6:2 Lesson 19

So we are moving our way through Romans chapter 5, about probably verse 16, 17, 18. Verse 16, I'll read the verse. And not as through one that sin, so is the act of giving. For the judgment came out of one unto condemnation, but the grace bestowal came out of many trespasses unto a righteous act."

So I kind of asked a tricky question. How does the effect of sin affect the effect of sin? Understand the question? I got somebody nodding yes, that means I can move on, right? How does the effect of sin affect the effect of sin? And this verse I think is the verse that will be able to answer that question. Judgment arose from one transgression. What are we talking about the transgression?

What is that? Which one is it? Adam's. Adam's transgression. And why is it a transgression and not just sin? Because there was a rule. Because there was a rule. There was a law that he broke. And because of that one transgression, judgment, or what it did is it triggered or provided the occasion resulting in condemnation. I don't think we have a lot of problems with that, right? It triggered, that act triggered, I like that word, or it provided the occasion which resulted in condemnation.

On the other hand, you have what is called the free gift, and it came, what triggered the free gift according to this verse? No. What does the verse say? It said that, but grace bestowed came out of many transgressions, trespasses under a righteous act. What triggered the free gift, the grace? It was the many transgressions. That triggered the grace. Do you see that? The gift arose out of many transgressions resulting in what? What's the result? Justification. Is that confusing? That verse? I have one now. Is it confusing? I don't think it is either.

You have the act of one that triggered or provided the occasion for condemnation. Then you have an act of another which was a free gift that triggered justification. I guess in there I would ask why grace bestowed upon us because of many trespasses into a righteous act. We were at a thing yesterday afternoon where a friend of ours' daughter is up at UNC and she graduated from the University of Oregon but she's Catholic and she's in this Catholic ministry to students.

It's called FOCUS. And so she gave us a little update on what she'd been doing for a year. And what I find interesting about the way that they go at it is that they wouldn't, I don't think that their appeal to the students would be What we would say, did Christ get them all?

Did he cover, or did he pay the penalty for every transaction, transgression? Did he? You know, my question to Catholics is always the same, you go through that process and the last question is, did he leave anything for you to clean up? Or for you to do to make it work? No, he did it all. And so it's really difficult. We sat there and we didn't cause a problem. But I must say, it's a very interesting observation.

If you send your son or daughter to a nominally Christian university, or even a place like Regis University which is Catholic, They don't have near the resources spiritually that like the University of Northern Colorado has. They have five or six Christian organizations on campus that are appealing to students and giving them a place to go and they're preaching the gospel and they're really interested in, now there's some exceptions to what I'm saying, but they're really interested in the spiritual welfare of the students. I went to Regis University. As a Catholic school, when I was there, I don't know, a thousand students at Sunday morning mass, maybe there were seven guys there.

There's no appeal. But it's almost getting to the point now that if you go to a state school that has these resources in it, you're much better off spiritually than you are going to a denominational type school. Because they just assume you got it. And at 18, you don't got it. You just don't have it, you know.

That was the impression I got on how they work together. I mean this Catholic group of Campus Crusade and Athletes in Action, they all work together up there to help the students spiritually. It's kind of cool to watch. Is CSU like that? Very much. Yeah. Well, even at CU. Yeah, I know. That's where Karen and Matt met, which was a great Christian organization. Yeah. Through their first press up there. Yeah. And that's how Les and I met. What's that? That's how Les and I met. Yeah? Through the Christian organizations at our University of Texas Tech. Texas Tech? Is that a university?

There was one last night. I know. Anyway, I'm just throwing that in because Somehow denominations get complacent and they just think that all the kids that show up have got it all together and so they don't need to go after them, talk to them, help them in any way. I was just going to add one thing. You mentioned the five things that you go through with Catholics and the last thing you said was, is there anything left to clean up?

On the flip side of that, the Reformed perspective is, what do I have to do to keep all this? clean up concept, and then there's that, I've got to keep, not losing, but maintenance. Maintenance, yeah. Maintenance is a good word. I've got to keep maintaining what I've got. That's the pendulum we talk about regularly. I'm going to lose it, or I don't have it, or I'm going to recommit it. That's kind of it. And so, therefore, consequently, there's input and energy on my part that I have to expend.

There isn't an understanding of grace. Two Mormon guys came to my door last month and I tried that on them and they went ballistic. They said, you can't be serious about this grace thing. You just can't go around without any rules. You've got to do something. You have to prove that you're... I said, really, what do I have to prove?

