The First and Second Adam

We are in the middle of a study called Spectacular Sins and their global purpose for the glory of Christ. And one of the aims of the study is to impress upon us and impress on our minds the fact that Jesus Christ is the most glorious, important person in the universe.

Now, not more important than the Father or more important than God the Spirit, of course, I'm not saying that. But as God, he is the most important person in the universe.

Now, we don't talk about creeds here very often, but it is good for us to remember that from the earliest days of the church, we have always confessed that Christ is equal in glory with God the Father.

Equal in glory with God the Father. The Nicene Creed begins like this. I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and an earth and of all things visible and invisible.

And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all worlds, God of God, light of light, very God of very God, begotten not made, being of one substance with the Father by whom all things were made.

Now, at Christmastime, we sing part of that Nicene Creed. And O come all ye faithful, in the second verse, if you remember that, we sing the words of the Nicene Creed.

God of God, light of light, lo, he abhors not the virgin's womb, very God, begotten not created. O come, let us adore him. O come, let us adore him.

O come, let us adore him, Christ the Lord. So what are we doing in this series? We want the weight of the glory and the majesty of Jesus Christ to rest on our hearts.

That in the words of Colossians, that in all things he might be preeminent. He might have the first place. But also in this study, we want to see that it is everything exists, including evil, for the glory of Christ.

So evil and the glory of Christ are not ultimately at cross purposes, that even evil exists for the glory of Christ. Everything that happens, everything that exists, is ordained by an infinitely holy and all-wise God to make the glory of Christ shine more brightly.

Let me repeat that because it introduces some very important ideas. So everything that exists, so everything that exists, including evil, is ordained by an infinitely holy and all-wise God to make the glory of Christ shine more brightly.

Now I use that word ordained. God ordained. Now what does that mean? It means this, that God either caused something directly or permitted for his own wise purposes.

So he either causes directly or permits everything for his own purposes. Now the Bible expresses both ideas of causation and permission.

So in Mark 5, there's a legion of demons and a man. You remember the story of the Gadarene, and he has these legions of demons. And Jesus commands the legions to leave, the legion of demons to leave, and they have to leave.

They are forced out of the man by the proclamation of Jesus Christ. He authoritatively causes them to leave. But they ask to go into a herd of pigs, and it says he then permitted them to do so.

So causation and permission. 1 Corinthians 6, 7, Paul says, I hope to spend some time with you if the Lord permits. Hebrews 6, the author says, I want to move on to some more mature doctrine, and this we will do if God permits.

But the Bible speaks not only of just permission, of God letting people do what they want to do, but the Bible speaks of direct action, even in the events that involve evil.

We're going to see this in a few weeks when we look at Joseph and the sale of Joseph into slavery. But you remember the story of Joseph's brothers. They sold Joseph into slavery. Now, you know what happened, and I hope you remember the story.

So we fast forward to the end, at least to the end of this episode. And now Joseph, you remember he is exalted to the highest place, and his brothers finally recognize him, and they're terrified, and Joseph explains his view of the situation, and God's view of the situation.

And he says, Joseph says to his brothers, God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant on the earth. Now, God sent me.

How did Joseph get into Egypt? His brothers sold him. How did Joseph get into Egypt? What does Joseph say?

God sent me. You sold me. God sent me. So it wasn't even God permitted this to happen. God sent me. He put me in the envelope.

He put the stamp on. He addressed it. He put it in the mailbox. He sent me. So God was involved in the action of Joseph's brothers.

Now, at the Exodus, Pharaoh hardens his heart. But it also says God hardened his heart. I will harden his heart so that he will not let my people go.

Or listen to Psalm 105. The Lord made his people very fruitful. He made them too numerous for their foes. And we don't have any problem with that, do we?

God directly causing the blessing of God to rest upon his people. And they become so numerous. They're blessed because of what God has decided to do. God made them fruitful.

He made them grow. So who did it? God did it. God caused it. The very next verse. He made them too numerous for their foes.

