From Adam’s Fall To Christ’s Abounding Grace

Grace doesn’t just meet sin; it overwhelms it. We walk through Romans 4–5 with Pastor Carl and trace a bold arc from Abraham’s uneven faith to the unstoppable gift of justification by faith. Along the way, we face the hard questions people carry: What do I do with recurring failure? How do I find peace with God that lasts beyond my best or worst week? Why would anyone “glory in tribulation,” and what does that even form in me?

We unpack the sequence Paul lays out—tribulation, perseverance, character, hope—and explore why that hope does not disappoint. Not because we are tough, but because the love of God is poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit. We get honest about cultural headwinds, personal doubts, and the ways the law exposes our need rather than fixing it. That exposure is mercy when it leads us to Christ, who was delivered up for our offenses and raised for our justification.

The center of gravity lands on the contrast between Adam and Christ. Through one man came sin and death; through one Man comes life, righteousness, and reconciliation. The gift is not like the trespass. Where sin abounds, grace abounds much more. We talk peace with God, freedom from wrath, and what it means to stand and keep standing in grace—moving from trying to earn favor to living from a settled verdict of acceptance. If you’ve been striving, doubting, or weary, this conversation invites you to trade self-effort for a Savior who doesn’t fail.

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Come On Up is the radio ministry of The Mountain Cross in Waynesville North Carolina. To learn more about us please visit: TheMountainCross.com.

Chapters

• 26:00 Marker 01

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:05

Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us his ways, and we shall walk in his paths.

SPEAKER_00 0:13

Welcome to Come On Up, the radio ministry of the Mountain Cross in Waynesville, North Carolina.

SPEAKER_02 0:20

The sin that came from Adam is great. It messed everything up. And again, we're sinning and don't even know it many times. But the grace of God is so much greater than all our sin. We sing that hymn, and that's this is where it comes from. Are you still trying to work your way to heaven? Or do you realize that the grace of God is so much greater than what we try to work ourselves to that it has no good fruit in it anyway? I want the gift of grace that abounds to many.

SPEAKER_00 0:49

The grace of God is incredible. It's far greater than we can fathom. As Pastor Carl will explain in today's message, mankind has been sinning since Adam and Eve made their choice to rebel back in the garden. Ever since, every single human being has lived in rebellion against God. We're well aware of just how evil men can be. Consider people like Hitler or Charles Manson. God's grace was even enough for them. Even if we don't want grace for certain people, what Jesus did on the cross was enough. And now here's Pastor Carl.

