Lesson 18b
Romans 5:12-18 · Mike Doyle · Sep 16, 2018
Romans (2018-21), No. 34
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://www.hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/4926191159414

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

Okay, we're on Lesson 18, which we did do a little work in last week. It's Romans 5, 12 through 18, and as we said last week, there's a change here. Tell me what the change is? We talked about it. Insignia versus Saints. And how do you know that that's true? How do you know that that's changing from just reading your Bible? So if you're reading along in your English Bible, what's the tip-off? How do you know? Or what would cause you at least to investigate?

It's the fact that the word changes from plural to singular. It changes from sins to sin. And when you see that, it probably requires a little bit of investigation to see if in the Greek language the definite article is in front of it. And if it is in front of it, in most cases it refers to what we, the word is supplied to nature. I think strictly from the Greek standpoint, it talks about the principle of sin. What's a principle? It's something that acts exactly the same way all the time, like gravity. There are a lot of principles. Well, sin has a principle.

It acts the same way all the time and it can't be changed, modified. redirected or anything like that. And what does it do all the time? It produces those things we've been talking about, sins. That's all it does. It can't do anything else. There's no shifting in the neutral with the sin nature. It's always pumping out sins. So when we begin to talk about Christ died for our sins, he's talking about the actions or the activities of the sin nature, but yet we haven't talked about the source.

Any of you read Watts Van Neve's, what's his book, The Normal Christian Life? Guys ever read that book? I thought, yeah, years ago. He had a great analogy in there. Most of Christianity is involved in whiskey bottles, that we go around breaking all the whiskey bottles.

But what about the factory that produces them? What happened with them? Did God take care of the factory? Or are we just going around breaking bottles? That's the difference between sins and sin. God took care of this factory too. The idea is to put the factory out of business. That's the whole idea, based on what Christ did. That's the first change. The second thing is that, let me ask a question too. According to verse 12, somebody read verse 12, 5-12, slowly.

Therefore just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin and so death spread to all men because all sinned. So would you say based on that verse that man is basically good or evil? Evil. I don't care what the politicians tell you, man is basically evil. And the reason he is, the verse is very explanatory. Through one man, who's the man? Sin entered the world. One man. And along with sin came what? Death. And death means separation. There was a total and absolute separation from God. And so this thing, death, passed upon all men. So why did it do that? That's the answer to question three. We'll get into that in a minute.

Notice that unlike the product sins, sin is not to be forgiven, it would have still been sin. And we've talked a lot about the fact that, as an example, a forgiven thief is still a thief. He just quit stealing. But he's still a thief. So sin, was sin forgiven at the cross? Thus sin, was it forgiven at the cross? What do you think? We know that our sins were forgiven and paid for and the guilt. How about this thing called sin? Was it forgiven? No. Condemned. It was condemned. So not forgiven, the source of your sinful behavior was condemned. Why would God do that?

It's like a thief. A forgiven thief is still a thief. A forgiven sinner, if he doesn't take care of the sin nature, is still a sinner. So is it much of a stretch for us to think that, well, maybe in my standing before God, maybe I'm not, from his perspective, a sinner anymore? What do you think? Yeah, we're not sinners anymore. From his perspective, right? And as we go through the rest of 5 and into 6 and into 7 and into 8, I think that understanding will expand.

Romans 8.3 says, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, for the sin, he condemned sin in the flesh. He condemned it. The problem with condemnation is that sometimes it's condemned But like a condemned person on death row isn't dead yet. So the idea is to put, from the condemnation, to put the nature, as Hal used to say, take it offline. An electrical engineer would think like that.

So when did you and all men become sinners? We were born that way. Born that way? When Adam sinned. When Adam sinned, you became a sinner. Well, you can say, well, I wasn't even alive then. Well, read the verse again. What does it say that I did when Adam did it? Through one man sin angered. And death by sin and death passed upon all men. Why? Because Adam sinned. No. Because all sinned. Yeah. I sinned. Well, and I wasn't even alive yet.

