Church Sermon - June 19, 2005

Rev. Bernt P. Tweit

Epistle Lesson; Jeremiah 20:7-13
Old Testament Lesson; Matthew 10:24-33
Sermon Text; Romans 5:12-15

What is the major theme, when you look at the world? Or, what is the major theme, when you look at the news, and watch the news? Or, what is the theme of your own life? All it takes is grabbing the newspaper each and every day, and looking at the front page, to see that the major theme in the world is problems. You could have picked up the paper this last week and seen problems like this on the front page. Two ex-Tyco executives found guilty of looting their company out of $600,000,000.00 for their own personal gain or pleasure. We heard about the four earthquakes, of different magnitudes, that took place in southern California. Everybody is now nervous about the "big one." For the last three weeks, we have been following the Natalie Holloway saga, and what exactly it is that happened to her. We have heard that somebody hacked into a credit card database of forty million people. And because of that, one hacker may affect their accounts. Certainly, terrorism can found on the front page, just about any day. As we look at the front page of the paper, we see that the major theme of the world is problems. (That is, except for one day each year, and that is on Christmas Day. The local paper on Christmas Day, prints the Christmas Gospel, from Luke, chapter 2. And, for that one day, it only prints good news on the front of its paper.) Problems are the theme that we see in the world and in our own lives.

In our text for today, we see the biggest problem that we have in life. The biggest problem that we have in life is a result of sin. Our text for today tells us that our biggest problem is death.

Let’s look back at creation this morning, and see how that problem became ours. We know from Genesis, chapter one, that God created the world in six days and He rested on the seventh day. Genesis, chapter one, tells us at the end of creation, "God saw everything that He had made and behold, it was very good."

Even with the creation of man and woman, Genesis chapter one says, "So God created man in His own image. In the image of God He created him, male and female He created them." So that means the world was without sin. It was holy, perfect, and innocent. Man and woman were created in the image of God. It doesn’t mean that they looked like God, because God is a spirit being. But, it means that they had a quality or characteristic of God. And again, they were holy, perfect, and innocent, without sin.

What happened to change that image? We know from scripture, what happened. That is, God’s created beings, the angels, (some of them, anyways) fell from God’s grace in Heaven. The devil, or Satan, or Beelzebub, or the Angel of Light, sinned against God. We don’t know from scripture what that sin was. But, we do know from the book of Revelation that one third of the angels left and followed Satan. And, we know what happened after that. The Devil came, in the form of a snake, to Adam and Eve, to deceive them. They ate of the fruit that God had forbade them to eat from. And Adam and Eve fell into sin. Because of that one sin, death will come to all people.

It is my opinion that most people don’t like to talk about death. As our scripture is laid out for us today, Paul is very frank with us, as he tells us that we are all going to die.

I believe there are two reasons why people don’t like to talk about death. Number one; there is no earthly, physical solution. Certainly people, (doctors, and scientists) can come up with medicines to increase our lives, but they can’t make us live forever. The second reason I believe why people don’t like to talk about death is because some people in the world are unsure of what is going to happen after death.

It is unfortunate that a certain church body teaches that there is a Purgatory, a place where people can go, if they are not good enough yet to get into heaven. And yet, the scriptures are very clear that there is no such place as Purgatory.

It is also unfortunate that another church body teaches reincarnation. This is the belief that after our life is done, after we die, we come back as something better, or something worse. Oftentimes I tell people, "If I believed in reincarnation (and I don’t) and if I was good in this life, I may come back as the Prince of Norway. Or, if I was bad in this life, I may come back as a frog." Scripture is very clear there, too. In the book of Hebrews, we are told,

"Man is destined to die once

and after that to face the judgment."

Yes, if we claim to be without sin, and we claim that we will not die, we are only deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. To illustrate that point, we have a book at our home that we read quite a bit. It is about a girl who brings a pig to a party. Let’s say that we were to take a pig. We were to give it a bath. And, we were to put perfume on that pig, dress it up, and make it the biggest Hollywood star. Well, given time, that pig would go right back to its mud hole, because its nature has not changed.

We cannot change our nature on our own, either. Our problem continues, as a result of sin. We are going to die. That is the death through one that is part of my theme for this morning. We will die, because of Adam.

