Abundance of Grace

Scripture Reading: Romans 5:12-21

Today we're picking up in the very next verse. We're going to be in Romans 5. And we're going to begin reading there in verse 12. The title for today's message is abundance of grace. Don't you like that? Abundance of grace.

We're going to Romans 5 beginning in verse 12. I invite anybody that would like to stand with me in honor of the reading of the word of God.

Romans chapter 5 beginning in verse 12, the word of God says, "Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men because all sinned. For until the law, sin was in the world. But sin is not imputed when there is no law. Nevertheless, death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who had not sinned according to the likeness of the transgression of Adam, who is a type of him who was to come. But the free gift is not like the offense. For if by the one man's offense many died, much more the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, abounded to many. And the gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned. For the judgment which came from one offense resulted in condemnation, but the free gift which came from many offenses resulted in justification. For if by the one man's offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the one Jesus Christ. Therefore, as through one man's offense judgment came to all men resulting in condemnation, even so through one man's righteous act the free gift came to all men resulting in justification of life. For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one man's obedience many will be made righteous. Moreover, the law entered that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more. So that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."

Let's pray. God, we love you and I just thank you and praise you for this day. God, I thank you for your word and I thank you for the way your word penetrates our hearts. God, as we read this passage today where we're reminded we're all sinners, I thank you for your grace. I thank you how you are abundant in grace. God, we love you and we just ask you to use this time for your purpose and for your glory. And Lord, I do pray if there's a person in this sanctuary today that hasn't yet fully surrendered their life to Jesus, to you, Lord, I pray today would be the day that they call on you. It's in Jesus name we pray. All God's people say, "Amen." Amen.

The Origin of Sin – Through One Man

That passage you can really dig into that passage for a while. Amen. I would encourage you go in the seat and dig into those verses. But you know, one thing that I thought of as that passage opens up there in Romans 5:12 is Paul under the inspiration of God, he takes us back to the origin of sin. It says there in verse 12, "Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world."

He Paul there takes us back to Adam. Takes us back to the book of Genesis where we see sin first came into this world. You know, if we go back to Genesis in Genesis 1, you'll read about God creating the heavens and the earth. And we see that God created man, the first man, Adam. And you can tell when Paul talks about man, that Adam was a man, a literal man that God created, the first man. And then in Genesis 2, we know that God says it's not good for man to live alone, so I'll make for him a help. And we remember what it says in Genesis 2, and I'm paraphrasing, but God took a rib out of man, and out of it he made woman. And in Genesis 2, we see the first man and the first woman, and they live together, and they're there in the garden. It's a beautiful picture of paradise. No sin.

But then when we flip the page to Genesis 3, what happens? Satan, that serpent of old comes into the picture. It says there, we'll get back to this passage in Romans 5, but I want to go back because Paul is referring to Genesis 3 when he talks about through one man sin came into the world. So I want to go there to Genesis 3 beginning in verse one. We're going to read some of this passage. It says, "Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, 'Has God indeed said, "You shall not eat of every tree of the garden"?' And the woman said to the serpent, 'We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden, but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, you shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.' Then the serpent said to the woman, 'You will not surely die.'"

Satan lied. For God knows that in the day you eat of it, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both of them were opened and they knew that they were naked and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings.

Again, Romans 5:12 takes us back to Genesis 3 where there in Genesis 3, we read about how sin entered this world. We read about the origin of sin and we see Satan, that serpent of old, tempted Eve. And then Eve gave into the temptation and gave into flesh and she ate and she told Adam as well and Adam sinned and Adam ate.

You know, just sitting on this chapter in Genesis 3 where we read about sin entering this world for just a moment before we get back to Romans again because Romans takes us back to Genesis 3. One thing I think we should be reminded of when we think about sin and we think about sin entering this world is we have an enemy. We have a very real enemy, Satan. And Satan does not want you and me to walk with God. We've got to be on guard against the enemy. Amen. As believers.

And listen, Satan's tactics, they haven't changed. Satan uses a lot of the same tactics that we see in Genesis 3. One thing that Satan did, you know what Satan did to Eve? He made her doubt God's word. Eve said what God said and Satan made her doubt the authority of God's word. Hey, God gave us his word for a reason. Amen. Amen. This is written by men, but it's inspired by God. Satan will try to tell you it's not. Satan will try to tell you the Bible's not the authority of the word of God, but it is. Just like it says in 2 Timothy 3, all scripture is given by inspiration of God.

