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Salvation Comes From Faith, Not Law; Grace Is Greater Than Sin; Life Is Greater Than Death; One Man Can Do So Much Good For Many Others – If That Man Is Yeshua!
At the beginning of human history, Adam and Eve disobeyed God and joined the rebellion of the fallen angels. That one sin had tremendous consequences. Satan became the god of this world. We became part of his dark kingdom. The fallen angels gained control of us. They became our masters.
We were alienated from God, who is the source of life, goodness and blessing. Our nature was ruined. Our future was destroyed. Human beings are headed to Hell, not Heaven; to death, not life.
Not more money; not more education; not better politics; not more Republicans; not more Democrats, but salvation – which is synonymous with being reconciled to God; being justified; becoming righteous; being forgiven; being redeemed; receiving the promise to inherit the world and the gift of eternal life – salvation is our greatest need.
However, there is nothing we can do to save ourselves from the dark, overpowering forces that have mastered us – Satan and the demons, sin and the sin nature, death and Hell. We are helpless to rescue ourselves from these powerful, ruinous realities. It’s impossible for salvation to come from the imperfect efforts of fallen beings, from their good deeds, Torah-observance or law-keeping. This applies to everyone – the Jewish people and Gentiles, the peoples of the nations.
But, what we are powerless to do, God is more than able to accomplish! God is merciful and gracious and made salvation possible through the sinless life, atoning death, resurrection and ascension of the Son of God; and the giving of the Spirit.
God has made salvation possible – through the Messiah – but salvation only comes as a gracious gift from God, when we have faith – which is knowing God and being faithful to God and the Word of God. We need to be people of faith, people who have faith, real faith, genuine faith, saving faith.
What an amazing blessing to have faith that saves; to be reconciled to God; justified; considered by God to be righteous; forgiven; redeemed; an heir of the promise to inherit the world!
The more we know about salvation, the more we will appreciate it and live according to its light, and the more we will tell others about their need to be saved. And, that’s what we need to be doing. That’s what we need to focus on. That’s what we need to sacrifice for – living according to the Gospel and telling others the Good News about Yeshua.
Salvation – God delivering unworthy, undeserving, sinful, fallen, powerless human beings from overwhelming forces is an amazing blessing.
There are other blessings that flow from having faith that saves – like going from being a rebel and an enemy of God to having peace with God.
There is the blessing of having access to God’s special grace, grace which is reserved for the righteous, so that God treats them in a special way, cares for them; protects them; provides for them; making sure they get safely to the goal He has for them.
There is the blessing of being recipients of abundant and special love that God has for the righteous, so that God cares for them and protects then and brings them to the goal. If God loved us when we were godless, unrighteous sinners and His enemies – how much more does He love us now? How much more will He help us now? A lot more – which is a very blessed and encouraging thought.
Then there is the blessing of receiving the Spirit of God who lives in God’s chosen ones and empowers them so that they can please God and so that their lives will be a success; and the Holy Spirit protects them and brings them safely to the goal.
There is the blessing of being able to overcome the sufferings of the present with confidence and joy.
There is the blessing of knowing that we will experience the glory of God by being transformed into glorious creatures.
All these tremendous blessings are available to human beings because of one individual – Yeshua. Is it really possible for just one man to do so much good for so many others? The Lord’s Representative wants us to know the answer is yes.
Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned – to be sure, sin was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not charged against anyone’s account where there is no law. Nevertheless, death reigned from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, even over those who did not sin by breaking a command, as did Adam, who is a pattern of the one to come.
But the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God’s grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Yeshua the Messiah, overflow to the many! Nor can the gift of God be compared with the result of one man’s sin: The judgment followed one sin and brought condemnation, but the gift followed many trespasses and brought justification. For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Yeshua the Messiah!
Consequently, just as one trespass resulted in condemnation for all people, so also one righteous act resulted in justification and life for all people. For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous.
The law was brought in so that the trespass might increase. But where sin increased, grace increased all the more, so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Messiah Yeshua our Lord.
The first man, Adam, is a pattern of the one to come. What happened with Adam is similar to what happened with Yeshua.
Adam was the father of fallen humanity.
Yeshua is the father of the redeemed remnant of humanity.
One man, Adam, sinned, which brought sin into the world. Think of sin as rebelling against God’s authority; as selfishly disregarding Him and others; as bringing disorder, harm and ugliness into the world.
Sin is real and it is horrible, and the consequence of sin is also real and it is horrible – death – the loss of life; the cessation of life.
One man affected the entire world – but in a very destructive way. Adam’s one disobedient action – brought sin and death to humanity. Adam’s sin affected every human being. All have sinned. Because all have sinned, all will die.
And one man affected the world – but in a very beneficial way. Yeshua’s one obedient action – dying on the cross – made righteousness and the restoration of life available to humanity.
The first man, Adam, is a pattern of the one to come. What happened with Adam is similar to what happened with Yeshua, but the pattern is not identical. Adam brought the world devastating consequences. Yeshua brought the world redemptive consequences.
And the pattern is not identical because the blessings that came through Yeshua are greater than the curses that came through Adam.
Adam’s sin resulted in weighty, negative consequences for many – judgment, condemnation and death.
