Romans Message #59 September 27, 2009

A Grace Greater Than Our Sin
Romans 5:15-21

Mel Trotter was one of seven children born in 1870 to a bartender who drank “as much as he served.” Following in his father’s footsteps, Mel Trotter became a hopeless alcoholic by the age of twenty. Despite his mother’s godly example, the influence of his father’s saloon and drinking proved to be a temptation too powerful for the young man to overcome in his own strength. Trotter said, “I loathed the life I was living. I tried my level best, but it wasn’t in me.”

Trotter’s drinking problem got even worse after he married and had a son. And in spite of his best efforts to stop drinking, he would always fail again miserably and go on another drinking binge. Trotter began leaving home for weeks at a time, and when he returned after a ten-day drinking spree, he discovered his two-year-old dead in his wife’s arms. Despondent and penniless, he vowed to his wife never to touch another drop of liquor. But, only two hours after the viewing of his son, he took the shoes off his dead little boy’s feet, hopped a train for Chicago and sold the shoes to buy another drink. Unable to deal with his guilt and contemplating suicide, Trotter started walking toward the freezing waters of Lake Michigan, where he intended to plunge in and drown himself. Along the way, he passed the Pacific Garden Rescue Mission where he stumbled inside and heard the preacher saying that God could forgive the greatest sinner who had committed the greatest sins if he would only come to Christ. At the invitation Trotter came and was converted.

After gaining complete victory through Christ over his addiction, he chose II Corinthians 5:17 as his favorite verse: “If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature.” He was indeed a new creature, and eight years later became a Presbyterian minister who God used to start 67 rescue missions from coast-to-coast. And for the rest of his life, after he was saved, Mel Trotter testified to the fact that God’s grace is greater than a man’s greatest sins.
J
ust this past week I read the testimony of another man who had experienced the wonderful grace of God in his life. Here is what he said after coming to Christ Jesus for the forgiveness of his sins: "I soon realized I had been made the righteousness of God in Christ, having wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him. I had been set apart from sin, because of Jesus Christ. God had delivered me from the power of darkness and had translated me into the kingdom of His dear Son. Where I was once living in defeat, I was now living in victory. I was a conqueror in Christ, capable of overcoming all the circumstances of this world. By the word of Jesus Christ, whose testimony was witnessed in my life, I was now content, and lived by faith in the Son of God, Who loved me and gave Himself for me."

What is really powerful about this testimony is that it is the testimony of Charles “Tex” Watson, who is serving a life sentence in prison for brutally murdering eight people at the bidding of Charles Manson on August 9, 1969. When asked why he killed these seven adults and one unborn baby, he replied: "I am the devil, and I'm here to do the devil's business." His testimony is also a testimony to the fact that God’s grace is greater than the very worst a person can become or do.

God’s grace in salvation is indeed greater than all of our sin and shame and in our passage for this morning Paul makes this argument loud and clear for all who are listening. And he does so by contrasting the effects of God’s saving grace in Christ against the consequences of being condemned in Adam. And the conclusion of the matter, which he presents to us at the end of his argument is that God’s grace is not only greater than all of our sin—it is greater than all of the greatest sinners’ greatest sins combined. And that there is absolutely no way for the true believer in Christ Jesus to out sin the super-abundant and abounding grace of God—irregardless of the nature, frequency, or the magnitude of his or her sins.

So turn with me to Romans 5:15-21.

Last week in Romans 5:12-14 we saw that Paul compared the believer’s being “in Christ” with what it was to have previously been “in Adam”.
And essentially what the Bible teaches is that just as we were in Adam when he sinned so that his sin could be and actually was attributed to us—being “in Christ” means that not only was His righteousness imputed to us but also all of His righteous deeds which He performed in fulfilling the Law of God on our behalf were attributed to us.

In other words, since God saw us as actually being in Adam and with Adam in the Garden when he sinned so that Adam’s sin was our sin and Adam’s condemnation became our condemnation—Upon our salvation, God sees us as actually being in Christ and with Christ when He lived His life on earth, went to the cross, died, and resurrected from the grave, so that His righteous deeds are our righteous deeds and Christ’s righteousness is our righteousness.

But here in Romans 5:15-21 Paul moves from looking at the similarities between being in Adam and being in Christ to the differences between the two and in doing so focuses on the differences between condemnation in Adam and salvation in Christ Jesus, ultimately concluding—that God’s grace is super-abundantly powerful and effective to save and rescue people from their position of utter ruin in Adam’s sin and their propensity to utterly ruin their lives through their own personal sin if they will only place saving faith in Christ Jesus.

