[Chapter 5-2] Through One Man (Romans 5:14)
(Romans 5:14)
“Nevertheless
death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who had not sinned
according to the likeness of the transgression of Adam, who is a type of
Him who was to come.”
Sinners must have the knowledge of sin first of all
Today,
I want to speak about the origin of sin. Do not think to yourself, “You
speak of the same things everyday. Tell me about other things.” I want
you to listen carefully. The gospel is the most precious thing. If a
saint whose sins are blotted out does not repeatedly hear the gospel to
remind him/her of it everyday, he/she will die. How can he/she live
without hearing the gospel of the water and the Spirit? The only way
he/she can live is by hearing the gospel. Let’s open the Bible and share
the real meanings in it.
I
thought, “What is most needed by sinners whose sins are not forgiven
yet?” Then I came to know they needed the right knowledge of sin
according to the word of God because they can only receive the
forgiveness of sins when they know about sin. I believe that sinners
need the knowledge of sin the most.
A
human being sins so many times from the time he/she is born regardless
of whether or not he/she wants to. He/she does not deeply think about
the sin that dwells within him/her even though he/she is a sinner before
God because he/she sins too many times as he/she grows up. To sin is as
natural as an apple tree growing up, flowering and bearing apples with
time. However, we must know that the wages of sin is death according to
the law of God.
If
one thinks and truly knows about the result of sin, he/she can be
delivered from sin and God’s judgment, and receive all His spiritual
blessings. So what is most needed by a sinner is to know about the sin
and the result of it, and to learn the truth of the remission of sins,
which God gave.
How did sin enter the world?
Why
does a human being sin? Why do I sin? The Bible talks about this in
Romans 5:12 saying, “Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the
world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because
all sinned.” What entered the world through sin? Death. People tend to
think that death merely means that of the flesh. However, death here
implicates the meaning of being spiritually separated from God. It also
implies hell and God’s judgment, along with the death of the flesh.
Romans 5:12 shows us how human beings became sinners.
The
Bible says, “Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world,
and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all
sinned.” The word of God is the truth. Through one man sin entered the
world, and death through sin.
We
were born as the descendants of Adam. Then do we or don’t we have sin
as the descendants of Adam? ─Yes, we have sin.─ Are we born sinful?
─Yes, because we are the descendants of Adam, who is our ancestor.─
Adam
begot all humankind, however, Adam and Eve had sinned against God’s
word under Satan’s deception when they were in the Garden of Eden. God
told them not to eat the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good
and evil but rather, to have eternal life by eating fruit from the tree
of life.
But
they were deceived by Satan and forsook God’s word and ate from the
tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Adam and Eve sinned by forsaking
God’s word, which is the word of eternal life. After Adam and Eve
sinned, Adam came to sleep with Eve, and all human beings came to born
through Adam and Eve. We are their descendants. We did not only inherit
their outward appearances, but also their sinful nature.
Therefore,
the Bible says that a human being is a seed of sin. All the people of
the world have inherited sin from Adam and Eve. The Bible says,
“Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death
through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned.” So
all human beings are born sinful.
However,
people do not know they are born sinners. They do not have the
knowledge of sin even though they were born sinful. A tree begins to bud
by its seed and brings forth fruit, but people think it is strange for
them to sin because they do not know that they are born as seeds of sin.
It is the same principle for an apple tree to think, ‘It is strange.
Why do I have to bear apples?’
Thus,
it is natural for a human being to sin. The thought that a human being
can avoid sinning is completely false. It is natural for a human being
who inherited sin to commit sins throughout his/her life and bear the
fruits of sin, but he/she does not deeply think about being a sinner.
What does God say? “Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the
world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because
all sinned.”
We
sin throughout our lives because we were born as sinners. Therefore, we
deserve to be judged by God. You may think, ‘Isn’t it unjust for God to
judge us when we have no choice but to have sin?’ However, after
receiving the remission of sins, you will come to know that God planned
to do so in order to make us His children.
We all are the descendants of one man, Adam
Then,
how come human beings, who are descendants of one man, Adam, have
different skin colors? Are their seeds different? Why are there white,
yellow, and black people? Some people think that when God created man
from the dust on the ground and burnt him, God made a white man by
taking him out too early from the kiln, a yellow man by taking him out
right on time and a black man by taking him out too late.
You
may also wonder why there are black, white, and yellow races, though
all human beings were given sin through one man. The Bible clearly
states that God made Adam in the beginning, when He created the heavens
and the earth. “Adam” means man. God created a man. Why are there
different races in the world if God created one man, Adam, and all the
peoples of the world were born through him? We may ask why, so here is
the answer.
Scientists
say that a pigment in the skin called melanin comes out of the skin to
protect it from sunburn. When the earth moves around the sun, those who
live in areas with a lot of sunlight become black, those who live in
areas with minimal sunlight become white, and those who live in areas
that have adequate sunlight become yellow. However, our ancestor is
still one man, Adam.
