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The River ChurchSermons

Righteousness

Through One Man

Chuck Lindsey · Sunday, 29 June 2025 · Romans 5:12-21 · 51:10 · 8,144 words

Romans S10 · 5:12-21 Grand Blanc

There is no public page for this message yet — the transcript below is the whole of it.

Sin entered the world through Adam, and death entered with it, making every person guilty and spiritually dead. The sermon explains that although the law reveals our breaking of God’s will, God’s grace abounds far more, offering forgiveness through Christ’s obedience on the cross. It emphasizes that salvation is a miracle that happens when a person humbly admits need, turns to Christ, and receives his righteousness. The speaker asks listeners to call on the Lord now, confess their sin, and trust him for eternal life.

What this sermon is about

Ranked by keyness against every other sermon in the corpus. Each one is a word this sermon actually said — nothing here was written by a model.

adam 58 sin 95 fruit 24 offense 12 choose 20 receive 25 represent 11 reign 12 die 19 forever 15 sinner 18 free 21

Topics

Sin 23 Grace 9 Salvation 4 Righteousness 4 The Law 4 Prayer 3 Obedience 2 Faith 2 Condemnation 1 Judgment 1 Suffering 1 The Gospel 1

Scripture referenced 27

Verified against the transcript. A reference the recording does not support is never listed here.

Romans 5 0:14 Romans 5 0:14 Romans 5 5:02 Romans 5:12 5:07 Romans 5:12 11:25 Romans 2 12:02 Romans 2:17 12:02 Romans 2:12 18:21 Romans 2:12 19:28 1 Corinthians 15:22 21:10 1 Corinthians 15:22 21:41 Romans 2:13 22:49 Romans 2:14 24:14 Romans 6 25:52 Romans 6:5 25:52 Romans 6:14 27:55 Romans 6:15 30:46 Romans 6:16 33:04 Romans 6:17 36:36 Romans 6:17 36:52 Romans 6:17 41:52 Romans 6:17 42:01 Romans 6:18-19 42:39 Romans 6:19 43:19 Romans 6:20 46:01 Romans 6:20 46:28 Romans 6:21 48:08

Transcript

Every word, as spoken, with the second it was said. Each word links to its own entry in the index.

Well, it is wonderful to be together with you, to open God's Word together with you this morning.

If you have a Bible, I'm going to ask you to open it up to the wonderful book of Romans.

We'll be in Romans chapter 5, and we're going to pick up where we left off last week in verse 12 of chapter 5.

And we'll get there in just a moment.

But before we look at it, it is important to do what we must always do when we come to God's Word.

We want to prepare our hearts to hear from God.

And so it is so important that we do that.

So we want to pray, and I would just encourage you to ask Him to speak to you this morning and to help you to hear Him.

So let's pray for that, and we'll trust Him for it.

Lord, we come to you today.

Thank you for your Word.

Thank you for the promises in your Word.

Thank you for these incredible truths.

They're almost too much to believe.

And yet, Lord, they are true.

And I pray that, God, your Word would get down into our hearts today.

Lord, you would change us.

We pray you would help us to hear you.

Prepare our hearts, open our ears, open our eyes to see you today.

It's in Jesus' name I pray.

Let me ask you, what do you think it would take to pay off all of the debt in the world?

I mean, all the credit card debt, all the mortgage debt, all the car loans,

all the medical bills, just go on and on and on.

How rich would one person have to be to pay off the debt of every single person?

I mean, it's unfathomable, right?

The amount that would be required.

It's incomprehensible.

And yet, that is exactly what Jesus Christ did, right?

His single payment on that cross for sin, it paid off the spiritual debt,

the debt of every single person who has ever seen their debt,

admitted their debt to God, and asked him for the forgiveness of their debt.

It's incredible what God has done.

But through the years, I've been asked a question in regards to all of this.

And maybe you've wondered this, or maybe you've actually been asked this question before.

Maybe you've asked this question before.

The question is, very simply, it's this.

How can one moment...

In history, more than 2,000 years ago now,

how can one moment in history pay for the sin of every single person

thousands of years before and thousands of years since?

The question is, how can one payment, his death on the cross,

pay for all of the sin that has ever been committed?

How is that possible?

It's one moment in time.

And yet, the Bible says it pays for it.

It applies to everybody before it and everybody after it.

And we've looked at some of these ideas.

We've talked about some of them.

But that's a very interesting question.

And there's a similar question that usually follows that.