So, one tactic Satan will use to try to attack you is Satan will try to make you doubt God's word. And when you see that, don't give in. You know what God's word says or dig into the word so you know what God's word. Satan will also just lie. I mean, Satan said, "You will not surely die." Yet, we know sin led to death. The wages of sin is what? Is death. And in Romans 5, it says that in this passage that sin led to death for all of us.

And I also hope we're reminded if we're reading that, be on guard against the flesh cuz we got flesh. And but if we're a believer, we've got the Holy Spirit inside of us. We got to feed the God inside of us. Starve the flesh. Starve the enemy. Praise God. What a blessing to see, Sister Meyer. Praise God. Amen.

But listen, Satan will try to attack us and we've got to be on guard. And what you see for the flesh, you see Eve, she what? She saw that the food looked good and it was pleasant to the eyes, so she ate. Hey, we've got to be on guard against the flesh. Just because we see something and it looks good, that doesn't mean it is good. And the Holy Spirit will convict you of sin. You know if you're in sin, if you're a believer, and God's word tells us what sin is. And what Satan will also do, Satan will try to make you justify it like it's no big deal and get you just inching a little more closer to going over the cliff.

Be on guard in this passage where we read about the origin of sin and we read about sin entering this world through one man and condemnation coming and death coming as a result of it be on guard against Satan and be on guard against our flesh because remember this about sin sin has consequences it says there in verse 12 of our passage from Romans 5, therefore just as through one man sin entered the world and death through sin and thus death spread to all men because all sinned.

And you know when someone thinks about well why because Adam sinned did it make me become a sinner and why because Adam sin did it make me become a sinner and have to die. Well, if we say that those of us that think it's unjust of God to lump them into Adam's sin, you might also consider whether you think it's unjust of God to lump you into Christ's righteousness. Cuz yeah, we're all born into sin because of the original sin. But praise God, we have a way to be forgiven of sin. Amen.

But sin has consequences. In Genesis 3, we start to read about some of the consequences that Adam and Eve faced. And it reminds us of some of the consequences we face when we have sin in our lives. It says in Genesis 3:8, "And they heard the sound of the Lord God after they ate of the tree of the fruit. And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day. and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden." Why did they hide themselves from God? Because they were ashamed of their sin.

And I hope we remember that today that if we're saved and we've been forgiven of sins, we aren't supposed to live in sin. And if we have sin in our lives, we'll be ashamed, right? If we have sin in our lives, they hid from God. You won't be as effective for God. If you have regular sin in your life, you might even be ashamed to pray. If you have regular sin in your life, you might even be ashamed to share Jesus cuz you know you're living in sin.

Sin has all kinds of consequences. And one of them for the believer is it affects your fellowship with the Lord. If a believer is living in a state of habitual sin, and you know it if you are, you know it if you got things in your life right now today that don't need to be there. And if you've got them in, and I say you know it because if you're truly a believer, the Holy Spirit is in you and the Holy Spirit will convict you.

But if you've got that in your life, one consequence is it will affect your relationship with the Lord. And one's consequence is it will cause you to drift from God. So, I hope it reminds us as believers, that's not who I'm meant to be. I'm not meant to live in sin.

The scripture in Genesis 3 goes on to say, "Then the Lord called to Adam and said to him, where are you?" So he said, "I heard your voice in the garden and I was afraid because I was naked and I hid myself." And then Genesis 3:11 and he said, "Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded that you should not eat?" Then the man said, "The woman whom you gave me to be with, she gave me of the tree and I ate." So, you know, that's just what a man will do, right? Blame the woman. He blames the woman. Guys, we ought to be better than that. If we mess up, we ought to own it.

But we do that, don't we? It's her fault. No, it's your fault. But hey, before we jump on the man, the woman kind of does something, too. She said, and the Lord God said the woman, "What is this that you have done?" The woman said, "The serpent deceived me and I ate." It's Satan's fault. You know, no, it's your fault. It's your fault. We if we mess up, we got to first realize it, recognize it, admit it, own it, and say, "Lord, I'm sorry. Forgive me."

But watch what happens about we see consequences of the first sin in Genesis 3:16. First, God punishes Satan, the serpent. Then in verse 16, to the woman, he said, "I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception. In pain, you shall bring forth children." And I've heard women say birth is possibly the closest thing to death anybody could ever experience. It all started with sin. That pain says I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception. In pain you shall bring forth children. And then your desire shall be for your husband and he shall rule over you.

And then verse 17, then to Adam he said, because you have heeded the voice of your wife and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you, saying, you shall not eat of it. Cursed is the ground for your sake. In toil, you shall eat of it all the days of your life. Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you, and you shall eat of the herb of the field. In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground. For out of it you were taken, for dust you are, and to dust you shall return.