Scientists
announced that melanin automatically comes out of the skin and protects
it from sunburn. So, I came to understand this from that time. I knew
that human beings were descendants of Adam, but I did not know about
melanin. We have not only inherited the flesh, but also sin because we
are the descendants of one man, Adam.
Do
you know sin? Let us investigate whether human beings are sinners or
not from when they are born into this world. “Even so, every good tree
bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot
bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit” (Matthew 7:17-18).
God says that false prophets bear only false fruit and can never bear
good fruit. We are evil trees originally because we were born sinful, so
we cannot help bearing evil fruit because we were born as bad trees.
We
have inherited sin through one man. We are bad trees if compared to
trees. A human being, who was born a sinner, cannot but commit sins even
if he/she wants to lead a good life and tries not to sin, just as a bad
tree cannot bear good fruit. Do you understand? Human beings really
want to live gentle, meek, and virtuous lives. However, a person who
does not have the remission of sin and was born a sinner cannot live a
righteous life. He/she cannot be good, even with endless efforts. Some
alcoholics try not to drink so heavily, but in the end, they suffer from
alcoholism and their families desert them in hospitals.
One
day, I watched a program titled, “I want to know it” on TV. A man was
confined in a mental hospital for 13 years. When a reporter asked him
about his family, he said that they haven’t returned to bring him home
even though he was a fully recovered alcoholic and his doctor assured of
his recovery. He came to know from the reporter that his family
prevented him from leaving the hospital by bribing his doctor. He was
outraged. His family deserted him because they were so tired of him. The
reporter said that the patients in the hospital could not help drinking
regardless of their will and they drank heavily so many times that
nobody could cope with them.
Why
can’t a man control his drinking? He knows it is not good for his
health and tries to quit; yet he repeatedly drinks. The reason for this
is because he is an alcoholic already, but the original cause for this
is that his mind is always empty. He drinks because he feels emptiness
in his heart. One always feels pain and is unable to be good because
he/she is with sin. So, he/she comes to be pessimistic and drinks again.
He/she may think, ‘I do not know why I’m doing this. I shouldn’t be
doing this.’ And the more he/she feels betrayed by himself/herself, the
more he/she drinks heavily in self-abandonment.
One
cannot quit drinking however hard one tries not to drink. So, one feels
disillusioned and drinks more and eventually, he/she is deserted in a
confined hospital. A human being’s speech and behavior are merely the
expressions of his/her intrinsic nature. A human being is born a sinner
and thus cannot help sinning, regardless of his/her will, throughout
his/her life just as an apple tree buds, flowers and bears apples
because it inherits an apple gene. People want to be good, but those who
don’t have the remission of sins cannot be good because they don’t have
the ability to be good. They think their sins aren’t grave, so they
hide themselves, and it only becomes serious when their sins are
revealed.
It
is natural, instinctive and proper for a sinner to sin because he/she
is born as a mass of sin and inherits it by nature. It is absolutely
natural for a human being to sin because he/she is born with the
genetics of sin, just as it is natural for a red pepper plant to bear
red peppers and for a jujube tree to bear jujubes. A human being cannot
avoid sinning because he/she is born as a sinner. How can a human being
live without sinning when he/she is born with sin?
Man is born with twelve kinds of evil thoughts
Jesus
said in Mark chapter 7 that a human being is born with 12 kinds of
evils, namely, adultery, fornication, murder, theft, covetousness,
wickedness, deceit, lewdness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, and
foolishness. We are born with a desire to steal. The thought of theft is
included in the heredity of sin. Do you steal? Everyone steals. If
he/she does not steal, it is because there are people watching him/her.
However, when there is nobody around him/her and there is a tempting
object around, the sin of theft comes out and makes him/her commit a sin
by stealing it.
So
human beings have made ethics and rules that should be kept. Human
beings have made their own rules that indicate that it is not right to
do harm to others. Rules are needed when many people live together in a
society. We must live according to social norms. However, we steal when
we are alone, escaping another’s gaze.
There
is none who does not steal. Everyone steals. A long time ago, I asked
the congregation in a revival meeting to raise their hands if they have
never sinned in their lives. A grandmother raised her hands and said, “I
have never stolen anything.” So I asked her if she had ever taken
anything on her way home. Then she was flustered at the unexpected
question and replied, saying, “I once saw a young pumpkin on my way
home. I thought it would be delicious so I looked around and found that
nobody was there. I pulled it up, hid it in my underskirt, put it in
bean paste pot stew and ate it.” She did not know that she committed a
sin of theft.
However,
God says it is a sin to take other’s possessions without permission.
