Series: Romans
Title: Grace Much More Abounds
Text: Romans 5: 15-21
Date: November 11, 2018
Place: SGBC, NJ
Last time we saw that Adam was a figure of Christ by headship. As all Adam’s family was in Adam, so all
Christ’s family was in Christ. As Adam
made all his family sin by his disobedience and therefore God imputed sin to
us, so Christ made all his family righteous by his obedience and therefore God
imputes righteousness to us when he brings us to believe on Christ.
But in Romans 5, there is a parenthesis which
shows us differences between Adam and Christ.
It is true that in Adam we fell a terrible fall. In Adam, all died—becoming guilty of sin
under the curse and condemnation of the law.
In Adam, all died—being born with a corrupt nature the natural heart is
enmity against God. God placed Adam in a
green garden. But Adam turned that
garden into a wild, wasted, desert wilderness where even the ground is cursed.
Genesis 3: 16: Unto the woman [God] said, I
will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring
forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over
thee. 17:
And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife,
and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not
eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of
it all the days of thy life; 18:
Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the
herb of the field; 19: In the
sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for
out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou
return.
Yet, though, Adam is a type of Christ in headship, there is a great
difference between what Adam did to his people and what Christ did for his.
Romans 5: 15: But not as the offence, so also is
the free gift. For if through the
offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace,
which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many.
Proposition: Our text declares
that though we lost all in Adam, God’s elect gained much more in Christ.
Title: Grace Much More
Abounds
BY THE
GRACE OF GOD
Romans 5: 15:…For if through the offence of one
many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is
by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many.
Amazing
grace
How sweet
the sound
That
saved a wretch like me
Scriptures everywhere
declare that salvation is by God’s unmerited favor upon whosoever God is please
to bestow it.
Ephesians 1: 6: [God’s election, blessing, predestination, adoption and acceptance
it all ] To the praise of the glory of his grace.
Ephesians 1: 7: In whom we have redemption through his blood, the
forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace.
Ephesians 2: [we were spiritually dead sinners unable to do one thing] 4:
But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, 5:
Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ (By
grace ye are saved)
Ephesians 2: 8: For by grace ye are saved through faith; and that not of
yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9: Not of works, lest any man should boast
I heard a preacher say,
“God’s grace is free, not based on any
merit in us. But God only gives his
grace to those who accept Jesus.” No,
no! It is by God’s grace that God
quickens the dead sinner and gives us faith so we can believe on Christ and all
who believe on him God accepts. I only quoted from two chapters from one book and
we see God’s grace over and over. To
deny salvation by grace is to betray one’s own ignorance because its on every
page of God’s word.
Grace means all blessings—including righteousness/justification unto
eternal life—is the gift of God through
Christ his Son. When is the last
time you bought a gift for no one? When
is the last time you bought a gift, set on a shelf and said, “I hope someone
will let me give this to them?” Why do
men attribute something so foolish to God that even ignorant sinners are smart
enough not to do? Scripture says God ordered everything in
the salvation of his people.
2 Samuel 23: 5: [God] hath made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered
in all things, and sure:…all my salvation…
It means God chose who he would purchase this gift for and gave them to Christ,
God sent his Son who paid the purchase price to redeem that people from the
curse, the price of his precious blood. God
sends the Holy Spirit who gives life and faith and repentance to make his elect
hear the good news of the gospel and receive his gift. God sees to it that each and everyone of his
children shall have his gift. God left
nothing to the sinner but trusted the entire work into the hand of Christ his
Son and “all the promises of God are in
him yes and in Amen to the praise of God’s grace.”
Salvation is God’s free gift to the believer.
Hosea 14:4 I will heal their
backsliding, I will love them freely
Romans 3:24 Being justified
freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:
Romans 8:32 He that spared not
his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely
give us all things?
1Corinthians 2:12 Now we have
received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we
might know the things that are freely given to us of God.
Revelation 21:6 And he said unto
me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give
unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely.
That means it is “not by works of
righteousness which we have done but according to his mercy he saved us.”
Brethren, seeing that our justification and eternal life is free, let us
freely declare what Christ has done for us to anyone who appears interested; or
invite them to come and hear the gospel; let us use every avenue God makes
available to send it forth into the whole world—Christ said, “Freely ye have received, freely give.”
Still, remember, just
because salvation is free to us, never think it came without a heavy, heavy
price which our Redeemer had to pay.