Whose hearts he turned to hate his people. To conspire against his servants. And so God, in his sovereign power and wisdom and goodness, did both.

God's love. So when I say that everything that exists and happens is ordained by infinitely holy and all-wise God to make the glory of Christ shine more brightly, I mean that one way or the other, God sees to it that everything that happens ends up glorifying his Son.

God, everything that happens, good and evil, ends up magnifying Jesus Christ. So he either causes it or permits it for that purpose.

Now that is the big, the biggest possible picture. If you want to understand your life, history, world history, the sin of men, what is God doing?

That's it. The biggest possible picture. And it terminates and it ends in Jesus Christ. God says, I'm going to create and ordain and do everything so that my Son will be magnified.

Now, is God at work? Yes. Is God at work even in evil? Yes. Nothing, nothing at all escapes his purpose to glorify his Son.

Now, what we want to look at today is the spectacular sin of the first man, Adam. Adam. The first man, Adam. And how it sets the stage for the spectacular, the more spectacular obedience of the second man, Jesus Christ.

Now, this is so important. If you want to understand the structure of the entire Bible, if you want to understand the theology of the New Testament, and especially the theology of Paul in particular, look for this theme.

First man, Adam. Second man, Jesus Christ. Now, there could be any number of places that we could turn because this is a theme. It crops up again and again in the New Testament.

But we want to look at Romans chapter 5. So, if you could turn there to Romans chapter 5. And the purpose of this is to see how Adam's fall into sin is the backdrop for Christ's victory.

Romans chapter 5 and verse 12. And we'll read through to verse 20, including 21, to the end of the chapter.

Now, as we begin, I want you to look for what... This is the question I want you to try to answer just from the outset. What does Jesus call... Or what does Paul call Jesus?

So, look for that. Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned.

For before the law was given, sin was in the world. But sin is not taken into account when there is no law. Nevertheless, death reigned from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, even over those who did not sin by breaking a command, as did Adam, who was a pattern of the one to come.

But the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God's grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many?

Again, the gift of God is not like the result of the one man's sin. The judgment followed one sin and brought condemnation. But the gift followed many trespasses and brought justification.

For if by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God's abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ?

Consequently, just as the result of the one man, the many were made sinners. So also the result of the one act of righteousness was justification that brings life for all men.

For just as through the disobedience of the one man, the many were made sinners. So also through the obedience of the one man, the many will be made righteous.

The law was added so that the trespass might increase. But where sin increased, grace increased all the more. So that just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ, our Lord.

Now, first thing I want you to notice is what is Jesus called in this passage? In verse 14, especially. The one to come.

The one who is coming. Now, Adam is a pattern. A type. A shadow. Of the one to come.

That's what verse 14 says. Adam who was a pattern of the one to come. Now, we misunderstand that if we think that Adam only became a type or a pattern after he fell.

It wasn't Adam's fall. And then it wasn't that Adam fell. And then God went to plan B, which was, OK, I will bring my son into the world. And he decides to send Christ who will be like Adam.

No, Christ was the one to come even before Adam was created or ever fell. God dealt with Adam the way that he did.

And he dealt with humanity in Adam the way he did because he wanted to glorify his son. The whole history. The whole history of creation, fall and redemption is terminating on Jesus Christ.

It's for the purpose of honoring this one who is to come. He wanted to glorify his son. He dealt with Adam the way he did. And he dealt with mankind in Adam the way he did because he was going to deal with his son in that way.

So he made Adam a representative. A representative. So we have representatives that go to Washington on our behalf.

He, Adam, was a representative of us. And when Adam voted to side with Satan and disobedience, we, too, cast our vote.

And we joined the rebellion. So he made Adam a representative of mankind. Not just because. Not just because.

But because the coming one was going to represent his people. The coming one was going to represent his people. So, in a way, Christ is a pattern of Adam before Adam becomes a pattern of Christ.

