But as we've been studying through the book of Romans, that has been
the central theme, the gospel of Christ, which is the good news for salvation.
The interesting thing is we started studying that in the first few chapters.
It didn't sound like good news because Paul was painting
a very clear picture on our need for salvation.
And in order to do that, he has to first convince us that we need to be saved.
And the way he did that was by showing us our own sin.
And so the good news
didn't necessarily seem so good at the beginning,
because it seemed like it was a bunch of bad news about us.
But Paul turns a corner
and we start looking at the grace of God, which, through the grace of God,
by the grace of God we have salvation, which is the good news, the gospel.
So we get into it. Really?
In, in really powerful, ways.
In chapter five, six, seven and eight and so we're in chapter five today.
And so if you have a Bible
brought one with you, open it to chapter of Romans, chapter five.
There are times
when we read, especially the book of Romans,
that it feels like it sounds like it's difficult to understand.
And the reason is it was written
by this man called Paul, who had a brilliant mind.
Not only did he have such a brilliant mind.
His mind was so complex.
He was writing about an unknowable God who was completely other than that.
So you got a brilliant mind writing about the unknown and unknowable
God, really, who's completely other than us writing to a people
2000 years ago in a different part of the world,
who spoke a different language and had a different worldview.
And so you put all these things together.
It made sense to them.
Much more than that makes sense to us.
And so we have to do some unpacking to understand the depth of it all.
Now, I believe
that everything God wants to say is super plain and easy to understand.
But there are there are things
within the simple message of the gospel Christ and Him crucified.
There's a depth to it that we have to unpack a little bit.
And so to unpack it, I think we'll get close.
But to unpack chapter five,
I want to unpack it in three different sections.
And the way I want to unpack it for us is this.
We're going to start with verses 12 through 19.
And then we're going to go back to verses one through 11.
And then we're going to end with verses 20 and 21.
So that's how we'll unpack it. Okay. Now
to help us
understand chapter five, there's a principle
we have to, solidify in our minds, because if we miss this principle,
we're going to miss, really the thrust and the emphasis of chapter five.
And the principle we have to understand
is called the principle of the federal head.
Let me show you what that is.
The principle of federal head is this that the actions
of the representative impact all those under that representative.
So there's a representative that represents everybody underneath
that representative and the actions of that represent what happens.
That representative is going to affect everybody under it.
Do you understand. Okay.
So to help you really understand this, if any of you seen
the series, the Mockingjay series with Katniss Everdeen.
Yeah.
Okay, so that is a perfect example of a federal hit.
Katniss in the movie was the tribute for whom?
Her sister, prim.
And for the entire what district?
Which district? Nerds?
12. Okay, yeah, let's just give this year that.
So shall I say I'm teasing like you shall we love this.
That series.
It's fun to watch, but. But.
So she was the federal head.
Not just for prim hurt, the one she took, but for all of district 12.
So whatever happened to Katniss?
Happens to the entire district.
Does that make sense?
Okay, that's the principle of the federal head.
Whatever happens to the representative of all happens to all.
And we have to understand that principle, because what Paul will do in chapter
five is introduced to us two federal heads.
The first one will be the federal head of Adam,
who was the federal head of the human race.
And so whatever happens to Adam and his actions happens to the entire human race.
And what happened with Adam is he brought sin or brought sin
and death to all the human race, because he is our federal head.
You follow so far, the second federal federal head
that Paul will introduce us to is Jesus, who's the federal head of all the redeemed
who've been justified, made right with God through faith because of God's grace
and because of the justification of the federal head
of Jesus, brings life to all of us who believe.
So Adam, as the federal head of humanity, brought sin and death.
Jesus as the federal head of all those who will believe are justified brings life.
You follow?
Yeah.
And so Paul is going to explain this spiritual reality
through these two federal heads.
Adam and Jesus.
And so let's jump in verse 12.
So we're in the middle of the chapter
looking at these, this issue of federal heads.
It'll help us unpack the entire chapter.
Therefore, whenever there's a therefore you have to stop.
And that's what it's there for. So
therefore, in light of everything he's just said that we'll get to
just as sin entered the world through one man, the federal head of Adam, and death
through sin, because of the sin of the one man, the federal head of Adam.
And in this way, death came to all people because all sinned
through the federal head of Adam.
You follow so far.
Okay.
To be sure, sin was in the world before the law was given.
But sin is not, charged against anyone's account where there is no law.
