February 5, 2008 Romans 5:12‑19

Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinnedC for before the law was given, sin was in the world. But sin is not taken into account when 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, as did Adam, who was a pattern of the one to come.

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! Again, the gift of God is not like the result of the 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.

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. 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.

This last weekend millions of Americans gathered around their televisions to watch the most hyped game in history. Hundreds of pundits spent hundreds of hours pouring over every aspect of the game. Even though a victory or defeat had no effect on our jobs or economy or health - the play of these two teams caused people to either be elated with joy or angry and depressed - which all seems rather trivial when you really think about it.

Lent introduces us to a much more meaningful battle - a battle between good and evil, between death and life, between God and Satan - over the souls of men. This battle doesn=t just effect our wallets or our health - it effects our eternity. Oh, that we would watch this battle with even half of the intensity and scrutiny as the Super Bowl!

Yet Lent is Atoo depressing@ or not Apractical enough@ for many in America. Why is that? All we seem to be worried about is how clear our high-def televisions are and whether we will have universal health care or job security or who will win the election. Even when death does come - the only thing that is talked about is the circumstances surrounding the death. Consider the two most recent examples in the news. Heath Ledger died apparently of some sort of drug overdose. After he died, the media covered what movies he was in and tried to uncover exactly how or why he died. Now Hollywood is trying to suppress video of him having done drugs at a party a few years back. All they are focusing on is what happened in the past and the physical causes of his death. John Ritter died a few years ago. Yet the family still can=t let go of whether the doctors made a mistake in his diagnosis, so they are suing the doctors for apparently missing his heart condition.

The whole spiritual aspect as to WHERE John and Heath actually are NOW? It is ignored. It might be mentioned ever so briefly in the funeral with a simple, AI=m sure he=s looking over us now.@ And so the whole battle of good vs. evil, life after death, heaven vs. hell, and God vs. Satan is a rather meaningless story to many Americans. After all, if almost everyone goes to heaven then I don=t have to worry about it. Life after death doesn=t help me with life now - how to pay my bills - as if bills were more important than eternity? Here=s how bad it has gotten. In order to attract visitors, a Lutheran church in Michigan offered a sermon series on how to have good Christian sex - during - you guessed it - LENT!!

In contrast to this, the epic and universal and eternal battle of heaven and hell is the focus of Lent. Paul talks about it in today=s text. He writes from revelation of the Holy Spirit - so we have a behind the scenes look at itt - the origins of it - and more importantly the remedy of it.

Look at the Epic Battle of Death and Life

I. The cause of it

Where does death come from? God=s Word tells us, Asin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned. Death comes as a result of sin - one man=s sin - referring to Adam. God told Adam, Athe day you eat of it (the Tree of Knowledge) you will surely die.@ So, where does death come? It comes from God - who brings it on man because of sin. Deuteronomy 32:39 ASee now that I myself am He! There is no god besides me. I put to death and I bring to life, I have wounded and I will heal, and no one can deliver out of my hand. Why does God bring death on man? Because of the curse He placed on Adam=s sin - the curse of death.

Does this seem strange? Does it seem fair? Adam is not the only example of this happening. In one war God wanted the Israelites to dedicate everything to Him. But Achan found a beautiful robe and some other items which he wanted, so he took them and hid them in his tent. As a result, God allowed Israel to be defeated badly in one of their first battles in the Promised Land. God=s wrath didn=t only come on Achan - but on the whole community of Israel - and other men died because of his sin. (Joshua 22:20) God treated the community as a whole - even the whole community didn=t do the coveting and stealing.

Yet the situation with Adam is even worse than Achan=s, because what Adam did to himself; by contaminating himself with sin; he passed on to his offspring. Some look at little infants and say, Ahow can you say this child is sinful?@ I can say it because infants die too. Wherever there is death, there must be sin. The two go hand in hand. You can=t have death where there is no sin. Paul uses the example of the time between Adam and Moses.

. . . before the law was given, sin was in the world. But sin is not taken into account when 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, as did Adam, who was a pattern of the one to come.@

Do you notice what Paul shows us about sin? It=s not just a result of sin having been committed. It is the result of sin just being present. You can=t associate every death - like that of SIDS or cancer - with a specific breaking of the law - yet you can associate it with sin. Even though Abel=s offering was better than Cain=s, Abel was still sinning in his offering as well - and so he also died because he also was a sinner. That=s hard to swallow when you see an infant or young child dying of cancer or a brain disease. He or she is dying because he or she has sin that has been inherited from Adam.

People say, Ahow can you call an infant sinful?@ We can do that because infants die. We can do that because God=s Word does it. Even David called himself sinful from conception. The Law says to Abe holy@ and Aperfect,@ not just good. The law says, Athe wages of SIN is DEATH.@ Is this really such a strange concept - that sin could be that infectious? When someone is infected with tuberculosis they are not supposed to fly on airplanes - because they can infect the whole plane of people with their one infection. Mothers and fathers pass genes on to their children which make them more liable to have heart defections and fragile-x and all kinds of other diseases. The problem we have with the concept is not that children and infants could be sinful - but with what God says about sin - how it naturally brings God=s wrath and death with it.

Paul brings the issue in the light. People die because they are sinful and God placed a curse on sin - the curse of death. Like it or not, the whole world is under the curse of sin - as a result of Adam and a curse of death as a result of God=s punishment for sin. This is the truth. What good does it do to ignore the truth? What good does it do to act as if the curse of death were no big deal - as if it were a natural and good part of a circle of life? It does no good at all. When we really look at sin and death for what it is - it makes us realize how lost we really are.