The other thing I would add about yesterday is I thought it was very interesting how feelings entered into what they were saying about their getting together. It had to do a lot with their feelings. The other cool thing, she works with another woman and two guys and they live in a big house in Greeley and they have Bible study and stuff there.

One of the guys, his appeal to students is being godly men. And he recognizes, being like 22 or 23 or 24 years old, however old he is, that one of the biggest problems in society today is there's not a lot of men around. Real men, you know. And certainly not godly men. And that's his approach. And apparently he's got a lot of people, you know, see the surprise how many men, young students, male students have responded to this guy. Which I think is great, because that's a real issue, I think.

Okay, verse 17 and 18 use the word transgression. Why do they use that word? 17, for if by the transgression of one, death reigned through the one, Much more, those who receive the abundance of grace and 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. So what does the word transgression mean?

Give me just a synonym. Can you give me a one word synonym? Trespass. Disobey. If I were to trespass on your property, what would I be doing? Breaking the law. No, I'd be stepping on your property. Wouldn't I? In other words, I would overstep the boundary. Wouldn't I? violation of trespass? I think he's talked about overstep. Well, there is a rule. When you have a transgression, you're violating a boundary. The author is being very careful here to use the word transgression.

So my question would be, did only the transgressions get covered with the cross? And that would eliminate Cain's sin. Did he commit a sin when he killed his brother? I think he did, but he didn't transgress anything. Or isn't that referring to the sin, the transgression? Oh, is the sin or the principle of sin in and of itself a transgression? Is that what you mean? So the law is required for transgression? Yeah, you've got to have a law. So the sin is not related to transgression?

Yeah, and we've kind of talked about that in verse 13. People were still dying, cemeteries were filling up, even though there wasn't any law to transgress. Well, take that back a little bit. There would be the transgression of eating the fruit because he did have a... Adam did. It was not a mosaic law transgression. No, it was just a law. You might prefer that because that was the only rule.

Why do you think he used this word transgression here and not sin? He's talking to... I think he wants to make it very clear that the one transgression resulted in a problem and the problem was sin and the result was condemnation. The one transgression, the one breaking of one law resulted in sin for the entire race of mankind. How far are you going to go? At least 20 verses. Can you shorten it up? Oh yeah. Shorten it up? John really explains it pretty well.

317 on to For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son. This is the verdict. Light has come into the world, but men love darkness. deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light so that he may be seen plain that what he has done has been done through God.

Does that help? So that's condemnation, that's de-sin, right? De-sin. Yeah. Is it perhaps, much like the Mosaic Law, when you talk transgression, the law is put in place to, I guess I'd say, almost to super-animate the problem of sin. So by using the word here, trespass, are we not double emphasizing Yeah, I think so. The issue. Sure. This is way of making this emphatic. Yeah. Now, we were talking about the two kings last week, and these two guys come up and they start erasing my stuff. I'm glad you did it. It's great.

So, question 11 says, how does a believer reign in life? Do you know, reigning is one of those terms that Because Cheryl's a Republican, she doesn't understand. You're not subject to the king or the queen or anything like that, right? You don't live in a society where somebody has a thumb on you all the time.

We're reigning. Reigning is a really interesting principle that means that they have absolute authority over your actions and your behavior and your thought process, right? Reigning is a really interesting word. I think we Americans don't know about reigning very well. Here it says reigning in life. So reigning means control? What does it mean?

A source. A source? So we talk about sin and death being a reigning principle. And everybody in the world that's lost is underneath this principle and they can't escape, right? They are under the principle, the reigning principle of sin and death. Is that true? So they don't, you know, just go to a funeral and you'll see what I mean. Nobody escapes. Everybody's going to die, unless the rapture.

So it's a principle. A principle is something that operates and functions the same way every time. So if you apply that definition to the word reign, a reigning principle, then it works the same way every time. In other words, because sin and death has control over you, we all die and it reigns. Sin reigns. we are told that sin or that we are to reign in life.

What does that mean? It's to have. Doesn't it mean in either case to have complete sovereignty over you? Over me? To have complete sovereignty over you and to reign in Christ would mean that he has complete sovereignty over you. Yes. And complete sovereignty over what else? that the reigning in life puts you in the one and only position so that you reign over sin and death. That's pretty cool.

It's the only way out. There's no other way. Now it doesn't mean you're not going to physically die, but as Paul talks about believers, that they go to sleep and they go home. Have you ever thought about why doesn't Paul use the term death when he talks about believers checking out of the planet? He doesn't consider it a separation. He considers it just walking into another world.

