Law & Grace - Romans 5:12-21 Grace, the reigning principle
Romans 5:12-21 · Vern Peterman · Jul 29, 2012
Law & Grace, No. 75
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/492632332604

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

Good morning. We have in here, and you'll see it a time or two again, we drink from the Niagara Falls of grace. That's obviously an analogy, and like all analogies, it breaks down. The Niagara Falls is actually smaller than God's grace, right? But anyway, you get the idea. Today we're continuing on with a study throughout the middle of Romans, Romans 5 into Romans 8. And so now the second one here, grace the reigning principle from the passage that Courtney just read for us here.

Last week we made the point that this grace is this grace in which we stand and very important point we made last week was that in the pagan world this word that is translated grace was a favor you did for a friend or a relative and you didn't expect anything in return. Although it was possible that friend or relative could give you some favor in return or something in return, it was possible. That was the regular, real-world, pagan definition. The New Testament greatly expanded the use of that word and made it apply spiritually.

God's grace, just to start us off, pays a massive, huge debt entirely at God's expense through Christ, and there is no possible way that we could pay it back. This isn't a favor for which you just expect nothing in return just because it's friendly. Furthermore, that was paid when we were enemies.

Grace is not only what gets us in the door, but spiritually speaking, this grace is where we stand now. That's what this verse in Romans 5, 2 communicated to us. It's the spiritual atmosphere that we breathe. pure grace. That word stand also means made to stand and made to stand permanently. We stand in grace as God's doing. We not only are saved by grace but we stand in it now. We are completely engulfed and entirely in this grace.

Now you have this chart on your first page of the handout. And that outlines, in summary form, what we'll be covering here in this passage, Romans 5, 12 through 21. This chart is adapted from a smaller one from William Newell and his commentary on Romans. And there's reference there to that in the bottom of the page. But we're going to expand on it, not only in the chart, but talking through the different parts of it.

It's comparison and contrast is what we're looking at, and that's a principle we've used before, especially as we're studying through the book of Matthew. We spoke of the need to compare and contrast, compare what is the same and contrast what is different. in order to understand each passage correctly and to see what applies to us in the church. That's what we did with the book of Matthew. But that same principle applies here because comparing and contrasting is exactly what the Apostle Paul wants us to do. That's the way he wrote this passage. And so we're going to be looking at that as we proceed through the passage, comparing and contrasting.

The first thing we're going to compare and contrast is we have two men. there ends the similarity. In Romans 12-21, Paul compares and contrasts Adam and Christ. He also compares other aspects, as we'll see as we go through this chart and through the passage, of these two men. Paul contrasts Adam and Christ And as we go through there, we'll see the distinction becomes greater and greater.

Is there a point of comparison? Certainly, but the contrast is huge. And the contrast makes an internal difference. It impacts the character, not only of this life now, but of our eternities. The comparison is significant, but the contrast is even bigger.

Adam and Christ, each act is the head of a group. And we're going to use a term here where it's important to understand what do we mean by that. Each act is the head of a group. This teaching about the two men is not quite the same as in Adam and in Christ. We'll get there.

And so this is not identification with them, but them acting as, and the term is a federal head. Now, don't think of the U.S. government, okay? The federal head, a representative head. of the fallen race of mankind, that's Adam, and then Christ is the federal head of all of those who are saved by grace through faith in Christ. So Adam is the head, a representative head of one group, of the fallen group, and Christ is the head, the representative head of all of those who have put their trust in Christ and are therefore saved.

Being in Adam and in Christ is a different set of teachings. It is exceedingly valuable and important. We'll cover that, but it's not what's being covered in this passage yet. Now the next one is two acts. Each one has an act. Adam had an act and Christ had an act. What are those? Adam and Christ each took an action once and so doing impacted the lives and the eternities of many.

Adam acted in the garden to eat of the one tree he was told not to eat from lest he die. Adam, you can eat of all these trees, that one, and that one, and that one, and that one, and that one, and that one, all these trees, just not this one. So guess which one he chose to eat from, right? Adam acted in the garden just once, and everybody gets impacted by that.

Christ likewise acted once to die on a cross for us, for you, and for me. that one righteous act of the righteous one served to pay for the many sins of all those who were impacted by the one act of Adam. Two acts, yes, but a huge contrast in their impact. Adam and Christ each took an action once and impacted the lives and eternities of a great many in so doing. Adam's singular act, however, was an act of disobedience.

