WWUTT 1233 Because All Sinned? (Romans 5:14)

We are born into sin. In fact, in sin did my mother conceive me, according to Psalm 51 .5.

But we are born again into righteousness by faith in Christ, when we understand the text.

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Here's your teacher, Pastor Gabe. Thank you, Becky. We come back to our study in Romans chapter 5.

This week we've been looking at verses 12 through 14. The apostle Paul wrote to the church that was in Rome, Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned.

For sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law.

Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come.

So this week we've been looking mostly at verse 12, because this really is the passage that gives us that understanding of the doctrine of original sin.

And this is an essential doctrine. It is necessary for us to understand that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, Romans 3 .23.

And this is not just because everyone has committed sin. It's also because everybody is born into sin.

You sin because you're a sinner. And you're also a sinner because you sin.

It goes both ways. You were born with this sin nature. And this as a result of having been born in the line of Adam, who is our federal head.

As God made a covenant with Adam, so we had made a covenant with all of Adam's offspring. And when Adam broke that covenant, so all of the offspring suffered as well.

But that doesn't mean that we can point the finger back at Adam and say that all of the chaos that we experience in this world as a result of the curse is all his fault.

For we are willing participants in Adam's sin. For as it says here, death spread to all men because all sinned.

Even in infancy, we are sinners and commit sin. Now, we refer to infants and babies as innocent.

And I think that there's a certain sense in which that's true. And it's not wrong to say that. They have no knowledge of sin.

They have no cognition of doing anything wrong. But that doesn't mean that an infant doesn't sin.

And they are conceived in sin. They are born sinners because they are conceived of the seed of Adam.

David even said in Psalm 51 .5, Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.

Remember that Romans 6 .23 says the wages of sin is death. Don't babies die in utero when they're still in the womb?

Certainly they do. How would that be possible if they were sinless? Because if the wages of sin is death, then children should not die in the womb.

But we know that they do. It's because they're conceived in sin. Even an infant in the womb is still a sinner because they are conceived of the seed of Adam.

Now, Christ was sinless from his conception because he was conceived of the Holy Spirit and not conceived of the seed of Adam.

If he had been conceived of the seed of Adam, then Adam would be his federal head, and he would not have been born sinless, nor would he have been sinless.

But he is impeccable, meaning without stain, without blemish of any kind, without sin.

We know this of Christ because, exactly because of the virgin birth.

In my book, 25 Christmas Myths and What the Bible Says, I quote from Christopher Hitchens, who was a very famous atheist.

And Hitchens had talked about how in his book, God is Not Great, he said that the virgin birth is nothing spectacular.

It's certainly impossible. We don't know of it ever occurring in human beings, which is why we as Christians call it miraculous.

That's something that Christopher Hitchens couldn't seem to wrap his mind around. Of course, it's a miracle. Of course, it doesn't happen in humankind.

It's not possible exactly why Jesus' virgin birth was a miracle.

But he says that there's nothing about a virgin birth that makes a person a god.

So why is that such a big deal anyway? Well, because the doctrines laid out for us in Scripture.

Jesus had to be conceived of the Holy Spirit, and not of the seed of Adam, in order to be the sinless, spotless lamb who takes away the sin of the world.

He had to be virgin born. Because even infants that are conceived of the seed of Adam, of the seed of a man, even infants are inherently sinful.

Vodie Bauckham has said that you think that baby is a little innocent angel.

Oh, they're so cute. We take those pictures where the babies have the angel wings on them, you know, and that whole thing.

He says that is not a little angel. That is a viper in a diaper. You know why

God made babies small? So they don't kill you in your sleep.

You know why he made them cute? So you don't kill them. But this is our understanding of sin.

Even children are selfish and will, if they were able to, they would kill to get what they wanted, because they don't have any understanding of right and wrong.

We have to teach children right and wrong. That's why you punish your child if they do something wrong, so that they will learn and they will understand what is right and what is wrong.

Children don't automatically, they're not automatically born with that. You have to discipline them. You have to teach them that.

I remember when I had taken my children to a little swimming area one time, and there was another child there who had these plastic boats.

And my son was fascinated with those boats. And when the child left one on the concrete, he went over and picked it up and started to play with it.

And I said, no, buddy, those aren't yours. You have to return them to this little boy over here.

But the mother said, no, it's fine. As long as we're here, he can take the boats and he can play with them. My son's lost interest in them anyway.

So Zeej goes over to the little river area and he's playing with the boat in the water. And when he left the boat unoccupied, there was another little boy who came up and took that boat.

Well, I felt responsible for the boat since it was my son who had taken it from another little boy.

So when this next boy had taken the boat, I went up to him to try to take the boat back. I said, oh, no,

I'm sorry, that boat's not ours. I'm going to have to take that back from you. And he looked right at me and balled up his fist.

And I mean, this little boy couldn't have been two, maybe three, but I doubt it had to have been like two and a half or something like that.

But he balled up his fist and looked at me with the most hateful eyes and at the top of his lungs screamed at me.

