Romans 5: The Blessing of Justification & Adam and Jesus Christ

I'm going to take us to the Book of Romans for this first message. In the Book of Romans, it's been about just shy of two months since we've been there. We've been going through the Book of Romans as a congregation. If you recall, the last time we were in Romans, we were actually considering the important relationship between righteous and justification. By background here, this discussion begins in Romans 2, and it makes its way through Romans 3 and 4.

We address this topic of justification by first defining it. If you recall, we defined justification biblically as made righteous. To be justified means to make righteous, or made right before God. The only way we know right and wrong is according to God's laws. We address that fact. The fullest understanding of what it means to be law-abiding, to be law-keeping, to be right before God only comes for those of us who have God's Spirit, because God works with us through that Spirit to give us clarification about what righteousness actually is.

This relationship, then, between justification and righteousness is one that we see Paul dialogue considerably about here in the Book of Romans. If you recall, I also spent a little bit of time in terms of background here, because this topic I had not heard before. Oh, forgive me, I need to release or make sure that all of our Sabbath school are released at this time, so that if anyone or missing anyone, they can go back.

Mrs. Austis is taking care of that. Going back to the term justification, as I mentioned, I had only heard this topic addressed a couple of times for the first time when I went to Ambassador College 25 years ago in 1986. Wow, that's longer ago than that. I remember going through the Book of Romans and saying, okay, clarify for me what this is. And beyond the definition of made righteous or made right before God, then the explanation of what righteousness then entails was expounded while I was there in class. And if it helps, God really deals with the topic of justification two ways.

The first is initial justification. So whenever we're called, we go through a process of coming to God, and in doing so, we go through after, you know, there's faith and then there's repentance, and then in going into baptism, God promises to wash away sins and then place his essence actually in us. And we talked about justification appearing in Scripture as initial justification, the first of two categories.

This initial justification occurs only by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. I'll ask, if you will, to turn with me before we head for Romans 5 to 1 Peter 3. 1 Peter 3. And here's where we are again clear about what initial justification is. 1 Peter 3, and I'll start reading in verse 18. Here's where I turned this morning and said, it's not there, it's not there, and obviously I must have been in the wrong place.

I'm in 18, and I'll start reading here. For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but made alive by the Spirit, by whom also he went and preached to the spirits in prison, who formerly were disobedient, when once the long suffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight souls were saved through water. So he's giving us a sense here about the importance of baptism and the connection with Christ.

This is also an antitype, which now saves us, namely baptism. This is initial justification. Not the removal of filth of the flesh, and that's not what baptism is. It's not a soaping down. It's not, let's get the shampoo out and let's go baptize you, but the answer of a good conscience toward God. That's what baptism is, initial justification through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. So with baptism, what God does is He removes our sins. Not a surprise, but the extent to which He removes those sins, because oftentimes we will keep our own sins as baggage.

As human beings, we have a way of throwing them in a duffel bag, flipping them over our shoulder, and going, I know I've been forgiven of them, but I want to carry them around for a while. And that's not how God operates.

In fact, I'll quote Psalm 103, verse 12. This is how far God takes it. As far as Jesus from west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us. He goes so far as to say, I will forget them. And that's what God does. That's initial justification. The second type of justification that we talked about last time we were in Romans is ongoing justification.

And here is where we have participative conversion. Our role in terms of being or staying right with God, there is a part we have to play in doing so. And this is a three-step process, if you remember I reviewed. It involves first faith. We have to have faith. And I'll cite Hebrews 11.6, Without faith, we can't please them.

And Ephesians 2, verse 8, For by grace you were saved through faith, and not of yourselves, it is a gift from God. So we must have faith. That was first I address. Secondly, we have to be obedient. And 1 John 3, 4, reminds us that we have to adhere to the law.

We have to reflect not our own righteousness, or our own righteousness as we oftentimes see it, but God's righteousness. And the only way that's reflected is by God's Spirit living in us, by Christ living in us, Galatians 2.20. And then we also talked about that third step in ongoing justification for us to remain right with God. There is then repentance that's ongoing. And here we addressed in Ephesians 4, 22 through 24, in fact I'll go there just briefly.

Ephesians 4, 22 through 24, about our responsibility, once baptized, to remain true to God, to remain true to that covenant. And 22 to 24 reads this way. I'll go to verse 20. I'll start in 22. That you put off concerning your former conduct the commitment we make at baptism, even more so than the commitment we make in marriage, is that the old man, the old woman, be put away. And that's what it offers here. The old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful loves, and be renewed in the spirit of our mind, and that you put on the new man which was created according to God in righteousness and true holiness.

