but Romans chapter number five tonight. Go down to verse number 12, and we'll wrap up this chapter this evening. And just, I'll give you, the Lord's just kind of laid on my heart tonight, and I'll just do my best. It probably won't be, if you expect me to hang off the chandeliers tonight and leave my tassels in the back of the church tonight, I don't see it going that way. It'll be probably more of teaching this evening, and I'm just thankful for both of them, because man, preaching, man, preaching, it motivates you, it impacts you, but teaching helps you to understand and I'm thankful for both of them tonight. But look at verse number 12, the Bible said, wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin. And so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned. For until the law, sin was in the world, but sin was not imputed where there is no law. Nevertheless, death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them, that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come. But not as the offense, so also is the free gift, for if through the offense of one many be dead, much more the grace of God and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ hath abounded unto many. And not as it was by one that sinned, so is the gift, for the judgment was by one to condemnation, but the free gift, is of many offenses unto justification. For if by one man's offense death reign by one, much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one Jesus Christ. Therefore, as by the offense of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation, even so by the righteousness of one, the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life. For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made a righteous. Moreover, the law entered that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound. That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. Let's pray. Again, for this evening, Lord, we're thankful that you never change. We're thankful that you're the same yesterday, today, and forever. We do thank you, Lord, for the Christmas story. We thank you, Lord, for the truth of it, Lord, the reality of it, that the very God of heaven became man, that he might die for our sin. Lord, what a blessing that is. Lord, what a love that was shown to us on the cross of Calvary. Love that is unfathomable, Lord, unfathomable. Unsearchable or the depths of it are beyond our comprehension tonight But Lord what a joy it is to expect to experience it Lord and then in turn Lord because you loved us So we're able to love others what help us Lord to express and show that love to others around us Lord not just during this holiday season, but Lord every day of our life, Lord. There's one thing this world needs, it's Christians to love people like Christ loves people. And I pray, Lord, tonight, behind the cross of Calvary, God, I want you and myself, fill me, Lord, with the spirit of God. Give me the words to say tonight, Lord, help me to preach and teach with clarity and concision tonight, Lord, help me, Lord, just to simply be used of you one more time. Lord, we love you, we thank you, in Jesus' name we pray, amen and amen. Sometimes reading through the book of Romans, especially when you get part in Romans where Paul begins to talk about the things he does, that he would not, and the things that he would do, that he doesn't do. Sometimes when you read through it quickly, it can kind of read like, what did I just read there? But there is a phrase, as we're coming through this portion of Romans chapter number five, that is repeated at least eight times. Either it's a phrase by one man or by one. And so tonight, as we come to this portion of scripture tonight, we see that there is one man whose name is Adam, and then there is one man who is Jesus Christ. They are two separate men, but it says by one man, and in essence, Paul puts them side by side to show us a comparison and a contrast the difference is there, and really, what one does, the other undoes, or what the one causes, the other one fix, you could say it that way tonight, and we understand tonight that there is two men really being mentioned here in Romans chapter five. One is Adam, the other is Christ tonight, and we can see through this comparison and contrast just how wonderful justification is, and really, what is the result of it? What does it bring into the life of the believer once they are justified? through faith, through grace, or by grace, through faith tonight, in receiving that free gift of salvation through the Lord Jesus Christ. But as we look at these tonight, we're gonna look at each man, we're gonna look at Adam, then we'll look at Jesus Christ, and pull out some of these truths here tonight that we find in Romans chapter number five, when we come here, but tonight it's just by one man, right, by one man. And you would think, really, does one man make a difference? In this case, it does, right? We look at ourselves sometimes, we think, I'm just one man, I'm just one person, I can't change the world. And in essence, you and I might not influence the world, I might not be a worldwide name, like if you were to go over into Egypt somewhere or go over into Cambodia and say, hey, do you know Pastor Tate and Wagner? They're just gonna look at you. I