We read there what Paul's talking about in Romans 5, where that first sin from the first man led to death for all mankind. And again, Romans says this in Romans 6:23, for the wages of sin is death. There are consequences to sin. And some consequences are in our daily life on this earth. It will it's not worth living in sin. You will if you're a believer, you'll be miserable because that's not who you're supposed to be. And sin hurts people. Sin has far-reaching it affects it has a far reach of affecting people. Sin will really hurt others and on top of that it'll hurt your relationship with God. And sin also has consequences for eternity. Amen. Sin keeps us from being right with God. And sin keeps us from heaven if it's not addressed.

The Free Gift – Abundance of Grace

But praise God, in this passage and in other parts of the Bible, we're reminded that God gave us a solution to our sin problem. We are sinners. We are born into sin. But God gave us a solution to our sin problem. In Romans 5 verse 15, it says, "But the free gift is not like the offense." That word gift, I believe it's used six times in these verses and I believe it's used as free gift three times. It says, "But the free gift is not like the offense. For if by the one man's offense many died, much more the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one man Jesus Christ abounded to many." And the gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned. Talk about Adam. For the judgment which came from one offense resulted in condemnation. Adam's sin led to sin on all of us, led to death for all of us. But the free gift which came from many offenses resulted in justification.

Verse 17. For if by the one man's offense, death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the one Jesus Christ. God, he gave us a solution to our sin problem, you know. And it's a free gift. I remember going to with Crystal, we went to the Billy Graham Museum and the kids and I remember pulling up in the parking lot. There's like a gate, so a person comes up to you who manages that parking lot. And I remember saying something to him like, "How much do we need to pay?" And he's like, "Pay? Pay?" The price has been paid. It's a free gift. Jesus has paid the price. It's free. It's a free gift. We don't need to pay anything. God paid the price by sending Jesus down from earth to die for our sins. Jesus already paid the price. Amen. Jesus paid the price when they beat him and scourged him and beat him so much that the prophet says he was unrecognizable. Amen. Jesus paid the price by hanging on that cross, letting them nail him to the cross and hanging there. He was hanging for our sin. Jesus paid the price by hanging there and dying for our sins. The price has been paid. We've just got to receive the free gift.

And it talks there about how the free gift has come and we're justified. You see, we can't get to heaven in the sin that we're in. But God made a way we could get to heaven by sending his son Jesus Christ to die for us. And he made a way that we can be justified. As sinful as I am, as sinful as you are, he makes a way that those sins can be wiped clean. And it's a gift. It's a free gift. And when I think about that, another word, gift is used, I think, six times in this passage. Another word that's used, I believe, five times is grace. And in one place, it says abundance of grace. God is so full of grace. God is abundant in grace. Amen.

When I think about the free gift that came from Jesus, even though we were sinners, even though we were born into sin, even though sin leads to death, even though we're not deserving of heaven because we're sinful, God is so abundant in grace that he makes a way that you and I can be forgiven of sins through faith in Jesus. Watch what it says in verse 17. For if by the one man's offense, Adam, death reigned through the one, much more are those who receive abundance of grace. You got to receive it. It's a free gift, but you got to receive it. A lot of people when you preach Jesus will get mad and say, "No, no, no, no. You got to receive Jesus. You don't get to heaven by being good." We are not that good. There's no way I could ever get to heaven no matter how good I am. There's zero possibility cuz I'm not that good. I'm still like filthy rags like Isaiah says compared to a holy God. None of us are that good. Not one of us. I hope we know that, right? I mean, we know that. But a lot of people will think they're going to get to heaven because they were nice. We should be nice. When we trust in Jesus, we should be good. But that's not what gets to heaven. It's by his grace we are saved through faith. Amen. Amen. God is so abundant in grace.

And I love that verse. But where sin abounded because boy do we sin. But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more. It's pretty incredible that God's God is so amazing. Amen. There's a reason that song is called Amazing Grace. Because God's grace is amazing. To make a way that as sinful as we are, it can be wiped clean. That's abundant grace. God is abundant in grace. But we got to receive him. We've got to receive Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. It says there in 1 Corinthians 15:22, "For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ, all shall be made alive." When we trust in the Lord, we will be made alive and spend eternity in heaven with Jesus.

