← ArchiveWhen in RomansWhen in Romans: Be Fruitful and Multiply (Romans 5:12-21)DateFebruary 18, 2024Speaker—TextRomans 5:12–21Passages in this sermonRomans 52:01Genesis 12:31Romans 43:40Psalms 5115:30TranscriptClick any line to jump there.0:00We'll be right back. We'll be right back.0:30I'm not going to say we know who you are and we'll find you.1:00I'm just saying welcome to this place in a non-creepy fashion. So we always welcome everyone with a big hallelujah, but today let me just remind you, if you see someone wearing the bluish grayish shirts with a flame on the front that says set apart, we had a D-NOW weekend. Pastor Aaron and his team did a phenomenal job. We had 30 over 30 students at D-NOW.1:28So church, can you just let them know how excited you are that they're awake and what God is doing in their life? If you just now woke up, we're clapping for you, students, okay? So hallelujah, we know God is doing great things among all peoples and all ages in this community. Today we continue our worship in the book of Romans. We're beginning and continuing a series in this great book of the New Testament.1:55So as you turn to Romans actually 5, I think I said maybe chapter 4 in the videos, Romans 5, I want to begin with this question. And you can verbalize this out loud or you don't have to speak. What is the first word that humanity ever heard from the Lord? So as you turn to Romans 5, contemplate that question. What is the very first thing, not that you heard, but the very first word that creation heard God say?2:22In Genesis 1, 26, the scriptures describe what is called the imago Dei, this image of God. The Bible describes it this way. God said, let us make man in our image according to our likeness. And thankfully, God did not create you in his image and leave you void and leave you empty.2:48Actually, God created because there was emptiness and void throughout the waters. So God creates and then he fills. He cleanses you of your sin and he fills you with his righteousness. This is a holy pattern that began from the very beginning. Genesis 1, 26, let us create man in our image, the imago Dei. And now we have this imperative day. Then God said to Adam and to humanity.3:19The very first words that humans ever heard God say. Is anyone brave enough to guess? Verse 27. Be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth and subdue it. In Romans 4, Paul brings us back to Abraham. And he says, Abraham was not saved. He was not justified by what he did.3:47He was justified by faith. And now he is bringing us back further, not to Abraham, but to Adam. To these very first words. And today's message is simply the very first words that humans have ever heard God say. Be fruitful and multiply. Romans 5, verse 12. Paul brings us back to these words. Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man.4:16Who is that one man? Adam. That man, Adam. Death through sin. In this way, death spread to all people because all sins. Verse 13. In fact, sin was in the world before the law. But sin is not charged to a person's account when there is no law. Nevertheless, death reigned through Adam to Moses. Even over those who did not sin in the likeness of Adam's transgression.4:46For he is a type of the coming one. And if your Bible is like mine, the coming one is capitalized. Because there is a greater Adam to come. But the gift, verse 15, is not like the trespass. For if by one man's trespass many died, how much more had the grace of God and the gift, which comes through the grace of one man, Jesus Christ, overflowed to the many.5:11And the gift is not like the one man's sin. Because from one sin came judgment, resulting in condemnation. But from many trespasses came the gift, resulting in justification. Since by one man, Adam's trespass, death reigned through one man, how much more will those who receive the overflow of grace and the gift of righteousness reign in life through one man, Jesus Christ?5:37So then, through one trespass, there is condemnation for everyone. So also through one righteous act, there is justification leading to life for everyone. For just as through one man's disobedience, many were made sinners, so through the one man's obedience, many will be made righteous. The law came along to multiply the trespass.6:08But where sin multiplied, it's one of my greatest verses in Scripture. Where sin multiplied, grace multiplied even more. So that, just as sin reigned in death, grace will reign through righteousness, resulting in eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Let's pray. Father, we thank you that grace will reign even more.6:36Lord, we think, sometimes we understand you, but Lord, you are greater than our wildest comprehensions. Father, open our eyes to the beauty of your grace and your mercy. Open our heart to the depth of our sin. So that when we see sin abound, you remind us that through Jesus and his atoning work on the cross,7:04grace abounds even more. So, Lord, to you be glory and honor. Father, bless the reading of your holy word. In this sacred assembly, we pray in Jesus' name. Amen and amen. Be fruitful and multiply. And if you say, well, Pastor, those are a lot of words. Well, I'm going to do my best to unpack those in a way that we get back to the very beginnings.7:30Now, because