Sermon: “Abundant Grace”
TEXT: Romans 5:20-21
REVIEW
1. In Adam: The Bible presents an important connection between one man, Adam, and everyone else. Adam was the representative for all “in” Adam. (See also 1 Cor. 15:22). This cannot be safely ignored or minimized. Of all that Adam did, Paul tells us that one act was particularly important for us. Adam sinned. He disobeyed the clear instruction of God. Because of his role as our representative, he did this not merely for himself. Adam sinned for us and we all died in him.
2. In Christ: But God provided a second “Adam.” There is a second connection between one man and all that are in Him. Jesus lived for all that are “in” Him. Just as the first “One Man” had one act that tells the story of His life, the second “One Man” has one crucial representative act. Adam sinned for all that were in Adam. Jesus died for all that were in Jesus.
TODAY’S PASSAGE:
20 Moreover the law entered that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more, 21 so that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
1. The Law Entered
Everything has been settled since the very beginning. From the earliest chapters of the Bible we learn what God knew before He even made the world. In Genesis 3 we learn about sin entering the world through one man, and with it misery and death. But we also learn that someone who is called the “Seed of the woman” will be hurt and will crush the head of the serpent. It was all settled that through His one great act of perfect atoning death, Jesus would bring an abounding grace to all that were in Him. Adam found this out in Genesis 3. That’s why He named His wife Eve, the mother of all living. Adam heard God’s promise of The Seed and apparently believed it.
Why then the rest of the Bible? Even though it was all assured, it all had to be worked out, and it had to be worked out God’s way. Somehow we had to get from the misery of Genesis 3 all the way to glorious victory of Revelation 22. The Seed would have to actually come and perform His one great act of sacrificial obedience on the cross to atone for all those in Him. Of course, that one great act would not have meant anything unless He was actually righteous in every aspect of His life before God. Otherwise His death would have just been the death of another sinner. Furthermore, there would have to be some context that would enable us to understand His righteousness and our sin, so that when Messiah came and lived and died for us, we might have some way to understand what He had accomplished.
In order for all of this to happen, it was necessary for the law to come in written form, and so “the law entered.” Of course there was law, sin and condemnation even before, but it was necessary for the law to enter in written form, “in order that the offense might abound.”
2. Sin Abounded
For us to understand Christ, we have to understand sin. For us to understand sin we have to see it. Our sinful nature tries to abandon the idea of sin. Our sinful nature excuses, justifies, minimizes, and forgets our offenses against God. Law was given in written form to help us. The Law does not help us by stopping our sin. Only the Spirit can do that. The Law helps us by causing our sin to abound in at least three ways: 1) by making our sin more visible, 2) by providing a target for sinners to shoot at in our rebellion against God, and 3) by arousing sinful passions within our sinful nature (see Romans 7:5). God has many good purposes for His Law. This morning I want to focus on this single idea that Paul mentions in our text. The Law entered that the offense might abound.
This was God’s plan and it worked. Sin reigned in death. We know that sin reigned in death even before the Law of Moses. We read of death and of sin in significant detail in the opening chapters of the Bible – Cain murdering Abel, the flood, the tower of Babel, Sodom and Gomorrah, the heard-heartedness of Pharaoh, and much more. All that happened even before the law was written down.
Then the Law came, and sin abounded in a new way. More subtle and deceptive offenses seemed to surface. We see this in the hatred of the Pharisees who were intent on killing the Messiah. As an example, consider the sin of those wanted to stay ceremonially clean while they handed Jesus over to Pilate. The Law gives our sinful hearts an opportunity to express our self-justifying, half-hearted, resentment-filled tendencies. It is also through the Law that our pretense that we are pure in heart, but merely under-informed, is shown to be a lie. Augustine puts it this way: “(The law) was not given in order to bring life, for grace brings life through faith, but the law was given to show with what great and tight chains those who thought they could fulfill all righteousness in their own strength were bound.”