don't have that kind of influence tonight, but we're not talking about just a worldwide influence, but the impact that these two men had on the world as we know it today. So notice number one tonight, we see the one man, Adam, right? And we see as we look at Adam and as he's brought up here tonight in Romans chapter number five, the chaos that is as a result of one of his decisions. and one of his choices that he makes tonight, as a matter of fact, in verse number 12, it is through this man, Adam, that sin enters into the world. Now, tonight, we could go back to Genesis chapter number three, and we could see how all of this plays out. I remember hearing a guy make a joke one time, and he said, you know, where would we be if there was no women in the world? And someone said we'd still be in the Garden of Eden. That sounds funny, but really, theologically speaking there, Right, God holds Adam accountable for that. Adam could have put a stop to it. Adam could have said, no, we're not going to. But Adam, under whatever reason it was, chose to disobey with his wife and God. And then we see this sin come into this world. I don't know how you are sometimes. I like to sit and think, what must have it been like to be in the Garden of Eden as a perfect creation of God in a perfect place? Just and you know Adams naming animals and all that kind of stuff and to talk with God in the cool of the day What must have that been like but we understand really quickly that as Adam is there We see that desire that free will and he makes that choice to disobey God. Yes beguiled. Yes trick Whatever you want to put in there or not, but he made that choice to disobey God and sin enters into the world and to be honest with the world's never been the same since Right, it's never been. Matter of fact, everything that we see in this world now, everything that we lay our eyes upon, whether it is a, what we call a pristine mountain peak, or the Grand Canyon, or the oceans. I mean, I like to go and see those places, and I just stare at them, and man, this is amazing, this is beautiful. But even the most beautiful thing that we see here now, it still has the hint of the curse in it, right? You can look at a beautiful ocean, but out there somewhere is a shark ready to bite you. Right, you can go to the Grand Canyon, but I guarantee you, you hang out there long enough, you're gonna find a rattlesnake. Right, you're gonna see these things, you're gonna see the death that is around us, and this enters in, in verse number 12, wherefore, as by one man, sin entered into the world. And notice this, what's the product of sin? Well, death. right and sin brought with it death and those of I will say death was passed on to all men look at verse number 12 is what it says right there and so death passed upon all men for that all have sinned and so when we make those statements right when we tell somebody or we're presenting the gospel of somebody we we ask them are you a sinner it's not that we are putting ourselves on a plateau up here and saying I'm better than you, I've never done those things. It's really, it's an identification, I'm identifying with you. I'm just like you are. I have a sin nature just like you do. Have I murdered anybody? Well, no. Have I done those, what we call the gross sins? Well, maybe not, but the reality is tonight, in my heart of hearts, there has been a desire to disobey God. to lie and those kind of things. I understand that I'm a sin nature, but also not just because of my experience, but because of the explanation of the word of God, for that all have sinned. And tonight, if we're gonna be honest tonight, we have to say, yes, I may not have gone out and done those things tonight, but there is in my life the mark of sin, right? Sin has entered into my life as well. So verse number 12, we see through Adam, sin enters into the world. But here's the most interesting thing. The very man, and I was thinking about this getting things together for this evening. Sin enters into Adam, but yet in the same chapter, we see God clothing them, we see God covering them, right in that picture, the type, and there's animal skins, there's bloodshed, and just how even though, yes, he allowed and he brought sin into the world, so to speak, through Adam, and yet God was still willing to forgive him. God was still willing to cover him. There's that picture of the atonement going on there. and that's a wonderful thing. Then we get down to verses 13 and 14 and I'm, and the Bible says for, now notice what is the beginning of verse number 13? There is a what, a parenthesis. Right, and that parenthesis runs all the way down to the end of verse 17. And tonight, so there is a further explanation here. There's Paul, he's drawing some dots together here to help the Roman believers understand exactly what he speaks. He said, yes, now sin entered into Adam, right? But now, obviously, through what is mentioned here, there's probably been some kickback. There's probably been some, well, here's what I think, Paul. Here's what I think, right? I didn't do the same sin that Adam did, right? Verses 13 and 14, the Bible says, sin is still sin even before the law was given. If you go down to verse number 13, until the law, sin was in the world, but sin was not imputed for where