(Romans) Comparison and Contrasts — Willie Mullan

To Romans, and we're at the fifth chapter of this evening, and we're going right through from verse twelve to the end of the chapter. Verse twelve to the end of verse twenty-one. Now, we have ten very wonderful verses this evening.

Romans 5: Comparison and Contrast

Some of the scholars say that these are the most difficult verses in the letter to the Romans for exposition. The well is deep, but the Holy Ghost knows the depth. I think that you could write over these ten verses.

These two words—comparison and contrast—I think that, generally speaking, those two words would rightly cover this very wonderful portion. You see, we have our Lord Jesus Christ, the second man, and we have Adam, the first man, compared in this portion.

There is a comparison between the first Adam and the last Adam. Great comparison. There are many comparisons in this portion. And then there are some wonderful contrasts. The contrast of Adam's disobedience, one act, of course, contrasted with Christ's obedience, many acts, of course, for his life from eternity to eternity was one of obedience.

It was in obedience that Jesus came. It was in obedience to the word of the God and the will of God that he was born in Bethlehem and so on. And so we have many comparisons and many contrasts in this very wonderful portion this evening.

Two Representative Men: Adam and Christ

You'll notice that I have put it out in two reads. First of all, we shall look at the two men contrasted, and we will need to take time with this because these are representative men. You see, Adam was the representative of the old creation.

The old creation was judged in Adam. We had a representative hedge who let us down. And then the Lord Jesus is the representative hedge of the new creation this evening. And when he lets me down, I'll be lost again.

Of course, the boys that talk about being lost again know nothing at all about the representative hedge. They don't know the first thing about him. But we'll get into the depths of this this evening. The contrast, the two men contrasted.

Adam’s Disobedience and Christ’s Obedience

And then as we go down the chapter, we will see that two acts are compared. The offence of one. That was Adam's transgression, of course. And then the righteousness of the last Adam, our Lord Jesus. We shall look up the disobedience of one and the obedience of the other.

And then when we look at the two men contrasted and the two acts compared, we shall find that the teaching of this wonderful portion is that two results are confirmed. One is quite clear. Sin ensured, and death by sin.

And nobody ever argues about that. Everybody knows that sin has come to this world, and nobody argues about death because everybody dies sooner or later. And so that was the result of Adam's transgression.

Sin ensured, death by sin. But then, bless God, when Jesus came, grace entered. It entered because Jesus was coming. And grace entered, and the gift by grace, which is life. Yes, grace and the gift by grace, which is life.

The gift of God is eternal life. And then when we get through the two men contrasted and the two acts compared and the two results confirmed, we will find that there are two different insults here considered.

One sin by Adam brings condemnation to all born. Every born soul in this world, black or white or red or yellow, is condemned already in Adam. And then we shall find many sins on Christ bringing justification to all who are born again.

Ah yes, we need to be born again. And when you're born again, you're in the new federal head. You're found in Christ from that day forward. When you were born the first time, you were found in Adam. And in Adam all die, but in Christ all shall be made alive.

And then when we come to verse 21, the last verse, we will find that there are two kings competing. You see, sin hath reigned, hasn't it? Unto death. Bless God, grace reigns this evening unto life. So there are two kings competing.

And verse 17 is a very wonderful one, because there we have two abundances combining. You see, there is the much more they which receive abundance of grace. That's a very wonderful phrase, abundance of grace.

My grace itself is abundant. And then when you talk about the abundance of abundant grace, well, I wouldn't know how to put that exactly. It's really beyond measurement, the abundance of grace. And the wording is this, which receive abundance of grace and of the gift, the abundance of the gift of righteousness.

And so we have two abundances combining. A very wonderful portion. But let me say this, if you've got Romans in your mind, then I trust you have, because that's really what I've been trying to do for you.

Justification by Faith in Romans 3–5

You know this, that in the first and second and third chapters, right down to the end of verse 19 in the third chapter, Paul was doing everything he could with his mighty pen to make us absolutely sure that sin had entered and that all had sinned and come short of the glory of God.

