I'd like you please to turn with me to the book of Romans and we are going to read today in Romans chapter 5 beginning in verse 12. We are going to today, I trust, to conclude in Romans chapter 5 in the section that deals with the theme of salvation in the book of Romans. And so those verses, Romans 5 verse 12 to 21, are not easy verses to understand, and yet they are very important verses. They are so important because in this chapter, and specifically verse 12, we learn this very important truth. The truth, the truth of the truth, the truth of the truth of the universal sin, the truth of the fact that there is what is called in the scripture, the universal sin, the fact that the person such as you and myself, we have been born into a world, we have been born into parents, we have been born into this, what you call the nature that we have, that it's called sin.

And the fact is, and the fact is that all mankind, including ourselves, have this universal sin that once and for all have been dealt with through the finished work of the Lord Jesus, the Lord Yeshua, the Messiah. And so here, beloved brothers and sisters, as we study those verses together, we will find out the basis of our justification. And this is important. I know that when you would speak with people today and you will tell them that, you know, dear friend, that God says in his word that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. And many times you will find a response such as this, a response will be, listen, I haven't been the one that is guilty.

I'm not the one that really had been the cause of sin. And I do not want to be punished because once upon a time, a person such as Adam in the Garden of Eden has sinned. And why is it I cannot understand why now, because of Adam, I am being declared a sinner. In Romans chapter 5, the Apostle Paul settled this once and for all. And in this chapter, Romans chapter 5, from verses 12 to the end, the Apostle Paul, Shaul, once and for all deal with this subject of the fact that there is a universality of sin. It is not only one person or another. This is a universality of sin and all have sinned.

And he wants to show us that when Adam sinned, I sinned. When Adam sinned, you sinned. When Adam sinned, everyone has sinned as if they were in the Garden of Eden committing the violation that Adam has committed in the Garden of Eden. And this is important. It is so important that unless a person understands the universality of sin, he or she could never be saved. Could never come to a point to recognize that they are guilty before God. But there is a provision. And the provision is found in the person of the Lord Jesus, the Lord Yeshua, the Messiah. So let's please follow me as I'm reading from Romans chapter 5, verses 12 to 21.

And so Paul is saying, Wherefore, just as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin, even so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned. For until the law, sin was in the world. But sin is not imputed or counted when there is no law. Nevertheless, rain or death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come. But not as the offense, so also is the free gift. For since through the offense of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man.

Jesus, Yeshua, the Messiah, has abounded unto many. And not as it was by one that sinned, so is the gift. For the judgment was by one to condemnation. But the free gift is of many offenses unto justification. And since by one man's offense has reigned by one. Much more, they which receive abundance of grace, and of the free gift, or the gift of righteousness, shall reign in life by one Jesus, or Yeshua HaMashiach. Therefore, as by the offense of one judgment came upon all to condemnation, even so by the righteousness of one, the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life. For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.

Moreover, the law entered, that the offense might abound, but where sin abound, grace did much more abound. That as sin has reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. And I'm stopping here in verse 21. You know, if you follow me by reading these verses, you'll notice that it is a very difficult passage that we are reading today in Romans chapter 5, verses 12 to 21. And it comes to mind of what the Apostle Peter says many years ago about the writing of Shaul, of Paul. You remember what he said in 2 Peter chapter 3? He says those verses in verse 14.

He says, Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace without spot and blameless. And account that the suffering or the long suffering of our Lord is salvation, even as our beloved brother Paul also wrote. Or recording, according to the wisdom that was given unto him, he has written unto you. You notice that Peter wrote, especially in verse 15. And accounting that the long suffering of our Lord Jesus, or our Lord is salvation, even as our beloved brother Paul also, according to the wisdom that had been given unto him, has written unto you. And verse 16.

As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things are hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable twist as they also do other scriptures unto their own destruction. I just wanted to highlight here this statement that Peter said. Some of the writing of the Apostle Paul that he wrote are hard to be understood. And when you read Romans chapter 5 from verse 12 to 21, you can really see what Peter meant when he wrote about the Apostle Paul, about Shaul, that some of the passages that he wrote are hard to be understood. And I trust that by the grace of God, we can understand them today in a ministry of the Word in Romans chapter 5.