you have in your hand or on your thumbs the entire Bible, it might not surprise you that Paul went back to the very beginning. Paul goes back to chapter 1 of all the Scripture. But for those who would call themselves a child of Abraham, to go back to Adam and not Abraham was a unique phenomenon. It was curious.8:01Most gospel presentations went back to sons and daughters of the covenant. But for worldly Greco-Romans who needed the gospel presentation in their language, speaking to pagan people who were not sons and daughters of Abraham about Abraham was confusing. They would say, well, we don't even know who Abraham is. Why would we go back to Abraham? And maybe you feel that way. Maybe you say, well, Josh, I don't understand covenant.8:29I don't understand promise. Why does this make sense? And to you today, to me, Paul says, let's go back to the very beginning. And this is what we need to understand about the Roman Empire. The place where Rome was seeded. The place where the church of Rome in the Roman Empire was birthed. The Roman Empire and its citizens had an insatiable desire to be great.8:58They wanted to be great. They wanted to multiply. And they wanted to be as strong, powerful, and self-sufficient as possible. Sound familiar? They were worldly independents. They were self-made men. And I would imagine the church in Rome in the capital city felt the total weight of this worldview.9:24But greatness was not only a hope and a dream. Rome didn't hope to be great. They were great. They were the world's ruling empire at this time. With a mix of military power, political flexibility, economic expansion. Rome was everything that every empire desired to be. In a sense, Rome was the epitome of being fruitful and multiply.9:55They were powerful. But what if I told you the desire to be great, the desire to be useful and purposeful did not begin with Rome. And it didn't begin in your life either. It began from the very beginning. One of the chief longings of our heart is the desire to be fruitful and multiply.10:20And that's not simply a command to have lots of children. That's a command to be purposefully worshipful to your creator, God. And we see this manifest in a variety of ways. Our struggle to be fruitful and multiply. There's something called a midlife crisis. Specifically, psychologists would say that happens to people in their 40s and 50s.10:47And something I thought would never happen to me until I turned 40. So now I'm thinking, I'm in this range. Not good. It's marked by feelings of dissatisfaction, anxiety, and a desire for significant change. You know, we joke sometimes that midlife crisis, you need to go out and buy a sports car. But I have seen midlife crisis wreck families' lives.11:12I have seen marriages dissolve. I have seen financial security thrown to the wind. I have seen people of faith abandon what they thought was true and holy. Why? Why is there this reassessment of one's life triggered by a realization of aging or unmet goals? Because people often get to 40 and 50.11:39And they realize they have not been as fruitful or purposeful as they've been created to be. There's a desire in each of us to hear and echo the commands of the creator. Be fruitful and multiply. And if you say, well, I don't have that desire. Yes, you do. Yes, you do. It might not manifest itself in a red Corvette. Or a big truck or whatever you drive.12:08A moped. I don't know. Video games. But we all have a desire to be known. To be something great. To make our name great. And everything that God wants in your life. Sin desires to take away. If God has commanded you to be fruitful and multiply, sin takes away and withers your life. That's why Jesus says, I've come to give you life.12:39But he doesn't pause there. He says, I have come to give you life. And life what? More abundant, overflowing, fruitful life, multiplicity of life. Where does that come from? Genesis 1, 28. Now let me ask you this question then. If God has given each of us a desire to be fruitful and multiply, then why do we turn to the withered life so much?13:01Why do we turn to things that give us no satisfaction long term? Why do we turn to things that bring destruction? Why does humanity turn from good to evil? And if you argue that and you say, well, humans don't turn to things that are evil. I would say, come ride with me for one day.13:29Watch the news with me for 10 minutes. And you and I will see together the devastating effects of people who turn inward and not upward. Who turn to the withered life and not the fruitful life. Why does that happen? This is what Paul is addressing right now. So first, it's called sin. Sin is a universal and common problem. Paul says very clearly, sin entered the world through one man, death through sin.13:59This, in this way, death spread, death multiplied, death was fruitful to who? All people, all people. This is what theologians call original sin. Death and sin through Adam. When he sinned, you and I sin. Verse 19, it says that through one man, the many were made sinners.14:25Now, the question is, what does it mean by original sin? Theologians will say, well, we imitate, potentially, we imitate the sin of Adam. That what Adam did, we do. The Bible is very clear that all have sinned in Romans and fallen short of the