Let's talk about that principle because it's really a good one. From a negative standpoint this principle sort of makes you wince. But do you remember, I think it's in Hebrews, there's this discussion about why Christ is a priest after the order of Melchizedek and why that priesthood is superior to the to the Aaron's priesthood or the Levitical priesthood. Why is it superior? Here's why.

Abraham is coming back and he's the father of the Jewish nation, right? Every Jew came from his lines, every one of them, even to the ones today. He's coming back from a war and he wins and so he's got all of this loot that he collected in the war and he meets this guy called Melchizedek. and Melchizedek is from Salem and Melchizedek blesses Abraham and Abraham gave Melchizedek 10% of all of the spoils. Now what Hebrew says is that because the Levitical priesthood was resident in the loins of Abraham He was acknowledging by giving the spoils to Melchizedek that Melchizedek occupied a position higher than the Levitical priesthood. But of course Levi isn't even born yet and yet what one man did accrues to all of his heirs. So when it says Christ is a high priest after the order of Melchizedek, it's superior to the Jewish priesthood because of that one act.

Well, it's the same principle that operates in Romans 5.12.

I became a sinner because I was in the loins of Abraham and when he sinned, I sinned. Somebody will say to me, you know what, I wish I was Abraham. I would have never done that. Oh yeah, you would have. Because there's no difference between Adam and myself. If I was Adam, I would have done exactly the same thing he did under the same circumstances. Do you agree with that? Or do you think you're probably a little better than that? Is there like a box we got to see in? We all are inquisitive. look in that box?

You know, I think that principle becomes really important to us when we get to the point where we begin to realize that what God has done is taken us, disconnected us from Adam and united us to Christ. That same principle holds now that I am in Christ. So my history goes back and now I start to find out who is Christ and what did he do and that same principle holds. So I can abandon my thinking about being in Adam and begin to think, gee, God says I'm in Christ, I'm not in Adam anymore, so I'm really not a sinner from God's perspective in my position. Now that doesn't mean I don't commit sins because I have that nature still floating around in me trying to take over.

So, it's important to me that we understand when we became a sinner and the fact that this principle is a biblical principle that we don't think is fair, right? Is it fair that God did it this way? Should we all be condemned because Adam sinned? Is that fair? It is. Because it's just as fair that we were placed in Christ. Is it fair that you got placed in Christ and my friend across the street in the White House wasn't? He could. Is it fair? Yeah. So you deserved it? No. Well, then why is it fair?

I have no idea. Well, it has nothing to do with our feelings. I'm sorry? It has nothing to do with our feelings. God said it. It's spiritual principles that God puts into place. See? So, if God is fair, let's say that that's the only attribute God has is fairness.

Does anybody in this room get saved? No. No, we don't. Doc? I was just thinking, a lot of times the problem starts with the attitude of, is this fair? Is this fair to me? So fair is defined by the person. I don't think it's fair that I'm replacing Adam, you know, but that's what someone might say, right? That is a definition of fairness that comes from the creature rather than the creator. That's right. And it's not balanced with love either. Right. That's exactly right. Now, notice all this stuff I have up on the board.

One of the things that we're going to go through through the rest of Chapter 5 is this God's plan and contrast and comparison of we're starting with the two men on this side. Who are the two men? Adam and Christ, right? So every human being is either from Adam or from Christ.

Okay? That's a principle that you can't get away from. You can't, you're either from Adam or you're from Christ and it's really important to understand that and that's what 12, verse 12 is beginning to say to us because of this thing called the sin nature and God's way of dealing with not only redeeming a race but recreating them in Christ so that they can spend all eternity with him is that these two men become really important because both of them share a couple of unique distinctions. Give me one.

They're both federal heads of a group. They're both federal heads of actually a race. Right. Adam is the federal head of all men born. Christ is the federal head of the new creations in Christ. Federal heads. The other part of that principle is that everything that is true of our head is also true of us, from God's perspective. Important thing to know.

Wouldn't it be the two seeds? Two seeds, yeah, and so why does, based on the seed, why does everybody coming from Adam and his seed are sinners? Is that the principle you used to talk about, like produces like? Yeah, like produces like, and that's the principle from Genesis where God said that, you know, like produces like in the physical realm.