there is no law. Nevertheless, death reigned from Adam to Moses. And so what law is he speaking? Well, he's speaking of the law that Moses would bring forth and give to the nation of Israel. We read in the books of Exodus, Leviticus, Deuteronomy, that law that is given. Well, was there sin before that? Of course there was. Right, because we see it in Adam's life. But then we can also read the book of Genesis. We see sin in Noah's life. Right, we see sin, you go down one after another. I mean, you don't even make it past Adam's children. Cain is slaying his brother. He is murdering his brother. Right, and then you go down to Abraham and Isaac. Right, their life, there was sin in their life. Right, how do you know, preacher? They lied about their wives. Which is a very interesting lie to tell. That is a lie that, to be honest with you, I've never been tempted to tell. I've never been tempted to call my wife my sister. I guess I'm just, I'm gonna keep that joke to myself. Right, but we see that in both of them, right? Abraham does it, Isaac sees the result of it and still chooses to do it his own way, right? Still do it himself. He lies, and you got Jacob that we talked about this morning. He lied, cheated, stole, connived, all that good stuff. And then his children, right? His children were not without sin. And so we understand that sin did not all of a sudden become bad when the law was brought into place because even in those people's lives, when there was sin that was evident, God dealt with it. God called him out on Cain. Where is your brother? Am I my brother's keeper? He dealt with those things and he called it out for what it was. And so he always viewed it as sin. And so there were some that were saying, well, what about those sins prior to the law? And here Paul was saying they were sin. Right, they were sin. Though they were not taking place before, they took place before the law was given, they were still sin. These were all recorded prior to the establishment of giving the law. And then notice verse number 14, it says, nevertheless, death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned. So in essence, if there was no sin, or it didn't count as sin, why did people die between Adam and Moses? Right, because death is the product of sin. And so we see here tonight that Paul is explaining, hey, listen, sin has been an issue since it came into this world through Adam. Even prior to the giving of the law, sin was sin. Then he goes on to say in verse number 14, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression. Now that word similitude there, it means, I wrote it down somewhere, it means in essence be identical to or to look like, right? You say, well, preacher, I never ate the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Well, neither have I, right? But in essence, sin in my life isn't sin just because it isn't identical to what Adam did. Right, it's going along this, but in my heart, I've been disobedient, which is really the heart of what came into Adam's life, was that disobedience to what God had told him not to do. He disobeyed. It may not be identical to Adam's sin, but the reality is, it is still sin tonight. And so there were some that were arguing in that sense, I didn't do exactly what Adam did, therefore, I'm not in the same boat as him. No, the Bible said, for all have sinned. And we see that this evening. And sometimes, and some people will even use verse 14 as a way to justify babies going to heaven. Now here's the thing, and I'm a firm believer that those who die in the womb, those who die before the age of accountability, there's not a specific verse I can turn to tonight, but really we can go on the character of God and firmly believe, and we can even go to David's example, right? When David committed adultery with Bathsheba, right, that baby died. And what did David say? I'll see him again someday. Right, I'll be where he is. Right, so he understood that promise. That's a great verse to go to. But some will come to verse 14 in Romans chapter number five tonight and try to say, here, here it is. And not that I disagree with them. I just think that's a far stretch for this verse. In essence, here's the problem when you try to stretch verses to fit certain things. The more you stretch it, the closer you get to ripping it out of context. Right, and so there's no doubt there's a thought here going on tonight that some believe that, now I firmly believe, right, that a child that has not reached that age of accountability, right, when they die, I believe they go to heaven, right? Just tonight, even our own family has went through that. I firmly believe tonight that David is in heaven. And I believe I'm gonna see him one day. And I believe right now he is being taken care of by the Lord. And that's a wonderful hope that I have this evening. And I'm thankful for that tonight. And it's not a far stretch. I have to come and connect three non-verses in context to get there. But really, we can look on the character of God tonight and see that this evening. But there are some that'll hold this here, that this is verse 14 saying that. And to me, it's a bit of a stretch. I think there's better verses to turn to for that tonight. Then we're gonna see in verse number 15, but not as the offense, so also