And it's this.

How did one person's sin...

Talking about Adam and Eve in the garden.

How did that make all of us sinners?

How many thousands of years ago was Adam alive?

And did Adam sin?

Have you ever wondered this?

The Bible tells us that...

When Adam sinned, all of the human race became sinners.

From that point forward.

And so the question is, did he make me guilty?

The Bible is clear that when Adam sinned,

the entire human race became sinners.

Everybody from that point forward.

And so some people have been like,

well, thanks a lot, Adam.

It's this idea that maybe if I was there,

I wouldn't have blown it.

I wouldn't have eaten that fruit.

you know? Yeah, well, we'll talk about that in a minute. But some people have said like,

hey, it's not fair. Why do I have to pay for his sin? I mean, he blew it and I got to pay for it.

Well, the truth is you are not paying for his sin. This is a whole other topic. You're not

paying for your own sin, by the way. You can't do that, but you're not guilty because of his sin.

Each of us is guilty because of our own sin, because of our own sin, right? I stand here the

same as you, right? Guilty of sin. But we are going to look at these questions just a little

bit more closely today. And that's what Paul is trying to address here in Romans 5. So he begins

in verse 12. And here's what he says. He says, therefore, so we pause and we talk about what

have we been talking about? For him to say, therefore, he's continuing an idea. And we have

been talking about how God saves us. And we have been talking about how God saves us. And we have

been talking about how God saves us. And we have been talking about how God saves us. And we have

been talking about how God saves us. And we have been talking about how God saves us. And we have

been talking about how God saves us. And we have been talking about how God saves us. And we have

been talking about how God saves us. And we have been talking about how God saves people. How does God

save people forever? And now the question is what we asked a moment ago. How can one person pay for

the sins of every person? So Paul explains. And he begins. And it's just, Paul is so systematic. I

mean, he just builds on ideas, right? And so he begins with Adam. Takes you right back to the

beginning. This is Adam. Sin entered the world. Okay, so if you have a Bible, you know this. If

you've read a Bible, you know this. The first people, Adam and Eve, they disobeyed God and they

sinned in the Garden of Eden. Now, we know this, but it's important that we really think about it

for a moment. And Paul's telling us, you got to think about this for a second. Here's the question.

How did sin actually come into the world? Okay, how did it get into the world? Well, someone might

say, well, it was the fruit of sin. It was the fruit of sin. It was the fruit of sin. It was the

fruit of the tree. That was evil fruit. And so the fruit was evil. And so God made something

evil. No, God does not make evil. He did not make evil. He did not make. The fruit of the tree was

just fruit. It was just fruit. We'll talk about that more in a second. Someone says, well, it was

Satan. Satan, the serpent, right? In the garden. That is how sin came into the world. Nope. That

is also not how sin came into the world. Sin came into the world through Adam. But watch this.

Through choice, right? Through choice. What do I mean? Well, Adam and Eve, they were created in the

image of God and with the ability to choose. And this means that they were not obedience robots,

or they weren't programmed to do what God wanted them to do, right? So they were not programmed.

They were created with the ability. They were not robots. They were people. And so one of the

things of us as people is we have the ability to decide, to choose. It's called free will. Okay.

And with free will, they could choose to do what God wanted, or they could choose to reject what

God wanted and do what they wanted. So to choose what God wanted them to do, we call that right,

righteousness. To reject what God wanted them to do was, we call that wrong. We call that sin.

That's by definition what sin is. And so you say, well, how did sin enter the world? The answer is

it entered through the way they were created. They were created with the ability to choose

right and wrong. Now you say, why is the tree there? Another aspect of free will,

catch this, is that in order for them to actually have free will to, to actually,

you know, have the ability to choose, there had to be something else to choose. Does this make sense?

Can't say, Hey, choose whatever you want when there's no other choices. You do this with your

kids, right? You can choose to clean your room or you can choose to clean your room. Which one?

And the kids are like, that doesn't feel like free will. And you're like, it's not,

this is not a democracy, right? This is a theocracy. Okay. Right. But it's like,

Hey, you can't invite someone over for dinner and tell them, you know what? Choose anything

you want. What do you want to eat? Knowing full well, you're only going to order a pizza.

It doesn't matter what they say. Well, I'd really like to have steak. Awesome. Fantastic.

The pizza will be here in 10 minutes, you know? So for Adam and Eve to actually have free will,

there had to be something else to choose. Enter the tree, right? Something other than God,

something other than what he wanted, something other than him and his will.