So what we are reminded here is that in order to remain justified, we have to do our part. I think sometimes we might take that for granted. We think, well, God's doing his part. God will cover me. But God says, no, onus, or responsibility, is on you. You have to do something here.

And so we have to be in a constant state of repentance. Now, in anticipation for the spring holy days, for the Passover specifically, this is when we really take a lot of time to think through what does this mean. And this is what Paul is addressing in Romans 2, 3, and 4. And the theme then continues beyond 4. So today we're going to cover Romans 5, and it's only 21 verses, not long. And I've entitled this message, The Blessing of Justification, Adam and Christ. The blessing, Romans 5, The Blessing of Justification, Adam and Christ.

So Paul is our author, we know that. And so that we all can deal with this content personally, we're reminded that those Jews who were along in the church that we see here actually reflect those who have grown up in the church. Those of us who've been around for a while, those of us who've had the blessing of hearing and knowing God's truth from the get-go, that's typified by the Jews we'll see.

And also, the Gentiles are by those first generation Christians. If you just go back one chapter, remember what Paul was dealing with there? He was dealing with pride out of both groups for different reasons. And the Jews in this case who had long had the law, who'd long had God's word found themselves superior because of that. And the Gentiles in the church at the time, because they said, well, we're not the Jews, we're new to the party. And in a case like this, we're not necessarily shackled by an own mindset. There was superiority there, too.

And Paul had addressed both in four. And so in five, we continue this, and he expounds on the topic of justification. So let's break this down into two pieces. The first part, we'll deal with verses 1 through 11, and then we'll section that off, and we'll call the second part 12 through 21. The first part will be the blessing of justification.

No surprise there. When we're close to God, when we're in step with God, there's a blessing. And then the second part, the comparison between Christ and Adam. Adam and Christ. So if you will, read with me verse 1. We'll start in one. Again, just 1 through 11 for starters. Therefore, having been justified, so he's continuing the thought flow of chapter 4, by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Now, I'm only going to stop for a second because one of the realizations that we have as we go forward, and it's a reminder for many of us, is how much God's truth and understanding of that truth and walking in step with him provides us peace in our lives. It oftentimes unpacks itself whenever we might talk with a fellow employee, or we'll talk with someone else who you realize doesn't necessarily have an understanding of truth.

Even on the way in here, if you're coming 285 East, I was thinking about this, even if how to have no idea how many of us were coming East on 285 and got off on Roswell Road. Go show of hands. Maybe there are only a few of us. There was an accident. The one car was crushed in on the side. They were about to pull, I guess, the they were going to jaws of death. They were jaws of life. They're going to pull it off.

There was a sheet over the person in that body, in that car. So as we pulled in, as Sarah said, she said, there's an orange sheet over that individual. And I said, that person didn't make it. You know, it's easy at times to think life goes on forever.

It's easy at times to take for granted what we have. And yet, in a case like this, that person doesn't have any more time, at least in a fleshly sense. But if we go and talk with colleagues, or we talk with peers, we're oftentimes struck neighbors. We're struck by all the burden they have of living in a world with so much getting blown at them and not being able to necessarily make sense of that.

And yet, you and I, particularly on a Sabbath day, because a Sabbath day stops, in essence, time, doesn't it? The rush, the running about stops for 24 hours, and we get we get a point that moral compass, that spiritual compass, due north, and we get clarity about what God is all about. Now, we do this during the week, but the Sabbath especially. And in doing so, we have what's offered here in verse 1. We have peace, not like the rest of the world, not a word, not just fake peace.

I'll give you my words. We have genuine peace, and that's what he speaks of here in verse 1. Verse 2, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace, this gift in which we stand, and rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. You know, we have direct access to God.

And I offered this in a message more recently about that miracle that we can't take for granted. Hebrews 4 comes up here, the latter end of Hebrews 4 that talks about that we can approach God's throne directly, and it's not one that we can take for granted. And with that relationship with God, that commitment of baptism, he promises to do something astounding to give you and me, not a good life, though that certainly comes into play here, eternal life as a spirit being with him.

So there's a whole lot here writing on this. Verse 3, and not only that, but we also glory in tribulations. Knowing that tribulations produces perseverance, and the term perseverance for me oftentimes is noted as endurance, and perseverance, character, and character, hope.