And so look, beloved, in Romans chapter 5, and in verses 12 to 21, we have here about a contrast, about six contrasts, that we have here in this passage. There's a contrast between Adam and the Messiah Yeshua. There's a contrast between a disobedience of Adam and the obedience of the Messiah Yeshua. There's a contrast between sin, the sin, the fall of Adam, and the righteousness of our blessed Lord Jesus, the Messiah. There's a contrast between the law that had been given to our people Israel and the grace that had been provided through our blessed Lord Yeshua, the Messiah. There's a contrast between condemnation, which you and I were under because of sin, and justification because of the finished work of the Lord Jesus, the Messiah.

And there is a contrast between death, which we all have received because of the violation of Adam, and the life that every one of us who believe in the Lord Jesus, the Messiah, have received because of the work that He has accomplished for us on the cross. In this little short passage in Romans chapter 5, there are six contrasts. Adam, Yeshua. Disobedience, obedience. Sin, righteousness. Law and grace. Condemnation, justification. Death and life. That's the contrast that God is presenting for us through the power of the Spirit of God through His servant Shaul, Paul, in this passage of Romans chapter 5. In this passage, I want you to notice, the words one, for example, the word one is mentioned quite a few times.

Twelve times you will find the word one is mentioned. Let me just highlight this for you. For example, in verse 12, as by one man sin entered into this world. Notice in verse 15, if through the offense of one many be dead. Verse 15, and by the gift of grace of the one man, Jesus the Messiah, has abounded unto many. Twelve times the word one is mentioned here. One has a reference to Adam, the other one has a reference to Yeshua, our Lord, and our Messiah. Another thing here that is very interesting, that the key idea here is our identification either with Adam or with Mashiach, with Christos, with Christ.

You see, when you and I have entered into this world, we have inherited an Adamic nature. We identify ourselves with Adam, the federal head of the human race. But when we became believers in Jesus, in Yeshua, our Lord, now we have our identification with another man, namely Yeshua, the Messiah, the new federal head of us, who is our Lord, Yeshua, the Messiah. You will also notice here in this passage that five times the word rain is mentioned, not rain that fall down from heaven, but to rain as king. And you notice that five times we have the words for rain. For example, if you notice in verse 14, it says that death rained.

See that verse 14? Death rained. Then if you go a little bit further, you'll notice in verse 21, sin rained. Notice verse 21, it says, as sin hath rained. Rain as king. If you go a little bit and you go back a little bit, you notice that grace reigned. In verse 17b, you notice that in verse 17b, it says here, for abundance grace, as it says here, and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life. You see that? And finally, we find out also in verse 17 that we reign because of the work of the Lord Jesus, the Messiah. It says again, it says here in verse 17, it says, much more they which receive abundance of grace, the they, it's us, the believer, and of the gift of righteousness, we shall reign in life by one the Lord Yeshua, the Messiah.

So you can see, beloved brothers and sisters, there's words that repeating themselves many, many times, like we had here the word one, like the word for rain. And now another word that is very important here, and I'm just building this up, the word much more, much more. It shows us in this passage that whatever we had in Adam, what we have in the Messiah, Yeshua, is much more, much more. Notice in verse 15, first of all, it says here, much more the grace of God, in the middle of the verse. Notice again in verse 17 of our chapter, much more they which receive abundance of grace. And then if you jump down to verse 20, and you will see more when the law enter, that the affairs might abandon, but where sin abound, grace did much more abound.

You see, the contrast here that the apostles show us, and really the lesson here, beloved brothers and sisters, is simply this, that what we have in Christ, what we have in Mashiach, is superior than what we have in Adam, our forefather, Adam, the one that have sinned in the garden of Eden. So let's just go over those verses, and I know they are very difficult and kind of complicated, but I'm just going to lift up and highlight some of the thoughts that we want to learn today from this passage. First of all, in verse 12, that's where we begin in our reading, you notice there that we have the imputation of Adam's sin unto all mankind.