It was an act that was under principle of law. And when we think of law, we think of the law of Moses, and that's appropriate. But really, if you think about it, was it principle of law or grace that was in effect there in the garden? It was law, and it was just one. Don't eat from that tree. That's principle of law. Christ, however, was obedient, in contrast to Adam, unto death.

Philippians 2.8 puts it beautifully, being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. One act. An act of obedience. The next is two outcomes. Adam's one act had one set of outcomes. Christ's one act had another set of outcomes.

Adam's one act resulted in condemnation, being guilty of the one act he was told not to do, and death did follow. Let's talk about that death. Was it just that he died physically? No. It was a spiritual death and a physical death. All those after Adam are condemned, are guilty, and suffer death from Adam's one act as our federal head, as our representative there in the garden.

The outcome of Christ's one act was to bring justification, that's being declared righteous, life, and reigning for all who believe. We're going to talk more about what that reigning means. Justification is being declared righteous. And by the way, God is the one who does the declaring. I can't do it. None of us can do that. God's the one who has to declare us righteous. Life is being alive to Him and alive in Him and reigning is His life lived out in us. Next, we have two contrasting states. What Adam did brought one state, and what Christ did brought another state. I'm not talking about Colorado and California.

By Adam's doing, all those after him stand condemned. They are utter slaves to the sin nature. Do you know that the people out there in the world have no choice? If they're unsaved, they may think they're making choices. Oh, I'm going to buy this brand of applesauce instead of that brand of applesauce. But every choice they make is consistent with the sin nature. No exceptions. They stand condemned as utter slaves, absolutely controlled by that sin nature. Apart from Christ's one act, there is no way to get out of that slavery to the sin nature. For those who believe, the sin nature is removed from its monarchy status.

One of the illustrations that worked pretty well in Uganda was that there was this horrific ruler, Idi Amin, and he had a terrible, horrible reign in Uganda. But then he was booted out. He was booted out and he went and lived in Saudi Arabia until about, I think it was 2003 when he died. He could still call people up in Uganda if he wanted, but he had no real control over them. Oh yes, the voice could sound real familiar and he could bark orders, but he was removed from his monarchy status. That's the situation for believers, the monarch no longer has a right to rule.

We who believe are declared righteous are uniquely able to be instruments of his righteousness and we'll see that again in the weeks ahead here. Some will ask why we use the term the sin nature when those three words are not used in any common Bible translation.

Hmm. Well, that's fair enough to ask. So let's at least start answering it. We're going to answer it some more in a bit. The short answer is the sin nature is intended by the word pair the sin in this passage and in the passages that we're going to be looking at in the weeks ahead. It's often translated just sin. But in fact, in the Greek text, there is the definite article.

Romans 5.12 and 21 are examples of places where that the sin is actually behind the English text. The flesh, as we'll see later on in Romans and is used rather consistently in Galatians, the flesh is the sin nature acting in and through this body. It's a term that Paul uses in Romans, as we'll see shortly, and in the book of Galatians, especially chapter 5.

Now, this passage brings up the sin nature in unbelievers and all those who are descended from Adam. The sin nature, by its nature, generates spiritual death, it can do nothing else, and the action of sinning in human beings. People sin because they have a sin nature that has a nature that can do nothing but sin. That's how it gets generated. It can't do anything else.

As we get into Romans chapter 6 in the weeks ahead, however, we're going to see that the Apostle Paul addresses the sin nature in believers and our relationship to it and what do we do with this sin nature thing. So we'll talk about that in the weeks ahead here.

Next, we have two differences. We have differences in degree and differences in operation between Adam and Christ. So there are four things there essentially to take a look at. The differences in degree. While sin abounds from Adam to all those who have followed him, grace super abounds. Grace is greater than sin. So you have sin abounding. Is there lots of sin? Oh yeah, plenty. Is there lots of grace? Much more. A lot more grace. In fact, one way you could put it is as bad as sin is, grace is far greater.

The ruin from what came from Adam's sin is overwhelmed by Christ's salvation. Christ's salvation is even greater than the awfulness of sin. We had an instance here in Aurora where the sin nature broke out in the theater. The sin nature broke out in the theater. Awful, terrible things happened.

Do you know that Christ's salvation is greater than that? As awful as that was, Christ's salvation is bigger than that. The grace is far more abundant. Sin is a human capacity, but grace is God's infinite capacity. God's got not just wimpy skimpy grace, okay? Massive awesome grace. Grace so big it's going to take forever for us to see it all.

