One man changed the world forever. Because of Adam's one act of rebellion, we have been infected with sin and nothing in this life has remained unaffected by it. But... One man changed the world forever. Because of Jesus' work for us our sin is forgiven. We will have eternal life with him. And this grace is for all people. Read or listen to (download) this sermon based on Romans 5:18-21 and rejoice that we are alive by grace!
Alive by Grace!
A sermon based on Romans 5:18-21
Sunday, April 8th, 2018 – Easter 2
One man changed the world forever. I'm not talking about Alexander the Great, though the world has never been the same since his conquest. I'm not talking about Julius Caesar and his campaigns. I'm not talking about Muhammed and the rise of Islam. I'm not talking about Adolph Hitler or Winston Churchill. I'm not talking about Al Gore and his invention of the internet. J I'm not talking about Steve Jobs and the invention of the iPhone.
While all of these men changed the world in their own way, I'm talking about one man who has had an incredible impact on every aspect of every life that has ever been on this planet. And I'm not talking about Jesus (at least not yet). I'm talking about Adam. One man changed the world forever.
Just think of how his one sin has impacted everything in the world! It's brought pain, toil, tears, and death. But thank God that this one man who forever changed the world doesn't have the last word. Another one man changed the world forever. And now I am talking about Jesus. By his work for us, sin and death are undone. We have eternal life. By grace, we are alive in Christ! Our text for consideration this morning is found in Romans 5:18-21…
18 Consequently, just as the result of one trespass was condemnation for all men, so also the result of one act of righteousness was justification that brings life for all men. 19 For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous.
20 The law was added so that the trespass might increase. But where sin increased, grace increased all the more, 21 so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
I. One Man Changed the World Forever: Adam
It was just a rubber gasket, really. But the O-rings hadn't been tested in extreme cold. So, on the morning of January 28th, 1986 those O-rings became stiff, failing to fully seal the joints in the rocket boosters of the Challenger Space Shuttle. The boosters exploded sending the shuttle another 3 miles into the air before it began its 12.3 mile freefall into the Atlantic Ocean, killing all 7 passengers. I was only 8 at the time, but I vividly remember watching the explosion on live TV in my mom's classroom. One little mistake—a faulty O-ring design—had huge, disastrous consequences.
Of course, that's nothing compared to Adam. It was just one piece of fruit, but it had huge, disastrous consequences. Adam sat by and watched, saying nothing, doing nothing, abdicating his position of leadership, as he let his wife be the guinea pig in a deadly experiment. And when he saw that she didn't immediately keel over dead, he chose to side with her over and against God, and he too committed an act of open rebellion against God.
"When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it." (Genesis 3:6) And so, rightly Adam, not Eve, gets the blame for the first sin. Paul says it was "the disobedience of the one man" that brought about the ruin of the world.
And the consequences weren't pretty: 17 To Adam he said, "Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, 'You must not eat of it,' "Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. 18 It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. 19 By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return."
And it immediately impacted the relationship between Adam and Eve. "Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves." (Genesis 3:7) What had changed? They'd always been naked! Prior to these fig leaf clothes, they knew nothing but naked. What changed was the way they now looked at each other. They now saw each other as objects to be used instead of people to be loved. And they must have seen that look in each other's' eyes because the first thing they both wanted was to hide their bodies from each other. One man changed the world forever.
And, worse still, it immediately impacted the relationship between God and mankind. "Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden." (Genesis 3:8) What happened?! They, who once enjoyed such an intimate relationship with God that they walked with him in the garden, now run away from him. And how dumb can you get—trying to hide from an omnipotent God?! And mankind hasn't gotten any better or wiser since. Yes, one man changed the world forever.
If you have ever experienced pain, frustration, heartache, toil, embarrassment, shame, or the death of a loved one, you have Adam to thank for it. He brought that all about in the garden that day. And he passed the infection of sin on to you. Just like a baby born to a heroin addict will himself be addicted to heroin, you and I, born to sinful parents, are born sinners. There is no question: One man changed the world forever.
"The result of one trespass was condemnation for all men… through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners…"
Well, you have Adam to blame, sort of… To be honest, if Adam hadn't rebelled against God and neither did Eve… even if Cain and Abel and Seth and all of their descendants until now had resisted the temptation to eat from the one tree that God banned… I'm pretty sure I would have done it. Or maybe you would have beat me to it. And even though Adam brought all of the suffering and misery we see into the world, you and I aren't free from blame.
Paul hold us accountable too when he says, "The law was added so that the trespass might increase." Of course, the law doesn't make sin more sinful and it certainly doesn't encourage it. But it does expose sin for the sin that it is. Do you think you're any better than Adam? Then let's take a quick stroll, not in the Garden of Eden, but at the foot of Mount Sinai:
1) Have you always loved God with all of heart, soul, strength, and mind? Have you feared, loved, and trusted in him above everything else (your wisdom, your money, your friends, and your family) putting him first in your life? Me either.
