By Adam Death, By Christ Life

Transcript

GR 1426
04/11/10
By Adam Death, By Christ Life
Romans 5:13-19
Gil Rugh


The book of Romans in your Bibles, chapter 5. We are in one of the great theological sections of the word of God in the portion we are looking at in Romans 5. It has challenged Bible students and theologians and it gives a remarkable summary of how sin came into the world and impacted all and how Jesus Christ by His work has provided a salvation for all.

You must turn back to chapter 3 verse 21 for just a little bit of review. The first part of Romans from chapter 1 verse 18 through chapter 3 verse 20 talked about the condemnation of all people because of sin. All were demonstrated to be sinners guilty before God and under His condemnation. With chapter 3 verse 21 through chapter 5 verse 21 Paul is unfolding the doctrine of justification, how God has made provision through His Son for those who are guilty sinners under His condemnation to be forgiven and declared righteous in His courtroom, the courtroom of heaven, if you will. Now in chapter 3 verse 21 through chapter 4 and really down through the first two verses of chapter 5, I want you to note something. I may have told you when we went through it but I want to remind you. The words for faith or believe occur twenty-eight times in these verses. Starts in verse 22 of chapter 3 where the righteousness of God has been manifested, verse 22, “even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe.” So that provision becomes beneficial to us by faith, by believing. Same basic Greek word, when we translate it into English we usually use the noun form for faith and the verb believe, same basic word in Greek with just a different ending. A person who believes is a person who has faith. You'll note, the righteousness of God through faith for those who believe.

Almost a redundancy for emphasis and that continues on down through the rest of chapter 3. Verse 25, “…God displayed Him publicly as propitiation”, as a satisfaction, “in His blood through faith.” Verse 26, so “that He”, God, “would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.” This is by a law of faith, verse 27. Verse 28, “…we maintain that a man is justified by faith.” Verse 30, “since indeed God will judge the circumcised”, the Jews, “by faith and the uncircumcised”, the Gentiles, “through faith.” Chapter 4 verse 3, what does the scripture say? “Abraham believed God.” Note, “and it was credited to him as righteousness.” When he believed God, that is when it was credited to his account as righteousness. It takes faith for God's work of salvation to be applied to you personally. That's the whole argument. If you haven't done so you ought to go through and underline, highlight, all the words faith or believe through this section so when you look at it, it grabs your attention.

Chapter 4 verse 5, “…to the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited as righteousness.” The death of Christ provides righteousness, but that righteousness is not applied to you personally until you believe in Him. His faith is credited as righteousness. Down in verse 9 we're reminded again, quoting from Genesis 15:6 regarding Abraham, “faith was credited to Abraham as righteousness.” The death of Christ does nothing to save you until you believe in Him. Then that work is credited to you, to your account. Verse 11, “…he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had while uncircumcised, that he might be the father of all who believe.” Verse 12, “…the father of circumcised to those who are not only of the circumcision, but who follow in the steps of the faith of our father Abraham.” Verse 13, was through the righteousness of faith that the promises were given to Abraham. Verse 16, “For this reason it is by faith, in order that it may be in accordance with grace.” We're going to see that in chapter 5 in a moment. It occurs in the context of grace through faith. The end of verse 16, “to those who are of the faith of Abraham.” Verse 17, “…in the presence of him whom he believed.” Verse 18, “In hope against hope he believed.” Verse 19, “…without becoming weak in faith.” Verse 20, “…he did not waver in unbelief.” Just the word faith or belief with the negative on the front. But grew strong in faith. Down to verse 24, for our sake it was written. It wasn't just written for Abraham, it was written for our sake to whom it will be credited, applied, to our account as those who believe in Him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead.

Chapter 5 verse 1, “Therefore having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through whom we also have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace.” You see that relentless, driving emphasis—it is by faith, it is by faith. The work of God will not be applied to your account unless you believe. Salvation is by grace through faith.