as the free gift, for if through the offense of one, many be dead. right through Adam's sin because it was started with Adam passed down to man right through what we call our sin nature right we are we are we are not we don't achieve the state of being a sinner once we are we are born and we live for a few years if we are sinners by birth right we are sinners by nature this evening And so the Bible said because of that, death is passed upon many tonight. So we see in verse number 15 that sin brought death to many. Many are dead today, and I'm gonna clarify this this evening when I say it, but many are dead today as a result of sin. I'm not saying that somebody died because they were in some grotesque sin or they were doing some kind of sin in that sense, but really tonight, the Bible said the wages of sin is what? Death. right, that physical death. In essence tonight, it was a result of man and Adam's desire and that being passed down to us or Adam's disobedience being passed down to us. And now we see it all around us, right? And as one who preaches funerals more than I like to, more than I anticipate, to be honest with you, it never gets easier. It never gets to a place where it's like, all right, I'll get done with this, right? Because you're faced with that reality again. That reality of this life is but a vapor, but also you see that result, the physical death that is brought on by sin, right? That curse that is there. And so we see in verse number 15 that many are dead today as a result of sin, right? Because that has been passed down from one man to the next. And then verse number 16, we see the judgment for sin was condemnation, look at verse number 16. And it was not by one that sin, so is the gift, for the judgment was by one to condemnation, right? The judgment, what does it say right there? For the judgment was by one to condemnation, right? In essence tonight, once again, you are not earning your ticket to hell tonight. We understand that because we are sinners, right? We are already under the condemnation. Jesus said that, right? You're condemned already. But the reality is that he doesn't stop there. He said, I've come that you might have life, you might have it more abundantly, and that you might escape that condemnation. You might get up from underneath and have peace, joy, and eternal life and those kind of things. But we understand that that is something that was already, there was a place that was already condemned too. That is the result of Adam's sin, that disobedience. And thus, I wish I could point my finger at it and say, Adam, this is all your fault. But the reality is tonight, I'm accountable for my sin. Those things that I said, those things that I've done, those thoughts that I have, we teach those kids at Good News Club that sin is anything that we say, anything that we do, or anything that we think that goes against the law of God and goes against God's word. And here's the reality tonight. Some of us may not struggle with the things that we say. Some of us may not struggle with the things that we do. As far as I know, y'all haven't gone out there and robbed any banks. committed any murders this week. But how many struggle with our thoughts? That's a battle, isn't it? Right, and we understand that, and that's why Jesus said in the New Testament, if you just in your heart, right, so much your mind, in your heart, if you wanted to murder somebody, it's as if you've done it. Right, man, it's taken to a whole other level, and so it's like, Yes, I could check off the box. I've never murdered anybody. I've never committed adultery. I've never done those things. But man, in my mind and in my thoughts, I wish tonight I could say my thought life has been perfect my entire life, but it has not. And it's somewhere that we all struggle with tonight. And so the Bible says that according to this, we've all sinned and the condemnation and that the judgment for sin was condemnation. Right in verse number 17, we see that death reigns supreme, for if by one man's offense, death reigned by one, right? And we see it all around us, right? And you know, it's one of those, we'll drive through the country to go, we were picking up Raelynn from Camp Jackson yesterday, and driving through the country, and it's like, there are funerals, not funeral homes, but there are cemeteries in the most obscure places. Well, you just see him out of nowhere. Matter of fact, me and TR stopped by the cabinet shop that I used to work at. And when you pull in to the cabinet shop, there's the building and there's a parking lot right there. And right on the other side of that fence is a cemetery. And it was an old family plot. And so I remember the joke was that, you know, that's where you retired at when you got out of the cabinet shop. But we were there the other day and TR said, what is that? And I said, it's a cemetery. He said, oh, I don't know if I want to work here. Right, but we see that's the reality of it, is that it's evident around us. We see it all around and it's a result of sin. So death reigns, in this world, in this time, death reigns supreme. It's one of those few sure things in this world, right? It's important to man what? Wants to die. We understand that this body that we live in, this physical body that we live in, it is