The presence of the Lord. To where we already have citizenship. To where we are already positioned. How did you get there? You had to die. So you already did die. You see that? Because we've already been crucified. We've already been crucified with Christ. We already died. So really when we leave the planet we're just changing locations. It's a glorious day. It really is. So reigning in life. If you want to look at it from a kingdom standpoint, all the earth is under the kingdom of sin and death. But who are the kings here? Who are the kings in this verse? Who are they? No. Who are the kings that ran in life? Who are they? death and righteousness. No, the kings that reign in life. Who are they?

Us. Us. We are. That's very encouraging to me, you know, because I think, gee, believers, we receive the abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness for the sole purpose that we would reign in life through Christ. What does that say to you and me in terms of the effect it has on how I walk around every day? Am I positioned above the principle of sin and death? Yeah, I am. Sin does not have to have dominion over me any longer. I'm a reigning king over that whole principle. I think there's a really key word in this verse, the word through. Through, right. It didn't get imputed to you. It's not mine. We each have our own unique case of reigning individually on our own. We all access that through the one Jesus Christ. We have it. And how do you access it? What are the things you use to access it? What's the key?

Grace. No. Faith. In this case it's receive, I mean it says receive. Sure. Faith is the great appropriation word. How do I appropriate this king to me? Right? I do it by faith. I believe what God has said. And it appropriates to me through Christ. Does that make sense? If I don't know the information, or I don't believe the information, I don't get to appropriate it. How can you? If believers are to live and walk by faith, if you don't have the facts of God's word, you don't have the object for your faith to rely on. And just the simple fact that I, through Christ, can reign as king in life, is one of those incredible statements from God about who I am and what I have and where I am. And it's just sort of laid out there. And lots of us struggle with sins maybe because you don't really have a hold of this principle by faith. Question 12. Show the contrast in verse 17 and 18. 17 and 18. What's the contrast? I've been over it six times already today. What's the contrast? And this is the fourth time in the chapter that he talks about this contrast. What is it? I'm not leaving this until you get it.

Would it be that, in your opinion, by one trespass all men are condemned, but by one righteous act unto all men you have justification of life? Pretty close. Pretty close. But go at it as a principle of reigning. By one act, death has reigned. By another act, people will reign as kings in life through one, even Jesus Christ.

So you have all of these contrasts here, sort of put together right here. You see that? So, maybe say it this way, it's not this, it's this. It's not this, it's this. And go through that list of the opposing or contrasting God's plan to reign in grace. You have two men, two acts, two results, two differences, two kings, two abundances, and two contrasted states. The two contrasted states are condemned men, slaves of death by Adam. The other are justified men reigning in life by Christ.

That's it. So all through these verses, you really have this, it's not this, it's this. When you were saying contrast there, I was thinking about the much more on the life side. They're not equal. That's a great point. You're right, because usually contrasts are equal.

And you're right, the much more makes the What you have in Christ and His grace and what He's done is way more than what the first principle was. It's not just enough to meet the need. It's way more. Much more. I believe, in fact, where it uses the word, in verse 20, abounded, Joanne may be able to verify this, because I think she speaks in Greek, but it is a different use of the word abound in the Greek than, or sin abounds. It's a much greater than the uses of the word. That's one of my questions. Mine uses the word superabounds.

Where J.D. is going to go as soon as he gets up here. If I shut up I can get him up here. I'm going to try to pronounce the word even in Greek. Oh really? I've practiced it without interest. How's it going? It was pretty funny. Texans and Greek don't go together very well. So my last question is 13.

What's justification of life? Let me read some stuff to you. I think this came from Newell. That expression seems to stand over against the condemnation and death which came by Adam. So keep justification of life. It's a characterizing word. What is offered unto all men through Christ, through Christ's righteous, Christ's act of righteousness at the cross is not only a cancellation of the guilt, but also life in the Risen One. For since Adam sinned, there was only spiritual death in that race. So if you were connected to that race, spiritual death was your lot in life. Notice in the Gospel of John that Mike was talking about, in the very first chapter in verse 4, John says, in him was life.

What's that word life there mean? Well it describes a life. In him was life. Christ's life. Rather than just life itself, I would add the word, he's the source of life. it's that big word in. So justification must be of life, it has to be, for those justified are most certainly taken out of their place of death in Adam and given a place of life in Christ. It's one thing to be in Christ but if you were in there and didn't have any life, yeah actually that's an oxymoron, you wouldn't be there.

