WEBVTT 00:00:18.399 --> 00:00:19.359 Good morning, everyone. 00:00:19.519 --> 00:00:25.199 Yeah, so do you open up to Romans chapter 5, verse 12 to 21, and keep that open as Mark is preaching. 00:00:25.280 --> 00:00:30.719 For the city kids and the city teens, I've got a question for you to try and find from the passage. 00:00:30.800 --> 00:00:35.840 Okay, so the question is who are the main characters in this passage? 00:00:36.000 --> 00:00:41.280 So as I'm reading, listen carefully and see if you can find who the main characters are in the passage. 00:00:41.679 --> 00:00:43.200 Okay, let's read. 00:00:45.840 --> 00:00:56.159 Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned. 00:00:56.799 --> 00:01:03.840 For sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law. 00:01:04.079 --> 00:01:14.000 Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come. 00:01:15.040 --> 00:01:30.000 But the free gift is not like the trespass, for if many died through one man's trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man, Jesus Christ, abounded for many. 00:01:30.319 --> 00:01:34.640 And the free gift is not like the result of that one man's sin. 00:01:35.120 --> 00:01:44.400 For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brought justification. 00:01:45.120 --> 00:02:00.159 For if, because of one man's trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ. 00:02:00.959 --> 00:02:10.639 Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. 00:02:11.439 --> 00:02:19.439 For as by the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man's obedience the many will be made righteous. 00:02:19.680 --> 00:02:36.719 Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, so that as sin reigned in death, grace may also reign through the righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. 00:02:37.199 --> 00:02:38.800 And so reads God's word. 00:02:39.919 --> 00:02:40.800 So welcome. 00:02:40.879 --> 00:02:41.599 My name's Mark. 00:02:41.680 --> 00:02:46.080 If you have no idea who the madman at the front is, I'm one of the leaders at City. 00:02:46.319 --> 00:02:48.560 Please do have Romans 5 open in front of you. 00:02:48.639 --> 00:02:50.000 It's really hard. 00:02:50.159 --> 00:02:52.000 So you need to have it uh in front of you. 00:02:52.159 --> 00:02:56.000 In fact, what I might do, sorry, this is probably a pain for whoever's on the clicker. 00:02:56.159 --> 00:03:00.080 Can you go right back to the reading uh uh so that it's up in front of you as well? 00:03:00.240 --> 00:03:02.879 Because we will be kind of referring back to it. 00:03:02.960 --> 00:03:13.199 Uh many for many of us, many of you here this morning, um, Ireland is uh is your home by choice and uh and not your home by uh by birth. 00:03:13.360 --> 00:03:25.199 You've come here for uh for many different reasons, and I am sure that there are times in which you feel settled and connected and this feels like home. 00:03:25.280 --> 00:03:34.240 And then there are probably other times when actually you feel very far from home and you feel very disconnected uh from uh from where home is. 00:03:34.879 --> 00:03:53.199 If you've settled here long enough uh that actually you've had a family here, or you've brought young children here, and they're uh they're growing up in Ireland, actually they have a very different uh experience and will continue to have a different experience of Ireland as home uh than you will have. 00:03:53.360 --> 00:04:01.599 Uh the their home country uh will feel much more distant than it does for you. 00:04:02.000 --> 00:04:07.199 Uh they will probably grow up feeling much more uh culturally Irish. 00:04:08.400 --> 00:04:10.879 And so that creates another little bit of distance. 00:04:10.960 --> 00:04:35.120 And then you kind of think, well, if actually you're from a country like America or from South Africa, what you can do is you can look back in the annals of time, and what you realize is that somewhere on down your family tree, somebody whose name you probably don't know made a decision to move his or her family or to come as an individual themselves to a new country. 00:04:35.279 --> 00:04:38.079 And that has had a profound effect on your life. 00:04:38.319 --> 00:04:48.720 If you're American of German descent and ancestry, of Irish descent and ancestry, you have this awareness that there's some sort of historical connection. 00:04:48.879 --> 00:04:53.199 Certainly Americans tend to have an awareness of an historical connection with Irish, and I'm Irish, right? 00:04:53.439 --> 00:04:55.199 Uh yeah, you know you're not. 00:04:55.360 --> 00:05:09.759 Um but that's the thing is that there's a sense of someone somewhere made a decision, or more likely was forced by the British, to my wife's on City Kids, so you can talk to her about that. 00:05:09.920 --> 00:05:13.759 Um to move to a different country. 00:05:14.399 --> 00:05:27.040 And so this decision that was made by somebody whose name you maybe don't even know, possibly centuries beforehand, has affected your life now. 00:05:28.720 --> 00:05:38.160 That there is this connection that in some way feels distant, but it's had an implication for how you live. 00:05:39.519 --> 00:05:46.639 And sometimes our experience of Christianity can feel distant and remote. 