So we come to chapter 5, verses 6-11 we've studied and we noted here the emphasis that Christ died for us while we were helpless, while we were ungodly, while we were sinner, while we were enemies. Now with verses 12ff he's going to pick up and explain how Christ could bring justification for all men by His death. And in this he'll draw the comparison which shows how we got into the trouble in the first place, how did sin get into creation, how did we become guilty before God, how did death enter. So he's going to draw a comparison between Adam and Christ. In I Corinthians 15 the Apostle Paul refers to the first Adam and the last Adam, the first Adam being Adam created in the Garden and the last Adam being Christ. What he's doing in Romans 5 here is drawing a comparison. Down at the end of verse 14 we are told that Adam, is a type of Him who was to come. So we know there is a comparison being drawn. Certain things about Adam prefigure a type. It comes from a word that would be used of a stamp, that you stamp something and made an impression. So that certain things about Adam prefigured and anticipated Christ. Now Adam is not like Christ in every way, there are major differences. Christ created Adam and so on, but in the type the points of comparison are what are important. The point of comparison remember are what one man did, how it affects all men, and the consequences that follow through. For example, Adam, one man disobeyed, brought condemnation and death for all men. Jesus Christ, one Man, by one act of obedience, His death on the cross, brought justification and life for all men. Those are the comparisons. We want to keep in mind what he is doing in the comparison being drawn—what the one man did and how it affects all.

The word one, we have mentioned, in verses 12-19 the word one appears about a dozen times, if I counted correctly. The word many or all appears eight or nine times, nine times officially we'll say. One comparison is a little different than the others. So you can see one and many or all, one and all, one and all. You put these together and twenty-one times you have these two one and many or all drawn out in these eight verses, showing the comparison between Adam and Christ. It's a heavy theological section, serious but very important.
We looked at verse 12, “Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned.” One man's action affected all men, one man's sin brought death to all men because all sinned. We noted there are three possibilities in what it means all have sinned. All three are biblical but only one of them is the focus of the passage we are looking at. It could be talking about we all personally sin, just like Adam sinned and are guilty before God. That is true. In a future study we'll look at passages related to that. It could mean we were in Adam, and Hebrews 7 refers to the fact that Abraham paid tithes to Melchizedek in Genesis 14. Levi, the head of the priestly family in Israel, was a descendant of Abraham. So it says he was in the loins of Abraham, so he paid tithes when Abraham did. So it could mean we were in Adam as his descendants and so we sinned along with Adam when he sinned. And there is truth in that biblically. But the third possibility is the one that is in view here and that is Adam was our representative, we call it the federal head. He was our representative. When he acted, he acted on behalf of all the human race. And so his action impacts us all. His action was imputed to us.

That's the parallel here. Be careful because we go to other scriptures and say this is like this, but then the typology breaks down. For example, I wasn't in Christ committing an act of righteousness when He did, dying on the cross. That was His action on my behalf. I didn't do an act of righteousness along with Him, I wasn't in Him when He did it so that I joined with Him. No, He acted, one man, on my behalf, and His righteousness could be imputed to me. That's the parallel here of the representation on our behalf. We'll look at the other two views at a future study.

So that's the point here. Adam acted - we were all impacted. Verse 13, “for until the Law sin was in the world; but sin is not imputed where there is no law. Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who had not sinned in the likeness of the offense of Adam, who was a type of Him who was to come.” The point was, comparing. We didn't have the Mosaic Law between Adam and Moses. The Mosaic Law was given through Moses. But people died. The Mosaic Law is given to Moses beginning in Exodus 19. But we went back and looked in Genesis 5 – it records the descendants of Adam. And what was that repeated refrain? And he died, and he died, and he died through chapter 5. Then we'll get to chapter 6 and then everybody dies because we have the flood of Noah that wipes out everyone except the immediate family of Noah. So death was in the world before the Mosaic Law. The point was that where there is no law, sin is not imputed. In other words, men didn't break a specific command of God like Adam did. Adam had a specific command of God—you shall not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And the penalty is if you eat of it, you'll die. That was a specific commandment that Adam broke. Now until God gave the Mosaic Law there weren't all these commandments for people to break, but they still were guilty before God and sinners and so an evidence of the fact that what Adam did impacted all. They died. They sinned - they died. They are guilty because he was their representative, acted on their behalf. That's the point of the comparison. Not all the possible details you could go into fit in because for a type you have to stay with what the point of comparison is. And Adam by his one action impacted everyone. Now are there other factors in that? Sure, but the point here is the act of Adam impacted all the human race and brought death to all.