There had to be something there. And so God put an option, a tree, this tree gave them

the option. And that's all it was. It wasn't demonic fruit.

It didn't have evil in it. It didn't have spirits in it. It didn't glow and they bit it and then

became evil and corrupt because something was in the fruit. It was just fruit, but it was the

alternative. It was the choice between obeying the command of God, choosing him really what it was

choosing him and his will or disobeying the command of God, eating the fruit and choosing

themselves and their own will. And of course we know what happened. They chose themselves and over

God and they chose their own desires over God's desires. And that is by definition sin. It is

wrong and it is sin. And people have been doing it ever since, right? Because God's will and God's

ways cannot be anything other than the very best. God cannot pick less. He cannot do what is less

than the very best thing. So anything else besides what God wants is less. It is, it is wrong. It is,

it is sin. So they chose themselves instead of God. They chose their

wants instead of what God wanted. And again, every person has been doing this ever since

we've all done this. The Bible says every person has gone their own way. Every single person,

God says has been like a sheep that has wandered and done their own thing,

sought their own will, gone their own way. God says there is no one automatically seeking God,

no one automatically doing what is right. We're all in the same situation. We've all gone astray,

God says. He literally says those words. And the consequences of this is seen in verse 12.

So look what it says. Therefore, just as one, just as through one man, Adam, right? Sin entered the

world. Watch this. Here's the result. And death through sin. Death is the result of going our own

way, choosing ourselves. That's what we get when we choose,

ourselves when we go our own way. And this is what God said would happen. Do you remember this

in the garden? God told them, this is what would happen if they ate of the fruit. If they chose

themselves, God said this Genesis chapter two, verse 17, God says, but the tree of the knowledge

of good and evil, you shall not eat. God says for watch this showing he knows that they're going to

for in the day that you eat of it, you will surely die. Now, the way it's,

written in Hebrew, it's not a question. It's not like, um, if you eat that fruit, you're going to

die. It's not written like that. It's written like this. God says, when you eat that fruit,

you're going to die. Uh, God knows us. Don't touch that thing, but I got to touch it. You know,

don't eat that, but I want to eat it. You know what I mean? Like that's how we are as people,

right? Now, what does it mean that they would die? Did they die when they ate the fruit? Did

they fall down and breathe their last? No, that's not what happened.

But they did die. How did they die? Well, they died spiritually. And so you got to understand

what death is, according to the Bible. Death, according to the Bible, is not when these bodies

of ours stop. That is not how God defines death. Death, according to God, is anytime we are

separated from him. So there's lots of people walking around today who have no relationship

with God, but their bodies are very much alive. You might be one of them. God says, you are a dead

man walking. You are not alive. You are dead while you are alive. You're dead spiritually.

You're separated from God. That can be fixed, by the way. It can be fixed today, right now,

between you and the Lord. But anytime we are separated from God, God says that is death.

And so in that moment, they went from being in perfect relationship with God to completely

separated from him, severed instantly. And it was their sin that did it. The Bible says it

was their sin that severed.

The connection, the relationship between them and God. But that is how they died. They immediately

severed the connection between them and God by their sin. And so spiritually, right then and

there, they were spiritually dead towards God. And it's interesting, if you read the story,

you can see how dead they are immediately. Like the result is crazy. The response and what they

say to God immediately.

After doing this is shocking. And honestly, it's been a pattern of the way that we respond to God

when we sin ever since, right? So here's what happens. As soon as they eat of the fruit,

they see that they are wrong. But instead of going to God in repentance, which is what they

should have done, they should have gone to God and said, we blew it. They didn't do that. What

did they do? They ran from God and they hid themselves. And we do the exact same thing.

Instead of going to God in repentance, we run from God. It's so stupid. And how stupid sin makes

us as people. Sin makes you stupid. It makes me stupid, right? They thought they could hide from

the one who is everywhere, who sees everything. We'll hide in a bush. He won't see us. He won't

hear us. You see how stupid they were immediately? Prior to eating that fruit, they would have known

this. You don't hide from the one who is everywhere. You don't hide from the one who is everywhere.

Sees everything. It's impossible. No, we're going to go hide in the bush. He'll never find us.

You know, sin makes you stupid. You cannot make right decisions in rebellion to God. You cannot

do it. It's impossible. You're broken. Your brain doesn't work. Your heart doesn't work. Your

everything does not work. Nothing works when you are not connected to God. Nothing. So they, then

what do they do as they're hiding? They try to cover themselves and their own wrongdoings.