2) Have you always loved God's name (that is, his reputation and all he's revealed about himself)? Have you always prayed to him, shared his name, used his name to praise him and give thanks? Me neither.
3) Have you always loved his Word giving it a place of top priority in your life? Me neither.
4) Have you always shown respect to those God has put in a position of authority over you—parents, teachers, pastors, police, governors, senators, congressmen, and presidents? Me neither.
5) - 10) Have you always respected God's gift of life (including your own, taking care of your body), his gift of marriage and sexuality (keeping even your thoughts pure), his gifts of possession and reputation (managing your own well and protecting that of others)? Have you always remained content in every circumstance of life? Me either.
So you see, we too have been just as rebellious as Adam. We too are just as deserving of damnation as he was. And we too will suffer the same death that Adam suffered unless Jesus returns first. But… thank God that we will never realize the eternal death that we deserve to suffer because… One man changed the world forever…
II. One Man Changed the World Forever: Jesus
Thank God that the story doesn't end with Adam. If it did, how hopeless would life be? But there's another man in our story. This one man changed eternity forever. And now, of course, I am talking about Jesus.
Just as the result of one trespass was condemnation for all men, so also the result of one act of righteousness was justification that brings life for all men… just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous.
Stanislav Yevgrafovich Petrov is a Russian man with a pretty cool nickname: "The man who saved the world." On September 26, 1983 Petrov was at work monitoring a nuclear early-warning system when the alarm sounded indicating that the United States had launched a nuclear missile toward Russia. He was supposed to alert the Soviet military so they could launch counter measures and fire a missile of their own. But Petrov disobeyed his orders. He knew his report could launch a large scale nuclear war that would take thousands, even millions of lives. So he kept quiet. Later, it was discovered that Soviet satellite warning system had malfunctioned causing a false alarm. And Petrov became a hero who, by his disobedience, single-handedly saved the world from nuclear war.
Of course, Petrov has nothing on Jesus. Petrov saved lived by his disobedience. But Jesus saved lives by his obedience. "…through the obedience of the one man…" We could go back through the list of the Ten Commandments again to see how well Jesus kept them and we'd find that he never broke a single one. He loved the Word. He obeyed his parents. He always respected authority (even when they were trying to kill him). He always helped and healed people and never hurt them. He never lusted, but cared for people. He never lied, but taught the truth. He always remained content even though he owned little more than the clothes on his back. And he did it all because he always loved God and his name more than anything else. Jesus, and Jesus alone, had perfect obedience to all of God's laws. And what's more, as Paul says in Philippians 2(:8), "He humbled himself and became obedient to death—even death on a cross!"
So Petrov saved lives by doing nothing (literally). Jesus saved lives by doing something terrible. "…one act of righteousness…" Jesus knew exactly what was going to happen to him. He knew the torture of the cross. He knew the pain he would endure. He knew that far worse would be the torment of having God the Father forsake him on the cross as he endure the punishment and pain of hell that our sin brought about. But he also knew the wonderful results of his work. So he endured it all anyway. And those results?
Well, Petrov saved lives by preventing something terrible: nuclear war. But Jesus saved lives by undoing all of the terrible things we've done: every sin! It's all gone! "The result of one act of righteousness was justification that brings life for all men… through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous." That could be translated, "the result of one justifying act was justification that brings life for all men." By his death on the cross, by that one obedient act, Jesus undid what Adam did by his one act of rebellion. Every sin is gone! The law still exposes and magnifies our sin, "But where sin increased, grace increased all the more!" Thank God! And thank God it's for you!
Petrov saved many lives to be sure. But Jesus work was for all people! "The result of one act of righteousness was justification that brings life for all men…" Or as Paul put it in 2 Corinthians 5:19, "God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them." So if it's for all men, for the whole world, you can be sure it's for you too! No one is left out.
And finally, Petrov saved lives… for a while. But the people he saved from nuclear war will still eventually die. But Jesus saves lives for eternity. "…Grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." Yes, you will still die physically (unless Jesus returns first). But you will live on (after death!) in heaven forever with the Lord! And how awesome that will be!
So… nothing against Stanislav Yevgrafovich Petrov, but I think Jesus deserves the nickname "The man who saved the world" a whole lot more. One man changed the world forever. This one man changed eternity forever. This one man changed eternity for us. And it's all by grace! We do nothing to earn or deserve it. Jesus did it all. We are alive by grace! And grace will continue to reign until Jesus brings us home to eternal life.
Yes, Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, Muhammed, Hitler and Churchill, Al Gore and Steve Jobs have all changed the world in their own way. But no two men have had a bigger impact on your life than these two men: Adam—who brought sin, suffering, pain and death into the world—and Jesus—who brought forgiveness, grace, peace and life, who will take you out of this world into eternal life with him. In his name, dear friends, amen.
In Him,
Pastor Rob Guenther
Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church
47585 Ciechanski Road, Kenai, AK 99611
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