A Tyrant Dethroned
Romans 5:12–19 (ESV)
Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned— for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law. Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come.
But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if many died through one man’s trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many. And the free gift is not like the result of that one man’s sin. For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brought justification. For if, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ.
Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous.
Dear fellow redeemed: Look at yourself in the mirror. Look at your hands. You are dust and to dust you will return. That is the message of the law, as we observed on Ash Wednesday. Because you are a son or daughter of Adam, you were born a sinner, and that sinfulness has brought forth sin and it will bring forth death. Adam did terrible things to himself and all of His posterity. He brought the curse of death into the world. Because he and Eve died spiritually that day, all their offspring, including you and me, were born alienated from God.
That is the fix we are in – cursed and dying. But there is hope. Coming up to our text, Paul has stressed the universal disaster of sin. Nobody is exempt, whether Jew or Gentile. Because of the way that God has chosen to rescue us, nobody is excluded from that rescue either, because of who they are – Jew or Gentile. He makes this point in many ways, and now here also, emphasizing that we are all children of one man, Adam, who by sin brought the tyrant, death, into this world. And now one man, Jesus Christ, has overthrown that tyrant for us all.
A TYRANT DETHRONED
I. Death Is a Tyrant Indeed
II. Christ is a Greater Rescuer
I. Death Is a Tyrant Indeed
In our culture death is seen as merely a process of nature. Disney romanticizes the “circle of life.” If we can tell if a baby has a defect, then we can kill it before it is born and we have to see it, so death is useful, utilitarian. Besides, it makes money; abortion has been the most profitable surgical procedure for years. According to the Neo-Darwinists death weeds out the unfit among us. Some get uncomfortable when we remember that the Nazis also killed the unfit, the defective, the disabled, and the mentally ill, but in the gas chambers, along with uncompliant Christians and the most remembered, the Jews.
The devil has had his way in this world, for there is such love of death. Jesus says this love of death is of the devil, as when the Jews wanted to kill Him: John 8:44 (ESV) You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, …
The world loves death – the death of others. For some in Islam, it is the best alternative if you aren’t Muslim. For gang enforcers it’s the solution of competition. For statist bean-counters it reduces expenses to the health care system. But what do you think about it when it separates you from someone you love? What do you think about it when the dying process starts with your getting sick and weak and aged? What do you think about it when it takes the life of your child, your spouse, or a loving parent? What do you think about it when, as police or military, you must inflict death upon wrongdoers to protect the innocent? What do you think about it when it means an eternity separated from every beneficent (blessed) attribute of God – no love, no joy, no peace, but only pain and despair?
Am I a little grim? Maybe I’m not grim enough because we aren’t serious about death in our culture. We don’t think about it – fear it, maybe, ignore it, but not think about it. We need to follow Paul’s lead here and understand that death is a tyrant. As Paul says, “death reigned.” Death takes you against your will and has its way with you. We need to understand where death came from and who it effects. Paul tells us: Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned—
Frequently God’s word underscores the seriousness, the inevitability, and the universality of death.
Isaiah 40:6–8 (NKJV)
The voice said, “Cry out!”
And he said, “What shall I cry?”
“All flesh is grass,
And all its loveliness is like the flower of the field.
The grass withers, the flower fades,
Because the breath of the Lord blows upon it;
Surely the people are grass.
The grass withers, the flower fades,
But the word of our God stands forever.”
Job 14:1–2 (NKJV)
Man who is born of woman
Is of few days and full of trouble.
He comes forth like a flower and fades away;
He flees like a shadow and does not continue.
I skipped a page and a half of similar passages, but do you get the point? Because Adam sinned, the tyrant, death, oppresses us all. Because you were born in Adam’s image – sinful – you are also mortal, doomed to die. And Paul pounds home the fact that it isn’t because of who you are, or because you are descended from somebody special, or because you are part of a special group. It is universal.
II. Christ is a Greater Rescuer
In this world people deal with death in different ways, and here in our culture we are very mixed, so we see a lot of them. We can dispense with a few of them quickly.