Hey, take a minute. I don't want you to think too hard about this because I know it'll be a little ashamed, but think about some things that you've done that you aren't proud of. Think about some things you've done that maybe you don't want others to know. I feel like everybody in this room has done things that you're not proud of. Everybody. Cuz we are all sinners. We are all sinners. I don't know about you, but there's many things I'm not proud of. But you know what? I'm forgiven. Amen. I'm saved. Saved by the blood of Jesus. That's amazing to me. God's grace to say, you know what? To know that he sent Jesus, his son, to die for us. To know that Jesus was in the garden in agony. And I know Satan was trying to cheat, tempt Jesus to not go to the cross, but Jesus prayed. And Jesus said, "Father, if possible, let this cup pass, but not my will be done, your will be done." It's amazing to me to think that what Jesus did for God demonstrates his own love toward us, and that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

It's amazing to me to think about what God has done. And I'm so thankful because, you know, I know this without a shadow of a doubt. I know that I gave my life to Jesus. I was out yesterday at a big race that my dad started 22 years ago. It's called the St. Patrick's Low Tide Run. It raises money for families, local families in New Hanover County that have cancer. Gives it directly to those families. They raised over $100,000 this year. Oh, great. And every year it goes to local people. And when my dad died, I directed a couple years. And I haven't done anything with it for all these years since then. But every year they ask me if I'll start it the way my dad did with Irish blessing and I say yeah but I'm going to share a few words too. Is that okay? They say yeah.

Just yesterday I was out there 3 2900 participants and I so glad I got to tell everybody I gave him a lot. You know when I think of cancer I think of death. I think about my mom dying and that we're going to all one day die. But God is so full of grace that he made a way that someone as sinful as me and you could be forgiven. And I shared that yesterday just not far from here where I was at yesterday on the shores of Carolina Beach. I gave my life to Jesus. I had a moment where I said, "I'm surrendering. I'm trusting in you, Jesus, as Lord and Savior." Have you done that? Have you made that decision? Because we've got to receive his grace. Have you received his abundant grace? God is abundant in grace. Have you received his abundant grace? Because see, the sin problem we got that leads to death, we can't get to heaven without receiving his abundance grace.

I praise God for the peace that I've got cuz I know I gave my life to Jesus. I had a moment where I was I gave my life to the Lord and I was changed. I started to want to live for the Lord. And I've made mistakes since. I'm not perfect. None of us are. None of us are. But you know what? But when we make that decision, God forgives us. He wipes away our sins and we're promised eternity in heaven. Have you received his abundant grace? God is abundant in grace, but you got to receive it.

I love what Jerry does a great job with the bulletin every week and a lot of other things. And I love the verse she's got in there today. Ephesians 2:8-9. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. It is by grace through faith you are saved. Have you received his abundant grace? And if not, what are you waiting on?

And just to close, if you're saved, if you know that you know that you know you have trust in Jesus and you're saved and you're going to heaven one day, are you living in a way that shows you have received his abundance grace? Are you living in a way that shows you have received his grace? Are you living in a way that shows you've trust in the Lord? Listen, if we've trusted in the Lord and God has wiped away our sins, that's incredible, right? Shouldn't we show it in the way we live? Shouldn't there be evidence? You see, so many times, so many people, you'll look at them and you can't tell a difference between somebody that says they're a Christian and somebody that says they're not.

Guys, if we receive God's abundant grace, there should be evidence of it in our life. We shouldn't have to tell somebody we're a Christian. They should know it by the way we live. Amen. And guys, when we are living for Jesus and we're on fire for Jesus, God is going to work. God will work. You know, when we have received his abundance grace, when we're born again, and we know that we're rescued, that even though we're sinners, even though we were born into sin, even though we deserve hell, but we are going to go to heaven, it should we should see that in our lives. We should be living in a way that shows we're saved. We should be living for the Lord, not for the world.

And today, if there's something in any of our lives and we're saved and we know it doesn't need to be there, we should say, "Lord, I know that's not who I'm meant to be." I mean, this message, I'm not saying this to judge anybody as a believer that's got sin in their life. I'm just saying it. I think you know it. You should know it that if you're saved, that's not who you're meant to be. There should be evidence that we're a Christian in our life. And you know, something else that I think of, and I'll close with this, is when I think about the believer and how there should be evidence of it, I think about the fact that we should be telling this world about Jesus.

We should be taking every chance we get to tell this world about Jesus. And I'll just be honest, when you do that, be ready. The enemy will try to discourage you. You know, a week or two back, I got the opportunity, first time I was at a scouting event since I answered the call to preach. It's been 14 years to just pray before their big fundraising event. And I remember I shared Jesus. I shared Jesus that day. And I remember the enemy tried to attack me, discourage. The enemy will attack, but when the enemy is attacking, you know, you're being used by God.