00:05:46.800 --> 00:06:05.360 You know, we talk about a man who lived 2,000 years ago on earth, we believe he's still alive, but he lived on earth 2,000 years ago, and that he uh was executed on a hill outside of a Middle Eastern country, uh, outside of the city of Jerusalem. 00:06:05.600 --> 00:06:12.319 We're saying that that transforms your life now, sitting in the Odeon Cinema in 2024. 00:06:12.480 --> 00:06:26.160 And actually, you can sit there and think, I I feel, I feel really kind of emotionally disconnected from that event, that that feels very far off that all these things that you're telling. 00:06:26.399 --> 00:06:33.279 How is it that those actions 2,000 years ago have an effect on my life now? 00:06:33.759 --> 00:06:46.560 It's kind of like when your ancestor moved to America or South Africa or wherever it is, that it is possible for these effects to stretch through time and space. 00:06:48.240 --> 00:06:59.360 In the first half of uh Romans chapter five, Paul has been talking about two connected things. 00:06:59.680 --> 00:07:05.279 Imagine in your mind's eye um two ends of a rope bridge, right? 00:07:05.600 --> 00:07:10.079 So like character read or somewhere like that, or just kind of a clip art rope bridge in your mind, okay? 00:07:10.319 --> 00:07:19.279 And on the one hand, what he's been arguing is that the Christian is someone who has been justified, right? 00:07:19.519 --> 00:07:25.360 You have been made righteous because of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. 00:07:25.439 --> 00:07:28.639 That is an objective reality in the past. 00:07:28.959 --> 00:07:32.560 That's the first anchor point for this rope bridge. 00:07:32.720 --> 00:07:45.279 And then he connects that through to the other side and says that that then means that the Christian is somebody who will be glorified. 00:07:45.439 --> 00:07:51.759 That is, that God will keep you until the end, until you see him face to face. 00:07:51.920 --> 00:08:05.600 That if he has done this in the past, he will see that you come through all of the experiences, all of the suffering, all of the trials, all of the sin of your life, and he will bring you through it like gold refined in the fire. 00:08:05.839 --> 00:08:09.519 That if he's justified you, he will glorify you. 00:08:09.680 --> 00:08:14.720 Those are the two stakes of the kind of the Christian life rope bridge, as it were. 00:08:15.360 --> 00:08:23.920 Now, Paul then knows that human beings can feel a little bit distant and disconnected to that. 00:08:24.319 --> 00:08:40.960 Because here's the thing: so Paul begins this section with the word therefore, and then goes on to talk some really complicated things about Adam and sin and the law and trespasses and free gifts and all of those things. 00:08:41.120 --> 00:08:43.360 But it starts with therefore. 00:08:44.240 --> 00:08:50.960 And as all good, literally Bible students know, when you see a therefore, you have to ask, what's a therefore? 00:08:51.360 --> 00:08:51.679 Right? 00:08:51.840 --> 00:09:02.080 So you're well, how does this section that seems so theologically dense relate back to the stuff that he's just been talking about? 00:09:02.159 --> 00:09:11.759 You're like, okay, I can get my head around, I have been justified, God will glorify me, but how does that then lead on to all of this stuff about Adam and Christ? 00:09:12.000 --> 00:09:13.279 And here it is. 00:09:13.840 --> 00:09:20.720 Paul knows that there are times when we feel distant and disconnected from those realities. 00:09:20.960 --> 00:09:25.759 Where you kind of ask yourself, how do I know that God will keep me to the end? 00:09:26.240 --> 00:09:28.240 What is the what's the ground? 00:09:28.320 --> 00:09:33.279 What's the basis for this sure and certain hope? 00:09:34.000 --> 00:09:36.559 And 12 to 21 are Paul's answer. 00:09:37.039 --> 00:09:46.879 Let me summarize Paul's answer for you, because he goes to a place that if you were making this argument, you probably wouldn't go. 00:09:47.440 --> 00:09:49.679 That's why it sounds weird in our ears. 00:09:49.759 --> 00:09:54.159 But let me summarize what Paul is saying in these verses. 00:09:54.960 --> 00:10:25.519 He's saying to you, believer, that you can be certain of God's commitment to you because there exists between you and Christ an indestructible union and connection that is similar to, but better than the connection that exists between all human beings and Adam. 00:10:26.720 --> 00:10:28.000 Do you want me to say that again? 00:10:29.519 --> 00:11:01.759 You can be certain of God's commitment to keep you to the end because there is affected by the Spirit some mystical union and connection that stretches through time and space, that joins you to Christ, a union that is similar to, but better than the connection that all human beings have with Adam. 00:11:03.360 --> 00:11:04.480 Still with me? 00:11:05.279 --> 00:11:05.600 Okay. 00:11:06.159 --> 00:11:07.600 We're gonna unpack that. 00:11:07.759 --> 00:11:09.600 But that's broadly the big idea. 00:11:09.759 --> 00:11:34.000 The big idea is do not think of yourself and your life like you're kind of you're looking back through the corridors of time to Good Friday in Jerusalem, and you're kind of standing here, you're kind of looking through this kind of theological wormhole, and you can kind of you kind of get a glimpse of Jesus dying on the cross and go, okay, that that happened over there for me. 00:11:34.559 --> 00:11:36.080 Don't think of it that way. 00:11:36.240 --> 00:11:41.679 Think of actually when Jesus died on Good Friday, I was there. 