II. The cure of it

Yet this Anegative@ talk also places us as helpless spectators in a battle of good and evil. It shows us that we need someone from outside of our sinful and dead world to come to our rescue if we are to have any hope at all. It then serves to magnify what a wonderful thing our Christ did. In comparing the two Paul says, AHOW MUCH MORE@ are the results of what Christ did.

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! Again, the gift of God is not like the result of the 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.

Think about the time aspect that Paul brings up. In 1986 Ronald Reagan signed the Immigration and Reform Act, providing amnesty for a few million people. It was done under the understanding that the borders would be shut down. Instead, they were left open. As a result, now 20 years later, there are over 20 million illegal immigrants in America who are regularly breeding and amassing more and more children. It is going to be impossible for America to deal with. If there is a leak in a dam, you need to deal with it at the source of the problem immediately. Imagine what would happen if you left it open and then going down a mile from the dam and then trying to put one shovel of water back at a time!

Now think about sin and death. As more and more sinful people have sinful children - more and more sin and death becomes visible in the world in different graphic ways. So also God=s wrath would grow with every sin committed and every sinner born. You would think it would have been impossible to stop it or fix it. You would think that God=s wrath would then be growing as well and be impossible to stop or remedy.

But God did something to remedy it! How? This was all accomplished through Aone act of righteousness.@ The Aact of righteousness@ was the pinnacle of Jesus= career - where He resolutely set out for Jerusalem to die for the sins of the world. When God took on flesh and died on the cross, God was providing for a place for His punishment of hell to come down. Instead of plugging the hole at the breach of the dam with Adam=s sin; years later God provided a huge hole for all of our sins and His wrath to go pouring into - on the cross and in the grave of Christ.

Out of that same hole grace and mercy and righteousness come flowing forth. Paul says it would Aoverflow@ to the many through Christ. It=s kind of like when you stack a bunch of wine glasses together and pour wine in the top glass. It naturally overflows to the glasses underneath it. God put Jesus Christ at the top of mankind and decided to pour His grace and gift to them. Just as God allowed one man to make a mess of mankind, God provided for one man to be the channel through which God would clean it up. God decided that this cross would be placed on top of mankind - and that this bloodshed of God would more than provide for the sins of mankind. It would provide a cover-up for our sins. It would provide us for a rescue from hell and a hope for a resurrection from the dead - to eternal life. So God pours His grace and this gift on us through baptism. God pours this holiness in us in the Lord=s Supper. He gives it all to us, through faith. It makes us look like righteous saints in God=s sight - even though we are contaminated with sin from birth to death. It gives us life in the midst of death - hope in the midst of despair.

Again, this concept is seen at different places through the Bible. Rahab, the former prostitute, hid two Israelite spies when they were casing out the Promised Land. As a reward to her, she made the spies swear that they would spare her and her family=s life when they came back. So the spies gave her a scarlet cord to put in her window as a sign of their covenant, and allowed anyone of her family that was in her house to be spared. Her family did nothing to deserve this pardon, but she earned it for them. Even though they did nothing, they benefitted as a result of her bold actions of faith. They were saved from the slaughter to come by going in her house on that day. As destruction went on around them and their neighbors were slaughtered, Rahab and her family stayed safe inside with the red cord flying - but they had to be in the house.

Jesus He came to battle against hell and death. But instead of keeping the slaughter away, it brought the slaughter TO Him. He came to earth with a red cord on His head and said, Abring it on.@ He waves the red cord and says to us - come into my house - this place that was once a place of hell and destruction, and find relief from death and hell - because God=s wrath has already come here once at the cross. It will not come here again. The room is huge. In here you will find righteousness, holiness, justification and a resurrection from the dead to eternal life. There is more than enough space for ten times the people this world has ever seen. As long as you=re alive, the door is open. In this one place - through this One Man - God provided a place for every sinner of every time to come and find refuge.

When I began this sermon by speaking about the Super Bowl, I=m sure there are some of you who said to yourself, AI don=t know who won, and I couldn=t care less.@ Good for you. You have better things to do or worry about. I can respect that.

Unfortunately, there are many who say this of the Passion of Christ. AI have better things to do than worry about or argue about what Jesus did or didn=t do. I have better things to look at than a guy dying on a cross. I=m sure he was a nice guy and all, and it=s too bad that He died, but I have to worry about here and now, and not dream about what=s going to happen when I=m dead. That=s for the theologians to argue about. I=m too busy living to worry about dying.@

My friends, you can=t be an innocent bystander. By nature you are born on the wrong side. Look at the Epic Battle of Death and Life. The story of the Passion - is by it=s nature - a passionate story - something that God calls on you to passionately look at. If you refuse, if you say, AI=ve got better things to look at@, you will only be slapping the Holy Spirit in the face and remaining under the curse of God=s wrath. But when you see yourself as a sinner under the condemnation of death; and you then see Jesus going into Jerusalem to fight the epic battle of death and life, to take the wrath of God from you and provide life after death; it will cause you to stand up off of your seat and yell, Aride on, ride on, in majesty. In lowly pomp ride on to die@, for in Christ you will see your gift of grace and righteousness, life and salvation. In Christ you will find your hero - winning a cure for death - by grace alone. Amen.