Sermon Text: Romans 5:12-19 (Evangelical Heritage Version)

12 So then, just as sin entered the world through one man and death through sin, so also death spread to all people because all sinned. 13 For even before the law was given, sin was in the world. Now, sin is not charged to one’s account if there is no law, 14 and yet death reigned from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, even over those whose sin was not like the transgression of Adam, who is a pattern[a] of the one who was to come.
15 But the gracious gift is not like Adam’s trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of this one man, it is even more certain that God’s grace, and the gift given by the grace of the one man Jesus Christ, overflowed to the many! 16 And the gift is not like the effect of the one man’s sin, for the judgment that followed the one trespass resulted in a verdict of condemnation, but the gracious gift that followed many trespasses resulted in a verdict of justification. 17 Indeed, if by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through the one man, it is even more certain that those who receive the overflowing grace of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ!
18 So then, just as one trespass led to a verdict of condemnation for all people, so also one righteous verdict led to life-giving justification[b] for all people. 19 For just as through the disobedience of one man the many became sinners, so also through the obedience of one man the many will become righteous.

Sermon Theme: The Power of One

The power of the one man, Adam’s sin

“sin entered the world through one man and death through sin, so also death spread to all people because all sinned.”
Sin entered the world (cf. Genesis 3) =

a.) God had originally made everything very good/perfect (cf. Genesis 1:31)

b.) God’s one command to Adam and Eve to show they loved, trusted, and worshiped him

c.) Satan’s temptation and Eve’s responses

Death came along with sin (Sin brings death)

a.) Death =

b.) Three kinds of death effected by sin:
Spiritual death (cf. Eph. 2:1-3)=

Physical death (cf. Eccl. 12:7)=

Eternal death (Rev. 21:8)=

All passed on through the one man, Adam’s one sin

a.) Adam as the head/representative of the whole human race, all people (Even Eve - cf. Gen. 2:21-22) came from him

b.) Although being perfect, Adam willingly chose to sin, in that instant all people fell. His sin counted as real sin and brought death to all humanity (AKA “original sin”)

May not seem “fair” to us but that shows us that we don’t really grasp the absolute nature of perfection or the contaminating power of imperfection in the sight of a holy God

Evidence of the pervasive power of original sin

a.) All those after Adam and before Moses who died without breaking an express command

b.) Genesis 5:3ff When Adam had lived 130 years, he had a son in his own likeness, in his own image; and he named him Seth. 4 After Seth was born, Adam lived 800 years and had other sons and daughters. 5 Altogether, Adam lived a total of 930 years, and then he died. 6 When Seth had lived 105 years, he became the father[b] of Enosh. 7 After he became the father of Enosh, Seth lived 807 years and had other sons and daughters. 8 Altogether, Seth lived a total of 912 years, and then he died. 9 When Enosh had lived 90 years, he became the father of Kenan. 10 After he became the father of Kenan, Enosh lived 815 years and had other sons and daughters. 11 Altogether, Enosh lived a total of 905 years, and then he died. …

c.) Adam’s one sin counts for and kills us all!

d.) That was all because of ONE SIN, but since sins have become too countless to number or vile to mention

II. The Power of One Perfect Life in Jesus Christ
Jesus like Adam but superior to him:

a.) Both called the “Son of God” (cf. Luke 3:38 - “…the son of Adam, the son of God”)

b.) Both made by a divine miracle (Adam from dust, Christ by conception of the Holy Spirit)

c.) Yet Jesus never fell (cf. his struggle against Satan in the wilderness, in which he used God’s Word to defeat Satan - Matt. 4:1-11)

Jesus offered his perfect life up to God in our place (cf. Heb. 10:10)

Ponder God’s overwhelming grace in the one Christ

a.) Countless billions of sins yet only one Savior

b.) All that Jesus did he did INFINITELY in our place - his sinlessness, his good works, his suffering, his death, his living again in glory

c.) As a result God declares ALL people “Not guilty!” “Innocent!” “Perfect!”

d.) That means ALL people have to live again (cf. 1 Cor. 15:22)

e.) We have promise of perfection now, full enjoyment at the resurrection and eternally thereafter