God commanded, “You shall not steal” in the Law of Moses. Everybody has
an experience of stealing something. A human being is good at murder and
theft whenever he/she gets the chance. He/she steals livestock, such as
rabbits and chickens from other people’s homes. This is said to be
theft. He/she even has no consciousness of sin even though he/she slays
and steals. It is natural for him/her to do so because he/she inherited
sin from the time of birth.
A human being inherited sin
A
human being also inherited the sin of adultery from his/her parents.
He/she is born with the lust of committing adultery. He/she is very
certain to commit adultery when there aren’t any people are around.
People like dark places such as cafés and saloons. Those places are very
popular to sinners. Why? Those are good places to show the heredity of
sin.
Even
gentlemen like those places. They are good fathers at home and men of
high social standings, but they go to dark places that are full of sin.
They go to the places in which they can show their sinful natures and
bear sinful fruit. They meet together in those places and soon become
like old friends after drinking a glass of alcohol. They become very
close as soon as they meet because they have the same sinful attributes
as each other. “Do you have this too? I have this.” “So do I. You are my
friend.” “How old are you?” “Age does not matter.” “Nice to meet you.”
Men
show their inherent sins each other whenever they meet other sinners
because they were born with the sinful attributes in the world. It is
natural for them to sin. Why? Because they have sin in their hearts and
were created to be like that by nature. It’s abnormal for them not to
sin. However, they refrain themselves from living sinful lives when they
live in a society because each society has its own social norms. So,
they play the hypocrite and put on other facades, acting according to
the social norms their societies established. People live like this and
regard those who don’t as foolish and evil. A human being is inevitably
born a sinner, as the Bible says, “Through one man sin entered the
world” (Romans 5:12).
It’s
right. A man may say, “I am not lewd. I am indifferent to a woman who
wears a miniskirt.” Is he really indifferent? He may pretend to be
indifferent when there are so many people around him, but cannot refrain
from committing the sin of lewdness when there is no one around him.
A
bad tree bears evil fruit just as a good tree cannot bear evil fruit,
and vice versa. A human being must know that he/she is a sinner. If one
knows one’s own sins, one can be saved from sin through Jesus. However
he/she will be judged by God and go to hell if he/she pretends not to
sin and tries to hide his/her sins without knowing his/her sins. Human
beings are born as sinners. Therefore, they are corrupt trees that bear
sinful fruits from the time of their births.
Therefore,
those who develop their own sinful natures from their childhoods are
good at sinning all their lives. Those who are late in developing their
sinful natures begin to bear evil fruit even in the twilight years of
their lives. There was a female minister in Taegu City, Korea. When she
converted to Christianity in her youth, she pledged herself to remain
single throughout her life in order to serve the Lord as a female
minister. However, she broke her pledge and was married to a widower
after turning 60 years old. She developed her sinful nature too late.
She developed the heredity of adultery late.
Most
people usually develop their sinful natures from their childhoods.
These days, young people tend to develop their sinful natures from their
childhoods. They feel a generation gap between them and the older
generation. They are said to be the X-generation. By the way, we have
learned from the word of God that we are born sinners and we are the
beings who cannot but continue sinning all our lives. Do you admit it?
The law of leprosy
Second,
God says, “Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world,
and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all
sinned” (Romans 5:12). Sin causes a human being to be judged by God. So a
sinner must know himself/herself and have the remission of sins. How
can he/she know himself/herself? How can all his/her sins be forgiven
before God?
God
taught Moses and Aaron how to examine the leprosy in Leviticus chapter
13. In the Old Testament Age, there were many lepers. I do not know much
about leprosy, but I saw many lepers when I was young. One of my
friends was also affected by leprosy.
God
told Moses and Aaron to examine the leprosy and isolate lepers from the
camp of Israel. God taught them how to examine each of the lepers.
“When a man has on the skin of his body a swelling, a scab, or a bright
spot, and it becomes on the skin of his body like a leprous sore, then
he shall be brought to Aaron the priest or to one of his sons the
priests” (Leviticus 13:2). When the priest thought he had a skin disease
after examining him, the priest isolated him for seven days. Then, the
priest examined the skin again after seven days. When the sore did not
spread out on the skin, the priest pronounced him as clean, saying, “You
are clean. You may live in this camp.”
If
the swelling on the skin was white, and it turned the hair white, and
there was a spot of raw flesh in the swelling, it was leprosy, then the
priest would have pronounced him as unclean. Leviticus 13:9-11 states,
“When the leprous sore is on a person, then he shall be brought to the
priest. And the priest shall examine him; and indeed if the swelling on
the skin is white, and it has turned the hair white, and there is a spot
of raw flesh in the swelling, it is an old leprosy on the skin of his
body. The priest shall pronounce him unclean, and shall not isolate him,
for he is unclean.” The priest did not isolate him from the camp of
Israel.
It
is the same in our country. There are isolated villages for lepers in
Korea such as Flower Village or Sorok Island. A long time ago, on my way
home riding in the car, my wife teased me to look around ‘Flower
Village’ when she happened to see the sign for it on a superhighway.