Birds produce birds. I've never seen a flying cow. Cows produce cows. Dogs are dogs, but there's a jillion different kinds, but they're still dogs. Vegetables and fruit are the same way, although you can modify them. But in the spiritual realm of things, spiritual men, Adam, produces just like himself.

I forget is it Romans 11 or 10 where thou were cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature and grafted in to a good olive tree. And talking about the nation of Israel there more than Christianity. Okay so we've answered the The fairness question, everybody okay with that? Isn't a matter of fair?

One guy called that spiritual genetics. I like that term, that's a great term. Newell called it centership. Yeah, and I think it was Macaulay that called it spiritual genetics. Principles In our Christian life, especially for growth, it's really important to understand, one, what a principle is, and two, what is the principle? And recognizing that no matter how you feel about it, the principle is still the same. I could be really upset about gravity. It doesn't change gravity. So, justification and sin came the same way.

Describe the principle by which they came. Somebody read verse 13. I don't mean 13, but go ahead and read 13 and 14 and we'll discuss that and then we'll move from there. What 13 describes is the result of being 13 and 14, the result of being in Adam. So let me read it.

For until the law, sin was in the world, but sin wasn't imputed where there's no law. What does that mean? No law. And I'm jumping ahead to verse 5, but I want to come down. As long as there is no prohibition against my behavior, I'm not a trespasser. I haven't broken a law.

But the verse says, for until the law came, there was still sin in the world, because there were all these human beings with sin natures, but sin wasn't imputed when there is no law. And here's the best example. When Cain killed Abel, did he have to go to the gallows himself? Was it against the law to be a murderer? There was no law. There was sin, but there wasn't any law. Nevertheless, death reigned from Adam to Moses even over those who had not sinned according to the likeness of the transgression of Adam who was the type of him to come.

Justification and sin show up the same way. So let's cover that and then we'll go to sin being in the world. Why are men sinners? Where did they get it? From Adam. Why are men justified? Because they are in Christ. Your justification isn't something you have separated from Him. You have justification in Christ just like you had a sin nature being an atom. Justification proves not only release of the penalty of sin, but also the place in the risen Christ.

It's an important point. Because God doesn't take you out of the atom, when we get to six we'll talk about that, and just let you hang. Do you see what I'm saying? Death and resurrection, being crucified with Christ, buried and resurrected is a simultaneous act. I get unidentified and identified. The plan of salvation through one man is the same principle just like through another man, sin. The unity with a single head brings death or life. That's the point. Depending on who you're united to, you either have life or death. Now, question five.

Verse 13 seems to be that we get by with sinning. Why are all men dying then? 13, I just read 13, and then I read 14. Why are all men dying? Because they're in Adam. Because they're in Adam. even though their sin isn't imputed to them, or the transgression isn't imputed to them. So they're running rapid around doing all these sins, but they haven't violated any prohibition against it. So can't man stand up and say, well, I'm covered. Consequences of sin are the same across both those.

That's right. The violation of a statute or a law is not the criteria for you being a sinner or not. Or are you being condemned or not? Do you see that? Whether you get your sins imputed to you or not is not the criteria on which you face death. What's the criteria? It depends on who you're hooked to or united to. That's what matters.

So the point that he's trying to make is that But Newell goes through a long thing here. It's kind of cool. He traveled all over the world and even in China. And he said, my goodness, there's cemeteries everywhere. Principle holds up. And also just to kind of expand the death, this concept of separation, right? There's those three parts. There's the physical, the spiritual and that eternal separation. So man, regardless if he was before or after Moses, still faces those three aspects of separation. Sure. Right? Yeah.

And see, we covered in chapters one and two the three groups of men and why they're all condemned and why every single man on the planet through his sinfulness, his behavior, he's condemned. because he doesn't seek after God, not a single one, all have fallen short of the glory of God, that kind of thing.

That's the behavior pattern of which they're condemned. Now we're talking about why are they condemned now? Spiritual genetics, that's really why. And when you think about it, and I say this to young families, how many of you saved your money up to send your kids to sinning academy? Oh, you mean they knew how to do that? How did they know? It comes with it. It comes with the package.