Don’t think about it. This is basically, “Eat, drink and be merry, because you might die tomorrow.
When you’re dead you’re dead. This is practically the official position of our government, which includes our courts and our educational system. It is secular materialism in practice.
We all go to a better place. This is just vaguely spiritual. It’s the kind of stuff that comes from Oprah, or the Unitarian Universalist sects. It also includes many in the ELCA and other liberal denominations.
Now all of these have this in common: They don’t deal with death. They aren’t really serious about answering the question, “What does it mean to fall into the hands of the living God?”
Paul’s audience, on the other hand, was serious. They accepted the truth there is death and judgment day for all of us, and that lacking righteousness and true holiness, there is no place with God and hell is their fate. Let’s look at these.
Keep the law to become Jewish. Paul has already demolished this one, because EVERY descendent of Adam is in the same boat. But there is a corollary.
Achieve righteousness. Maybe the good can outweigh the bad, as in Islam, the Roman church at its medieval worst, or as in all man-made religions.
So far it’s not looking good. Ignoring death won’t make it go away. All the good works in the world can’t undo what we have done, and besides how do I even know right from wrong to the point of perfection?
It looks like, death, the tyrant, reigns supreme. But wait. Paul says that if sin and death could come through one man to the whole world and reign over it, without our choosing it, then righteousness and life could come through one man and reign for life instead of death. For if, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ.
So if you take death seriously, and see the power with which it has reigned over this world because of sin, and if you see you are powerless to stop it, then this is good news. Like it or not, we inherited, we received sin – and death with it. But Paul points us to Jesus, and from him we receive grace and the free gift of righteousness that will reign even more powerfully in life than sin reigns in death.
Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous.
Jesus’ righteous obedience was to keep the law in our place, perfectly, and to obey the father’s will that he pay the penalty for our sin. By His obedience we are made righteous.
Because of His obedience I forgive you. I announce to you the full and free forgiveness of all your sins. If you are child of Adam, then you have been redeemed by the second Adam, Jesus Christ. Your sins are forgiven.
I take death very seriously, and I know that the sting of death is sin (1 Co. 15:56), and so to have righteousness is to have life and salvation. It is literally the death of death. Death no longer reigns over you. That is why Jesus could say, John 11:25–26 (ESV) “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die.” Death, that old tyrant is dethroned. There is a new King and a new Kingdom, where righteousness lives. This righteousness is yours by grace through faith in the risen Christ. Death is a terrible tyrant, but Christ is a greater rescuer, king of kings, and destroyer of death.
Amen! This is true! This is most certainly true!
Psalm 39:5 (ESV)
Behold, you have made my days a few handbreadths,
and my lifetime is as nothing before you.
Surely all mankind stands as a mere breath! Selah
Psalm 103:15–16 (ESV)
As for man, his days are like grass;
he flourishes like a flower of the field;
for the wind passes over it, and it is gone,
and its place knows it no more.
Genesis 3:17–19 (ESV)
And to Adam he said,
“Because you have listened to the voice of your wife
and have eaten of the tree
of which I commanded you,
‘You shall not eat of it,’
cursed is the ground because of you;
in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life;
thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you;
and you shall eat the plants of the field.
By the sweat of your face
you shall eat bread,
till you return to the ground,
for out of it you were taken;
for you are dust,
and to dust you shall return.”
Psalm 39:5 (ESV)
Behold, you have made my days a few handbreadths,
and my lifetime is as nothing before you.
Surely all mankind stands as a mere breath! Selah
Psalm 103:15–16 (ESV)
As for man, his days are like grass;
he flourishes like a flower of the field;
for the wind passes over it, and it is gone,
and its place knows it no more.
Genesis 3:17–19 (ESV)
And to Adam he said,
“Because you have listened to the voice of your wife
and have eaten of the tree
of which I commanded you,
‘You shall not eat of it,’
cursed is the ground because of you;
in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life;
thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you;
and you shall eat the plants of the field.
By the sweat of your face
you shall eat bread,
till you return to the ground,
for out of it you were taken;
for you are dust,
and to dust you shall return.”
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