00:11:43.759 --> 00:11:46.080 It dying to self in Christ. 00:11:46.159 --> 00:11:48.799 That's actually the argument that he'll make in the very next chapter. 00:11:48.879 --> 00:11:50.399 That's how it flows on. 00:11:50.720 --> 00:11:53.840 Christ is not dying over here and you're over there. 00:11:54.159 --> 00:11:57.679 You're in him, you're connected to him. 00:11:58.159 --> 00:12:03.039 And what Paul is beginning to say is actually every human being was connected to Adam first. 00:12:04.399 --> 00:12:16.480 So he explores the connection with Adam and how terrible the consequences of that have been in order to show the goodness of our connection with Christ. 00:12:20.240 --> 00:12:22.720 So Paul is laying a contrast. 00:12:23.279 --> 00:12:36.559 He's saying, in effect, there are two heads, two leaders, two representatives of all human beings. 00:12:37.360 --> 00:12:44.960 On the one hand, there's Adam, and we will see the effects of his leadership. 00:12:45.279 --> 00:12:54.879 And then on the other hand, there's Jesus, who is sometimes in the New Testament referred to as the second Adam. 00:12:56.240 --> 00:13:06.960 That there are two heads, two representatives, and every human being follows one of those representatives. 00:13:07.440 --> 00:13:11.200 By nature and by birth, we all follow Adam. 00:13:11.360 --> 00:13:12.799 We're all in him. 00:13:13.279 --> 00:13:22.000 And then by redemption, by salvation, we come under the rule of Christ. 00:13:23.279 --> 00:13:27.679 And so at the end of verse 14, look at the very end of verse 14, one of the most complicated verses. 00:13:27.759 --> 00:13:29.360 Don't read the first part, just ignore that. 00:13:29.440 --> 00:13:30.399 I'm going to try to. 00:13:41.360 --> 00:13:50.559 What Paul's saying there is that Jesus is in some sense patterned after Adam. 00:13:51.200 --> 00:14:03.120 Or rather, a better way to put it, is that Adam, in some sense, foreshadows and points to something that we need to learn about Jesus. 00:14:06.159 --> 00:14:14.320 And then you kind of pause and you stop and you think, well, he's not very, he's not a very good type of Christ. 00:14:15.200 --> 00:14:18.320 I could probably think of better Paul. 00:14:19.120 --> 00:14:25.200 What about David, the great king, the high point of kingship in the Old Testament? 00:14:25.360 --> 00:14:32.399 What about Aaron, the priest, and his standing mediating before the people of God? 00:14:32.559 --> 00:14:33.519 Why Adam? 00:14:33.759 --> 00:14:41.200 Why are you picking Adam and saying that Adam is the one who foreshadows what Jesus is doing? 00:14:41.840 --> 00:14:50.399 Well, it's because of this point that Adam stands as the representative, as the head of all of humanity. 00:14:51.039 --> 00:14:56.559 And that as our representative, his actions have consequences for us. 00:14:57.200 --> 00:14:59.039 Like the moving country thing, do you see? 00:14:59.759 --> 00:15:03.440 His actions have affected our life today. 00:15:04.000 --> 00:15:08.559 And Paul will go on to say that Christ's actions affect our life today. 00:15:10.080 --> 00:15:15.679 In the same way, Christ is the one man who stands as a representative of all who would have faith in him. 00:15:16.879 --> 00:15:20.799 And his action has eternal consequences. 00:15:21.919 --> 00:15:26.799 All of humanity stands under one of these two heads, Adam or Christ. 00:15:27.120 --> 00:15:29.919 And in this passage, Paul contrasts them. 00:15:30.799 --> 00:15:35.279 We know that it's a contrast from the start of verse 12. 00:15:35.679 --> 00:15:37.919 Have a look at the start of verse 12. 00:15:38.240 --> 00:15:47.919 So what you need to know in verse 12 is that Paul gets distracted and goes off on a tangent and he doesn't finish the comparison. 00:15:48.080 --> 00:16:00.159 That's one of the things that makes this verse, these verses, so complicated, is that he picks up something and he runs with it for about six verses and doesn't come back to the contrast until verse 18. 00:16:00.240 --> 00:16:01.919 But look at the start of 12. 00:16:02.159 --> 00:16:12.799 Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man and death through sin, you expect him then to go, so also, but he doesn't. 00:16:16.320 --> 00:16:19.919 And then there's the little death, for sin indeed was in the world, and he goes on. 00:16:20.240 --> 00:16:21.840 But look, he finishes the contrast. 00:16:22.000 --> 00:16:24.000 Give me a click and go on to verse 18. 00:16:24.320 --> 00:16:33.679 He finishes the contrast, or he kind of restates it all again, because he kind of comes back to his main point of contrasting Adam and Christ in verse 18. 00:16:33.759 --> 00:16:36.879 So he comes by, he goes, He's done all of this stuff and we'll come to it. 00:16:36.960 --> 00:16:48.879 And he goes, Therefore, as one trespass led to the condemnation of all men, so one act of righteousness leads to the justification of all men. 00:16:49.039 --> 00:16:50.480 That's the contrast. 00:16:50.720 --> 00:16:54.320 He's contrasting Adam and Christ. 00:16:55.440 --> 00:16:58.159 And he fills it out towards the end. 00:16:58.559 --> 00:17:00.000 So you can go back to 12. 