Then I thought, ‘You do not know what ‘The Flower Village’ is.’ I said
to her, “Honey, do you mean you want to visit ‘the town’?’ She said,
“Yes.” However, she was astonished to hear that ‘Flower Village’ was a
place where lepers lived and she never teased me to go to Flower Village
again. Lepers are isolated from the society in isolated villages.
Here,
what we have to pay attention to is that the priest pronounced someone
was clean when the leprosy spread and covered all of his/her skin. Do
you think this makes sense? The priest isolated the person when the
leprosy spread just a little, and the priest told him to live in the
camp of Israel when the plague of leprosy covered all his skin, from
head to toe.
God
told the priest how to classify leprosy. “And if leprosy breaks out all
over the skin, and the leprosy covers all the skin of the one who has
the sore, from his head to his foot, wherever the priest looks”
(Leviticus 13:12). This was the way God told the priest to classify
leprosy.
What the law of leprosy tells us….
It
tells us this. People are born sinners with sinful attributes and sin
all their lives, but some people only reveal a few of their sins. They
sin with their hands once and with their feet the next and with their
minds another time after long intervals, so they do not outwardly reveal
their sins. Who would say it is serious when leprosy spreads on just
one spot here and another small spot there? Nobody knows his/her
syndrome of leprosy.
A
human being is born a sinner because of the inheritance of sin. But
he/she does not know that he/she is a sinner until he/she sins a
countless number of times, though God pronounced him/her to be a sinner.
He/she finally comes to know that he/she is a sinner in the world.
However,
a person who thinks him/herself too virtuous, endures well and sins
just a little does not know that he/she is a sinner. God told the priest
to pronounce the person whose leprosy spread just a little to be
unclean and to isolate him/her. Sinners are separated from God. Do you
understand? God is holy. A person who thinks that he/she has sin as
small as a whit cannot enter the Kingdom of Heaven.
Who
can live in the Kingdom of Heaven? Only those whose sins spread over
the entire body and realize that they are inevitable sinners can enter
the Kingdom of Heaven. All their sins are forgiven by the faith in
Jesus, and they will enter the Kingdom of Heaven to reign with God.
The
Bible says that God pronounces the person whose sin spreads just a
little to be unclean. God calls on the person who repeatedly sins, in
spite of his/her will not to sin, and confesses that he/she is a whole
sinner. Jesus said, “I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners
to repentance” (Matthew 9:13). God calls sinners and washes away all
their sins. God has forgiven all their sins. God has already washed away
their sins once and for all. Jesus took all their sins through His
baptism, was judged on the Cross for them and made them righteous
through His resurrection to take them to the Kingdom of Heaven.
We must know ourselves
We
must know whether we are whole sinners or partial sinners. God
pronounces a person to be clean when leprosy spreads all over the skin
of the body. God made the law of leprosy like that. A person who knows
that he/she is full of sin cannot but believe in the gospel of the water
and the Spirit and receives the remission of sins when Jesus comes to
him/her, saying that He washed away all his/her sins through His baptism
and the Cross. However, a partial sinner who thinks that he/she is not
full of sins casts ridicule on the gospel.
Would
there be sin if Jesus had washed them all away? No. We can receive the
remission of sins once and for all. Therefore, a sinner should know
himself/herself. All his/her sins can be eliminated when he/she knows
himself/herself. People are apt to take only their small sins to God.
“Lord, I have sinned. I did not want to, but he made me do it. Please
forgive me just for this case, and I will not sin anymore.” They take
just small sins to God. Then God says, “You are unclean.”
A
human being has no righteousness in front of God. “To be or not to be
absolutely depends on You, God. I am a sinner and am destined to go to
hell. Please do as You please, but God, be merciful on me and please
save me. Please save me if You are God. Then I will believe in You and I
will live according to Your will.” God saves a person who admits that
he/she is full of sin.
A human inherited sin that has 12 kinds of evil thoughts
Let
us take a look at Mark 7:20-23. “What comes out of a man, that defiles a
man. For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts,
adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness,
deceit, lewdness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness. All these
evil things come from within and defile a man.” From within, out of the
heart of a human being, proceed evil thoughts. A human being inherited
sin natively. Do you understand? One has evil thoughts throughout life.
There is no way for him/her to be delivered if all his/her sins are not
forgiven once and for all.
A
human being is born with these 12 kinds of evil thoughts: adulteries,
fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit,
lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride and foolishness. So,
he/she cannot but continue sinning all his/her life. A person whose sins
are not forgiven lives sinfully even though he/she does not want to
live like that. All things from a human being, such as thoughts and
behaviors are sinful before God.