Let's just keep going.
Nevertheless, death reigned from the time of Adam to the time of Moses.
Even over those who did not sin by breaking
the command, as did Adam, who was the pattern of the one to come.
Is this super crystal clear?
Okay, let me unpack this a little bit.
Okay.
So he's introduced us to the federal head of Adam,
the representative for all of mankind.
Adam sinned before God gave his law.
Like the Mosaic law.
Before he wrote anything down. Adam sinned.
God had put his law in Adam's heart
when he said, don't cross this line in the Garden of Eden.
Adam crossed that line even though there was no law written down.
So he was a law breaker. You follow.
And because of that, death entered the world.
The proof of sin is death.
And because death entered the world with Adam.
And people died even before the law was given.
It proves that everybody is a sinner
because death came from sin.
Adam's sin brought death effect, in fact,
that everybody ever before God ever made a command.
You follow.
This is exactly what God said would happen.
Adam, as our federal had brought sin to all of humanity,
and the proof of sin in all of humanity is death.
God told Adam in Genesis two,
but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
For when you eat of it, you will certainly what die?
So God said before he ever wrote a law for anybody,
he gave Adam his law in his heart and said, don't you can go this far, Noah?
Adam trespass crossed the line and God said, why don't you do that?
Death.
Now, did Adam die right then?
No. Why?
Because he's the federal head for all of humanity.
So now death entered all of humanity.
You follow. It's exactly what God said would happen
because of Adam's sin.
As the federal head death entered all of humanity.
And the fact, again, the fact that every one of us is born into
sin is proved by the fact
that at this point, I know in America I haven't checked other countries yet,
but at this point mortality rate is just about 100%
for us, right?
For all of humanity,
the reason why there's deaths, because their sins and brought death.
And so ever before God ever even made a command.
The proof is that we're all born into sin.
Because guess what?
We're all going to die.
And so,
Adam, our federal head that brought sin and death.
Verses 15 1617
but the gift is not like the trespass.
For if many died by the trespass of the one man, Adam, our federal head,
how much more did God's grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man,
Jesus, our federal head of righteousness for overflow to the man he
nor can the gift of God be compared with the result of one man sin.
The judgment followed one man or one sin, and brought condemnation.
But the gift followed many trespasses and brought justification.
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?
Is that super crystal clear for you?
Is what I'm saying.
Like Paul, it's such a gift for him, and it's hard for us.
He just has these long run on sentences, just keeps putting commas and commas
and commas and.
But to unpack this, this is what he's saying.
It all has to do with the two federal heads.
It's saying Adam's sin brought death.
But God's grace abounds through Jesus.
Adam's sin as our federal head
brought condemnation to all of humanity.
But Jesus, as our federal head, brings the opportunity
for justification to be made right with God.
That because of Adam's sin, death reigns.
Everybody dies.
But because of Jesus as our federal head,
through faith, by God's grace, life now reigns.
Through one man came the trespass.
And through one man came the answer.
Verses 18 and 19.
Consequently, just as one trespass resulted in condemnation for all people,
he is our federal head.
We're born into his stuff.
So also one righteous act resulted in justification and life
for all people who will believe through faith
not as a result of works, but just because of God's grace.
For just as through the
disobedience of the one man, Adam,
our federal head, and humanity, many were made sinners.
So also through the obedience of the one man, the federal head of Christ,
the many will be made right with God.
One trespass crossed the line
when God said, Adam, go this far no further.
He crossed the line.
Trespass as our federal head.
We're born into trespass.
And that's what Paul, that's what he went through.
Two chapters, two and a half chapters explaining to us.
He says, I don't care how much you cross the line this much or this much,
you cross the line
because you have as their federal head, Adam, who also crossed the line.
We've trespass.
And one act of righteousness, the work of Jesus on the cross.
As our federal head of being made right with God,
brings about justification to the many who will believe
through Adam all are made sinners
through faith by grace and Jesus.
Many are made right with God.
And so the question we have to to to answer for ourselves
is which federal head are you living under?
You were born under this one.
Through faith.
By God's grace, you can move to this one.
You follow.
And the movement from this one to
this one has nothing to do with what you do.
It's solely based on what Jesus has done.
Now we, through faith because of God's grace,
have the opportunity to move.
And if you've not moved yet,
I want to invite you to.
And because that is the possibility, because you can move there.
Now, Paul will give us three benefits of moving
from the federal head of Adam to the federal head of Jesus.