going to die one day. Now it's one of those, you know, when I do pass away and I have my funeral, That which is laying in the casket is just the shell of who I was. My skin is not who I am. My personality and all of that is more than just my physical body. But we understand that because of sin, this thing, this lack of better term, carcass, this body is gonna die one day. It's gonna break down. It's the way of the world that we live in. It's the result of the curse tonight. So death reigns supreme. That's why, that's the reality of heaven. There's no death in heaven. Right, that's where we get a new body. There's no death there, there's no sin there. Well, the preacher, why is there no death there? Because there is no sin there. Right, where there is no sin, there is no death. And we're thankful for that tonight. And then verse number 19, one man's disobedience brought all of this in. Look at verse number 19. For as by one man's disobedience, many were made sinners. Right, and that's the reality that we have to keep in mind with ourselves when it comes to our sin, our choices that we make. We don't understand the consequences. How many parents have had that conversation with your children? You have to make a choice, but that's why you need to make a good choice, because you're gonna have to live with the consequences. I don't think Adam, when he partook of that fruit, realized how grave of a situation it was gonna become. Right? What was he going off? Shalt thou surely die? No, you should be like God. Adam said, that's great. but they didn't realize that one act of disobedience, the calls that was gonna come from the snowball that was gonna come from that, and the same thing is true in our life. That's why the Bible said to flee from that stuff, to stay away from it, because we don't understand the end result of what it's actually going to bring into our life. So we see tonight that one man's disobedience brought all of this in. Because Adam sinned and we are of Adam, we are made sinners too. We have that nature, we have that bloodline. Because we are, you know, get on Ancestry.com, go back far enough, eventually you'll run into Adam. You have to do some creative thinking there, but eventually you'll run into Adam. So we see this one man, Adam, and we see by him, by him, by one man, by one man, by one man, all this chaos comes in, all these problems come in, all this death comes in, all this pain comes in, but I'm thankful there was another man. I'm thankful that Romans chapter five doesn't just talk about Adam, it talks about another man by the name of Jesus Christ. So we see number two tonight, this man, the one man, Christ, verse number 15. The Bible said, which is by one man, Jesus Christ has about, what is it, the gift of grace, or the gift by grace. Adam's sin demanded a wage, Christ was given to us by grace. In essence, we must remind ourselves, Christ was not required to come and die on the cross. He could have still been God and never come step foot in this place. He would have still been God had he never given his life on the cross of Calvary, and he's still been righteous, he's still been holy, he's still been all those things that he is tonight, and yet he was willing to come, and he was willing to die for us. He's a gift by grace, right? Grace is a good, a cross is God's riches at Christ's expense. Everything that we have in our life, I am what I am, Paul said, would later say, I am what I am by the grace of God, and I echo that statement in my life, and I'm thankful for the grace of God, and I'm thankful for the gift of grace, which was Jesus Christ. He came and died on the cross of Calvary. Now notice verse number six, this one gift can justify many offenses. Look at verse number 16. No, not as it was by one that sinned, so is the gift, for the judgment was by one to condemnation, but the free gift is of many offenses unto justification. Well, let me ask you, how many is many? And it's wonderful there, because what if your Bible would have said only 12 offenses? Oh, I'd have hit that a long time ago. What if it said a thousand? What if it said five million? Reality is that we'd probably hit all that in our life. But when it says many, it gives us understanding of all. As much as there will be many. Tonight, so we see here tonight that this one gift justifies even those with many offenses. Right, it'd be one, I could understand God being willing to be gracious to me if I only had sinned one time in my entire life. Right, but my life is full of many of them. I'm shamed of it, don't like to talk about it, all those kind of things, but my life is full of many of them. It's not a numerical amount, but an established principle. All of my many sins, and yet tonight, because of one man's gift of his life, I'm justified this evening. I'm forgiven tonight. Notice verse number 17. Those who receive this gift of grace get under a new authority and a new reign. Look at verse number 17. For if by one man's offense death reign by one, much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one Jesus Christ. And that's a wonderful principle there that when God gave you grace, he didn't look at all your sin and say, well, I'm gonna give you one more grace than that. No, he gave you abundance. Right, abundance means more than