Grace Abounds Much More

Grace Abounds Much More

Romans 5:12-21—Week 10—Grace Abounds Much More

 

During my high school and early college years, I was a sinner.  I was enslaved to sin.  My excessive drinking was constant.  My cursing and offensive speech regularly hurt and annoyed people, and certainly offended God.  My anxiety over school and money was consuming, at times.   I was a slave to my sin.   And as I heard the gospel message as a 19-year old, I realized that I was a slave to death.  My sin brought condemnation which led to my death.  Eternal death.  Sin and death ruled over me.

 

Then on a warm August evening in my room near campus, I finally bowed my heart and knee to Christ, and was saved from the wrath of God, forgiven completely, justified thoroughly, and brought into a new life of peace with God.  The next morning, I woke up and felt brand new.  I looked outside, and the world seemed a little different to me.  The grass and the trees seemed greener.  I was calm inside.  My feelings that morning were experiential, but they were founded upon a truth…..  the truth that my salvation was far, far superior to the condemnation I was previously under.

 

Since that day, I cannot recall ever doubting that God has saved my soul, and saved me from death and wrath.  I haven’t always valued it as I ought, or understood it as well as I should.  I haven’t always believed how amazing my salvation is.  But I’ve never doubted God’s rescue of my soul from slavery to sin and death to something vastly greater.  

 

Our passage this morning has a theme along that line.

 

All humanity really has only two outcomes:  Death or Life.  Not mere physical death.  But an eternal, spiritual death.  Condemnation.  Wrath.  Contrasted with glorious, eternal,  never-ending life with God.  

 

Romans 5:12-21

 

Before we explore our passage today, I want to ask this:  Why do we need to understand, believe our passage today?   Why should we care?

 

Here’s why:   We tend to live less than powerful, faith-filled, JOY-filled Christian lives.  Somewhat just above the spiritual poverty level.  I know I’ve felt that way many times.  Even this past week.

 

Why are we sometimes below the spiritual poverty level?? One is that we remember our sinful past so well.  We might even be haunted by the sins of our “BC” days, or even our more recent days.

 

Two, we “feel” our sin and our weakness so readily and daily.  Every day, we are confronted with temptations and we often succumb to them.  So experientially, sometimes life today can feel so much  like our former days.  Although we know better, we feel like the same old person.

 

Three, we don’t fully grasp the power of the gospel.   This passage today in Romans 5 reveals that we have something radically better than our former life without Christ.  Extraordinarily better.  The passage uses phrases like “MUCH MORE”, and “abounding all the more.”

 

If this morning, by God’s grace through this glorious passage and my feeble words we can have our eyes opened a little bit more, we will be changed.

 

Romans 5

Let’s look at our passage for today.  Romans 5:12–21. 

 

This is a challenging passage.  As a whole, I think we can figure out what Paul wants us to know.  But there are a few statements that we might scratch our heads a bit.

 

In spite of any part we don’t quite understand, when I think of this passage, I picture Paul jumping up and down, waving his arms, and saying, “Hey, do you get this?  Did you catch it?  This is remarkable!”  So I hope we have soft hearts and clear minds this a.m. to examine this.  

 

Vs. 12

12 Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned— 

 

Paul is recounting history.  

Who is the one man?  Adam.  Where do we find this story?  Genesis 3.

What happened?   God created paradise.

For our 25th anniversary, Annette took a trip to Mexico to a beach.  Warm, beautiful, relaxing.  It seemed to me to be a taste of paradise.  I still long to go back to a place like that.

God created a perfect place.  He put a man there.  And a beautiful woman.  They were naked.  There was no sin.  No fighting.  No selfishness.  No complaining.  No hatred or anger.

 

Adam is given just one simple command. What happened?  He rebelled.  He thought he was wiser than God.  In short, Adam sinned against his Creator.

 

What was the result?  Judgment from God.  The worst part of it was death.  Adam was now going to die someday.

 

So back here in Romans, Paul is recounting this horrific day.  It was a Day of Infamy.  Perhaps the most tragic day in human history, second only to the day the Son of God was killed.