The imputation simply means that we all participated in Adam's sin. Yes, it is so true. We learn from this verse, this is a very important verse, that we all, you and I, have a participation in the sin, what we call the first, the original sin, that had you, had Gideon have been there 6,000 years ago, if you will, Gideon would have committed the very same sin that Adam have committed in the garden of Eden. Now, for a moment, I want you to turn back with me to what we just read in Genesis chapter 3. Go back there to this chapter, and I want you to follow me.

Actually, I'm going to read two verses or so in Genesis chapter 2, first of all, and then I'm going to read Genesis chapter 3. What we learn here from Romans 5 and verse 12, that there is a participation that all of us had in the sin of Adam. And you remember what happened in the book of Genesis. God created the heavens and the earth, he finished to create the heavens and the earth, and on day number 6, he created Adam. And look what he told Adam in Genesis chapter 2, and I'm reading in Genesis chapter 2, I'll read just those verses, verse 16. And the Lord God commended the man, and he said unto him, of every tree of the garden you may freely eat, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil thou shalt not eat of it.

And look at this statement. For in the day that you will eat thereof, you shall surely die. The Hebrew word, you shall surely die, it's a repetition of the word death. Actually, what it says in Hebrew, dying, you shall die. Adam is saying, by the way, Eve was not created as yet. He was talking to men, Adam, Eve was not yet in creation, you're going to see it in the next verses that Eve had been created. God put Adam in the garden, he put him in the Gan Eden, we call in Hebrew, the garden of delight, and he gave him everything there. Everything belonged to man, belonged to Adam.

But God, as a sovereign God, told Adam, listen, Adam, of every tree of the field you will freely eat, it's yours to eat. But there is one thing that I demand from you, I commend you, Adam. He commended him, but of the tree of the knowledge of the good and evil. Good, tov, evil, ra. The fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you will not eat of that. And then he says, listen, Adam, if you are going to eat from that tree, the moment that you violate my word, dying, you shall die. Mot, tamut, dying, you will die. Well, you turn the page to chapter 3 and look what happened there.

In chapter 3, we read it earlier that the serpent came after Eve was created later on, the serpent came and he beguiled Eve to eat of this fruit of the tree. And you remember how he beguiled her. He told her, you know, nothing is really going to happen because he gave her the impression that if she is going to withheld or to withhold from eating, that means that God really does not want her to enjoy or to be blessed. In other words, God is putting a fence there in order to withhold from Adam and Eve the pleasure that they could have enjoyed had they have eaten of that tree.

Well, we know very very well what happened when the woman saw that the tree was good for food. Verse 6 And that it was pleasant to the eye and that the tree was desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit of the tree and she ate of that, she ate of it, and then we read that statement. She gave it unto her husband and he did it as well. You see, as long that she had eaten from the tree because the command was not given to her, she was not the federal head of the human race, nothing happened. She was beguiled. But the moment Adam had eaten, he had violated the clear word of God that he gave it to him in chapter 2 and verses 16 and 17.

The day that you will eat thereof, surely you will die. dying you will die. And so what happened? Same chapter, Genesis chapter 3, it says in verse 7, after she gave it to her husband and he did eat, it says in verse 7, and the eyes of both of them were opened and they knew that they were naked and they sewed fig leaves together and they made themselves apron and now notice the neck verses and they heard the voice of the Lord walking in the garden in the cool of the day and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden and the Lord God called unto Adam and he said unto him, where are you?

And he said, I heard your voice in the garden and I was afraid because I was naked and I hid myself. You see, beloved, what happened when Adam violated the word of God, when he disobeyed God, what we would know today as this original sin when sin had entered into this world, what happened now, Adam is no longer free at the presence of the Lord. He's no longer able to look at God and to be at his presence. Now he finds himself covering himself, him and his wife with fig leaves, hiding behind the trees away from God and have fear from the presence of God.