They sew together fig leaves to try to cover their shame. And we have tried to do the same

thing. Instead of going to God in repentance, we try to cover our own wrongdoings. We'll fix this

ourselves. We'll blame everybody else for our problems. It's not me. That's us trying to cover

our sin. You made me do that. I had to do it because of what you did. Or it's totally fine.

Everything's okay. So, right, we try to cover our own sin. And then when God came to them,

they did what so many people do.

They did everything they could to not be the one who was wrong. And if you need to know what sin

will do to you, all you got to do is look at what they said to God in trying to not be wrong. They,

both of them blame God for their sin. It's crazy. Adam blames God for creating Eve and giving her

to him. She's the problem. You made her and then gave her to me.

I wouldn't have fallen if it hadn't been for her. That's what Adam does. And then Eve,

she blames God and says, well, the serpent that you made and put in the garden, he deceived me.

It's your fault, God. You made the serpent. Had he not been there, I would have been fine. We would

have been okay. And listen, isn't this crazy? They both shift the blame to God to protect themselves.

And as I said, this is the pattern for us as people ever since. We sin, we run, we hide,

we don't go to God. We sin, we run, we hide, we don't go to God. We sin, we run, we hide, we don't go to God.

In repentance, we blame everybody else for our problems. Then we ultimately, we blame God. We

turn against God. And that's exactly what sin caused them to do, to turn on God. Immediately,

our hearts become hard towards God. Immediately, we become cold. We become brutal towards God. The

way we think about him, we are ruthless in our desire to absolve ourselves. Death. That's what

happened. They died right there. Though their bodies did not fall to the ground, they died.

Now, this did not just happen. It happened to them. They died. They died. They died. They died.

It just happened to them. However long ago. It is your story too. And mine. Look at verse 12.

And thus, here's the result. Thus, death spread, spread to all men. The separation, remember what

death is, separation from God. The separation spread to the entire human race. Everyone that

would then come from Adam was now separated automatically from God by sin. To say it a

whole people are by default separated from God. Nobody is born into a relationship with God. My

four children were not born Christians because I am one. They were not born as followers of Jesus

Christ. Every single one of them have to turn to Jesus Christ themselves. But it is because of sin,

our own sin. We are all sinners. We have all sinned. And thus, we have all served, you know,

us and God. And so, this is why verse 12 finishes with the words, because all sinned. So, before you

get too mad at Adam and Eve for blowing it, you got to realize we would have sinned of our own

volition or free will too. And if you think you wouldn't have sinned in the garden, you are crazy.

You're nuts, right? They were the very best of us. The very best of us. And they blew it. And we

said, don't eat that fruit. How long was it before they ate that fruit, right? God says, don't eat

that fruit. And they were like, which one? This one? Don't take a bite now. Do I not, do I not eat

it now? Is it in my hand, right? This one, right? Like, I don't know how long it was. Maybe it was

weeks. Maybe it was months. I don't know. Maybe it was a year. I don't know. I know this. If it was

an apple fritter tree and all of humanity depends on me not touching it and eating it, you're all in

trouble. I just want you to know that, okay? It wouldn't be long either. It would, like this apple

don't eat this one because this tastes really good. It smells really great, right? So understand

something, right? Adam represented us all. He is the first and best human. He is the father, if you

will, of us all. And the problem with this is, and this is Paul's point. If you and I stay only

connected to Adam as our, as our spiritual father, if he's the one that represents us, the Bible says

that you're going to die.

You're going to be separated from God forever. The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 15, 22, these crazy

words, in Adam, all die. If you stay in Adam as the representative of you as a human being,

you are going to die. You're going to be separated from God forever. But this is the reason that

Jesus Christ came. To get out of this, you have to have a new representative. You have to have a new

spiritual father. So 1 Corinthians 15, 22, again, it says, as in, in, in Adam, all die, but even so

in Christ Jesus, all shall be made alive. So hear this. If you do not turn to Jesus Christ in need

for the forgiveness of sin and salvation, you are still in Adam and you are going to die. You're

born to Jesus Christ for salvation. Then the Bible says you are now born again. You have a new

spiritual father in Christ. You are alive forever. It's so simple. So now the question, what about all

the people from the time of Adam to the giving of the law to Moses, right? The 10 commandments. What

about all those people in between, right? Were those people considered sinners? Well, the answer

is, look at verse 13.

