For sermons and additional resources, visit STBARTS.COM.AU

ROMANS: THE GOSPEL OF GRACE (TALK 9/12: DEATH IN ADAM / LIFE IN CHRIST)

SMALL GROUP DISCUSSION QUESTIONS CONNECT: What is one way that you can boast in God this week?

WARM-UP Questions 1. What are some good things you have inherited from your parents? 2. What are some things you’d like to pass on to future generations?

Read Romans 5:12-14 3. What is the significance of the ‘Therefore’ in the beginning of v.12? 4. What is the relationship between death and sin described in v.12? 5. In v.13 Paul branches off into a clarification; where does his argument resume? What is he trying to

clarify in vv.13-14? 6. What can you say when someone asks you: “Is it fair to condemn the whole world just because Adam

disobeyed?” 7. How do you see death reigning in our world today? How can we resist death’s reign today?

Read Romans 5:15-19 8. How does this passage compare the gift and the trespass? What are the characteristics of each? 9. The concept of federal headship is ‘observation that as humans we often stand behind and are united

with other people by one person’. Who are the two ‘federal heads’ being contrasted here? 10. Why does Paul say in v.16 that the gift cannot be compared with the trespass? 11. Verses18-19 is a discussion around the obedience of Adam and Jesus. How is Jesus’ obedience to

God a good thing for us? 12. How can Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection have any impact on us today?

Read Romans 5:20-21 13. What do you think Paul means when he writes, “The law was brought in so that the trespass might

increase”? 14. At what point in history did sin and death meet its match? How can you share this with you neighbours? 15. How would you define the word ‘grace’ for someone who had never heard of her (pun intended) before? 16. It’s easy to think that being a Christian is a small personal matter. How do these verses challenge this? 17. How does life reign in Christ? Where do you see this happening around you? Where do you see life

reigning at St Bart’s?

APPLY (this week): How can you embrace the life found ‘in Christ’ to the fullest this week?

PRAY: Loving Lord Jesus, we thank you that while we were still sinners you died for us. Thank you that through you; life reigns. Holy Spirit please help us to treasure and revel in the reign of Christ and share its goodness with others. Amen!

For sermons and additional resources, visit STBARTS.COM.AU

ROMANS: THE GOSPEL OF GRACE

(TALK 9/12: DEATH IN ADAM / LIFE IN CHRIST) GOING DEEPER RESOURCES

Video • For Kids: ‘God’s Story: The Fall’ by Crossroads Kids

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kg2lkCxjMg8 • For Kids: ‘The Story of Adam and Eve’ by Kids on the Move – Tulsa OK’

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BgXrhQA4pdY • ‘Romans 5:12-21’ by Thomas Milburn

https://vimeo.com/261721174 • ‘Doctrine of Imputation’ by RC Sproul

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tuaAP4Bh4G4

Audio • ‘IN CHRIST: A new start for man’ by John Aldis

https://www.allsouls.org/Media/PlayMedia.aspx?download=file&media_id=50062&file_id=55408 • ‘Romans 5:12-21’ by Andy Pearce

http://resources.cityonahill.com.au/resources/rebels-of-grace/romans-512-21#melbourne-tab • ‘Romans 5:12-21’ by Steve McAlpine

http://midland.providencechurch.org.au/sermons/2017/7/31/romans-11-17-x83tc-cc7t3-8hdte-tllj2-jsct4-sgl8a-fnmcp-hhcss

• ‘Life through Christ’ by Rico Tice https://www.allsouls.org/Media/PlayMedia.aspx?download=file&media_id=138092&file_id=149048

• ‘Romans 5:12-21’ by Eric Turbedsky http://www.sovgraceoc.org/sermons/2017/10/22/romans-512-21

• ‘Who’s your Daddy’ by Mike Paget https://www.barneys.org.au/talks/65-2/

Helpful Books and Articles • ‘Old Man and New Man in Paul’ by Greg Herrick

https://bible.org/article/“old-man”-and-“new-man”-paul • Romans (Read, Mark, Learn Series) by William Taylor (St Helens Bishopsgate):

https://www.koorong.com/search/product/romans-read-mark-learn-series-helens-bishopsgate-st/9781845503628.jhtml

• Romans (The Story of God Bible Commentary Series) by Michael Bird: https://www.koorong.com/search/product/romans-the-story-of-god-bible-commentary-series/9780310327189.jhtml

Talk 9/12 (ROMANS SERIES): 16/09/18 “DEATH IN ADAM / LIFE IN CHRIST”

by the Rev’d David Browne

Bible Passage: Romans 5:12-21

• We’re 9 weeks into our Romans: Gospel of Grace series carefully unpacking all Jesus means for us

• I love Romans because it’s one of the few letters that Paul wrote to people he’d never met

• Many of the letters in the Bible are written between people who knew each already; not Romans

• This makes it a great example of how the first christians shared their hope in Jesus • Paul introduces himself and then gets into exposing the problem effecting all

humanity: sin • Sin doesn’t just infect the people we see as bad people, it infects us too • It’s the reason why the world is in the mess it’s in • We’ve also been shown God’s solution to the problem: JESUS • Jesus pays for our sin by taking God’s wrath upon himself and Paul’s good news is

that people can now be made good with God through faith in Jesus • In Christ we are justified: made ‘Just as we’d never sinned’ • Last week we unpacked the effects of this justification and how the death and

resurrection of Jesus bring us PEACE with God.

