A Matter of Death, and Life
(Resurrection Sunday, 2025)
Romans 5:12-21
(Summary statement: Today, we celebrate Christ’s resurrection from the dead! Jesus rose from the dead in demonstration that He is Victor over sin and death. By God’s grace in Christ, those who are in Christ have the assurance of eternal life.)
We have gathered today – and every Sunday – to celebrate the life, death, and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ!
We celebrate the fact that our Jesus came from heaven to earth. He lived the life He was supposed to live, perfectly and without sin… He died the death He was supposed to die, perfectly … because of our sin!... You see, Jesus died as a … substitute, on behalf of those whom He would redeem! He died as –
The next day he saw Jesus coming to him and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!
What happened when Jesus, the Lamb of God, died on that cruel cross?... It was in that moment He became the very object of God’s wrath poured out upon sin! It was a moment of … profound exchange for all those who would become the children of God!
He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
He [God the Father] made Him [God the Son] who knew no sin [that is, Jesus knew no sin] to be sin on our behalf [Paul is writing to Christians], so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
Jesus died as the “Lamb of God” on behalf of all those who are saved!
But, we are here not only to express our gratitude for His having died for us – we also gather to celebrate the fact that … Jesus rose again from the dead!
3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,
So, every Sunday is Resurrection Sunday! Every Sunday is Easter for the Christian!
We are going to spend time in a portion of God’s Word today, that explains why Jesus’ coming, and dying, and rising again – is so important! So, let’s approach God’s Word with all the seriousness it requires…
Now listen … for centuries, all around the world, pastors read their text, and conclude by saying; “This is the Word of the Lord”, or simply “The Word of the Lord” – to which the congregation responds by saying; “Thanks be to God”... Somehow that rings with an acknowledgement from the church, that what we are about to think upon, are not the mere thoughts of man, but we are actually hearing, and gratefully receiving the Word of God… So, I want to invite us to join our brothers and sisters around the world, and offer our mutual gratitude to the Lord in the same manner… First, let me read our text, and out of another great tradition, practiced since the OT (Nehemiah 8:5), let’s stand in honor of God’s Word while I read:
Romans 5:12-21
12 Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned— 13 for until the Law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law. 14 Nevertheless death reigned from Adam until Moses, even over those who had not sinned in the likeness of the offense of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come.
15 But the free gift is not like the transgression. For if by the transgression of the one the many died, much more did the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abound to the many. 16 The gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned; for on the one hand the judgment arose from one transgression resulting in condemnation, but on the other hand the free gift arose from many transgressions resulting in justification. 17 For if by the transgression of the one, death reigned through the one, much more those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.
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. 19 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. 20 The Law came in so that the transgression would increase; but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, 21 so that, as sin reigned in death, even so grace would reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
“This is the Word of the Lord.” (“Thanks be to God.”) (Please be seated.)
The book of Romans is a … heavy book. The primary purpose of the book is to provide an in-depth explanation of the gospel… It is a doctrinal book, and commands the attention of a Christian for an entire lifetime… In other words, you will study it all of your life – and though you will grow in your understanding of what God has revealed, you will never fully understand, in this lifetime, all that is said here…
The irony is, we are not equipped to fully grasp it – we lack the capacity to understand it thoroughly… but the more we study God’s Word, the more … equipped we become. God informs us, with the purpose of … transforming us!
Let’s put our thinking-caps on, and with an open heart to the Lord, let’s prayerfully hear and receive the truths God is giving us in this text.
We begin with –
1. The Matter of Sin and Death
We are not merely being told of A matter about death – we are being told something about THE matter of death… At some point in your life, have you spent time wondering about such questions as … where did death come from? Why did death come into the world in the first place?... Why are all people, and every living thing… subject to die?...
Our perusal of the text will address the basic reason to this question.
Romans 5:12-14
12 Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned— 13 for until the Law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law. 14 Nevertheless death reigned from Adam until Moses, even over those who had not sinned in the likeness of the offense of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come.
