 We're going to be looking today at Romans chapter 5. I'll read verses 12 through 14. Get into some background information, develop it, and move on in. And we'll be looking at chapter 5 verses 12 to the end of chapter verse 21. So beginning at verse 12, reading to verse 14, Romans chapter 5, Paul writes, therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world and death through sin. And thus, death spread to all men because all sinned. For until the law, sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there's no 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 is the type of him who was to come. And so what we're looking at, and let me lay a foundation for you, is that Paul has been teaching on a doctrine. I've mentioned the doctrine many times. I'll use the name again. It's called the doctrine of justification, the doctrine of justification by faith. And he's already pointed out that justification is how God removes the penalty of sin. It's how God declares the sinner to be not guilty, to be totally forgiven. And we've seen how Paul outlined the fact that God does this by grace. He does it this way because no one deserves to be forgiven. According to Romans three, we saw this at verse 24. He has said, being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. And so God has justified the believer by his grace why we don't deserve it. Now he's already said, and I'll lay this as a foundation, that all humanity is guilty of sin, both Jew and Gentile. In chapter three, he had said at verse 10, there's none righteous, no, not one. In chapter three, verse 23, he said, I'll have sin fall short of the glory of God. In the Old Testament, in First Kings, chapter eight, verse 46, it says, there is no man who does not sin. In Ecclesiastes, chapter seven, verse 20, there is not a righteous man on earth who continually does good and never sins. In Galatians 3.22, Paul says, the scripture has shut up everyone under sin so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. And so Paul has made it very clear. Everyone is guilty of sin. But now he begins to speak concerning how sin came into the world. Notice in verse 12 how he says it. In verse 12, he says, therefore just as through one man sin entered the world and death through sin and thus death spread to all men because all sinned. Now notice, I want you to see this. He begins to speak very clearly concerning this and he says through one man sin entered the world and death through sin. So what he's referring to is the Genesis account of the fall. And he's saying through one man sin entered the world. Now I want you to see this. He doesn't say sin originated with man. He said that sin entered through man. Well, if sin didn't originate with man then where did it originate? The answer is it originated with Satan. In 1 John 3 verse 8 it says the devil has sinned from the beginning, from his rebellion. Satan has been the originator as well as the initiator of sin. And so through pride the Bible teaches us Satan fell from his position. He was at one time referred to as the covering cherub. The cherubs, they have different, and I'm not gonna go into this hierarchy and all of that but they have the cherubim, the seraphim, they have the angelic host. There's a variety of rankings if you will. And he was what is called the covering cherub. He was responsible, Satan was responsible for the protection if you will, of the glory of God. And he was also referred to in scripture as being the worship leader. He led the angels in songs of praise to God. But according to Ezekiel 28, 17, speaking to the enemy he said, your heart became proud. On account of your beauty you corrupted your wisdom because of your splendor. So I threw you to the earth. I made a spectacle of you before kings. And so the sin that got Satan kicked out of heaven is a sin of pride. And so after his fall he actually influenced fellow angels to follow him in his rebellion. We see in the book of Revelation 12 verse nine he's referred to in various ways in scripture. He's called the great dragon. And there it says the great dragon was cast out that serpent of old called the devil and Satan who deceives the whole world. He was cast to the earth. His angels were cast out with him. Nobody knows exactly how many angels fell but it's presented as a third of the stars of heaven. So it's a tremendous multitude. Now after his fall he entered into the garden of Eden. And there he tempted Eve. Now he had fallen by pride. And so he tempted Eve through pride to disobey God. In Genesis three, four through six it says that the serpent said to the woman you will not surely die. For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened and you will be like God knowing good and evil. So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food that it was pleasant to the eyes a tree desirable to make one wise she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her and he ate. So she gave it to her husband in the Spanish translation he's referred to as menso. So anyway, so anyway, just to see if you're here. That's that word was my nickname given to me by my mom and others. So anyway, Adam knowingly disobeyed but Eve was deceived. The Bible says in second Corinthians 11.3 the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness. In first Timothy two, verses 13 and 14 Adam was formed first then Eve and Adam was not deceived but the woman being deceived fell into transgression. And so Eve ate of the forbidden fruit but the sin is charged against Adam. Why is that? Well, because Adam had been given a direct order a direct command by God. In Genesis two 16 and 17 