I think whenever you see this word life that's associated with Christ and his work, it's a unique life. We share the very resurrected life of Christ. Uniquely. It's a unique life. Ascended and seated. Yeah. And life is the issue. Without life you're nothing. You're nothing. What are you? You're a brick. Now it's Christ risen who has made our standing so that as we see elsewhere we do not need anything else for we are in Christ. Do you need anything other than that?

Not in my mind. So I would say justification provides for not only the release from the penalty of sin, but also a place in the risen Christ himself. It'd be one thing to be forgiven and to not have the penalty, but if they put a period at the end of that, what do you got? It's like I've asked you before, if you're a forgiven sinner, do you have the right to be in the presence of a holy God? Answer no. Why? Because you're still a sinner even though you're forgiven.

In order to be And the much more that Donna talks about, we have to be in another position altogether. And that position is in Christ, resurrected. And from that position, it's called justification of life. I have life. And the life that I have in Christ is all of these things I have. So this justification, this justification of life is very much kind of the accent point to what we've been talking about, the great contrast, where we have gone from this justification is not about our individual sins, right?

It is our guilt associated in Adam. And now we are being placed into Christ's death, burial, and resurrection, and we are now justified into that life. That's right. No guilt, no penalty, no sin. It's almost like the two positions, the position of sin and death to this position of life.

And I think that justification of life is a place where lots of believers don't quite get their arms around that and so they're working towards the justification of life rather than just resting in what they already have. seeing that it's a gift. It's a gift. If you have to work for it, it's not a gift. Or if you have to somehow pay God back for what he's done, it's not a gift. It's totally a gift and it's his life.

As is sanctification, justification and sanctification. Yeah, set apart totally. Today's Hungry Heart hit where it settled. precisely where we have been reborn in Christ Jesus, about do we not often harbor the thought that something yet remains to be done either by ourselves or by Him in order to be in order to our drawing near? Do we not often thus become occupied with the circumstantial circumstances of worship rather than with the Lord, or are not often false to Him in questioning our title to draw near because we find distance in our own of the Lord Jesus which brought us nigh.

I hope you can pronounce the word you want to pronounce. I'm going to start over here with the whiteboard. What? I know, I'll leave the one that you didn't answer up here though. Alright. Lesson 19. Just in time for the buzzer. Question number one. What does it mean to be set down or made a sinner?

So let's read Romans 5.19. It's going to be pretty familiar to us because this concept of repetition is really strong in this portion of Romans. Verse 19. 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. So what does it mean to be set down or made as sinners?

Just a couple thoughts here. Does anybody have a different translation than NASB? I looked up the... Yeah, what do you got? How does it... This is ESB. 19 is for as by one man's disobedience, the many were made sinners. So by one man's obedience, many will be made righteous. Does anybody have anything different than many were made? The word made is the interesting translation. King James is set down. Set down? Is that what you're going to say? Yeah. So that's what we're trying to figure out.

One of the translations I read was constituted. Many were constituted sinners. And it also used that same translation for of the one the many will be constituted righteous. So maybe it's just a little bit of a hint as you start to think through that.

What are we talking about here? Made sinners? How about just as the first Adam's seed had sat down, So is the last and the secret set. Yep. So what does set down mean? How are we understanding this? I think you're exactly right, Mike. Place. Place constituted. I thought that helped a lot. A source.

God is recognizing it as such, based on transgression, correct? And through the obedience, he's recognizing it as such as righteousness. He's constituting it as such. I try to define it by saying what it isn't. As a sinner, that's my identity. Being made righteous doesn't mean that righteousness has been added to me as a sinner. There has to be a paradigm shift in terms of my actual identity has to change. Identification. I don't know if identity is a good word. Maybe my substance. I have to not be a sinner anymore. When I'm sat down or I'm made a sinner, that's what I am now. I'm not a guy from Adam's Book who was innocent anymore. I'm now a different human being. I am, in fact, a sinner.

Yeah, show us the boxes. This is what I do for a living. I draw on the whiteboards. All right. This is your ID. I think identification is a good word. So there's a lot that... JD and JC. All right. What does this mean? Because my kids are going to use this forever. Who am I talking to right now? Am I talking to J.D. or J.C.? It's the contrast. It's the contrast.

I think that's good. I mean, we can add to this, but through the one man's disobedience, what did the ID get assigned to me? I was constituted what? Your driver's license. That's me. Right? It's highway to hell or highway to heaven? So JD in this instance is my eternal person. It's who God had in mind in eternity that I would be. Right? Interesting, that continues. When your identification changes, through what? What happens right here? And, and, etc, etc, etc, right? It's the identification truths that we love to talk about.