glory of God. Raise your hand if you are not part of all. Okay. We all have sinned.14:55And maybe that is because the imitation of sin from Adam and Eve is so great that we have no other option. We are sinners. Other theologians say, well, no, we've not only imitated sin, but we have inherited sin. We are sinful. Sin is just not an issue we have. It is who we are. Meaning, sin is not something you do. It is something you do because it is who you are. And I tend to believe the Bible points that we are rotten to the core.15:25Psalm 51 says, Lord, we are conceived in sin. And because you are spiritually dead, you express your spiritual deadness by your sinful actions. In this way, death spread to all people. There is an apocryphal book called To Esdras. Maybe you read that this morning. If you want to go back home and read it, it is chapter 7, verse 118. There is a line in this book that says,15:55O Adam, what have you done? For though it was you who sinned, the fall was not yours alone, but ours also who were your descendants. You see, that writer gets it. Adam is not only you who fell, but we fell with you. But Paul is not only concerned about original sin. He's actually more concerned with original death.16:23No one escapes the reign of death because no one escapes the power of sin. This is why we turn to the withered life and not the fruitful life. So how does sin take away abundant life from you? Look at verse 12. Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man and death through sin.16:46The very first thing that happens to us when we sin is that we receive upon us a death sentence. Now, some of you will say, well, pastor, I'm not dead. Joke's on you. You will die. Joke's on us. Right? No one here escapes death. It is appointed to each man once to die and then judgment. But there's a worse death than physical death.17:16There's a spiritual death, a separation from the Lord. It's the second death without remedy. It includes your earthly existence and earthly eternity. You see, church, hell is real. Hell is the second death. And the second death is worse than the first death, the physical death. Because the second death is the manifestation of our sin. It is eternity of death without a holy, loving God.17:43Without redemption, sin leads to death. And death is the taking of your life. And make no mistake, Satan wants us to put earmuffs on and not hear that God loves you, that God wants you to experience life and not death. Because if you ignore your sin, your sin leads to death. And death is the withering of what God has made fruitful in us.18:10Verse 12, Therefore has sin entered the world through one man, death through sin. In this way, death spread through all people. Because all have sin. So sin is actively taking life. Sin is actively working against you right now. The Bible does not describe sin as something that is tame. The Bible doesn't say entertain sin. It's not that bad. The Bible doesn't describe your condition as being sickened or weakened.18:40We are dead in sin. Not feverous in sin. And the Bible says, go back to Genesis. The Lord says to Cain that sin is crouching at your door. And you must master it. There's an active desire for sin to take your life. And if you read Romans chapter 5, sin is described as spreading.19:07Verse 14, as reigning. Chapter 6, verse 16, that you can obey sin. Chapter 8, verse 7, that sin seizes you. Chapter 7, verse 11 of Romans, that sin deceives and kills you. Sin is actively working to wither your life right now. Sin is nothing to play with. And the moment you play with sin is the moment that Satan set his hooks in your life.19:34John Owen said it this way. He said, you better be killing sin or it will be killing you. There's no other option because it is actively taking your life. But God proactively gave you his law. Verse 13, Paul is saying sin is actively working against you, but God is actively working for you. God doesn't sit upstairs with blinders and ignore your sin.20:02God doesn't see your sin and say, oh, Steve sinned today. What am I going to do? Josh, you sinned? No, God is actively producing in you the escape of sin and the remedy of our sinful core. Verse 13, in fact, sin is before the law. Sin was not charged to a person's account where there is no law. What is the law of God?20:31It is God's perfect character and will revealed. This is why the law was given to magnify your sin and to make you have an oh-no moment. The law is the revelation of God's character and his goodness. Let me describe it this way. I'm going to take you way back. Jump in a time machine. So I grew up in a church that we were super cutting edge. We remember the day where we went from hymnals to this thing called the overhead projector.20:59Do you remember that? You didn't change. You had to print out words on a transparency. Like you had to copy them on a transparency. Then you had to put them on a projector. And the projector showed a light on the words. And then it reversed them on the screen and you could read from people who got old. We could see it easier. And I remember the day. My mom's here somewhere.21:29There's my mom, right? She can evidence this as true or she can dismiss my claim later. I'll never forget. It was a Sunday night because I was still young. They didn't