00:17:00.080 --> 00:17:03.840 Thank you, Clicker, and we're going to look at these two men in turn. 00:17:05.440 --> 00:17:07.839 Let me just say, the Adam stuff's hard. 00:17:07.920 --> 00:17:10.160 It's not just hard theologically, it's hard to hear. 00:17:11.519 --> 00:17:15.599 Bear with me and we can you can maybe come and talk to me afterwards. 00:17:15.839 --> 00:17:16.319 All right. 00:17:18.559 --> 00:17:23.920 The first contrast, or the first half of the contrast, rather, is he begins to talk about Adam, right? 00:17:24.319 --> 00:17:28.480 There are four things here to note in this contrast. 00:17:29.200 --> 00:17:31.920 First, there is one man, Adam. 00:17:32.559 --> 00:17:35.839 Do you know his his his name literally means mankind? 00:17:36.160 --> 00:17:37.680 Just kind of hint there. 00:17:38.079 --> 00:17:46.319 Uh one man, Adam, created by God as a representative for all in the garden. 00:17:46.720 --> 00:17:48.400 Now, pause there. 00:17:49.519 --> 00:18:01.200 One thing that I think is important to say is that in this room, there will be lots of different understandings and interpretations around the creation narrative. 00:18:01.519 --> 00:18:05.519 Some of you sitting here will be literal six dayers. 00:18:05.839 --> 00:18:09.920 Believe that God literally created the world in six 24-hour periods. 00:18:10.160 --> 00:18:11.759 Welcome, God bless you. 00:18:12.720 --> 00:18:18.799 There will be others who are more kind of, they might believe in an old earth. 00:18:19.200 --> 00:18:23.680 They might have an Augustinian uh view of creation, which is that the earth is very, very old. 00:18:23.920 --> 00:18:24.880 Genesis 1, 1. 00:18:25.039 --> 00:18:26.960 At some point God made the heavens and the earth. 00:18:27.119 --> 00:18:42.079 And then Augustine said that the the rest of the poem in Genesis 1 is uh that there were um six days of preparing a particular part of the world uh for human inhabitation and explaining what had gone on before. 00:18:42.559 --> 00:18:59.519 Also say you can be a Christian and disagree with one another on that, but one of the things that I think we need to hold firmly to, because of Romans chapter 5, is a belief in a literal atom. 00:19:00.160 --> 00:19:22.400 That whatever you want to say about how God went about the Genesis 1 thing, when we get to Genesis 2, we must believe that there is there was one man who was made in the image of God and who could respond to God as he ought. 00:19:22.720 --> 00:19:30.559 I don't think that that's uh I don't think that's in contrast to uh other human-like creatures or anything like that. 00:19:30.640 --> 00:19:39.599 Uh, but I think we must we must stress a belief in a one man because of this um this contrast, this representative contrast. 00:19:39.759 --> 00:19:46.240 You have Jesus was a literal human being and Adam's just a metaphor, then the contrast kind of breaks down a little bit. 00:19:46.319 --> 00:19:55.039 It's that no, there's two literal heads, two actual men who existed, and their actions had consequences for human beings. 00:19:55.200 --> 00:20:01.279 So one man created in the image of God with the ability to respond to God. 00:20:01.599 --> 00:20:05.119 The second thing that we see in verse 12 is that he sinned. 00:20:05.839 --> 00:20:11.200 He was given a clear command by God do not eat of the tree that is in the midst of the garden. 00:20:11.359 --> 00:20:13.519 On the day that you eat of it, you will surely die. 00:20:14.720 --> 00:20:18.799 And yet he willfully disobeyed that command. 00:20:20.160 --> 00:20:23.119 This is how sin entered the world. 00:20:25.279 --> 00:20:31.839 We're not Paul is not talking here about the origins of evil or why the snake got in the garden or any of those things. 00:20:32.400 --> 00:20:46.720 What he is simply affirming is that if you want to know how sin entered into our human experience, it is by this one man's willful disobedience of the command of God, by one man's sin. 00:20:48.240 --> 00:20:52.799 Third, as a consequence of that sin becomes death. 00:20:53.440 --> 00:20:58.160 Death came through sin, like sin's shadow. 00:21:00.640 --> 00:21:06.160 Death for human beings was not our natural end. 00:21:07.440 --> 00:21:15.519 Rather, death is something that has entered our world as a consequence of the one man's sin. 00:21:16.799 --> 00:21:34.720 And then fourth, Paul says that death spread to all, it reigned like a terrible tyrant over all of humanity because all sinned. 00:21:35.759 --> 00:21:47.519 Not this little phrase, because all sinned has been a thorn in my side all week. 00:21:49.119 --> 00:21:50.960 And I'm gonna do my best. 00:21:53.359 --> 00:21:55.599 Here's what it doesn't mean. 00:21:57.279 --> 00:22:11.680 The phrase because all sinned Does not mean that we each individually sinned, and therefore as a consequence, we died. 00:22:12.880 --> 00:22:25.359 Like we simply decided one day to follow Adam's example, and because we kind of voluntarily follow Adam's example, then we then we die. 00:22:25.440 --> 00:22:34.480 But we could actually choose not to follow Adam's example and live differently and therefore live. 00:22:35.359 --> 00:22:39.359 That is not what Paul is saying here, because that's not true. 00:22:39.759 --> 00:22:45.039 It's not just that Adam is an example and we foolishly follow it. 00:22:50.240 --> 00:22:52.160 Something else is going on. 00:22:52.720 --> 00:22:56.240 So if you look at verse 19, sorry I'm gonna make you go forward and then go back. 00:22:56.400 --> 00:22:59.279 Um verse 19 helps us. 00:23:00.319 --> 00:23:04.640 For by the one man's disobedience, the many were what? 00:23:05.599 --> 00:23:06.960 Made sinners. 