Or before, before the law, sin was still in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no

law. So the point here is to show that sin was rampant in the human race, even before the law

was given to Moses. So man was doing what Adam and Eve did. Man was doing what man wanted. Even

before the commands were given of the law, man was still doing what man wanted to do.

However, most of what people were doing fell into the category generally of evil and wrong

and sinful because there wasn't a specific command. Let me give you an example. They were

still stealing from each other, though there was not yet a command that said you shall not steal.

They were still murdering each other, though there was not yet a command that said you shall

not murder. They were still committing adultery, though there was not a command yet that said

you shall not commit adultery, right? These things were still going on,

though the command was not yet there. And so Paul's trying to show we've had this sin problem

the whole time. We've had it since the beginning, all the way from the time of Adam, all the way

through, we still have the same problem. And they didn't get a pass on evil. Their evil caused them

death as well. Look at verse 14. Nevertheless, even though they didn't have the law to know,

nevertheless, watch this death. Remember, separation from God. It reigned from Adam

to Moses, even over those who had not sinned. It's literally in the same way that Adam did,

right? So the idea is, you know, people weren't just, you know, it wasn't just that they were

sinning because they were eating fruit that they weren't supposed to eat, right? That was the one

command essentially God had given by that point. They weren't sinning in the same way Adam did,

but they were in another way. They were sinning in the same way Adam did because they were choosing

themselves all the time. They were doing what they wanted. And that has always been

the problem. So the word nevertheless there, it means that even though the law wasn't given yet,

people were still doing evil and it still caused death and separation from God from the very

beginning as it did with Adam. He says death or separation, it reigned over generations of people.

Death completely dominated everyone. The word reigned means to rule over as a king. No one was

able to rule. No one could fix the separation themselves. It just ruled from Adam to Moses and

the law being given, sin and death were still continual. It was true of everybody, even over

those who had not sinned in the same way Adam did. They were sinning still, right? So Genesis

chapter six, verse five, people were told people were just doing whatever they wanted. Before the

law was given, listen to these words. Genesis six, five, it says, then the Lord saw that the

wickedness of man was great in the earth. I can't even, it's hard to even believe the last words

here. And that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. That is God

saying there wasn't one good thought in their mind or in their heart, not one right thing.

That's crazy. And he's saying that about the entire human race,

before the law was ever given, man was steeped in wickedness. God says the only thing man wanted

was evil, every thought, everything. So the point is everyone's always had this exact same problem.

We have all always been going our own way and doing our own thing, not seeking God, not worshiping

him, not obeying him. And I would ask you today, do you worship the true and living God? Is he your Lord

is he your savior? Is he your King? Can you say these things? You see, instead we, as people,

we seek ourselves. We worship ourselves. We wouldn't define it that way, but we give

ourselves everything we want. We worship and serve ourselves as people. We do what we want

above what God wants. And so we exalt ourselves. The Bible says above God. Now the end of verse

14 essentially tells you to compare Adam and Jesus Christ. Here's what it says. It's very important

that you're either in Adam or you're in Christ. That's the point of this. So you got to compare

the two. Look at verse 14. He, we're talking about Adam, is a type of him who was to come.

So the one who is to come is Jesus. And the one that is the type is Adam. Adam is a picture for us

in a, in some way, in a very particular way, he's a picture for us of Jesus Christ. And you say,

how? Well, it is in just one, it's in one way. And it's what we said before. Adam represents

all of unsaved humanity. He represents the unsaved masses. He was the first man. He sinned. He brought

death into the world. And if you stay in Adam, you will die. But he's a picture for us. He was the

first man. But then the Bible says there is a second Adam. Did you know that Jesus is called

the second Adam? And he's called the second Adam because he is the new representative of all of

who turn to God through him and his sacrifice. They are now in the second Adam in Christ. And so

he is called this first Corinthians 1545. It says, and so it is written, the first Adam, first man,

Adam became a living being. And the word last there is literally second, the second Adam, Jesus became

a life giving spirit. And so the point of all of this is to say you're in one or you're in the other.

If you're in Adam, you will be separated forever. If you're in Christ, you will be together with God

forever. You will be saved. And so for the next few verses, Paul is going to compare and contrast

Adam and what he brought into the world and Jesus, what he brings into the world. So he begins by

saying what they brought into the world could not be more different. Look what it says, verse 15.

But the free gift, that's referring to salvation, right? The free gift is not

like the offense or the sin. So the free gift is salvation.