On the other hand, Yeshua’s righteous life and atoning death resulted in even weightier positive consequences for many – the pouring out of God’s overflowing grace; the gift of righteousness; the gift of eternal life.
Because of Adam’s sin, death reigned over many, dominated many. But while death is weighty, death has limits. A time is coming when death itself will die. Death will be thrown into the Lake of Fire, and death will be no more.
But, Yeshua’s righteousness is greater than Adam’s sin which brought death because those who receive the gift of righteousness through Yeshua will live and reign forever and ever!
God is greater than Satan.
The good angels are greater than the fallen angels.
Life is greater than death.
Righteousness is greater than sinfulness.
Grace is greater than sin.
Where sin increased, grace increased all the more, so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Messiah Yeshua our Lord.
Salvation is our greatest need. We need to be delivered from the control of the fallen angels, sin and the sin nature; death and Hell. We need to be reconciled to God. We need to be justified. We need to become righteous. We need to be forgiven. We need to be redeemed. We need to receive the promise to inherit the world. We need the gift of eternal life. And God the Father, working through just one man, can do that!
When the Rabbi was writing this, many Jewish people understood their need for salvation, but thought that the law and Torah-observance was the way to attain salvation. Many still think the same way. They’re wrong. Salvation doesn’t come from law and law-keeping. Salvation is granted, gifted by way of God’s grace – His love and favor given to those who do not deserve it, when they have faith in the Good News about the Son of God.
Law is not God’s way of salvation. Law wasn’t designed to save. In fact, law does the opposite of saving. It makes the trespass increase. It makes sin more obvious in us. The law was brought in so that the trespass might increase – not that God wants people to sin, but one of the functions of the law is to make those under the law more aware of their sin nature.
The law gave us the revealed, detailed will of God by giving us many specific laws. However, having many specific laws gives our fallen nature many more opportunities to violate those laws – and the Jewish people did – over and over and over again, as individuals and as a nation. And we still do.
The law also increases the trespass, making sin more obvious in us is by stirring up the desire in our fallen nature to rebel against the law. Often, when we are confronted by a law, our natural reaction, which comes from our sin nature, is to oppose that command.
If someone tells me – don’t do that – something in me wants to do that. If I am told, “don’t touch that – I want to touch it. If I am commanded, “don’t look at that” – I want to look at it. If I see a sign that tells me not to drive faster than 55 mph, something in me wants to go 60, 65 or 70. When that happens, I should think to myself: why do I want to go 70 when the law has commanded me to only go 55? Ah, there is something in me that wants to rebel against authority.
The law was brought in so that the trespass might increase. One of the functions of the law is to reveal our sinfulness to us. Since it increases our sinfulness in us, the law and law-keeping can’t save us. Therefore the law leads us to the conclusion that we are sinners in need salvation, but salvation not from the law, but from another source. That source is Messiah Yeshua. We need faith in that one man to save us.
The Rabbi wants us to know that while the law was brought in so that the trespass might increase, people don’t need specific, detailed laws in order to sin and die. Sin was in the world before the law was given. From Adam to Moses, who gave us the law, all sinned and all died, even though there was no Sinai Covenant with its many commandments.
Sin was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not charged against anyone’s account where there is no law. When a judge sentences a man to prison, the judge does not send the man to jail because “he is a bad guy.” He is sent to jail because he is guilty of a specific crime or crimes he been charged with and has violated. God operates in the same way. He only charges a sin to a person’s account only when that person disobeys a direct command that prohibits that sin.
However, let no one think: The law doesn’t apply to me. It wasn’t given to me. I am not Jewish. I am not responsible for keeping the law, so God won’t charge me with any specific violations of His law. I must be in good shape. No. Even though sin is not charged against anyone’s account where there is no law, death reigned from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, even over those who did not sin by breaking a command, as did Adam.
Even though there might not be a law: don’t worship any god other than the true God – it’s still wrong to worship any god other than the true God, and God will condemn the idolater and the false religionist to death.
Even though there might not be a law: don’t be violent, cruel, or murder – it’s still wrong to be violent, cruel, or murder, and God will condemn the violent, cruel, murderous man to death.
Even though there might not be a law: don’t be sexually perverse – it’s still wrong to be sexually perverse, and God will judge those who are sexually perverse and they will die.
Even though God only charges a sin to person’s account when that person disobeys a direct command that prohibits that sin, the sinful actions that flow from a fallen nature keep us in a state of being unacceptable to God.
Those without the law are not OK. The fact that death reigned from the time of Adam to the time of Moses proves that.
Salvation is our greatest need – by far. Law is not the way of salvation. Not being under the law is not the way of salvation. The Gospel, the Good News about Yeshua, God’s grace, and our faith, very much is.
Let’s pray:
Father, You have made salvation possible – through Your Son, Yeshua the Messiah – but salvation only comes as a gracious gift when we have faith. Thank You for Your amazing grace! Help us to have faith, real faith, faith that unleashed Your grace and saves us!
Thank You that we know that one man, Yeshua, has done so much good, has brought so much benefit to so many!
Help us know salvation, value salvation, treasure salvation, think about salvation, live our lives in a way that is in sync with salvation; and help us to bring the message of salvation to a dying world around us.