Temptation, the Fall, and Victory

Rebellion or Obedience

The Bible can be thought of as a story about two men. One features strongly at the beginning of the Old Testament, the other in the New. One is the father of the entire human race, but he rebelled and brought God’s curse. The other is mankind’s Redeemer, through His obedience to His Father. 

You’ve probably determined that I’m referring to Adam and Jesus. They both feature throughout the Bible, one or both on every page. Every king of Israel that practiced idolatry was following Adam’s mistake. Every time a prophet of Yahweh promised that God would save the world through Israel, it was Jesus that he was talking about.  

Obviously, if you read the Gospels, Jesus is right there. But nearly everyone that isn’t Jesus is in there repeating Adam’s mistakes. The apostles start out doubting, squabbling and not understanding Jesus’ teachings. Paul says that in his flesh he does that which he does not want to do: he sins. This is because they—and we—are sons of Adam, and we cannot help but follow in his path.  

So, is that it? If you’re not Jesus, are you cursed and destined for damnation? Fortunately, no. Because in Jesus’ unique act of obedience, righteousness was earned for everyone. What do we have to do to get in on that? Nothing! It’s given to us as a free gift that we inherited through Jesus’ death. All we must do to receive it is not to reject it as Adam did. 

Thanks be to God for Jesus’ obedience on our behalf! 

Here is the full sermon text from Romans 5:

Death in Adam, Life in Christ

¹² 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— ¹³ for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law. ¹⁴ 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.

¹⁵ 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. 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. ¹⁷ 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 Jesus Christ.

¹⁸ Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. ¹⁹ 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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Bible Study: Our midweek Bible study is on hiatus during Lent and will resume after Easter.

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Condolences: With sorrow, we share that Gary Tollefsen passed away on February 14th. We find comfort and joy in the promise of our Lord that we will all enjoy eternal life together. At this time, we are not aware of funeral details but his family has posted an online memorial.

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