He gives us three benefits. Do you wanna know what they are?
Paul tells
us what they are in chapter and start in verse one.
So we're kind of reverse engineering this now that we understand
now we'll learn what the benefits are.
And then and so back to the beginning, the three benefits of moving
to the federal head of Jesus. Okay.
Verses one and two.
Therefore you got to ask what it went to.
Therefore everything you said in the first four chapters.
Therefore, since we have been justified through faith
made right with God, through faith we have peace with God through our Lord
Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by the by faith into this grace
in which we now stand and we boast in the hope of the glory of God.
Let me unpack this for you. Three benefits.
The first benefit for those who have moved from the federal ahead of Adam
to the federal head of Jesus, the first benefit is that we have peace with God.
Now, God's justice
in his wrath against those who have trespassed
has to be leveled.
And God's justice towards us was satisfied
because Jesus paid the price of that
wrath on the cross.
And because that happened, and we've bought through
faith, have moved to the federal head of Jesus,
now we can have peace with God.
Now please be understand
this is not the peace of God.
This is peace with God.
And they are very different.
The peace with God is not the peace of God.
The peace of God is this.
Philippians four six and seven.
Do not be anxious about anything.
So all you professional warriors, this is your life.
Verse.
Don't be anxious about anything.
But in every situation, by prayer
and petition, with thanksgiving, present your request to God and the peace.
What of God, which transcends all understanding,
will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus?
So here's the problem.
Everybody wants the peace of God without first establishing peace with God
to understand.
And when we stand, said God, I need the peace of you.
But we haven't been made right with him.
You don't.
We don't get the peace of God without first having peace with God.
The peace of God is reserved for those
who have come to peace with God.
And we cannot have the peace of God
apart from Christ.
Ephesians two For he Himself is our.
What peace?
Who has made the two groups one and has destroyed
the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility.
So the peace with God
before we choose
to change our allegiance to the federal head of Jesus, God
took the initiative to destroy the dividing wall between us.
And he said, I am taking the initiative to invite you
over through Christ on the cross to destroy the dividing wall.
Now there is no divide. You can come to me,
but until you come to me through Jesus,
you will never have peace with me.
It's not that we have some some charge against God,
but God in his righteousness
has a charge against lawbreakers,
and through faith, by grace and Jesus work on the cross,
he's taken the charge against our lawbreaking and put it on Jesus.
So now, through faith,
by his grace, I can have peace with God.
He's at peace with me.
And because I can have peace with God now,
I can experience the peace of God to understand.
And so many people
have desired the peace of God
and are clueless
about how to be have peace with God.
And that only comes through faith in Jesus.
By God's grace.
If you want the peace of God,
you must first be made right with God
through faith in Jesus.
Then there's a promise of peace of God.
You follow.
All right. Yes.
All right.
So that's the first benefit. Peace with God.
The second benefit is this
access into God's grace in which we stand.
This is what the first two verses say.
Through faith we have access into God's grace in which we now stand.
Now, this this one actually blows me away.
The idea that I can have access to God and the grace of God.
Grace is the undeserved and unmerited favor and blessing of God.
The fact that we have access into that grace
by faith it through faith is amazing.
Now, when Paul says, we have access now through faith in Jesus,
that word access necessitates an invitation.
You and I cannot go to
the father, have access to the father on our own.
We have to be invited into that, and we're invited into the access
to accessing God's grace through Jesus.
So through Christ, faith in Christ, I've been invited into the grace of God.
And Paul says that grace that undeserved merited favor.
And but I stand in that
through Jesus.
Please understand this
if you've accepted Jesus as your Savior, you've come to the father
through faith in the son.
Because of his grace, you now stand.
You stand in the very favor of Almighty God.
You don't have to earn it.
You've been invited.
You now stand in that.
And here's what's amazing about it.
That verb stand in Greek is a
is in the perfect tense, which means it's a continuing action.
You perpetually stand in the favor of God.
You don't go in and go out.
God, I was good, so I get your favor and blessing, but now it's bad.
So I go out and now I'm going to be good.
So I go back in and now I was bachelor. Goodbye.
You don't bounce in and out.
You perpetually stand in the favor of God through faith in Jesus,
because God's grace is so profound, not because our behavior is so good.
Thank you. Understand this.
This is for this part of the benefit of just being made right with God
through faith.
See, grace
isn't just the way we come to salvation.
