Have you ever walked by a huge mess and thought, “I am glad that was not me?” I have, and I have been the guy who made the mess. In my early twenties, I worked at Kroger in the Dairy Department. Part of my job was to unload trucks full of milk, yogurt, eggs, and anything else you might find in the refrigerated section of your local grocery store. One day, our dairy delivery came in with pallets of milk, and it was my job to use the power jack to get it into our cooler. Now, a pallet consisted of 54 crates (nine stacks of six) with four gallons of milk in each crate. I know there are 216 gallons of milk on a full pallet of milk. The reason I am obsessed with that 216 number is that I ended up clipping the wall at full speed with the pallet jack while turning into the dairy cooler, and I had an entire pallet of 216 gallons of milk come crashing to the ground. If there had been some honey, the back room of the Kroger in Milford would have been that of the Promised Land because milk was flowing everywhere. While I sat there cleaning up that tidal wave of lactose, a buddy of mine walked by, smiled, and said, “I am glad that was not me!” He walked by me, and while I was plotting all the words I would use to tell him off when I was done with the problem currently soaking my feet, he came back with a squeegee and a mop to help. We laughed, and he said, “You owe me lunch.”
1. What has been the biggest mess you have ever created?
The second section of Romans chapter 5:12-21 is a comparison between two men. One of the men (Adam) made the biggest mess that has ever happened to humanity. The other is the One who came to clean it up, Jesus.
Romans 5:12-13 says, “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.”
2. How did sin come into the world, and what were the results?
Oftentimes, I have discussed humanity’s need for a Savior with unbelievers, and there is a common response I have heard from them, “God is not fair for punishing all of humanity for the fault of one man.” Because of the one man (Adam), “death spread to all men.” This truth is not about being fair; it is about fact. The severity of man sinning against the holy, just, loving, and powerful God is on a scale that, because of the actions of one man, the results “spread to all.” All have sinned because we all come from Adam. To refute this, refutes the Bible, God’s authority, and God’s grace.
Romans 5:14 says, “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.”
Adam is spoken of as a “type.” A type in the Bible is a copy, pattern, or similarity. For Adam, he is a “type” for all mankind. Because Adam was the first man, he is the head of the human race and every person “who was to come.” We have to understand the truth that our sin “is not about resemblance, it is about identity” (W.G.T Shedd). Because Adam is the “type” for all of humanity that has not confessed Jesus as Lord, sin is rooted in our identity.
3. Why do we have to understand the depth of sin?
4. How is it so easy to overlook the ramifications of sin?
Romans 5:15-16 adds, “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.”
5. How is Jesus’ work a “free gift”?
6. What did Christ do for sinners?
Romans 5:17-18 continues, “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. Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men.”
7. What is the only way for us to receive “the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness”?
8. How has the abundance of grace cleaned up the biggest mess of your life?
Romans 5:19-21 says, “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. 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 Lord.”
I try not to preach when I type a lesson. However, the Gospel of Jesus Christ cannot be missed in this study. God’s Word just explained the depth and ramifications of the sin of Adam. Because of his sin, all of humanity is now impacted by the ramifications of separation from their Creator. It is a toxic heart and death (spiritual and physical). Morris wrote, “The reign of death is a part of humanity’s story, but it is not the whole story.” There is life because of the free gift, justification that comes to those who call on the name of Jesus and are saved, and the faith of those who believe in “that one man Jesus Christ.” Death does not have the final say. Life in Him is the final say in a man’s life.
9. Do you know Jesus as Lord?
Adam made a mess, and that is putting it so very lightly. The cost of Adam’s mess, and ours, was only cleaned up by the death of Jesus on the cross. We should never make light of our depravity, and we should never make light of the abundant grace we have in Jesus. One of the many things that dropping 216 gallons of milk taught me was that even in the worst messes that I can create, it means so much when there is someone there who is willing to help clean it. For us who believe that Jesus paid the price for our messes, I hope that there is an indescribable gratitude that fuels your worship for Him. Furthermore, Jesus commands His Church to be His hands and feet. Jesus tells us that we will bear witness to Him. Jesus tells His church to love, pray for, and encourage others. While my buddy helping me clean up milk was a memorable thing, those who have helped me grow in my walk with Jesus hold a different place in my heart.
10. How can you help someone who made or is making a mess in their life?
As a Growth Community, as a location, and as a people who have been called out of death and into life in Jesus, let us be people who step into people’s lives, even if they are a mess, and point them to the place where even mess-makers can find life.