And there are all kinds of verses in the Bible to teach us that Christ was not secondary to Adam in God's thinking. In God's priority.

Christ and his salvation was logically first. So, Revelation 13.8 says this. All inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast.

All whose names have not been written in the book of life belonging to the lamb that was slain from the creation of the world. So, there is a book in heaven.

At least, metaphorically speaking, there's this book that has all of God's people in it. And they were in this book from the creation of the world. We were chosen in Christ before the creation.

And it's a book belonging to the lamb who was slain before the creation of the world. So, before the world was created, God had already planned that his son would be slain like a lamb to save all those who were written in this book.

Christ comes after the fall in time. But not in priority. Not in the logic of God's thinking. The whole time, God is saying, how can I glorify my son?

And in this way, the son will glorify me. So, the fall of Adam happened to glorify his son. To set the stage for the coming one.

In order that the stage would be set. The theater lights turned on. And so, when Jesus Christ came onto the scene, he would be beautiful and majestic. Now, listen to 2 Timothy 1.9.

God saved us and called us to a holy calling. Not because of our works. But because of his own purpose and grace. Which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began.

So, when did we receive grace in Jesus Christ? Before the ages began. So, properly speaking, historically speaking, Jesus, the God-man, came after Adam.

He came 2,000 years ago when Adam was created thousands of years ago. And he came in response to Adam's fall for our salvation. But, God's grace was given to us in Christ Jesus before the ages ever began.

So, yes, Christ is second in time. But, Christ is first in thought. And first in priority. Adam existed. And he existed as the head of humanity.

The representative for the sake of Christ. So, Adam was a pattern of the one to come. Now, Adam fell. And we fell with him.

And if you want to, we're not going to go into this. But if you want to explore how spectacular and how devastating the fall of Adam was. Answer this question to yourself.

If Adam never fell, where would we be now? If Adam never fell, where would we be now? We would be in heaven.

And sin would have never happened. And heaven would have come to earth. The end of Revelation would have happened. And there would have never been any of the tragedy.

And any of the sin. And any of the rebellion that exists now. And all of your sorrows would be gone. But Adam sinned. And it was spectacular.

And its effects. So, when Adam sinned, we sinned. And sin was counted against us. Now, we have our own personal sin. No one can say, well, that's not fair.

Because every time I sin, I reaffirm my vote with Adam. Because right from the birth, we are sinners. And we are sinners because we fell in Adam before we were even born.

And we die because of Adam's sin. That's Romans chapter 5. But all of that is the setup. The framework.

The backdrop for the coming one. Yes, Adam's fall is terrible. It is devastating. It is devastating. And its effects upon us. And our family.

And our society. And our world. But. That wasn't the end of the story. Not by a long shot. Remember what we were just saying.

God ordains. Either through causation or permission. Everything that happens. And the reason he ordains everything to happen. As it does. Is to glorify Jesus Christ.

And so Satan's insurrection. His rebellion. Was to glorify Christ. And Adam's fall was to glorify Christ. So everything exists by him. And for him.

Now. Paul in Romans 5. 12 through 21. He. He celebrates the glory of Jesus Christ. In three different ways. He uses.

Three different words. To describe this. How superior. Christ is. To Adam. And this is where we want. To encourage ourselves. We don't want to just say.

Oh. This is terrible. But. What is the. What is God doing in this? What is the upshot of glorifying Jesus Christ? So there's three words. To sum up.

The great and glorious differences. Between Adam. And Jesus Christ. And the three words are these. Grace. Obedience. And life. And so let's look at grace first.

Grace. Obedience. And life. So look at verse 15. But. The gift. Is not like the trespass. And the gift he's talking about there.

Is this gift of righteousness. That comes by Jesus Christ. You can see that in verse 17. But the gift. This righteousness. That comes to sinful man. Is not like the trespass. For if the many died.

By the trespass of the one man. How much more did God's grace. And the gift that came by the grace of that one man. Jesus Christ. Overflow. To the many.