That there is then this sequence of events, and that's a separate message all to its own, but the sequence of qualities that are developed by remaining close to God, being justified. Verse 5, now hope does not disappoint. Being the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit, who was given to us. You know, the beautiful thing here is when God gives us His Spirit, He really gives us access to everything that's right and good. Everything perfect and right, that's what He gives us. And He doesn't necessarily say, in fact, He doesn't say at all, just let that Spirit do its work. You don't do anything. If you think back to what Paul admonished Timothy in 2 Timothy verse 1, he says that chapter 1 through 6 there, what does He say? He says, just let that Spirit lay there. Don't do anything to that Spirit. You just relax. The Spirit will do its own. That's not what He says, is it? He says, go stir up that Spirit.

And just as we get in the parables, whether it be a parable of the talent, there's an expectation from us. He doesn't want to come back and for us to say, I buried it. You're a harsh man. I buried that thing. No, God says the opposite. He says, I'm giving you responsibility to do something with this. For it to grow over time, I'm making you accountable. And so we see this all up to verse 5, verse 6, for when we were still without strength in due time, Christ died for the ungodly.

For scarcely for a righteous man will one die, yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. You know, I offered this morning, it wasn't that long ago when I had a chance to go to a conference in Hawaii. And in doing so, Sarah got to go with me. And so we do what oftentimes you do on trips. We figure out what's going on in the TV. And so we had those little TVs there and Sarah became convinced that we needed to watch Unbroken. Well, I have to tell you, she was the one who wanted to watch Unbroken. And I said, no, I'm good. And about a third of the way in the movie, I began to watch. Now, if you've seen this, and I've forgotten the guys, Louie Zampini, help me here. Zamparini, someone there, I'm hearing it. Thank you, Casey. And a case like this, Zamparini, how many of us have seen this movie? Because this is worth a watch. Because if you've seen the movie here, the movie is striking. True story. Individual involved, happened to be, and forgive me, I don't remember where in the US he's from, but grew up a runner, wound up going to the Olympics. And as World War II begins, as they cut in and the movie begins, he is shot down. And we watch his life unfold. A little bit longer movie, and see all he has to go through, particularly because of one camp director. I call him a camp director. He happens to be head of the Japanese individual who's over. It's technically not, I guess, not a concentration camp, but a prison camp. And he makes this guy's life living hell. It is unbelievable. Now, he knows of Zamparini, so in a case like this, he's well aware of his fame. But he does all he can to break this guy down. And we watch this for about an hour and a half to two hours. Now, this was years that he endured this. And there are a couple of striking points in the movie that are just really difficult to deal with. There's one instance where, for example, where he's had him at different times do physical exercises, where he literally starves him and then makes him run the camp. And all of the individuals, all of these prisoners, watch this. There's another instance where he requires everyone in the camp to come and hit him as hard as he can in the face. And so they line up, knowing that they'll be killed for this. They each take a shot at this guy and hit him right in the face. And we watch this time after time after time, as each man is required to do this. And as I was sitting there, even as I was thinking on the plane, I thought to myself, I would do anything to let this guy off. Now, without aiming to steal anything from the movie here, we wind up seeing him survive the war, and then how he deals with all of this... I was going to say hate, because it really is hate. He's really torn up after the war, how he deals with this after the fact. But as we watch these scenes play out, you see a man of high character who's not willing to bend by principle. And I'm reminded of what's written here in this verse 10, for if we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son. Much more having been reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.

And this whole notion that someone would die for someone... In a case like this individual that we're thinking, Louie, you know, you come to a realization of this is an admirable person.