He brought the whole world in guilty before God. That's how he started off Romans, generally speaking. But when he came to the twentieth verse in the third chapter, he began to let us see what the dispensation of grace was bringing.

And he let us see that all who trust the Lord Jesus are justified freely by his grace. And then he went on in the third chapter and in the fourth chapter and in a great part of the fifth chapter to expound the wonderful Protestant doctrine of justification by faith.

And if you ever want to know exactly what justification by faith is, you start out Romans chapter 3 and you go right through to chapter 5 and down to verse 5 at least. And the whole doctrine of justification by faith, and you remember chapter 4 concluded that we conclude that man is justified by faith without the deeds of the Lord at all.

We went through all this. And then you remember last week he began to let us see how exceeding sinful sin was. He showed that we were without strength. Yes, we were totally depraved. There was a total depravity within us.

And then he showed why we were yet sinners. There was iniquity upon us. And then he showed when we were yet enemies, when animosity came from us. It was in such a state, sin in us, sin on us, sin from us, that the grace of God came out to meet us.

And now he's beginning to expound the foundation that this grace falls upon the poor lost sinner. And he's about to take up a new section in Romans, which will start next week. You see, in chapter 6, let me just water your lips for next week, for the moment, you have two powers brought before you.

This fourteen will do for the moment, for sin shall not have dominion over you, for ye are not under law, but under grace. So that we're going to have a look at the power of sin and the power of grace.

Two powers, you see, are brought before us. When we come into chapter 7, you will find that he changes the figure a little bit, and two husbands are brought before us. When he gets down, chapter 7, to verse 14, and from there on, two stakes are brought before us.

There is the carnal stake, you see, verse 14, for I am carnal. And then there is the spiritual stake. Then when we come into chapter 8, there are two laws. The law of the spirit of life, and the law of sin and death.

The Two Natures in the Christian Life

And we're just about to start the new section, because until a man and woman saved by grace really understand that inside them there are two natures, you'll never get anywhere in the Christian life. You'll never be any good to God.

You can talk about this backroom stuff of closing your eyes and waking up like the archangel, but you'll find out by experience there's something in here that's not just exactly right. There's an old nature here.

And the man that would dare to stand up and say that it's not there, I would just contradict you. No, you hypocrite, you. So I won't. I'll just contradict you. Don't let us bluff ourselves, because until young believers get a grasp of this, that there is an old nature here that can do anything under the sun but go to hell, and until you grasp that there is a new nature, and when it's gripped, mastered, wooed, killed by the Holy Ghost, you become more and more like Jesus.

And the beauty of Jesus is seen in you. And so we're about to start on a wonderful section, and I wouldn't like to miss any part of the section because I'll be going very easy through it. I want you to get the hold of that, because it will benefit your spiritual life for all the days it's yet to be.

You see, we may never pass through Romans again. We're going through it now, maybe never again in the history of this class will we go through Romans. But do your best to come, not for my sake, not for the sake of the class, but for your spiritual benefit.

And we'll go through the verses very carefully that you will get the tools that God intended you to get. Now we'll get back to our portion for this evening, and we're starting looking at two men contrasted.

Sin Enters the World Through Adam

And we're starting at verse 12. You see, it begins with the word, therefore. You do remember that he was talking about sin in the past verses. In verse 6 he said, we were yet without strength. He was thinking of the depravity that was within us.

And then in verse 8 he said, we were yet sinners. He was thinking of the iniquity that was upon us. And then in verse 10 he said, when we were enemies. He was thinking of the animosity that came from us.

Now he's about to let us know how this thing came to be. Wherefore, as by one man sin entered, this is how sin came. He's just about to explain the whole thing. So he says, wherefore. Now he says, wherefore as by one man.

There are no doubts at all about who he's talking about there. It's Adam. But when we read down this wonderful portion, we'll read it quickly until I get this truth out. Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin.

Till death passed upon all men, for about all of sin. For until the law sin was in the world, but sin is not computed when there is no law. Nevertheless, death reigned from Adam. So he was talking about Adam.

But we'll make that absolutely clear as we get up. You see, this one man Adam, he transgressed. Actually the phrase in verse 14 is, Adam's transgression. Not transgressions myself. Adam's transgression by this one act.