SPEAKER_02 1:28

Contrary to our earthly hope, I hope that works out. And the only way it'll work out is if these things happen, I don't see those things happening. So good luck to you. He trusts in the Lord, because the Lord knows and he tells us, and we believe it. And we have a hope in him. And thus his descendants walk the same way. The descendants in the spiritual sense, those that believe God, it's also accounted to us as righteousness as well. Verse 19, and not being weak in faith, he did not consider his own body already dead, since he was about a hundred years old, and the deadness of Sarah's womb. He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God and being fully convinced that what he had promised he was also able to perform. Now I don't know about you, but when I read this, I think Paul's really gracious towards Abraham. Because if you know the story of Abraham, it wasn't as fully full of faith as you would think it would be. He had struggles along the way. It took 20 years or so between the time God originally made that promise and it was fulfilled. And during that time they had questions, should we turn back? Maybe God means we should do it this way. Here, Sarah said, Take my handmaiden, Hagar. That's how God is going to fulfill this promise. And that didn't work out. His only son is a movie we tried to show. That was our second film. It's available for streaming now and all sorts of streaming services, including the Angel app for free. Encourage you to go back and watch that movie because it brings up some of these other, you know, uh things that happened along the way that possibly could have happened, and some of the perceptions and some of the things that Abraham had to deal with, and yet he was still faithful. He still walked it out. Even though he had doubts along the way, and his wife had doubts along the way, and other family members had doubts along the way. But that's encouraging to me because sometimes I look at some of these things and say, I do believe, and yet my faith falters so often. I stumble and trip along the way so often. But so did Abraham, so did David. And so the grace of God even covers my stumbles in my trying to believe, trying to walk in that faith. I find encouragement in that. I hope you do too. Verse 22, and therefore it was accounted to him for righteousness. Because he kept on going, he kept on believing. Even though he didn't see it, God saw it and he believed what God told him. Do you believe what God tells you through his word? He declares it. And some of these things you read, and it's like, there's no way, Lord. But I believe. Help my unbelief. That's a great prayer. I believe, Lord, but I don't believe enough. I need to believe more. Help me to walk in that. Verse 23. Now it was not written for his sake alone that it was imputed to him, but also for us. It shall be imputed to us who believe in him who raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead, who was delivered up because of our offenses, and was raised because of our justification. He was delivered up to the cross for our offenses. Christ died for sinners, according to the Scriptures. This was what he was called to do. This was his heart, because no one else could cover their sin, let alone the sin of the world, but he could. So he did. And he was raised because of our justification. We were made right with God, and not only that, we were given the righteousness of God. We were made right with God, and we were given a new life and a new command and a new power to go forth in his holiness, in his righteousness, that only comes through faith, that only comes by grace. That brings us to chapter 5. Therefore, because of this, having been justified by faith, you all came to faith in Jesus Christ, and your lives were changed, and that's why you're here. That's why this church is growing in Romans. You've been justified by faith. We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Because of what He's done and our acceptance of it, we are made right with God. How often do you feel that, yes, I came to faith in Jesus Christ, but last week, boy, I messed up and now God hates me. Do you feel that way? Have you fallen short of the glory of God this week? Well, just remember you're still in these bodies of death, is what Paul describes. And our answer is not what we do or don't do as much as it is who we put our trust in. That's why we need to come back and look to the cross. That Jesus died for our my mess up this week. Boy, I want to be perfect. I want to live my life in a way that glorifies Him, but I still realize that in this body of death, as Paul calls it, I'm still susceptible to tripping up and falling. But the answer is the blood covered it. He paid for it. So let's walk in that forgiveness. That's not an excuse to go sin. What it is, is a freedom from that sin to walk on and to continue to walk in faith. A boldness, not because of me, but because of him. We have peace through our Lord Jesus Christ. We have peace with God, through whom we also have access by faith into this grace in which we stand and rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. If we've truly been changed by our faith in Jesus Christ, if he's come into my life and has worked something, we realize that I'm different. I've been changed. And I have this gift of God that he's given me, and I've accessed it by faith. And not only have I accessed it once, but I stand in it. I walk in it. I trust in him every single day, not in myself. And something stirs within us. We rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. We realize that God is coming again, and he's going to save us from these bodies of death, and we're going to realize our ultimate salvation face to face with him in heaven, where there's no more sin, no more death. And it's real because we sense it in our hearts. That's easy to say, right? Verse 3 is a little tougher. And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations. In this life you will have tribulation, but fear not I have overcome the world, the Lord says. I love to glory in the Lord. I love to glory in the time where He's going to take us home and He's going to change us and give us new bodies that are free from sin, so I could fully serve Him with my whole heart with no restrictions. What a glorious time that will be. But do I have that same excitement about tribulations coming? We live in a world that's becoming more and more hostile to the Christian faith. Are you excited about potentially being persecuted for being thrown in jail because you stand up and say, no? I'm going to declare the truth of the gospel and not any woke ideology that you force me to do. Even if you cancel my bank account, I can't buy anything. That's tough, isn't it? But this is the faith that we've been given. This is the grace of God that we've accessed. And it grows. And as it grows, we we know that