00:23:08.319 --> 00:23:10.079 The many were made sinners. 00:23:10.640 --> 00:23:15.200 Then he says, so by the one man's obedience, many will be made righteous. 00:23:16.079 --> 00:23:17.599 Go back to verse 12. 00:23:18.799 --> 00:23:20.240 So why do we sin? 00:23:21.839 --> 00:23:38.319 Not because we're simply following example and we could choose to go to another another way if we had a better example, nor is sin some sort of external trap that we're walking along and we happen to follow fall into it. 00:23:38.720 --> 00:23:46.960 Sin isn't something that is external to us that we happen to get trapped by from time to time. 00:23:47.519 --> 00:23:48.640 Why do we sin? 00:23:49.680 --> 00:23:52.319 We sin because we were made sinners. 00:23:54.240 --> 00:23:59.680 The stuff that comes out of us is because it's in there. 00:24:02.160 --> 00:24:04.960 We sin because we're sinners. 00:24:06.000 --> 00:24:10.799 And we're sinners because of Adam's disobedience. 00:24:11.440 --> 00:24:12.160 Stay with me. 00:24:12.240 --> 00:24:16.240 I know this is I I know that you just went, oh, I don't like that. 00:24:16.480 --> 00:24:17.759 I'm gonna get to that. 00:24:18.000 --> 00:24:19.119 Stay with me. 00:24:20.960 --> 00:24:23.680 We're made sinners because of Adam's disobedience. 00:24:23.920 --> 00:24:27.039 And we see this play out in reality, actually. 00:24:27.200 --> 00:24:30.240 Um we see this in in young children. 00:24:30.480 --> 00:24:35.440 Uh I have two uh outside of the the womb, one inside. 00:24:36.000 --> 00:24:41.039 And uh we will have to uh we have to teach our kids many things. 00:24:41.200 --> 00:24:44.480 And if you're a parent, you know you have to teach your kid many things. 00:24:44.720 --> 00:24:49.200 But something that you do not have to teach your child is how to be selfish. 00:24:49.519 --> 00:24:59.440 You do not have to teach them how to lie, you do not have to teach them how to hide in shame when they have done something wrong. 00:25:00.640 --> 00:25:02.799 No, there is something in it. 00:25:03.359 --> 00:25:13.200 It's not just that they have seen an example, though I do give them plenty of examples, it's not just that they have seen an example and that they have followed it. 00:25:14.240 --> 00:25:20.960 No, there is something in it by virtue of who they are as human beings. 00:25:21.759 --> 00:25:28.160 And Paul is saying that it that that is because of a connection with Adam. 00:25:32.240 --> 00:25:37.039 Now, I said that I know that already a number of you are thinking, I hate that. 00:25:37.200 --> 00:25:41.440 Um, you're sitting here thinking, well, how is that how's that fair? 00:25:42.160 --> 00:25:43.200 What are you talking about? 00:25:43.279 --> 00:25:44.720 This sounds terrible. 00:25:44.880 --> 00:25:47.359 Why did I even choose to come to church this morning? 00:25:47.519 --> 00:25:55.279 Why do the actions of this one man mean that I'm born a sinner and under the reign of death? 00:25:55.759 --> 00:25:58.319 It sounds like terrible news. 00:25:59.119 --> 00:26:09.680 And to our Western individualistic ears, it sounds absolutely repugnant and awful. 00:26:12.559 --> 00:26:23.039 In more non-Western cultures, the idea of community solidarity or tribal solidarity is much more common. 00:26:23.279 --> 00:26:27.119 Maybe some of you might be thinking, no, no, okay, I kind of get that. 00:26:28.160 --> 00:26:37.599 That you can have a relationship with a representative, leader of your community, a leader of your tribe, and and in a sense, when that leader wins, you win. 00:26:37.680 --> 00:26:40.960 And when that leader loses, you lose. 00:26:44.319 --> 00:26:52.319 So in America, the president has the power uh, as an elected representative uh of the people to declare war. 00:26:52.640 --> 00:26:56.559 It's not the Congress that declares war, it's the president that declares war. 00:26:56.720 --> 00:27:02.000 And when war is declared by this one man, the whole country is at war. 00:27:02.160 --> 00:27:06.640 It's not that, you know, uh Joe Biden says, I'm at war. 00:27:06.720 --> 00:27:09.680 Uh my Joe Biden impression should work on that. 00:27:09.759 --> 00:27:13.279 Um that Joe Biden says, oh, I'm at war with whoever. 00:27:13.359 --> 00:27:15.200 I'm not gonna get in, you know, political. 00:27:15.279 --> 00:27:26.799 Uh I'm at war, and then everybody kind of goes, oh well, off you go, here's your fatigues, uh, and then you know, your your uh your AK-47 or whatever it is, and send him off into battle. 00:27:27.039 --> 00:27:29.599 No, when the president declares war, everyone's at war. 00:27:30.000 --> 00:27:32.960 And you can't then go, oh well, I'm not at war. 00:27:34.319 --> 00:27:35.440 Well, yes, you are. 00:27:35.680 --> 00:27:36.079 Why? 00:27:36.319 --> 00:27:41.039 Because he's your representative and you're part of that land, you're part of that country. 00:27:41.440 --> 00:27:51.920 Or um you might be in a in an occupation uh that is that's unionized, uh, a teachers' union or uh or doctors' union, medical union, that sort of thing. 00:27:52.079 --> 00:27:54.559 And uh and you have union reps. 00:27:54.799 --> 00:28:09.119 Now, there's probably lots we could say about union reps and all those sorts of things, but the illustration is simply this that when it comes to salary negotiation, the union rep negotiates with the bosses on your behalf. 