In operation, one sin by Adam and the entire race follows with sins, plural. Sins and sinning and lots of it. Resulting in death and condemnation. One of the things that John chapter 8 points out is that, you know how people think, well, I got away with this sin, I didn't get caught. They think that. People actually do. I have to tell you. People actually do. But you know what?

The sins stick to them. Jesus told the Jewish leaders who were skeptical of Him, unless you believe, you're going to die in your sins. You're in them. For the unbeliever, they die in their sins. In them. They're stuck to them. They're not getting out of them.

The many sins are placed upon Christ so that many are declared righteous. All who believe. Christ has taken all the sins of the entire world upon himself, believers and unbelievers alike. The provision and payment is made for everyone. Those who believe are those who are declared righteous.

Now, one of the points we have to make here is that death is separation. That's true spiritually, and in fact it's even true physically. What happens when human beings die? the spiritual aspect of them separates from their physical aspect. The physical aspect of them stays here, right? But the spiritual aspect of them is separated from the body. So even physically, death is separation. But death is separation in scripture as well.

Ephesians 2.12, after saying in Ephesians 2.1-3 Unbelievers are dead in their trespasses and sins.

It says in Ephesians 2.12, you are at that time separate from Christ, being aliens without God. That's atheos, atheist, right? Atheos, in the world.

Ephesians 4.18, excluded from the life of God. Here's God, you're apart from it. That's death. That's separation. Colossians 121, you are formerly alienated. This word shows us being spiritually apart. Now, death of separation is also taught in passages we're going to be studying shortly. Romans 6, 1-11, you're dead to sin, that is the sin nature, and alive to Christ. The very next chapter, Romans 7, 1-6, death releases from marriage, and we have died to the law and been joined to Christ.

And on through 2 Corinthians 5, Galatians 2, Colossians 2.20, and Colossians 3.5 and 20. Dead to sin, died with Christ to the world.

So there in the Colossians passage, Colossians 3.5 and 20.

Dead in relationship to is the way to expand that. It doesn't mean that what we're dead to ends. It doesn't mean that that thing is dead, we are dead in relationship to. There is no connection between us and whatever we are dead to. Now we take a look here at the effects of the law.

There are two effects of the law, there are more in fact, but two of them that are brought up in this passage. One is that sin is imputed, that is charged to someone's account, and then next, sin is actually increased. Let's take a look at that. Here we have the two effects of the law.

We have to say the law is good and righteous and holy. There's nothing actually wrong with the law. The deficiency is in us. This is where the problem is, not with the law. The law is good. It represents God's righteous and holy character. It does express that. But the problem is we are not empowered to live it out. And everything we do with the law, because we're not empowered to live it out, everything we do with the law is damaging.

The law puts a measure to sin and quantifies it. You broke this law this many times. It puts a measure to sin and quantifies it. It allows now to tabulate. You broke these laws this many times and you can count it. You can account for it. It's imputed. It's charged to an account because now we can see what it is and we can count the number of times. The law, however, doesn't end there.

It actually increases sin. How do you like that? It increases sin. It makes more of it. I'm going to pour some gasoline on this fire. That's what the law does. It increases sin. It first does so by measuring it. Now we know which laws you broke and how many times you broke it, but also by stimulating the sin nature. It is gasoline on a fire to stimulate the sin nature with the law.

The whole thing goes up. The sin nature loves it. I've got this cartoon. I was trying to find it and it goes like this. There's this couple standing on the side of the street and there's a sign right next to them. Absolutely no machete juggling. And the guy standing next to him, he says, suddenly I have this urge to juggle machetes. You know, it's funny the way the law is, right?

He didn't even think of it. With Hassan, I was trying to illustrate this, and I put it this way. I said, Hassan, I'm going to tell you, and I'm going to tell you several times, do not think of a pink hippopotamus. I'm telling you. You stop thinking. Do not think of a pink hippopotamus. Never, ever, ever think of a pink hippopotamus. What are you thinking of? Right?

That's the problem with the law. You get drawn to the very thing you're trying to prevent. The next thing is two abundances. Now, the law has categories under Adam. This has categories only under Christ. Two abundances. The one who believes will have an abundance of grace.

That's why we use the illustration of the Niagara Falls. Here we illustrate it with a fire hydrant hooked up to the drinking fountain. Then, because God has not just grace, but surpassing over-the-top riches of grace, those over-the-top riches of grace There is an abundance of grace. That's why Paul can write that here.

An abundance. There's plenty. There's a surplus. It's way over the top. It's beyond drinking from a fire hydrant. The abundance also applies to the gift of righteousness as well. It is grace given by Christ's work on the cross on our behalf. It is a gift, not a work. It's a gift, not a work. The law does not bring righteousness. The law does not bring righteousness.