So let me ask you. What is bigger? Adam's trespass. Or God's grace in Jesus Christ. What's bigger? God's grace.

It overflows. It's abundant. Paul says. How much more? So Adam's sin was terrifying. And terrible in its effects.

Then how much more? Is Jesus Christ. And his righteousness. And his grace. How big is that? Adam's sin is big. But God's grace through Jesus.

Is bigger. So the judgment followed one sin. And brought condemnation to all. Death came after only one sin. But when did grace come?

Judgment fell after one sin. When did grace come into the picture? What does it say? In verse 16. After. Many.

Right? It followed many trespasses. Now isn't that true? God's grace through Jesus Christ. Came to us. After. Many.

Trespasses. So how big is God's grace? That's the point. Well. It comes in the face of. Many. And despite of. Many. Trespasses. So sin.

Sin. More sin. Sin piled up. Higher than the heavens. And yet. Where sin abounded. Piled up. Grace abounded. Even more. To cover it all.

Paul. So. Now the question is. How did this super abounding. Grace. Come to us. How in the world.

Could God. Give us grace. After abounding sin. How could he ever. Give us mercy. After our sins. Have been piled up. And piled up. And piled up.

Well he says. It was the grace. Of the one. Man. Grace came to us. Through Jesus Christ. So abounding. Leaping. Piling up.

To the sky. Grace. Came to us. In Jesus Christ. Through Jesus Christ. So Paul. Says in Titus 2.11. When the grace of God.

Appeared. Bringing salvation. So when the grace of God. Appeared. Bringing salvation. What is he talking about there?

Who is he talking about there? He's talking about Jesus. Jesus. He's talking about Christ. Instead of saying. When Jesus Christ came. He says. When the grace of God.

Appeared. With the presence of Jesus. It was the presence. Of the mercy of God. In personal form. So grace. Isn't something. Apart from Christ. It's. And I've said this before.

It's not something. Apart from him. It's not like a. A little packet. Of spiritual strength. It's not this. Quantum. Spiritual power. That has some sort of. Existence. Outside of Christ. Grace comes to us.

Personally. In a person. It comes to us. Through Jesus Christ. So. Do you see how that makes. Christ. Shine. How Christ. To make.

Him shine. And so. God wouldn't want us. To sing. Amazing grace. Without thinking about. How amazing. Jesus is. Because Jesus.

Is the hero. Jesus. Is the savior. It's not. Generic grace. There's no such thing. As generic grace. It's always. Generic. It's always grace. In him.

The grace of our Lord. Jesus Christ. The grace of the one man. Now that's the first reason. To celebrate. That's the first way. We see the superiority. Of Christ. Over Adam. One sin.

Sin from Adam. And we all fell. But. And we all died. And we were all condemned. But Christ. Was more. Than enough. He was more than enough.

So when the sin of Adam. And the grace of Jesus Christ. Met. Who won? It was the grace of Christ. Adam and his trespass. Lose.

Great. Christ and his grace. Win. And that's why there's hope for us. That's why we can keep. On believing. After we've sinned. We can go to Jesus Christ.

Because where sin abounds. Grace. In Jesus Christ. Abounds all the more. That's the first word. Grace. The second word is. Obedience. Obedience.

Obedience. Contrasted with disobedience. Now I have a question for you. When and where. Did Adam disobey? It's not hard.

Just think about it. When and where did Adam disobey? In the garden. Tell me about the garden. What's the situation there?

Perfect. What else? Complete provision. Right? No worries. Food. Fruit. Everywhere you look. Safety.

Protection. It's all there. Walking with God in the cool of the evening. Fellowship with God. When and where did Adam disobey?

And it was in that situation. When there was no reason at all for him to disobey. Now let me ask you. When and where did Christ obey? I think Paul has in mind.

One particular. Act of obedience. His whole life was an act of obedience. But it culminated. It was fulfilled. In the one act of obedience at the cross.

