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The River ChurchSermons

Righteousness

Through One Man

Josh Yates · Sunday, 29 June 2025 · Romans 5:12-21 · 41:17 · 6,667 words

Romans S10 · 5:12-21 Lake Orion

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

Exploring Romans five, the sermon shows how sin entered through Adam, enslaving humanity and breaking our relationship with God, yet emphasizes that Jesus as the second Adam offers greater redemption. It contrasts Adam’s disobedience with Christ’s obedience, assuring that where sin increases, grace increases all the more. Listeners are challenged to turn from relying on themselves, accept Christ’s free gift of salvation, and find freedom from shame and past failures. Whether for the first time or after straying, the call is to receive God’s grace and be made new.

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 56 trespass 16 garden 13 sin 67 first 32 dog 8 humankind 5 tree 13 movie 10 increase 7 free 19 eve 8

Topics

Sin 22 Grace 6 Prayer 3 Justification 2 Righteousness 2 Condemnation 1 Salvation 1 Obedience 1 Judgment 1 Election & Predestination 1 The Law 1 Hope 1

Scripture referenced 18

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

Romans 5 1:35 1 Peter 2:9 5:25 Romans 5 10:32 Romans 5:12-14 10:34 Romans 3 12:33 Romans 3 12:36 Romans 3 12:42 Romans 3:1-7 12:43 Romans 3:2 14:19 Romans 3:4 15:02 Romans 3:7 15:48 Romans 3:8 16:19 Romans 5 25:08 Romans 1 27:30 Romans 1:18-21 29:13 Romans 1:18 29:21 Acts 16:31 36:32 2 Corinthians 5:17-18 38:01

Transcript

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

Pre-service announcement — 5 lines, 0:24. Excluded from every count and search on this site, kept here so nothing is hidden.

Hey everyone, my name is Zach Hannon and thank you for checking out the message today.

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Thanks again for joining us today and we hope you are blessed by today's message.

So good update from the Philippines of all places.

Just glad to be able to hear from Pastor Caleb and what God's doing over there.

Also want to remind you, you know, again, in two weeks from today,

we will be at the fair in Oakland County and Davisburg.

And so just want to make sure that you're aware of that.

When you leave this morning, everybody's going to get a little invite card.

It's just a reminder.

It's a reminder of what's happening here in a couple of weeks,

but it's an easy way to invite friends and neighbors to come out to the fair.

Not only do you get a free ride, not only do you get free parking,

you also get free admission to the fair.

So it's all free.

It's pretty cool stuff.

So then all of us are out there eating hot dogs and having, you know,

cotton candy and lemonade and whatever else is out there.

So, but do plan on whatever it looks like.

If it's rain or shine, no matter what, we've had mud bowls and we've had very hot heat.

So we'll see what's going to be in a couple of weeks.

We always look forward to that.

It's always a great time.

Our Bibles, let's turn to Romans chapter five.

That's where we'll be today.

Continuing in our study in Romans, it's been really, it's just,

we keep learning all kinds of stuff that Paul has laid out,

that God led Paul to lay out about salvation.

We have to understand a few things though.

Again, each week I try to give a little synopsis because Paul continues to build

from Romans one all the way through the book.

It's a letter to the Jewish church or to Jewish Christians in Rome

and trying to help them understand what Jesus has done for them.

And so we got to understand that before a person knows Jesus,

there isn't a chance for peace because that person's far away from God.

There just isn't any chance for peace.

The world's going to tell us all kinds of things that this is peace.

That's peace.

We're going to get peace here.

We're all searching for peace, but there's no real lasting peace apart from Jesus Christ himself.

You know, I'm again, I'm often reminded that I got to stop thinking that people are going to act

like Jesus when they don't know Jesus.

I can't expect that of people.

And so often we expect that of people.

We can't do that.

We can't do that.

But we got,

we also can't be ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

We can't be ashamed of it.

We can't be afraid to tell people about who Jesus is.

If he's changed us, he'll change somebody else.

We have to tell other people about who he is and how he saves people.

But then because of what we wanted, because as humankind, God gave us over to what we wanted.

God says, if you don't want me, you don't have to have me.

But there's consequences of that.

There's effects of that.

And sin enslaves every single one of us.

We're going to learn this, the nitty gritty of how sin has enslaved humankind this

And that sin just continues to degrade us.

