• 12 Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned-
• 13 for before the law was given, sin was in the world. But sin is not taken into account when there is no law.
• 14 Nevertheless, death reigned from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, even over those who did not sin by breaking a command, as did Adam, who was a pattern of the one to come.
• 15 But the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God's grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many!
• 16 Again, the gift of God is not like the result of the one man's sin: The judgment followed one sin and brought condemnation, but the gift followed many trespasses and brought justification.
• 17 For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God's abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ.
• 18 Consequently, just as the result of one trespass was condemnation for all men, so also the result of one act of righteousness was justification that brings life for all men.
• 19 For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous.
• 20 The law was added so that the trespass might increase. But where sin increased, grace increased all the more,
• 21 so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
  (Romans 5:12-21)

Introduction

THE CONTRAST BETWEEN ADAM AND JESUS

Both Adam and Jesus were the "federal heads" of covenants. Adam was the head of the "covenant of works." (Don't eat this forbidden fruit, and you shall live forever. Eat it, and you will die, and all your descendants, too.) Jesus was the head of the "covenant of grace." (Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall be saved, and your sins all forgiven. Those who believe in Christ are "in Him," just as we were previously "in Adam."

IN ADAM

• 1. Death came to all men, because all sinned in Adam.
• 2. Death reigned.
• 3. Many died by the trespass of the one man.
• 4. The judgment followed one sin, and brought condemnation.
• 5. Condemnation for all men.
• 6. Through the disobedience of the one man, the many were made sinners.
• 7. When the Law was added, the trespass increased.
• 8. Sin reigned in death.

IN JESUS

• 1. God's grace and the gift that came by the grace of Jesus Christ has overflowed to many!
• 2. The gift followed many trespasses and brought justification.
• 3. Those who receive God's abundant provision of grace and righteousness reign in life through the man Jesus Christ.
• 4. The result of one act of righteousness was justification that brings life for all men.
• 5. Through the obedience of the One Man the many will be made righteous.
• 6. Where sin increased, grace increased all the more.
• 7. Grace reigns through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

This all boils down to four major thoughts:

I. Before people come to Jesus for salvation, they are dead in sin (Romans 5:12).

"...Sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned."

Paul is repeating what he already has taught earlier in Romans, and in other books of the New Testament. It is a doctrine that is denied by the majority of Christians today, but it is an important doctrine. Where else do we read of mankind's spiritual state of death?

• 20 When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness.
• 21 What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death!
• 22 But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life.
• 23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
  (Romans 6:20-23)

• 4 ¶ But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy,
• 5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions-it is by grace you have been saved.
• 6 And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus,
• 7 in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.
  (Ephesians 2:4-7)

II. Jesus is the Second Adam (Romans 5:14).

"...Death reigned from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, even over those who did not sin by breaking a command, as did Adam, who was a pattern of the one to come."

The first Adam was a PATTERN of the one to come. How are Adam and Jesus alike? What function did Jesus fulfill that was first done by Adam? Adam was the COVENANT HEAD of the entire human race. What he did in Eden thousands of years ago was done as OUR REPRESENTATIVE. WE acted in him, and WE received the penalty he received.

Likewise, Jesus was/is the COVENANT HEAD for all who are IN HIM. When Jesus died on the cross, He did so as OUR REPRESENTATIVE. We acted in Him. We receive the glory He receives. Jesus succeeded for us, where Adam failed!

• 3 Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptised into Christ Jesus were baptised into his death?
• 4 We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.
• 5 If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection.
• 6 For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin-
• 7 because anyone who has died has been freed from sin.
• 8 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him.
• 9 For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him.
• 10 The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God.
• 11 In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.
  (Romans 6:3-11)

• 4 ¶ But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy,
• 5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions-it is by grace you have been saved.
• 6 And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus,
• 7 in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.
  (Ephesians 2:4-7)

III. The number of the regenerated is not LITERALLY ALL, but it is so large that the word ALL is legitimately used (Romans 5:18-19).