Not too long ago there was a big court deal with displaying the Ten Commandments at the courthouse, and can we do that, and all that. The only thing is, go ahead and display the Ten Commandments, I suppose that's a good thing. Does it stop sin? No. Does it mean nobody will ever come to the courthouse again? No. It doesn't work that way, does it? Somehow, it just doesn't help.

The law does not bring righteousness. It brings death and condemnation. 2 Corinthians 3. A ministry of death and a ministry of condemnation. Righteousness is a gift that is only given to believers, and it is Christ's righteousness It's His righteousness that's given to us. That's the only way it comes.

Now, something else that comes out in this passage, four times the word pair, much more, shows up in the passage. Two times in the passage we looked at last week, and then twice in this one, so four. in last week's passage, much more than, having now been justified by his blood, shall be saved from the wrath of God through him. For if we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son. Much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.

Much more, much more. Not just a little pinch more, not just a little bit more, not kinda more, much more. And then again, twice in this passage, in verse 15 and verse 17, much more did the grace of God and the gift by the grace of one man, Jesus Christ, abound to the many. Much more those who receive the abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the one, Jesus Christ. So we have this abundance, but we also have much more, much more, much more, much more. Oh yeah, and much more too, right?

Now we have here two reigning principles, okay? And no, it's not reigning principles, right? We're talking about rain not in falling from the sky, but rain as in ruling, right? A principle is either a fundamental truth or the way things work, and sometimes it's both, right? In this case, the second definition particularly applies here. What do we mean by that?

Sin, imputed and increased by the law, is the normal operating principle among all those who follow after Adam, the first sinner. That's the norm for all those walking the planet apart from Christ. But for us who believe, for you and me, grace is the reigning principle. It's the way things work. Christ died on the cross, as we talked about a few weeks ago, for several different purposes, but one of those purposes lost on most of Christendom is that Christ died on the cross so that you would die to the law.

Very important. Grace is the reigning principle and not a mixture of law and grace. Do you know that several times the law says God is gracious? and mixed in with the law. If you want a mixture of law and grace, you missed your chance. That was the law of Moses. That's a mixture of law and grace. What we've got is pure grace. This is pure, pedal-to-the-metal, full-on, full-out grace. Nothing else. No law mixed in, not even a pinch.

While this series that we've been going through here is called Law and Grace, notice as you look at this chart, where law and grace are on the accompanying chart. You look at that. Very interesting. Law is in the Adam column and grace is in the Christ column. Let's take a look at that. If you look there on page one, here's the two effects of the law. Is that under Adam or Christ? It's under Christ. Excuse me, Adam. Then we have two reigning principles. The sin is imputed and increased by the law, reigning through death, under Adam.

The law is entirely under Adam, and not otherwise. Now, you have Christ, then you have grace showing up again and again, never the law. And notice, never a mixture. You either have Adam and law, or you have Christ and grace, you don't get both. They don't mix.

Grace does not need the law to help. Have you ever had anybody have a conversation with them and they get real nervous and upset? Just recently I was talking to somebody about this and they just got this blown away look. Don't we need some law? No. We don't need any. None. Zip. Nada. Right? We don't need any law to help grace. Grace is not like deficient and just barely adequate. Grace is way over the top. It's massive. It's the reigning principle. It's the whole thing. It's the whole nine yards. It's the full banana. Right?

The law does not help grace, but it does help sin. How do you like that? The law does not help grace, but it sure helps sin, and the Bible says so. You just saw it. Grace is abundant. It's the reigning principle for all who believe in Christ, and that is never, ever going to change in all eternity. In all eternity, that will not change.

We drink from the Niagara Falls of grace, admitting that that's an inadequate analogy. Because God's grace is much, much more than Niagara Falls, which is limited, which is finite. God's grace is so fantastic. You could sit there and stare at the Niagara Falls and say, that's really awesome.

But we are going to be looking at God's demonstration of grace on into the rolling ages of eternity, gasping in awe. Ephesians 2, verse 7. into the rolling ages to come. He will be demonstrating, showing us His grace. We're going to be looking at God's demonstration of grace, and from one moment to the next just gasping, WOW! And we won't even be asking, when's the next coffee break? Let's pray.

Lord, Your grace is indeed awesome. It is amazing, astounding, overwhelming, and all we can do is thank you for it, because there's not a chance that we could ever pay any of it back. It wouldn't be grace then, would it? Thank you, Lord, for your most amazing grace. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.