Grace is our present.
Stand the continuing present, standing before God.
It's the beginning of the Christian life, and it's the sustaining
of the Christian life. Grace,
not behavior, not performance.
See, a lot of people think they begin to follow Jesus by grace
and then move to living by performance.
Well, I accepted Jesus alone,
but now I gotta really watch myself. Now.
And I feel like, man, sometimes I'm really good
and God is good to me and sometimes I'm not real good.
And you know, God's got a right to be upset.
And the moment we make that transition,
as if we come to God by grace
and then we have to live by performance.
The Bible says in Galatians five that we've fallen from grace.
That's a scary place to be.
Grace means.
That God's attitude toward
the Christ follower, the believer, the one who is made right with God
through faith, goes by grace means that God's attitude
towards me is favor because he sees me
through the eyes of joy.
Have you ever have you ever been
have someone in your life whose eyes lit up when they saw you?
Yeah, well,
how about a dog?
Okay, so some of you are like, no,
no, I mean, I married them, but now,
you know, it's like, think about a dog.
You know, like when you,
when a dog was just like, oh,
always. I didn't.
Right.
That's the attitude that God looks at the eyes of God looks at you with
because of being right with them through faith,
by God's grace, he looks at you like, oh.
Like I'm convinced.
I mean, God looks at me like, oh, girl.
That's grace.
It's this perpetual standing
that I stand before Almighty God, and he knows everything about me.
And yet he's still looks at me.
He's like, oh, Carl.
Yes. Can you imagine?
Yes. It's awesome.
Oh it's incredible.
Just so many people think, you know, like, well, yeah, he, you know, he,
you know, he saved me.
But I'm still kind of the, you know, the red headed, you know, in.
I'm sorry.
I'm sorry. I should do likewise.
I didn't mean think of the redheads out there.
You know, you're all loved and beautiful and all that stuff.
Yeah.
You know, we feel so we're, you know, we're the, you know, the the bald in laws.
And I don't know what to say, you know what I'm saying?
Like, you know, I'm offended at myself. I just,
you know, like like we're second
and that's not it.
That's not grace, it's religion.
It's not grace.
See, we would all we've said.
No, no, I believe God loves me
because it kind of has to, you know, I mean, the Bible says he's love
and he's got to let me in because I'm leaving a son.
And. Yeah,
but sometimes you feel like you didn't like us.
Grace means God didn't.
He doesn't just love me. He likes me.
Yeah, yeah, grace means he doesn't just love you.
He likes you.
And so when he looks at you, it's like, oh, yeah.
Yeah.
Man, I like you.
Can you imagine having that type of relationship
with Almighty God?
You do?
Yeah.
The problem is, most people haven't realized it yet.
That's grace.
It's one of the benefits
of moving from the federal head of Adam to the federal head of Jesus.
We're invited into this grace,
invited into the faith
to stand firm in the favor
of God, who to stand there
with the twinkling eyes of God, looking at us like,
not because of what we've done,
but simply through faith.
Father, I believe in your son.
And he goes.
Man, I like you.
You know,
to understand.
This is the invitation. No.
To stand in the grace of God
means I don't have to prove anymore that I'm worthy of God's love.
To stand in the grace of God means the door of access to God
is permanently open.
To stand in the grace of God
means I am free from trying to keep a score sheet with God.
To prove that I'm good.
To stand in the grace of God means I spend more time praising
God for who he is than hating myself and hating my past.
To stand in the grace of God means I refuse to make resolutions and vows.
Don't let any teacher ever manipulate you into trying to prove how much you love
God, by making commitments that you already know you can't keep.
You stand in the favor of God by his grace, not by your vows
and not by your commitments and not by your devotion.
When I stand in the presence in the grace of God,
I expect his blessings, though I know I don't deserve his blessings.
That's grace.
When I stand in the grace of God, I testify to the goodness
of God at all times.
And when I stand in the grace of God,
I stand in the certainty of God's future favor.
Oh that's grace.
Oh don't the benefits
of being made right with God sound too good to be true.
Yeah.
Oh yeah.
Mr. reality
the first benefit I have peace with God.
The second I stand in the favor of God doing the third benefit.
Yeah, yeah.
It's not going to seem so fun.
But not only so,
but we also glory in our sufferings. We.
I heard some of you I saw on your fifth.
Go back to the other two.
We glory in our sufferings because.
Because we know that suffering produces perseverance, perseverance, character
and character.
