A Better Representative Because He is the Point...

This week, we are wrestling with the question "Where does our selfishness and rebellion come from? Why are we selfish and rebellious?" We discovered that the reason that we are selfish and rebellious is because we reflect our original representative, Adam. As a result of Adam’s act of selfishness and rebellion, sin not only entered the world; sin totally corrupted the world. Sin totally corrupted the world because we bear the consequences of Adam’s selfishness. In addition, we willingly follow in the footsteps of Adam by embracing selfishness and rebellion that results in acts or omission and commission that hurt God and others.

Yesterday, we saw the Apostle Paul reveal for us a timeless truth that provides us hope of a rescue from the selfishness and rebellion that plague humanity as we reflect our original representative, Adam. And that timeless truth is that we are able to be rescued when Jesus Christ is our representative.First, we discovered that Jesus is a better representative based on His actions. Jesus willingly entered into humanity in order to live the life we refused to live and die the death that we deserved to die for our selfishness and rebellion. And it was in Jesus willingness to be our representative and His actions here on earth that overcame the actions of our original representative, Adam.

We then discovered that Jesus is a better representative based on the results. While Adam brought judgment, guilt, and condemnation, Jesus brought the free gift of rescue that declares us not guilty of having a problem with God; while Adam brought humanity death, Jesus Christ brought humanity the opportunity to experience life; while Adam brought all humanity at odds with God, Jesus Christ brought all humanity the opportunity to be right with God.

Today, we will see Paul conclude a section of a letter that was written to a church in Rome with a third reason why Jesus is a better representative than Adam in Romans 5:20-21:

The Law came in so that the transgression would increase; but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, so that, as sin reigned in death, even so grace would reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

In these verses, we see the Apostle Paul reveal for us a third reason why Jesus is a better representative than Adam. And that third reason is that Jesus is a better representative because He is the point. When Paul uses the phrase “the Law came in” this phrase literally means to come in beside as a side issue. Paul’s point here was that the Law was never the point of God’s design. The Law was never designed to have the primary place in God’s plan.

As we discovered earlier, the Law was not given to provide justification or rescue; the Law was given to reveal our condemnation and that we need rescue. The Law was given so that our selfishness and rebellion would be revealed and exposed for what it truly is, which is an evil and destructive force. The Law brings humanity face to face with their selfishness and reveals their desire to follow in the footsteps of their original representative, Adam, in selfishly rebelling against God and the word of God. That is what Paul is referring to with the phrase that the transgression would increase.

However, Paul explained that where the transgression increased, where selfishness and rebellion increased, grace abounded all the more. In other words, God’s transformational intervention and activity continued to exceed the selfishness and rebellion even as the selfishness and rebellion of humanity continued to increase over history. In verse 21, Paul then explains that the reason why God’s transformational activity continued to exceed the selfishness and rebellion of humanity was so that as sin reigned in death, even so grace would reign through righteousness to eternal life.

Paul’s point here is that while sin exercises authority through the physical, spiritual and eternal separation from God that it produces, at the end of the day, God’s transformational activity through Jesus Christ would be ultimately what would exercise authority for all eternity. You see, the Law was never the point; Jesus has always been the point. And it is by believing, trusting, and following Jesus that all humanity has the opportunity to receive rescue and move from death to live.

Because we are all in need of rescue because we reflect our original representative. And the timeless reality is that we are able to be rescued when Jesus Christ is our representative. Jesus Christ is a better representative based on His actions. Jesus Christ is a better representative based on the results. And Jesus Christ is a better representative because He is the point.

So, who is your representative? Whose footsteps are you following? Are you following in the footsteps of our original representative Adam? Because, as we have seen, those footsteps lead to death. Those footsteps lead to physical, spiritual, and eternal separation from God. Or are you following in the footsteps of a far better representative? A representative that provides rescue; a representative that provides the opportunity to experience forgiveness and the life in the relationship with God that you were created for?