So what was the situation there? When Christ said. I'll do. What you want. Not my will. But your will be done. What was the situation like there?

The way that the world was put upon his shoulders. Okay. Good. God's wrath of all sin. For his children. Have to be paid.

So it's there. He submitted his fleshly will to God. So there was nothing easy about it. Torture.

Being separated from God. It was Adam and Eve there. When Christ obeyed. It was surrounded by men who were tormenting him.

And mocking him. It was after. His disciples left him. And Judas betrayed him. It was then when everything seemed to say.

You know what? This isn't going to be worth it. This isn't right. This is too hard. That's when Christ obeyed. So Adam's disobedience in the garden.

Put in contrast with Christ's obedience on the cross. Now doesn't that make Christ shine? So why did God let Adam fall?

It was for this very purpose. To show off the glory of his son. One, to make his son's obedience necessary. And two, to make his son's obedience beautiful.

So Christ's obedience overcame Adam's disobedience. And so there is Adam's sin. And there's all of our sin with Adam.

It's an ocean of disobedience. An ocean of disobedience. Of saying, yeah, I should, but I'm not going to. Yeah, I shouldn't, but I'm going to.

It's an ocean of disobedience. And it met one man's obedience. And that one man's obedience swallowed the whole ocean. The God man and his obedience swallows up the whole ocean of disobedience.

And it should make our hearts warm with the glory of Jesus Christ. How great he is. The third word is life. Life.

Life. And now look at verse 18. Consequently, just as the result of one trespass was condemnation for all men, so also the result of one act of righteousness was justification that brings life for all men.

And then in verse 21. Just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

So look around the world and you'll see the effects of Adam's sin. You see death. You see graveyards.

You see sin and condemnation. But what happens because of Jesus Christ? Life. The reign of life. The ascendancy of life over death.

Death. So, and it's not just for a short time. It's eternal life. It's forever. So, Christ's obedience and his grace brings life to its fruition.

It's eternal life. But what happens because of Christ's obedience and grace? Men and women. Boys and girls. And more than that, all of creation.

More than that, all of creation is ushered into eternal life. Into a new creation. So, death reigned through Adam.

Now life reigns through Christ. So, do you begin to see the purpose? God's thinking in allowing Adam's fall. Adam's spectacular sin wasn't the end of God's plan.

It was the beginning of his, it was the unfolding of his great plan to magnify his son. He loves his son so much. He's going to give him the all of history.

And it's all going to unfold for the glory of his son. And so, for endless ages. Endless ages to come of eternal life. All of redeemed humanity.

All of the angels in heaven will look to Jesus Christ. And love him. And adore him. And worship him. And they will appreciate the glory of God shining in the face of Jesus Christ.

Now here's the practical lesson that we are meant to learn. And this is the practical lesson of this entire series. That God not only glorifies Christ despite sin.

But God glorifies Christ even through the means of sin. God hasn't lost control. God is not ever put on his heels.

The sin itself serves the glory of his son. And that means when we see sin out there. And when we see injustice out there. And when we see terrible things coming our way in the future.

We don't have to think. I'm doomed. It's over. This is terrible. Everything is lost. No. The Bible gives us the explanation.

And the Bible tells us the purpose. God turns sin itself. Into a gateway for his glory. And so he makes the rage of his enemies to serve him.

That's our God. God. He's absolutely sovereign. Absolutely in control. He is someone who is good. He is someone that you can trust.

You can trust. No matter what. So do you see evil out there? God's not out of sorts. He's not frustrated. He has almighty power. He has almighty wisdom and grace.

And he will even bend evil. To the glory of his son. And that's good news for us. Amen. And I'll tell you why. Because Colossians says, when he appears, we will also appear with him in glory.

Christ is such our representative. So close to us. That when he glorifies his son, it means that we're brought up into that. And we are glorified with him.

God is a God we can trust. And so this week, let's do that very thing. We are dismissed. Next one.