“Restore” Romans 5:12-19 March 29, 2020

I am glad that God looks with love and pride on His creation, us, who were dented up, rusted out, and a worthless image of what we were created to be, and that He decided that we were worth restoring to who He made us to be.

Romans 5:12-19

Verse 12 introduces us to Adam.

A. We lost our innocence (Vs 12, 16, 18)
B. We gave up spiritual life (Vs 12, 15, 17)

Verses 14 and 15 introduce us to Jesus

A. Mercy and forgiveness (Vs 15)
B. Be set right / justified (Vs 16, 19)
C. Spiritual life (Vs 17, 18)

Jesus wants to restore you to who God made you to be.

Find the curriculum Pastor Dave spoke about on our REIMAGINE page

SERMON TRANSCRIPTION

I can remember my first car; I bought it in September 2000. It only cost me $200. They say beauty is in the eye of the beholder, because my first car was a big, ugly looking boat of a car; a 1983 Buick LeSabre. It was one of those old cars that those of us who grew up in the 80’s remember that our grandparents used to drive. Big cars that felt like they were floating as they drove. I lived out in BC at the time, but this car had spent the first several years of life in Ontario. Imagine what a car would look like after driving on our salt covered winter roads for several years without underbody protection. It was rusty. The rust was even getting rust! There were many places where the rust had eaten through spots in the panels. The gas tank was even rusted in a spot (so I only ever filled it half full).

If the rust wasn’t bad enough on its own, the car was also quite dented. At least two of the doors, and maybe a fender panel or two were dented in. But I was so proud of it. This was my first car. When everyone else poked fun at my dented rust bucket that shouldn’t have been on the road, I saw the potential that this car had to become a thing of beauty again. Over the next year that I drove it, I poured time, effort, and money into fixing it up. I replaced rusted out parts. I pulled out and filled dents. I sanded out rust, and in some cases rebuilt panels that were eaten away by the rust. I repainted the car. I replaced the rusted-out gas tank. I Resealed the leaking windshield. I was convinced I would restore it to what it was intended to be.

Within the year, the engine began the slow road to death. Aside from a brand-new engine, there was nothing else I could do. I had to park that car once and for all. But the journey of trying to restore something that was beaten up, rusted out, and worthless in the eyes of most was something I took pride in.

Today, we are looking at Romans 5:12-19. I am glad that God looks with love and pride on His creation, us, who were dented up, rusted out, and a worthless image of what we were created to be, and that He decided that we were worth restoring to who He made us to be.

Let’s read Romans 5:12-19

Verse 12 introduces us to Adam

We are introduced first to a character named Adam, the first human God created, the first human to walk the face of the Earth. This connection to Adam needs to be understood in the context of Genesis 2-3. Maybe this is something you can read this week when you have time.

Adam and his wife Eve enjoyed perfection. They walked on Earth as God’s caretakers of His perfect creation. They lived in a utopian bliss where there was no sickness, hardship of any kind, death. The garden was for their enjoyment. They had a relationship with God where He would walk in the garden, and they could enjoy His personal presence in a deeply personal way that was unhindered from any disobedience whatsoever. All was at peace. All was well. All was perfect.

Yet, something happened. Genesis 3 reads how Eve, and then Adam took a bite from the forbidden fruit that God told them not to touch, the fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. When Adam ate, he blatantly disobeyed God, and suddenly his eyes were opened to the knowledge of good and evil. Sin, defined as missing the mark, was introduced to all of creation. Romans 5:12 says that through that one act of sin by Adam, sin and the resulting death was introduced to all of creation. Romans 3:23 tells us that everyone has sinned, and as a result, missed the mark of God’s perfect and undamaged glory and honour.

We have become like my 1983 Buick that, rather then be the brand new, unscratched, undamaged, not worn vehicle that it was right out of the assembly line, was full of dents, eaten away at by rust, and a worthless representation of what it was created to be. So how do we see this played out in our lives?

A. We lost our innocence (Vs 12, 16, 18)

Prior to Adam rebelling, all of creation had no knowledge of what rebellion, or sin was. We were undamaged by sin. Yet as verses 12, 16, and 18 say, Adam’s sin spreads to everyone. No longer could Adam enjoy the perfect, undamaged creation of God, because Adam was now damaged. He could never look at life the same, or his relationship with God the same as now, rebellion and disobedience had become a part of his active vocabulary. Because of Adam, our eyes are now open to the very same sin and rebellion. We live with the same damage as Adam. As a result of that sin, verses 16 and 18 say that we are no longer innocent but are subject to judgement and sentencing as one who is guilty.

