Let me ask you to take your Bibles, please, and go to Romans chapter five, Romans chapter five. Are you turning up? I was, Thursday night came into the service, and we started to sing, and as soon as the song came, there was a man standing in front of me, and I, you know, started to belt out the song. He just sort of scared the daylights out of him, because I guess, He wasn't ready for that beautiful melodic voice to come. And I started laughing because earlier in the day we were singing and I was over here and I could hear this distinctive voice coming across the auditorium. It was my son David singing over here, right? Because he and I both were blessed with pretty strong lungs and loved to sing. So it's usually why there's an empty seat in front of me, just as an FYI. Romans chapter five this morning. Let me just set the context again before we look into the scripture that we're gonna consider. I believe the Apostle Paul is providing the doctrinal foundations for why we can have an invincible hope. Right, he's mentioned hope through five, one through 11, and he's told us that this hope has come from God, and therefore it's strengthened by tribulations, it's rooted out of what God's done for us in Christ, and it's certain, because if God did what he has already done for us through Christ, how much more will he save us from wrath? And so he said that, and that's the basis on which we have this hope. But then he takes and tries to drive that truth deep into a doctrinal understanding of how God has provided redemption against the backdrop of sin. And at the heart of it is an analogy that he's making between Adam and between Christ. Look at the end of verse 14. You can see that. Or the second half, it says, who had not sinned in the likeness of the offense of Adam, who is a type of him who was to come. The him who was to come is Jesus. So Adam is a type of him who was to come. And that's what's happening in 12 through 21. Paul is drawing an analogy between Adam and Christ, specifically the effect of Adam's sin and the outcome of the righteousness of Christ. And so he wants us to see that. And the first thing we saw two weeks ago in verses 12 through 14 is that in Adam, all die, right? Sin came into the world through Adam, death by sin, and death spread to all people because all have sinned. In Adam, all have sinned and all die. then he actually sort of breaks from that comparison to actually show us some contrast. And the point of last week's passage we looked at, 15 through 17, is that grace, the free gift, is greater than what Adam did. There's definitely a comparison there, but don't think that they're actually equal. The free gift that comes through Christ is greater than what Adam did, and it's greater in part because it comes graciously. There is no obligation in God, and so God did this as a matter of grace, whereas Adam's was a matter of justice. Sin brings condemnation, but God moved in grace to provide something for us. And in fact, Adam's one transgression produced all of this, and in light of many transgressions, Christ still has provided grace. Now in verses 18 to 21, he actually returns to the comparison he started in verse 12, and he actually draws that comparison by way of three contrasts. And so I want us to look at 18 to 21 this morning. Please follow along as I read. Romans 5.18, so then as through one transgression there resulted in condemnation to all men, even so through one act of righteousness there resulted justification of life to all men. For as through the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the one the many will be made righteous. The law came in so that the transgression would increase, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, so that, as sin reigned in death, even so grace would reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." So look at verse 18. So then as, and then the middle of verse, even so. There's the comparison. 19, for as through, then in the middle of the verse, even so through, there's a second comparison, then verse 21, as sin reigned, even so grace would reign. That's the third. comparison, and it's actually a comparison by way of contrast, and I think it's really profound and helpful for us to understand what's going on, and in terms of what Paul's doing, he's in 18 talking about a contrasting set of results, and then in verse 19, he gives the contrasting reasons for those results. And in 20 and 21, he actually is going to a contrasting reign between sin and grace, and actually is what sort of animates and energizes what's happening here. And we're just gonna work through it as the text does, but in a sense, you start at the end with the results. and then work your way back to the other two comparisons. So look at 18. So then, as through one transgression there resulted condemnation to all men, even so through one act of righteousness there resulted justification of life to all men. I said it's results, so there's the consequence. You can see very clearly it's condemnation versus justification of life, the way the text says. I think the best way to understand that is justification which leads to life. All right, it's actually a justification that leads to life. And so you have condemnation against justification that leads to life. The connection in the passage has already been really clear between condemnation and death. Look at verse 15, it says died, right? The many died in verse 16. It talks about the judgment