All right, now you'll note after verse 12, we drew attention to this in a previous study, at the end of verse 12 you have a hyphen in most of your English Bibles, the translation there. Really verse 12, verses 18-19 give you the main point. What verses 13-17 do is fill in to explain how this occurred. So verse 12 said, “…through one man sin entered the world and death through sin, so death spread to all men because all sinned.” Verse 18, “So then as through one transgression there resulted condemnation to all men.” You see we just pick up that point. But you have the details of how this happened with Adam and how it compares to Christ.

So we pick up with verse 15, where we left off in our last study. “But the free gift is not like the transgression.” So Adam and Christ can be compared, Adam is a type of Christ. There is one man, one action, one result. But there is a difference. Verse 15, “…the free gift is not like the transgression.” That word translated free gift, we have two words for gift here and I just want you to note it. The free gift, obviously the free gift is redundant. A gift is free. If someone says, here I bought you a birthday gift - that will be $10 please. You say, well that's not a gift. So to say a free gift is redundant. A gift by definition is free. But what they've done here, the Greek word translated free gift is charisma. We get the word charis, grace. So a charisma is a gift of grace. I say that because then down in verse 15, much more did the grace of God and the gift by His grace. There he uses a different word for gift, he uses the word dorea. You can hear the sound, charisma, dorea. It's a different word. It still means gift. The other word emphasizes grace because it's built on the word grace. And he uses that to start this out because then he'll change and use the other word for gift in the middle of the verse and emphasize that it is by grace. So he is drawing our attention to the fact, this is a gift and it is a gift of grace.

The gift of grace as the verse starts out is not like the transgression. What do you mean it's not like the transgression? The transgression is the action of Adam, his sin. “For if by the transgression of the one.” There we have the one. The many died. Well the many refers to all and it gives a balance. You can talk about the one and the all but it's more of a balance perhaps to talk about one and many. But he uses all in verse 12, “…just as through one man sin entered the world.” By his one act of transgression, going against what God had commanded. God said, don't eat of the tree, he ate of the tree. So that was the transgression. By the transgression, verse 15, of the one, Adam, the many died. Who are the many? Everyone, all. In verse 12, death spread to all. Well we're told in verse 15, the many died, the hoi poloi is the translation of the many. It will be used twice in verse 15 and twice in verse 19. That's the many. The many died. Don't get confused, when he uses the word many here he's using it interchangeably with all because verse 12 told us all died.

Much more did the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one. Now you see the comparison here, the action of the one. Now he expands it out here. He summarized the free gift at the beginning of the verse, the charisma, the gift of grace is not like the transgression. That charisma, the free gift, summarized the work of Christ. It was an act of God's grace in giving His Son to die to be our Savior so that we could receive the gift of life. That's all in that, the free gift is not like the transgression. Christ's act of obedience in dying on the cross. Remember Philippians 2, He humbled Himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Therefore God has highly exalted Him.