It's a free gift. It is given to you from God. If you need it, he will give it. If you don't need it,

you will never have it. If you need it, he will give it. It's accomplished not by you going to

church or being nice or being good or deserving it or paying for it. It's accomplished by Jesus

Christ going to the cross and then you coming to him in need and he gives it to you. So the free

gift is not like the offense. The offense is Adam's sin. The free gift is not like the offense.

The original sin, right? That brought death to everybody. Jesus's free gift brings life. So he

goes on, verse 15, for if by the one man's offense, many died and that's what happened. Watch this

much more, much more, or even more the grace of God and the gift by the grace of God, right? By the

this is the answer to our question. How can one man make all of us sinners? And the answer is

he is our representative. He represents all of the human race, but then how can one man

make us righteous? And the answer is if he is your representative, then he represents

all those who come to God in faith. So let me give you a picture. Here's the question

in heaven. If Adam and Jesus Christ are standing there, who do you line up behind?

Which one represents you? You see, Adam will represent all those who rebelled against God

and have gone their own way and reject God. Do you line up behind him? Because you have done

your own thing and chose your own way and wanted your own way and rejected God. Do you line up

behind Adam or Jesus who represents all who turn to God, who love him, who obey him? They want his

will and his, his ways over their life. Now you won't get to choose.

When you die and stand there, the choice is automatic, right? What did you do through your

life? Did you know and love him through your life? Then you are lined up behind Jesus. If you

rejected him your entire life, then you are lined up behind Adam. But please notice the point of

this verse. It is to say that even though sin passed to all of us, please catch this. The grace

of God is available to all of us. It's available as a gift to those who know they need it.

He will give grace and forgiveness to every person that comes to him in real need,

not faking, but in real need. God will give grace. Look what it says. Verse 16 and the gift salvation.

It is not like that, which came through the one who sinned for the judgment, which came from one

offense. It resulted in condemnation, but the free gift, which came from many offenses resulted in

justification or complete and total forgiveness. Please hear this. Adam's sin brings nothing but

judgment and condemnation for that sin, right? It is judgment from God. That is, you cannot stay in

Adam. If you stay in Adam, you are going to be judged and condemned and separated from God forever.

You can't stay in Adam. But the free gift from Jesus Christ, it brings total forgiveness of sin

for every person who receives it.

We've said it many times over the past few weeks. That is what the word justification means.

It means the total forgiveness of sins forever. It means all of your past sin forgiven. It means

all of your sin today forgiven. And it means all of your future sin forgiven. That is what

the sacrifice of Jesus does. It wipes it all out. And you say, well, awesome. Then that means I can

just pray a prayer, right? And then go do whatever I want. And I would say, you are an

unsaved person still. That is not what happens to the person who is actually born again. We feel bad

about our sin. We confess our sin to God. We turn to him for forgiveness. And then we are amazed that

he forgives all of our past, present, and future sin. And we want to live for him. Now, this gift

of total forgiveness, it's not something you can earn. You can't deserve it by going to church.

You can't pay for it by, you know, serving at the soup kitchen or giving money away or what

ever it is. It's something that comes from God alone. He gives it as a free gift. That's what

it says in that passage. Now, before we move on, notice the words, the free gift, it came from many

offenses. And I just want you to hear this for a second because this is so important. This speaks

of the immeasurable love of God for us. The Lord died for you while you were a great sinner. He

died for you in continual hatred and rebellion against him. You might be in that spot today. He

has died for you. If you turn to him, he will forgive. He will receive you. This free gift was

given to us, not when we pulled it all together, when we cleaned ourselves up, when we got our act

straight. It came to us. It was offered to us when we had committed many offenses, like we saw last

week, when we were entirely ungodly. God offers to you. And he did that for you. He did that for you.

He did this simply because he loves you. The end, he loves you. And he could not just let you die

in your sin and in your separation from him forever. So he did what was necessary to save us.