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• In today’s passage we’ll see how this justification gives us access into God’s vision for a new humanity, a new way of living, filled with God’s goodness and hope

• Paul writes: “as one trespass resulted in condemnation for all people, so also one righteous act resulted in justification and life for all people.” (Romans 5:18)

We’re about to be treated to a master class on God’s vision for a new way of being human

• We’ll examine the old Adam’s Résumé • Then the second Adam’s Résumé • And see how God’s SUPERabounding grace changes everything!

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#1. ADAM’S RÉSUMÉ \\ V.12-14

• Paul begins this passage by writing: “Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned—”(Romans 5:12 )

• We’re about to be told where righteousness and life come from, but first we’re given a hard look at where sin and death come from: Adam

• At the beginning of the Bible, God creates a good world, and a good garden where he places the pinnacle of his creation: people

• Male and female, God creates people in his image and he puts Adam and Eve in the garden to tend the garden, care for the animals, and make babies.

• It’s like a combination of everyone’s favourite hobbies! • God in his kindness and love gives Eve and Adam joyful and fulfilling ways to

enjoy his good creation • That’s Genesis 1 but 2 zooms in on the story of the people and we find that the male

- Adam was created first • God gives Adam one command:

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“You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.”” (Genesis 2:16–17)

• The rest is history • The snake dupes Eve into eating the fruit, she hands it to Adam(who is right there);

he eats with her • Death slithers into God’s world and since that day no life has been untouched by

Adam’s curse • Why does the widow have to choose a coffin for her husband? • Why does the father weep as his daughter’s life support is turned off? • Why does the new mother have to explain to people why her baby isn’t coming

home?

Adam’s sin. The Bible traces the stain of death back to it’s source, the day we disconnected from the author of life

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• We can’t blame everything on Adam, because if we’re honest we know we’ve done worse things than eating fruit God told us not to

• But Paul isn’t just saying we all stuff up and Adam is the original stuff up

• Instead look at v.15-17 which all talk about sin and therefore death coming into our world through one man

The idea is that in Adam all sinned, Adam’s sin ushered in the reign of death

This concept that we are under the curse of Adam’s sin is called federal headship; the idea that all people are united (federated) in one person

• This idea offends us because we live in a culture that is individualistic, we think we should only be responsible for our ourselves

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• It seems old-fashioned to talk about Adam’s issues affecting us but when you think about it federal headship perfectly natural even today

• When you board a plane your federal head is the pilot, your fate is in their hands,

• Many of us got fed up with the heads of our nation a couple of weeks ago as they bickered over who should be the federal head of Australia

• Ironically it wasn’t federal headship that upset us but the individualism of our leadersWe wanted them to do their job and be the federal heads they were elected to be but their pride affected us all

• Think about the habits you’ve inherited from your parents, whether it’s biting your toenails or the way you deal with anger

Adam is our federal head!

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His sin became our sin, we followed him and death reigned over all mankind as a result!

In v.13 Paul anticipates an objection that:

“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. Nevertheless, death reigned from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, even over those who did not sin by breaking a command,” (Romans 5:13–14)

• Paul here denies that people did not sin between Adam and Moses or that their sins didn’t matter because they didn’t have the law.

• But at the same time he says, as he does elsewhere, that people who sin without knowing the law can’t be held accountable for breaking it, but the effects of sin still reign over them

• He’s already told us in chapter 3 that all have sinned and in Romans 2:15 that people who who’ve never heard the law have it written on their hearts, here we see the consequence of sin is death

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•Many die without breaking God’s commands because we’re all in Adam

•What was the difference between Adam’s and Eve’s sin?

•They both ate the fruit?

•But Eve was not around when God told Adam not to eat from the tree of life.

•Adam broke God’s command

•Eve’s sin was just as serious as Adam’s, every sin is just a different shade of black, but Adam’s sin is charged to us because he explicitly broke God’s command

•Here Paul recognises the total reign of death, those too young, disabled, or who’ve never heard of the Lord still die because of Adam

•Adam’s résumé becomes our résumé and this is why all die

• Our federal head, heard God’s command for how to live and did his own thing, since then all of us have followed in his footsteps

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• Federal headship sounds like bad news… but it’s actually good news.

• look at v.14 Adam is a pattern of the one who is to come

• Adam’s résumé may be our résumé but there is a second Adam, there is a different way of being!

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#2. JESUS’ RÉSUMÉ \\ V.15-18

Paul contrasts the first Adam with the second Adam in v.15: “But the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God’s grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many!”(Romans 5:15)

• Adam was a type of Christ, a federal head, a representative before God of people, but even before the fruit was picked, a second résumé was written.

• Adam was placed into a beautiful garden, Jesus was born in a barn.