And there was nothing but anger in his face. And I remember thinking, man, if he was if he was a full grown man, he would have killed me right there on the spot just for that little boat.

Paul Washer makes a point about that as well, when he says that if you were to have a little baby in your arms, if you were to have a two year old in your arms and you had a gold watch on that two year old is captivated by that gold watch because of its its bright, sparkling color.

And he's going to reach out and try to take the watch off of you. And if you pull your hand away, he will look at you with such hatred in his face.

And if he had the capability of doing so, he would kill you where you stand just for that gold watch.

That's who we are as sinners. Now, now, we don't have any hatred toward children because that's the condition of their heart.

On the contrary, we love and have affection for them when we love them so much that we want to discipline them and raise them up in the training and the instruction of the

Lord, understanding the difference between right and wrong. The Bible actually tells us to spank our children in order to teach them right and wrong.

Proverbs, chapter 23, verses 13 and 14. Do not withhold discipline from a child.

If you strike him with a rod, he will not die. If you strike him with the rod, you will save his soul from Sheol.

That's a pretty big deal. By not spanking your child, you could be leading them in a wrong way.

But by spanking your child, you will save them from death. Proverbs 13, 24 says whoever spares the rod hates his son.

But he who loves him is diligent to discipline him. So, we love our children.

We don't hate our children just because they have a sin nature. On the contrary, we have such affection for them that we do not want them to continue in this wrong way, but that they would be raised to understand goodness and righteousness and what it means to love another and be selfless and consider someone else's needs ahead of your own.

We raise them in an understanding of the gospel that you have sinned. And even our children, even though you raise them in a

Christian home, just because you're Christian doesn't mean that they're automatically going to become Christians.

They need to be taught these things. They need to understand that they are sinners in need of a

Savior. And so, your child is going to have to one day make that decision to repent of sin and a selfish nature and follow

Jesus Christ. Now, if you've led your five or six -year -old in a sinner's prayer and then have declared that they're a

Christian because they prayed that, I tell you that they probably aren't. And do not rest upon that act or that occasion that happened when they were really, really young as evidence of the fact that they are

Christians. Did your child understand at age five or six years old what it meant to take up a cross and follow

Christ? If they don't understand what that meant, then I don't know how you could say that they're

Christians. There is a necessity to understand dying to yourself and being made alive in Christ.

Little children don't understand that. Now, if God wants to save a child at a young age,

I believe that he will. I believe that I was saved at a young age. But that doesn't mean that once our child says that prayer that we can therefore declare them

Christians. There has to be an evidence of this. There has to be a fruit of righteousness that they are bearing this fruit in keeping with repentance that they understand what it means to take up a cross daily and follow

Jesus. I've had parents come to me many times and have said that, hey, my child wants to be baptized.

Can we get baptized here at this church? And sadly, I've had very many parents walk away when

I've told them no, because I don't see any evidence that their child understands what it means to follow

Jesus. And sometimes those parents walk away from our church entirely, not walk away from the church entirely, but they leave our church because they want to go find a place where the pastor is going to baptize my child.

And a lot of times, if that's the situation, if that's what's going on there, then this is being done to make the parents feel

OK about this. I want to be sure that as a parent, that my child is going to heaven. And so they're actually treating baptism as an idol and they're treating the church as something that is supposed to serve me, not me being in service to the church, me being an actual part of this body.

That's very sad when I see that, but it happens fairly often. And I've talked with many other pastors in which they've experienced the same thing, especially among Baptists, because the understanding among a

Baptist is that you get baptized when you can make a confession of faith. A lot of Baptists cheat on that.

We had our VBS, we had our five, six, seven, eight, nine year olds.

We had 50 50 confessions, 50 conversions to Jesus in our

VBS week. And then they'll have a big baptism Sunday and it's a bunch of little kids.

That that brings up the Baptist numbers. So, of course, that's why Baptists like to do that. But anyway, no, there has to be an understanding of sin.

There has to be an understanding that I've sinned against God. I've rebelled against God and what

I deserve for my sin is hell. But Jesus Christ died on the cross for my sins.

And it is by faith in him that I'm forgiven of my sins and that now

I have righteousness. I wasn't righteous before, but now by faith in Jesus, I'm righteous.

And I desire to live my life for him. Knowing that the promise of heaven is for me, for all those who have faith in Jesus.

Does a child understand what that means? Can they articulate that? That's a necessary understanding in order to be a

Christian. So original sin is an essential doctrine here. Understanding that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.

Now, sadly, there are some semi -Pelagians who would disagree with the doctrine of original sin.

They still agree with Romans 3 .23 that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.

And in some manner, they can still squeak by with that. As R .C.

Sproul said, they're barely Christians. They're barely making it into heaven.

But it's a very dangerous place to be because it's an inconsistent doctrine. And you're going to lead many people astray with that.

Leading them to believe that children are born. People are born with some sort of inherent goodness within them.

But we're not. We're totally unable to even look for God and then reach for him.