and condemnation and then 17 death. So up to this point, there's been a very close tie between condemnation and death. In fact, there's a close tie three ways, and it sort of runs parallel. You have the full idea is transgression leads to condemnation, which leads to death. And alongside of that is actually, if you look at the text in verse 18, it's one act of righteousness, that's the one opposed to the one transgression. So one act of righteousness leads to justification, which leads to life. So transgression, condemnation, death. Act of righteousness, justification, life. That's the focal point that he's going at. He's moving in that way to establish that kind of contrast for us. So what we need to see is the cause that produces it, and it's in the 18, it's one transgression, and it's one act of righteousness. What's the transgression? Well, we know, starting in verse 12, that that was the sin of Adam. I mean, if we're gonna put it in a concrete expression, it would be that he ate from the tree of life, tree of knowledge of good and evil, which he was commanded not to eat from. God had given him a specific command with a specific consequence, and Adam broke the law of God. All right, because he sinned in that way, it led to the consequence of condemnation. It was a direct violation of God's command. What is the one act of righteousness? So I think that's looking at Jesus as the one who perfectly fulfilled God's will, which clearly culminated in death. Philippians 2.8, he humbled himself and became obedient. obedient even to the point of death on the cross. And I don't think, though, it's intending to go, well, the one act of obedience was death, the rest of it didn't matter. It's actually saying the whole of Christ's obedience to the will of God is the basis for this justification for life, we sometimes divide it up doctrinally into, I've used these words, active and passive, and what we mean, when we say that, we shouldn't think that those are like segments of his obedience, or that they're separated from each other, but what we're trying to describe is that he fulfilled the law of God perfectly in both its positive demands, All right, the law says thou shalt, says thou shalt not, and Jesus fulfilled that completely. All right, he did all that God's law demanded, and he never did anything that broke the law of God. That's his act of obedience. That's everything from his, from birth to death. He was completely obedient. But the law not only has positive demands, it actually has penalties attached to it. And those penalties function as a demand. If you break the law, there is a penalty to be paid. And Jesus didn't just fulfill the positive demands of the law, he also fulfilled the penalty of the law. And it was necessary for that to be the case because even though he didn't have any penalty to pay, you and I certainly do. We have transgressed God's law and so we've broken the positive demands and therefore we are subject or liable to the penalty portion of the law. And Jesus, through his life, fulfilled all that the law demands. He obeyed everything that the law prescribed. He satisfied everything that the law demanded in terms of penalty. It was poured out on him. That's why sometimes we use the language of passive. He gave himself over to be crucified. The judgment was poured out on him. And it's that act of righteousness, obedient all the way to the point of death on the cross. It's the obedience of Christ that he's talking about. That's the act of righteousness that verse 18 is referring to. So through one transgression, Adam, resulted condemnation, implied, and death. Even so, through one act of righteousness, there resulted in justification that leads to life. That is, the righteousness of Christ is credited to the account of sinners so that it results in a verdict of life, right? Because they actually are counted righteous in Christ. Now, notice that we have to at least interact with, wrestle with the language in it. Notice in verse 18, it says, one transgression resulted in condemnation to all men or all people, all humans, even so, through one act of righteousness, there resulted justification of life to all men or all people or all humans. So here's the question that comes up. Well, so if in Adam all die and are condemned and that sin passes to all people, is this text saying that because of Christ's act of righteousness, justification now has been credited to all people? I mean, is everyone gonna be freed from the penalty and have justification to life? Now, it shouldn't surprise us that there are some people who would take that interpretation, and I think if we're honest, we'd all would sort of hope it would be the case. I mean, who among us wants to see people suffer eternal condemnation? I don't think our hearts should tilt that way. We should not relish and love the thought that some people are gonna be judged. So there is a kind of like a human sympathy that would like to think, well, maybe this will be true. But the problem is, is look, for instance, at verse nine, where, the whole passage has been springing out of, much more, 5.9, then having now been justified by his blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through him. So it's people who are justified by his blood who will be saved from the wrath of God. And who is justified by his blood? Go back to 5.1. Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. So this isn't a justification that is applied to all people without regard to the application of the blood of Christ and the reception of it by faith. In fact, that's pretty clear when you look at the line in chapter five, verse 17. Look what he says here. For if by the transgression of the one, death reign through the one, 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 can't make it universal and argue for some kind of universal salvation because of the language in verse 18. The passage won't allow that. The passage has it narrowed in. And in fact, I think sometimes people look at a passage like this and they'll try and answer it by saying, well, it's provisional or possible, right? Jesus died, so it's possible that all people could be justified in that regard. And I, again, We ought to have an inclination toward that in this sense. We know that Christ's death is sufficient for all sinners, right? Jesus didn't die and go, I can only save 6 point whatever billion sinners, and oops, we went to 6.1 plus, that person's gonna be lost. Right, it's an unlimited, if I could put this, an unlimited bank account. That's a completely true statement. But this actually isn't talking about the scope of Christ's death. This is actually talking about justification. That's a legal standing before God. So it's impossible to see it as, well, there's a legal standing before God of being righteous. That's, he's not talking about the extent of the atonement, he's talking about justification, okay, and it stands opposed to condemnation. So, but it's really actually a lot easier, I think, to answer this than sometimes people like to sort of twist it. He's talking about two representatives, right? If you're in Adam, you are condemned by virtue of Adam's sin and your relationship to Adam. If you are in Christ, you are justified on the basis of Christ and in relationship to Christ. So he's really talking about where you are identified as being, right? 1 Corinthians 15 would say it this way. In Adam, all die. In Christ, all shall be made alive. It's the in Christ that's really important there. Because there's two, if I could put it this way, there's two places you could stand. You could stand before God in Adam, And here's what 518 is saying, because of that one transgression, condemnation is for all who are in Adam. Alternatively, if you are in Christ, his one act of righteousness results in justification to life. The key is, where do you stand in relationship to God? And that's actually the point that verse 19 drives at. Look at the first word of verse 19. For, so it's coming as an explanation. That's why I called it a reason. All right, verse 19 gives us the reason why there's a category of condemnation in relationship to Adam and a category of justification in relationship to Christ. Four, as through one man's disobedience, the many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the one, the many will be made righteous. Our standing before God is either as sinners or righteous. And that is based on our relationship to Adam or Christ. If you're reading verse 19, you need to see it as explaining the basis really for the condemnation. Through one man's disobedience, the many were made, I think probably a better way for us to think about it would be were constituted or appointed, possibly categorized as sinners, put in the category of sinners. All right, and through the obedience of one, the many will be made righteous is we're constituted as, appointed as, or put in the category of. It's about how you stand before God based on your relationship to either Adam or Christ. Because the word made here is talking about a legal standing. It's not actually talking about the actual ethical practice of either disobedience or righteousness, made sinners or made righteous. And we know that because it's someone else's disobedience slash obedience, right? It's the disobedience of someone that makes me a sinner. and that someone isn't me, right? It's that one person's disobedience made me a sinner, just like it's that one person's obedience makes me righteous. It's not my actions, it's the action of someone else that produces this standing before God. And in fact, the whole emphasis on justification in these verses would be destroyed if you actually take it as, You became a practicing sinner and you were made to be practicing righteousness because the basis for justification would then shift to you. Right, because think about the end of verse 18. Justification, right, it resulted in justification of life to all men for, Through the obedience of the one, the many will be righteous. So justification of life is tied to this statement. And it can't be then on the basis of my practice or actual righteousness. It has to be the credit that God gives me of the righteousness of someone else. God looks at my account and sees the righteousness of the one who obeyed. He sees the righteousness which was the one act of righteousness, and that is credited to my account, so God sees me as, treats me as. I am constituted as righteous because of Christ, not because of my own righteousness. That's the argument that he's been making all the way through. And this is, I mean, this was the heart of the Reformation, right? I mean, the battle in the 1500s was, does God save sinners? Does he make them right with himself because he puts righteousness into them and then they live righteously so they're justified? Or does God save them on the basis of the righteousness of somebody else? And I looked at this, I think, two weeks ago, but I think we really need to look at it again. Go back to 4-5, just to make sure you see what side the Scriptures come out on. All right, in fact, we're gonna read more than 4-5. Start in verse two. For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the Scripture say? Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness. Now to the one who works, his wage is credited not as a favor or a gift, but as what is due. but to the one who does not work, but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited as righteousness." And here's the key to see is right in the middle of that verse five, believes in him who justifies the ungodly. There's the difference. If you think that justification is on the basis of your righteousness, then you're not talking about justifying the ungodly. You're talking about justifying the righteous. Right, and this text says it's actually that he justifies the ungodly. So I stand before God this morning as one who does not have righteousness in me that would justify me before God. All right, my righteousness, you could probably fill this in from Isaiah, right? All my righteousness is as filthy rags. Right, I have nothing to offer to God that would satisfy both the positive demands of his law or the penalty demands of his law. I can't satisfy. If I die, I'm only getting what I deserve. not something undeserved at all. And I have no righteousness in myself that would grant me a standing of justification that leads to life. I don't have that in me. The whole point of it being good news is that it comes from someone else and can be credited to my account by faith. that my righteousness doesn't satisfy the demands of God's law, it's the righteousness of Christ, right? So when it says through the one act of righteousness, through the obedience of Christ, many will be made righteous, it's not saying that he actually is now infusing righteousness so that then you cooperate with it so that you can be justified. He's actually saying he's imputing or crediting righteousness to your account. On the books before God is stamped, paid in full. And the asset, if I could put it that way, that paid it was the perfect obedience of Christ. Right, the debt wasn't just like evaporated. It didn't just disappear. Right, we should not think it's like, I had all this sin and God just sort of lifted up a rug somewhere and swept it underneath and it's like, it's all gone now. No, I had a massive debt that I couldn't pay and it was paid. It wasn't just wiped out. It was covered. Christ actually paid for it. His righteousness is what I need before God, and I have it credited to my account, and His death actually covered my debt. So it's gone. It's paid already, right? If you walk to the counter and someone goes, hey, someone paid your bill. That's different than the guy who owns the restaurant just going, hey, don't worry about it. Right? God paid the debt through Christ. His righteousness now is my righteousness. His death is my death. So there's nothing left for me to add to it. I can't add to it. Nothing can ever take away from it. Christ's death can't be out sinned. you cannot diminish the death of Christ. It's perfect in that regard. And so the point of the passage really is that Adam and Christ are representative heads of humanity, each being the source of disobedience or obedience, and therefore condemnation or justification, death or life. Right, that's what's going on. There are two heads, the first Adam, the second Adam. The first Adam transgressed, disobeyed, result, condemnation, leading to death. The second Adam obeyed, act of righteousness, leading to justification, leading to life. All right, that's exactly what he's been talking about. And so if you think about it, and hopefully this is more logical than it is actually like chronological, right? The result is either condemnation or justification. Condemnation to death, justification or life. Well, why is that? Well, because there are two representatives. One who disobeyed, resulting in condemnation and death. One who obeyed, resulting in justification and life. Right, that's why, and so essentially you have this flow toward judgment, and if you're in Adam's lane, the exit ramp is condemnation and death. If you're in Christ, it's life. And that's what he leads to then, really sort of the culmination of it all in verses 20 and 21. Notice what he says there, the law came in so that the transgression would increase, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, so that as sin reigned in death, so grace would reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. So here now is the contrast between two reigns, like as in R-E-I-G-N-S, right, two rules. One rule is sin in death. The other is grace reigning to eternal life. And what verse 20 is intended to do, and it might sound, I mean, it's like sort of like all of a sudden, what's this thing about the law here? Well, that's because verse 20 is help us see the seriousness of sin in contrast to the super abundance of grace, if I could put it that way, right? Because look at the last of it, where sin increased, grace abounded, it's super abounded, really is the idea of it all the more. And the mention of the law might sit sort of oddly for us because we're a long way removed from the early church in this sense. Inside the first generation of believers were a lot of Jewish people. who had lived their entire life under the Mosaic law, and now they