tribulation produces perseverance. It's designed to knock us down. But in truth, God will use it to make us stronger. It'll build our faith. God promised me this would happen. It's happening, and I get to declare the gospel to my jailkeeper. And he gets to hit me, and I get to get stronger in my faith. Hey, they crucified my Savior. I'm not even close to that. You must see Jesus in me. Praise God. Did you know he died for you too? And then he hits me again. Oh Lord, help me grow in that faith. I'm gonna need it. You're gonna need it. But not only does tribulation produce perseverance, perseverance produces character. The character of Christ. As we grow in the Lord and we become stronger in our faith, as the Lord conforms us more and more into his image, we look more and more like Jesus. We act more and more like Jesus. We talk more and more like Jesus. And isn't that what we want? And that character produces hope. Not just, I hope so, not wishful thinking. If I believe hard enough, it'll happen. But a hope in a, yeah, this is real, and I believe it. Jesus is coming back, and he's saving the world if the world comes to faith in him. Otherwise, if they reject the world, he's coming in in judgment. And no matter what you do to me, that doesn't change the fact that that's happening. That's my hope. And he's coming for me. And he could come for you too. May the Lord give us that boldness. And in verse 5 it says, Now this hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us. Something stirs within us. We know this is right. I don't know if I can handle what might be coming my way, but I know it's right. And I want to be bold. I want to stand up like David and his three friends that didn't give in to what the government dictated them to do, but they stood strong in their faith for the Lord. May we stand strong. If you've really been changed by the Lord, you know this is true, and it stirs in your heart because that's the Holy Spirit in you, saying, Yes, this is true. Verse 6, for when we were still without strength in due time, Christ died for the ungodly. In Christ we have this great strength. But before we came to faith, we were weak. He didn't come because we were bold, he came because we were weak, and he died for us. But that just is not the way of the world, is it? Verse 7 says, For scarcely for a righteous man will one die. Yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. But he's a good man. He might be willing to do that. But you wouldn't die for somebody like your lousy neighbor that always steals your tools and says bad things about you. You wouldn't die for them. You probably wish some bad things upon them, right? But that's not that's that's the heart of man. But the heart of God is this. But God demonstrates his own love towards us that while we were yet sinners, while we're still sinners, Christ died for us. We were enemies. But he showed his love toward us by taking our place on the cross. That's not the way the world thinks, is it? Verse 9. Much more than having now been justified by his blood, we shall be saved from the wrath through him. What wrath? The wrath of God that comes against the enemies of God, against sinners. Who are sinners? All of us. We've all sinned. This is what should come at us, is the wrath of God, but it came on Jesus instead. And it is still to come on a world that has rejected the gospel of Jesus Christ. The wrath of God is being poured out on mankind and will be shortly even more so. A terrible time. But because we trust in Him, we avoid that wrath because He's taken it for us. And we're not appointed to it now, because He's coming for us, and He's coming to judge the world for those who didn't believe. Verse 10 For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation. He's paid our sin, He's taken the wrath upon Himself, He's given us life, and He's reconciled us with Himself. So we can become the friends of God. And not only that, so that we can bring this message of reconciliation to the rest of the world. If you want to be a peacemaker, you lead people to the one who gives us our peace. If you want to reconcile people groups together, you point them to the Lord. That's our ministry of reconciliation. It's between us and the Lord, but it's also between each other. Reconciliation is brought between us because of Jesus. Verse 12. Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all have sinned, through Adam, sin entered into the world. And before we even got started, everything was turned upside down. And we were born into that world. We were born as sinners because of the sin of Adam and Eve. Are you following? And even though this world is nice and glorious, and you can see the glories of God through the creation, it's nothing compared to what He made it originally. And we get so used to sin that we think, oh, I'm not so bad as that other person. And we don't recognize how far we are from God. So just as through one man sin entered the world, and then there's a parenthesis here, for until the law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law. Nevertheless, death reigned from Adam to Moses, and even over those who had not sinned, according to the likeness of the transgression of Adam, who is a type of him who was to come. Now he's he's he's bringing another thought in here that if you're a deep thinker, you could start squeezing this out, but it's it's hard for me to get my head around it. We all sinned. We didn't need the law to tell us that we sinned, but when the law came, it made it evident and clear. So I went back to another version. Back to the New Living Translation for verse 14. Listen to this. Still, everyone died. You may not have been under the law, you may not have knowingly broke the law that was written, the written code, but death did enter the picture, and everybody since Adam and Eve has died because of sin. From the time of Adam to the time of Moses, from the time of Adam to the time of the law, there was no law, yet sin was still in the picture and still had an effect, which was death. Even those who did not disobey an explicit commandment of God as Adam did. What is the command that Adam broke? God said, Don't eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Don't eat it. Don't eat of the fruit of that. And Adam did. He explicitly rebelled against God. Now we sin every day and many times don't even realize we're doing it because we're sinners. That's the point that Paul is making. It doesn't have to be an explicit. I haven't murdered anybody. Yeah, you haven't. But your heart is sinful and has thought a lot of thoughts that are not righteous and they're not glorifying to God. Now Adam is a symbol, a representation of Christ who is yet to come. Adam is described as the first Adam. Jesus is described as the second Adam. Adam is the one who messed everything up, and Jesus is the one who came to turn everything around. Are you