it says the Lord God commanded the man saying of every tree of the garden you may freely eat but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat for in the day that you eat thereof you shall surely die. God had spoken directly to Adam gave him direct orders. Adam knew that it was wrong. Eve was deceived by the cunning and craftiness of Satan and therefore the sin was charged against Adam because he willfully did so. And so through his disobedience sin enters into the beautiful and the perfect earth and Adam sinned and his once sinless nature is now fallen. So notice how it says sin entered the world not sins plural not particular sinful actions sin itself the nature it speaks of his nature in inherent propensity to unrighteousness. Adam now has a sin nature and it's that nature that his children inherit. We are all as his offspring we are all inheritors of his nature. The nature is transferred through the father and so we have received Adam's name it's called in theology is referred to as the Adamic nature. He is what is called the federal head of humanity. He represents us all and so Adam has a sin nature it's that nature that we have inherited. So it says in verse 12 thus death spread to all men. Why? Because all sinned. So his descendants receive his fallen sinful nature. That's why Paul when he was writing to the Ephesians in chapter two verse three said that we were by nature children of wrath. The psalmist in Psalm 51 verse five said look I was guilty of sin from birth a sinner the moment my mother conceived me. In Psalm 58 three the wicked are estranged from the womb they go astray as soon as they are born speaking lies. We are not sinners because we sin we sin because we by nature are sinners. We are doing that which is natural for us to do. We have the Adamic fallen nature. Now God had told him in the day that he ate of this fruit that he would surely die. Spiritually he immediately was cut off from God but ultimately and these are amongst the saddest words in scripture ultimately he physically died. In Genesis chapter five verse five it says all the days that Adam lived were 930 years and he died. Those words and he died were never supposed to be part of his story. He wasn't supposed to but he chose to. He chose to take of that forbidden fruit. He knew it was wrong and he did it anyway. There's a lot of speculation as to why he did that. Many say that he would prefer being cut off from God than to be cut off from Eve. I don't know. All I know is he made a choice and all I know is that we suffered as a result of that. I remember when I was about eight years old or so first hearing about how Adam fell and passed on his nature to us and I have to tell you the truth. I was, I hated Adam. I did because even at that young age I saw that the world was a mess and that was a long time ago. How much more so now than then? And so as just a little guy then I thought and I really did. When the catechism teachers taught us about the edemic nature and taught us how that Adam had taken of the fruit and had fallen and my sinfulness is now as a result of him and the corruption in the world, the decay, sorrow, the killings and all the disease, all of those things I really did of a real problem with him for doing that. But that actually informs us as to why death, sickness and evil do exist. You know, that's one of the questions people ask if God is good, how come there is evil? Well, it exists because choices were made to disobey God and there will always be a consequence. There'll always be a result. And so because the choice was made to disobey evil and the things that pertain to it are the result. Evil's the consequence of man's decisions. It's not the design of God. He didn't create Adam to fall. Well, it says in verse 13, for until the law sin was in the world but sin is not imputed when there is no law. So obviously sin was in the world even though Moses' law, that's what's being spoken of the law of Moses, had yet to be given. You know, that's the reason people were dying is because of sin. You see if there was no law forbidding sin, somebody would say, well, how could they be judged? There's no law that says they shouldn't sin but guilt and sin didn't begin with the law. Guilt and sin actually predated the law of Moses. The fact that they died revealed that sin existed and the penalty, the wages of sin is death, the penalty was experienced. And though there was no law of Moses yet, there was a conscience and the conscience condemned them as violators. They didn't do the things that they desired to do and thus they violated their own conscience demonstrating they weren't perfect and that made men accountable for their actions. In verse 14 going on, he 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 is a type of him who was to come. Adam and Eve took up the forbidden fruit. They were evicted from the garden. Access as we know to the tree was blocked so it's impossible to sin exactly as they had but due to sinful human nature, we all die. Now notice in verse 14, Adam who is a likeness, he speaks of him in that way, who is a likeness of him who was to come. That word likeness can be translated a type. Adam is a type of Christ. How's that? Well, his life and his death affected all humanity. In 1 Corinthians 15, 21 and 22, it says, since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. So in Adam all are sinners, he's saying by natural birth but in Christ all are made righteous by faith in him. So 1 Corinthians 15, 45, it is written, the first man, Adam became a living being. The last Adam, a life-giving spirit. Jesus is called the life-giving spirit