He came himself to pay for our sin. So verse 17, Paul says the same thing a different way. He says,

for if, he's trying to help us understand it. So he's saying it all kinds of different ways,

the same thing. He says, for if by one

man's offense, death reigned through the one much more. How much more? Verse 17, those who receive,

will you receive it? Receive abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness will reign in life

through the one Jesus Christ. He's showing the difference between Adam and what he brought and

Jesus and what he brought. And so this is what separates saved people from unsaved people. Saved

people are those who receive. They're the ones who receive. They're the ones who receive. They're

the ones who receive. They're the ones who receive. They're the ones who receive. They're the ones who

receive. They accept God's offer. They receive grace. But in order to do that, a few things have

to happen. You have to actually know and believe that you need it. You can't add it like you're

adding an insurance policy to your home. Like, well, we'll just add it on in case something goes

wrong. You have to actually know that you need his grace. This means you have to actually know

and believe that you are a sinner. You have to actually know and believe that you cannot say

yourself. You have to actually know and believe that if you die, you're going to be separated

from God forever. And then you have to know that God is good and that he will actually save if you

come to him in need. You have to then take the final step, and that's very simply, you have to

receive it. My grandfather knew that he was not a good man, knew that he had done wrong in his life,

knew that he could not save himself, maybe knew that God, what do you think,

Greg, maybe? Maybe knew that God, Greg and I talked with him together, that maybe God was good,

maybe God was there. Here's his hang-up. God wouldn't give it to him because he didn't deserve

it. If there was salvation, God wouldn't just give him a get-out-of-jail-free card, wouldn't just

hand forgiveness to him. He needed to do something to earn it, and he felt like he was way too far

down the road to do anything to ever earn that. Listen, that has kept many people headed straight

to hell. You have to actually receive it.

You have to actually say, okay. You have to actually bring it to yourself. That's what the

word receive means. It means to take this information and now bring it to myself. Oh,

it's nice that all of you know it, but I have to know and believe it. And praise God, my grandfather

did bring that to himself and did believe. But please notice, this is something you must receive

the abundance of grace, and this means that he gives much grace to people who are in much need.

My daughter, Molly, didn't mean to, but gave me a note recently. It fell out of her bag or

something. But when I woke up in the morning, I saw this little post-it note sitting on the area

where I make my coffee, and I thought she was trying to leave a very encouraging message for me.

And the note said, it's a quote from John Newton, the writer of the hymn Amazing Grace, and it says,

I am a great sinner, but then it finishes with, but Christ is a great Savior.

And so at first, I thought my daughter was telling me I'm a sinner, you know? And I was like, yes,

I agree, but I don't know why the post-it note is necessary at the coffee machine first thing in the

morning. Dad, you are a great sinner. You know, I just didn't know. But you know, I've actually,

I didn't give it back to her. I've actually kept it as a reminder to me daily, right? I am a great

sinner, but Christ is a great Savior. And I love it because he truly is a great,

great Savior. And I feel like a great sinner. I need so much of God's grace. And this is what

he gives. It's an abundance of grace. It's beyond comprehension. We'll see it in just a moment. But

saved people are those who receive of the gift of righteousness. This is again, what we've been

saying week after week, righteousness, the complete rightness before God. It means to

stand before him as innocent. You have to receive this, not because of anything you have done,

only because of what he has done. And this is a gift that is given to people who are undeserving,

who have never got it right, who see their need, who do not think they're righteous, who do not

think they're going to make it on their own, who know they won't. So saved people are those who

receive it. But also this is what will happen. Verse 17, for saved people, they will reign in

life. The end of verse 17, through the one, not through themselves, but through the one Jesus Christ. This is

future tense in Greek, and it's referring to heaven. It's referring to the end. Just as real

death reigned over all of us and still does, right? God defines real life this way, right? He defines

life. If death is separation, life is connection. It's union with him. And so it is being together

with him that is real life. And so here is the promise. The promise is that for all who come to

Jesus Christ, we will never die. Death will not reign over us, but we will reign in life. We will

be together with him. And so here is the promise. The promise is that for all who come to Jesus

together with him forever, forever. And so verse 18 and 19, Paul again says it again, a couple of

different ways. Look what he says. 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 the 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. So again, same thing, but please notice

this, the word obedience there in verse 19. Do you know that you are saved because of Jesus's

obedience? What a beautiful thought. Takes us right back to the garden of Gethsemane, where we see our

savior in prayer. You remember falling down in grief and he's praying and he asks his father if

there's any other way to save him. And he says, I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't

know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know.

Save all of us instead of having to suffer and die. He said this, oh, my father, if it is possible

essentially to save them in any other way, let this cup pass from me. But what does he say?

Nevertheless, not what I want, but what you want. And then he says, oh, my father, if this cup cannot

pass because there's no other way to save them from me, unless I drink it, your will be done.