So the free gift, the charisma, the death of Christ, His act of obedience in God's grace to provide the gift of salvation. So the middle of the verse we elaborate that now. If by the transgression of the one the many died, much more did the grace of God and the gift by the grace. So you see it was the grace of God that provided His Son to be our Savior. And the gift of salvation is by His grace. So the act of Christ and His death was the grace of God and the salvation that is given as a result of that. It's a gift of God's grace. So you see really that expression, the grace of God and the gift by grace just expands on the charisma, the free gift that the verse began with. This gift of grace, well he expands it here. It's the grace of God and the gift by the grace. That's why he used that word for gift as he started out because it has grace in it. It's a grace gift. So it's God's grace doing what was necessary to provide the gift of salvation.

Back up to Romans 3:24, “being justified as a gift by His grace.” That's what we're talking about, the gift by His grace, through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus. That's what we're talking about. So you see what happens. The one Man by His obedience, dying on the cross, that's God's grace operating to provide salvation to now be given as a gift of God's grace to those who believe. Making provision.

So that's the difference. The free gift is not like the transgression, for if by the transgression of the one the many died, much more did the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man Jesus Christ abound to the many. Here is our expression there again, the many. Hoi poloi we sometimes use it in English, carry it over from Greek. I take it the many has to be the same in verse 15. There are some who hold to a different theological position than we do called limited atonement that say the second “the many” is different than the first. They have the exact same expression. The point is the comparison. Adam by one act of disobedience brought condemnation and death to all men, Jesus Christ by one act of obedience brought justification and life to the same group. You say, you're universalist then, you believe that everybody is saved. No, I've read chapters 3-4. Remember that's why we went back and counted, twenty-eight times faith, believe. Obviously the type is in the points of comparison. The action of Adam was automatic to everyone. The action of Christ will take faith. It's a provision for everyone - the same group- the many, but having read chapter 3 verse 21 through chapter 4, I know how justification comes to us. We are justified by faith. But the point of the comparison is what Adam did in rebellion affected everyone; what Christ did in obedience affected everyone. How did it affect everyone? It made a provision for them. Now that provision will be imputed to you personally through faith in Him. But when you read this, what do you read? Verse 15, “…the free gift is not like the transgression. For by the transgression of the one the many died.” That's clearly everyone. “much more did the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ abound to the many.” Much more did this grace abound, overflow. I mean don't tell me the action of Adam affected everyone, but the action of Christ affected this little special group over here. Because Jesus did say the gate to life is narrow and there are few that find it and the gateway to destruction is broad and there are many going there. The picture breaks down if we are not talking that Christ is doing an action that affects the many, the many. I understand all and many can sometimes mean different things; all doesn't always mean every single person everywhere, but I can't change the meaning of all and many here just because my preconceived theological position makes me want to.

So I think the truth here is that the grace of God and the gift by grace through the one Man abounds much more to the many. I mean, if the action of Adam could bring death and condemnation, how much more amazing it is that the one act of Jesus Christ has brought righteousness to the many.

So he goes on, the gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned. There is, if you will, a reversal. You'll note, it's through the one who sinned. For on the one hand the judgment arose from one transgression, one man, one act of disobedience resulted in condemnation. But on the other hand the free gift. What is the free gift? It's justification. This section we're in starting in chapter 3 verse 21, “…the righteousness of God has been manifested, even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” Here he is, justification, that's the free gift. So the one action, the one transgression resulted in condemnation. That was Adam acting as our representative brought condemnation to all, death to all.

But on the other hand the free gift. What's the free gift? Well that was in verse 15, we started out, but the free gift. That's our word charisma again, the grace gift that was elaborated in the middle of verse 15. “…the grace of God and the gift by the grace of God.” That's the justification that Christ has provided. But on the one hand the free gift, the provision of righteousness in Christ arose from many transgressions, resulting in justification. So what happened here? One man rebelled and out of that one transgression everyone is impacted with sin and death. Now I understand, that's amazing but I can understand it. We get concerned about germ warfare, that with a little bit of the right kind of germ polluting a vast number of people. And we all know how it is, once a plague or something is started, how do you encompass it. You know what happened? Adam by his one action brought sin and death upon the human race. Now think about how many sins there are and what that was. I mean, how many people in the world and how many people that lived—we're talking billions. And how much sin now is present in the world. Well there are billions of people. How many times does a person sin every day? Multiply that times the billions, and multiply that out in a week. How do you even measure it? All the sin brought upon the race in all ways by our forefather, he just did one sin and polluted everyone. The amazing thing is Jesus Christ by His one act encompassed all the sin and provided righteousness. That's the amazing act. So that's what he is showing.

