WWUTT 1237 Justification and Life for All Men? (Romans 5:17-18)

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Romans 5 .18 is beloved by Universalists where it says justification has been given to all men and they say see everybody gets to go to heaven.

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But if you read verse 17 there's no way you can draw that conclusion from verse 18 when we understand the text.

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This is when we understand the text, a daily Bible commentary that we may be equipped for every good work in Jesus Christ our

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Lord. Please tell others about our ministry at www .utt .com.

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Here once again is Pastor Gabe. Thank you Becky. We come back to our study of Romans 5 and we'll pick up where we left off yesterday.

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But let's begin by reading this section again Romans 5 verses 15 through 21.

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The Apostle Paul wrote, But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if many died through one man's trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man

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Jesus Christ abounded for many. And the free gift is not like the result of that one man's sin.

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For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brought justification.

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For if, because of one man's trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man

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Jesus Christ. Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men.

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For as by the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man's obedience the many will be made righteous.

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Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness, leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our

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Lord. So yesterday we basically just got as far as verses 15 and 16.

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Today we pick up in verse 17. For if, because of one man's trespass, and we're still talking about Adam here, contrasting

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Adam with Christ. There's another place in scripture where Paul does this, and that's in 1 Corinthians 15. We'll come to that chapter as well.

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But if, because of Adam's trespass, his disobedience in the Garden of Eden, death reigned through that one man.

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Notice the expression here about death is that it reigned. It means it was inescapable.

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Death rules over us who have descended from Adam, and all having sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, the wages of our sin is death.

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The statement that comes up in Romans 6 .23, the wages of sin is death. So death reigns in us, and Paul will even say that again in Romans 7.

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Death reigns in our members, because we are descended from Adam, who is our federal head.

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Whenever we talk about federal headship, we're incorporating or implying covenant in that.

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So there needs to be an understanding of covenant whenever we use these terms, even like federal headship. Now we in America, in particular, in the

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United States of America, under a constitutional republic, although who knows how long that's going to last anymore, anyway, it's a little difficult for us in the republic in which we live, in the democracy in which we exist, to understand the concept of federal headship.

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Like the president of the United States is not our federal head. Lately, he sure thinks he is, and I think that there's a lot of people that even want him to be with the number of, like the executive orders that he passes.

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This isn't the way law is supposed to be created in the United States. It's supposed to be made by Congress, and then it's interpreted by the

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Supreme Court. But last week you had the Supreme Court make that decision on the Bostock versus Clayton County case in which their decision created law, which is not the

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Supreme Court's job. That's contrary to what the Constitution of the United States says that the Supreme Court is supposed to be doing.

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But in that particular case, they held that Title 7 of the Civil Rights Act, which was passed back in 1964, protects employees here in the 21st century against discrimination because of their sexual orientation or gender identity.

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No one had that in mind at all when the Civil Rights Act was passed back in 1964.

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But the Supreme Court decided that is what that means. And so what they did in the

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Bostock versus Clayton County decision is they created law. And the law that they created is going to be totally contrary to things that the

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Constitution actually protects, like the freedom of religion. So what we're going to start to see in the

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United States is challenges against churches, Christian institutions, things like that, parachurch organizations, centers of higher learning, like you're talking colleges, seminaries, universities that are

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Christian in nature, their beliefs, the principles on which they operate.

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All these things are going to start to be challenged now, thanks to this Bostock versus Clayton County case. And I'm hearing that the the effect of this is even way worse than what we're theorizing right now.

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Time will tell. We'll see. But what we are as a constitutional republic may be coming to an end.

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So it's difficult for us in the U .S. to kind of wrap our minds around this concept of federal headship.

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But in a kingdom, it's certainly understood the king is the federal head of his kingdom.

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If the king decides to make war against another kingdom, two kings decide they're going to war against one another.

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Those two nations are at war because of the decision the king made.

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This is federal headship. We have references to federal government, but it's just not the same in a republic like ours.

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And for most people who are listening, maybe so with you as well. I suppose if you're listening to me from Great Britain, maybe you have a little more of a concept of this.

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But even there, the the monarch in Great Britain and I suppose the queen of Australia, too, as well.

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Isn't that right? Queen Elizabeth the second. Anyway, the the reigning monarch in Great Britain is is not an absolute monarchy.

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It's a constitutional monarchy. So she doesn't have the kind of authority like we're talking

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King David would have or Solomon or any of the other kings that you read about in the Old Testament. But this is the idea of federal headship, that the king makes all the decisions for his kingdom and whatever a king decides, he's making that decision for his entire country.

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And so this is the case also with Adam and with Christ. Adam is our federal head.

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He's the federal head of everybody born of the seed of Adam. He was not Christ's federal head.

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The difference we were talking about yesterday, where Paul talks about if many died through one man's trespass, well, that wouldn't be

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Christ because he was not born of the seed of Adam. So it's everybody but Christ, where Paul says, for if many died through one man's trespass, the one man is

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Adam. And as his federal headship reigns over all of mankind, so everybody who was born under the federal headship of Adam receives the same curse that was upon Adam.