If you're born from Adam, you are automatically a sinner. And so you don't have to be taught. I mean, you have to be taught to be good at it. If you don't have a law to break, why do we still die? Because you could do a, no law, men die, therefore men are sinners. What this verse really proves is that men are sinners. And the law wasn't designed, if you could keep the law, to show that maybe I'm not a sinner. Yeah, I am. So you have, back to the two men. You have condemnation. I think the two results go here. With Adam you have condemnation. And what do you have in Christ? Justification. Justification. Mike, one thought.

I don't remember how in the last several years it dawned on me that someone could be under the law saved and still face the consequences of the law, meaning death. So I could pick up wood on the wrong day and face the consequences of the law, but still have put my faith in what I knew to be true about God at that point in time. That illustration just helps us understand that there's a consequence of the law that was carried out, mosaic-wise, but it still could have not reflected their salvation in terms of... And you're talking about physical death?

Yes. Sure. Well, it happened today. I mean, if I get mad at you and shoot you in the forehead, they're going to say, oh, you're a Christian, no problem. Right. You still face the consequences of the law. Yeah. But it just helps to differentiate the purpose of the tomb, right? Sure. That's good. That's really good. Everybody understand?

So you have two men and you have two results of the two acts that we'll talk about in a minute. By the way, I haven't said this, but from Romans 5.12 is the beginning of the understanding of what is called the doctrine of the two men. The doctrine of the two men. I would say to you that percentage-wise, maybe 90% of all of Christianity do not understand the doctrine of the two men. Which means they're going to spend all of their life working on this guy to make them better. And that's not what God did. So we have to start out by understanding there is a doctrine, there is a principle of the two men that has to be It has to be understood in order for us to eventually be in a position where we are free. Question six, what does death as a reigning principle mean? Separation. What does it mean as a reigning principle? It means it has sovereignty over mankind. Does death have sovereignty over man?

I did a funeral on Friday. You know, and you go out to a place like Fort Logan or any sort of military cemetery, whew, death is raining. You know, all of those white gravestones that go on and on and on and on. If there's anything that proves the principle, that's the place that does it. We were up at Point Loma last year and drove up there because the view up there is really great but there's a national cemetery up there and all these kids were putting, what were they doing, putting flowers or wreaths on every one of those graves and it's all through the hills and I mean it's just, death reigns.

Know anybody who got by with it? I never have known anybody. I was thinking when I was doing that funeral on Friday that Someday I'm going to be the guy in the box. And so is everybody else in the room. Unless the rapture happens. Or your Enoch. But since Enoch, does anybody else get by with it? Who else is going to take directly to heaven? I was thinking Elijah. Elijah? But the list is pretty short. Yeah, that's right. So the name doesn't start with an E. My buddy's name was Emmett. So it's important to understand that there is a principle of reigning principle. What is it? One of the reigning principles. I just said it. What is it?

A king. Wouldn't you say that death reigning is a king? Okay. We'll get to the other, as we move along, we'll get to the other reigning principle on the other side. Is death the king or sin the king? It's death that's the principle, I think. It says that death reigned.

Explain. Well, I think... I was thinking contrast, because this is contrasting the two kings, right? I was thinking sin was the king, the result, reigning through death, and then grace is the other king. So grace and death don't match like sin, and I think grace matched. Oh, I see what you're saying. Death is the result of sin. In grace we have our righteousness. So death being a consequence as opposed to being an operating system where sin is that operating system. Yes. So I think it's sin and grace. Those are the kings. Interesting. That's okay with me. I'm going to put it underneath though. That's fine.

I'm merely siding with Newell. As my kids would say, you just got schooled. I was talking to my buddy Brian White and we've had this discussion about he's got a pastor in his church, an 84 year old guy, they finally can't go into the pulpit anymore." And he said, you know the big fear about standing up there is that somebody in the audience is going to be smarter than you and they're going to unmask you. Yeah, that's always there.