Then Paul says, “Death spread to all men.”  The human race was judged.  Adam and all his descendants were now under this curse of death.  The world would never be the same.  And you and I still experience the fallout from that Day of Infamy. 

 

 

Vs. 13-14

13 for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law. 

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

 

What is Paul saying?  What is “THE LAW”?   I think it’s fairly obvious he is talking about the Law of Moses that came along to Israel several thousand years later.  

 

Adam had “a law,” that is, he had a specific, clear command from God.  Israel was given the “Law,” i.e., the Ten Commandments and more.  But what about the millions of people in between those events?  They had no clear written or verbal instruction from God.  Paul is saying, If you have no law, then sin isn’t counted.

 

Now in reality, everyone has some form of law.  Back in chapters 1 and 2, Paul makes it clear that we all have knowledge of God in our hearts, and no one is without excuse.

 

But he’s not revisiting that whole issue.  He is simply saying, even without the written or spoken law from God, sin still reigns in the heart of man all over the earth.   Then he says something quite interesting, and it’s KEY to this entire passage:  “Death reigned.”  Even between Adam and Moses when there was no written law, death reigned.

What does that mean?  The word “reign” here means just what it says.  “To rule.  To reign.”  It’s the word that can be translated as “King.”  Death is King over all the people on the earth.  Death wears a Crown and rules over you.  Beginning with Adam.  Through Moses’ days.  And to our day.  Death is the ruler over mankind.  We are in an empire.  A regime.  And the King of this empire is Death.

 

I’m guessing most of us…maybe all of us…don’t easily grasp the implications of having someone reign over us, like a king.  We live in a day where we are very far removed from our governing officials.  They are generally benevolent.  And they leave us alone.  The Governor of Iowa rules over us, but most days we just live our own lives and don’t give him a lot of thought.  The Mayor of Ames rules over us, but we are largely left alone.

 

Paul is speaking about a different type of ruler.  Someone who is controlling our lives.  Someone who is hovering over us.  Someone who is a dominant force.

 

Death is that someone.   Death will have its way with us.  With all of us.  Who among us can escape the grasp of death??

 

So when Paul says, “Death reigns over us,” this is a very important statement.

 

Then the last thing Paul says is, “Adam is a type of the one to come.”  As we’ll see, Adam is a Type of Christ.  He is not Christ, but Paul is saying that there are some Parallels.  Some contrasts between Adam and Christ.

 

Vs. 15

15 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 that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many. 

 

What is the “Free Gift”?  Paul has already spoken of it.  Turn back a page to Romans 3:24.  “we are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.”

What is this gift from God through Jesus Christ?  It is salvation from the wrath of God.  It is redemption.  It is justification.  It is peace with God and reconciliation.  It is God being propitiated.

So this gift of life is not at all like Adam’s sin.  One man, Adam, sinned.  And many—actually all— died.  But how much more has God’s grace and this gift of justification and redemption and eternal life  through Christ abounded  and overflowed to many.

 

God’s gift of life abounds to us.

This is the main theme of this passage, and I hope we can grasp this more fully this morning.  God’s gift of eternal life ABOUNDS to us.    

I don’t usually use the word “abound”.  How would we say this?  God has truckloads of grace.  It is incredible.  Unbelievable.  Humongous.  It really defies comparison.  But we have to try.  If you’re a motorcycle lover, you compare a Harley Davidson to a little kid’s tricycle.  Really?  Or Long’s Peak in the Colorado Rockies compared to a small rock in your garden at home.

 

Paul says, “MUCH MORE” has God’s gift of life abounded to many.  Paul is trying to get us to understand and believe just how extraordinary your salvation is.

 

I know often life doesn’t feel this way.  But we look at things backwards.  We look our world and how broken it is.  We still sin every day.  We have pressures and weaknesses.  So we can wonder, is what I have in Jesus really that significant??

But we need to change the direction of our thinking.  Start with this abounding gift we have been given, and let it influence our perspective on our lives in this world.  