As we deal with verses 9 through 11, we're reminded that Christ died for us, whatever our state might be, no matter how flawed we are. Christ died for us. He gave his life for us. And as we move through here, we're reminded in 9 through 11 that it's Christ sacrificed that blood and only that blood that reconciles us to the Father. Now, as noted here, the thing that we need to be reminded of is the blood removes the sins, but at the tail end of 11, it's by that resurrection that we have the opportunity to live. Baptism then reminds us of the faith we have to have, but at the same time, it's that removal of sins and Christ's life in us that gives us the opportunity to live a life justified. So we've covered verses 1 through 11. We've dealt with the blessings of justification. We then transition into this little bit more challenging section, verses 12 through 21, and it begins in 12 this way. Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men because all sinned, for unto 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 those who had not sinned according to the likeness of the transgression of Adam, who is a type of him who was to come. You know, what we get here is we get this contrast. We get the polar opposites, and it's not necessarily fair to say polar opposites, but only in this sense that both though being human, both they were both human, Adam represents, as we move through this passage, death, whereas Christ represents life. And what we see here as we move through this section, the wording here, in fact I had brought it up previously, this whole notion of law in existence in verse 13, though because we didn't know it, we didn't necessarily, we weren't suffering the penalty in a knowledgeable way, should at least give mind to the fact that we are to keep the law. Now, one thing that sometimes people think, because the language here is an indication of, or at least should have us think about, well, when was the law established? Many of us would go to Exodus 20. In fact, I dare say, if we were to go on the street and we were to ask people, when was the law established? Well, I hate to say this, probably 99 out of 100 would have no clue, but anyone who would be able to answer this question would probably say Exodus 20. But we're reminded in a number of different places that the law was established from the get-go, and we'll talk about this a little bit further as we move ahead, even into the next verse if we, if I offer some comments there. But you can go to, I'm going to ask you to go to two places, Genesis 26.5.

God's law was in existence right from the start. Though not codified and the covenant not taken until, as we see recorded in Exodus 20, God didn't make any bones about making clear what his law was right up front. And so I'll just read one specific case that reminds us of this in Genesis 26 verse 5. Here's the covenant relationship that's established with Abraham, and it offers this, because Abraham obeyed my voice and kept my charge, my commandments, and my statutes, and my law. He promises then to bless him, doesn't he? This is well before Exodus 20. Let's go earlier. Let's go to Genesis 4. Sometimes people will go, what in the world? What are you doing with law and sin back in Genesis? Well, if you go to Genesis 4, it offers this. No surprise here. How can we have this discussion if God's law is not given? It was given from the get-go. Genesis 4 verse 7 reads this way, and if you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not well, sin... how do we know what sin is? Hold on a second here. Sin lies at the door, and its desire is for you, but you should rule over it. The reason why I would go back, and here's the reference that Paul is making, is that law has always been established. It wasn't something that came along, you know, thousands of years in or hundreds of years in. That's not how it worked. It was always established. And as we go out, we go all the way back, law was the manifestation of God's character. And as we go forward, it will always be established. So when we begin to think about this, and we can couple Genesis 4, 7 with Romans 4, 15, which is what we read last time, where there is no law, there is no transgression. This is in part what Paul is dealing with in 13 and through these verses. In 14, we talked briefly here about, nevertheless, death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who had not sinned according the likeness of the transgression of Adam, who was a type of him who was to come. What Adam was, was that initial creation, physical. He gave us a sense, gave a sense of what God could do. But as we then kind of get a sense here in terms of what's involved, in fact, let me read just a hair before I tackle the next section. 15 reads this way, But the gift, but the free gift is not like the offense, for if by one man's offense many died, much more the grace of God and the gift by the grace of one man, Jesus Christ abounded to many. You know, one of the discussions that's oftentimes had in commentaries, and it was noted when I was an ambassador and certainly holds true, is this whole notion of what type of relationship did Adam have with God. You know, the uniqueness of that relationship in that he was created.

He knew God from the start. He had talked with God right from the start. That was a unique relationship that Paul is addressing here, and he's in part dealing with this reality of the personal relationship that's provided. Adam, so as we read forward and we get a contrast between Christ and Adam, Christ who perfectly lived and did not sin, and Adam who sinned shortly thereafter, we get this very different sense of these two Adams. Verse 16 read, And the gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned. I read this for the judgment which came from one offense resulted in condemnation, but the free gift which came from many offenses resulted in justification. This is in part, again, contrasting Adam versus Christ. Now, we'll come back to verse 16 as we finish this section because on this verse and on this passage is where the doctrine of original sin comes in, but we'll get back there momentarily.

Let's go to verse 17. For if by one man's offense death reigned through the one, much more those who gave abundance, those who receive abundance of grace, and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the one Jesus Christ.

So again, we're getting this contrasting of Christ and Adam. Fleshly Adam, who sins, who is condemned, in a case like this, fleshly and spiritual Christ, resurrected Christ, that provides life. 18. Therefore, as though one man's offense through one man's offense, judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so through one man's righteous act, the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life. For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one man's obedience may one be made righteous. Moreover, the law entered that the offense might abound, but where sin abounded, grace abounded much more, so that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Now there's a lot to unpack here. If we're backing up to 18, I'll highlight that Adam really was the first to exemplify the effect of sin, and that effect, the violation of God's law, was to be condemned, was condemnation, and ultimately death.

