Watch our Livestream 10am Sundays at 10am on Sundays Give Online
“If you’re able, please stand.” Reading 5:12–21. “Thanks be to God.”
VJ Day and the Surrender of Japan on September 2, 1945.
When Japan surrendered to the Allied Forces, about a dozen men signed the document. But those dozen men represented millions of soldiers throughout the entire world. And with the signing of those pens, those millions stopped being at war.
These military leaders acted as “federal heads” or “representative heads” of their armies. Just like those military leaders set the war in motion, their actions brought the war to an end.
This morning we’re continuing our look at Adam and Christ. Philip last week called them “federal heads” or “representative heads.” The actions of Adam and Christ determined the fate of multitudes.
That’s why we don’t just call Adam’s sin, The Fall of Adam. We call it, “The Fall of Man.” All mankind fell in Adam when Adam sinned.
That was the point of Philip’s sermon last week.
Our passage continues that idea and drills down further. But Paul’s point in this passage is ultimately not to unpack the Fall of Man. He unpacks the Fall of Man, so that we would see the glory of justification by faith more clearly.
The context of the passage: We’re still talking about justification by faith. Our desperate place apart from Christ (Rom 1:18–3:20) led to the solution of righteousness by faith in Christ (Rom 3:21–31), which is just what our Bible records of Abraham and David (Rom 4). And “since we have been justified by faith” (Rom 5:1), there are treasures we now possess (5:1–11).
But Paul has one more foundational brick to lay, the case of Adam, the first man.
The gospel of Romans is even better than you think: The Fall of Man is great. But Jesus brings the greater grace!
Sermon: The greater grace Jesus brings: (1) abounds, (2) justifies, and (3) reigns.
Prayer
In each verse, Paul will go step-by-step to show the greater grace that Jesus brings. It will be a lesser to the greater approach, starting with the lesser in Adam and what was lost with him. But then moving to the greater and what was gained in Christ.
This itself is stunning, because what was lost in Adam was catastrophic. His fall had massive and everlasting impact. Felt throughout the entire human race.
Adam’s fall is the lesser; Christ’s salvation is the greater.
And yet in comparison to Christ, it is the lesser.
That’s why Rom. 5:15 and 5:16 starts by saying that “the free gift is NOT LIKE” Adam’s “trespass” (Rom 5:15) or “sin” (Rom 5:16).
Adam is “a type of the one who was to come” (Rom 5:14), but the one to come is much greater.
Three times in our passage Paul will look at Adam’s fall and the greater grace in Christ.
We start here in verse 15. Read Rom. 5:15.
Adam’s sin here is called “the trespass,” “one man’s trespass.” That word “trespass” is used six times in this passage (5:15–20), and only 19 times in the NT.
Adam’s fell because he transgressed the expressed will of God. God communicated to him in the clearest terms what he was NOT to do, and Adam transgressed.
The consequence? “Many died through one man’s trespass.” Universal death is the consequence of Adam’s fall. “Many” is a bit understated, isn’t it? Billions and billions of people “died through one man’s trespass.” And the exceptions really prove the rule that death will come to us all unless Christ returns first.
We read in the Bible of two exceptions to this universal death—Enoch and Elijah:
Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him. (Gen 5:24)
And as they still went on and talked, behold, chariots of fire and horses of fire separated the two of them. And Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven. 12 And Elisha saw it and he cried, “My father, my father! The chariots of Israel and its horsemen!” And he saw him no more. Then he took hold of his own clothes and tore them in two pieces. (2 Kgs 2:11–12)
But all the other heroes and villains in our Bibles experienced death. The godliest prophets and the most wicked opponents of God’s people.
Most famously and importantly, the Lord Jesus Christ.
When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished,” and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. (John 19:30)
But then, Christ!
Paul piles on the synonyms and superlatives in this verse to convey what is greater in Christ. Look at Rom. 5:15 again.
Adam’s sin was massive. But... “much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many.”
The greater grace Jesus brings “ABOUNDS.” It’s no trickle. Not meager. Not God being miserly with us. It ABOUNDS!
What abounds? “The grace of God.”
