Romans 5:12-21...Guilt versus Grace

This coming Sunday, I am going to be preaching from Romans 5:12-21. This is really an amazing part of the book of Romans. These 10 verses basically summarize what we have learned thus far from 1:18-5:11 and what we will learn and be challenged by in 6:1-8:39. Here’s how this section can be outlined:

• 5:12-14 references the fall and ruin of humanity. These three verses summarize 1:18-3:20.

• 5:15-19 references God’s rescuing of humanity by sending His Son as propitiation for all sin. These five verses summarize 3:21-5:11.

• 5:20-21 introduces a Christian’s victory because of God’s indwelling Spirit. This will be discussed in 6:1-8:39.

However, the heart of Romans 5:12-21 introduces us in great detail to the struggle between “good and evil.” This struggle did not begin with you and your first dilemma or your first moral decision in which you may have failed. Rather it began in the perfect Garden of Eden where the first man and woman lived in a beautiful, untainted by sin, garden. Their duty was plentiful and seemingly easy; God empowered them to be vice-regents over the earth. They were to have dominion over all creation, love each other, multiply, and have an intimate, personal relationship with God. The only stipulation: Adam had the choice to choose between good and evil. Since love is a choice, God placed in the garden a tree. Adam was to choose between “right” and this one solitary tree. He chose to disobey and eat from the tree. GUILTY! GUILTY! GUILTY!
Adam plummeted all humanity into sin. Oh, the guilt he must have felt. Actually his and Eve’s first decision was to cover themselves in guilt and not grace. They sowed together fig leaves to hide their shame. They hid themselves from God’s presence. That is EXACTLY what we do with sin. In our guilt, we hide ourselves and our behavior.

Join us this coming Sunday at North Park as we talk about what to do with guilt. Grace trumps guilt. We do not need to live in guilt. Guilt keeps us separated. Christ died for our guilt. Show up this coming Sunday and let’s learn how to deal with the guilt problem