As we work through here, Jesus Christ, who was by righteousness, though, allowed the state of justification, allowed us to be justified by that sacrifice. And so as long as we, and here's what Paul is addressing, as whenever we copy Adam, we are indeed guilty of sin. We don't, we do not have life in us. It's only through Christ that salvation is possible. As you move then to verse 20, and I offered this, Moreover the law entered that the offense might abound, but when sin abounded, grace abounded more, we have to again be reminded that Adam and Eve, who had the opportunity for the gift of life by the tree of life, chose not to. What he is dealing with here, Paul is dealing with here, is the decision that they made was the first of many decisions that were made, that humanity has made since that time. Now sometimes that can be misconstrued. Misconstrued. Sometimes people seem to think that condemnation reigns only because of their actions. But as we'll get to in a couple of points we can take from this, well three points we can take from this, that's not the case. God doesn't provide universal salvation. God provides salvation on a case by case basis. He doesn't condemn in a universal sense. Condemnation is on a case by case basis, and that's how God works. God deals with us individually, and that's where accountability comes in as it applies to justification. So then let's deal with a few points in this and we can back up just to here as we pull some lessons here from Romans 4. First lesson I could probably offer or ask that you draw your attention to is the fact that Paul, as he begins this chapter, deals with trials as opportunities for rejoicing. Trials are opportunities to rejoice. Now you know I was trying to think here, if we're back to asking a hundred people, if you have a trial, should you be happy about that trial?

I see Kim Griswold laughing or smiling over there, because his reaction is the same as mine. It almost seems nuts, doesn't it? When we go through trials, immediately we begin to think, okay, what's going on here? What? Who's after me? What is happening here? And what Paul is telling us in this section, through verses 1 through 4, is that those trials produce a series of steps that move us toward a clearer sense of what hope is, that hope of eternal life. And you can read here with me, those trials produce perseverance, perseverance character. Boy, we have a whole lot of character issues today, don't we? We probably could walk around this school hall and find character all over these different posters. I'm looking all the way at the back. There are posters, those in the value billboards that I oftentimes see. You probably see the same thing in those commercials. Oftentimes push character. And we don't necessarily have any sense of how that happens. Well, Paul makes clear how that happens. That character is developed through these trials. And when we have these trials, does Paul say, be down in the mouth? Get down.

Be frustrated. Realize that this is the end of the world. That's not what he says. It's just the flip. In fact, I'll ask you to go with me to 2 Corinthians 12. We're going to see Paul's words in a separate letter to the church at Corinth, 2 Corinthians 12, verse 10. And he's going to say something that again feels like it's counterintuitive. It doesn't make any sense. 2 Corinthians 12, verse 10.

2 Corinthians 12, verse 10. And it says this. And remember, Paul talked about the, uh, here, the thorn in the flesh in verse 7. We don't necessarily know what it is. We don't know if it's his eyesight, which is problematic enough. We don't know if it's some other element. But as he's dealing with this, he then personalizes it and he makes this statement in 10. Therefore, I take pleasure in affirmities.

I take pleasure in affirmities. In reproaches, and he was reproach because oftentimes people saw him as an adversary, in needs, in persecutions, though it was in the church because they knew his reputation beforehand, in distresses, not for his own sake, for Christ's sake, for when I am weak, then I am strong. In those difficult times when we rely on God, that's what the trial should do. It should produce a closer relationship with God. If you want to run back to Romans, I'm going to read Romans 8 verse 23. Romans 8 verse 23. We are to rejoice in trials. That's a lesson we can take from this. And it reads this way in Romans 8, 23, and not only they, but we also who have the first fruits of the Spirit and being given God's Spirit, even we ourselves, grown within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body. Now, I consider myself a young guy, and everyone in here is probably thinking, yeah right. There's enough in here thinking, yeah right. Those of you who are older are thinking, oh, he's just a young one. I get that. And anyone who's younger probably thinks, oh, he's an old guy. One of the things that you find out as you get older, and I'm sure some of us deal with this, whether we're young, and I look at the the team guys over there, the power four over there on that side, they probably think about this a lot less than I do. But the idea that this life is full of setbacks and troubles and aggravation and frustrations, that's what he's talking about here. That's the nature of this life. As he talks about here in verse 23, he talks about, forgive me, I went ahead, it's that all of this agony in life is worth it because it allows us to develop a closer relationship with God. It allows us to draw close to him so that he might give us a reward, eternal life at Christ's return. And so as we see what Paul offers here, this whole notion of tribulation and the character that's produced from that, we should be reminded that we should rejoice in trials, and that's one thing that Romans 5 talks about. Second thing is this section verses 12 through 21 is oftentimes the corner of original sin. Now, I'm not going to go Roman Catholic on you, but the Catholic Church, this is a foundational fundamental doctrine of theirs. And in going through a number of different sources, I thought I'd just read briefly about how they speak of this. This actually comes, I found the BBC's description of this doctrine to probably be the most succinct, and it reads this way. Original sin is a fundamental Roman Catholic Church doctrine credited and explained by Augustine Christian. The doctrine was formalized by the Roman Catholic Church by the Councils of Trend in the 16th century, which would be the 1500s. The doctrine establishes that everyone is born sinful. We are built to disobey God as a result of Adam and Eve's disobedience, and the fact that they ate the forbidden fruit. So the idea is that our disobedience is really all tied to them, and it's because of their sin that all who have ever existed are condemned. So here's the question I have, and I'll ask rhetorically, not aiming to get an answer, though you could probably answer me quickly.