in that he imparts spiritual life to believers. Adam imparted sinful nature. Jesus imparts to us a new nature. Somebody said the first Adam became by his disobedience a mere living soul. And from him, we inherit that nature. The second Adam by his obedience, that's Jesus, became a life-giving spirit. And from him, we inherit the spiritual nature in us. Jesus in John 5 said to us at verse 21, just as a father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the son gives life to whom he wishes. So we receive life through Jesus Christ. So Adam passed on his sinful nature that results in death. Jesus gave us a new nature and we have life because of him. So in verse 15, he said, the free gift is not like the offense. For by one man's offense many died, much more the grace of God and the gift of the grace of the one man Jesus Christ abounded to many. God's grace abounds through Jesus. It's a free gift. And notice the free gift is not like the offense. Why? Because Adam's sin ruined mankind. Sin destroys. Every evil we see today entered the world because of sin. Look around the world today. You know when we were in Israel and I was giving a study in what is called the Antonio Fortress and I was sharing a little bit in that this number of years ago, and I was sharing in that particular site how that Pontius Pilate, when Jesus was standing before him and Jesus said that he was the one who spoke of the truth and that his followers would follow him because they too were followers of truth. That's obviously a paraphrase. But Pilate said at that point, what is truth? And I was sharing there and I was sharing how that, and I don't know how I rolled over to this area, but I did, so I might as well do it tonight too. I said, you know, there are people who say how come the United States is not seen in scripture? And it's not. The greatest nation on the face of planet earth, the United States is not found in scripture. How come? And so seeing I don't know, let's just keep going. No, why would that be? And I said, you know, there's a couple of reasons that are generally thrown out. One of the reasons is that because when the rapture occurs, there are so many believers who are taken up that it reduces the moral might of the United States. And people think that the church is worthless, but it's not. The church is used by God as salt and light. We are what is used to keep the corruption from spreading and the darkness from taking over. That's what the church does. That's why we speak the truth. That's why we do that. That's a fact. That's why we do that. You see, so we have a purpose. Jesus said, you are the light, you're the only salt, you're the only light. That's what he says in Matthew 5. And that's a fact. That's what we are. That's why we're here. And also I was sharing, I said, you know, so there are those who say or believe that perhaps what'll happen is because there is a great revival and many come to faith in Christ that when that restraining that we are to the evil taken over, when that restraint is taken, that that leaves the enemy freedom to destroy and corrupt the way that he wants to. And that's one position people have. The other is that the corruption and evil take over the United States is such a degree despite the church's presence that ultimately we find ourselves reduced to a different status than we've held for the last many, many years. Now I said that 20 some years ago easily. I never thought that I'd actually see the potential of that being more true because we are living in a crazy time where dark is light and light is dark, where sweet is sour and sour is sweet, where evil is good and good is evil. We're living in that day right now. When you cannot, and I want to be careful how I say this, because it doesn't come from an evil and loving heart, it's just true. When you don't have the capacity to tell another person what a woman is, there's something very, very wrong. You know, I saw a debate, some of you perhaps saw it, a portion of a debate between, well, Q and A really were an individual who refers to him himself as a woman, a transgender apparently, and was arguing that there are many, many, many genders that the spectrum is wider than male and female, et cetera. You know the argument, you've heard it. But this guy who was saying that he's got his hair like a woman, dressed like a woman, tries to look like a woman and all of that. But the person he was speaking to said to him, so if you've heard this, he said you're a paramedic and the guy's a paramedic, and he said, because this guy is saying that a man can be a woman, he says you're on call, somebody has abdominal pains, it's a man, he's a physical man, and he says I think I'm having a miscarriage. He said, would you treat him as if he was having a miscarriage? Would you? And the guy had no answer for it. Why? Because of course he wouldn't. Which kind of causes the argument to explode in your face. If you know I heard a man and forgive me if it sounds, of course they don't intend it to, but I heard a man say that when he has this period, it really is difficult and I'm looking at him and I'm saying my goodness. So this is where we've gotten. And so when you have a Supreme Court Justice who cannot tell you what a woman is, when you have people in the highest echelons of American government, when you have commercials that are intended to encourage young men and young women to join the armed forces, and they're making more of a concern about their personal pronouns than being the finest fighting force in the face of the world, they're more concerned with having electric powered tanks which makes