enough. Right, and I'm thankful that tonight, it's one of those tonight, would you rather just have enough money or abundance of money? Well, of course, I'd have abundance. The reality is tonight, God didn't give you just like, oh, I gotta ease up on that, I don't have too much grace left to give you. No, he gives you abundant grace. And we'll see that again in a later verse tonight. But not just that, because of this gift, not only have we been justified, but now we're under a new authority. Right, there's a new one that is reigning in our life. Right, remember what the Bible tells us later on, that our life is no longer ours? We've been bought with a price, we're under a new authority. Who is that? Well, it is the same one that died for us. It is Jesus Christ the Lord. And now because we're underneath his authority and we have his righteous, we are capable of doing something that we could not do by ourselves. What is that, preacher? Living a righteous life. Living a life that pursues that which is right tonight. Perfect, no, but we can pursue righteousness tonight. Then verse number eight, this one gift is good enough for all men. Look at verse number 18. Therefore, as by the offense of one, judgment came upon all men to condemnation, just as the way that Adam's sin caused condemnation upon all men, look what happens in verse number 18. Even so, by the righteousness of one, the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life. And so in essence of that, what kind of sinner can Jesus save? All of them. How much grace does God have? He has enough to save everybody. He's not willing that any should perish. He made and did what was necessary to be done for every person to get saved, for every person to receive that free gift of salvation. Now he is a perfect gentleman. He is not gonna force anybody to get saved. Matter of fact, God doesn't force anybody to do anything. He gives the opportunity, he'll beckon you, he'll call you, he'll prompt you, he'll lead you, he'll do all of that, but he's gonna leave that decision up to you. He's given us what we call volitional or free will, and we make that choice to obey him, we make that choice to follow him. we make that choice to receive him. I remember in my life, that's what it boiled down to. I'd heard the gospel, I'd heard, I mean, growing up in a religious background, I'd heard all of that. I knew that Jesus died on the cross. I knew that God created the earth in six days. I knew I'd heard all those things. I knew that the Israelites made it out of Egypt through the Red Sea. I mean, I didn't learn that in church. I learned that from the Rugrats. But I'd heard those things all my life, and I knew all that, but I had to get what was here down into here, and what did that take? That took me accepting that free gift, right? It is me admitting and knowing that I'm a sinner, Lord, I'm trusting you. By faith, Lord, the best way I know how, I'm accepting you and asking you to come to my heart and save me. I found out that's exactly what he does. That's exactly how he does it tonight. And so we see tonight that the one gift was good enough for all men. Well, preacher, what about the modern sins, right? What about those sins that took place before he died on the cross of Calvary, or the sins that took place after he died on the cross of Calvary? You gotta realize that every sin that ever took place at one point was in the future. Right, and so when he died on the cross of Calvary, I heard one preacher say that he went all the way to this side of eternity and found all of man's sin on this side and all of man's sin on this side, and on the cross, he bore them all in his body. Right, he died for every sin that's ever been committed. So we understand that upon all men, this gift has been bestowed. Right, God is willing that all should come to know the Lord Jesus Christ tonight. You go down to verse number 19, the Bible said Christ's obedience allows us to be justified or be made righteous. For as by one man's disobedience, many were made sinners. Right, so by the obedience of one, shall many be made righteous. So the same way as that sin nature was passed down to us. And we see this, this is evident in every person's life, you know, and it's one of those, I love little Miss Charlotte, three years old, but I found out that she has the same sin nature that I have. Why? She will try her best to get out anything. Even if she's gotta turn the facts into a lie. And here's the thing, I can remember my life like that. I don't know how that thought came into my mind, but now I realize it was my nature. If I don't tell the truth here, I might be able to get out of this. And so what'd you do, preacher? I told the lie, and I didn't get out of it. Right, but the reality is that that is our nature, and so what was passed down to us from Adam is the same thing Adam did. It's the same thing we see throughout the Old Testament men did. I mean, Abraham, Isaac lied about their wives, all that kind of stuff. And so it's passed down to us. And so the same way by one man, we were made disobedient, we were made sinners. We find out that the same is true when it comes to Christ. Though we're not made sinners, now we are made righteous. And what does that word, justified. We are justified through Christ, in verse