Hope.
Here's here's the truth, man.
The third benefit.
Is that we can glory in suffering.
Let me tell you why.
When Paul uses that word suffering, he's not talking about minor inconveniences.
You go to Sam's Club on a Saturday afternoon.
That's a minor inconvenience. There's no place to party.
They put the damn gas station in there.
And now you got to walk from Chuck-E-Cheese all the way over.
That's not what he's talking about.
He's talking about real pain.
Yeah, real suffering,
real trials, troubles and tribulations.
And he said, you can glory in those times. Why?
Because suffering produces perseverance.
Perseverance produces character.
Character produces hope.
And we're never disappointed by hope.
Hope is the certainty of God's
continued and future activity.
And when we're going through these different, really difficult times,
we need the certainty of God's continued and future activity, right?
Right, right.
That'll never disappoint.
Here's the truth everybody.
Experience is suffering.
Whether you're under the federal head of Adam
or the federal head of Jesus, we all experience suffering.
However,
those who are
justified experience benefit through it.
Those from the central heard of Adam just suffer.
You understand?
Spurgeon, one of the greatest preachers who's ever graced
this planet, he said that just is just part of his quote.
He said the Christian should be willing to be tried.
Do you want to be carried to heaven on a featherbed?
Some of us be like, yeah,
actually, that's I mean, that's that's kind of why I did the whole Jesus thing.
So, you know, are you kidding me?
But think about a man.
Not not the Christ follower.
Not the disciple.
I should say mean, don't you?
In the part of you that just wants.
You know what I want.
I will slide into heaven with my hair on fire.
Like you know.
And I realize we don't pray for testing.
But if we want to develop character,
if we want to be people of hope that lasts.
This is the golden chain of the Christian's growth and maturity
through suffering.
Yeah. See,
we can glory in suffering
because it develops perseverance.
Literally. That word is patience develops patience.
Because when I'm in suffering, when I'm willing to wait,
because I know that God's working through it,
I can be patient.
And when I'm willing to wait because I know God's
working through, I'm patient in it.
It develops my character.
The literal word for character is experience.
It develops your experience.
Perseverance produces experience that's been tried through suffering.
So when I go into suffering
and I said, God, I know you're working in this, I'm going to be patient.
You experience
the fact that God is working in it
and developing a Christ like character
so that that experi ence of waiting through suffering produces hope
because God proves himself time and time
and time and time again
to understand.
Yeah, I'm
now let me just,
This is so important.
Not just for us, but it's really important for parents.
And I don't care if you're a parent.
I don't care how old your kids are.
We would all say that.
Not just us, but we want for our kids
to grow up
with great character, right?
Right.
And to be people of hope
that whatever they grow through, they're not going to get beat
right.
Like what they go through is not going to crush them.
We don't want that.
We have to be very careful,
especially with our kids,
that when they go through difficulty,
trials, troubles and pains,
we don't just want to rescue them out of it,
but we disciple them through it.
There's a vast and profound difference.
Parents, please pray over your kids every day.
Father, I ask for your mercy and grace over my kids.
Put a hedge around them, a fortress about them.
It's all biblical.
Protect them from the evil one who only seeks to steal, kill,
and destroy their present and their future.
I pray your watch over them, your mercy and grace on them.
Pray all of that.
But when they're going through it.
Discipled them through it.
Don't just try to rescue them out of it.
Because that's the only way they will grow up
to be people of character and have godly hope.
When parents
rescue their kids out of difficulty,
we stunt and destroy their discipleship
and ruin their character.
Do you understand?
I get it, it's so hard
as a daddy, as a mama, you're like, you know her?
But we've got to get to the point saying,
sweetie, listen, I know this is hard, and I know you're hurting and I love you.
And I'm going to suffer with you in this,
and we're going to work together.
Let's remember who God is.
Let's remember together what he's done in the past.
Let's remember how he has moved.
Let's remember.
Remember what the Bible says, that somehow God's working in this.
Remember what Scripture tells us that even Jesus went through difficulty.
Remember what Scripture says that that were never outside of his hand.
He doesn't sleep or slumber.
He knows what's going on and he will be.
Here's the thing it's okay for your kids not to be happy
so that they'll find their joy in the Lord.
It's okay for our kids to be sad
so they'll find their sustenance in Christ.
It's okay for our kids
to be alone, so they'll learn to draw
on the presence of Christ.
Discipled them through it.