So, let’s begin in verse 15, where the first thing Paul does it make the point that the “free” gift of salvation is not like Adam’s sin in terms of its effect. He says that Adam’s sin resulted in the spiritual deaths of the many whereas the grace of God—at work in the gift of salvation as offered through the work of Christ—abounds to the many. Now, we know that when we compare Scripture with Scripture and in fact simply look back at verse 12 that all people died spiritually as a result of Adam’s sin. So why does Paul say “the many” died rather than “all” died.

The Greek phrase is hoi polloi. It is talking about a specific defined people as is indicated by the use of the definite article. But who are these people Paul is talking about? The answer is found in the second part of the verse, where in referring to “the many” again—he identifies them as those to whom the grace of God and the gift of salvation through Christ abounded.

In other words, “the many” that Paul is referring to in the context of verse 15 are believers who as verse 17 puts it “have received the abundance of grace” that God offers sinners who will believe in the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation. His point is simply that the believer is no different than anyone else. If all people died in Adam than all believers died in Adam too—they are not the exception to this. And thus, believers or the many were just as lost and condemned in Adam as those who never come to Christ were and are.

So…Paul is simply making the point that we as believers—being just as lost, wicked, and condemned as those who never believe—needed the “superabundant” grace of God to save us. In other words, it is not that we who have believed in Christ were or are more savable than those who never do believe. We who are saved needed God’s super-abundant and super-abounding grace to save us and in fact still need the “super-abounding” grace of God in our lives to keep us saved. And according to verse 15, this is exactly what God has given to us—His “super-abundant and abounding grace”.

Now the word “abounded” comes from a Greek word which basically means to be far more than adequate, far more than is necessary, and far more than sufficient so as to super-abound. If there had been “all-you-can-eat buffets” in Paul’s day—they could have been called “super-abounding buffets” because when applied to food, the word means that there is more food to eat than a person has the capacity to eat.

But, the meaning of the Greek word even goes beyond that—so that if applied to our all-you-can-eat restaurant again—it would mean that there is more food to eat in the restaurant than everyone who is in the restaurant has the capacity to eat.

But, even that comes a little short, because the word, when applied to our scenario of food in an all you can eat restaurant, could also mean that there is more food in this restaurant than everyone who has ever been in that restaurant or who will ever be in that restaurant combined has the capacity to eat.

But even that scenario doesn’t do this word complete justice because in its most comprehensive meaning, as applied to the scenario of how much food is available in our all-you-can-eat restaurant—it would mean that if it was possible for everyone who has ever lived, is alive right now, and who will be alive until the end of time to all show up at this restaurant together at the same time—and all being hungry enough to eat for the rest of their lives without a break—this restaurant would have more food left on the shelves at the end of this feeding frenzy than was consumed.

Now if you take that meaning and apply it to the grace of God and the gift of God’s grace in salvation that is available not only to one believer but every believer in the Lord Jesus Christ that has ever lived and will ever live—you see that what Paul is saying is that God’s grace is so powerful, so immense, and so infinite that not only is it able to save us all from all of the sins we will ever commit—it would, if necessary, be able to save us from all of the sins that we could possibly ever commit over the course of our lives even if our lives were infinitely long.

In other words, God’s gift of salvation by grace is far greater in its effect upon people than Adam’s sin.

Then in verse 16 Paul, in answering the question of God’s fairness in condemning the whole race because of Adam’s sin makes the point that whereas, the judgment of spiritual death and separation from God came about as the result of one sin--Adam’s sin—God’s free gift of salvation came about in spite of the fact that many sinful transgressions had already occurred and would still yet occur.

In other words, you may not have as much trouble coming to grips with the fact that as a result of just one sin God condemned the whole race—when you consider that after we had proved we truly were sinners by sinning many more times than we can remember and in many more ways than we can count—God’s grace provided the way of our salvation. As one commentator put it: “That one single misdeed should be answered by judgement, this is perfectly understandable:[but] that the accumulated sins and guilt of all the ages should be answered by God’s free gift, this is the miracle of miracles, utterly beyond human comprehension.” [Cranfield]

Then in verse 17 Paul continues to drive home his point that God’s grace in salvation is greater than the power of sin. Whereas, Adam’s sin resulted in death for all of us and in fact, death reigning over all of us—God’s grace in salvation broke the power of sin in our lives and rescued us from spiritual death so that the person who receives the super-abundance of God’s grace and the gift of His righteousness will reign over death and sin as he overcomes sin in his life through Jesus Christ. And note Paul’s use of the words, “much more”. It is as though he were saying, “Since it is absolutely true that because of Adam’s sin death reins upon all men—much more true than this is the fact all who will receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign over death in life through Christ Jesus.