We begin to get answers to the questions we just raised… This passage tells us –
Death came into the world, because of what one man did! Who was that one man? It was Adam, the first man…
We read about the fall of the world into sin, back in Genesis chapter 3… Briefly stated; we immediately learn that there is a being who … slithers onto the scene with the determination to … trick Eve into disobeying God, and eat from the forbidden fruit… She is ultimately deceived, and disobeys… Eve then turned to Adam and gave him the fruit to eat, and Adam … is NOT deceived about all of this! He chooses to sin with his eyes wide open (so to speak)...
As a consequence, death entered the world, just as God had warned. Listen to –
Genesis 2:15-17
15 Then the Lord God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it. 16 The Lord God commanded the man, saying, “From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; 17 but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.”
Adam disobeyed, and brought death into the world. He died immediately in his spirit. He would died ultimately in his body…
So from this, we also learn –
Adam’s disobedience is the cause for sin entering into the world – into his bloodstream, his posterity, into all of mankind to come!
We are born … spiritually dead because of this (Eph. 2:1)… We remain spiritually dead, unless and until the Lord does His supernatural work to cause us to be born-again – but more about that later…
You were there when Adam sinned! You might say; “No I wasn’t!”... but you were literally there in “the loins of Adam”... (You didn’t come from any other place!)...
I found this statement in an article on Gotquestions.org, to be helpful in understanding this –
“It may not seem fair to be saddled with Adam’s sin nature, but it’s eminently consistent with other aspects of human propagation. We inherit some physical characteristics such as eye color from our parents, and we also inherit some of their spiritual characteristics. Why should the passing on of spiritual traits be any different from the transmission of physical traits? We may complain about having brown eyes when we wanted blue, but our eye color is simply a matter of genetics. In the same way, having a sin nature is a matter of ‘spiritual genetics’; it’s a natural part of life.
However, the Bible says we are sinners by deed as well as by nature. We are sinners twice over: we sin because we are sinners (Adam’s choice), and we are sinners because we sin (our choice)... We are more than potential sinners; we are practicing sinners. ‘Each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away’ (James 1:14). A driver sees the speed limit sign; he exceeds the limit; he gets a ticket. He can’t blame Adam for that.”
Now, unless you are thinking differently – the truth is – if you were standing there in the place of Adam, you would have done what he did!...
Adam brought sin into “the gene pool”, and every descendant of Adam since, sins! We sin because we are sinners… we chose to sin because that is what sinners do!...
Our text also leans into the fact that there was no covenantal Law during all of those generations between Adam and Moses. Yet, there was still sin, and there was the knowledge of sin!... Everyone was – and everyone is – without excuse! People sin, and they sin on purpose! It is in the nature of fallen creatures to sin.
Just as it was stated earlier in this book –
for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
And with sin came death…
The wages of sin is death…
This is what we have “earned” (that is the idea behind the word; “wages”). What we have earned and deserve is death. This is why all people must die – because all people have sinned…
You see it in the infant, the toddler, the child, the teen, the man or woman… If left unchecked, the self-centeredness of sin, would make narcissists of us all!
Now be careful of getting caught up in … philosophical debate, and humanistic speculation, that tries to persuade the so-called, modern mind into thinking that there is … no such thing as sin. That’s NOT a new argument! It comes out of the empty, meaningless pit, known formally as Buddhism… One might want to tell themselves there is no such thing as sin, but that is pure self-imposed … delusion…
It comes from a place wanting to deny the reality of evil … that is on the inside!... It’s one thing to acknowledge the evil we see all around us – in fact, it is truly unrealistic to deny that evil exists “out there”!... But it is just as delusional to deny the evil that is “in here”!
The Word of God has diagnosed us accurately!... We are sinners –
And you were dead in your trespasses and sins,
– desperately in need of a Savior!...
That leads us to think about the rest of our text, and we do so under the heading –
2. The Matter of Grace and Life
Now, there are some details here that we need to carefully think about… We’ve discussed the matter of sin and death being … deserved… But, here we find a strong contrast. Let’s listen to it carefully –
Romans 5:15-21
15 But the free gift is not like the transgression. For if by the transgression of the one the many died, much more did the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abound to the many. 16 The gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned; for on the one hand the judgment arose from one transgression resulting in condemnation, but on the other hand the free gift arose from many transgressions resulting in justification. 17 For if by the transgression of the one, death reigned through the one, much more those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.