So that we may find him and be saved. It is God who chose us.

And sought for us. And called us to himself. And whoever responds to that calling by the regeneration of the

Holy Spirit in their hearts when they hear the gospel of Christ. That person is saved.

They are a Christian. They were formerly a lawbreaker.

But now they desire to obey the commandments. And follow Jesus Christ to the praise of his glorious grace.

We are all lawbreakers even before we knew what the law was. You were a lawbreaker even when you did not know that there was a law of God that you were supposed to be keeping.

Now that's not only true for you. But that doctrine is even laid out here in verses 13 and 14.

When the apostle Paul says in Romans 5 .13. Sin indeed was in the world before the law was given.

You were a sinner before you knew what the law was. And knew the law so that you could break it.

Before you knew that you were a breaker of that law. Sin indeed was in the world. But sin is not counted where there is no law.

Now there's a couple of different ways to understand this. Sin was in the world but it was not counted.

Meaning that it wasn't formally understood as sin. It wasn't like the people between Adam and Moses were walking around going.

Hey we're sinners but we don't care. They didn't even know what that was. They didn't know that they had transgressed any kind of law of God.

Or were contrary to his righteousness. They did not know so it was not counted.

It was not considered in that way. Doesn't mean that they were guiltless. They absolutely were guilty and were judged for that sinfulness.

In the global flood. In the flood of Noah that had destroyed everyone on earth.

Save for eight people and a bunch of animals on an ark. And God was completely just in his judgment.

Because sin indeed was in the world. Before the law was given. But sin is not counted where there is no law.

So the other way to understand that. Sin is not counted where there is no law. Is that sin was there.

So therefore there was a law. Now it may not have been known. Because it was not yet given.

But that doesn't mean that the law was not there. Right? Because God is righteous and we are not.

And so there is going to be a revelation of that righteousness. And that revelation is given in the law.

That revelation had not yet come. But there was still a standard. Though it had not yet been written down in stone.

And stated to the people here is why you are sinners. There is still a standard that the people were not meeting.

And so therefore being contrary to that standard. There was sin in the world.

So we go on here in verse 14. Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses.

So exactly what I said. That there was death between Adam and Moses. Therefore there had to be sin between Adam and Moses.

Since the wages of sin is death. Death reigned from Adam to Moses. Even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam.

Why was their sinning not like the transgression of Adam? Especially when I quoted yesterday from 1 John. Where it says that all that is in the world.

The desire of the flesh. The desire of the eyes. And the pride of life. Is not of God. But it is of the world.

And this is stating that the sins that we commit. Are just like the sins that Adam had committed.

Every sin that you commit is like what Adam did. You have the desire of the flesh. Or the lust of the flesh.

The lust of the eyes. The pride of life. I can do this. And there's no consequence for it.

I see what it is that I want. And I'm going to go after it. My flesh wants it. And I must have it.

That's what Adam and Eve thought. When they looked at the fruit of the tree. That they were told not to eat from.

So it's from that desire of the flesh. The desire of the eyes. The pride of life. That our sin is just like Adam's.

So how is it then that the people that lived from Adam to Moses. Sinned. But their sinning was not like the transgression of Adam.

Simply because they didn't have a law. There wasn't a statement of do this.

And you will receive this. There was no covenant that was made with that people.

That they had to keep. And therefore receive the benefits of the covenant.

Adam had already broken the covenant. So therefore the covenant no longer applied. Everyone who was under the federal headship of Adam.

Was likewise a breaker of that covenant. Which did not exist for them anymore to keep.

And therefore receive the benefits of the covenant. So their transgression was not like the transgression of Adam.

Who was a type of the one who was to come. Now we're going to get into this a little bit more next week.

When we start to read about how. That death came from one man.

And life comes from the new man. Death came from Adam.

Life comes from Christ. Adam was a type of the one who was to come. He was a type of Christ.

But Christ is even greater than Adam. He's the greater Adam. So from Adam we got death.

From Christ we receive life. And we're going to talk about that more next week. As we go into the next section of Romans chapter 5.

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 Jesus Christ.

Abounded for many. 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.

And we'll continue to unpack that as we proceed in our study of Romans chapter 5 next week.

Let's conclude with prayer. Heavenly Father we thank you for this wonderful day.

Another day that we have to take up a cross and follow after Christ. And teach us what that means today.

That we turn from sin. That we crucify our flesh and our desires.

And not go after the things that we want. But instead pursue the righteousness of Christ. Let that conviction be on our hearts.

So that we would want the things of Jesus. Not the things of our flesh. But the heavenly reward.

We thank you for the grace that you've shown us in Christ. The forgiveness of sins that we have by faith in Him.

Help us to live in this. And teach it to others. In Jesus name we pray. Amen. You've been listening to When We Understand the

Text with Pastor Gabe Hughes. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday Gabe will be going through a New Testament study.

Then on Thursday we look at an Old Testament book. On Friday we take questions from the listeners and viewers.