Now I want you to get hold of this. Wherefore, as by one man, now I want you to get this, sin entered. I'm not thinking about sins now. No, I'm thinking about this awful thing that came to be the foreign nature of every child of Adam's race, because the representative head failed.

But we'll take our time about that. Sin entered. Now I think that sometimes we make a tremendous mistake when we think that sin just entered into Adam. Some of the scholars teach that it's quite true that sin entered into Adam and that sin every child of Adam, but that's not what the Bible says.

The Bible says that sin entered into the garden, not on your right it doesn't, entered into the world. Now we miss this. We misremembering the truth of this. I shall make bold to say that that one transgression, that disobedient act of Adam's, it caused more havoc and brought more destruction than the greatest atomic explosion is ever going to bring.

I want you to get the hold of that. But I want you to get it like this. Oh, it's quite true that the moment that he disobeyed God, willingly disobeyed God for he wasn't deceived at all, as we'll see in a moment, the moment that by that act of disobedience I know that sin entered into him and it would come to every one of Adam's children right to the very last moment of time.

Oh, but let me say this to you, you know the flowers around him began to die and life on this world. Oh, wait a minute, I'll get this over to you. You know the very moment that Adam sinned, not only did sin enter into him, not only did it affect the vegetable world, but the animal world went wild.

And they were not wild before that, now you get that. Oh, not at all. Let's go back to Genesis to say, Genesis chapter two, verse eighteen, And the Lord God said, It is not good that the man should be alone.

I will make him and help me for him. And out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field and every fowl of the air and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them. And whatsoever Adam called every living creature, thus was the name thereof.

And Adam gave names to all chattel and to the fowl of the air and to every beast of the field. You know they couched the strict one in heaven. And remember, Genesis is very careful in its language. They're not called wild beasts in Genesis, not at all.

They're just beasts of the field, that's all. And you don't find this wildness. No, you don't find them called wild beasts until after Adam sinned. I want you to get the hold of this, that the representative head of the whole old creation, the moment he fell, sin entered Genesis, into the world.

Flowers became a fact. Trees. And not until the representative head of the new creation is back in the world to reign with everything under his feet will you see the animal, the lion lying down with the lamb again.

And then the harvests will be so great that the shore will overtake the reaper and all that Adam lost will be regained and much more, blessed God, through the head of the new creation, the Lord Jesus.

I want you to get the hold of this. Not by one man, sin entered. Not just left of it into his breast, or into the garden, or even into humans. His blood of the nuts, the whole creation was tarnished and blasted and destroyed by this atomic explosion of the entry of sin into the world.

The Entry of Sin and the Origin of Sin

A horrible thing. I don't think we'll ever measure it. But let's get this clearly now. We're still in verse 12. Wherefore, as by one man, sin entered. Now I don't want you to think for a moment that that was the origin of sin.

I think we need to halt there again. This is only the entry of sin. The story of the origin of sin is another one altogether. The John Lucifer. That's quite another department, and if I go into that you won't be out of the morning.

Now we'll have to bypass that, but I'm pointing it out to you. This is not the origin of sin, this is the entry of sin. This is only sin entering into the world, that's all. But the origin of sin took place somewhere else.

We've been through that one day in the class here when we looked at Lucifer. But here we are having the entry of sin into the world, and then we notice this armed death by sin. Now that's the horrible bit, Alfred.

You see, it did bring spiritual death, for at that moment Adam, totally depraved, was separated from God. And of course it did bring physical death. And of course, if man won't listen to God, it will bring eternal death.

It will bring eternal death. If you won't take the gift of God's grace and get right with God's grace in Christ, then you'll eternally die. You'll eternally die. So it's a horrible thing. Really horrible.

I don't think we need to bother about that anymore. Let's get this fighted out. Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin, now this is the bit we want to watch, so death passed upon all men.

Now that's where the Christians have a bit of an argument with God. They say, well now this is unfair, you know. You took Adam and you made him and you put him in the garden and you're judging the whole bunch of the benign and it's not fair.