Fear from this holy and righteous God. He violated the word of God. and you know what happened? We know very well that he did not die physically here, but he died spiritually. What does it mean when we say he died spiritually? The fact is simply this, spiritual death is simply no more an ability to enjoy the presence of a holy God. There is fear from God. There is not a desire to have fellowship and communion with this holy and righteous God. He finds himself afraid of him, hiding from him, naked and empty before the presence of a holy and a righteous God, away from his presence, no longer with the ability being in the presence of this wonderful God who had prepared for him a garden, who had given him everything, and he finds himself at the distance from this God.

And you see what happened, beloved brothers and sisters, he spiritually died. Spiritually, remember that you and I are created in the image of God, spirit, soul, and body. The body that we have is only the house that house the spirit and the soul. And we are spirit beings, we are spirit, soul, and body, but we are to have a relationship with God. We are to be in communication with the living God. But the moment that sin came into this world, we are now at a distance. Sin came in, we could no longer enjoy the fellowship that once Adam had had. And by the way, Adam was never created holy, but he was created in innocency.

Only one was holy, his name was Yeshua, and he was never created, he is the creator. But Adam had been created from the dust of the ground, and he was created in a state of innocency, which now because of violation of the word of God, he fell into sin, and he plunged the whole human race, including you and I, into this condition. And so the judgment came. Dying, you shall die. Motamut, death spiritually will lead to death physically, which will lead to death eternally. We have three times the word death or the teaching of death in the Bible. Spiritual death, physical death, and eternal death.

and Adam died spiritually the moment he violated the word of God. And by the way, every one of us that was born to the Adamic race, we have inherited the same spiritual nature that Adam had, dead in trespasses and sins. That's what the Apostle Paul said to the Ephesians when he wrote to them, he said, ye were dead. Ye were dead, not physically, they were alive physically, but ye were dead in trespasses and sins. They were dead spiritually and needed to be made alive. And so that is exactly what happened in these early chapters. And so now I would like you to go back to Romans chapter 5 and verse 12 where we just began in our reading.

And what we learn from this verse, that the sin of Adam was imputed or had been reckoned as if every person that was born into this world was actually the one that had committed the original sin. And that's why he's saying wherefore. Wherefore what? In light of what we have already said earlier, all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. In Romans chapter 3 and verse 21 and so on, and verse 23, all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. And so what we find out, it says in verse 12, wherefore, just as one man sin, enter into this world, Genesis chapter 3 and verses 6 on, just as by one man sin enter into this world, then he says, and death by sin, even so death passed upon all men, why?

Because all have sinned. You see, Paul is teaching us here the truth concerning the fact that sin had been imputed unto all men and everyone is looked by God as if they have committed the original sin in the Garden of Eden. And so we find out, as it says, you notice how it says, wherefore, just as by one man sin entered into the world, and you notice it says death by sin. You know, when we look today, when we go to a funeral service today, and we see people that once were with us, once were sitting with us, and visiting with us, and talking with us, and now they can no longer talk with us, because the physical, the separation of the soul and the spirit from the body came to pass.

We can understand why is it, or what are the consequences of sin? Sin brought spiritual death, which led to physical death, which ultimately will lead to eternal death, if a person does not accept the Lord Jesus, the Messiah, and his forgiveness before he dies physically. And that's what we learn here, beloved brothers and sisters, the original sin entered in by one man, namely Adam. But the consequence of this has passed into every one of us here in this world. How true it is. You know, if you ever think, when you go to a funeral service, and you go to a place where someone just left his sin, which, by the way, Shlomo, the king of Israel, said that it is better to go to the house of mourning than to the house of mirth.

Why? Because in the house of mourning, we are being reminded of the fact that one day we are all going to have to face this. And because we're all going to have to face this truth, the physical separation between the body and the soul and the spirit, we must think of how and the provision of God to deal with the question of sin. And that's why it is better to go to the house of mourning because there we are thinking about the reality of what sin have done and what sin brought this world into and what's the consequences of sin. And we need to give an account and we need to ask God to understand the provision in the person of the Lord Jesus the Messiah and to accept him into our life.