were trying to wrestle with, so where does the law fit into this whole equation? And that's why he alluded to it earlier up in verses 13 and 14, because Paul's going, Adam is the source of sin and death. And then he's going to Christ, right? The two major epics in his mind are Adam, Christ. And if you're a Jew, you're like, wait a minute, what about this whole thing where the Mosaic Law was given from God? And what was it doing and where do we stand in relationship to it on this? So the Jewish people would be wrestling with that. And we know that's a part of the tension here in the book of Romans, because he takes chapter two and addresses it. It comes back up again in nine through 11. What about the Jewish people? What about Israel? And then in 14, a lot of the conflicts are related to how to handle the change in the rule of life between the law, right? Holy days, what you can eat. So it's much more an issue in the first century where they're trying to figure that out and on top of the fact that you have, you virtually have only the Old Testament Scriptures written at this point. I mean, you're getting more and more, right? But when you have a first century, first generation Christianity looking for the written word of God, where are they looking? They're back into the Old Testament. All right, so how does this all fit? What's going on? And so Paul says things about this a lot. Romans, Galatians, he works through it, Ephesians chapter two. All right, here he is simply showing that the law actually had an effect of intensifying the problem of sin. Look at the way the text says it. The law came in or was added, right? In the working of God from Adam to Christ, the law was an addition. It came in alongside of so that transgression would increase. That the pattern of having explicit commands from God, that would be violated actually would increase and be shown to be sinful. We'll see in chapter seven, because he's gonna come back to it again. When the law speaks clearly about the will of God and people transgress it, it shows the utter sinfulness of sin. It intensifies the reality of the problem. And the law serves Galatians 3 as something sort of between the promised Abraham and the coming of Christ, which sort of held people under it like a schoolmaster leading up to Christ. And it had this effect of showing the seriousness of sin because to understand the super abounding nature of grace, you have to see it against the backdrop of the seriousness of sin. And that's what he's trying to show. In fact, that seriousness is driven down by saying what sin did. Look at verse 21. Sin reigned in death. All right, so if you look across humanity, sin exercises its reign in the realm of death. Death comes because of sin, and sin is the master. As Paul is saying in 1 Corinthians 15, right, the sting of sin and death. It's that combination that drives it in. But look at the counter comparison, right? The powerful purpose of grace. Verse 21, so that, right? Grace abounded, 20, so that. Here's the purpose of why grace abounded. So grace would reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Now I know I'm trying to be really faithful to the wording of the text, because it's really important we get it, but think about the differences here, right? Sin reigned in death. And all of a sudden we get the comparison. So grace would reign, and it says, through righteousness, to eternal life, through Jesus Christ. Right, I mean, it's a really simple statement over here. Sin reigned in death. But when Paul moves us to this side, he wants to see that this baby unpacks majestically. Grace would reign through righteousness. That's how grace will reign. It's through righteousness. Well, what righteousness is he talking about? It's the righteousness of Christ. That's how grace is gonna overturn the power of sin and death, because grace issues forth in righteousness, and that goes to eternal life, and all of that's through Jesus Christ our Lord. Right, so it's through, through, to. All right, so come back. I did the results and the reason. Now come back here and recognize what's going. Now in those two tracks that I talked about, the one that ends up in condemnation and death because of the disobedience of Adam, that is actually the power of sin reigning in death. If anyone ends up in the other track, the track that's life. You know how that happens? It's when grace reigns. And grace does that by taking the righteousness of Christ as a free gift, right? Because you talk about the free gift, the free gift. Grace takes this free gift of Christ's righteousness and credits the account of sinners, and that happens through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Now remember, this all, which you might, I mean, I love it. I get charged up about it. I hope I'm not killing you by unpacking all of this, all right? But here's the point, he says all of this because he's trying to explain to us why we can have an unshakable, unbreakable hope, that we can have assurance Not like, I hope I make it. I mean, I hope when I get to heaven and my life's put on the scales that the good side outweighs the bad side. I hope maybe after I'm gone enough people will pray for me and light candles and do works of penance on my behalf so I can get out of purgatory into heaven. Right, those are all systems of religion that have no assurance. I mean, in fact, that was the whole problem at the Reformation, and it's still the problem today, because