God can do what he likes, you know. Who are you to talk to God? Even if I couldn't answer your argument or would shut you up like that, you have no right to talk to God. This is God's creation. There's nothing unfair about this, because God had a plan.

If I can judge the world in one man, then I can save them in one man. That was good enough, wasn't it? God had a plan for Adam to the fight, and there'll be another representative of mine. And he'll not fail.

And he'll finish the work and he'll satisfy me even on the account of sin. And I'll raise them from the dead the living Savior and everyone that trusts him. I'll give them the life eternal that my grace provides.

Nothing unjust about that, is there? I would rather have it in those terms. The boys that want to go on their own and live in their own strength before God let them go on with it. And they'll go to hell, the miserable creatures that they are.

No, thank God for the plan that he judged the world in one man. Because he had this plan in his mind. Why before he ever promised a Savior to Adam in Eden, he had already a Savior provided in the Eden above.

The Lamb was chosen before the foundation of the world, you know. And so we're beginning to see the two representative men coming out of this. Let's go to 1 Corinthians 15 for a moment. 1 Corinthians 15, and just see how very wonderful the Word of God is.

Verse 45, 1 Corinthians 15, verse 45, And so it is written, The first man, Adam. There's a lovely tickly bit in there. The first man. Sometimes they ask me is there a man on the moon? Of course there's no man on the moon.

He was the first man. That's what the Bible says. I'll stick to it. And nobody will ever prove me wrong, you'll find out. And no child of Adam's race that I know about or have heard about ever left this planet to go to the moon.

So there's no man on the moon. They might put one on the moon before very long. I'm not saying they'll not do it. But it'll be the first clone they'll have there. It says that Adam was the first man. First man.

I want you to watch this very carefully. The first man, Adam, was made a living soul. We read verse 45. Now watch this. The last Adam. Isn't that really wonderful? You can see the contrast between the two heads now.

You know there were a lot of souls in between, weren't there? They're not counted. It's just the first and last we're counting. Two representative heads we're counting. I think you'll see it clear when we go to the next verse.

Look at verse 47. The first man is of the earth. The second man. How can you make the Lord Jesus the second man? There were millions of men in between. Ah, but God's only looking at two representative heads.

He just sees the first man and the whole creation was in him, and he sees the second man. And there are no doubts about who they are now. The first man, Adam, that's quite clear, isn't it? And the second man is the Lord from heaven.

But that's the bottom to me is either. Modernists don't know that, maybe. They don't know he came from heaven. They don't know he was the Lord before he came. They don't know that. They try to teach that Mary had an affair with a German soldier.

God pity their miserable intelligence. When they're roasting in hell, they'll learn the truth. It's a horrible thing to say that Jesus Christ was a bastard, you know. When you say that Mary had an affair with a German soldier, and a child was produced, you're just saying that.

Horrible thing. They're not letting anybody off of those sort of things. And God won't let them off either. Now this is the first man and the second man. So that we have two representative heads, and the first man failed miserably, didn't he?

And he excluded the whole thing, and we were all lost in Adam. Go over to verse 22 of this chapter. 1 Corinthians 15, verse 22. Watch this. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.

You know, there are some fellows, and they put the emphasis on the word all here. They say all die in Adam. All will live in Christ, and they preach universal salvation. Everybody that dies, everybody will live.

It's nonsense. The emphasis is on the end. Watch it. As in Adam. How did you get into Adam? How were you found in Adam? You were born in Adam. Well, in Christ, how will you be found in Christ? You need to be born again.

And all who are born again get life, and all who are only born once will die eternally. But you're saying two representative heads. Go on over from 1 Corinthians to 2 Corinthians for a moment, and we're at 2 Corinthians chapter 5, and verse 17.

Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. Or the better ending is, he is a new creation. You see where I'm standing this evening? You see, the moment that I entered my all in Christ, the tongue and blood, the Holy Spirit entered, and I was born of God, and from that moment for all eternity I was found in Christ.

I'm saved in Christ. It's a pity some of you didn't know that, because it would warm you up a wee bit. My, you don't have a head if you're a new creation, maybe. Maybe you don't have a representative head.