• Adam was given everything he needed and walked with God in the cool of the day, Jesus left his Father in heaven and was born into hardship

• Adam was asked to keep one command and fell, Jesus was tempted in every way we are and yet he never sinned

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• In the garden of Eden Adam put his life goals ahead of God’s purposes for his life, in the garden of Gethsemane Jesus said not my will but yours be done.

• Adam died for his sin outside the garden, Jesus died for our sins outside Jerusalem.

Adam’s trespass unleashed generations of suffering, Jesus’ righteousness brings in new creation, a new way of being human.

• Jesus’ résumé is beyond compare:

“Nor can the gift of God be compared with the result of one man’s sin: The judgment followed 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!”(Romans 5:16–17)

• Adam’s sin ushered in a tidal wave of suffering and death but through the one man Jesus Christ, came grace, righteousness and the reign of life!

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• Jesus’ work knock’s Adam’s for six!

• Here’s the good news: If Adam’s curse can be passed onto us, if we can be in Adam, we can also be in Christ.

Now it’s important to note that Universalism isn’t being taught here

• Universalism is this idea that everyone goes to heaven because God is love and ultimately a loving God would never send anyone to hell.

• The problem with this is line of thinking is it’s totally against the tide of the rest of Paul’s teaching.

• v.17 says that this grace is afforded to ‘those who receive it’

• With any gift there is a giver and receiver.

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We can actively reject God’s gift or passively sit on the fence but it’s in receiving God’s free gift that we enjoy the benefits of being in Christ

• During the week I went to Mitchell and at the BP I found this amazing gift. A specials box filled with energy drinks, chips, and beef jerky all for $1. One dollar! Can you believe it! I dived in and walking away all I wanted to do was tell the world about this amazing gift!

But then it hit me! God has given me way more than any BP special box. Christ’s résumé has become my résumé! The sin, and curse of death has been blown out of the water by the grace of Jesus Christ. Are we as excited about this free gift as the BP specials boxes that come our way? Jesus’s résumé can now be ours. Let’s get excited about God’s superabounding grace with our whole lives!

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#3. GOD’S SUPERABOUNDING GRACE \\ V.19-21 The final verses in our passage puts a wonderful cherry on top of what’s been written so far: “The law was brought in so that the trespass might increase. But where sin increased, grace increased all the more, so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”(Romans 5:19–21)

• Paul’s first readers may have expected him to write that the law was brought in to deal with sin but instead he says the law increased it.

• Trespasses increased in our world once the law came in because now there was a law to trespass.

• If you were with us for our Judges series you’ll remember how wicked the people of Israel became right after they received God’s commands on how to live.

• Sin was like a spotlight on a crime, great at exposing the carnage going on but powerless to stop it.

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• Paul doesn’t hate the law, but it’s purpose was not to deal with Sin,

• Rather trespasses increased as we consciously defied God and disobeyed him just like our federal head: Adam.

• But (and this is a big BUT!) where sin increased Paul literally writes that Grace SUPERABOUNDED!

• Robert Perry defined grace as: God’s Riches at Christ’s Expense

• We were under Adam’s curse, but now we receive God’s superabounding riches at Christ’s expense

• But Jesus’ death does’t just pay for our sins, if Jesus is our federal head, then his active obedience is also given to us.

• If we stand with Jesus then his life of faithfulness to God and his love for all creation is passed onto us too

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• I remember as a teenager trying to go out clubbing.

• As pimply guys with no fashion sense or money, most clubs turned us away at the door.

• That was until we met a friend who worked for a nightclub.

• All of sudden his connections were our connections, doors to the poshest places were flung open, big bouncers gave us hugs and cover charges were waived.

Jesus death deals with our sin but his active obedience to God is also passed onto us and frees us up for the fullness of life in Him!

CONCLUSION \\ A NEW WAY OF LIVING

• God’s word leaves us with a choice between two ways to live.

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• We may think we’re living well doing life our way, or aligning ourselves with some guru, pop-star, political figure, or supposed ‘winner’ in our world. But in doing so we’re actually surrendering to the federal headship of our first father Adam.

• We can live in Adam in open defiance of God’s word or we can choose a different path and live in Christ.

• Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 5:17: “if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!” (2 Corinthians 5:17)

• With Christ as our federal head we can be part of a new humanity and new federation of people who are ‘in Christ’ - Christians.

• We’re not perfect people and like Adam we will stuff up, but in Christ we can say along with former slave trader John Newton:

• “I am not what I ought to be… I am not what I wish to be … I am not what I hope to be … Yet, (in Christ) I am not what I used to be; and by the Grace of God I am what I am”

• Living with Jesus as our federal head means we become his disciples, his followers. • We strive to love even those who don’t deserve our love because we never deserved

the love he gave us.

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• We strive to be generous with everything we have, because he gave it all for us. • We flee from sin and live with God at the forefront of our lives because that’s how he

lived for us. • And we share this good news with others in the hope that they too will come to

know Jesus, to follow him, and embrace the life found in Christ.

• Let’s pray to him now.

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