Focusing on our performance, we forget the meaning of grace: God's unmerited favor to those who deserve only His wrath. Pharisee-type believers unconsciously think they have earned God's blessing through their behavior. Guilt-laden believers are quite sure they have forfeited God's blessing through their lack of discipline or their disobedience. Both have forgotten the meaning of grace because they have moved away from the gospel and have slipped into a performance relationship with God.
Jerry Bridges, The Discipline of Grace
What abounds? “The free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ.”
Second, the greater grace of Jesus justifies.
Then in Rom. 5:16 he gives the second lesser-to-greater comparison of Adam and Christ. Again he starts with Adam and then looks to Christ. Read Rom. 5:16.
We start with Adam.
Now the argument progresses. Verse 15 talked about death as the result of “one man’s trespass”; it emphasizes the consequence of Adam’s sin.
Now “one man’s sin” leads to God’s judgment for all. It is the divine pronouncement on us because of Adam’s sin.
There is God’s “judgment” and then the pronouncement, “condemnation.”
Death is a terrible consequence of Adam’s sin. But even more terrible is this pronouncement by the living God, “condemnation.”
This is language that speaks of final judgment, the last day when all are brought before God and judged as either righteous or unrighteous, justified or condemned.
It is sometimes called the “great white throne” judgment because of Revelation 20:
Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. From his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them. 12 And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done. (Rev 20:11–12)
The righteous will join God in the new heaven and new earth and experience unending joy forever—
And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. 4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” (Rev 21:3–4)
Those who are condemned will be sentenced to suffer forever.
And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire. (Rev 20:15)
What we learn from the apostle Paul is that because of Adam’s sin all are destined for the “lake of fire.”
But this is a lesser-to-greater argument. This condemnation is part of the lesser. The greater is in Christ.
At the end of verse 16 we get the greater truth: “the free gift following many trespasses brought justification.” “The free gift of righteousness” in verse 17, remember.
With Adam, “one trespass” was involved. With Christ, “many trespasses” were taken into account. Christ died for his people, and in doing that, he paid the price for a “many trespasses.”
This was a multitude of people and all their actual sins and all the depravity that was theirs because of Adam. All of this was imputed to him when he died.
And the result is that this multitude of people experiences “JUSTIFICATION” and not “CONDEMNATION.”
All because we have “the free gift of righteousness”!
But he keeps going!
In Rom. 5:17 is the third lesser-to-greater comparison. Again he starts with Adam. Read Rom. 5:17.
Now the contrast involves two powers reigning.
First, Adam.
Because of Adam, “one man’s trespass,” Paul says, “death reigned.” That’s a phrase he used already in verse 14. But now it’s extended to all humanity.
He’s progressing his argument. In verse 15, he already said, “many died through one man’s trespass.” But now it’s not simply that “many died” but “death reigned” because of Adam.
There’s a king in power, and his name is “death.” He’s a conquering king that swallows up nations and peoples. The best and the worst all bow before his dominion.
In sports, there’s a phrase that gets used of aging athletes, “Father time is undefeated.” No athlete, no matter how healthy they are, how many veggie smoothies they drink or green powders they add to their eggs—no athlete can compete forever.
That’s why eventually you switch over to the Senior Tour in professional golf. Or the Master’s Division in running. Your 27-yr old body is a long way behind you, and it’s never coming back.
King Death is like that. He’s reigning, and no mere mortal can escape his domination.
Yet again, this is a lesser-to-greater argument. King Death is greater than all humanity. But he’s not greater than Christ, the King of kings—including King Death.
Christ said,
And here we read that the life Christ brings means we are no longer under the total domination of King Death.
Look again at the second half of verse 17: Rom. 5:17.
We receive “grace” and “the free gift of righteousness.”
And what is the result? “Those who receive... [will] reign in life through the one man Jesus.”
In Adam, death reigns over us. In Christ, WE reign “in life through” Christ!
It’s a future verb, we WILL reign in life. It seems to be looking ahead to the time when we are seated with Christ and reigning with him.
Revelation 22:
And night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever. (Rev 22:5)
That’s God’s people and our future destiny. Immediately at death we enter into that ruling with Christ. But after the resurrection there’s an even greater fulfillment of reigning with Christ.