It
is hypocritical for a sinner to be good. He/she only pretends to be
virtuous. It is cheating God. A human being who is born sinful must know
himself/herself to be saved. However if a person does not know
himself/herself to be sinful, he/she feels distressed whenever he/she
sins and says, “Ah, why do I do these things?” He/she is deceived by
himself/herself.
A
human being has evil thoughts. A man may think, ‘Why do I do evil
thoughts? No, I shouldn’t have these thoughts. Why do I think unclean
things? My teacher told me to do good.’ He thinks like that because he
does not know why he does certain things. He feels distressed because of
his stealing and committing adulteries because he does not know that he
inherited sin. Murders, adulteries, fornications, wickedness, deceit,
lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, and foolishness come out
of him incessantly and in turn. So, he hates himself and comes to be
ashamed without knowing why.
We
are masses of sin and bear 12 kinds of evil fruits throughout our whole
lives because we are born sinners, who inherited sin from our common
ancestor Adam. Blessed are those who know that they are sinners.
A
human being seeks Jesus, the Savior who saves him/her from all his/her
sins, when he/she knows he/she is an unreliable sinner. It is the only
way to being blessed by God. However, a human being does not seek the
Savior if he/she does not know himself/herself. A person who knows
himself/herself well comes to deny him/herself, forsakes his/her
efforts, quits depending on human beings, seeks Jesus Christ who is God,
the Savior and the Prophet, and is forgiven by the grace of Jesus
Christ.
Sinners
need to know themselves because those who know themselves can be
blessed before God. One who does not know oneself cannot be blessed.
Therefore, sinners have to know themselves as they are. Do you
understand? Have you ever done evil things before you receiving the
remission of sins? If you have, do you know why? You did evil things
against your will because you inherited sin.
As through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin
Death
is inevitable to human beings because they have sin. A human being
should seek Jesus and meet Him to be delivered from sin so that his/her
sins can be blotted out. Then he/she can have everlasting life. Do you
want to be delivered from all your sins?
“Nevertheless
death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who had not sinned
according to the likeness of the transgression of Adam, who is a type of
Him who was to come. But the free gift is not like the offense. For if
by the one man’s offense many died, much more the grace of God and the
gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abounded to many. And
the gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned. For the
judgment which came from one offense resulted in condemnation, but the
free gift which came from many offenses resulted in justification. For
if by the one man’s offense death reigned through the one, much more
those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness
will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ. Therefore, as through
one man’s offense judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation,
even so through one Man’s righteous act the free gift came to all men,
resulting in justification of life. For as by one man’s disobedience
many were made sinners, so also by one Man’s obedience many will be made
righteous. Moreover the law entered that the offense might abound. But
where sin abounded, grace abounded much more, so that as sin reigned in
death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life
through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 5:14-21).
“Therefore,
just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin,
and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned” (Romans 5:12).
Here, who is the one man? Adam. Eve too came out of the one man, Adam.
So the Bible says, ‘By one man.’ God made one man in the beginning and
through the one man sin entered the world. There were two persons in the
Garden of Eden in sight of us, but, in fact, there was one man in sight
of God. All human races have spread by one man, Adam.
The
words, “Through one man sin entered the world,” means that all the
descendants of Adam became sinners because Adam had sinned. Death passed
upon all humankind, because all have sinned. Death was sentenced to all
human beings because of sin. God cannot forbear a person who is with
sin.
God
is omnipotent but cannot do two things: He can neither tell a lie nor
let a person who has sin enter the Kingdom of Heaven. He executes His
law as He promised. God certainly judges a person who has sin because
God cannot tell a lie nor ignore the law He Himself established. All
human beings have become sinners by one man, Adam, who fell and sinned
in front of God. God’s judgment and death spread to all of humankind
because they were made sinners and born as the descendants of one man,
Adam. Death came to spread to all of them as such.
When
God created man in the beginning, there was no death. There were not
only the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, but also the tree of
life. God commanded Adam to eat the fruit from tree of life and live an
eternal life. However, Adam was deceived by Satan and ate the fruit of
the tree of the knowledge of good and evil that God commanded him not to
eat and challenged God by forsaking His word, so death spread to all
the people of the world due to sin. Death entered the world through one
man, Adam.
Why did God give man the law?
If
sin had not entered the world through Adam, death could not have spread
to all human beings. Why does a human die? He/she dies because of sin.
Sin entered the world through one man, and so death spread to all
people. Until the law, sin was in the world, but human beings did not
have the knowledge of sin until there was the law.
The
law of God came down to all people through Moses. Even in the time of
Adam and Noah, there was sin, but God had not established the law until
the age of Moses. However, the Bible says that there was sin in the
hearts of all the people who lived at that time.
Let
us take a look at Romans 5:13. “For until the law sin was in the world,
but sin is not imputed when there is no law.” There was sin even when
there was no law in the world. Therefore, all people had to die because
they sinned before God. God gave them the law that consists of 613 kinds
of commandments, which were to be kept before Him and among people, to
give them the knowledge of sin. What did people come to know through the
law of God? They felt that they were sinful in the sight of God and
came to know they had sin. People realized that they couldn’t keep the
law of God.