We should look for every opportunity we get to share Jesus. And I want to challenge myself to share Jesus more and more and more because I can do so much better. But one of the things we should absolutely see in our lives if we've been saved by his abundant grace is we're telling people about the Lord. And again that idea if we go God's church will grow. The more we go for the Lord, the more we go out and invite people to church, the more we go out and more importantly share Jesus, the more God's kingdom is going to grow. When God's people when we are on fire for the Lord and we're telling people about the Lord and not judging people just tell them God loves you and sharing the gospel with them. Hey Wilma just came up before church she wanted a list of the Bible verses some of the Bible verses that can help when sharing the gospel we got some out there and we got those out there if anybody else does if anybody else just wants to start sharing Jesus more. Hey, it's such a blessing when you start to memorize some scripture. You might memorize John 3:16. That one verse you can share the gospel from that one verse. And there's so many more verses the Romans Road and so many more. But when we have trusted in the Lord and where we're saved, there should be evidence of it in our walk. And we should be absolutely telling this world about Jesus. And as pastor here, I'm encouraged because I'm seeing and hearing of more people that are telling people about Jesus. And I want to tell you, I want to keep doing better. And we've got go time once a month, but this is the reality. Go time should be all the time. We should be always going for the Lord, right? We should be going for the Lord wherever we go. And we're human and we're never going to do it perfect. But when we keep encouraging one another in that, we're going to do it more. And I want to tell you, go time is one way we go for knocking on doors. And if there's ever a time you want to knock on doors and it's on another day and you want somebody to go with you, if I can, I will. I want to go every chance I get. And I hope we all want to encourage each other to go for the Lord more and more. You might just want to go and go to some place down the street and tell people about the Lord. You might want to go down to the boardwalk at Carolina Beach and tell people about the Lord. I don't know. But we ought to absolutely go for the Lord.

Closing Prayer and Invitation

God, I just thank you and I praise you for your abundant grace. You are so good. Lord, we just praise you for how full of grace, how full of mercy you are for sinners like us. Truly, your grace is amazing. And God, I just thank you so much for saving me as messed up and as flawed in as much as I've sinned. Thank you. Thank you for having people share the truth of the gospel with me even when I got angry, even when I didn't receive it. And thank you for not giving up on me and continuing to have my wife and others share Jesus with me. And God, help me to be more faithful to share Jesus with others. And Lord, I pray you help us, those of us that have received Jesus, received your grace, your abundant grace. I pray we leave here recharged today to live for you and to go out and tell everybody we can the good news of Jesus Christ.

I just want to take a moment to just have a chance for a moment of invitation, a moment to respond. If you've got something that you just need to lay down at the altar, I invite you to respond. I don't know the ways that God's working in each heart here, but I know that as God's working, it's always best to respond. And maybe today you just maybe there's someone that you haven't been loving that's in this place. You just want to go up and love on and say, "I love them. I want our friendship to be restored." You know, maybe today you got some burden that you just need to lay down. You're overwhelmed with something. Maybe you need to lay something at the altar and just come and kneel and pray. And maybe others will come and pray around. I don't know.

Right now, I just want to give a chance, however God is working, for you to respond as God leads you. And if you need to come and lay something down, you get up now. You don't need to wait. Come on. There's something you need to put down. If you need to get up and pray with somebody, go and pray with them. Let the Holy Spirit be free in the Holy Spirit. Go respond. And today, if you're here and you've never fully given your life to Jesus, I pray you do it today.

Is God dealing with you today about salvation? Maybe you've been in church a long time, but you know you're not saved. You can give your life to Jesus today, this very day. Take a moment just everybody pray right now where you're at. Just close your eyes and just pray. If you need to come to the altar, come. Just want to ask, is God here dealing with you about fully surrendering your life to Jesus today? If that's you, I just want to invite you. Hold up your hand. You might have grown up in church all your life. Hold up your hand. I won't call on you. I will pray. Maybe God's dealing with you about rededicating, coming back to Jesus, whatever it is right now, just keep praying. And if God's got a decision on your heart, I just want to encourage you, respond to Jesus. Respond to the Lord. That might be a calling. That might be to get baptized. That might be to do homeless ministry. I don't know.

If God is dealing with you about something, respond today. I'm here if I can pray for you about anything just right now as we continue to pray. If there's a decision that you want to share, maybe you know you've known about the Lord, but you've never surrendered and you want to fully surrender today, I want to encourage you to do that. I want to encourage you to come forward to make it public. You go to Jesus, but I want to encourage you to come publicly so we can celebrate it. Maybe it's you want to rededicate. Maybe you're a believer and there's something else. Whatever it is, right now, I invite you to respond as God leads you. If you want to come and pray around this altar, you come. Whatever God's leading to, you come.