 

Vs. 16

16 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 justification. 

This  is interesting.  More contrast.  The gift of grace and eternal life is different than Adam’s condemnation.

Condemnation came after just one trespass.  One violation of God’s word.  But justification—a right standing with a holy God—came after many, many sins.  Billions of sins.

 

Condemnation has ruled this world.  But now in Christ, justification rules.  Justification through Christ’s death overcame the billions of sins and sinners.

 

Vs. 17

17 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. 

If death and condemnation and sin reigned over the world because of  just one man, Adam, how much more will all of us who receive this abundance—this boatload of grace and God’s free gift of righteousness—how much more do we REIGN in life through Christ.

 

There’s that word again.  “reign.”  To rule.  To be king.  Believers in Jesus Christ now—through his power and presence—rule in life.  I find it a little surprising what Paul says here.  He doesn’t say that Christ reigns, although is certainly true.  He says that believers reign life through Christ.

Doesn’t that strike you as an odd thing to say?  It seems to smack of arrogance.  Of Boastfulness.  But it is what he says.  This is profound.  Christ is king and yet we reign in life under him.   This is how radical our salvation is.   This is not an isolated thought in the NT.

For example,

2 Timothy 2:12  “If we endure, we will also reign with him…”

We are heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, we learn in Romans 8.

Our kingly (and queenly) reign is even be part of the future kingdom that we will inherit. 

With all this discussion about sin and death and condemnation, we could easily become discouraged.  But Paul is giving us hope here.  He wants us to have joy and amazement.  Look at what the Christian has:  No longer ruled by death as a tyrant. 

Now he rules in life through Christ.  He is like royalty.  Do we view ourselves this way in Christ?  Do we walk around in life shaking our heads in JOY and amazement at the new life and the freedom we now have in Christ?

 

If you know Jesus, God has gloriously exalted you to participate in a life of holiness and fellowship with Him.  This is the very reason for your existence.  If we get this more this morning, we will be changed people.  People overflowing with peace, not guilt and shame.  People abounding in their right standing before a holy God, not in Condemnation.  People full of hope, not hopelessness.

Friday morning, my daughter texted me that a college student had just committed suicide in the dorm just 2 blocks from her apartment.  What hopelessness drove this young man to this?  I’ve been grieving for him and his family.   But hopelessness doesn’t only show up in something so extreme.  We can all have some elements of a lack of hope in our lives.

 

But in Christ, God’s free gift of life abounds to us.  This is a hope Unparalleled.  There is nothing else like it.  

 

The gift of life through Christ is MUCH MORE glorious than the judgment to man was detrimental.

 

Vs. 18-19

18 Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. 

19 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. 

Again, Paul is making a contrast.  Just one sin by Adam led to the entire race of Adam into condemnation.

 

In contrast to that, Jesus’ life and death in obedience to God the Father leads to justification to all.  Note:  Paul does not mean that the entire human race is justified.  That has been made clear in Chapters 1-4.  He means justification to all who are in Christ.  To all who believe.  

 

Paul keeps hammering on this contrast between Adam and Christ because he wants us to get something.  What is it?  What does he want us to grasp deeply in our hearts?  

He wants us to get that your justification, i.e., your salvation and reconciliation and propitiation and redemption and peace with God, all of this is so much more glorious than the condemnation and wrath of God is horrific.  

I struggle to find a way to describe the greatness of salvation in Christ compared to the death that awaits all apart from Jesus.

We search for words like:

  • Radically new lives 
  • Overwhelmingly at peace with God
  • Completely forgiven.
  • Eternally saved
  • Extraordinarily reconciled.

Do we believe this?  Are we letting this truth frame our lives today?  Or are we letting our daily frailty and weaknesses and sin FRAME our lives?

 

 

Vs. 20-21

Verse 20 to me is the Climax of the section.  And the best verse of all.

20 Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, 

21 so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. 

Paul makes one final statement.  A summary, of sorts.