And it results in alienation from God first and foremost, but it also results in alienation

from one another.

Sin breaks the relationships that we have with each other as well.

And it's, we need Jesus.

And when we continue to sin, it leads us to more depravity.

And we all stand under the righteous judgment of God and the wrath of God that's poured

out on sin.

Every single one of us, every single one.

There's no way to pull ourselves up.

There's no way out without.

There's no way out without Jesus, but we serve a God who calls dead things to life and who

calls things into existence, the things that were not before.

I don't think I'm ever going to, for me, you know, I've studied Romans many times in ministry

and I've preached through it years ago.

And Romans is kind of a staple for those of us that are in the ministry.

We talk about Romans all the time.

It should be for us too, by the way, we should be thinking about the book of Romans a lot.

It's so, it's a linchpin when it comes to salvation, but for this time through that has just

stood out to me.

He calls, he, he brings dead things to life and he calls things into existence that were

not, that has just stood out this time around for me.

And he's made peace with himself.

He's made peace with God.

I hope we don't take that lightly.

I, in order to really understand salvation too, we have to remember who God is.

If you view him as the big teddy bear in the sky, salvation isn't a very big deal, but

let's be honest.

So often we do look at him, look at him as the big teddy bear in the sky.

Ooh, the big guy upstairs.

If I'm honest, that, that statement, not good.

That's way too something, I don't know, flippant about who he is.

I mean, he's not just the big guy upstairs.

He is the King of Kings.

He is holy, holy, holy.

He is righteous.

He is holy.

He's a jealous God.

And he is full of wrath towards sin too.

He's not just the teddy bear in the sky.

And so the fact that God made peace with us is an amazing fact.

And so we've been called something altogether different.

In first Peter 2, 9, Peter writes, but you are a chosen race, a royal priest, a royal

priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the

excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into the, into his marvelous light.

We have to understand that we were once in darkness and he's called us into his light.

It is truly amazing what God has done.

We can't lose sight of it.

It's why it's so important to continue to talk about the gospel and to understand what

it really means.

How many of you like the Star Wars movies?

All right.

All right.

I mean, we love them in our house.

We like the Star Wars movies, you know, um, it's why I kind of went with the storm trooper

look with my, with the car I've got.

It's white and black.

In fact, her name is Stormy.

And that's what we did.

I've even got a little storm trooper on the picture on the side of my car, you know, now

the premise of these movies is around the Skywalker family, right?

It's, it's the Skywalker family.

That's what it is.

Anakin and Luke are the main characters for those of you that don't know.

I know.

All of you are as cool as those of us that like the Star Wars movies, but that's all

right.

You can let us keep thinking that, that we're cool.

Um, but for those of you that don't know, the movies are about the force, right?

It's something in the universe that keeps everything together, connects everything and

It's really an impersonal God, little G God.

That's kind of the way the, I mean, there can be connections.

I think we have to be careful when we over-spiritualize.

Sometimes you just got to watch movies because they're movies and we like them.

That's okay.

Now don't check your brain out the door.

And throw out all the theology and all that stuff, but don't get your theology from Hollywood.

Can I say that?

Don't get your theology from Hollywood anywhere.

Even the chosen's great.

I've said it before.

Don't get your theology from the chosen.

Get it from God.

Okay.

So I'll get off that soapbox.

So it's an impersonal.

This is the, the force is an impersonal God.

There's a light side.

There's a dark side.

There's a good side.

There's a bad side, right?

And Anakin, the first Skywalker we see.

Well, I guess when we go back, see, if you don't know, there was like a trilogy in the

There was a trilogy in the seventies.

That was like the middle of the story.

And then they had to go back and tell the first part of the story about 20 years later,

I think, 15 years later.

So we see Anakin first in a different, anyway, I'm not going to go there.

Anakin was the first one and he fell in love and he faced the possibility of losing the

woman he loved and everything he desired.

And he was tempted to go to the dark side of the force.

Ultimately, he chose to get that power for himself, to get what he wanted, to be selfish

and have control over his life.

Long story short.

It didn't go very well.

He almost died in order to save his life.

He was transformed into Darth Vader.

That turned out pretty good.

I wasn't sure that worked.

The representation of evil in the Star Wars movies, right?

He's the representation of evil.