The act of Adam, amazing as it is when you think about it, one man acting on our behalf brought judgment to us all. But think about how amazing the work of Christ is. You and I have sin permeating and everybody guilty and under condemnation and with many transgressions, all the sin. How would you add up? You can't use numbers anymore because the best I can do is trillions and that's nothing today. But how many sins? But the many transgressions, the free gift arose out of many transgressions. “He made Him who knew no sin to become sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (II Corinthians 5:21). “He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness” (I Peter 2:24). Think about it. Adam by his one action brought sin and condemnation on us all. Yes, but think about what Christ did. The free gift, the gift of grace, verse 16, arose from many. So there is a contrast between the one transgression and the many transgressions to justification. That was the purpose, the goal. The literal that you would probably have in your margin is one transgression to condemnation, many transgressions to justification. That's what Christ did—died to pay the penalty for sin, to provide justification. For whom? Well verse 6, the helpless, the ungodly; verse 8, sinners; verse 10, enemies. That's what He did.

I can at least get a little idea of how Adam in the Garden of Eden acted as my representative and by his act of rebellion brought the consequences on me. Our President does that all the time, our representative leaders as they are called. They represent us. Not getting into politics - just this is what they do - they represent us. I understand that. Now how can one person take all the sins, I mean, that's why He is the God Man. His one act - the free gift - the grace gift that provided righteousness came as a result of many transgressions.

Verse 17, “For if by the transgression of the one” Here we are. The transgression of the one, that's Adam's act of rebelling against the commandment of God. Death reigned through the one. You see it was Adam's action. It wasn't my action and Adam's. It was Adam's action that brought death on the human race. Much more those who receive the abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness, now you see here we have something brought in. He had been talking about the provision that Christ made for all, but now we pick up what was stressed at least twenty-eight times with faith and believe at the end of chapter 3 and through chapter 4 - that it requires faith for it to be credited to you. Faith is credited as righteousness when we believe.

So much more those who receive the abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness. The gift has been provided, it must be received. He came unto His own, His own didn't receive Him. “But as many as received Him to them He gave the authority to become sons of God” (John 1:12). Those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness. How do I receive the abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness?

Back to chapter 3 verse 22, “even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe.” Verse 24, “being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus; whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation - a satisfaction - in His blood through faith.” You understand all the death of Christ did, and I don't mean all that it did in any way to minimize the importance of that, but it made provision for salvation. That's not credited to anybody's account until they believe. The death of Christ saved no one, I don't say that disrespectfully. The death of Christ saves no one, but it provided salvation for everyone who believes. Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. I also believe the doctrine of election, I also believe that in spite of the gracious provision of God men trample underfoot the blood of Christ and count it as an unholy thing, as Hebrews 10 says, worthless to them. But by the grace of God He moves on the hearts and minds of some, draws them that they might believe. But we're talking about the provision that God made, the application of that provision.

Look at chapter 4 verse 3, what does the scripture say? “Abraham believed God.” We have to be careful, what other portions of scripture elaborate on how God moves on the heart is important, but we don't want to be reading everything into here. Who is responsible for faith? God commands all everywhere to repent, for He has appointed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness and furnish proof to all men and so on. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, in order that whosoever believes in Him might not perish but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16) God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son. I take it for the world that He loved. Right? I know but world doesn't always mean world. Get over it, I get tired of reading these trite explanations that the world doesn't always mean world and every single person in the world. I got so frustrated I went and looked up every use of world in the gospel of John, I think there are 92 of them. Something for you to do when you are looking for your own Bible study. Get a concordance - look up cosmos or world.