Well, I have. If I were debating lost again with theologians, it's on the headship of Christ that I would debate it. And I could tie them up in a knot every time without any trouble. So you're seeing two men contrasted, aren't you?

Adam’s One Offense and Christ’s Obedience

Alright, let's go a little bit further. We'll go back to Romans. We're at chapter 5, and we've sort of got through verse 12. We're not getting on very well tonight, are we? Nevertheless, I want you to try to get these two X's compared.

You can read the whole chapter at your leisure. Verse 14 talks about Adam's transgression. Then verse 17 talks about by one man's offence. Verse 18's a very wonderful one. By the offence of one judgment came upon all.

Then verse 19's absolutely clear. For us, by one man's disobedience. You know, friends, Adam disobeyed God. Let's have a look at a wee verse that's in 1 Timothy just for a moment. I think it's wise to have a look at this one.

1 Timothy, and we're at the second chapter. 1 Timothy chapter 2, verse 13. For Adam was first formed, then Eve. And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression. You know the devil didn't come round to Adam.

Don't you make any mistakes about this. The devil deceived the woman. And your Bible says Adam was not deceived. Now he walked into this thing with his eyes open. Really did. And he transgressed with his eyes open.

And he offended God with his eyes open. And he willfully disobeyed God. And he exploded the whole old creation. Why I tell you, it wasn't just a slip of the tissue now. He didn't slip himself in. Not at all.

Now we're comparing that with the obedience of one. We're back at Romans 5 again. Sorry for floating you about, but I think it's wise to see all these things. We're back at Romans, and you'll notice that it's by Adam's transgression, or by the one man's offense, or by that act of disobedience.

But when we come to compare these two acts, you'll find that verse 19 says, For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous. Now the obedience of one wasn't just one single action.

Now I know that some people preach it like that. I don't think that that's true at all. Let's have a look at the verse in Romans for a moment. In Hebrews, Hebrews chapter 10. Very wonderful one. Hebrews 10 and verse 5, speaking of our Lord Jesus Christ coming into the world,.

Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldst not, but a body hast thou prepared me. In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure. Then said I, Lo, I come, in the volume of the book it is written of me, to do thy will.

There's another translation of that that's far nicer. I come to do everything that's written in the book concerning me, for it is thy will. You see, it was the Father who sent the Son. We can never reach up to that moment in eternity when the Father said, Go, my son, go for us.

And he obeyed. When the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son. He obeyed, and the moment he came to us, he says, I come to do everything that's written in the book concerning me, for it's thy will.

And it was God's will that he should be born in the stable, and he obeyed. And he obeyed. It was God's will for three and a half years, just to prove that he could put up with evil. He knew all about him.

He never was bluffed with this fellow. He knew from the beginning that he would betray him, but it was God's will, and he obeyed. And every step through life was paid by the Word of God. And he obeyed, and he became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.

...by Gabriel, who lives spotless, who died an atoning death, who shed redeeming blood, who met every requirement of God, and who rose from the dead, and whosoever believeth in him will get life, and whosoever believeth not and dies like that will be damned.

He that believeth shall be saved. He that believeth not shall be damned. Oh, what a wonderful thing. Ma and I just feel like saying this all the time. Don't need to go into that any more, do we? It's just the Elks compare.

Grace, Justification, and the Free Gift

Let's get down to this because this is very wonderful. Let's see these results confirmed by this passage. It says, verse 15, but not of the offence, so also is the free gift. For if through the offence of one, many the dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, and the You see, we were just learning a moment ago that by one non-sin entered.

Oh, we can see sin entering. What a terrible, horrible affair it is. And death by sin. But you know, at the same psychological second, because God counts the things which are not of Him, that where, you know, grace entered.

Grace entered because Jesus was coming. Psychological second, because God counts the things which are not of Him, that where, you know, grace entered. Grace entered because Jesus was coming. And the gift, by grace, of the gift.

We don't need any popish priest to get you this, you know. You don't need candles for this. This is a gift. You don't need beads for this. The holy water. Don't rule that sort of popish nonsense out. This is the gift that the grace of God offers you.