following? Alright, let's keep going here. Verse 15. But the free gift is not like the offense. For if by the one man's offense many died, much more the grace of God and the gift of by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, abounded to many. The gift, the grace of God, the finished work of his sacrifice on the cross and our salvation through believing the gospel is so much greater than the sin that came because of Adam. And the sin that came from Adam is great. It messed everything up. And again, we're sinning and don't even know it many times. But the grace of God is so much greater than all our sin. We sing that hymn, and that's this is where it comes from. Are you still trying to work your way to heaven? Or do you realize that the grace of God is so much greater than what we try to work ourselves to that it has no good fruit in it anyway? I want the gift of grace that abounds to many. Verse 16, and the the gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned, for the judgment which came from one offense resulted in condemnation, but the free gift which came from many offenses resulted in justification. Our Lord was offended in many ways in order to bring us justification. It took one big sin to mess all of creation up. But when Jesus came and humbled himself, there were a lot of offenses that he took. The king tried to kill him before he even got started. His family didn't even fully understand him, his siblings made fun of him. His disciples followed him, but uh they quarreled and they told him, No, Lord, you're not going to die. His chosen nation turned against him and cried, Crucify Him. They spat on him, they mocked him, they crucified our Lord. All for our sake. Also that we could have our sins made right with him and made and given the righteousness of God. For if by the one man's offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive the abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness will reign in the life through one, Jesus Christ. Death came through Adam, but so much more will abundance of grace and righteousness reign in the life of God. Of anyone who believes through Jesus Christ our Lord. Do you believe in Jesus Christ? Are you walking in Jesus Christ? Are you standing in the grace of Jesus Christ? And Paul wants to get our vision, our thinking aligned with that. This is the truth. Walk in it. Believe it. Be changed by it. It'll make you bold. It'll give you a love and compassion for others who haven't received this gift of grace. Therefore, as though one man's offense judgment came to all men, resulting in the condemnation, even so through one man's righteous act, the free gift of grace came to all men, resulting in the justification of life. For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one man's obedience, many will be made righteous. Oh, praise the Lord for his faithful walk as a man. He was obedient, obedient to death on the cross. So also made righteous. Moreover, the law entered that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more. That's an interesting verse and worthy of study even greater. We're all born into sin. If we realize we're sinning or not, we're walking in sin. But when the law came, it pointed out the sin that we had in our hearts. But it even did more than that. It caused sin to abound. And you see that with kids. Kids, don't touch the cookie jar. Oh, there's a cookie jar? I didn't know there was a cookie jar. I gotta touch the cookie jar. That's what the law does in our sinful hearts. Don't do that. I gotta do that now. Right? It does. So the law not only points out sin, but it stirs up sin in our hearts to show us our desperate need for a savior. Because as hard as we try, we're gonna mess up. David, a man after God's own heart, fell big time and did some terrible sins. He should have been sentenced to death. The Lord died for him. Even though he looked forward, the Lord died for him. The Lord has died for me. The Lord has died for you in all your sin. Verse 21. So that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through the righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Where sin abounded, grace abounded much more. Sin reigns in death, but grace gives life and righteousness. But there is a formula. It has to be through Jesus Christ our Lord. It's not our own works that any man should boast, but it's trusting in the finished work of Jesus on the cross. Boy, Paul gets you thinking, doesn't he? But hopefully he should get you stirred up in a good way. Our God is good. The cross has accomplished so much. I'm beginning to see more and more of it, and I want to apply it in my life, and I want the whole world to know. Amen. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for your word. We thank you for Paul, a great thinker, a great lover of you. He was changed by the grace of God, even though he was the Pharisee of Pharisees, he was quite the wise man, and yet his wisdom was foolishness compared to the gospel. And you made him wise in you. We thank you for the revelations that you've given him that we still have with us today. And these same struggles that the Romans were going through are struggles that we still go through today because our hearts are deceitfully wicked. And yet, your grace is so much greater than all our sin. And your life is so much greater than the death that comes from sin.

SPEAKER_00 24:07

That's Pastor Carl of the Mountain Cross. We are a group of believers located in Waynesville, North Carolina. We simply teach through the Bible verse by verse, chapter by chapter. If something you heard today in the book of Romans has you asking some questions, would you get in touch with us? On our website, we have a contact and prayer form that you can fill out. Just go to themountaincross.com and fill out the form. Someone will get in touch with you soon. If this ministry has been a blessing to you and you'd like to find a way to partner with us in the ministry, there's a donate tab on our website where you can give a financial contribution. It's safe and secure for you to give online. We appreciate any donations. Once again, the website to go to is themountaincross.com. The Mountain Cross meets every Sunday morning at 10 a.m. at Smoky Mountain Cinema. We'd be delighted for you to join us there this weekend. In addition to Sunday mornings, we host a Faith Film Night every first Monday of the month. This is a great way to connect with others in the community and to be immersed in content that is spiritually encouraging. To learn more, just search for Faith Film Night on Facebook, and we'll see you at the movies. Thanks for listening today. That brings us to the close of our program, but we look forward to the next time. Come on up to the mountain with us again tomorrow as we seek to learn more from the Lord through His Word. Come on Up is sponsored by the Mountain Cross, a Calvary Chapel fellowship.