OUR OFFENSES
Romans 5: 16: And not as it was by one that
sinned, so is the gift: for the judgment was by one [offense] to condemnation, but the free gift is
of many offences unto justification.
Grace has abounded much more because of what Christ did concerning our offenses
and the result he accomplished. The
judgement—the sin/guilt imputed
to all men who Adam represented—was imputed because Adam committed one offense—Adam broke one law—and the
result was imputation of sin unto condemnation.
But the free gift is not like that: “the free gift is
of many offences unto justification.” Christ did not bear
the sin of one offence of Adam only; Christ bore the sins of all the offences
of all God’s elect—not only Adam’s sin but also the offences we commit in our
life time.
Try to think of how many offences you have
committed, only in thought, only in the time we have been here. Scripture says man “drinketh iniquity like water.” “Every
imagination of the thoughts of his heart is only evil continually” (Job 15: 16;
Gen 6: 5) Now imagine an elect
people more than the stars of heaven or
the sands of the sea. Then think on
this—Isaiah 53: 6: All we like sheep have gone
astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him
the iniquity of us all. Our Substitute was made to bear every sin of
every elect child of God and the condemnation due to them all.
Lamentation 1: 12: Is it nothing to you, all ye that pass by?
behold, and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow, which is done unto
me, wherewith the LORD hath afflicted me in the day of his fierce anger.
The result is not condemnation of his people; but free justification of
his people. Christ paid for every sin of
every child of God and put away our sins from the God’s record book
Hebrews 8: 12: For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their
sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.
Isaiah 43:25: I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for
mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins.
Jeremiah 33:8 And I will cleanse them from
all their iniquity, whereby they have sinned against me; and I will pardon all their
iniquities, whereby they have sinned, and whereby they have transgressed
against me.
Jeremiah 50:20 In those days, and in
that time, saith the LORD, the iniquity of Israel shall be sought for, and
there shall be none; and the sins of Judah, and they shall not be found:…
Micah 7:19…thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.
Therefore, when he brings his child to believe on Christ there is no
condemnation, only free justification. Do
you believe on Christ today? Is Christ
your only hope of acceptance with God?
Listen:
Romans 8: 1: There is therefore now no condemnation to them which
are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
GUARANTEED TO REIGN
Romans 17: For if by one man’s offence death reigned by one; much more they
which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign
in life by one, Jesus Christ.)…20:
Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin
abounded, grace did much more abound: 21:
That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might [SHALL] grace reign through
righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.
Christ’s work is greater because by him we are guaranteed to reign in
eternal life both now and forever.
Be sure to get this: Adam’s sin did not put
us in a condemnable state, so that you had to do something to condemn yourself—Adam’s
disobedience made us sin and we died and we could not do one thing to make
death stop reigning. Much more, Christ’s
obedience did not put us in a savable state, so that you have to do something
to make yourself righteous—Christ obedience made his people righteous and by
his grace he makes each of his redeemed live and believe on him and we cannot
do one thing to make eternal life stop reigning.
The
grace of God reigns through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our
Lord: He
shall regenerate to life all who he redeemed.
He shall keep alive all who he redeemed.
He shall bring all who he redeemed to reign with him in heaven’s glory
for all eternity
Brethren, if you are not able to be here,
please watch the broadcast on Thursday nights.
In John’s day many were departing from Christ for lies. And the apostle John gives us assurance that,
all those Christ redeemed and made righteous shall be given the Spirit of
adoption to cry out in life, Abba Father.
And all those God brings to believe on Christ cannot commit the sin of
apostacy because Christ’s seed remains in us and we cannot cease believing on
Christ because we are born of him.
Do you believe on Christ? Is Christ your only Righteousness, your only
hope of eternal life. Then listen:
Romans 5: 8: God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet
sinners, Christ died for us. 9: Much more then, being now justified by his
blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. 10: For if, when we were
enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being
reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.
Adam was a living soul, Christ a quickening
spirit. Adam was of the earth, Christ is
the Lord of heaven. Adam made all his
people sinners in him, Christ made all his people righteous in him. By Adam through sin death reigned. But Christ Jesus shall not lose one because “as
sin hath reigned unto death, even so might [SHALL] grace reign through
righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.” If we had never fallen in Adam there
would always be the chance we would. But
in Christ we cannot fall away. He will
not allow it!
Amen!