B. We gave up spiritual life (Vs 12, 15, 17)

The three listed verses all say the same thing: death came to everyone. Yes, there is the truth that now, everyone and everything would face an eventual physical death, but there is so much more to it than that. While we are yet still alive, we all face something called “living death.” We may be alive physically, but spiritually, in our relationship towards God, there is a separation or death that happened. Just as Adam was then sent out of the garden with his wife because of the sin, not to live in the personal presence of God with a pure, un-scratched, undamaged relationship for eternity, we too have seen that life eaten away from us like rust eats away at metal. It is gone. While we are alive physically, we have exchanged that eternity with God in His presence for a life of isolation and spiritual death.

But don’t sit in this place of despair long. Don’t look at the hopeless, dented, rusted out, damaged, and worthless image of the life that was destroyed by sin. Why? Because, with love and pride, God looks at you and sees a creation worth restoring. He wants to fill the dents, remove the rust, fix the broken parts, smooth out the rough spots, and restore us to like new. He wants to give us back the life we were intended to have so we can be the people He intends us to be. This is why….

Verses 14 and 15 introduce us to Jesus

The story doesn’t end with a trip to the scrap yard. It ends with restoring what was damaged and destroyed. It ends with Jesus making all things new again. As we come closer to Easter, we celebrate the fact that Jesus came to Earth to die a criminal’s death on a cross, the execution tool of the Roman Empire. But as we know with the Easter Story, Jesus didn’t stay dead, but three days later came back to life again. Through this death and new life, Jesus accomplished for us the following:

A. Mercy and Forgiveness (Vs 15)

Verse 15 tells us that there is a big difference between Adam’s sin, and God’s gracious gift that came through what Jesus did. While Adam’s sin brought death to all, God’s gift through Jesus brings forgiveness and mercy. This means that even though we are guilty of disobedience, rebellion, and missing the mark of the perfection God designed us for, through the gift of God that comes through what Jesus did, we now are subject to mercy and forgiveness.

This means that we can:

B. Be set right / justified (Vs 16, 19)

What does it say here? Though we are guilty of many sins, even though we carry the damage of disobedience and rebellion in our lives, even though the dents and the rust holes are there for all to see, the gift of God that comes through Jesus sets us right before God. That gift takes care of those dents, rust holes, and damage marks in our lives. We are like new. This means that instead of facing spiritual death because of our sin, we now face:

C. Spiritual life (Vs 17, 18)

Adam’s sin brings death, but the gift of God that comes through Jesus brings the opposite, spiritual life. John 1:12 says that this spiritual life is available to all who receive Him and believe in His name. All who do this become children of God with all the rights and privileges therein, regardless of the past failures and mistakes. Regardless of how damaged, dented, or destroyed you were by sin. Regardless of how worthless you think you are, or others say you are.

As I wrap up, this is the encouragement I leave you today. No matter what you are facing today, no matter how life has beaten you down, no matter the depth of your own sin and rebellion, Jesus wants to restore you to who God made you to be. He wants to pull out all the dents from you crashing into the walls of rebellion. He wants to clean and cut out all the places where the rust of sin has eaten away at your life. He wants to fix the places where leaking into you is self sufficiency, independence, disbelief, and a lack of trust. All those places where you have been damaged, Jesus wants to restore into the image of who you were created to be: a child of God, created by Him to enjoy a perfect relationship forever in His presence.

Do you want to be restored?

Romans 5:12-19 New Living Translation (NLT)

Adam and Christ Contrasted

¹² When Adam sinned, sin entered the world. Adam’s sin brought death, so death spread to everyone, for everyone sinned. ¹³ Yes, people sinned even before the law was given. But it was not counted as sin because there was not yet any law to break. ¹⁴ Still, everyone died—from the time of Adam to the time of Moses—even those who did not disobey an explicit commandment of God, as Adam did. Now Adam is a symbol, a representation of Christ, who was yet to come. ¹⁵ But there is a great difference between Adam’s sin and God’s gracious gift. For the sin of this one man, Adam, brought death to many. But even greater is God’s wonderful grace and his gift of forgiveness to many through this other man, Jesus Christ. ¹⁶ And the result of God’s gracious gift is very different from the result of that one man’s sin. For Adam’s sin led to condemnation, but God’s free gift leads to our being made right with God, even though we are guilty of many sins. ¹⁷ For the sin of this one man, Adam, caused death to rule over many. But even greater is God’s wonderful grace and his gift of righteousness, for all who receive it will live in triumph over sin and death through this one man, Jesus Christ.

¹⁸ Yes, Adam’s one sin brings condemnation for everyone, but Christ’s one act of righteousness brings a right relationship with God and new life for everyone. ¹⁹ Because one person disobeyed God, many became sinners. But because one other person obeyed God, many will be made righteous.New Living Translation (NLT)

Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.