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And like I said, this has to do with covenant. Federal headship refers to the representative of a group that is united under that lineage or covenant.

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So a country's president may be considered to be a federal head, but not exactly.

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Not like we would consider it to be in a monarchy. But he does represent or speak on behalf of that nation to the rest of the world.

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Just the way that a presidency works, at least in the United States, he doesn't operate with the same function as a king.

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So you talk about a king declaring war on another nation, the president actually can't do that. Congress is the one that declares war on another nation.

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So if anything, maybe you could say Congress is our federal head, but even then, not really. Anyway, so all this to say that sometimes a little difficult for us to wrap our minds around this concept.

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But during the Old Testament period and even in the New Testament period, this was fairly well understood.

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As Paul is talking about this here, this isn't so deep a concept that the members of the church in Rome couldn't wrap their minds around it.

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Now Peter certainly says in 2 Peter chapter three, he says that the apostle Paul talks about some deep things that the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction like they do the rest of the scriptures.

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So the things that Paul writes about are indeed difficult to understand. But it wasn't like the

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Christians in the church in Rome couldn't relate to the picture that Paul is painting here about Adam being our federal head.

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And then in Christ, we are under new federal headship. And that being Christ, who has forgiven us of our sins and justified us before the father.

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So now we are not of that nation that is fallen and coming to destruction, which is everybody born of Adam.

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But instead, we are of the victorious kingdom that is being expanded and will ultimately come to reign and put all of the enemies of God under his feet.

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This is the contrast that we see going on here. And all of that implied in what

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Paul is talking about regarding the one man's trespass. Death reigned through that one man.

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Death reigned. So in the federal headship, you can't decide you're not going to be a part of this kingdom anymore. If you're born in that kingdom, you're under that king.

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So the same with Adam, if we're born in the line of Adam, you can't decide, well, I'm not a sinner. Well, yet you are.

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You're born of the seed of Adam and you are born into sin. You're born under the same curse.

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You have the same nature that Adam does, just like pigs that are born of a pig only do what pigs do.

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Cows that are born of a cow only do what cows do. And so people who are born of the line of Adam, we do what

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Adam did. We have the same fallen nature that he had because of his sin against God and the curse that was placed upon him when he rebelled against God is upon us as well.

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So because of one man's trespass, death reigned through that one man. Much more.

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Much more. Now, see, those are good words that we read there. It's bad news to hear because of one man's trespass.

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Death reigned through that one man. That's bad news. But now here's the good news. Much more.

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Will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man,

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Jesus Christ? So notice the contrast in reign that's happening there. So we have we have death reigning.

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Death reigns over us, all of us who are born in Adam. But if we're born again in Christ, we reign in life.

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Nothing reigns over us. Death reigns over us, born in Adam.

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We reign in life, born again in Christ. Right? That's a beautiful picture that Paul lays out there in just one verse.

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You could preach sermon after sermon just on that statement. Much more will those who receive the abundance of grace.

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Much more. And those two words together are such wonderful news to hear because,

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I mean, how great is our sin? And it goes back generations, thousands of years, all the way back to Adam.

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Sin and death has been reigning since the Garden of Eden. So it's terrible news to hear about death reigning over us and sin even reigning over us and our members.

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But then to hear much more. So it doesn't matter that we have thousands of years of sin piled on top of us and a sin nature that we in our own power cannot escape.

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We're born under the federal headship of Adam. You can't change kingdoms. You're born under him. What has happened to him is what's happening to you.

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So you can't you can't decide that you're just going to escape that federal headship. So Paul delivers this good word much more.

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Those things that have had power over you in the past don't even compare to the power that Christ has and is now poured into you through his

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Holy Spirit so that you might reign in life. Much more will those who receive the abundant grace and the free gift of righteousness.

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See, righteousness is very, very important here. He's not just saying, hey, if you believe in Jesus, you reign in life.

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He's also saying that by following Christ, you live righteously. You're no longer enslaved to your sin and the passions of your flesh.

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You've been set free from those things with a new will and desire to please

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God rather than your own flesh. You are going after things that led to death.

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But in Christ, you're pursuing those things that are life, not that lead to life.

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Life has been given to you in Christ. You are pursuing those things that are life. So now you reign in life through the one man,

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Jesus Christ, who has set you free from the bondage of sin and death to live righteously unto

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God with your whole heart, soul, mind, and strength.

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Amen. Is that not good news? The gospel in Romans 5, 17.

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Let's go on. Let's see if we can get another verse, attach another verse onto this here. Verse 18, therefore,

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Paul says, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men.

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Now remember yesterday I said to watch the adverbs because Paul was being very particular with his adverbs where we read in verse 15, if many died, if many died through one man's trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man,

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Jesus Christ abounded for many. So many died and that being everybody but Jesus.