What's the flaw in original sin?

Well, it skirts the fact that we are each accountable.

Romans 3, 23 says that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. And what does that result in? Romans 6, 23, death. That's what it is. Sometimes we can skirt and we can spend time pointing fingers for elsewhere, wherever it might be. And that's what, in essence, original sin does.

It says that I'm not accountable, someone else is accountable. But that's not how God does this.

God makes clear that we are each responsible for our own actions, and He'll hold us accountable for those actions. I'll just mention two places. Psalm 51 is a nice reminder, as David goes through that period of repentance and pouring himself out, he says, forgive me for, let's say someone else's transgression, for my transgression. Ephesians 4 hits on the same point, verses 17 through 24. I won't take time to go there now. But in each case, it says, you know, the tail end of verse 12 there is a reminder of this, despite the fact the Catholic Church seems to skip over this section. The latter words in verse 12 reads this way, therefore, as through one man's sin, enter the world in death through sin, and thus, desperate dwell men. Why? Here's the key. Because all sin. Because all sin. You know, in essence right there, it refutes that whole argument. Am I sinful because of Adam and Eve? No, they didn't take of the tree of the tree of life.

But separately, you know, the tree of life that I take of now is my responsibility. My sinful nature, my righteousness, my righteousness, my spiritual life, my spiritual life, my spiritual life, my righteousness, my responsibility in terms of doing right, that one's on me. And Christ holds me accountable. God holds me accountable. So that's the second point. This section does not in any way support original sin. The third lesson we can take is that Romans 5, and here's the bigger part here, contrasts the difference between Adam and Christ, as I've already noted a couple of different times. I'm going to reread just three verses here, 14 through 16. That's a reminder of how dramatically different the two characters are, that being Adam and Christ. Nevertheless, death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who had not sinned according to the likeness of the transgression of Adam. In other words, all who have sinned have experienced the consequences of sin, who is a type of him who was to come. But the free gift is not like the offense, for if by one man's offense many died, Adam was the first of many, much more the grace of God, and the gift by the grace of the one man, capital M, Jesus Christ abounded to many. And the gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned, death, for the judgment which came from the one offense resulted in condemnation, but the free gift which comes from many offenses resulted in justification, in righteousness, in that unique special category of closeness to God. Here Paul is making clear that we have a responsibility for emulating, for following, for doing what Christ did, not what Adam did. When we do what Adam did, we are condemned. When we do what Christ did, when we are baptized, faithful, obedient, repentant, when we are justified, we are doing what Christ did. Adam typified death. Christ typifies, represents life. And so that's what we get through those latter verses of 12 through 21. Okay, so we've had a chance to break down this section of 21 verses into two major parts and pull some lessons from them. As we look to Romans 6, Paul points out the danger of sin, and that the result of that violation of law is death. It's only by Christ's sacrifice that the death penalty is removed. And as we prepare and anticipate the Passover season, as we go through that self-examination in 1 Corinthians 11, we're so reminded of that sacrifice. We're reminded that God graciously gives us His Spirit, and that we're required to walk in newness of life. It's that commitment that we make of baptism that brings about another kind of servitude that he'll talk about in Romans 6. Not as a bondsman to sin and death, but as rather a slave or servant of God. The result of that slavery is the most imaginable gift, but it's one that He wants to give to all of us. And we can look forward to reading about it again in Romans 6. That gift is eternal life. So if you want to read ahead, please do so.