00:28:09.680 --> 00:28:15.440 And what the what the rep succeeds in getting, you benefit from. 00:28:18.319 --> 00:28:23.119 So it's not perhaps all that uncommon, but we still wrestle, don't we? 00:28:24.079 --> 00:28:32.319 Because if you're thinking and engaging with me in your own mind, one of the things that you might say is, yeah, but Mark, we elect those representatives. 00:28:32.799 --> 00:28:37.119 We actually could vote out Joe Biden and bring back the orange man. 00:28:38.640 --> 00:28:39.759 Okay, move on. 00:28:39.920 --> 00:28:43.279 Uh or we could have different union reps, that sort of thing. 00:28:43.519 --> 00:28:51.039 We get some sort of agency, some sort of choice in this, but with Adam, we didn't have a say in it. 00:28:51.359 --> 00:28:56.559 You might sit here and say, well, give me my shot in the garden. 00:28:57.440 --> 00:28:57.920 Do you know? 00:28:58.240 --> 00:29:02.240 You know, like, well, he was clearly a bit crap. 00:29:02.400 --> 00:29:07.359 Like, give me a go and judge me on that basis. 00:29:09.839 --> 00:29:12.480 Or at least let me choose someone better. 00:29:13.200 --> 00:29:15.359 But here's the thing about all of that. 00:29:17.200 --> 00:29:32.079 I want to I want to encourage you to believe, as much as you might struggle with this, I want you to encourage you to believe that God chose the best possible representative for us. 00:29:34.079 --> 00:29:43.680 It's not like there was a bunch of human beings and God picked one at random because he was just kind of lying up against a wall and had nothing better to do. 00:29:43.759 --> 00:29:46.240 And so God said, okay, right, I'm gonna put you to the test. 00:29:46.319 --> 00:29:53.920 No, God actually created Adam as our representative and created the best possible representative. 00:29:55.279 --> 00:30:20.880 And if you're sitting there thinking, ah yeah, whatever, if you're sitting there thinking, no, like God, God put his thumb on the state on the scale, if you're sitting there thinking, no, God stacked the deck against us, you have a problem there because at that moment you're believing the lie that the serpent told, that God is mean-spirited and badly motivated. 00:30:22.559 --> 00:30:24.480 Do you really want your shot in the garden? 00:30:26.880 --> 00:30:30.240 God made the best possible representative for humanity. 00:30:35.599 --> 00:30:39.920 Let me try and give you a reason why any of this is good news. 00:30:43.039 --> 00:31:12.160 If Adam's disobedience really has had these effects on our world, on us, on humanity, if his disobedience really has become our disobedience and we see its effect, and we've well we've all been to a funeral, and so we know the effects, we see the effects and how visceral, how real they are. 00:31:13.440 --> 00:31:25.839 If that's true, then in a sense, Paul is saying you can take it to the bank that Christ's righteousness really is yours if you trust in him. 00:31:26.400 --> 00:31:30.240 Do you know how real it is that you feel this wrestling with sin? 00:31:30.400 --> 00:31:32.559 Do you know how real it is that death happens? 00:31:32.720 --> 00:31:33.440 You're like, yeah. 00:31:33.599 --> 00:31:38.640 It's like that's how real being made alive in Christ is. 00:31:39.680 --> 00:31:56.000 That's how real his righteousness clothing you and being adopted into the family of God, being forgiven forever, being held eternally, crossing over that rope bridge to the other side, being kept to the end. 00:31:56.160 --> 00:31:58.079 That's how true it is. 00:31:59.200 --> 00:32:06.000 So Paul says, I know that this is, he's not celebrating Adam. 00:32:06.720 --> 00:32:08.799 What he's saying is, I know that this is hard. 00:32:08.880 --> 00:32:17.200 I know that the first Adam failed and it had all of this mess and consequences. 00:32:17.519 --> 00:32:25.200 But that means that really the second Adam can bring these new benefits to light. 00:32:25.359 --> 00:32:28.240 So let's look at the second atom a little bit more. 00:32:28.559 --> 00:32:31.200 Uh, by the way, I'm I'm skipping over the stuff about the law. 00:32:31.279 --> 00:32:32.319 Uh Freddie, where are you? 00:32:32.400 --> 00:32:33.680 Freddie's gonna be annoyed with me. 00:32:33.839 --> 00:32:36.160 Um, because it's now 11:31. 00:32:36.240 --> 00:32:45.440 I could talk about it, but we're gonna come to it in chapter in uh in chapter seven, and we're just going to we're just gonna move on, uh, or else we'll just never get out of here. 00:32:45.599 --> 00:32:52.640 So I'm gonna talk about the uh the second Adam, the other part of the contrast. 00:32:53.279 --> 00:33:01.680 So you can move over to verse uh 18 and 19, and we will actually go back and do the the 15 to 17 bit, but look at the full contrast again. 00:33:01.839 --> 00:33:03.359 And again, there's four aspects. 00:33:03.440 --> 00:33:20.799 There's the there's the one man, this time Jesus Christ, stands at the head of this new humanity, and he has this one act of righteousness, what Paul in verse 19 calls his obedience. 00:33:21.279 --> 00:33:37.440 I take that actually to be not just his uh his death and resurrection, his death and resurrection is the is the culmination of Christ's obedience, but you can see his whole life lived as one perfect act uh of obedience under God's rule. 00:33:39.200 --> 00:33:49.680 And thirdly, then we can infer that through this one man Christ and his life of perfect obedience, righteousness has entered the world. 