here's the deal. I'm gonna stand here right now and say, when I breathe my last breath, I'm gonna open my eyes in glory. Not because of me, not because of my righteousness, but because of Jesus. because of his righteousness, because of God's grace. It's not arrogant to say that, it's humble. What's arrogant is to say, well, I'm gonna do the best I can now and then when I'm done, other people will do their best so that someday I'll get there and I'll be able to stand before God and say, hey, look at my righteousness. That's actually pride. That's actually self-boasting. The only hope is actually in the righteousness of Christ, the grace of God, the gift that comes through him. That's the foundation for it. And so Paul has really started coming to the capstone of his argument, and he says it like this, so that we will realize, here comes a bunch of words, all right? That's my job, words, all right? that we can have absolutely confident assurance because the work of God is a guilt-removing work. That's justification. Guilt has been taken away, right? My crimes have been expunged. They will never be held against me. The guilt is gone. There is no guilt because Christ's righteousness has replaced it. It is guilt removing and life giving. The text talks about leads to life, eternal life. Instead of death, there's life. So God's work through Christ removes guilt, gives life. Right, that it is actually also grace-based. It is grace that does this, not works. And it is, and we cannot miss this, it is Christ-centered. It's through Jesus Christ, our Lord. None of this is available apart from Christ, because you're either in Adam or you're in Christ. You have this gift because you have received Christ, right? He's Christ Jesus, our Lord, right? We have owned him as the only hope in life and death, that his life and death and resurrection are the stamp of authenticity that this is the real thing. Salvation is found in Christ and Christ alone. The triumph of grace that this passage is talking about, grace would reign. The triumph of grace is that it conquers death through the righteousness of Jesus Christ for all who confess him as Lord. And so if I could turn from this angle, because it's not easily seen, and just shift that whole road around to the front. That's why sometimes we talk about there are only two paths. There's only two ways to live. Either you're going to remain in your sin in Adam, which will lead to condemnation and to death. or you will recognize that the only hope of rescue is to look to Christ and call on him to be your savior, to confess him as Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, right? That's what Paul's after. And so where do you stand this morning? Are you standing in Adam? Or are you standing in Christ? And if you're thinking in any way that your righteousness is the key to salvation, then friend, you're standing in Adam. Because it's faith alone, in Christ alone. I can't wed these two. I can't somehow stand in the middle and go, well, I'm gonna just cover my bases with some good works and religiousness, and I'm gonna sort of like name Jesus too. Because if you're holding onto both, you're not actually holding onto this one, because faith, and I don't often use a cross, but I think this one captures this, right? Faith is forsaking all I trust in him. I can't cover my bets without denying the fullness of Christ's payment. I go back to my, walk up to the counter to pay, and the guy says, it's been paid, and I go, well, let me give you my credit card just in case. At that point, I'm doubting whether it's been paid. I'm saying, I'm not sure if that payment's gonna cover it all, and I don't wanna get stuck with a bill at the end. You're either trusting in Christ and what Christ did and what Christ has offered, or you're not. Have you called on the name of the Lord, confessing your trust in him and need for his righteousness? And if you have, who can lay any charge against God's elect? It's God who justifies. It's Christ who intercedes, who died. Jay Rather's risen again, his right hand. Who can lay any charge? No one. Because God knew exactly what you were like when he saved you. His righteousness is sufficient, so your assurance should be solid. It's Christ and Christ alone. Let's pray together. Father, thank you for providing a perfect Savior in Jesus Christ, our Lord. His obedience in life and death is our only hope for life and death. And what a hope it is. It is the rock on which we can stand. And we can stand there by your grace. And so Lord, please open our hearts to this wonderful truth. Perhaps some for the very first time, recognizing that there is no hope outside of Christ. And Lord, if that's the case, would you please work in them that confidence in Christ, where they would call on his name to be saved, because you will never disappoint anyone who does. And Lord, would you put it in their heart to confess Jesus Christ as Lord, and we would rejoice with them and give you praise. And Lord, those of us who have confessed Christ as our Lord and have believed in our heart the truth about his death and resurrection, would you give us an abundant assurance of your unfailing love and the perfection of Christ's righteousness, the grace that has superabounded to us through him. And may you be pleased with our worship, not just with our lips, but the lives that express an undying and deep gratitude that you have loved us so, so deeply. We ask it in Jesus name. Amen.