When Israel got the Law, it didn’t save them.  It actually increased sin.  There is something about our Adam-like nature and the curse we’re under that when we’re given a law, even a very good and holy law, the temptations increase to break it.

 

There is more that can be said about that.  But I want to focus on the second part of this verse:  “where SIN increased, GRACE increased all the more.”

 

Paul says, “Look.  As devastating as history has proven to be, something more radical and amazing and phenomenal has happened.  Grace has come upon us.  And while sin increases, grace doesn’t merely keep up with it.  No, grace abounds all the more.  This word in the Greek, “abound all the more,” is like the word, “HYPER-abound.”  Exceedingly abound.  Grace overflowed.  Like a dump truck backing up and tipping it’s load on you.  It’s an overflowing, abundant, overwhelming amount.

 

The salvation we have in Christ—the peace with God, the justification, the deliverance from wrath, the eternal life—is so vastly superior that we struggle to explain it.  Grace reigns in your life now as a believer in Jesus.  Forgiveness, not guilt, rules in you.  Justification, not condemnation, is king over you.  Peace with God, not the wrath of God, is directing your life now.

 

This verse is so fundamental and so life-changing.

 

Quote:  "There is more mercy in Christ than sin in us."   (Richard Sibbes)

 

Hymn:  Grace That is Greater:  “Marvelous grace of our loving Lord;  Grace that exceeds our sin and our guilt…”

 

Charles Spurgeon, the great English preacher in the 19th century, said:

"You cannot sin as much as God can forgive.  

If it comes to a pitched battle between sin and grace, 

you shall not be as bad as God is good.  

We can only sin as a man, 

but God can forgive as a God." 

Spurgeon is not speaking to the person who glories in his sin and expects God to somehow forgive him.  He speaks to the broken-hearted who realize Christ is their only hope.  He speaks to the seeker of God who sees the weight of his sin, and can’t imagine God willing to forgive.   He speaks to the Christian who sins for the 100th time, feels his Guilt and Shame, and wonders if God will give up on him.  There is no sin so great that grace is not greater.

 

There may be times for some of us—maybe all of us—when sometimes it feels like sin reigns in us. Sin rules.   It can feel like a mountain of sin and death.   Sin ABOUNDS in our lives, at times.  We come here and sing some glorious songs about God, but we have little joy.  We go to work or school all day, and we barely think about God all day.

 

Remember the Apostle Paul?  We looked at him as the author of this book back in September.  He was a violent man, and a severe, evil, hate-filled persecutor of Christians, even contributing to their death.  Can we imagine a much worse offense against God than to kill his children??  Yet Paul is the one who is writing these very words.

If you’re like me, you fail to realize and understand and believe how transforming the gospel is. This gift of grace is radically, radically different.  So we often don't feel it and don't experience it, we have to begin with the truth that we reign in life in Christ.  Christ reigns over this world, and we reigns in life in him. 

 

 

Steps to Take

 

If you know Jesus, the grace of God rules over you.  His justification.  His redemption.  His reconciliation.  His peace towards you.

 

Do you want to walk with more vigor and joy in the eternal life you already have in Christ?

Do this:

  1. Think about these things every day.  

Read the Word.  Read a good book on the topic.  

Re-listen to Sunday sermons on Stonebrook’s website.  

Memorize Scriptures.  (I know one woman here at Stonebrook who is trying to memorize Romans.)

 

  1. Pray for the Holy Spirit to open your heart and mind up more for these truths to go deeper.

I know these truths, but it seems for me there are deeper places I can go with them.  The truths don’t change, but the weightiness of them does.  This has happened to me many times over my 30+ years of following Christ.  I understand something to a deeper, more intense level.  Sort of an “Aha!” moment.  Pray for the Spirit to give you a deeper sense of what Christ has done.

 

 

Conclusion

 

Paul is taking us some place.  Chapter 5 is a transition.  It points backwards to ch. 1-4, but it also points ahead to ch. 6-8 and how this should affect our lives.  Our obedience.  Our worldview.