Don't rob them of that character
that God is trying to build in him.
Okay.
I don't want emails and texts
about that at all, so just keep it to yourself.
All right?
Let me finish this up here.
Verse five.
And hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured out
into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to you.
Please understand.
We gain the hope of God
through the Holy Spirit that God has given to us.
The moment we accept Jesus as our Savior.
The result of all this is hope.
The Holy Spirit has been given to every person who receives Jesus as their Savior.
The Bible says, first Corinthians 1213. Galatians three two.
Galatians four six
that the moment you come to faith, the Holy Spirit has been implanted in you.
God has entered your life through the Holy Spirit,
and then we're given the permission in Luke 1113
to request the Holy Spirit come upon.
I, I did this on the first service, just on a kind of a spur.
I didn't know how I was going to do it.
The service.
But Jesus has told us he,
the Scripture has told us.
That if we fathers who are evil know how to give good gifts,
how much more does the Heavenly Father know how to give good,
good gifts to those who ask, especially the Holy Spirit, to those who seek
so God will get.
If you've been made right with God through faith.
The Holy Spirit's been placed in you, and the result of that
is eternal life.
But we've been told we can ask the father to
put the spirit on us, not just within us.
And all I have to do is ask,
and the proof that the Holy Spirit is in
you and upon you is not some crazy language.
And cackling like a chicken.
It's love, joy, peace, patience,
kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control
and hope.
Many of us have trusted God
for salvation and the Holy Spirit lives within the scriptures.
Scripture is clear about that.
Few of us have said, father,
true Holy Spirit, come upon.
And we've been promised by the father that that will happen.
Yeah.
And so I'm going to give you the chance.
Did you maybe you've never done this before,
but to ask that the father places His Holy Spirit upon you
and that you're filled with the spirit?
Ephesians 518 says, be continually filled with the spirit.
And there are some times in our lives meant we just need
the presence of the Holy Spirit,
especially for hope.
And so if you have a relationship with Jesus, I'm
gonna invite you in this moment of prayer right now.
I'm not done preaching yet,
but I want to stop and give you the opportunity to do what
Scripture has said and invite the spirit upon your life.
Pray with me, father.
Thank you that you have promised us
and given us the indwelling of the Holy Spirit and promised the Holy
Spirit upon us.
Father, I know that you're
that the fruit of your spirit, the proof of your spirit is love,
joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness,
self-control, and hope.
So, father,
hear these hearts, these who are yours,
who ask you for the presence of the Holy Spirit
in and upon their lives.
Do what you said you would do in Your Word. You.
You've tied your action to your word, and you've said you would do it.
And so here are these hearts.
I would just encourage you in this moment.
Any of you who have a relationship with Jesus.
To say, father, give me your Holy Spirit.
I want your Holy Spirit to come upon me.
Fill me with Your Holy Spirit.
Let me experience the fullness of the Spirit's presence in my life
the fullness of love,
joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, and self-control.
The fullness of hope.
Don't say, father, I receive that right now.
Your spirit in me, your spirit upon me.
Father, thank you that you're faithful to your word.
In your name I pray, Amen. Amen.
I hope
because of the spirit God has given you.
Let me go through these last few verses.
You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless,
Christ died for the ungodly.
Very rarely would anyone die for a righteous person,
though for a good person, someone might possibly dare to die.
But God demonstrates his own love for us in this.
I love this verse while we're still sinners, Christ died for us.
If God did all of this for us while we were denying him,
he set all this in action before we ever turned him,
if he would be this good to us.
Said all this in action before we turn,
how much better do you think he'll be after we have turned?
You understand?
I'm saying
the riches of heaven.
Since we have now been justified by his blood,
how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through him?
For if while we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to him
through the death of his son, how much more have him been reconciled?
Shall we be saved through his life?
Not only is this so, but we also boast in God through our Lord
Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.
It is all. Jesus has done it.
And if God loved us so much and did so much for us
before we ever turned to him, how much more?
Now that we have turned,
can we have comfort that we stand in the grace and favor of God?
He's so good
and he's been so good.
Now here's
the biggest deal of this whole thing.
The law was brought in so that trespass might increase, but here it is.
But where sin increased, grace.
Grace increased all the more
so that just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign
through the righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Here's what this means
God makes the rules
and God provides the solution.
God gave the law
so we would know what great law breakers we are
here.