I would say this, that death reigning as king because the Greek word means that not the power of sin to hold bondage as in chapter 6, But the royal word, that's what Newell says, is based denoting sovereignty, not mere lordship. That's the distinction that Newell makes.

So, verse 14, which I read, the question is, Adam was a type of him who was to come. Explain what this means. Verse 14 says, Nevertheless, death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who had not sinned according to the likeness of the transgression of Adam, who was a type of him to come." We've already discussed what this means. Do you understand what it is? What is the type of him to come? Joanne explained it. I'll give you a verse.

1 Corinthians 15, 22. 1Corinthians 15.22 As in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. 1Corinthians 15.47 The first man is of the earthies, earthy, the second man is of heaven. 1Corinthians 15.49 And as we have borne the image of the earthly, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly. What's the principle here? or what does the type of him to come, what does it mean?

Adam and Christ, Adam was a type of Christ. Talking about the two federal heads. That's exactly what it is. Adam was a federal head and he was a type of the one to come who's Christ himself. So we're going to discover as we go forward that we are no longer connected with the first Adam. in which we were born, but we're now connected with the risen Christ, the last Adam. Chapters 6, 7 and 8 is where all of that is explained, so we're getting close to that. This is the foundation, though, of the truth right here.

The foundation of the two men is laid right here, so that when we get to Christ, we can realize that, wait a minute, I'm not the same old rat that I always was from Adam and I'm just forgiven. God has effectuated a change so dramatic that I have actually changed races of men. I'm not of the old race anymore.

So now we have a choice before we didn't. Yeah, let's talk about that choice. You mean a choice of who I'm going to abide in? of the principle of sin or of life. Oh, I see what you're saying. Yeah, the mentality begins to change here because you begin to realize it's possible and probable that if I believe God and walk by faith that my life will begin to manifest the new source and the new man that I'm from.

We've talked a lot about having a will. We all have a will for what? Not to implement a life, but to do what? To believe. That's what you use your will for. To believe what? Well, this is pretty good information right here. If you're going to believe something, let's do it. Let's do that.

Verse 15 is a contrast. Describe the contrast. Here's what the verse says. For if by the trespass of one death came to the many, much more did the grace of God and the gift by grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, abound unto many. So what's the contrast? It has to do with the effect, I want to say, of the work. of either one of them.

Now, remember we talked about what the much more's are about? What's another principle? What are the principles of the much more? If God has done the big thing, won't he also do the little thing? So what he's saying here is that if this happened, then God on this side, much more.

Much more. And when you think about that, well if the much more is in place, like the crucifixion of Christ and my relationship to it, if that's the big thing, which it is, the death, burial and resurrection of Christ and my inclusion in it, won't He do the little thing like answer my prayer? Won't He do the very basic things about my daily walk and my daily life? He did this. He's not going to withhold the smaller thing.

So much more is really important because God is always demonstrating to us the expansion of His grace and His love towards us by showing us what the big thing is. So that when we get a relationship growing and building with Him, we'll take the little thing to Him also because we are confident that He did the big thing, He certainly is going to do the little thing. So the effect of Christ's work It's so much more than what what Adam did. So let's do what.

What were the two acts. Let's deal with those first. What were the two acts that. Well, maybe before that we talk about what is the differences. What have I got. Differences here. Let's do this. What are the two differences. They have to do with degrees? Yes. One brings death, one brings life. Okay. So from there, if you go back to the two acts, you have trespass. What does trespass mean? I think it means refusal to be controlled. Self-will. Refusal to be controlled. So what's the controlling factor?

Let me ask you this, when Cain killed Abel, did he trespass? No. When Cain killed Abel, did he trespass? No. No, because there was no prohibition. But now we're talking about trespasses because we're talking about, we've gone past the idea that men were dying even though they didn't sin like Adam sinned. How did Adam sin? He trespassed. Why? He had a law, didn't he? God said don't do this. Don't eat of that fruit. And the day you do, you're going to die. Surely you're going to die. In dying, you're going to die. He had a law, but he's the only one that had one. So he trespasses.