trust me Sunday morning. I remember the day where I felt like I arrived. They said, Josh, your number has been pulled. We need you to change the words on the screen. And I was like, you trust me to change? Because it wasn't a space bar. It was you had a folder and you had to change the words.21:57And if you went verse, chorus, verse, chorus, you had to figure out which hand was the chorus and which hand was the verse. Do y'all remember this? Okay, I'm not alone in this. And so, and you're at the front of the church. So if you messed up the words, everyone knew it was you. And I remember the day the light of God shone upon me. I said, Lord, I have arrived into maturity. I get to do the words.22:27The law of God is his transparency upon your sin. The law of God magnifies our sin and it puts it on the projector where we can see finally. The law exposes what is already there. And what if I told you there was a more remarkable rain, though, than this rain of sin and death, the withered life.22:49You see, the law was God's transparency to expose your sin and then point you to the rain of grace. The rain of grace. And Paul begins to parallel the death of the withered life versus the life of the abundant, fruitful life in Jesus Christ. Because the law is God's transparency in your life.23:20To say, look at your sin, look at your need, because there is a second better Adam that provided everything that we need. Look at verse 15. But the gift is not like the trespass. And we say, well, how so? For if one man's trespass, the many died, how much more have the grace of God and the gift of God, which is through the grace of one man, Jesus Christ, overflowed to the many?23:43In sin, there is the rain of terror, the rain of death, the rain of withered life. But in Jesus Christ, we have this rain of grace. Verse 15. It says, Jesus gives the gift of life.24:11Why? Because Jesus is the gift. Jesus is the gift. But the gift is not like the trespass. Because in the trespass, many died. But in the gift, much more will come to life in faith. The first Adam disobeyed and led humanity to fall away. The second Adam, Jesus fully obeys and redeems all who turns to him by faith.24:37What is this rain of grace? It is that God sent the greatest gift he could ever send into the world, his one and only son, Jesus Christ. And we read that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. But the rain of life says this. All who call upon the name of the Lord will be what?25:04Will be saved. Because the gift and the gift giver is greater than the trespass. Verse 15. In the trespass, many die. But in the gift, grace abounds. In Christ, grace overflows and multiplies. Now remember the words, the very first words to God, to humanity.25:30Be fruitful and multiply. Sin leaves you fruitless and dead. But Jesus gives you life and the purpose for which you were designed. I love what Paul says in verse 17. He says, through one man, death reigned. But how much more for those who receive the overflow of grace? What type of grace? It doesn't say that God barely saves you by the skin of your teeth.26:02The Bible doesn't say God barely had enough grace to get you over the final hurdle. Or to run the last mile barely. What type of grace is this reign of life through Jesus Christ? Overflow. Multiplication of grace. One theologian says it best.26:32He said, if sin abounded, God's grace has super abounded. I don't even know if that's the word, but I like it. God's grace has super abounded in our life. It's the reminder of scripture that no matter how great your sin today, God's grace poured out to you through Jesus Christ abounds in more significant measure. So if you're here today and you say,27:01Pastor, I cannot be saved because my sin abounds. The word of God says, but the grace of Jesus super abounds. For you who say, well, Pastor, my sin super abounds. Then the grace of Jesus mega abounds. And whatever word, if you want to try to one up God's grace, you will never out sin God's grace.27:29Because the fountain of life is unending that flows from Jesus Christ. You know what I love about that? Because Satan constantly reminds us of our sin, doesn't he? He constantly reminds us of the abounding nature of our sin. And God is constantly reminding us of the super abundance of his grace. Do not fall for the withered life. And then lastly, verse 21.27:58So that. Paul says all these words. And we get out of breath reading. And then he says, so that. Let me give you one statement. Paul says. So that just as sin reigned in death in our lives. Grace will reign through righteousness. Resulting in eternal life through Jesus Christ, our Lord. This is the reign of life.28:29This is how Paul can say in 1 Corinthians. Death. Where is your victory? Death. Where is your sting? The sting of death is sin. And the power of sin is the law. Because when you give your life to Jesus Christ, you can look at sin and death and say, is that all you have? It's like Lazarus who died and came back. And it says that the scribes and the leader wanted to kill him.28:59Can you imagine that discussion? That the scribes bring Lazarus to the Sanhedrin. They say, Lazarus, if you don't stop talking about God's grace, his resurrection power in your life, we are going to kill you. And Lazarus is like, okay. I've