So,
they came to know their sins. The descendants of Adam and Eve knew they
were sinners and that God only should forgive their sins. But they
forgot with time that they came to become sinners and had inherited sin
from their ancestor Adam. At that time, they came to know that they were
sinners when they sinned, but they didn’t know they were sinners when
they didn’t sin. But they were wrong. These days, many people still
think that they become sinners if they sin, and that they do not become
sinners if they do not sin. In fact, all people are sinners regardless
of whether they sin or not because they have inherited sin from their
birth.
Human
beings are inevitable sinners before they are delivered from sins. So
God gave them His law for the knowledge of sin. A person who knows God
through His law and admits the law knows that he/she is a grave sinner. A
human being becomes a serious sinner as soon as he/she fully knows the
law of God.
Death spread to all men through one man
Romans
5:13-14 states, “For until the law sin was in the world, but sin is not
imputed when there is no law. Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to
Moses, even over those who had not sinned according to the likeness of
the transgression of Adam, who is a type of him who was to come.”
God
says that all people became sinners by one man and death spread to them
through one man. Death spread to all of them through sin. It was
because of one man. Who is this one man? Adam. We commonly know it. But,
many people do not know it. Even many Christians do not know it. They
separate sin into the original sin and actual sins and they think that
their actual sins can be forgiven daily through the prayers of
repentance. They do not know that the reason they are judged and go to
hell is because of Adam.
The
descendants of Adam have no relation with God because of their sins no
matter how hard they try to be good. God judges all of them because they
are the descendants of Adam, however hard they may try to live good
lives. They will be cast into the eternal fire of hell because of their
common ancestor Adam.
Adam is a type of Him who was to come
It
is written that Adam is a type of Him who was to come. All people
became sinners and death came to them through one man. However all of
humankind is made righteous through one Man, Jesus Christ just as all
people became sinners by one man, Adam. This is the law of God.
People
made religions because they did not know the law of God. They say that
they should do good deeds to be saved while they believe in Jesus. How
widely it spreads in the world and how often they tell lies! They teach
people, saying, “You should be good as Christians.” Our sins are never
blotted out by works.
“Adam
is a type of Him who was to come.” Who is the Man who was to come for
our salvation from sins? He is Jesus Christ. Jesus was sent to the world
and lawfully took away the sins of the world by His baptism once and
for all to make us righteous and was crucified to save us from judgment.
Sin
entered the world because Satan deceived Adam, a creature. Sin entered
the world through Adam. However Jesus Christ, the Savior, the Creator,
and the King of kings who is almighty, was sent in the likeness of men
to save humankind from their sins once and for all. He blotted out the
sins of the world once and for all. He took the sins of the world on Him
though His baptism once and for all and paid the wages of the sins by
being crucified.
A
human being receives new life and has redemption if he/she believes
that Jesus was sent to blot out all sins, however grave his/her sins may
be. God planned and decided to create the heavens and the earth in
order to make us His children. He came to the world and perfectly
fulfilled His promise. So we certainly have no sin. God has never made a
mistake. Adam was a type of Him who was to come. I do not understand
why people rely on their own works. Our salvation absolutely depends on
Jesus. Human beings became sinners through one man, Adam, and were
redeemed through one Man, Jesus.
The
only thing we should do is to believe the salvation of the remission of
sins. It is the only thing we should do. We have nothing to do but
rejoice in the fact that Jesus blotted out all our sins. By the way, why
do you compel other people to zealously do good deeds? Can people be
delivered from their sins through their works? No. Salvation depends on
only the faith in the remission of sins.
The free gift is not like the offense
Romans
5:14-16 states, “Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even
over those who had not sinned according to the likeness of the
transgression of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come. But the
free gift is not like the offense. For if by the one man’s offense many
died, much more the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one
Man, Jesus Christ, abounded to many. And the gift is not like that which
came through the one who sinned. For the judgment which came from one
offense resulted in condemnation, but the free gift which came from many
offenses resulted in justification.”
What
do these passages mean? The Bible says, “But the free gift is not like
the offense.” The free gift refers to God’s salvation. It means that all
people who inherited sin through Adam were destined to go to hell, but
their sins could be forgiven indiscriminately through the faith in
Jesus, who blotted out all their sins. It also means that Jesus already
blotted out all of our future sins.
A
human being who is born as a descendant of Adam is a sinner even if
he/she does not sin. Therefore, he/she cannot avoid going to hell even
if he/she does not sin. Jesus came to the world and became our Savior.
The free gift is that Jesus gave us excessive redemption to forgive the
sins that people continue committing until the end of the world.