And so he says, You know, they say that there are one or two more things that we're all going to have to do and no one is exempt from that. One of them is taxes. We all have to pay taxes. But there's even more than taxes. We all have to meet one day our maker. Death is a sure thing that passed upon all men. I'm not talking now necessarily about physical death, that's for sure. But even spiritual death, but even physical death, no one, with some exemption, left his sin without meeting death. Elijah, you remember, had been taken to heaven without dying and Hanoch had been taken to heaven without dying.

But everyone in the world has to go through this avenue to go through the physical death unless the rapture will happen and those who believe will be caught up to meet the Lord in the air. And so death passed upon all men. And so we can learn from verse 12 the participation that we all have in Adam's sins, the reckoning, the counting, the imputation of Adam's sin. It's passed to all of us as if you and I have committed the very sin that Adam had committed. And so now, after he's mentioning this in verse 12, then in verses 13 and 14, he gives us the proof of this imputation of Adam's sin.

Here's the proof of it in verses 13 and 14. In verse 13, he says, if there is no law, there is no punishment, right? But, he says, sin was still in the world. And sin brought death. Look at this. It says in verse 13, for until the law, sin was in the world, but sin is not counted when there is no law. See, he's taking us now up to the law of Moses. When Moses received the law for the people of Israel, then God gave clear law to Israel, and what happened? If somebody violated his law, he was punished. If again he violated the law, he was punished. But until the law was given, notice verse 13, sin was still in the world, but it says here, it was not counted because there is no law.

Let me explain this for a moment. We often use that expression, the sign on the grass. You know, if there is no sign outside on the grass that says, do not step on the grass, you can walk on the grass as much as you want. I still think, and you would agree with me, that it's not good for the grass, it's not good for the person who cut the grass, and you may be ruining the grass, and it's not going to look as nice. It's maybe not good, but it's not violating any law. You haven't done, nobody can say, can't you see the sign? But the moment that there is a sign there, and it says, do not step on the grass, then you look at the sign, and you and I know very well, but I walked over there yesterday, why can't I walk today?

And we are going over that again, you know, even if the sign is there. now it can be accounted as a violation, as a transgression of the law. The Bible teaches us that sin is a transgression of the law, pesha. And so as long when there was no sign, no law, still it was, sin was in existence, but as it says in verse 13, sin is not counted when there is no law. now verse 14, in verse 14 it says, men still died because the imputation of Adam's sin, even if there was no law. Before the law came, people still died, even if there was no sign, you shall not do this, you shall not commit this.

Look what it says in verse 14, nevertheless, death reigned from Adam to Moses. You notice that how he mentioned to Adam to Moses because it was Moses that God used to give us the law. But from Adam to Moses, we did not have a clear cut law that was given to man. Nevertheless, sin reigned and death reigned. People still died. People still died up to the time of the law that the law was given to show us the truth of the imputation of sin. See, in verse 14, nevertheless, death reigned from Adam to Moses even over them that did not sin after the similitude of Adam's transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come.

We learn from this verse that what happened, even though we didn't have law, people still died. Why did people die before the law was given? Why we have the generation of the generation, we're rid of them, and he died, and he died, and he died, and he died. Well, why did they die if they didn't have any law? Well, they died because they have inherited the same nature that Adam had plunged the human race into this nature. Adam's violation is Gideon's violation. Adam's violation is your violation. Every one of us violated sin in Adam. God looked at you, and he saw that you have sinned as if you were in the place of Adam in the garden of Eden.

And so verses 13 and 14 gives us the proof of the imputation of sin which led to death. people die. Why they die? Why they die? Because they have a nature which is sinful and the punishment that we learn in the Bible dying you shall die. Motamut. You are only going to deteriorate ultimately to die. Your physical body and separation from the soul and the spirit. that's what death means. Spiritual, physical, eternal. And as long that we are here in this world we have an opportunity to receive forgiveness of sins if we only believe in the finished work of the Lord Jesus. And now here he is leading them to Christ, to the Mashiach.

