In Pastor Steve Hopkins' sermon at Burnet Bible Church, he explores the profound differences between the 'offense' of Adam and the 'free gift' of Christ, as presented in Romans 5:15-16. He emphasizes that while Adam's sin brought condemnation and death to many, Christ's act of redemption is immeasurably greater, bringing justification and eternal life to believers. The sermon highlights the concept of grace, explaining that the righteousness of Christ is imputed to believers, covering all their sins, unlike Adam's sin, which resulted in condemnation for all. Pastor Hopkins underscores the magnitude of Christ's obedience and its transformative impact on believers, who are now justified and no longer under condemnation. The sermon stresses the importance of understanding the contrast between Adam and Christ and the overwhelming grace that believers receive through faith in Jesus.

Welcome back to Burnet Bible Church. Join us this week as Pastor Hopkins continues his sermon series through the book of Romans. Good morning. Let's turn on our Bibles to Romans chapter 5 beginning with verse 15 and let's stand and read together. Verses 15 and 16.

Let's read together. But not as the offense, so also is the free gift. For if through the offense of one, many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift of grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many. And not as it was by one that sinned So is the gift for the judgment was by one to condemn nation But the free gift is of many offenses unto justification let's pray Father, we thank you for your word. Your word is truth.

And we thank you, Father, for your Spirit by whom we are made to understand your word. Your word is truth. And we pray, God, that the truth of your word may be opened to us this morning once again by the Holy Spirit of truth For we ask it in Jesus name. Amen Let's be seated We pick up this morning as I said with verse 15 of Paul's epistle to the believers at Rome where we read, but not as the offense, so also is the free gift. And if you're taking notes this morning, and I hope you are, you might want to pencil in the inversion of this sentence in order to understand it more more easily.

It's much more clearly understood if you read the last part of the sentence first, if you invert the sentence, and read it like this. So also, the free gift is not as the offense. So also the free gift is not as the offense. Very simply put, if you look at your text, the free gift is not like the offense. The free gift by which we are justified in God's sight, the free gift of the imputation of Christ's righteousness to our accounts, is not like the offense of Adam.

But of course, the question then naturally comes to our minds, in what way? In what way is the free gift not like the offense? I think the answer lies in the next sentence, because Paul says, through the offense of one man, Adam, many died as we read in our last session, you remember, death passed upon all, Adam sinned, and the result was the sentence of death upon all those in him. But what Paul is saying here is that the free gift is not like the offense in this way. The free gift of our justification in God's sight by the imputation of Christ's righteousness to our accounts of those who believe, it's not like the offense of Adam.

In this way, it is immeasurably greater. Immeasurably greater is what Christ did resulting in our redemption than what Adam did resulting in our condemnation. Immeasurably greater is what Christ did resulting in our redemption and our eternal salvation and our justification in His sight. Immeasurably greater is what Christ did than what Adam did resulting in our condemnation. The grace that was obtained for us, procured for us by Christ, wipes out the sin, the judgment, and the condemnation that is brought upon us by Adam.

Again, the grace that was obtained for us by Christ, by what he did, by his obedience, what it obtained for us, wipes out the sin, wipes out the judgment, wipes out the condemnation brought upon us by Adam. MacArthur puts it in these words, Christ's one act of redemption was immeasurably greater than Adam's one act of condemnation. Or as Calvin puts it, I love the way Calvin puts things, Christ is much more powerful to save than Adam was to destroy. Christ is much more powerful to save than Adam was to destroy. Remember by the one sin of that one man, Adam, death came into the world and death passed upon all men because all sinned in him.

But our text says, but much more. The apostle tells us here, much more the grace of God. Much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which came by one man, Jesus Christ, abounded. Abounded. Through the offense of one man, that is Adam, many died.

And of course, you'll notice the apostle uses the word many and all interchangeably throughout the all of this all of this portion of the text he's not limiting he's just saying the all can be the many and the many can be the all in many different ways. Through the offense of one man, that is Adam, many died. Well, everybody died, but that's many. But immeasurably greater, what he's saying here, is what Jesus did and what resulted. And I think the way he's putting it is he's saying what comparison is there?

What comparison is there between the free gift and the offense in this respect? The free gift is not like the offense. For if through the offense of one many be dead much more, much, much more, by the obedience of Christ, the grace of God, and the gift of justification of our salvation by grace has abounded unto many." Again, some people get hung up on the word many, which is used twice in this passage, many be dead and abounded unto many. But the many that be dead, notice, are all those in Adam. That is all those he represented upon whom death came.

