Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit · Sermon No. 2544
“The judgment was by one to condemnation, but the free gift is of many offenses unto justification.” Romans 5:16.
I am not going to speak at length about the Doctrine of the Federal Headship of the first Adam and of the second Adam, which is, to my mind, indisputably taught in this chapter. I have heard a great many objections to that Truth of God which appear to me to be plainly revealed in Scripture, namely, that we were all represented by Adam in the Garden of Eden and that when he sinned, he so sinned as to sin representatively—and we fellby virtue of his disobedience. Certain it is that we all come into a world that is adapted to sinners—where the babe is no sooner born than it begins to suffer pain—where winter’s frosts, summer’s heats and changes of all kinds constantly try us—a world not at all adapted for perfect beings. God regards us from our very birth as sinful and He treats us as such. Now, whatever quibbles there may be about that Doctrine of Representation and Federal Headship, it is a fact, and I would remind objectors that it is, under many aspects, a very blessed fact! When the angels fell, keeping not their first estate, there was never any proposal to ransom them, for each of those spiritual beings fell in his own individual capacity and fell hopelessly. But the human race was a unitrepresented by the one head, Adam.
And though to us it is a most unhappy thing that we should all have fallen by virtue of our being represented by Adam, yet here is the mercy of it—it left a way open by which we might be restored, for, if we fell by one Adam, there remained a possibility of our rising by another Adam! If the disobedience of one representative was the first cause of our being regarded as sinners, then it became possible that the obedience of another and still greater Representative might enable God to regard us as righteous and treat us as such! I shall not quibble at what is so greatly to my own personal advantage—I rather bow before what I cannot understand and accept it because I see how it is now possible for me to be saved forever and ever! “Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputes not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile.” I dare not question the perfect justice of my fall in Adam. I should be most unwise if I did, for by so doing I might cast some doubt upon the justice of my rising in the second Adam—and what other way of rising is there possible for me, or possible for any of us?
Entering not, however, into any of the disputes that have arisen around this Truth of God, I simply allude to the fact, most dreadful and terrible, that in Adam we died, because in Adam’s sin we were regarded as sinners. And I rejoice in that second fact which covers and meets the first, that in Christ we live, inasmuch as Christ’s righteousness is the property of all who are truly in Him. He was righteous on their behalf and they find in Him wisdom, righteousness, sanctifica-tion and redemption!
Our text alludes to certain differences between the consequences of Adam’s representation and that of Christ—“The judgment was by one to condemnation, but the free gift is of many offenses unto justification.” I shall speak about four things as the Holy Spirit shall graciously guide me.
I. the first is, THE VENON OF SIN—“The judgment was by one to condemnation.” By one man, by one sin, by one act of transgression, “The judgment was to condemnation.”
Notice, dear Friends, that Adam’s offense was one. True, there were a great many sins wrapped up in that one—it would be almost impossible to mention any sin which did not lie asleep, or which was not found in embryo, within that one act of tasting the forbidden fruit. Yet it was but one offense. It is looked at by those who have no spiritual understanding as a very small matter, just as at this day men still make light of sin and regard disobedience to the will of God as being a mere trifle. Yet that one offense has ruined us all. When he, who committed it, fell—
“Then I, and you, and all of us fell down.” Inasmuch as he was the parent of us all, he communicated to all his offspring a tendency to sin. And all his descendants became subject to the weary woes of life and to the sure penalty of death. Think of the mischief that one sin can do— Adam’s disobedience was but one offense, yet some of its consequences will remain forever!
Note, next, that one offense brought with it condemnation. Such is the Law of God—that it does not need to be broken many times to bring condemnation—one breakage of it and the dread sentence is passed. Had you and I committed only one solitary sin—I scarcely like to utter the supposition, for it is so far remote from the truth—but if it were so, he who breaks the Law in any one point has broken it all. It is like a chain and if you file through a single link, you have broken the whole chain. It is like a vase of purest alabaster, of matchless workmanship—if you break it anywhere, you have spoiled it and it can never be offered unto God. One offense brings condemnation! The verdict of, “Guilty,” upon one solitary count of the indictment brings upon the convicted criminal the death sentence from the Throne of God. Let no man object to this. If he does, his objecting will not alter the fact. It still stands as a necessary consequence of the righteous Law of God that He will, by no means, spare the guilty, and even one offense brings judgment unto condemnation!