And the gift is eternal life. The gift of God is eternal life. And you'll get it instantly. No trouble with that at all. You don't need to be a theologian to get a hold of that. That's just ABC stuff.

But it's really pretty. It's really pretty. But I want you to get a hold of this. Because this is really tremendous to me. We're at verse 18, just to follow it through. Therefore, as by the offense of one, a judgment came upon all men.

The condemnation. God judged all men in Adam when he offended. I'd like you to get this, because this is tremendous. You see, I know that the very thoughts of foolishness and sin, you can become a sinner by thought.

Because you know that, don't you? And I know that you can be judged by your words. By your words you could be. Because I don't mean to tell you that you can become a sinner by act, by deed, by practice.

Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt not commit adultery. Thou shalt not, thou shalt not. And you can become a sinner by practice. But you know, often from this platform I have thought that you are a sinner by nature.

Even if you never did anything. This book teaches that by nature we are children of wrath. When a little tiny baby is born into this world, it is a sinner. Because inside there is a thing called sin. If it never sneezes it is a sinner.

The only way to get this rid of it. You were a sinner before you were born at all. You were condemned. I wouldn't need to take a whole night to prove that you were a sinner, you know. It's not a bitter night.

So that the whole world stands condemned all right. We were doomed in Adam. We're doomed by nature. The law has shut every mouth and the whole world is guilty. Sure if the law said to this crowd here thou shalt not covet, I'd like to see the boy that would stand up and say I never coveted anything.

You wouldn't have the guts to do it. Sure you wouldn't. We'd take you away to the lunatic asylum if you did. Friends, we're condemned in Adam. Now wait a minute because there's a tremendous thing here.

Watch it over again. Verse 18. Therefore as by the offense of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation. How many of them? All men. They're all condemned. Black and white and red and yellow. Roman, Catholic and Protestant.

All condemned, yes, all men. The whole world, the whole creation fell. Now watch. Let's read it carefully. Verse 18. Therefore as by the offense of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation, even so by the righteousness of one, the Lord Jesus, the free gift came upon all men.

Where's the boys that's going to limit us? I'd like to see you limited atonement boys just on the platform now because I would fix you. Hold as a crowd of you and you've got a wee Calvinistic utter. My extraordinary special Calvinistic ideal that there was only too much suffering for too much evil and it's not taught in this book.

And it's certainly not taught in this verse. All right, have another look at it. Some of you are blinking there, I can see that. All right, we'll have another look at it. Therefore as by the offense of one judgment came upon all men.

How many of them? Even so by the righteousness of one, the free gift came upon all men. First you would be so stupid you would make one part mean all men, but the next part wouldn't mean all men. Well if God hardly wanted to say some man, he could easily have had it, you know.

There'd be no bother about it. But he didn't do any such thing, he just had it over again. It doesn't have your theology if you have to change it. I want to tell you that because Christ died, because the blood was shed, because the throne is satisfied, justification is offered to all men out of free gift and Christ truly.

Oh you couldn't be better than that if you tried. Wonderful isn't it? Oh I tell you, that's the result. Of course I don't need to go over this too much to see the differences. You'll find it's one offense, it's Adam's transgression, it was that act of disobedience and it brought condemnation to all, born the first time.

But you'll notice this, verse 16 says, and not as it was by one, not just the same, so was the gift. For the judgment was by one to condemnation. But the free gift is of many offenses unto justification.

You know, every believer in this meeting tonight can say, he was delivered for our offenses. Every one of them. Every one of them. My, all my sins were laid on Christ. Adam just made one act of disobedience and condemned the whole nation.

But for every one that will rest on the Christ who died and rose again, every offense, every sin, he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities, and the whole complete dot and tittle for time and for eternity was settled by the man on the center cross unto all eternity.

Grace Reigns Unto Eternal Life

Tremendous. Tremendous. Ah yes, that's the differences. And so tonight in this poor old world of ours, two kings are competing. Nobody argues about sin reigning. My, it rains unto death. We've seen it raining in many places.