00:33:50.079 --> 00:34:08.079 That finally there is a human being who perfectly images what God is like and who perfectly lives under God's rule, that righteousness enters our world through Jesus Christ, the perfect man, finally living as human beings were meant to live. 00:34:09.519 --> 00:34:23.199 And that because of his perfect life, his death, his resurrection, and ascension, that righteousness and life are now extended to all men and women. 00:34:23.760 --> 00:34:27.199 That righteousness is now available to all people. 00:34:29.360 --> 00:34:31.840 That's what he says at the end of verse 18. 00:34:32.639 --> 00:34:37.760 The one act of righteousness leads to justification for all men, all mankind. 00:34:38.239 --> 00:34:42.079 This is not all without exception, it is all without distinction. 00:34:42.800 --> 00:34:48.320 All types of human beings, regardless of ethnicity, race, or class. 00:34:50.960 --> 00:34:55.119 So Christ then stands at the head of a new humanity. 00:34:57.199 --> 00:35:03.519 No longer are we under the power of sin and the reign of death as we were in Adam. 00:35:03.920 --> 00:35:13.920 But that even though we might still pass through death's dark veil, it no longer holds any sway over us because our life is now hidden in Christ. 00:35:14.079 --> 00:35:16.400 We are united to him by faith. 00:35:16.559 --> 00:35:49.280 He is our head, our representative, the one who ascended into heaven and has poured out the spirit onto all flesh, that spirit that unites us to Christ and affects that union, that indestructible, insoluble, eternal union that assures us that he will keep us to the end, that we are connected to him, that even though the events of Good Friday happened long ago, they really can still have profound and transforming effects on us today. 00:35:52.639 --> 00:35:55.039 But Christ is not just the second Adam. 00:35:56.400 --> 00:36:01.280 Christ is the true and better Adam that we sang about. 00:36:01.760 --> 00:36:17.280 And in the middle section, Paul shows us by way of uh not comparison this time, but by contrast, um, how it is that actually, not to you know make a silly point, but Jesus is better than Adam. 00:36:18.880 --> 00:36:25.760 So if you go back to verses 15 to 17, let me show you three ways that Jesus is better than Adam. 00:36:26.400 --> 00:36:33.840 Verse 15, first, Christ's motive is better than Adam's motive. 00:36:35.519 --> 00:36:36.880 Have a look at it with me. 00:36:37.280 --> 00:36:40.719 But the free gift is not like the trespass. 00:36:41.599 --> 00:36:52.559 For if many died through one man's trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, abounded for many. 00:36:52.960 --> 00:36:54.719 What was Adam's motive? 00:36:55.440 --> 00:36:59.119 Adam's motive was selfish. 00:36:59.760 --> 00:37:05.920 He willfully trespassed, he knew a law, and he broke it. 00:37:08.000 --> 00:37:13.840 But Paul calls what Jesus has done here the free gift. 00:37:15.119 --> 00:37:20.079 Adam's grasping at something that Christ is giving. 00:37:22.960 --> 00:37:24.639 Adam is selfish. 00:37:26.079 --> 00:37:27.440 Christ is selfless. 00:37:28.559 --> 00:37:32.239 The free gift is better than the trespass. 00:37:34.079 --> 00:37:38.960 Second, the consequences of Christ's obedience are far better. 00:37:39.280 --> 00:37:40.400 Verse 16. 00:37:41.920 --> 00:37:51.679 The free gift is not like the result of one man's sin, for the judgment following the the one sorry, for the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation. 00:37:52.079 --> 00:37:58.320 But the free gift following many trespasses brought justification. 00:37:59.039 --> 00:38:03.199 Justification being that we are made righteous in the sight of God. 00:38:04.239 --> 00:38:08.480 Adam's actions bring to us judgment and condemnation. 00:38:10.079 --> 00:38:13.119 But Christ brings justification and life. 00:38:13.760 --> 00:38:23.440 That we are made righteous before God, even though we have committed, as he says here in verse 16, many trespasses. 00:38:25.440 --> 00:38:27.039 He continues, verse 17. 00:38:27.760 --> 00:38:44.159 For if by the one man's trespass death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ. 00:38:45.920 --> 00:38:56.559 Adam's trespass brings all of humanity under the reign and tyranny of death, Christ's free gift means that we reign with him in life. 00:38:59.039 --> 00:39:11.840 Then finally, final contrast, the power of Christ's gift is far greater than the sin of Adam. 00:39:12.159 --> 00:39:18.480 All the way through these verses, Paul is saying, much more, even more, much more. 00:39:19.679 --> 00:39:27.760 Christ's power is not to be thought of as equal but opposite to Adam's. 00:39:28.079 --> 00:39:36.480 No, Christ's power utterly overwhelms the consequences of Adam's sin. 00:39:37.440 --> 00:39:51.679 The reign of sin, because of all that Christ has done, because of his life, death, and resurrection, because he has died for sin and the tomb is empty, the power of sin is broken. 00:39:52.400 --> 00:39:57.280 Jesus has shattered the power of death. 00:39:57.440 --> 00:40:00.559 It no longer has a sting. 00:40:01.440 --> 00:40:03.519 It has been stripped away. 00:40:03.760 --> 00:40:12.159 Yes, the presence of sin may remain in our lives, but we're no longer slaves to it if you are in Christ. 