Now, Luke, Anakin's son, faced the same decision later on in his life.

And he chose to become a Jedi, the good side of the force.

He would face his father.

You're not my father.

Anyway, for those of you that know the movies, you know that line.

But because of how he chose the good, the whole theme of the movies, really the core

of it is that he would end up redeeming his father, Darth Vader.

In fact, George Lucas, who is the filmmaker of the entire saga, has said that the first

two trilogies were focused on the redemption of Anakin.

So all you Star Wars nerds, unite.

All right.

So it's a way for us to see redemption and maybe the culture.

It's definitely not the redemption that we see in scripture, but it's a picture of

it, that you can be made right with God ultimately.

Now, last week, we learned that we're justified by faith.

We have peace with God through Christ.

We have access to grace.

And there's a cycle of hope that leads us.

Our present suffering leads to endurance, which leads to character, which leads to hope.

That hope will never disappoint us because God's love is poured out on us.

And while we were still weak.

Christ died for us when we were sinners, we've been reconciled to God.

We've been saved by the life of Christ.

We have to know Jesus Christ is the door.

He's the door by which every person must enter in order to have a relationship with God.

There's no way around that.

Now, today we are digging into one of the toughest passages of scripture.

It's interesting because we've got to understand it.

It's also super important.

It's one of the toughest passages in Romans.

We're going to learn just how sin entered the world, how God saved the world.

So again, Romans chapter five, we're going to.

We're going to start with verses 12 to 14.

All right.

Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man and death through sin.

So death spread to all men because all sinned for sin was in the world before the law was given.

But sin is not counted where there is no law.

Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who is a type of the one who was to come.

Everybody get that?

Understand what he's saying?

It's okay.

We'll get into it this morning.

So what we have to understand, first of all, Paul is juxtaposing the first Adam and the second Adam.

I love that word, juxtapose.

It's pointed against each other.

All right.

And so the first Adam was Adam.

The second Adam is Jesus.

Both are representative of all mankind.

And we're going to get to the why.

Paul's making a different argument here.

He stated that before he talks about how sin entered the center is an inner humankind in the first.

In fact, he makes an assumption that his readers would already have accepted this fact when he says, just as he's already accepting, he's writing to a Jewish audience, he's accepting, or he's assuming that the audience accepts this fact so that they would understand that sin entered through one man, Adam.

So what would the reader's mind have understood?

So the reader here would have understood that the name Adam literally means man or human being, mankind, human being.

So please understand this morning.

If I say mankind.

I'm meaning all of humankind.

All right.

The terms are interchangeable.

Ultimately, while Adam was an individual in the Genesis narrative, he was also a representation of all mankind because he was the first man, the first one created.

So let's put our finger in Romans five.

We're going to go all the way back to Genesis chapter three.

All right.

Genesis chapter three.

I know you just hit a couple of buttons and you're there.

I'm turning pages.

Genesis chapter three.

And I want to read verses one to seven.

It won't be on the screen.

I want you to hear the account of what happened for the fall of humankind.

Now, the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made.

He said to the woman, did God actually say you shall not eat of any tree in the garden?

Well, I'm going to stop right there.

No, God did not actually say that.

If we were to go back a couple of pages, God said everything else is good for eating except for the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

And again, just as a side note, in case you're questioning.

Pop into your head.

Why did God even create the opportunity?

Without a choice, there can be no love.

Okay.

That's why God gave us free will.

It's why God put the tree in the garden of Eden.

Without choice, without an alternative, without an option, we would have been nothing more than robots.

Nothing more than the AI that's kind of freaking me out right now.

Seriously, we would have all been robots.

So we have to understand that God gave a choice because without it, there would have been no love.

All right.

If you have questions about that, talk to me later.

I just don't want to not.

That's a double negative.

I don't want to pass over that.

All right.

But no, God didn't actually say you shall not eat any tree in the garden.

Oh, Eve, isn't God so oppressive?

That's what the serpent is saying here.

He's already undermining God.

And the woman said to the serpent, well, we may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden.

But God said, you shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden.

Neither shall you touch it lest you die.

God didn't.

Not say that.

Eve says, well, we, she got it right.

And she said, we can eat of any of the trees in the garden.

She said, you can't, but not don't eat of the tree that is in the midst of the garden.

He said that.

And neither shall you touch it.