It's pretty simple, He loved the world - He gave His Son. Then the world is saved. No, only those in the world who believe in the Son will not perish but have everlasting life. Because faith is credited as righteousness. It's faith in the promise of God, faith in what God said He will do. I believe in Jesus Christ, I believe that the one who has faith in Jesus Christ will be saved, forgiven his sin, redeemed. The wrath will be propitiated, turned away from him. How do I know that's so? The Bible tells me so. Jesus loves me, this I know for the Bible tells me so. I believe in God, that's what Abraham did. He believed God. Verse 17 of chapter 4, father of many nations have I made you in the presence of Him whom he believed—God. He believed God. I believe in Jesus Christ and in believing Jesus Christ, I am believing God and what God said because what I have is what God has promised. He that has the Son has life, he who does not have the Son of God will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him. I believe that what God said is true. I'm saved by grace through faith. For by grace you are saved through faith, and that not of yourselves. Salvation is not of yourselves - it's been provided by God as a gift of grace. You received that gift of salvation by faith. Make it part of the salvation. For by grace are you saved through faith and that not of yourselves. Well by grace you are saved through faith. Faith is how you received the gift of salvation. Is that not clear?

Verse 15, “…much more did the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man abound to many.” This is His gift. How do I receive it? By faith, that's what he's talking about in verse 17. “Those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness.” When you talk about God as a gracious God, yes He is. Just like His love, He's a loving God. But what is the great demonstration of that in Romans 5:8? God demonstrates His love toward us that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us. Yes, God's love is manifested. God's grace has been bestowed upon us in providing His Son to die on the cross to pay the penalty for sin so that He could give the gift of life to those who receive Him, to those who believe in Him.

So those who receive the abundance of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ. So he's shown the comparison—one man disobeys, his action is imputed to all men; one Man obeys, His action makes provision for the same group but it is applied to believers. You say, the analogy breaks down. Of course it does. Adam is not Christ, cannot be like Him in every way. The death of Christ does not automatically save anyone because we were all dead in our trespasses and sins until by grace we were saved through faith. That's Ephesians 2. It opens up by saying we were all dead in our trespasses and sins, we were not different than anyone else. The death of Christ didn't save me. I was saved by grace through faith - the provision was there. I was lost - I was dead in my sin. I was a child of wrath by nature, just like every unbeliever in the world. But Christ had died on the cross for me. Yes, if I can say this so you understand it, it did me no good because I had not believed, I did not believe.

Back in chapter 4 verse 20, “yet, with respect to the promise of God, - talking about Abraham - he did not waver in unbelief.” Unbelief would have negated because righteousness was credited to Abraham by faith, by belief. If he had continued in unbelief, refused to believe, then righteousness couldn't have been credited to him.