And the second many that's used are all those in Jesus Christ. And there are many, to whom the grace of God and the gift by grace abound. What I'm saying is that if you look at the text, the focus of the text is not on the word many, which is used twice in the passage. First of all, speaking of all those who died in Adam, and secondly, all those in Christ, to whom the grace of God and the gift by grace abound. That's not what Paul is driving home here.

What he's driving home to us here, the point that he's making concerns the contrast. He's continually contrasting Adam and Christ. And here, what Adam did in the result with what Christ did in the results. And friends, the offense is not anywhere near comparable to the free gift. Immeasurably greater is what Jesus did in bringing justification and righteousness in life eternal to sinners ruined by the fall.

Immeasurably greater is what Jesus did. He brought justification. He brought the imputation of his righteousness, the declaration of his righteousness to the accounts of ruined sinners. He brought eternal life to those dead in trespasses and sins. Immeasurably greater is what Jesus did and the effect of that, the result of that.

And a second thing before we move on to verse 16. Think about this. Think about how much more, to use that word again, blessed we are in Christ than Adam was even before the fall. How much more blessed we are in Christ, even than Adam was when Adam was living in that state of innocence in the garden and had communion with God. How much more blessed are we?

Think about this. How much more blessed are we who are in Christ, in Christ in us, than Adam was even before the fall, even before He sinned. You could flip over to 1 Corinthians chapter 15, look at verse 49. 1 Corinthians 15, 49 tells us something very amazing. It tells us that that we will one day bear the image of the Lord of heaven.

We'll one day bear the image of Christ. Adam didn't have that promise in the covenant of works. Adam didn't have that. At the resurrection, we will be raised not to be just like Adam was in the state of innocence before the fall, but we will be raised in the likeness of Christ. Far greater, immeasurably greater is what Christ has done and the result.

First John chapter three of verse two says, when we see him, how many know the rest of the verse? When we see him and we see Jesus, we shall be like him. We shall be like him. Adam didn't have that hope. Now, Now let's look at verse 16.

Another difficult way of putting something, verse 16, And not as it was by one that sinned, so is the gift. So is the gift not as it was by one that sinned, to invert the sentence. Well, who was the one that sinned? The one that sinned was Adam. And as it was by the one that sinned, he brought condemnation upon all, but so is the gift not like that.

Not as it was by one that sins, so is the gift. So is the gift not like that. The free gift is not like that. We are justified by Christ and His righteousness from much more than the one sin of the one that sinned. We're justified in God's sight by Christ and his righteousness from far more, much, much more than just a single sin of Adam that was imputed to all of us.

The free gift of justification by Christ covers much more than the one sin of Adam imputed to his posterity. In the words of Charles Hodge, theologian in the 1800s, theologian in the 1800s, the sentence of condemnation which passed on all men for the sake of Adam was for one offense. Whereas we, we who believe on Christ, are justified by Christ for many offenses. So, not as it was by the one that sins, so is the gift. The gift is not like that again.

For the judgment, he goes on, if we look at our text, verse 16, for the judgment that is the sentence of death that came upon all those in Adam, the judgment was by one, one offense by one offense, judgment under condemnation came upon us by one sin, the sentence of death came upon all as the result of the one sin of Adam, look at the text, leading to condemnation. Leading to condemnation, or to condemnation as it says in the King James Version. Leading to condemnation, that one sin committed by one man led to the condemnation of all men in him, of all those in him. But look at the contrast. But the free gift of our justification in God's sight, of our salvation through what Jesus Christ did, the saving grace that comes from him, the free gift that comes to us through Christ by his obedience is of many offenses.

Look at the text. Is of many offenses. That is, it saves from lots of sin. It saves from far more than just the condemnation of the one sin of Adam that was imputed to all of his posterity. The free gift of Christ's righteousness by which were justified in God's sight covered more than the guilt of Adam's sin imputed to us.

You know, why does the apostle Paul go through all this? You know what, if he didn't go through it all, people wouldn't have known these things down through the ages. He dives deep. He really goes deep and he wants every single, he doesn't leave one single stone unturned. He wants us to understand the magnificence of what has happened to us who have been brought to saving faith in Christ.

He wants us to stand in awe of what God has done through his Son for his people. The condemnation, the sentence of death that came upon us all was for one sin of Adam leading to condemnation. The free gift that comes to God's people through Christ is of many offenses. It saves from far more than just the condemnation of the one sin of Adam imputed to us. The free gift of Christ's righteousness by which we're justified in God's sight covers all our sins.

Covered more than the guilt of Adam's sin imputed to us, Yes, it covers that, but it also makes satisfaction for, it atones for what Christ did on the cross, atones for all the offenses committed by those for whom he died, and they are many. Which is why the text uses the word many. By God's grace, the gift of righteousness declared to the accounts of all those who believe, imputed to believers. And whereby we are justified in God's sight, covered many offenses, and here the many offenses is talking about all the sins of those who are in Christ by faith. They're covered.