God said nothing about touching it.

He didn't.

Probably not the smartest thing in the world to go.

Oh, God doesn't want us to eat this, but oh, it looks good.

I'm going to touch it.

But the serpent got her questioning God right away.

Then the verse four.

But the serpent said to the woman, you will not surely die for God.

No.

He knows that when 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 and that it was a delight to the eyes and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise.

She took of it and ate of its fruit and ate.

And she also gave some to her husband who was with her and he ate.

And the eyes of both were open and they knew that they were naked.

They sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.

Had a perfect relationship with God.

The thing I was reading this this morning, and I'm not going to go beyond verse seven this morning, but I do want you to want way to hear this, though.

They walked with God in the garden.

They talked with God in the garden.

As one talks with a friend, as you talk with your spouse, as you talk with your kids, they walked with God.

And then the next time after this happened, when they heard God walking as he normally did, God walked with him.

It says in verse eight, when the Lord is walking in the garden, the cool of the day, Adam and Eve hid themselves for the first.

First time they felt shame.

First time they felt shame.

And God calls him.

Hey, where are you guys?

And he says, well, we hid because we were afraid for the first time.

There was fear.

Why?

Because of sin.

That's the effect of sin.

We fear so much today because of sin.

We have shame in our lives today because of sin.

And what is the core of this sin?

It's not just breaking a rule or taking a bite of fruit here, guys.

We can go.

What's the big deal?

She just ate a piece of the apple or whatever.

Whatever it was.

We don't know what it was.

The core of it is that they wanted to be like God, which is exactly the same thing that Satan wanted.

So in order for us to understand the current state of things and actually follow God, we have to agree with that statement that the pull of sin is the pull to be the God of our lives.

We're in charge.

Ain't no one else in charge.

I'm the God of my life.

And that is the pull for every single one of us.

When we don't want to do it God's way, it's because we want to be God.

Why do you think we always argue with each other?

Because I'm right.

It's all about me.

I am better than you.

Adam and Eve wanted to be in charge, even though God had given them all they could have ever wanted in the garden.

And the only thing that God forbid them was a tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

Think about the name of that, though.

The knowledge of good and evil.

God knew the difference between good and evil.

Adam and Eve were innocent.

See, someday we'll be returned to innocence when we see Jesus face to face.

But now we know the difference between good and evil.

See, this was idolatry.

God showed Adam and Eve nothing but love.

And they wanted his job.

Wanted his job.

They chose to love themselves rather than God.

They wanted to dethrone God.

And that affects every single one of us.

It's been devastating from the beginning of time.

And lest you think, well, that was dumb, Eve.

Or lest you think, oh, man, it's all the woman's fault.

No, it's not.

Every one of us guys would have been, okay, all of that.

That's exactly what we would have done.

All right?

Every single one.

Let's be honest, guys.

That's exactly what we would have done.

There ain't one of us in this room that would have chosen differently.

Because we choose it that way every day.

Every single.

Every day we choose to be the God of our own life.

In some way.

Every one of us.

And see, Adam had a representative significance here.

That sin entered all of mankind through Adam.

It's called original sin.

It's a really big thing in theology.

All have sinned and entered through Adam.

And since then, all have fallen short.

And there's a chain reaction that Keller talks about.

That sin entered the world through Adam.

Death entered the world through sin.

And now death spread to all humans because all have sinned.

And so not only had sin come into the world, but death spread to sin.

All have sinned.

Sin always separates us from God.

But there's something else here.

There's a transgression.

Well, what's a transgression as opposed to sin?

Well, say you're driving down the freeway from Michigan and crossing to Ohio.

You're going 70 miles an hour in Michigan and continue to do so in Ohio.

You didn't see the speed limit sign and continue on in ignorance.

Did you still break the law when the cop pulls you over not only because you had Michigan plates?

Did you break the law, though?

Yeah.

Do you still get the ticket?

Do you still have to go to court?

Yeah.

Yeah.

Restitution still has to be paid even though you didn't know.

Now, if you're going 100 miles an hour on any road, you're going to get in trouble.

You're not just going to get a ticket.

You're going to go to jail.

That's a transgression.

You knew better.

And so Paul's saying that Adam transgressed.

But the people after him, they didn't have the law yet.

But they were still held accountable because of their sin.

