Adam versus Jesus

TJ Pancake

How to be Right with God • Sermon • Submitted 6 years ago

Romans 5:12–21

Righteousness

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Introduction

There is a thing writers use when writing characters called foils. They create two characters who are supposed to highlight major difference between them. So, when you watch Beauty and the Beast, you have the beast, who is terrible looking, but has a good heart. And then you have Gaston, who is as handsome as Ryan Gosling (or TJ Pancake), but he is a beast on the inside. Or think about Thor and Loki from the Marvel movies. Thor is strong and noble and selfless, while Loki is sneaky and self-serving. They’re opposites in many ways. The writers use foils to highlight the differences in the characters.

In today, we’re going to look at two foils: Adam and Jesus.

Romans Review

But before we get there, we have to look at where we’ve been in Romans. The first chapter deals with sin in the world, and shows us that the world has gone wrong. But then, in chapter 2, Paul turns his finger toward us and shows us that we are not exempt from this evil world. He is writing to a church mixed with Jews and Gentiles and explains that everyone is sinful, guilty of worshiping the wrong things and living as God’s enemy. But, there is a way forward, a way to be made right. And that’s through Faith in Jesus. This is what Cassio talked about last week. In Chapter four, which we’re skipping, Paul shows that even Abraham, the OG of the Jewish Nation, didn’t get right with God by being Jewish, but by his faith. that’s why it’s not about your parents or the religious rules you follow, it’s your faith in Jesus that makes you right with God.

So, here’s the question: How does faith in Jesus make us right with God? Like, he’s just one dude. What can he do?

So, let’s read .

let’s read .

Who is Adam?

If you go way back in your Bibles to the first two or three pages, you have the story of God’s creation, and the tippity-top of God’s creation is humanity: Adam and Eve. God gave Adam and Eve a job. They were supposed to run the rest of creation. They were supposed to make sure that everything, all the plants and animals, and future humans, were taken care of. Everything, all of creation, was right with God. The Bible says that Adam and Eve would hang out in the garden with God. But Adam chose to break his relationship with God. He chose to define good and evil for himself.

And this is where everything went wrong. It says here in verse 12 that sin came through one man—that’s Adam. And death came through sin. Look around. Every sin, taken too far, ends in death. The world is full of people who are dying, physically, spiritually, emotionally. And everything evil in the world can be traced back to sin, to this one man named Adam who chose to follow himself instead of God.

Why? Why does Adam’s choice lead to sin and death for the whole world. Because Adam is a representative of all humanity. “Adam” means human in Hebrew. So, when it says that Adam ate the fruit, it means that the man created sinned, but it also means that humanity sinned. And I think that’s the point.

On my first day at college, they brought all the freshmen in and did a welcome meeting. They split us up into small groups and then we played a big game. One of the parts of the game was that they asked for representatives from each team. So, I went up on behalf of my team. When I got up there, they told us we had to sing the chorus of a popular song, and the crowd would vote on the best. But if you have ever stood next to me in church, you know that I’m terrible at singing. I sang Jesus Loves Me, and it was rough. So, needless to say, my team lost. Because I was the representative and I lost.

But, here’s the difference. It’s possible that someone on my team was a world class singer, and she could have gotten up there and belted some t-swift. But that’s not the case with us and Adam. It says in verse 12 that death spread to everyone because everyone sinned. It would be like if my team had been The Tone Deaf Tenors. Any one of us sent to the front would have lost. This is my understanding of Paul: Any of us who were in the garden would have chosen our own way. And we prove it everyday by continuing to sin.

And because of Adam’s sin, and your sin, and mine, we are not right with God. Death has come into the world. We are judged for our sin.

But, Adam is not the only person mentioned in this passage. It also talks about Jesus. And this is really interesting. In verse 14, it says that Adam is a type or a symbol of Jesus. What does that mean? Let’s look at Jesus.

Who is Jesus?

Jesus shows up in Israel, teaching about the kingdom of God, and he begins remaking all the broken parts of the world. He heals disease, he casts out demons, he forgives sins. He’s doing what Adam was supposed to do in Genesis. He’s taking care of the world. But the world is not about it. They falsely accuse him, and they kill him. But, there’s a catch. Jesus wasn’t just a regular human. He was human, but he was also God. And he went to earth knowing he would die. He obeyed the Father all the way to his own death, and so he was raised to new life.

Now, what Paul tells us in verse 19 is that this obedience allows many people to be made right with God. Jesus brings a free gift of God that makes a way for us to be right with God. If Adam was our representative in our own sin, Jesus is our representative in righteousness. But Paul calls it a gift because we never would have been righteous on our own. So, just like one man was our representative in sin, so one man can be our representative in being right with God.

Who are you?

Now, here’s the question for you and for me: Who are you? Are you going to let Adam continue to stand in for you and choose your own way over God’s? Or are you going to choose Jesus. Are you going to let Jesus be your representative?

Now, that might seem like an easy decision. Jesus, obviously. But the way of Jesus is hard. If Jesus is your representative, you’re going to have to change the way you live. You’re going to have to give up your own way and selflessly serve others. You’re going to have to be obedient to God, even when he asks you to do hard things, like stand up for outcasts in your school, or tell the truth even when it will get you in serious trouble, or give up Instagram.

But when you do, you will live in triumph through grace. You will get new life. You will find the real way to live when you follow Jesus.

Living in triumph:

We just got back from vacation in South Carolina. We stayed at a Disney Resort on Hilton Head Island. It was amazing. We chilled on the beach and by the pool and played Ping Pong. (Except my sister destroyed me). It was also the kind of thing we absolutely cannot afford. If I walked up and said, “Hi, I’d like a room at your resort. I have five dollars.” They would say, “get out.” But I didn’t I walked up and said, “Hi, I’m with Tony Pancake. He’s already paid for the room.” My Dad has worked hard for a long time, and he paid the cost, and I got to enjoy the benefits of his work and his payment.

No more sin & death

Jesus has done the work. Jesus has paid the cost. Now, you get to enjoy the benefits of life, real life.