been dead. What are you going to do, kill me again? Because Lazarus believed that the power of Jesus to raise him the first time was the same power of Jesus to raise him again.29:26We can look at death and say, is that all you got? Because Satan, when death comes in my life physically, I will be in abundance of life in Jesus' presence fully. I don't look forward to death, but I do not retreat from death because one day in glory, I will receive everything that God has for me. But until that day comes, I do not want to live the withered life.29:56I want to live the abundant life in Jesus. One scholar said this about the passage. His name is Cranfield. He said that one single misdeed should be answered by judgment. That's perfectly understandable in Adam. Church, what we have just read, that by one man's death, life comes to all who believe.30:17This is the miracle of miracles. The reign of death is no more because Jesus Christ put an end to that, to all who believe by faith.30:42What do we do with a passage like this? Well, we remember that in the first Adam, we receive sin. But in Christ, you receive righteousness. I thought that was going to land different for those that have faith. Let me say that again. I mean, listen to what Jesus has done.31:13Really, really listen to what the word is saying. In the first Adam, we receive sin, inherited and imitated. But in the second Adam, in Jesus, you receive righteousness. Hallelujah for that. In the first Adam, sin spreads. But in Christ, your sin ceases. In the first Adam, death reigns.31:44But in Christ, life abounds. In the first Adam, we receive the curse. But in Jesus, we receive the gift. In the first Adam, we receive condemnation, Romans says. But in Christ, we now receive justification. In the first Adam, sin multiplied. But in Jesus Christ, the second Adam, grace overflows into abundant life.32:08Satan wants nothing more than to take your fruitfulness away. Satan wants you to ignore your sin. To think that if you try hard enough, it will go away. To think if you ignore it, God will forget. But sin always leads to the withered life. A life of death, a physical death, and one day a spiritual death.32:38Apart from a God who loves you. And has created you to be fruitful and multiply. And it should not be lost on us. That one day, Jesus Christ, the second Adam, took a cup. Fruit of the vine. And he lifted it up, and he said these words.33:05He gave thanks, and he said, Drink from this cup, all of you. For it is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many. For many. For the forgiveness of sins. I believe that was Jesus' way of saying that by faith, we can be fruitful and multiply once again. In a moment, there in our song of response, where we respond to God's word by faith,33:34we're going to have the Lord's Supper. It's the reminder that in Christ, we can live the abundant life again. If your heart is not right before the Lord, I'm going to ask you not to eat. Because this ordinance are for those who have confessed Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, and been baptized as a public demonstration of their faith.34:02And maybe you've done that, and you say, Well, Pastor, my heart's not ready to remember the Lord right now. Would you spend time and confess your sins before a holy God? Because his promise is this. If you confess your sins, he is faithful and just to forgive your sins and purify you of unrighteousness.34:27I'm going to ask you to do that before you come. I'm going to ask our deacons to go ahead and come to the front and the back. They're going to serve you. During this song of response, if you would come to the front or the back, and if you would get the juice and the bread, and then go back to your seat, we're going to eat together. Listen, if you can't get up, and if you physically say,34:56I just don't know if I can walk there, I'm going to ask if you would serve your neighbor today. Or at the end, if you want to raise your hand, our deacons will serve you. That is our gift to you. If you have never given your life to Jesus, this supper is not your supper yet. But we want it to be. And if you desire to put your faith in Jesus Christ today for the first time, you can pray a prayer like this. Father, I'm the sinner.35:26Forgive me. I not only imitated Adam's sin, but I inherited his sin. Father, I believe that you can wash me clean. Today, Father, I believe you sent Jesus to live a sinless life. I believe you sent Jesus to die on the cross. I believe he rose again. And Father, today I believe that you did it for me. So, Lord, cleanse me.35:57Wash me. Make me whole. Because today, God, I will follow you by faith. No matter what it costs. If that is your prayer, your next step is not the Lord's Supper. Your next step is baptism. And we would love to have that conversation with you to help you walk those next steps. And as we worship, as we gather, and then as we eat later, I'm going to invite for everyone36:25who is baptized today, you are our honored guest at the Lord's table. So, as our deacons come, I'm going to ask you to come first. And then we will eat together in this holy moment. Church, let's continue to worship.← Previous in When in RomansWhen in Romans: Gift or Grit? 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