Look now in verses 15, 16, and 17. Difficult passage, but yet so profound, so beautiful, so important to understand. In verses 15, 16, and 17 he shows us the contrast. The contrast between Adam and Mashiach. The contrast between the first man and the second man. The contrast between Adam and the last Adam, namely Yeshua, the Messiah. And so look at this. The first contrast is in verse 15. He shows us the contrast between the trespass or the offense of Adam and the gift of God in Jesus our Messiah. That is verse 15. Look at the beautiful contrast. It says here, not as the offense, so also is the free gift. For since, it says in the King James, if, but it should be really since.

For since through the offense of one, many be dead, much more by the grace of God and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Yeshua, the Messiah, is abounded unto many. See, he's showing us the first contrast. the contrast here is between the offense of Adam and the non-offense or the gift of God through Jesus the Messiah. See, Adam made this one offense, violated the word of God, plunged the whole human race into sin and because of this offense, all of us, as it says in verse 15, the offense, it says now brought judgment, death. On the other hand, while Adam offended God, violated God, and we are looked as if we have been through Adam doing it, it passed unto everyone, then it says much more, much more by another one man, namely Jesus the Messiah, abounded unto so many.

The gift of God now had been given to mankind, and it says here many, because not everyone have received that gift, not everyone have accepted Yeshua the Messiah, but everyone had been plunged into sin and death, and many who believed in the Lord Jesus the Messiah have been receiving the gift, that gift, beloved brothers and sisters, that you and I received the gift of life, the gift of eternal relationship with the living God. Look at the beautiful contrast. Can you imagine, I often think about the difference between what Adam did and what Jesus the Messiah have done. Adam had plenty, Yeshua had nothing. Adam had been in a garden of delight, Yeshua had been in the wilderness, in the desert.

Adam was a creature, Yeshua was the creator. Adam came from beneath, Yeshua the Messiah came from heaven. Adam had everything to enjoy, Eden, delight. Yeshua had nothing, nothing in this world. Adam had plunged the human race into sin. Jesus, the Messiah, had brought, lifted up the needy, brought this gift from God on his own expense, the price that he paid. The contrast is vast. We cannot even fathom the difference between the two. We cannot comprehend it. We can see it, but we cannot comprehend it fully because we need enlightenment from the Lord. That's why when people who are not saved and they read the scriptures, they don't seem to be attracted to the Lord.

But those of us that have been redeemed by the precious blood of the Lord and the Spirit of God enlightened us, illuminating the scripture and showing to us the person and the work of the Lord Jesus and we fall in love with him because we see the difference between Adam our forefather and Yeshua the son of man that came from heaven. And so it says here through the offense of one many be dead. Adam sinned, all of us have died in him. But then look the gift of grace. The grace of God. The gift of grace. You know this expression the gift by grace. You know grace in Hebrew chesed or chen it's given to undeserved people.

That's what it is grace. It is undeserved people like you and I that did not deserve this grace. God showed grace towards us and he gave us a gift. Oh what a gift it was. A gift of his dear son that came from heaven down to this world. That's beloved brothers never forget that. Let us never let us ask the Lord to help us to remember the gift of God for God so loved the world that he gave. It's a gift. It's unmerited. We didn't earn it. It's a gift that God had given for us. What a wonderful truth it is to receive that gift.

Beautiful verses. We can read. I'm just thinking of some verses coming to my mind. I think it is in the book of Corinthians in 2nd Corinthians I think chapter 8 and verse 9 For you know the grace of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah that though he was rich yet for our sake he became poor that through his poverty we might be rich. Look at this. It is the grace of our Lord Jesus our Lord Yeshua Hamashiach Jesus Christ Jesus the Messiah. And so you can see the contrast here. Adam led us all to die. Yeshua the Messiah led us all to live when we believe in him.

Gave the gift of grace that he provided for us. Now notice what else in verse 16 there is a contrast between Adam who led us to condemnation and through Jesus the Messiah who led us to justification. It's exactly the opposite.