Here's the idea if there's no speed limit posted
and I drive 80 miles an hour in a residential zone,
I still breaking the law.
I just don't know it.
But once the sign the 30 miles an hour is posted and I drive 80.
Now I know I'm a law breaker. You follow?
So what Paul is saying here is this
the only reason God gave us the law
is not so that we would break it and become a law breaker.
He gave us the law to prove to us we are already law breakers,
because death happened before the law
was ever given, proving that everybody lives in sin.
You understand?
Now, he gave us the law proving that we're law breakers.
Now, I know,
okay, but the big thing of this whole deal is verse
20, where sin increased, what grace increased, all the more.
See, here's what we think.
If I'm really, really bad, God gets really, really angry.
And if I'm not so bad, God isn't as angry.
And if I'm really good, maybe God blesses.
We would think that when my sin increases, so does God's anger.
That's not what the Bible says.
The Bible says, because I've been justified through what
Jesus did, and I have this perpetual standing of favor before God
when my sin increases, guess what his grace increases.
It's amazing.
Grace.
The truth is this that grace is greater than you.
Fill the bank in.
I stand
in the perpetual, the perpetual standing in God's favor,
that even when my sin increases, he looks at me like,
oh, cool.
Wow. Because his grace is more.
The fact is this that
I cannot allow sin, God's grace,
and neither can you.
When we've been justified through faith by God's grace,
we have this perpetual standing in the favor
of God.
Indicates that vindicated
and liberated. Him.
Grace is a thing that gives us something.
And grace is the thing that takes us somewhere
into the favor of God.
So in wrap back to the federal head.
We've been born under the federal head of Adam
and are separated from God's special
favor and grace, and bear wrath for sin.
But through
faith, by grace, we can live under the federal head
of Jesus and stand by faith
through faith in the favor of Almighty God.
And so here's the question.
Have you moved
from Adam to Jesus?
If you haven't, do you
not realize the benefits of doing so?
And the peril of not.
And I want to invite you into that.
And beginning to live under the reign of grace.
And you prove me.
God, you are a good God. The.
And you have been all good to us. You.
And there are some
this morning who are ready to move
from the headship of Adam to the headship of Jesus.
Thank you for hearing their prayers,
friends.
I would invite you in this moment.
If you've never done that, to do that now,
in simplicity of faith and the faith of a child
simply between you and God, say, God, I agree with you.
I am a trespasser.
I broken your rule.
And I repent of it.
Oh, yeah.
Yeah,
I accept the work
Jesus that you did on the cross
for my forgiveness.
And I accept you into my life.
And I choose you as my forgiver
and my leader. Oh.
Simple faith.
Those of you who have prayed that.
Welcome to the family.
God now looks at you
as you stand before him with excited, joyful eyes.
And he doesn't just love you, he likes you.
Welcome.
For some of you, you've prayed that prayer
and you've lived still as if you have to earn God's smile.
Yeah,
and I want to invite you into God's grace.
And for you, I would encourage you just to say something like this.
Father, thank you that you don't just love me.
You like me.
And thank you that I don't have to try
to be good enough to make you smile.
I trust you by faith.
And I receive all that your grace offers.
I thank you
that I can forever stand in your presence
with your favor
and with your smile.
Help me live in that liberation
and with that hope and joy. Oh!
Father, you are a good God,
and you've been so good to us through your son. So,
God, I pray that the truth of your word would resonate in us,
that you would protect it for being stolen from our hearts,
that we would feed.
Father, I pray
that NSU would raise up a people.
Who live under the reign of grace
through faith in your son.
By your grace,
in your name I pray. Amen.
Amen.
It's an I love you.
Thank you for going through Romans five with us.
Here's here's take this week and read Romans five again.
And then read Romans six and get ready for next week.
Be good.
Listen, some of you made some commitments.
Some of you made commitments.
And here's my ask.
I did in the first I forgot to do it this year.
So I was going to ask you to raise up your hand for these commitments.
You're amazing. I forgot that to do that.
And so here's, here's, here's my ask if you made some commitment,
I want to make sure that we're praying with you and for you specifically.
And so David is right over there. I'm right here.
Sarah is there, too.
Jeff is here like, we're around here, John, or right down
here, like, would you come and say, hey, I prayed one of those prayers
and just let us pray with you and confirm that,
like, don't be afraid of that.
You stand with the favor and smile of God on your life.
You got nothing to be afraid of.
You understand what I'm saying?
Yeah. Let's sing.