For the Christian, the reign of King Death is defeated.
For the Christian, death itself is transformed. It’s still coming. And it still brings grief for those left behind.
1 Thessalonians 4:
But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. (1 Thess 4:13)
This is a really important idea. Paul assumes we will “grieve.” He’s not saying that to “grieve” is wrong. Death brings grief. Death brings loss. Death brings a proper sadness.
But when we “grieve” the death of a Christian, there’s also “hope.” Why? Because for the Christian, we don’t die as subjects of King Death.
We die as subjects of the King of kings.
We die as part of God’s plan for his people:
The words of Spurgeon,
Death in itself cannot be precious; it is terrible. It cannot be a precious thing to God to see the noblest works of his hand torn in pieces, his skillful embroidery in the human body rent, defiled, and given over to decay. Death in itself cannot be a theme for rejoicing with God. But death in the case of believers is another matter. To them, it is not death to die; it is a departure out of this world unto the Father, a being unclothed that we may be clothed upon, a falling asleep, an entrance into the Kingdom....
One great cardinal truth of the gospel is that the sins of believers were laid upon Christ, and were punished upon Christ, and that, consequently, no sin is imputed to the believer, neither can any be penalty visited upon him. His sin was punished in his substitute. The righteous wrath of God has altogether ceased towards those for whom Christ died.
It could not be consistent with justice that the death penalty should be executed upon Christ, and then should be again visited upon those for whom Christ was a substitute. Death, then, does not come to me as a believer because I deserve it and must be punished by it: it comes so to the ungodly, it is upon them a fit visitation for their iniquities, the beginning of an unending death, which shall be their perpetual portion. To the saints the sting of death is gone, and the victory of the grave is removed; it is no more a penalty but a privilege to die.
Charles Spurgeon, O Death, Where is Your Sting?[1]
Martin Lloyd-Jones, a Welsh preacher, was born in 1899. His most famous preaching would be in Westminster Chapel in London.
He began his professional life as a medical doctor. It’s why he’s called, Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones. He was an elite medical doctor.
At that time, training for medicine was like training for a lot of careers. You were a kind of apprentice. But you also had to be an expert in the human body. One of the ways you did that was by hanging out in the hospital morgue. You examined dead bodies in careful detail.
In other words, it was a profession expert in disease but also in death. In his 20s, the Lord saved him and called him out of medicine into ministry. This made national news because of his stature.
He preached at Westminster Chapel from 1939 to 1968. In other words, throughout all of World War II, he preached in a church in the middle of London.
German bombs would destroy part of the chapel. Services would change locations quickly when there was news of an attack.
This, too, gave him a profound acquaintance with death and grief.
As preacher to Westminster, though, he
Let the bombs fall, let war come, let disease and pestilence ravage the land, let me die – what is it? Translation! To be with him! This old body of mine, the body of my humiliation, the body of infirmity, the body of disease the body of death, transfigured, changed, glorified, made like the body of Christ’s resurrection, and I, in this new, glorified body, ushered into his blessed presence to spend my eternity with him.
D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Studies in the Book of Acts[2]
Jesus is the King of kings who has the power over death. He holds out to each of us the offer to escape the death that leads to condemnation. He holds out to each of us the offer to instead experience the death that leads to justification and eternal life with him.
In the words he spoke to Martha when her own brother lay dead in the tomb:
Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, 26 and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?” (John 11:25–26)
Do you hear his offer: “whoever believes.”
But do you hear his condition: “whoever believes.”
Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and see your wars cease. Your victory assured. Your triumph even in death accomplished.
Let’s pray
Song: “And Can it Be”
[1] Charles Spurgeon, “Precious Deaths,” O Death, Where is Your Sting? (Cross-pointe, 2021), 26–27.
[2] David Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Authentic Christianity: Studies in the book of Acts (Wheaton: Crossway Books, 2000), 1:198.
Here are some other recent messages.
We are a church built on the Bible, guided and empowered by the Spirit, striving to make disciples, and pursuing holiness in the context of robust biblical relationships.
© 2026 Cornerstone Fellowship Church of Apex
