all men. As we are like Adam in sin, so we are like Adam in death. We received the condemnation of death that was given to Adam. And that process of dying began immediately when Adam sinned, and the condemnation of death began immediately with us. Paul says this condemnation of death was passed to us because all sinned.
But in contrast, under our representative Christ there is no imputed sin because it is taken away in Christ. And in exchange for our faith, there is imputed to us His righteousness. Paul speaks in chapter 4 vs 20 of Abraham who “did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God; And being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform. And therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness. Now it was not written for his sake alone, that it was imputed to him; But for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead.” So through Christ our representative is imputed righteousness.
The next contrast that Paul makes is that from Adam, death reigned. Sin was in the world even before the law was given, as evidenced by the fact that sin’s punishment, which is death, reigned from Adam to Moses. vs.14 “Nevertheless death reigned from Adam until Moses, even over those who had not sinned in the likeness of the offense of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come.” Even though men had not sinned the same sin of Adam, yet they still broke the unwritten law of God and they lived under the government, the reign of death as a consequence of their allegiance to sin.
So Adam was a type, Paul says, of the One who was to come, Jesus Christ. From Adam came the enslavement to sin of the entire human race, and from Christ comes the salvation of all who come to Him in faith. Vs. 15 “But the free gift is not like the transgression. For if by the transgression of the one the many died, much more did the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abound to the many.”
So sin, Paul says, was not equal to grace. Grace is much more effective than sin. Through the sin of Adam many died. And notice how Paul ties the sin with the punishment of death. “by the transgression of the one the many died…” The death that Paul refers to is first physical, and then spiritual/eternal. As Paul says in Romans 6:23, “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Our Lord is a title of government, our representative. So in contrast to the sin of Adam, much more does the grace of God through Jesus Christ overflow to the many. Vs. 16 says, “The gift is not like [that which came] through the one who sinned; for on the one hand the judgment [arose] from one [transgression] resulting in condemnation, but on the other hand the free gift [arose] from many transgressions resulting in justification.”
So through Adam’s one sin came judgment upon all men, but in Christ, through His one sacrifice for many sins, comes grace resulting in justification for all who believe in Him. That’s the amazing thing about Christ’s sacrifice. It was once for all, and sufficient for all, and for all the sins of all men. And that is why His resurrection is so important. It was proof that Christ’s righteousness and His sacrifice was sufficient, and much more so.
Now in vs 17, Paul returns to the contrast of death and life as illustrated in each representative.
Vs17 “For if by the transgression of the one, death reigned through the one, much more those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ. So then as through one transgression there resulted condemnation to all men, even so through one act of righteousness there resulted justification of life to all men.”
The contrast is presented as a dominion, a reign, a government if you will; from Adam, came sin, which was commuted to all men, and death reigned because of sin. So from one transgression came the dominion of sin and death for all. But in Christ we have so much more. Through the One, came the gift of righteousness, and through one act of righteousness came justification resulting in the dominion of righteousness and life for all who believe. And again, that justification for all is only possible because of the surpassing value of His life. Through Christ, we were transferred from the dominion of darkness to the dominion of light. Col.1:13 says, “For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son.” And in that dominion we have everlasting life.
The next contrast between Adam and Christ is that of disobedience versus obedience. Look at vs19 “For as through the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the One the many will be made righteous.”
Adam’s disobedience caused many to be made sinners. Sin is disobedience against God’s law. And Adam’s disobedience was passed on by progeny to his descendants, resulting in their sinfulness. But as tragic as that is, much more does Christ’s obedience benefit us by righteousness. Much more does the obedience of Christ mean that many will be made righteous.
Now in terms of Christ’s obedience you should remember that we talked about Christ being submissive to the Father last Wednesday night in our Bible study. Remember in Phil. 2:5-8 it says, “Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, [and] being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” So we see that as Adam’s disobedience result in our sinfulness, so much more does Christ’s obedience to the Father, result in our righteousness.
Paul comes to the conclusion of this litany of our blessings in Christ in vs 20 and 21; saying, “The Law came in so that the transgression would increase; but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, so that, as sin reigned in death, even so grace would reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
Paul has said that sin came through Adam, and now he expands on that to say that the law came as a result of sin. Odd though it sounds, he says the law came so that sin would increase. Now God is not the author of sin, nor did God give the law to make men sin. But what the law did is it magnified sin. Sin already existed evidenced by the fact that it reigned in death. Paul made that clear back in vs 13 and 14. But when the law came, it acted like a magnifying glass which made our sin more apparent. It made sin stand out more clearly. And that magnification, or increase, was necessary to drive men to their need for a Savior. Gal. 3:24 says, “Therefore the Law has become our tutor [to lead us] to Christ, so that we may be justified by faith.”
Now contrast that effect of sin with the grace of God in Christ Jesus. In response to the increase in sin, grace abounded much more. Much more did grace might reign though righteousness to bring everlasting life through Jesus Christ our Lord. As great as our sin might be, Christ’s righteousness is greater. As much as sin increased, much more did grace abound. And as much as sin reigns in death, how much more does the grace of God that causes us to reign in righteousness, resulting in eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
The summation of all of this is simply this. We are all under the headship of one representative or the other, either under the dominion of sin through Adam, or under the dominion of righteousness through Christ. We are all naturally born under the dominion of the first Adam. But by faith it is possible to be reborn under the dominion of Christ our Lord. If you continue in your natural condition, the end will be eternal death. But if by faith you change allegiance to Jesus Christ you can be saved from that condemnation, and be changed from death to life.
The good news is that we receive this transformation as a gift of God. Have you received this gift of God’s grace today? Have you believed in the sacrifice on your behalf that Jesus paid so that you might be justified and made righteous before God? Grace is a gift, and like a gift, it must be received. We have inherited our sin and it’s punishment from our earthly representative man. But we receive our righteousness and everlasting life as a gift from God, through the payment of Jesus Christ. Believe on Him today, that you might be saved from the condemnation from Adam, and be transferred to the kingdom of Jesus Christ.
No comments:
Post a Comment