absolute, absolutely no sense at all. And yet you have people promoting that and arguing, I hate to say it, but what I was saying 20 some years ago seems to be more true now than ever before. Where I used to tease and say, you know I can stand up here and say I'm a six foot five blue-eyed swede and you guys would see me as being kind of like, okay. But that's not true. Anymore, because you don't have the right to tell me that I can't believe myself to be that anymore. Now what kind of world is that? We're living in a world where wrong is right and right is wrong. It's what Isaiah prophesied, it's what Isaiah spoke about. And so that's why the gospel is so important guys. Don't give in, don't give in to the course of this age. Don't go in, don't go with the flow. Any dead fish can float downstream. It takes a living one to go against it. And because the Holy Spirit has given to us the truth, speak the truth, speak it in love and do not be surprised when people get offended. They don't want to hear it, but it's still the truth. So getting back to what I should be teaching, we're talking about the gift of God. The free gift, verse 15 is not like the offense because Adam's sin ruined mankind. And so in verse 15, much more the grace of God and the gift of grace came through that one man. So God's grace abounds through Jesus Christ who overcame death and gave life to us. You see, God gives us what is called the gift, the gift of eternal life. Romans 6-23, the wages of the sin is death. The gift of God is eternal life. And so this gift through grace comes to us, this gift of life. In verse 16 he says, the gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned. For the judgment which came from one offense resulted in condemnation, but the free gift which came from many offenses resulted in justification. So he's contrasting and continuing to contrast Jesus and Adam. He speaks of the gift of life and he speaks of the offense that resulted in death. So judgment he's saying came through Adam and the result was condemnation but the free gift which came from many offenses actually resulted in justification. So through Christ's atoning death, people are justified. We cannot justify ourselves. We need someone who is greater than ourselves to be able to do that. We sin, he never did. So we look to the one who never sinned and he's the one who's able to justify us and we trust that he did and that's what it means that we gave our faith to him and it's a free gift. Why? Because God's grace is free and we receive life in him and we can have fellowship with God and fellowship with God is to know God. This is eternal life, to know thee, the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent, John 17.3. So it's a relational kind of thing that we have with God through Christ. So again in verse 17 he says if by one man's offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the one Jesus Christ, reign in life. And so death reigned from Adam, obviously. It's a sure thing for everyone who's been born in Genesis 3.19 it says dust you are and to dust you shall return. Hebrews 9.27 is appointed unto men to die once and after this judgment death came. It came through Adam but life came through Jesus Christ and the grace revealed by the gospel exceeds the severity of the judgment for sin and those who have trusted Jesus receive tremendous blessings in him. We've received an abundance of grace he says. We've received the gift of righteousness. We've received his holy spirit. We've received his imputed righteousness and we have eternal life. Eternal life by the way is not a length of days. Eternal life is a quality. The quality of life that we have. I mean could you imagine if you just existed forever how bored you'd get? Do you ever get bored? I get bored all the time. You know, could you imagine if eternal life was simply length of days? I get bored within, I just, I would be, yeah, if Marie's with me she'd be bummed out every day forever, you know? It's not just length of days, it's quality of days. It's a quality and I gave up a long time ago by the way trying to imagine what that would be like. I can't, I don't have the imagination. I don't have the capacity. My eye hasn't seen, it hasn't entered into my heart the things that are prepared for me. I know that they're revealed, but even so I don't have the capacity to really consider what that means. Like all I know is it's gonna be an eternal now and it's gonna be joy unspeakable forever, forever. Again, I'm trying to find words to impress you, but I can't, it's just beyond me. All I know is this, that it comes from a knowledge of God and it comes through the grace of God. All I know is that I ultimately will see the one who died for me face to face, but not only will I see him, but I will see others whom I never knew by name, but by then, at that time I will know even as I'm known. You're not gonna be wearing name badges in heaven, you know, and church affiliation, you know. Hi, I'm David, you know, Calvary Chapel, Chino Valley is not gonna happen, but it's gonna be amazing and I'll lend, that's what I'm not even gonna try. It's just a beautiful thing to know that. So we have this in him. Now the gift of righteousness he says in verse 17 is gonna reign in life. According to John 10 verse 10, that thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I have come that they may have life and have it to the full. So forever we will have joy in heaven. Forever we enjoyed triumph over the enemy. Revelation 3.21 says to the one who is victorious, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne just as I was victorious and sat down