00:40:12.639 --> 00:40:21.679 Death no longer has the final word, for it no longer reigns over the life of the believer, because Christ has conquered death. 00:40:22.000 --> 00:40:26.400 He has overwhelmed and obliterated its power. 00:40:29.360 --> 00:40:37.119 A shadow might be the opposite of the light, but a shadow is not equal to the light. 00:40:38.159 --> 00:40:41.679 When the light dawns, the shadows flee. 00:40:41.920 --> 00:40:47.599 They are overwhelmed by its brilliance, by its pure and holy light. 00:40:47.679 --> 00:41:03.760 It is not as though you turn on the light in your bathroom, and for a few seconds there's a battle that goes on between the shadow that was there and the light that's come in, and they're kind of wrestling it out, and sometimes the shadow wins, and you've got a pee in the dark. 00:41:04.400 --> 00:41:06.480 No, the light comes on. 00:41:07.840 --> 00:41:10.800 They might be opposites, but they are not equal. 00:41:12.480 --> 00:41:21.840 Adam, by his sin, plunges us into shadow land, doomed to walk in darkness and despair. 00:41:22.719 --> 00:41:24.639 But a second Adam has come. 00:41:25.280 --> 00:41:35.119 And he has brought light and life, light that darkness cannot master, and life that death cannot overcome. 00:41:37.760 --> 00:41:59.599 And so you see, the actions of one man have consequences for your life now, because every human being is either in Adam or in Christ, under the condemnation of the rule of Adam, or liberated and given life by the rule of Christ. 00:42:00.960 --> 00:42:08.320 Let me finish by giving you just one way that this cashes out in your life now. 00:42:08.400 --> 00:42:12.480 And then we'll have communion, we'll sing, and you can ask me questions about the law. 00:42:13.280 --> 00:42:16.559 Let me give you one way that any of this matters. 00:42:17.119 --> 00:42:18.880 It's a big way, it's an important way. 00:42:19.440 --> 00:42:20.079 That's this. 00:42:20.960 --> 00:42:28.079 This means that if you're a Christian, your identity has fundamentally and permanently changed. 00:42:28.719 --> 00:42:29.519 Say that again. 00:42:29.760 --> 00:42:37.039 If you're a Christian, your identity has fundamentally and permanently changed. 00:42:38.480 --> 00:42:43.519 Imagine for a second we were talking over coffee, and I asked you to tell me who you were. 00:42:43.599 --> 00:42:46.159 And you said your name, and I said, No, no, tell me who you are. 00:42:46.320 --> 00:42:47.440 And you said, Well, you did. 00:42:47.519 --> 00:42:49.760 And I said, No, no, tell me who you are. 00:42:49.840 --> 00:42:51.199 And you were getting a bit annoyed with me. 00:42:51.440 --> 00:42:53.039 You said, Well, this is where I come from. 00:42:53.119 --> 00:42:56.719 And again and again I kept on asking, no, who are you? 00:42:57.039 --> 00:42:59.440 And in frustration, you went, I'm a human. 00:43:02.079 --> 00:43:03.920 Because you can't get below that. 00:43:04.159 --> 00:43:05.599 It's fundamental. 00:43:06.880 --> 00:43:08.400 Because you're an Adam. 00:43:09.519 --> 00:43:11.280 But if you're a Christian, that's changed. 00:43:11.440 --> 00:43:12.960 Your answer is different. 00:43:13.519 --> 00:43:18.880 The most fundamental answer to the who are you Christian? 00:43:20.079 --> 00:43:21.679 Is I'm a Christian. 00:43:22.880 --> 00:43:25.199 I'm a follower of the Lord Jesus. 00:43:27.039 --> 00:43:28.559 That is who you are. 00:43:29.199 --> 00:43:32.880 And it does not make sense to add at any secondary qualifier. 00:43:33.920 --> 00:43:37.360 Imagine for a second I said that I am a white Christian. 00:43:37.679 --> 00:43:39.679 Or male Christian. 00:43:40.559 --> 00:43:42.559 You could ask, well, what's more fundamental? 00:43:42.800 --> 00:43:44.719 Your whiteness, your maleness? 00:43:45.039 --> 00:43:46.000 Or being a Christian? 00:43:46.079 --> 00:43:48.159 No, no, there is no qualifier. 00:43:48.480 --> 00:43:54.880 There is no qualifier by race or class or gender or sexual orientation. 00:43:55.199 --> 00:44:01.519 The fundamental answer if you are in Christ is that you are a A Christian. 00:44:03.039 --> 00:44:05.760 But the other half of that rope bridge is secure. 00:44:06.400 --> 00:44:07.679 He will keep you to the end. 00:44:07.840 --> 00:44:10.480 You are his forevermore. 00:44:11.360 --> 00:44:12.000 How? 00:44:12.639 --> 00:44:21.199 Because of the actions of one long ago who represented you in his perfect life and your stood in your place at his death. 00:44:22.159 --> 00:44:26.400 And now when you trust in him, he gives you his spirit. 00:44:28.000 --> 00:44:46.079 Just as the actions long uh long ago of Adam affect us by birth, because we are part of his fallen race, so the actions of Christ have the power to bring us out of that domain of darkness and into his wonderful light. 00:44:46.880 --> 00:45:06.400 And so when past forgiveness, when the actions of a man on a hill far away feel so distant, when the actions of past forgiveness feel so remote and of future glory feel so far off, remember that now Christ has united you to himself. 00:45:06.639 --> 00:45:11.760 Now he has established you by faith under his new headship. 00:45:12.079 --> 00:45:23.599 The true and better Adam, who gives life to all who would have faith in him, who assures us that God will keep us to the end and bring us into his glory just as he has promised.