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And so then through Christ, the free gift by the grace of that one man,

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Jesus Christ abounded for many, not everyone, but many, many will be saved.

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And when you look in the book of Revelation, you see many are saved. I know sometimes it can feel a little depressing.

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You're looking around at all the evil going on in the world and you probably even have experience watching friends fall away from the faith.

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And it seems like your church might even be backsliding altogether. And so sometimes as Christians, we can feel a little alone and you might pray unto the

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Lord the same way that Elijah prayed when he said, God, I alone, I'm all that's left.

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And the Lord responded to Elijah, dude, I've got 7 ,000 that have not bowed the knee to Baal.

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So there are others. There are many others who have not bowed the knee to the idols and the ways of this world.

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And so we'll take heart in that reading in the book of Revelation and seeing the multitudes that the apostle

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John says cannot even be counted. I looked and saw a multitude, you couldn't even count praising

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God around the throne forever and ever. So there are indeed going to be many.

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And we will be astonished at the work that God accomplished in the remnant that he reserved for himself.

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Now it's certainly going to be a smaller number than those who are going to condemnation.

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That's very sad to think about. It's grievous to think about. But Jesus said in Matthew seven, wide is the way that leads to destruction.

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And many will find that path because that's the easy way, but narrow is the way and long is the road that leads to life.

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And few will find that because that's the difficult path. So we're told, we're told to enter through the narrow gate a way that, that is less traveled that few will go to.

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So that's, that's definitely how we're seeing the scheme of eternity here. When God says he's reserved a remnant, he's talking about a minority, but it's still going to be a huge, huge number.

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And we are going to be amazed at the number of people that God had saved for himself.

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When we get to eternity, people that we're going to be seeing, saints that have gone before us, and even saints that are going to come to know the

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Lord after you're gone. It's going to be a massive multitude, the body of Christ together, praising

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God for all eternity. It's going to be wonderful. It is such a thing to look forward to that we store our treasures in heaven where Christ is seeking the things that are above.

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Let us do that more and more. So anyway, coming back to understand the adverbs, the adverbs that Paul has chosen here, many died through the trespass, but many are saved by the grace that comes through Christ.

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But then notice the adverbs that he uses in verse 18, therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men.

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So now he's coming back to using the word all, therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men.

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So one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men.

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Now this verse, Romans 5, 18 is beloved by universalists because they love to use this verse to say, look, one act of righteousness leads to justification for all men.

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So everyone is justified because of the sacrifice of Christ and everyone gets to go to heaven.

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That's how they'll interpret that verse. But once again, the adverbs are important here, and Paul has chosen these words specifically for a reason.

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There is a context in which these words are given, therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men.

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That's all who received the condemnation that was handed down by Adam.

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You got to look at that in context with verse 17, for if because of one man's trespass death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive, those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man,

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Jesus Christ. Even going back to verse 16, and the free gift is not like the result of that one man's sin for the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brought justification.

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Remember that contrast. We didn't get a gift from Adam. You were born into the condemnation that was the result of the rebellion that he had committed against God.

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So that was upon you from the time you were born, from the time you were, the moment you were conceived.

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But God has given us a gift by his grace, and that is

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Jesus Christ. So remember the contrast that we talked about yesterday between having been born in condemnation, but then born again because of the gift of God's free grace.

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So again, it's about receiving here. Verse 18, therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, you were born into that condemnation and that's everybody.

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So one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men who have received it, the gift that was given to everyone who receives that gift.

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Again, verse 17, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man,

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Jesus Christ. Everyone who receives that gift is saved.

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Not one person will be lost. Everyone who is born under Adam will perish unless God intervenes and pours out his grace upon you and gives you regeneration, faith, repentance, justification, righteousness, sanctification, glorification to everyone whom

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God has given these. They are saved. All who receive it are saved.

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Everyone born of Adam will perish. Everyone born again of Christ will be saved.

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That's what's being said there in Romans 5, 18. It's not of use for universalism.

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In context, it is strictly saying, all born of Adam will die, all born again of Christ will live.

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Amen. Heavenly Father, we thank you again for the goodness of your word and the gospel that we see in just every verse, how beautiful it is to behold these things and study them intently so that we may know you and we may rejoice in the promises that you have given to us in Christ Jesus, our

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Lord. May the doctrines that we have read today fill our hearts with joy and we go throughout our day knowing we've been saved by faith in Jesus Christ and give us those opportunities to live righteously unto you, turning from sin, desiring to do those things which are pleasing unto our heavenly

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Father who loves us. We pray these things in Jesus' name, amen. Pastor Gabe keeps a regular blog, sharing personal thoughts, alerting readers to false teachers, and offering commentary on the church and social issues.

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You can find a link to the blog through our website, www .utt .com. Thank you for listening and join us again tomorrow as we continue our study in God's Word when we understand the text.