Therefore,
the free gift of one Man is greater than one man’s offense. If one
commits a sin of being against God, then the sin alone is serious enough
to make him/her judged by God and go to hell. However, the gift of the
Lord, who already blotted out all our sins and transgressions, is
greater than one man’s offense.
It
means that Jesus’ love and the gift of the remission of sins are
greater than the offenses of all human beings. The Lord sufficiently
blotted out all the sins of the world. The love of Jesus, who saved us,
and the gift of salvation are so abundant and bigger than an offense
committed by one man. The Lord already blotted out the sins of fighting
against God even though we are against Him with our flesh. Now the Lord
wants us to believe that He already blotted out the sins of the world
all at once. That’s why He saved sinners from all their sins as the Lamb
of God, who took away the sins of the world.
The
theory, which says that our sins are blotted out when we believe in
God, and not blotted out when we don’t believe in God, is untrue. God
blotted out even the sins of unbelievers because He loves all the people
of the world, yet people do not want to receive God’s love. Nobody is
excluded from God’s love and salvation. The salvation of God comes to
those who believe in the truth of the gospel, which states that Jesus
blotted out all our sins.
We
are such weak beings. God counts those who believe Jesus blotted out
all sins to be without sin. We still have many weaknesses in our flesh
even after all our sins are forgiven. Many times, we fight against God
and even try to throw away His righteousness when we do not agree with
His will. But God says, “I love you and I saved you. I already blotted
out the sins that you have committed until right now.” “Oh! Is it true,
Lord?” “Yes, I have blotted out all sins.” “Thank you, Lord. I praise
You. I cannot help praising You because You loved me so much that You
blotted out even the sin of denying You.”
Those
who became sinners were made righteous and became the slaves of love.
They yielded themselves to His love. They cannot help believing in Jesus
because the Lord blotted out the sin of denying Him, even though they
deny Him because of their weaknesses, just as Peter did. It makes them
praise the Lord. So the Apostle Paul says that God’s salvation is
greater than one man’s offense.
Jesus
took away all the sins; the original sin that was inherited and the
actual sins that are committed by our deeds to the end of the world. So,
how great the love of God is! So, the Bible says implicatively,
“Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” (John
1:29)
The righteous will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ
The
sins of the world cannot be forgiven through the prayers of repentance.
Believers come to have no sin and receive salvation from all sins
because the Lord had already eliminated out even the sins that will be
committed in the future. Romans 5:17 states, “For if by one man’s
offence death reigned through the one, much more those who receive
abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life
through the One, Jesus Christ.”
We
are blessed with the grace. Who are those who receive the abundance of
grace and the gift of righteousness? They are those who believe in the
Lord and whose sins are forgiven by having faith in Him. We praise the
Lord because we received the abundance of grace of the remission of
sins. “Those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of
righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.” We are
kings who reign in life.
Only
kings reign. We reign now. Who can fight against kings? We, who receive
the abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness, reign everyday.
We reign today and we will reign tomorrow. Whoever shows kindness to us
kings are blessed and can be kings with us. However, whoever does not
believe in the gospel of the truth that kings preach will go to hell.
There
have been many kings who were saved in the world and there have been
many people who went to hell because they were against the kings. They
should have been kind to the kings, but they weren’t. They could have
been kings if they had the eyes and the heart of a truth seeker.
Do
you reign? We brag with confidence of our being kings to the world. We
announce that unbelievers will go to hell when they fight against us.
Only kings can do this. We are real kings. Is there anyone who does not
reign among the righteous? It is impudent for them not to reign as
kings. A king has to reign as a king. “You have wrong thoughts. You will
go to hell if you do not accept the truth.” A king has to behave as a
king. A king must be dignified and give the command to believe the truth
to sinners.
A
king can and has to judge, command and sentence unbelievers to hell who
are against God’s righteousness, however young the king may be. He/she
has the power to sentence unbelievers to hell in front of God, but it
does not mean that the king may abuse his/her power as he/she pleases.
The Lord tells us to reign in the world. Therefore, let us reign and
enter the Kingdom of Heaven.
However,
some of the righteous are too meek to use their power. The Lord will
rebuke them when He comes again. “You gave up your faith. Why did you
behave as a slave? I made you a king.” There are some people who act
like slaves to the world. Does it make sense for a king to say, “sir,”
to his subject like that? However, some of the righteous speak like that
even though it does not make sense to. They beg for pardon on their
knees to the world even after God delivers them from sin. A king should
be kingly.
I
proclaimed the independent kingliness against the world as soon as I
became a king. I believed that I became a king and behaved in kingly
way, though I was young.
By the obedience of One Man, Jesus Christ
Romans
5:18-19 states, “Therefore, as through one man’s offense judgment came
to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so through one Man’s
righteous act the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification
of life. For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so
also by one Man’s obedience many will be made righteous.”