Those individuals were still able to have a relationship with God.

And God counted their faith to them as righteousness, just like he did with Abram.

But until the law came, it was sin.

When the law came to define sin.

And what it was, it wasn't just sin.

It was wrong still.

But once you knew better, it's not just sin.

It's a transgression because you knew better.

And you chose to do it anyway.

It's a little different.

And so when we take a 30,000-foot view of the Old Testament, from this original sin,

God is continually calling people back to him.

He's showing us more of who he is.

It's so awesome.

As people learned more of who God is, they gave him names to define who he is.

That's why we see so many different names of God in the Bible.

He's all of these names and more.

He's all of these names and more.

I've got an issue with our puppy, Purdy, our new puppy.

She is a stinking mama's dog, and it annoys the heck out of me.

I'm the one that wanted this dog, and she cuddles with her all the time.

The only time she'll come to me in Sydney is when there's food involved.

This dog is so food motivated.

And she jumps all over the place.

Are you going to give me some?

Are you going to give me some?

And if we don't give her any, she's back to mom on her lap.

So I'm at a point now where I'm like, you're not getting anything from me.

You're getting nothing from me.

Get down.

I don't even want you in my face.

Get down.

I'm done.

Get away from me, dog.

You don't love me other times.

I'm not going to love you now.

Now, I've mentioned before that if you're a dog owner, let's be honest.

For me, it's been a really good illustration of what God's relationship is to us.

Because to my dogs, I'm the alpha in a sort of way.

This isn't a pride thing I'm saying here.

But in their minds, I'm kind of their God.

I feed them.

I protect them.

They need all the stuff.

I'm trying to protect them to stay in.

If they stay in the fence, if they go outside the boundary of the fence,

they're going to get run over by cars.

And they don't realize that.

As long as they stay in the fence, they're safe.

If they go outside the fence, they're going to die, right?

Not altogether undifferent than what God has done for us to give us guardrails

to keep us safe within his care, all right?

But here I am with my dog.

You're not going to give me affection?

Talk to the hand.

That's not how God treats me.

Because let's be honest.

I sometimes treat God the same way.

When he gives me what I want and life's great, I go to him.

I thank him, you know.

When life's kind of hard, that's when I go to him.

But when life gets really hard, I go to him.

I'm like, God, what the heck?

Let me still.

He never changes.

But we have to know.

Something's wrong in the world.

We all know it.

The world knows it.

That's why we have all these things we're trying to fill our lives with.

But the reality is the problem is sin.

And we can try to name it so many other things.

It is sin.

No one has to teach a child to challenge authority.

Burton White, in his book, The New First Three Years of Life,

it's a parenting classic, he says this.

From 15 to 16 months on, as his self-awareness becomes more substantial,

something in his nature we don't fully understand, he says,

will lead him to deliberately try to reach these forbidden activities,

specifically to see what will be allowed and what won't.

In other words, he will begin to systematically challenge

the authority of the adult he lives with.

Resistance to simple requests become very common at this time.

And if there's more than one child around,

this can be a low point in the parenting experience.

See, Adam was a type of the one to come.

He brought death to all mankind.

So who's the real deal who brings life versus 15 to 17?

Oh, I got to go back to Romans.

I didn't leave my finger in Romans.

Romans chapter 5.

Give me a second.

You have buttons.

I have pages.

All right, 15 to 17.

But the free gift is not like the trespass.

For if many died through one man's trespass,

much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of the one,

that man, Jesus Christ, abounded for many.

And the free gift is not like the result of that one man's sin.

For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation.

But the free gift following many trespasses brought judgment.

For if because of one man's trespass, death reigned through that one man,

much more will those who receive the abundance of grace

and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ.

So with Adam, sin and death multiply.

That's what Paul's saying here.

With Jesus, grace multiplied and forgiveness was given to those who receive it.

The free gift isn't like the trespass.

Because here's Paul's one much more again.

Since death reigned through Adam, death came through Adam.

But much more did grace abound.

Through Jesus for many as well.

One sin led to condemnation.

But the gift that Christ brought to us was his life.

It brought justification.

It's the exact opposite of condemnation.

We were made.

Condemnation condemns us to an eternity apart from him in hell.

Justification makes us right with him for eternity.

What Adam lost, Jesus restores.

That's what Paul's saying here.