And so it was the obedience of Jesus Christ that saved us. Please hear that. It is not your obedience

it is his. It is not your obedience that saves you. It is his obedience. We are saved because of

his obedience. He did not want to suffer. He did not want to die, but he did want to save you. And

that is what was required. And his obedience is contrasted with Adam's disobedience. Praise

God for what he has done. The question is, have you been made righteous? Notice that it doesn't

as by one man's disobedience, many were made sinners. So also by one man's obedience,

all will be made righteous. It doesn't say all will be made righteous. What does it say? Many

will be made righteous. Are you among the many that will be made righteous? Many will be,

many more never will be, according to Jesus Christ. The wide is, the road is very wide

that leads to destruction, Jesus said, and there are many people on it. It leads to destruction.

It leads over a cliff. He said, but narrow is the way that leads to life. And there are few

who find it. I would ask you, are you among the few or are you on this wide road? Are you the

many? Now, one last question before we close this morning, if people were still sinning before the

law was given, what was the point of the law? Was it to make us keep the law? No,

it was to show us we were breaking it. Look at verse 20. Moreover, the law entered. Why?

That the offense might abound. The point of the law was to make it clear we were breaking the law.

So to say it another way, the law was given to show that we're not doing what God wanted.

We were not doing what was right, that we were guilty. We were already breaking the law. We just

didn't know it because the law wasn't given yet. But the reason for this was not just to make us

aware of it. It was so that we could be saved. Look at verse 20. But where sin abounded, grace

abounded much more. Please hear this. The law showed,

that we were sinners and in need. And that's the point of the law. It reveals the problem,

just like your mirror in the morning. It doesn't fix the problem. It just shows the problem.

Not that you have a problem, right? But that's all the law did. It showed you that you have problems,

that those need to be fixed. But here's what we're told. As people became aware that they

were sinners and in such need, God's grace abounded. It super abounded. That's what the

words mean. To supply beyond excessively what is needed, God gave grace. And here is the good news.

It is good news to every person who has done wrong, who has allowed sin to abound in their

lives. God's grace, his willingness to forgive you and to receive you is greater than the sin

that you have committed. God will not look at anyone and say, you have gone too far. Because

where sin has abounded, grace has abounded much more. And this is the only reason that anyone

of us are saved. This is the only reason is because God's grace is greater. God's grace

is greater than the sinfulness of human hearts. And so any person, regardless of what they have

done or who they have been, can turn to God in real need and receive the complete forgiveness

of their sin forever. Sins forever forgiven and heaven is their eternal home. As verse 21 says,

that as sin used to reign in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life

through Jesus Christ our Lord. Can I ask you, who is the king over your life today? What rules over

you? Sin and death. Are you still being ruled by sin and death today? It reigns over you as a cruel

king, doesn't it? Or is it the grace of God that is ruling over you? His righteousness given to you

because you've turned to Jesus Christ for salvation. Is Jesus king and Lord of your life?

Is Adam the one that represents you? Or is it Jesus?

Jesus Christ who represents you. You cannot receive Jesus in a false way. You must humble

yourself and admit your need. You must come to God in a real way. He will not be fooled by trying to

add insurance to your life. Like maybe I'll just do it just so I'm okay if I go my own way. You

cannot do that. To actually be saved forever, please hear this, a miracle must occur in your

heart today. It must occur. A genuine miracle has to take place in your heart. And if you want that

the miracle that you are the actual realization that you are actually lost, that you are actually

a lawbreaker, that you actually deserve God's judgment, the miracle of humbling yourself in

reality before God, admitting your sin to God and asking him to be merciful to you, a sinner,

the miracle of asking him and receiving that miracle. If you want that, you've got to turn

to him. You've got to ask him to do that in you. We can't do that. We can't do that. We can't do

it for you. You cannot do it for you. No church gathering, no worship, no nothing. Nothing can do

it for you. You've got to go to him. He alone. If you call on the name of the Lord, you will be

saved. You've got to turn to him today. Let's pray together. Lord, we love you. We thank you for being

merciful and kind. Thank you for loving us. Thank you for coming to rescue us this morning. If you

are ready to turn to the Lord, he knows that. And so you ask him to do the miracle in your heart.

You ask him to save you. You ask him to transform you, to rescue you. Admit your need to God this

morning. Admit your need to Jesus Christ. Ask him to show you grace and mercy and then receive it

this morning. Talk to him. He's listening to you now. We love you, Lord. We thank you. It's in

Jesus' name I pray. Amen.