“As
through one man’s offence judgment came to all men, resulting in
condemnation.” Here, condemnation means judgment. A person who is born
as a descendant of Adam and who is not born again of the water and the
Spirit, though he/she believes in Jesus, is judged. “Through one Man’s
righteous act the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification
of life.”
All
people are made righteous by the one righteous act of Jesus, who was
born of the Virgin Mary and was baptized in the Jordan River to bear all
the sins of the world. He sacrificed His life by being crucified in
their place to make them all righteous. By one Man’s obedience to the
will of God the Father, many were made righteous.
Strictly
speaking, are all the people of the world sinners, or are they
righteous if we observe from the standpoint of faith? All of them are
righteous. Some people get angry and fight against me when I say so by
faith. In fact, there is none who has sin from God’s viewpoint. God sent
His only begotten Son to the world and passed all the sins of the world
onto Him and let Him be judged as the representative of all people.
People enter the Kingdom of Heaven or hell according to their faiths
God
does not judge the world any more because He judged Jesus in the place
of all people. However, some people believe this and others don’t, even
though the Son of God took away all sins and blotted them out by His
obedience to the will of God. Believers enter the Kingdom of Heaven by
believing in God’s righteousness. God accounts them to be righteous and
says, “You are righteous. You believe that I really blotted out all your
sins. Come on. I have prepared the Kingdom of Heaven for you.” They
enter the Kingdom of Heaven sufficiently.
But
some people do not believe in Him and reject the gospel, saying, “God,
is it true? I cannot believe it. Is it true? I do not really
understand.” God will say, “Why do you make me angry? Believe in Me if
you want to believe, but do not believe if you do not want to believe.”
“Is the gospel of the water and the Spirit true, Lord?” “I saved you.”
“I can’t believe it. I can believe as much as 90%, but I doubt the last
10%.”
Then
God will say to them, “You do not believe it though I already saved
you. Do according to your faith. I made up My mind to send those who
have sin as the descendants of Adam to hell. I made the Kingdom of
Heaven, too. Enter the Kingdom of Heaven if you want to, and go to hell
if you want to be cast into the fire of hell.” It depends on their
faiths whether they enter the Kingdom of Heaven or hell.
Do
you believe that Jesus saved you from all your sins with His baptism
and blood that was shed on the Cross? It depends on your faith. There is
no midpoint between the Kingdom of Heaven and hell. There is no such
thing as “No” in front of God. There is only “Yes.” God also never tells
us “No.” God promised all things and fulfilled them all. He blotted out
all the sins of sinners.
Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound
Let
us take a look at Romans 5:20-21. “Moreover the law entered that the
offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more,
so that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through
righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Why did
the law enter? To make the offense abound. Human beings have sin
inevitably as the descendants of Adam by nature. But they didn’t know
their sinful nature, and thus God gave human beings the law to give them
the knowledge of sin because the law commands them what to do and what
not to do, and it becomes a sin not to obey the law with their thoughts
and deeds.
The
law entered that the offense might abound. God gave us the law to make
us know that we are grave sinners and are masses of sin. However, where
sin abounded, grace bounded much more. This means that a person who is
born with sin as a descendant of Adam, but thinks him/herself to be a
minor sinner has nothing to do with the fact that Jesus saved him/her.
However,
one who thinks he/she has many weaknesses and cannot live according to
God’s word with the flesh gives thanks to the Lord who saved Him. The
gospel that says the Lord took away the sins of the world all at once is
a great gift to such a person. “But where sin abounded, grace abounded
much more.” The gift abounded, so grave sinners are made perfectly
righteous. The minor sinners who think they are not full of sin will go
to hell. Only grave sinners are made perfectly righteous.
So
a person who knows that he/she is a grave sinner greatly praises the
salvation of Jesus. There are few good-natured preachers among the
gospel preachers in the world. “Where sin abounded, grace abounded much
more.” This does not mean that we may sin on purpose so that grace may
abound much more.
The
Apostle Paul says in Romans 6:1, “What shall we say then? Shall we
continue in sin that grace may abound?” Paul means, “We are saved if we
just believe in God’s righteousness. The Lord already blotted out all
our sins and abundantly saved sinners from all their sins. We are made
righteous by believing with our hearts. We can be saved if we believe in
what the Lord did. No matter how wicked we may be or how many times we
may sin, we are made righteous without works by having faith in the
truth.”
We
become righteous by faith. How wicked are our deeds? How many times do
we sin? How many shortcomings do we have if God, who is sinless, looks
at our deeds? I cannot but praise the Lord. Romans 5:20-21 states,
“Where sin abounded, grace abounded much more, so that as sin reigned in
death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life
through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
God
gave us eternal lives through Jesus Christ. The righteousness of the
Lord made us reign with Him. I praise the Lord, who abundantly saved
sinners from all their sins. Thank You, Lord.
No comments:
Post a Comment