What's the other act? Verse 18, I think. What did you say? A righteous act. Maybe the cross? Yes. So two acts, one is a trespass and the other is the work of Christ dying on the cross. Now, the two differences according to this sketch that Newell put up there is a matter of degree. Verse 15 says, God the Creator's grace by Christ abounds unto many. So let's look at that. But the free gift is not like the offense. For if by one man's offense many died, much more the grace of God and the gift by grace of the one man Jesus Christ abounds to many. So what do you got? You got two differences. What are they? The trespass and the grace.

One man's behavior led to condemnation, right? But the second man's act did what? Verse says, and the gift is not like that which came through the one. So the one that came through Adam is condemnation. And so he goes on and explains that much more the grace of God and the gift by the grace of one man, Jesus Christ, abounded unto many. So what was the difference? Maybe look at it this way. One sin resulted in condemnation. Many sins resulted in what? Justification. Justification. So it's interesting. Just nation and life for all then. I'll put just and life.

So when this verse says that the gift was not like the trespass, what was the change? Why isn't the gift like the trespass? It's a gift by grace, which abounds. Is the grace gift greater than the trespass? Yes, it is. The interesting thing about grace is it will never end. It never exhausts. As we've talked before, it's limitless and it's totally undeserved. But I think it's deserved. But a man under condemnation now can avail himself of the grace. You see that? Again, it's a much more principle. The effect of Christ's work is much more than the condemning act of the other.

And the finality of Christ's work, that's one of the things that those questions that Joanne and I were talking about are really so good. And that's why I use them at the funeral. The five questions you want to ask a Catholic or anybody who isn't secure about salvation.

Question one, why did Christ come? He came to die. How did he do it? Did he die? Question two, yeah he did. Why did he die? To pay the sins of the world. Did he die to pay your sins? Answer, yeah. Did he get them all? Answer, yeah he did. Well what did he leave for you to do? You have to clean it up? No. He did it. He got it all. He got every one of them. So there's nothing left for you to do in terms of that job. You okay with that?

So a couple of references. The grace will never end, Hebrews 2, 14 and 15. 1 Corinthians 15, 26 and John 6, 39. I didn't write them out, but I wrote them down. So, one sin triggered condemnation. Billions of sin could not block the grace. That's the difference. Does grace overcome sin? How about law abiding? Does that overcome sin? What do you think? Law abiding overcomes sin?

No. But grace does. So only one sin brought judgment upon every man, right? Just one. And the whole race. But many sins brought justification to the many. And what's great about that is that when Christ died on the cross, everybody in this room, your sins were all future at that point, right? Did you get them covered? Did you get them paid for? I don't see a lot of people going like this. Yeah, all of them. All of them. Because the sin issue is between the Father and the Son. Sinning is an insult against a holy and righteous God.

And that insult must be satisfied. And when it is, nothing can be left unsatisfactory. It can't be left. This work has to be done so that God himself, the three persons of the Godhead can say, It is finished. It was done completely. And that's what the Lord said on the cross, didn't he? It's finished. What does it mean? It's done. We've got them all. We've covered every single sin possible by his work. Okay?

Because sins are the result of sin. The sins are the result of sin. The same nature. Yeah, that's right. And he took care of the sin nature. He did everything necessary for a complete operation of everyone who believes him to live under this grace principle.

When we get to Romans 6.14 it says that sin is not going to have dominion over us, thus sin nature, any longer. Why? Because we are not under law, we are under grace. Is that the first one? Second. We're not under law, but we're under grace. So why does grace come? So that we don't have to be a slave to sin. Grace is the thing that keeps us. Not the rules. Is that what you call the judicial act? Between the father and the son. That judicial act had nothing to do with us.

It covered every sin. I want to take a word picture. If you thought of your sin as a river, grace comes in the spirit of the storm that we have right now and overflows the banks and floods the river. It's so much greater. So much. This abundance of grace. Yeah, that's the way I think of it too. I think of it as launch pad 39A when they set that thing off. And if you're standing right underneath it, that's like being under grace. Let's close. Dear Father, how we thank you again for the grace that you've bestowed on each one of us and that we would continue to grow in the knowledge and the grace of your son, the Lord Jesus. We pray in his name. Amen.