Back in Romans 5, we'll be doing some things with this, but look at the summary in verses 18-19. “So then as through one transgression there resulted condemnation to all.” Here we go, one transgression, condemnation to all. Even so through one act of righteousness there resulted justification of life to all men. Now again I take it that the all here has to be coextensive or it doesn't picture much. Adam by one act brought condemnation to all men, the whole race, in Christ by one act of obedience, justification to all those in this little group. You don't get that unless you come with a preconceived theology that you read in, and the first “all” means one thing and the second “all” means another. Verse 19, “For as through the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of one the many will be made righteous.” I take it they are coextensive. You say, the many won't be made righteous. Well, it's provided for them on the same level. Now again, the type can't be a type in every detail. I mean, we have to pick up where we are. Jesus Christ the eternal God who created all things and without Him nothing exists that has come into existence, John 1:1. Being compared to Adam. Adam is not comparable in that sense. So the point of the comparison has to be what they say it is. It is one man and one man, though the one is the God Man, Christ; one act, one is disobedience and one is obedience; one result, condemnation and justification. Now the action of Adam was automatically imputed to the race, the action of Christ made provision for the race and will be imputed through faith. That has been clear. But the point of the comparison—the one impact on the many carries through. One transgression, verse 18, condemnation to all men; one act of righteousness, justification of life to all men. You could take that to mean all men will be justified. Not if you've read anything in the context. He said faith and belief twenty-eight times in the section we looked at back in chapter 3-4. Does he have to say it another twenty-eight times in chapter 5? We're not going to make very much progress. Can you build upon what was said, that it's not credited to you except by faith. Does he have to put twenty-eight times in chapter 5 for it to count? No, he already said that it's for those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift. It's a gift to be given. He didn't say it was a gift given by Adam, it was a result. There is a provision here for all men. So in that sense the work of Christ impacts everyone because provision is made. Now the application of that, we have to follow the biblical unfolding.

Through the obedience of the one the many, all will be made righteous. Because my faith couldn't save me, as we talked about in chapters 3-4. Everybody has faith. I asked a man this week, are you going to heaven when you die? Yes. Why? I'm a good man - I treat people well. And he really believed that. I think he was sincere in believing that, but that kind of faith won't save. So it's faith in the finished work of Christ, faith in the promise of God, in the obedience of the One. So by the obedience of the One the many will be made righteous. But then do you mean salvation is automatic for anyone? Not even for the elect because Abraham had to believe God to be credited with righteousness. So to say that through the obedience of the One the many will be made righteous, even if you try to limit the many to the elect, you have to put faith in here. So you leave it as it is, the many will be made righteous. How? By believing. But not everyone will be believing. That's true, but the provision has been made. The comparison is the same. So it shows the imputation.

Now we understand how sin got into the world, how sin impacted everyone in the race, and how the consequences of sin, death, have become ours. And we know something of how Almighty God provided another Man also to do one act, this time instead of an act of disobedience and act of obedience. So you see there is a comparison. Is it right that one act of disobedience would bring condemnation and death to everyone? Well, think about it here, there is one act of righteousness that brings justification and life to all men as well.

And you can have that personally by believing in Him. Tremendous statement. Reminder of the provision that God has made and He wants to give it as a gift. It's the free gift, it's the gift that comes out of His grace. You can't work your way to heaven, you can't try hard enough, you can't be good, you can't do religious things. You have to stop and say, God is right, I'm a sinner. There is none righteous, I'm guilty three times over as we mentioned in a previous study and we'll look at a little more in detail next time. What can I do? God, I cast myself on your mercy, your grace. I receive what your grace has provided—a gift, a gift of grace that comes out of your grace, the provision of your Son as my substitute, the One who took my place. And through believing in what God does, He credits your account, Paid in Full. The death of Christ is credited as your death - He took your place. And the righteousness of Christ is credited to you.

What a plan. We ought never cease to be thrilled with what God has done for us in Christ. It should never get old and we should never tire of telling others, the most wonderful story. I want to tell you, you don't have to keep the Ten Commandments, you don't have to go to church, you don't have to try to be a good person to get to heaven. You can quit it all. Oh, I can just go and get drunk and live what I want? No, it's better than that. I have a free gift, not mine but from God. Somebody gave it to me, passed it to me, I want to pass it on to you. Here it is, it's the gift of salvation and it will make a difference in this life and provide for the life to come.

Let's pray together. Thank you, Lord, as you are such a gracious God, a God of grace and the greatest manifestation of your grace was the gift of your Son, a gift to us, the One who by His one act of obedience in dying on the cross took all the transgressions, all the sin and paid the penalty so that we could receive that gift of grace by simply trusting in Him, trusting in your promise to save all who believe. We praise you for the greatness of this salvation. In Christ's name, Amen.