What does it mean? It means that who I am, if you were to pull out my identification, this verse is telling me that through the one, Adam, I was constituted a sinner. And all of that means, not only did I have this in nature, but what did I produce? Sins. That's right. Sins. But through the One, it says, many will be made righteous. So what's over here? Righteous. Yeah, substitutionary sacrifice. All that Christ did stands in between and gives access to this change of identification for us.

And so, the word sinners here, it not only just means the sin nature, it also means that that's what I produce. I was constituted as such through the federal headship of Adam, and that's what I produce. I have no option but to produce it. It's my nature. It's who I am. It's JD and Adam. working together to produce the sins that I produce.

Right? So is our flesh transformed? Here? Either way. Like all of a sudden you get spiritually strong? Well, no. Life lives in it. Because you're dying, Wesley, right? Well, no. What's that verse after Galatians 2, 21? The life I now live and the life I live. Yeah, the life I live now.

So, I mean, from a fleshly standpoint, nothing changes. I mean, we get cancer, we fall apart. You know, this, as Vern always grabs this part of his arm and explains, this whole thing ain't going with us. But it's the life that I live in the flesh, I live by the name of the Son. So, but our life is not attached to our flesh. It's in the flesh, but it's not attached to it. It's not a part of it. That's right, it is in Christ, 100%. And we have it right now in the flesh, but the flesh is not a part of that life. But He is, spiritually. Morally. It's a reality. It's a spiritual reality of life. So verse 19 really, and I'm not going to have a chance to get much further than verse 19, but it really sums up this whole doctrine. And on the one side you have, I'm going to just write, federal guilt. He's been saying this over and over and over, Paul has. You're federally guilty. What do we mean by that? Federal I think means the action of one for all. One for all. Look at that.

I think both of these go back to the principle of one made after itself. Likeness. Likeness. When it says we're made sinners, we're made sinners because we were likeness. becomes like, because of Adam, we have become sinners. That light becomes light.

Now what are we like? Now that the same principle is in effect. Now that we are reborn, we are reborn in Christ. And so our light becomes light because now we're in Christ. So the same principle that we see in nature, we see in all things, the principle still applies. We were made sinners because we were reproduced in Adam from the federal head. And now the same principle which is fantastic is that we are now in Christ.

This word, how is this word used? What is the nature of justification? I'm just going to give you a hint here. I declare it so. This is a judicial term, right? This is God judging. This is God standing and saying, I declare something to be the case. Right? This is a federal guilt. I am guilty in Adam, a hundred percent. And I produce sins because I, by nature, the likeness of Adam, I produce, I have a sin nature and I produce these sins. And because of that, I am federally guilty.

Right? And through all of the things that he talks about, he, he, he just says this word in most of this portion of Romans. through, which really incorporates all of this stuff. It's through the Lord Jesus Christ, the one, many will be made righteous. So we have righteous.

But it's a judicial term. I've been justified. I'm now seen differently because of my place in Christ. You mentioned that it's not just a release from the penalty, but it's also a new placement. It's a new identification. I leave that courtroom with Christ's life on my identification.

It links the box. No, it doesn't. It puts this to death. But it makes an arrow this way. Yeah, I mean, this is the process, right? And this guy. The cross links. It's still that guy. from an eternal person perspective. Does this help? Kind of link that verse up together? Can I add more of the judicial process to this?

Because on the left side of that, there was a judgment that was pronounced in the Garden of Eden, right? Right. By God, that through Adam type propagates to all men, right? So that judgment of who we are, I don't know if that's helping. Well yeah, you're mentioning that there is a judgment of guilt. Yes. Placed over here. And a justification. Right. The judgment was, I set you down now as a sinner. Yes, constituted as such. That's what you are now. Yes, that's what all men are. That's where the much more Yep, we got much more right here. So we'll keep building on this and we'll go to question number two next week.

Let's pray. Well, we thank you so much for the very truths of the Book of Romans and how Paul repeats himself so that we would emphatically understand this transition from life to death, this change in identity of who we are in Adam, constituted as sinners, but through the One, the much more of what we have in Christ by simply trusting in the very offer of salvation, that we are not merely saved from sin and its penalty, but we are placed in the very life of Christ and all that He is, and that is our life. It's no longer I who live, but it is Christ in me. We thank you for that truth. We pray that we might reckon on that and believe it as such as we continue throughout our week. Thank you for the opportunity to fellowship and worship together in you. It's in your name we pray. Amen.