Death doesn't reign anymore.

Grace can.

And it does for those that receive the abundance of grace that's available in Christ.

We have to make the choice.

See, Paul talks about grace or the gift eight times in these three verses.

The free gift is a new identity.

That's the free gift.

See, once we were an enemy, now we're a friend.

Once we were condemned, now we're justified.

Once we were dead in sin, now we can be eternally alive.

Tony Morita, a commentator, says it like this.

Our identity in Christ should impact everything about us.

We should no longer seek to build our lives on performance, our popularity,

our power, or what our peers think of us.

We must build our lives on our identity in Christ.

We're justified before God, reconciled to God, and adopted by God.

In the words of Romans 1-7, we are loved by God.

If you're renewing your mind by reflecting on these gospel realities,

and if you're seeking to walk in this new identity,

then you're going to become a more humble, grateful, generous,

compassionate, and holy person.

You become more conformed to the image of the Son.

This wasn't in my notes, but I'm feeling compelled to talk about it for a second.

So many times in our lives, we make excuses for not following the Lord

when we know we should do better,

when we know we should do something different.

I take that back.

Please don't hear that.

Scratch that from your memory.

When we know we should do what God asks of us,

when we know that God loves us.

But I have a feeling this morning,

there's some of us this morning that don't care what God wants

because we're hanging on to what we want.

That means we haven't really grasped the identity in Christ that was actually there.

It's about a religious thing for us then.

It's just something that we do.

Are you following Jesus?

Or just a set of rules?

Because it's not about the set of rules.

It's about following the one who saves you.

It's about a relationship with a real God who loves you.

Doesn't mean you're going to be perfect.

But man, when we know we should do something different

and we choose to keep doing the same thing,

no matter what, because I want what I want and I don't care.

That's an indicator that something's really wrong in our heart.

Really wrong in our heart.

And the consequences will come eventually.

We have to be careful about that.

Here's the thing that Paul says in verses 18 to 21.

But Jesus is stronger.

Therefore, as just as one trespass led to condemnation for all men,

so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men.

For as by the one man's disobedience, the many were made sinners.

So by the one man's obedience, the many will be made righteous.

Now the law came in to increase the trespass.

But where sin increased, grace abounded all the more.

So that as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness,

leading to eternal life.

Through Jesus Christ, our Lord.

See, Paul finalizes this contrast between Adam and Jesus.

In Adam, the trespass led to condemnation for all.

In Jesus, righteousness led to justification for all who will receive it.

In Adam, disobedience led to all mankind being made sinners.

In Jesus, obedience will be made, obedience, obedience, or in obedience, sorry,

many will be made righteous.

Now the law was given to increase the trespass.

He gave the law so that people,

would know how to have a relationship with him.

So that people would understand what sin actually was.

Actually, when you look at the Old Testament,

it made the relationship with God,

I don't even want to say worse, but it made it interesting.

You had to now follow all these rules and regulations

to be able to have a relationship with him.

Because our sin had to be atoned for.

People were then and are still sinners,

but sin becomes a trespass or willful obedience

that leads to death, both spiritual and physical.

Which by the way, we're all prone to trespass.

We're all prone to trespass.

But where sin increased,

grace increased all the more.

How amazing is that?

See, sin reigned in death,

but grace reigns through the righteousness of Christ,

which leads to eternal life, not death.

If we go after him.

I want us to walk away with this today.

Sin is great, but Jesus is greater.

We can't just gloss it over and say it's not a big deal.

Sin is a problem.

It's a real problem.

It's what's broken our world.

But Jesus is greater.

I want to say some more contrasts.

See, the first Adam yielded to temptation in a garden.

The last Adam beat,

temptation in a garden.

The first Adam ate and a covenant was broken.

The last Adam ate and a covenant was established.

The first Adam was a man who sought to become like God.

The last Adam was God who became a man.

The first Adam was naked and received clothes.

The last Adam had clothes, but was stripped naked.

The first Adam tasted death from a tree.

The last Adam tasted death on a tree.

The first Adam hid from the face of God.

The last Adam begged God not to hide,

but to hide his face.

The first Adam blamed his bride.

The last Adam took the blame for his bride.

The first Adam brought thorns and thistles that he had to work.

The last Adam wore those thorns and thistles.

The first Adam gained a wife when God opened man's side.