• 18 Consequently, just as the result of one trespass was condemnation for all men, so also the result of one act of righteousness was justification that brings life for all men.
• 19 For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous.

The Bible is clear that NOT EVERYONE will be saved. In Matthew 25 we read of Jesus at the last day separating His sheep from the goats. And the Book of Revelation reminds us that there is an eternal lake of fire. However, there are many verses which show us that the number of the saved will be incredibly large, and amount to nearly ALL mankind.

• 24 ¶ Jesus told them another parable: "The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field.
• 25 But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away.
• 26 When the wheat sprouted and formed ears, then the weeds also appeared.
• 27 "The owner’s servants came to him and said, ‘Sir, didn’t you sow good seed in your field? Where then did the weeds come from?’
• 28 "‘An enemy did this,’ he replied. "The servants asked him, ‘Do you want us to go and pull them up?’
• 29 "‘No,’ he answered, ‘because while you are pulling the weeds, you may root up the wheat with them.
• 30 Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn.’"
• 31 He told them another parable: "The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his field.
• 32 Though it is the smallest of all your seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and perch in its branches."
• 33 He told them still another parable: "The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into a large amount of flour until it worked all through the dough."
  (Matthew 13:24-33)

What kind of a field was it? Was it a wheat field with some weeds in it? Or was it a weed field with a little bit of wheat here and there? It was a WHEAT FIELD!

Likewise the parables of the mustard seed and the yeast hint at the global extent and pervasiveness of the Kingdom. Pay NO ATTENTION to surveys that are done by the ENEMY (Satan and those who serve him.) Note: Someone once said a proverb that is true: "The first casuality of war is the truth." We are at war with Satan, and should we expect to hear the truth about Christ's Kingdom from Newsweek magazine and CNN? I think not.

I John 3:8 "The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil."

If Jesus saves only a small percent of mankind, how did He destroy Satan's work? Satan caused the downfall of the entire human race. Did Jesus come to fail, or to succeed with a great and mighty triumph?

Joh 12:32 But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself."

But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep. For since by a man came death, by a man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive. (I Cor. 15:20-21)

For it was the Father's good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him, and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross; through Him, I say, whether things on earth or things in heaven. (Col. 1:19-20)

For it is for this we labor and strive, because we have fixed our hope on the living God, who is the Savior of all men, especially of believers. (1 Tim. 4:10)

And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world. (1 John 2:2)

And every created thing which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all things in them, I heard saying, "To Him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, be blessing and honor and glory and dominion forever and ever." (Rev. 5:13)

...being found in human form he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Phil. 2:8-11.)

For God has shut up all in disobedience so that He may show mercy to all. (Romans 11:32)

IV. Jesus not only brings eternal life someday in Heaven, but He brings an ABUNDANT life NOW (Romans 5:17).

"For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God's abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ."

• 1 ¶ Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who through the righteousness of our God and Saviour Jesus Christ have received a faith as precious as ours:
• 2 Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.
• 3 His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.
• 4 Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.
  (2 Peter 1:1-4)

Death has surely reigned fully and extravagantly over our fallen race. We have died, one and all, young and old, in sickness, in accidents, in murder and in war, in weakness and in pain. The Bible says that Enoch and Elijah were taken to Heaven without experiencing death, but everyone else has died. Our sins have showered death on us in abundance.

But in Christ, we receive an abundant life. We have life eternal ahead of us. We will have resurrected bodies made like unto Jesus' body. We shall have eternal health, and freedom from disease, freedom from crime, freedom from pain, freedom for war.

And we NOW begin to experience the abundant life of Christ in us spiritually, as we walk with Him, and walk in the Spirit, and the fruit of the Spirit begins to show itself in our lives.

• 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
• 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.
• 24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires.
• 25 Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.
  (Galatians 5:22-25)

Conclusion: Today is Easter Sunday. Our passage in Romans today is about life in Christ. He is our life giver. He is our second Adam. He is our covenant keeper. He is the one who gives us abundant life. Let us all rejoice in Him today! Amen.