Look verse 16 and not as it was by one again the one is Adam that sinned Adam so is the gift for the judgment was by one to condemnation that is Adam led us to condemnation but the free gift of many is of many offenses unto justification you see I mean when you think about that Adam led us to be condemned Yeshua led us to be justified justified sometimes we amazed why people don't want the person of the Lord Jesus they don't want him in other words they say I do not want to be justified they prefer to be condemned unbelievable and so the contrast is Adam one man's sin led us to be condemned

and to die Yeshua's act in gift led the one who are dead already spiritually to receive life and to be declared just to be declared as they have never seen justified that's the contrast now notice the third one it's in verse 17 now the contrast now between Adam's sin which led us into death and Yeshua's work which led us into life look verse 17 for sins by one man's offense again verse 17 death reigned and you know that word reign I told you it's being a king death was and is a king in the life of all unbelievers he's reigning and reigning and reigning forever he's reigning he's king why is he king because everybody

dies he's reigning and reigning and he's becoming or continuing his kingship and everybody dies so it says here by one man's offense death reign by one and then he says much more they which received abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one yeshua ha mashiach jesus christ so we learn here in the third there is not only one trespass in contrast to the gift there is not only condemnation in contrast to justification but there is also death and life we have received now life and we are going to reign to have eternally to live eternally because of the finished work of our lord jesus temassai you notice how

many times he's using the word jesus christ or yeshua ha mashiach he's using it in this verse 15 through yeshua ha mashiach and then he continues on and he's using in verse 17 through or by one yeshua ha mashiach it's always connected with yeshua ha mashiach with the lord jesus christ if a person does not have the lord jesus christ he can never be justified he can never have life he can never enjoy the free gift because it is only wrapped up in one person namely the lord jesus the messiah and so here in those verses he gives us the contrast now look at the concluding summary in verse 18 in verse 18 he says

this very interesting as well he says in verse 18 therefore in view of what i told you the three contrast here that we have i told you about the imputation of sin and the proof of it also the imputation of righteousness and the proof of it through the messiah in verse 18 he says therefore as by one or by the offense of one judgment came upon all all men to condemnation even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life it gives us kind of a nice summary it's a nice summary and I remember when I started in a meeting and I told you that some people

say why is it that because of Adam I have to die because of Adam God has to punish me because of Adam God has to declare me as dead spiritually why is it I didn't do that I was not the one who committed that sin in the garden of Eden I was not there well let me tell you the other side of the story you were not there also when God judged his son the Messiah on the cross you were not there when God laid the iniquities of us all upon the person of his son the Messiah Yeshua we were not there we did not receive that punishment we did not receive the judgment of

God upon sin he bore all alone in his body on the tree we were not there and you know what just like God declare us condemned because of Adam's sin God at the same time declares us just because of Yeshua's righteousness you see the beautiful truth that we learn here we may not have been 6,000 years ago in committing the sin that Adam have committed but neither have we been when God judged the Messiah Yeshua on the cross and we have gained if you will we have received both through Adam we receive condemnation we receive death we receive eternal separation from God through Yeshua the last Adam the second man the Lord from glory will

receive righteousness justification and eternal life that's a beautiful summary that he gave us in verse 18 therefore as by the offense of one judgment came upon all men to condemn them even so by the righteousness of one righteousness you know what it teaches us here that there was no sin in the Lord Jesus the Messiah there was no sin in him he was holy righteous undefiled separate from sinners perfect man that's why he can bear the iniquity of our soul that's why he can take the judgment of God and God can declare us just because this man there was no sin in him the righteousness of one is the free gift came upon all men

unto justification of life beautiful beautiful statements to learn so when we hear somebody blaming Adam's sin let us remember that God look at us as we have sinned in Adam and let us more even remember much more that because of the righteous life and judgment of God upon this man Yeshua you and I who are unrighteous have received life and forgiveness and justification we have been made righteous God declared us just and so now look at this quickly the additional contrast that we have let's just look quickly in those last three verses in verses 19 20 and 21 we have some more contrast that we have here the contrast between obedience and disobedience the contrast