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. 19 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. 20 The Law came in so that the transgression would increase; but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, 21 so that, as sin reigned in death, even so grace would reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Friends, there are … volumes of truth stated in these two paragraphs!... Let’s see if we can grasp the basics of what is being said… In this passage we learn about –
The first thing we learn about grace, is that it comes as a … gift… That is in strong contrast to how death and sin came… Death was “earned” – grace is a “gift”!
Romans 5:15
But the free gift is not like the transgression. For if by the transgression of the one the many died, much more did the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abound to the many.
We also learn –
We see in this one verse, that just as death came about because of one man – grace comes about because of One Man… Death came through the first Adam. Life comes from the Second Adam, Jesus… The solution to spiritual death is … eternal life that is provided in Jesus!
What follows, is –
Romasns 5:16-17
16 The gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned; for on the one hand the judgment arose from one transgression [that is of course, Adam’s sin] resulting in condemnation, but on the other hand the free gift arose from many transgressions [what are the “many transgressions” – the transgressions committed AGAINST Jesus!... including the CROSS! –] resulting in justification. 17 For if by the transgression of the one, death reigned through the one, [it is staggering to think about how death reigns!... “one out of one” dies!... It is only a matter of when!... But Paul draws a strong contrast by saying] much more [much more certain than death, is the truth that] those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.
Peruse these two verses again, and underline in one color what comes because of sin – “judgement”, and “condemnation” in verse :16, and the “reign of death” in verse :17…
Now peruse them again, and underline in another color what comes because of grace – “free gift”, “justification” in verse :16, and the phrases “abundance of grace” and “gift of righteousness” in verse :17…
Frankly folks, this passage today is far more rich than we have the capacity to fully grasp!...
Now, I know the Apostle Paul was a Baptist preacher, because what follows is a summary statement, but actually is – a restating of the point, with a little more detail… Let’s consider it quickly:
Romans 5:18-21
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. 19 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. 20 The Law came in so that the transgression would increase [the idea here is the “the knowledge” of transgression would increase! When we “know” the standard (the Law), then we “know” when we mess up – the transgression – when we break that Law!... Underline all that follows!]; but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, 21 so that, as sin reigned in death, even so grace would reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Wow!... Let those words marinate in your mind and heart!
Now, we need to think through something carefully… The only “universalism” in this passage, is on the … transgression side of the ledger!... All have sinned – that is all the descendants of Adam – so all are subject to the condemnation of death!
I think what Paul said to the Corinthians is helpful here –
1 Corinthians 15:22
For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive.
You need to think about this verse for just a moment… Some have wanted this to … give some kind of universal promise that everyone will eventually be saved… It says nothing of the sort. There is no “universal salvation” for everyone. That is another lie from the father of lies…
Just read the passage, and it stands on its own… “For as in Adam all die”, so who is in Adam? Everyone! There is no descendant from Adam who is not a sinner! (Jesus is not a son of Adam, He came from the Father - born of a virgin! You get your spiritual depravity from your dad’s side of the family.)
Read the rest of the verse; “so also in Christ all will be made alive”. Who will be made alive – all in Adam? NO!... All that are “in Christ”!
It’s that simple. All who are in the first Adam, die! All that in the Second Adam … live!
Not every descendant of the first Adam, is a recipient of the gift in the second Adam!... Our text today is not saying that they are! Rather – it is simply saying that all who are justified, have their justification in only One Source - Jesus! There is no justification outside of Jesus!... Just like through the disobedience of one man, condemnation came – it is through the obedience of One Man, Jesus, that justification comes!
So again – death affects all who come from Adam… Life is given to all who are in Christ, the Second Adam!
So, why here on “Easter Sunday”, do we consider a passage like this?... Because we need to rightly understand that Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection – is the payment and proof! He paid the price for our redemption, and His resurrection proves it!
Are you in Christ?... Listen, if you have not repented of your sin and come to Christ, there is no justification, no righteousness, no eternal life apart from Him!... Come to Christ!
What does a “redeemed” life look like?... It is one of … irony… We, the redeemed, are alive in Christ! The old us, is crucified with Christ! The new us is … Christ living in us – ruling over us – living through us!...
I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.
Does this describe you?... The truth is, it is a matter of life and death
Questions to Consider in Community Group