They're covered. They're paid for. And when something is paid for by God, it's never reneged on and taken back. People say, well, it's dependent upon us whether or not it's paid. No, if it's paid, it's paid.

It's paid. The judgment was by one sin resulting in the condemnation of all those in Adam. But Jesus' obedience covers all the sins of all his people. See how much greater. We were all condemned in Adam, all having sinned in him.

Again, death came upon us all, his one act of disobedience being the cause, but in Christ on account of his obedience, our many offenses were put away. The judgment that came upon all of us was on account of the sin of one man, again, and that one sin was the cause of our condemnation. But the gracious gift of salvation through the obedience of one Christ covers far more than that one sin, much more than Adam's one sin imputed to us. It covers all our sins and there are many. The many offenses of Those who believe on Jesus are blotted out by the free gift of Christ's righteousness, imputed to His people by faith, being justified in God's sight on account of what Jesus did.

Even though, brothers and sisters, we have committed many sins, they were all laid on Christ and atoned for, made satisfaction for at the cross by the sacrifice of our Lord. The free gift of salvation by the grace of God through faith means that the righteousness of Christ has now been declared to our accounts And that as a result, our sins are gone forever. Isn't that good news? They're gone forever. It means that we who are in Christ, united to Him by faith, have been absolved of all sin and counted righteous in God's sight on account of what Jesus did.

Jesus paid it all, all to Him we owe. On the day we believe We are given the gift of salvation. Salvation is a gift, and the faith to believe is a gift. It's all of grace. Grace means it's a gift.

To believe on Christ is a gift. Salvation is a gift. On the day that we first believed, we were clothed in Christ's perfect righteousness, and death no longer reigned over us. The condemnation was taken away, and the death was abolished because we have been given life in Christ. Death is abolished for we have been given life in Christ.

Not only the guilt we incurred through Adam's sin imputed to us has been removed, but all our actual sins, our many sins, are removed by the grace of justification through God's free gift of the righteousness of Christ imputed to us, it was imputed to us the very first moment we believed on His name, the moment we trusted Christ alone, Him alone for our salvation. Friends, just in case you haven't noticed it yet, look at the text here again in verse 16, and these two words, condemnation and justification. Justification, in case you haven't already noticed it yet, is always presented to us in Scripture as the opposite of condemnation. In other words, to be justified is to no longer be condemned. To be justified is to no longer be condemned.

And again, that's good news, right, for everyone who believes. Justification means no more condemnation. Justification means no more condemnation. We've sung it in the old Wesley hymn many times, and can it be? Remember what it says?

No condemnation now I dread. Jesus and all in him is mine. Alive in him my living head and clothed in righteousness divine. Bold I approach the eternal throne. Can you say that with Brother Wesley so many years ago?

Bold I approach the eternal throne. Can you approach the throne boldly based upon not your feelings, not what you feel, not what you think or do, but based upon the inerrant, infallible, all-sufficient word and promise of God. Can you approach the throne boldly? Not arrogantly, not proudly, but boldly on account of your believing what God said in His word is true. Jesus paid for my sin debt by the gift of grace.

The gift of grace has abounded to this sinner. The gift of God's grace by one man, Jesus Christ, has abounded unto me. And I don't dread condemnation any longer. I am clothed, as the scripture says, I believe God's word. I am clothed in the righteousness of Christ.

I am forever justified in God's sight. Once for all time, The penalty has been paid, my sins have been removed, and Christ is mine and I am his. Once for all time, Christ did what was necessary to bring me to God, and he has. Can you say, I can boldly approach the throne of God? Again, not proudly or arrogantly, but I can boldly approach the throne of God?

Again, not proudly or arrogantly, but I can boldly approach the throne of God, not based upon my feelings or what I think or say or do, but based completely upon what Christ has done, upon Christ and what He has done for me, keeping the law perfectly in my place and dying for my sins and rising from the dead the third day. Right? Father, we thank you God that though Adam's offense resulted in our condemnation and death passed upon us, the Christ's obedience has resulted in justification and life for us, oh God. We thank you, Lord, that though death came by the one offense of Adam, that life has come to us, eternal life has come to us through the obedience of your son Jesus our Lord. We thank you God that though Adam and his one offense, that one act that one act resulted in our condemnation and a sentence of death upon us, that through Christ and his obedience, we've been given the free gift of justification, salvation, of righteousness, and life eternal.

God, We praise you and thank you, Lord, for Jesus' obedience unto death, which led to our justification in your sight through the imputation of his righteousness to our accounts. Oh God, we thank you for the grace of faith to believe whereby we were brought to trust in Christ alone. And we thank you