between law and grace and the contrast between eternal life and separation from God look at those verses quickly verse verse 19 it says as by one man disobedience you see disobedience many were made sinners so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous see disobedience and obedience by the way it says that many have been made sinners now it doesn't mean that we have been made somebody made us sinners but we have inherited a sin nature and that's why we are sinners and so it had been said we are not sinners because we sin but we sin because we are sinners we are sinners by nature and that's why we do sin why

do you think we think evil why do you think we desire evil why do you think we do wrong things we do sin and we do evil why because we have a sin nature it's ingrained in us it is the moment that we were born we were born into sin and David himself if you remember he said this in psalm 51 and verse 5 David himself says behold I was shapen in iniquity and in sin did my mother conceived me in sin did my mother conceived me David says in psalm 51 in verse 5 in psalm 58 it says in verse 3 the wicked are estranged from the womb they go astray as soon as

they be born speaking lies look I mean I mean it's amazing when a baby that we love so dearly that is born into this world and look innocent yet the Bible teaches that they are estranged from the womb Psalm 58 3 and they go astray as soon as they be born so why is it we learned that that as it says in verse 19 by one man's disobedience many be made sinners and verse 19 be so by the obedience of this lovely person the Lord Yeshua the Messiah many be made righteous are you righteous today if you are righteous if you have accepted him you are righteous because of him in the sight of God

God looks at us those sinners by nature he looks at us and he says you are now are declared to be just because of you accepted my son who was just and he finished the work for you he paid the penalty for you on the cross verse 20 another contrast between the law and grace it says here in verse 20 more the law entered that offense might abound but where sin abound did grace much more abound you know again it is another thing allow me to mention people think that God gave Israel the law so Israel could live a better life and live a perfect life but notice that it says moreover the law entered

why why the law entered is that the offense might abound the law had been given so God will show Israel show the world the reality of sin that the offense will be revealed again and again sin the law was not given in order to add that we will be holier the law was given that we will see that we are unholy and we will be driven to the grace of God and say God I am a sinner I am unholy help me by your grace in the power of the spirit of God and so moreover the law entered that offense might abound but then he said but when sin abound more and more and more

and more sin had been revealed grace did much more abound God's grace through the person of the Lord Jesus the Messiah abounded far more you know brothers and sisters if we will be punished for the sins that we have committed if we will be punished for what we have done not only for what we are but what we have done we will be eternally separated from God hopeless without any hope because God is holy and he must judge us because we have sinned not only because of the sin nature but the sin practices that we have in our lives grace much more abound the grace of God and look at the conclusion of this chapter

in verse 21 the proof of all is the eternal life of the believer through the grace of God in verse 21 and as sin has reigned king unto death proven in death even so my grace reigned through righteousness unto eternal life by Yeshua the Messiah our Lord you know what he is really telling us in these last verses he says look sin reign as king led us to death and the cycle is continuing sin bring death the wages of sin is death he says even more he says much more even so might grace reign through the righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus the Messiah grace now reigning grace now is king and so he said

even so might grace reign through righteousness number one it is the righteousness of Christ when he live a life that is righteous and when he paid a penalty a righteous penalty on the cross and it will reign unto eternal life and it is all done by Jesus Christ Yeshua HaMashiach our Lord very difficult passage and yet so profound so important to understand as we study the book of Romans and by the way right here verse 21 is the conclusion of the second part of the book of Romans sin chapter 1 and 2 up till chapter 3 and verse 20 salvation Roman 3 verse 21 all the way until chapter 5 and verse 21 God's salvation

here's the basis the basis is the finished work of the Messiah and our faith in the Lord Jesus the Messiah from here on as he moved to chapter 6 all the way to the end of chapter 8 the thought here is not so much salvation but sanctification how the believer are to live the Christian life the life as he follow the Lord Jesus the Messiah may the Lord help us and encourage us brothers and sisters today and may we appreciate the grace that is found in the person of Jesus our Messiah