number 19. By the obedience of one shall many be made righteous. There again, there's that word many. As many as would receive him, whosoever will. Whoever will come to Christ and say, Lord, I wanna be made righteous. I wanna be justified by your grace through faith. He in no wise cast you out, he won't turn you away. And you come to him in faith, just like I taught that young man a couple weeks ago in my office. I would have had to go through a 10 step plan. We'd have to go through all these different things. I just simply asked him a few questions and he knew the answer to them. And I said, here's simply how it boils out to the book of Romans. Thou shalt confess thy mouth and believe in our heart that God has raised him from the dead. Thou shalt be saved. Thou shalt be justified. Right, so sin may be abounding, verse number 20, but grace does abound much more. Look at verse number 20. Moreover, the law entered that the offense might abound. What does that mean, preachers? The law was given not so man could look at it and say, you know what, if I keep that, I'll be perfect. Not why God gave the law. God gave the law so man would knew they need God. Right, the Old Testament calls it the taskmaster, the schoolmaster, in that sense. And we see that tonight, and so there's people, well, preacher, if I just keep the law, then I shall be justified. Well, let me ask you, how many turtledoves you been sacrificing here lately? We go back to those kind of things tonight, and the reality is that we understand we can't keep it. How can we keep something when we don't know everything about it? We won't have it in memory. And those men in the Old Testament that did, those Pharisees that did know all that stuff, they still got it wrong. Right, because Jesus went and said to you, oh yes, you look, you're like a whitened sepulcher. You look good on the outside, but you're dead on the inside. And so we see tonight, even in the exterior keeping of it, it did not justify them. And so we see here tonight that where sin may be abounding, in verse number 20, moreover the law entered, that the offense might abound, that we would understand how much sin abounds in our life. how prevalent it is there. But verse number 20, but where sin abounded, grace did what? Much more abound. In essence tonight, it's not even close tonight how much, how high your sin is compared to the grace of God. Right, the grace of God is so wonderful and so great and so mighty that when applied to your life, right, sin is no longer in the view. Right, that's how much grace that God has. And sometimes as a Christian, right, God, Satan will come to us and say, God is done with you. God is through with you. How could you mess up again? He'll never forgive you. Reality is tonight, where sin did abound, grace did much more abound. In essence tonight, when you go to God needing grace, he's never gonna say, I'm flat out, I ran out. You're never gonna go to him, the yellow bag will be on the handle of the gas tank. He'll always have more grace. and I'm thankful for that tonight. So sin may be abounded, but grace does much more abound. In verse 21, the reign of grace will have no end. That is, sin reign unto death. Even so, might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. In essence, when we get to heaven, we're not gonna get tired of grace. We're not gonna get to the point where we say, you know what, I've said enough thanks for grace for eternity. I think we could sing Amazing Grace and we'd never get tired of it. Right, we'll never get over the fact of how gracious God was to us. Because right now we enjoy it. And let me ask, has the grace of God ever bowled over in your life? Where you just got beside yourself, you just got beyond thankful, where you just sat back and said, why would God do what he did for me? I don't understand, but I'm so glad that he did. Right, we can't even understand all that tonight. Our mind can't fully grasp the grace of God tonight and how gracious he is, but one day we will. One day we'll understand the half that we don't know we'll know one day. And do you think we're gonna sit back and say, oh, okay. You might, I'm not going to. I'm gonna be ungrateful and thankful, and for all of eternity be given thanks to the grace of God. And so we see here tonight, here's one man, his name was Adam, and through him sin came into this world, it passed upon every man, and because there was sin in this world, death came along with it. And we see that around us all the time. And so we see here's one man named Adam, but thankfully there was what some would call, or maybe been explained, the second Adam. Right, there's the second man who is Christ Jesus. And what Adam messed up, God fixed, right? In the Garden of Eden, man was plunged into sin, but at the cross of Calvary, man was brought out of sin through the sacrifice of Christ. And anybody who believe on him, whosoever call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. And so we see tonight that this justification is the means of Christ. and not on the means of Adam tonight or on the means of men by themselves. It is the gift of God, which is by grace through faith in believing upon the Lord Jesus Christ tonight. By one man, this world was messed up. By another man, this world was saved by his grace.