There is only one person who can change our nature, and that is Christ. It is only through Christ that we can have life. We have life through One.

In the very last verse of our text for this morning, in verse 15, we see how it is that Jesus overcame the death that we deserved, with life. Paul put it this way.

"But the gift is not like the trespass.

For if the many died by the trespass of the one man

(that is talking about Adam),

how much more did God’s grace

and the gift that came by the grace of one Man,

Jesus Christ,

overflow to the many!"

We have life through One. That is a gift, only by the grace of God.

In talking about that gift that we have received, somebody once put it to me this way. Imagine that it was your desire in life to want an Olympic Gold Medal. But there are some problems that you need to overcome. First of all, you have been born with many physical defects. On top of that, you were in a car accident and you were paralyzed from the neck down. But, it was still your desire to want an Olympic Gold Medal. It seems impossible that you would ever achieve that. But an Olympian, an Olympian who had won a gold medal, hears about your condition.

He comes to see you and gives to you his Olympian Gold Medal! You did not deserve it. You did not earn it. And yet, you have received it!

Isn’t that exactly what Jesus, our Savior, has done for us? We desire to have that Olympic Gold Medal of eternal life in Heaven, but there are problems with who we are. We were born with a physical defect called original sin. That is the sin that we received through Adam. On top of that, we are paralyzed by the sin that we commit each and every day, as we break God’s Law. And yet, Jesus the Olympian, has heard about our condition and He has come to us.

He has given

to us

the Gold Medal of eternal life

in Heaven!

We did not deserve it.

We did not earn it.

And yet, we have received it,

as a gift from God!

That is the grace Paul is talking about, in our text for today. We, who deserve to die through Adam, receive life through Christ.

As we flip through the pages of scripture, we see many different authors talking about that grace of God that we have received. One of them is a very famous Confirmation passage from Ephesians 2:8-9.

"For it is by grace you have been saved through faith,

It is not of yourselves,

It is a gift of God,

Not by works, so that no one can boast."

Or just five verses after our text ends, it says,

"Where sin increased,

God’s grace has increased all the more."

You see, my dear fellow redeemed in Christ, our text for today is laying out for us a contrast - the contrast between Adam and Christ. God, our heavenly Father, sees us as if we are in those two persons. We are in Adam. We are in Christ. In Adam, God sees us as sinners. In Christ, God sees us as being righteous.

What do we have to do to be an Adam? We don’t have to do anything, because we are sinful by nature. What do we have to do, to be in Christ? All we have to do is believe in Jesus, as our Savior, and trust in Him.

In talking about those contrasts between Adam and Christ, an author once talked about the contrast between the tree that was eaten from in the Garden of Eden, and the tree upon which Christ died, the cross. He put it this way. The first tree in the Garden of Eden was planted by God. The second tree, upon which Christ died, was planted by man. God forbade Adam and Eve to eat from the first tree. But, God invites us to eat the "fruit" of the second tree, (that is the body and blood of Christ). By eating from the first tree, Adam and Eve brought sin and death. But, when we eat from the second tree, we receive life and salvation. Adam, by eating the first fruit, was turned out of Paradise. The thief on the cross, by eating of the "fruit" of the second tree, was received into Paradise, eternal life in Heaven.

What is the theme, as we look at the news of the world, as we open up our papers? Well, the theme of the world is problems. The theme of the world is problems.

In a little over a month our High School Youth will be going to Boston, Massachusetts, for a High School Youth Convention. On our way back we are going to stop at Niagara Falls. While we are at Niagara Falls, we are going to see a very beautiful site of all that water running off of the rim. I think it is a pretty good picture of God’s grace and how it overcomes all of our sins. While we are looking at Niagara Falls and all of that water falling off, it is going to be a great picture of how God’s grace is able to overcome our sin. No matter how great our sin is, (that we have received through Adam), we can say that God’s grace always has more to follow, just like there is always more water to follow over the edge of that rim at Niagara Falls. So also, God’s grace is always there. There is more to follow, to cover over our sin and death. We have life, forgiveness, and salvation in Christ.

Amen.

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