3. Grace Abounded Much More
Still, it was settled with God that we would eventually get to Revelation 22. It was settled that sin would not be the only thing that abounded. In fact it was settled that something else would abound much, much more than sin. Grace would reign through righteousness to even eternal life, even to the Gentiles who had not been given the written Law. The blessing of the One Man Jesus Christ through His one great act of obedience would be a blessing to the nations. The Law came through Moses. Abundant grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. Law can cause sin to abound, but it cannot be used for true conviction and true repentance without grace. These blessings, like faith and fruits of the Spirit, only come as gifts. But when grace does come, it is a powerful blessing to those in Christ.
APPLICATION:
Perhaps that blessing does not seem super-abounding to you this morning. What an abounding blessing of grace it is to have Jesus as our covenant representative! Over the last three weeks I have been attempting to present to you the simple truth about Adam and Jesus. Now we need to add a third name – Moses, and see how he fits in. How do you fit Moses into this simple system of Adam and Jesus? What are we to do with the Law of Moses and how does that touch upon our sense of the blessings of grace?
We must see that God has a good (if surprising) purpose in giving us the Law. To be sure the law could be misused, and it certainly was in the Old Testament and in the life of Christ as recorded in the gospels. Paul also tells Timothy that there were those in the Ephesian church trying to be teachers of the law. He says that they don’t know what they were talking about. The Law of Moses can be, and has been used wrongly. But in the same letter to Timothy Paul says that the Law is good if one uses it lawfully.
8 … we know that the law is good if one uses it lawfully, 9 knowing this: that the law is not made for a righteous person, but for the lawless and insubordinate, for the ungodly and for sinners, for the unholy and profane… (I Timothy 1:8-9).
Combine this idea with the fact that Paul has told us in Romans that Christ died for the ungodly and for sinners. We who have sin need Law. Why? It causes our sin to abound. The promise and power of grace will be most evident when the sinfulness of sin is clearest. One purpose of Law is to cause our sin to abound that the power of the promise of God through the gospel of Jesus Christ might abound even more.
So why does the gospel of grace often seem to be too weak for our challenges? Watch out for two errors here concerning the Law: Error #1. “Who needs Law?” There is something very pitiful and weak about a supposed grace cheaply distributed to those who refuse to see the deceitfulness and deadliness of sin. We still need to hear commandments today. Subtle and not so subtle sin must be brought to light so that grace can be powerfully victorious. Error #2: “What? Me? Repent?” The fans of Law have horribly abused her. Any law can be used to see the offenses of others while we blindly justify ourselves. God is clear on this point: No one shall be justified by the deeds of the Law. This misuse of the Law does not lead to freedom or gospel joy. It leads to self-delusion, hardness of heart, and more bondage.
There’s a place for Law in the system of grace. Let it have its right place. Those who would remove it from would do a bad thing. It is there to cause sin to abound that grace might abound all the more. Some want to remove it from its right place simply to throw it away, ending up with a grace that is pitifully weak, and unable to powerfully address the seriousness of our problem of indwelling sin. They begin to think of sin as a fairly small matter. In that case, I suppose that Christ died for a fairly small matter. Others remove Law from its right office, and attempt to use it to justify themselves, which it cannot do. All seem offended by even the hint that further specific repentance might actually be for them.
If you long to see more of the transforming power of the abundant grace of Christ, consider whether you may have been falling into one of these two errors of 1) minimizing the Law or 2) using it as your hope. We all need to hear the Law again with hearts that are increasingly filled with the Spirit, so that while sin might be brought to our attention in new ways, yet grace will abound all the more.
Two weeks ago I said this: “People of Adam trust their own judgment more than the Word of God,” but “people of Jesus live by the voice of God.” Now let me make this addition: People of Jesus want to hear and understand all of the Word of the Lord so that their sin might be shown to be exceedingly sinful, that the promise of abundant grace through Christ our Lord might be more powerful still. These are the ones who, by the power of that grace, repent and believe.