Then in verses 18-19, Paul sums everything up by saying that whereas, through Adam’s sin there resulted condemnation to all men—even so—or in the same way—through Christ’s work on the cross, there resulted justification of life to all men. Now, is this saying that God is going to save everyone? No, again when we consider what the rest of the Scriptures teach we know this is not true. What Paul is saying is that whereas through Adam’s sin condemnation came upon all—without exception who were in Adam—through Christ’s work salvation and justification came upon all—without exception who are in Christ Jesus.

And then Paul wraps up his argument that God’s grace is more powerful in the believer’s life than Adam’s sin by making verse 19 correspond to verse 15 where he started this section. Whereas, in verse 15, Paul made the point that God’s gift is not like Adam’s sin in that it had a much more powerful effect and result in that though through Adam’s sin the many—the whole contingent of people who are true believers in Christ Jesus—died spiritually—through Christ, they were rescued by a grace that super-abounded to every single one of them.

Then in summing up his argument that God’s gift is indeed superior to the Adam’s sin in terms of its results and effect—Paul writes in verse 19—that even though in Adam and through Adam’s sin “the many”—that is the whole contingent of all who would become believers—were made sinners—In Christ and through Christ—the many—this whole contingent of people who have received the abundance of God’s grace—every single one of them—without exception—shall be made righteous. The phrase “shall be made” in the phrase “shall be made righteous” comes from one Greek word, katastathesontai, which means to be placed in a certain position or standing.

So, Paul’s point is that whereas every single one of us who has placed faith in Christ was at one time before our salvation set in the position and standing of a lost and condemned sinner before God—now because of God’s grace—we have been placed by God and in God’s sight in the position of one who is standing in the position of a righteous person.

Thus, Paul comes full circle in the promise he made back in Romans 5:1-2, that having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through Whom also we have obtained our access by faith into this grace in which we stand and we exult in the hope of the glory of God. And this grace in which we have been made to stand in by virtue of being in Christ instead of in Adam any longer is a “superabundant and super-abounding” kind of grace that neither we nor anyone else can extinguish, destroy, deplete, ruin, undo, or out sin. Which is why Paul tells us in verse 20 that whereas the Law of God caused our sin to increase in the sense that it revealed to us the seriousness of our sin and the seriousness of our sin’s eternal consequences—God’s Grace is super-abundantly more than sufficient to overcome this increased seriousness of our sin as exposed by God’s Law—So that, as great as our sin is and could ever possibly be—God’s grace is greater still.

And this leads us to Paul’s final point in verse 21 that because of Christ and in Christ we are no longer under the reign of sin or law but of grace. Because we are under the reign and power of grace—as verse 17 puts it we shall reign in life—in the sense that because God’s grace is vastly and infinitely greater than all of our sin—we cannot ever fail—no matter what we ever do or don’t do—to be acceptable to God or accepted by God in Christ Jesus—and thus shall never ever be in danger of losing our salvation in Christ.

CONCLUSION

What this means to us who have truly believed in the Lord Jesus Christ for our salvation from our sins is that irregardless of how often some of us may have thought we had come or have come to out-sinning God’s grace—none of us have ever even come close or will ever come close.

For as great as our sin has ever been God’s grace has been greater.

And as great as our sin can ever become—God’s grace will be greater.

No man’s sin, whether the man be Adam or us or the two of us combined is any match for the matchless infinite grace of God that truly is greater than all of our sin and shame.

It also means that we really do have a message of hope for people who do not know what to do about their sin.

I mean, if God’s grace toward sinners and His love for sinners demanded that He make a way for sinners to be forgiven and restored to Him—then most certainly—it demands that we go and tell them about it.

And what this means to those of you have never trusted in Jesus Christ for your salvation from the wrath of God for your sins is that if you will receive the abundance of grace that God offers you in Christ Jesus—you will be saved irregardless of the greatness, frequency, or utter wickedness of your sin.

But……you must receive His grace as freely as it is offered to you in Christ Jesus.

And when you do trust Christ as your Savior from sin you will be able to say with the hymn writer:

My sin, O the bliss of this glorious thought,
My sin, not in part but the whole
Is nailed to the cross and I bear it no more
It is well, it is well with my soul.

Let’s pray.