The last Adam gained a wife when man opened God's side.

The first Adam brought a curse.

The last Adam became a curse.

The first Adam was made immortal and chose to die.

The last Adam was made mortal and chose to die.

The last Adam was made mortal and chose to rise.

The first Adam listened when the serpent said,

The last Adam told his followers,

Hear that and we know that sin was strong.

Jesus is stronger.

But as we look at that contrast,

how do we obtain the life that Jesus gives?

All we have to do to receive what Adam offers,

is to be born.

That's all we have to do.

We've already, every single one of us has received that.

Paul already established this fact.

We're not good by nature.

We're deceitful.

We, every single one of us,

on the face of this planet,

we want to be God.

But in order to receive God's gift,

I want you to know this morning, it's a free gift.

So that's a message for whether you're here this morning

and you've never accepted Christ,

or if you've accepted Christ and think you've got to earn something,

it's free.

You can't be loved any more than you already are.

Your debt's been paid.

See, if you know Christ this morning,

you used to be all these things.

Stop being defined by your past.

Stop being defined by what you've done or what's been done to you.

Jesus will set you free.

He wants to set you free.

Because of sin, Adam and Eve were ashamed.

They didn't see God.

And Jesus said,

I don't want you to be ashamed anymore.

So I'm going to take your shame on the cross

so that you can boldly come to me

and know that you don't have any shame before me anymore.

Even when you're ashamed of yourself,

I'm not ashamed of you.

He says, come to me, burdened.

Give you rest for your sins.

Yeah, our shame, our sin.

There's times I go to God, so ashamed to say,

come to me, God, we serve.

That's the God that loves you.

But in order to receive his gift,

we believe in the Lord Jesus Christ,

and you'll be saved.

That's Acts 16, 31.

Peter said that.

Give your life to him.

See, in Adam, all people die.

In Christ, we have a choice to live.

You've got to understand,

you are more sinful than you ever dared to believe.

Accepted and loved in Jesus than you ever dared to hope.

So where do you find yourself this morning?

Are you still in Adam?

Are you in Christ?

The thing about this proclamation that Paul makes,

and I want to make to you today,

is now you know.

If you choose to stay the God of your life,

that act moves from sin to trespass.

If you give your life to Christ today,

whether for the first time or for the millionth time,

let him in for the first time.

Let him back in for the millionth time.

If you know Jesus and continue to trespass,

it doesn't matter how far away you've run,

how far away you've strayed.

Where sin increases,

grace can increase all the more

if you'd come back to him.

Jesus is greater.

Your sin is strong, but Jesus is greater.

Your shame may be great,

but Jesus is stronger.

You can begin again.

2 Corinthians 5, 17-18 says,

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ,

he is a new creation.

The old has passed away.

Behold, the new has come.

All this is from God,

who through Christ reconciled us to himself

and gave us the ministry of reconciliation.

The slate can be wiped clean.

Jesus, Paul's your today.

Will you answer?

And will you turn to him?

This thing is great.

Jesus, thank you for your love for us.

Thank you for all that you are

and all that you've done.

Lord, I'm so grateful

that where sin abounded,

grace abounds all the more.

I'm reminded so often of what I don't deserve.

That's the enemy reminding me of what I don't deserve.

You come to me and you come to all of us.

Tell us how much you love us.

That we're your son or daughter.

We just simply turn to you.

Learn obedience.

Give us your peace.

Sometimes our circumstances don't change

the way we want them to.

But you are God.

You are good.

Your ways are higher than ours.

So that I pray for someone this morning

who maybe is just living in shame and in pain.

I pray they would hear,

hear your voice declaring how much they're loved.

They'd be free from their past.

That they'd be free from what they've done

or what's been done to them.

I bring freedom, bring healing.

God, for the person that's hanging on to a sin

or something that,

that hang on to a trespass.

I pray be a soft heart this morning.

And they will want you

more than they want to be God.

Somebody here this morning

that doesn't yet know you, God,

I pray that they would come to me this morning.

They would understand

that Lord, we're so much more sinful

than we dared to believe.

But Lord, we are so much more,

accepted and loved

than we ever dared to hope.

I pray that they would call on the name of the Lord

and be saved today.

Thank you that we're sin abounded.

Grace abounds all.

In Jesus name we pray.