with my father on his throne. Revelation 5.10, it says, and has made us unto our God kings and priests and we shall reign on the earth. Revelation 20 verse six, blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection on such the second death has no power. They shall be priests of God and of Christ and shall reign with him a thousand years. Revelation 22.5, there shall be no night there. They will need no candle, neither light of the sun for the Lord God gives them light and they shall reign forever and ever. Well, in verse 18, therefore as through one man's offense, judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so through one man's righteous act, the free gift came to all men resulting in justification of life. For as by one man's disobedience, many were made sinners. So also by one man's obedience, many will be made righteous. Moreover, the law entered that the offense might abound, but where sin abounded, grace abounded much more so that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Because of Adam, he's saying, all humanity received the death penalty. But the free gift of eternal life is available to all who receive Jesus Christ, all who receive him. It's there, it's free, it's just for the taking. It's just saying, God, I genuinely sincerely repent. I know I've sinned against you and I ask for your forgiveness. I'm aware of that. I'm aware that if I stand before you right now, I'm aware that the only thing you could actually say to me would be that I am condemned forever. That's why I need you. I need you. That's why Jesus in Matthew 11, 28, that verse is so powerful to me. Come unto me, all you who labor in our heavy laden, I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me. I am meek and lowly, a self-description of Christ. But the invitation comes. Come unto me, are you weary? Yes, are you heavy laden? Absolutely. Then come to me. Then come to me and I'm gonna take the burden from you. And I'm gonna give you freedom. Why wouldn't I do that? What's better than that? It's a free gift. In Revelation 22, 17, it says the Spirit and the bride say, come. Let him who hears say, come. Let him who is thirsty come and whoever will let him take the water of life freely. Well, he said in verse 20 that the law entered that the offense might abound. The law revealed what conscious sin is. We determined and did. It reveals that. The sins that we perform that can be seen. And the law actually served to name and reveal acts that were condemned by God. Later on, Paul is gonna say that. He's gonna say, I didn't know this was the sin until the law named it. And when the law named it for me, then I found myself guilty of it. I didn't know what it was like to covet, but then it said, thou shalt not covet. I discovered that I'm a person filled with covetousness. Until that time, there was something wrong. I just didn't name it. I didn't know what was wrong. But when the law came, it told me what was wrong and now I'm guilty. So the things that I was doing, these are the things that I now understand to be sin. Do you remember the first sin that you ever performed? You know, some people do. I know the first sin that I ever did. I know it. I remember it. I've said it before. I stole bird seed. I was four years old, five years old. And I stole a can of bird seed. The can was green. The bird was yellow. And I wanted it. And I put it in my pocket and I took it home. I stole it. I didn't have a bird. But I liked the can and my mother found it. Because when you're a stupid thief, you don't know how to hide your tracks. And so what happened is my mom found it and marched me back to the store in Norwalk. I don't know if I have anybody who's familiar with Norwalk, but there used to be a store called Shoppers Market. And we used to have what was called Billy's Market, which was a house. They used to have houses you'd go and buy. But they built this supermarket. It was called Shoppers Market. It was so amazing. We went to it in kindergarten as a field trip. Picture that. Going to a supermarket. That's how backwards I am. What do you want to do? Let's go to the supermarket. And that's what we did when I was five. But they shouldn't have put that beautiful can where it was. And my mom marched me back. I had to hand it to the manager. And I had to say I stole this. Frankly, I didn't even know what stealing was. I got pretty good later on. Cause if you practice, you can get good. But see, I did something with no name. I didn't know what that was until they said that is called stealing. And so the law tells you what you're doing and tells you this is what it is. So you're a thief, thou shalt not steal. And that's how it worked. And so there was sin, but yet unnamed. The law came to identify it and sin abounded. But even as sin abounded, he says in verse 20, grace overwhelmingly abounded through Christ. Sin is terrible, but God's grace is super abounding as the point he's making. The gospel triumphs over sin. Why? Because it reveals God's amazing grace. In second Timothy one nine, he saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works, but by his own purpose. And by the grace he granted us in Christ Jesus before time began. You have the law and you have guilt, but you have God's grace and you have forgiveness. And so through Adam's sin entered, but through Jesus, God's grace was manifest. And he's building a case here about how powerful the grace of God is. And so yes, all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, but God through his grace has provided salvation. We're gonna look at that more as we continue on into chapter six, but we'll stop here.